Reporter: Andy, did you just lose to the world's greatest tennis player ever?

A. Roddick: (beat)

Yes.

 

Sums it up nicely I think...

Finally made it inside Centre Court for some of the Williams sisters doubles final...my no longer secret passion for doubles tennis was fueled by some ridiculous points, including one in which Stubbs nailed Stosur in the back trying to hit one down the line. 

And, its over: Game, Set, Match, Williamses, so Serena is 2 for 2 today...not as quick as we thought it would be, but who wouldn't rather have a little bit of excitement?

The best part about the doubles championship is the losers' trophy plates. I have eaten sandwiches bigger than those things. 

We're live at Wimbledon, keeping you updated on the Gentlemen's Semifinals. Feel free to follow along with comments.

Federer and Haas are in the 1st, on serve after 10 games, with neither player having reached a break point.  After their match in Paris I wouldn't be surprised if every set they play goes to a breaker.

Haas is a pretty even keeled guy it seems. He doesn't think he's too old at 31, but he's realistic about how hard it is to beat Federer on grass - and he made a good point on Wednesday that although he's never won a major, he does own titles on all surfaces. 

One court away, the Williams sisters have already taken the first set 6-1 in their semifinal against Cara Black and Liezel Huber, who are actually the No.1 seeds. Venus and Serena apparently don't feel like spending all day on court, I wonder why.

Sounds like they'll be showing the men's semis on big screens over on Court 2 today for anyone who couldn't get tickets to Centre Court. So now you'll have hundreds of people watching from the hill, and even more on one of the side courts. Should be a good scene.

We've still got a couple hours before the first men's semifinal, but it's looking like we could have some tennis under the roof today. After an improbable run where 10 of 11 days were bright sunshine and hot temperatures, it finally feels like we're at Wimbledon. Rained overnight, now it's overcast with the chance of more showers.

In the past, this would be awful news, for both the people wanting to see tennis, and for us, who dread the thought of extending the production into Monday. But now we're guaranteed two semis, and the possibility of the roof and the lights to give it feel like a night match would only add to the inevitable buzz in the crowd today.

Roger Federer and Tommy Haas go at it in the opener. Haas played Feds tough at the French Open and he broke Novak Djokovic's will in the quarters (which isn't tough to do, but still). Knocking off Federer might be out of the question, but it's not out of the question that he could make him sweat a bit. That's good for everyone because then we get to see Federer pull out ungodly shots and show some fire.

But the main event is the battle of the guys who still haven't ditched the 4th grade pet name, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray. Besides his coach, Brooklyn Decker, and a couple of American tourists, everyone on the grounds will be rooting for Murray. Now these are tennis fans so they won't necessarily be rooting against and taunting Roddick. It's just blatantly clear who they'll be pulling for. A few of us here still think it's a bit odd that Murray is treated like hometown royalty even though he's Scottish, but the crowd adds to the drama so no real reason to complain.

Check back for more updates later on. Enjoy your Manny Returns Day.

 

-Matt Casey

Andy Murray is through to the semifinals, despite some questionable decisions he's made this week regarding facial hair.

Outside Centre Court, Murray's Mount continues to stay packed all day...it's great watching people rush the hill as soon as they open the gates in the morning, just to get a seat on the ground so they can wait 4 hours to watch a match on TV. I happened to be standing on top of the broadcast center at 10:30 this morning when they let everyone in, and it's always a pretty hilarious scene - the security crew marching in a row, holding a ribbon, behind which hums the most orderly mob you've ever seen, walking at a perfectly relaxed place until the ribbon gets dropped and everyone dashes to get the best seats available with a grounds pass.
If this were the US Open people would have probably been trampled by now. For the record, although you need tickets to Court 2, you can see 2 from the top row of seats in 3 - a good tip.

In the overlooked universe of doubles, lots of good stuff today - Williams sisters dominated again on their way to the ladies semifinal, and James Blake and Mardy Fish won their quarter as well. I never used to pay attention, but it's refreshing to watch singles players who've already lost at singles play in the doubles tournament - they're relaxed and have a good time, and don't take the game as seriously as they would otherwise. Blake said today that he's obviously disappointed with his singles result here, but that often having some success in doubles will give a player confidence to turn his game around when it's in a downward spiral. Mardy Fish is fun to watch because he perpetually flies under the radar, hanging out with guys like Blake and Roddick, and not really caring that he's not getting any of the attention. Or at least he doesn't seem to care. Both guys were very candid about the fact that
to singles players, doubles isn't "real tennis," which I was surprised to hear. In general I think everything about doubles is underrated - even their press conferences are better, because the only people in there actually know tennis and ask real questions.

Also in Doubles - Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands (of weird tube sock outfit fame) and Mike Bryan lost to Jamie Murray (Andy's brother) and American Liezel Huber in the Mixed tournament. Jamie Murray has won the mixed title here before, so I'm hoping we get to see USA-GBR combo bring home a small piece of hardware.

In other news, I knew this Hewitt/Roddick match was going to go five. Should have gone on record yesterday.

- Lena M. Glaser

Sorry, Jack Bauer. But we're through. Been that way for a couple years, ever since you started developing feelings and love interests instead of just killing bad people. It was nice of you to fill the void when Mike Piazza left, but there's someone else now. Roger Federer is the only one.

Ask anyone in the edit room - my obsession with Federer shot-making naughtiness borders the line between appreciative and unhealthy. It's customary to yell out a Sopranos-style "Oh!" after every amazing shot. And at Wimbledon, that happens a ton. Like a couple minutes ago when, on two consecutive points, he hit backhand and forehand return winners to break Ivo Karlovic on his way to taking the first set 6-3.

We'll be keeping an Oh! tracker throughout his match.

UPDATE - 2:03: So far, an extremely dull match. After Federer got his break, he seems to be cruising and letting Karlovich get his points on serve (Ivo hits absolute bombs). It's also been way too easy for Federer on his serve as well (There's not much else to Ivo's game). Looking like we're headed for a tiebreak in the 2nd set.

UPDATE - 2:09: OH! OH! OH! OH! Federer just ripped off four straight points on Karlovic's serve to break and go up 6-5. One of them was a return winner. That outburst came out of nowhere. And Karlovic really showed he has no other shots in his arsenal. Feds up 2 sets. Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic is down 1 set to Tommy Haas.

UPDATE - 2:14: Karlovic has ditched the shades. That must've been the problem.

UPDATE - 2:24: OH! Federer with a great forehand winner down the line to stay on serve at 2-2 in the 3rd. One of the few chances he's had a chance to hit a winner because Karlovic keeps making errors.

UPDATE - 2:32: Shocking, but Karlovic just took Federer to deuce.

UPDATE - 2:32: And Feds ripped off 2 points in about 16 seconds to take the game.

UPDATE - 2:45: Karlovic just held serve at 6-5, so now we're very confident a tiebreak is coming.

UPDATE - 2:50: Mini-break for Feds. This one should be over shortly.

UPDATE - 2:52: OH! Up 5-2 in the tiebreak, Feds rips a backhand by Karlovic that clips the baseline. Match point now.

UPDATE - 2:54: OH! Convinced that Feds dropped in a get-me-over serve, just so Karlovic could hit a weak return and set him up for his signature corsscourt forehand. Game, set, match. On to the semis, where it could be Haas, who's up 2 sets on Djokovic.

 

-Matt Casey

Barring a shocking loss by either girl on Thursday, we'll have another final between the Williams sisters. They are just smoking everyone right now, sometimes laughably. Victoria Azarenka was actually laughing during her match with Serena today after about the 10th rocket serve that nearly knocked her over (she also applauded one absurd running forehand winner). On another occasion, Azarenka actually swung and missed on a second serve.

Elena Dementieva cruised in her quarterfinal today, but she'll be lucky to take one set in the semis if Serena is half as good as she was today.

Venus will take on Safina in the other semifinal, but the talented headcase almost melted down today and only prevailed because her opponent wasn't all that great. Venus will be in her head from the start, which is good for viewers because Safina will be screaming obscenities in Russian all day.

But while it's impressive to watch Serena and Venus dominate and play amazing tennis, isn't it a tad perplexing at the same time? Why haven't they been able to dominate like this all the time? Shouldn't we be at the point where they both have as many Grand Slams as Federer? I realize that different surfaces can even things out, but bottom line is that both, despite their greatness, never reached their full potential.

Tuesday is always Ladies' Day at Wimbledon, with the four quarterfinal matches being played on Centre Court and Court 1. We're already underway on a hot (for London) afternoon.

• Venus Williams hammered Agnieszka Radwanska in 2 sets, 6-1, 6-2, and has looked unbeatable the last couple days. Ana Ivanovic was spared even more embarrassment by retiring early in the 2nd set yesterday, and the girl who she beat today who I don't feel like re-typing her name again never had a shot. She managed to break Venus early in the 2nd, but Venus broke right back and didn't drop a game for the rest of the match.
• Right now on Centre Court, Dinara Safina is down a set to Sabine Lisicki. That's back-to-back days on the main show court for Safina, which decisively debunks this myth. (To be fair, Lisicki is rather pleasant looking). In the 1st set tiebreak, Safina double-faulted at 5-6, slammed her racquet in frustration, and got a warning for racquet abuse by the umpire. Lisicki just double-faulted in the 2nd, and Safina is up a break.
• Later today, in the match of the day, Victoria Azarenka plays Serena Williams. Azarenka threw a world-class tantrum yesterday in her win, once walking over to a comatose line judge and sarcastically shaking her hand. Great stuff. Anyway, Serena doesn't like to put up with a lot of crap, so don't be surprised if things get a little snippy. Cat fight!
• The other match is Francesca Schiavone from Italy against Olympic champ Elena Dementieva. Both these ladies scream a lot when they hit the ball. Always a joy.

 

-Matt Casey