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[Emma Jean]

We will have to see how this pivotal win shall impact his nerves going on. And by how much.
In one match his serve is 81% but in the final 51%. Andy has every reason to be nervous, Roger the far more experienced player was too, but it cannot impact his game in a final as he will not as you say have the crowd to carry him above these problems the way nadal and fed will.
But I felt he was a lot more proactive in this match than in the other finals with fed and took time away from him, it was a brave performance, so i don't quite agree with you. Its an audacious move to go for the forehand of federer and he did get rewarded by it, i think it was done in purpose in fact. Last month he went solely for the federer backhand and it did not breakdown.
Anyway he is always taking baby steps i just hope that next time he gets to a final he goes for  the jugular for a change & saves himself sometime. And us some shredded nerves.

But the key is the opponent though, isn't it? Who cares if he serves 81% against a player like Almagro? We all know he can beat him even in his sleep. It's a much bigger task to serve 60%+ in a much bigger match against a much bigger opponent. All I am saying is that, Andy will have to make sure that the rest of his game can abandon him but his serve, especially the first one, can never abandon him and he will need it more than anything in a major final. The reason why Federer has 17 and Sampras has 14 Slams is because they both made sure that their serves never let them down. You know full well that it's the most lethal weapon out there and Andy must make it far more consistent and make sure it's there when he needs it. I do get that once he gets that first major of his somehow, he'll be far more confident and will be able to count and rely on it the most.

[blueberryhill]

His serve had been excellent at Wimbledon and Olympics until the final. In fact I'd almost stopped worrying about it Don't know why it went off. Fortunately Fed's was poor as well. Conditions perhaps, it was windy. Hope it's not his shoulder. 

[Coldmarek]

apparently this happened.

Federer: "I thought that it was nice for Stan to carry the flag. It's what he does best, other than lose to me."

and this
 Sharapova: "What a lot of work carrying the flag for little Aga. Hope that she enjoys her vacation."       

the smug look of a toad breakfasting on fat marsh flies

[Emma Jean]

He can serve well against the top 3.
His stats against Nadal at Wimbledon are often right up there.
But they were not slam finals.
At the end of the day the serve isnt the problem, it could be one of the great serves actually. No, the problem is as we have identified a mental issue. Andy has proven himself as a force to be reckoned with to get to major match finals, he now has to be big enough walk through the door & no one but Andy can do this.
But could he be more ready?
Del Potro took it the first time it was offered Andy must take it the next time it presents itself to him, as he mostly did in the olympics and started to at Wimbledon 2012.

No. I believe this is it.