Yeah it is just a prediction... but Steve is a sports journalist for a pretty prestigious publication.. when he makes the predictions, he's gotta bring the goods in terms of why and then handle the criticism if he turns out to be wrong. As for Fed being tired, I don't think its because he's effete, but because he has these strange error prone stints of play that he has time to overcome during a 5 setter but but cant in the short masters matches.

The controversial issue here was not whether Federer would make it to the finals or not.. it was whether or not he would make it into the semi's. It was an audacious and ultimately unjustifiable decision by Steve to claim that Fed would not make the semi's and facts show just that. Everyone knew that Andy stood a reasonably good chance, even Fed fans, so the fact that Andy won is not a big deal.... now Federer not beating Del Potro, that would have been a big deal!!!

Steve;s predictions have generated so much heated discussion and controversy and although it appears as if some of the disgruntlement and anger over his predictions is unwarranted (after all, they are just projections), all the criticism is completely deserved. Del Potro has never proved or even indicated that he's capable of beating any of the top 4, not does he have the kind of inventive game required to beat Roger. I mean Roger just won a grandslam... what else does a player have to do to be predicted as a semi-finalist in the next big tournament. Saying that Steve is a great writer... even if he is excessively pre-Rafa in his discourse these days.

I agree that Kalovic's one-dimensional game isn’t good for tennis - how he was able to overcome Novak's sleek offensive baseline play and great returning is beyond me but it seems to me that Novak just isn’t motivated enough. In that match against Roddick in New York, he was so driven and no matter how well Roddick served, it was never enough but against Kalovic, he just seemed a tad slow. The ability of these one-dimensional styles of play to cause some upsets is a bit annoying - I was so looking forward to another classic Nadal-Djokovic encounter!!! As for Roger, I feel that if he can overcome Del Potro and Murray, he’ll have too much momentum especially on this quick surface. Rafa’s playing great but his draw is little too easy… Roger’s got a tough draw so he’ll come in with better rhythm… but then again if Rafa peppers that back-hand really well…. who knows.