Wednesday, September 9, 2009
David on Screen - Part 2
Drama. Missed chances and silly re-breaks. Glorious winners followed by horrible errors. Matches that drive you up the wall as a fan - David's specialty. Still, I guess I'm not the only one who really misses the drama...
Therefore, this edition of David on Screen is dedicated to those dramatic, nerve-racking, almost unbearable matches that David likes to torture us with.
Once again, all credit belongs to Krystle for uploading these matches from her collection and making it all possible. Thank you so much!
Masters Cup Houston 2003, Round Robin vs Andre Agassi
Part 1: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=926C2ZJN
Part 2: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZP8O28YU
Part 3: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=A3K3NLXI
Part 4: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DFFN3FMM
[This is the only match David ever played against Agassi.]
Masters Rome 2006, semifinal vs Roger Federer
Part 1: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=W6PHF0HD
Part 2: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4UWR75E6
Part 3: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=D1Z2MDCA
Part 4: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q73C7LFB
[I've posted a YouTube highlights clip of this match before.]
US Open 2007, Round 3 vs David Ferrer
Part 1: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SH0R6BNY
Part 2: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OB25DYW8
Part 3: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3C9HYP07
Part 4: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8AJURFMY
Part 5: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MSEXT4WT
[This one I found particularly gruesome to watch live...]
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6 comments:
I like how you described those matches, Julia. Those matches are so dramatic that they even hold up after knowing how it all ends, the only difference being that it's much easier to take the result (obviously). I used to think that watching something like that US Open match against Ferrer could be painful watching it again, but it really isn't. I haven't yet seen that Rome semi-final though. It's a shame that the majority of David's most well-known matches usually end up in him losing. I've always thought even during the time when he built up a relatively good five set record, that whenever he went five sets against top players or in the latter stages of tournaments, he very rarely won. The Masters Cup final in 2005 is the only one that springs to mind, that isn't the case and I remember how much I feared that he would lose that one at the time. The only time I've been almost too scared to watch, but I was curious enough to watch anyway, lol. Sure we remember the early round long matches ourselves, but they're not really memorable matches.
Hi, really painful to watch...but I would not like to be a fan of Fed or Nadal...I prefer our lovely and irritating Nalby...he's like he is, I love him like that...
Lovely and irritating - yeah. ;)
Krystle, I agree with you about five setters, or basically best-of-five matches in general against top players or in the later rounds at Slams. (Though I find some of his early round drama matches very memorable, especially the one against Grosjean at the AO 2007 :)
But in Davis Cup it's a different story. And it's not like David can't create incredible drama in best-of-three matches, as well...
But yeah, I find some of those matches difficult to watch, even now, even though I know how they turned out.
I would have liked to have seen his five set comeback against Tursunov at Roland Garros in 2006, but nope I only followed it on the scoreboard. Have never watched his five set matches at the US Open against Berrer and Safin, and didn't follow either on the scoreboard either.
And when they started showing the Murray match on TV, that was when he started making his comeback already. I wonder how many matches of David they would have shown on TV if it wasn't his ability to come back from these matches that they thought he might lose! The one I remember the most is the AO 2005 match against Ferrer, where they showed the last two sets I think. Because most of the time they showed his matches and switched over because they thought he might lose. Actually I'd be willing to bet that they were probably replays of small segments since I used to not check live scoring that much.
I always thought it was interesting that he never played a five set match in DC until that match against Soderling. I've got that match on my computer, but I don't think I will want to watch it again, lol.
That whole AO 2007 was memorable for me, the drama of the match against Tipsarevic. I was convinced that he got a lucky escape out of that, then he backs it up with a great performance against Lapentti, then a poor one against Grosjean. That was when I learnt to just not expect anything, and it was the first time I was able to watch some of David's early round matches.
Anyway I was commenting more on memorable matches for everyone, not necessarily for the fans. We can probably remember a lot of matches ourselves. :) Even the one-sided great performances, in the first round of Masters events (in recent times).
Oh, I love the totally one-sided, drama-less matches. Wherever and whenever they might occur. After all, it's not like you get to see them all that often from David... ;)
I don't know what it is with Eurosport and David but they usually show his matches, early rounds as well (e.g. the one against Berrer, in full). Or they show at least parts of them (like with those matches against Tursunov and Safin). So I did get to see my share of matches like that even before I had DSL and could watch streams. And I remember them all very well. Though yeah, matches like the AO semi vs Baghdatis or the USO semi vs Roddick are surely much more famous, as in widely known.
As for the DC match against Söderling - I guess I'd never want to watch that again myself, even if I had it here. It was hard enough watching it live back then, not knowing about the pain he was in. But now that we do know how he must have suffered...
I should clarify that I didn't even have any of Roland Garros 2006 or US Open 2006 on TV at all (aside from QFs onwards for USO). We basically take a World Feed of Roland Garros on Fox Sports anyway. But I remember I was going to go out to watch the match against Safin, if it was a match as originally scheduled at the normal time of 9am here. This year they've decided to go one step further and not show a single match of the USO on free-to-air TV so the average person is only able to watch the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
I probably would have wanted to watch that Soderling match at some point if I didn't read about the injury problems in it, but now that would be too painful to watch for other reasons I think.
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