[Arnab]

I don't think there's any hope. If you have been following Roddick's tennis closely for the past few years, you should know by now it's the wrong time to be a Roddick supporter. You may want to consider Nadal if you want your guy to win against Federer.

I think it's more likely that Federer will treat this as a high-profile practice match and will come out with guns blazing like he did in Australian Open 2007. Do you know what happened that time?

MELBOURNE -- When the reinvigorated Andy Roddick stepped on court Thursday to face his longtime tormentor Roger Federer, the consensus at the Australian Open was that spectators were in for a special evening.

That turned out to be true, but not in the way that Roddick, the 15,000 fans in Rod Laver Arena or even Federer himself would have imagined.
Instead of an extended duel between the world’s top player and one of his principal rivals, this hotly anticipated semifinal turned into an 83-minute ode to the brilliance of Federer and only Federer.


By the end of the second set, it felt less like a match and much more like a demonstration, as the Swiss continued to break Roddick’s huge serve at will and find new and exciting ways to pass the American as he pushed forward, with rapidly diminishing conviction, to the net. The final line: 6-4, 6-0, 6-2.

...

"There is nothing you can really do against someone like that; you just have to shake his hand and say, ’Too good,’" said Australian great Rod Laver, who was in attendance in the arena that bears his name and congratulated Federer in the locker room afterward.