Archive for the ‘Male Players’ Category
Djokovic Out
The world No. 4 Novak Djokovic was one of the first major casualties in the early rounds of the French Open. Today he was beaten Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-4 6-4 6-4. It sounded like a lot of it was in his mind; after the defeat Djokovic himself admitted that he couldn’t get into a rhythm or get his body moving well.
This is a major disappointment; it seemed as though the Serb would go far in the French Open. I had him lined up as a strong competitor for Nadal’s crown. Then again, I like many others thought he could retain his Australian Open title at the beginning of the year.
Day One: It begins again
Federer Junior On The Way
Roger Federer announced on his website on 12th March that he and his girlfriend Mirka will be parents by the summer. Yes, Federer is about to become a Daddy for the first time. By the looks of his post on his website, Federer was glowing in his new role as soon-to-be father.
But will the bundle of joy have an effect on Federer’s game? There appears to be two schools of opinion on the matter. One; that Federer has not banked on the exact toll fatherhood can take, and we won’t be seeing any more grand slam titles coming his way when the baby arrives. Two; that although it will most probably have some impact on Federer as a man – doesn’t fatherhood always? – it will have a minimal effect on his tennis career.
First, argument number one. Well, you can’t help but feel it is a little extreme. I read one alarming article that wrote Federer off the minute he held the new baby; no-one, apparently, is to expect wins or Grand Slam titles to be added to his name once he becomes a father.
British Davis Cup Hopes
I’ve had a hunch for years that British sport is cursed. We won the rugby world cup in 2003 and things were looking great until our star player Jonny Wilkinson’s limbs basically started to drop off. We won the Ashes tournament in 2005 and have gone to a below average performance in test matches and been embroiled in some captain and coach troubles. And don’t even get me started on football. When it comes to tennis, the trend has continued. For long period of time, the media built up Tim Henman as a true Wimbledon hope, then the hopes were shattered every year. It didn’t really have much to do with Tim Henman the player; he was a good player, but proved to be just not good enough compared to others when it came to winning Wimbledon.
Recently there’s been a period of relief of this curse with regards to tennis. Andy Murray has become the new British prodigy. I was suspicious; the media was telling us how amazing he is but they often aren’t a great judge of talent. But, so far, he’s delivered very well. Unfortunately, the British Sports Curse reared its ugly head again: Murray is unlikely to be able to play in the first match of the Davis Cup against Ukraine in Glasgow next week. Uh-oh, here we go again.
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The Davis Cup
The Davis Cup has an illustrious history in the tennis world; the first match was played in 1900 after some careful planning by a man called (and no surprises here): Davis. Dwight F. Davis. An appropriate name for a young Harvard man interested in beating the British at their own game. Davis’ initial team did just that, and it’s been a bit of a precedent for the tournament as a whole. Up until the 1970s it had only ever been won by the USA, France, Britain or Australasia/Australia. Now, it is a much more diverse tournament, making it bigger and better each year from its first birthday 108 years ago.
There’s excitement brewing already. Who and who will not play in the David Cup is a year-round topic. How and who a country picks to represent itself is tantamount to what the tournament will be like any given year. 2008 was a victory for the Spanish, who won even without the one player many would expect to be the greatest help: Rafael Nadal. So which hand-picked team will make the title theirs this time?
Well, for starters, there’s the Spanish team. With Rafael Nadal so far uninjured and r more »
