Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Gonzalez and Soderling Into Semi-Finals
If Fernando Gonzalez ever gets bored of being a professional tennis player, he could become a hired assassin; load a tennis ball up with some lethal spikes, set Gonzalez within range of the target, and the Chilean could take a man out with a single forehand.
At least that was the impression I got from watching Gonzalez play Andy Murray today.
Gonzalez was exhausting to watch, so I don’t know what it was like to play him. Those deadly forehands were ruthless, jolting Murray out of any rhythm he could have got going at the baseline. There were times when Murray was able to just slice through the game and get some great points in, and Gonzalez wasn’t exactly golden when it came to unenforced errors. But when the Chilean was in control, there was little Murray could do but avoid being knocked out by the huge forehands and hope his returns don’t come up too short.
And when they did, Gonzalez punished him beautiful, brutal style.
Day Five: News So Far
Day 5, and the sun is shining again at Rolland Garros. It looks a little cloudy but certainly better than the buckets of rain day 3 endured. It may already be day five but we’re only at round two, and the days are pretty packed.
As I write this, Roger Federer is working Acasuso hard on the clay. Acasuso of Argentina – who I have to admit looks alarmingly like Ben Afflek – appears to be wilting under the heat and pressure. Federer keeps the forehands simple but well placed, and Acasuso struggles to get behind them. The score currently stands at 2-1 to Federer. Federer is looking relaxed and graceful as ever out there, and although Acasuso is beginning to get some life back into him, it’s a sure bet that the world No. 2 will walk away with this one.
Update on the Rome Masters
Uh-oh, Mr Murray has done it again. Poor guy. He shows great promise to do well and then something flies out of nowhere and he’s left wondering what on earth happened. The opponent wh managed to do such a number on the world No. 4, was qualifier Juan Monaco of Argentina. He came at Murray with a determination and energy that knocked the young Scot sideways and out of the competition in round two, although he doesn’t seem too disheartened. As he readily admits, he’s not quite as confident on clay as he could be in the future. And if Novak Djokovic doesn’t reclaim his title in Rome, then Murray climbs to the World No. 3 spot.
The less said about my Murray prediction last week the better….
Rafael Nadal has already disposed of his first round opponent, Italy’s Andreas Seppi. Next, he comes up against Robin Soderling, a competitor who he finally dispatched in a third round 2007 Wimbledon after 5 days and 5 sets. Tempers and frustration ran a little high then, and it’s been billed as one of the top matches to see; the last time they played on clay was back in 2006 and Nadal swept the Swede aside with litt more »
The Rome Masters Predictions and Beyond
Now that Rafael Nadal has shown everyone how it’s done at Monte Carlo, the King of Clay Courts has moved on to Barcelona. Once that is over, Nadal meets up with the best of the rest in Rome for the Internazionali BNL d’Italia tournmanet(the Rome Masters). This masters is another that Nadal would love to snatch a victory at, but then again so would everyone else.
So what would winning the Rome masters mean to some of the players looking forward to competing? And do I truly have the courage to make some proper predictions for the Rome Masters and beyond?
Well, I’ve taken four top players and had a stab at it.
Feel free to disagree; by the time I’ve posted this up I probably will do too.
Rafael Nadal: Well if he won at Rome, that would be the 15th Masters title he has scooped up, beating Federer’s best so far, and will be inching cl more »
Davis Cup Upsets & Cleansweeps
The Davis Cup for 2009 is underway and has seen some great tennis action from all parts of the globe. The theme of the weekend seemed to be a mixture of destructive tennis and surprising upsets.
The Upsets
Czech Republic defeated France 3-2
French men’s tennis is currently bursting with talent – just getting on the team is an achievement at the moment. Along with Spain they have more players in the world’s top 25 than any other nation and were rated as one of the favourites to win the title this year
But over the weekend their top ranked player, Gilles Simon went 0-2 in his singles matches which left his team mates too much work to do. “You should never forget a weekend like the one I just had,” said Simon, struggling unsuccessfully to hold back tears after the loss. “You need to ask yourself the right questions, in order to be ready when facing a similar situation in the future.”
France will now be forced to re-qualify for the world group for the first time in almost a decade.
Israel defeated Sweden 3-2
In one of the least atmospheric Davis Cup ties imaginable, Sweden went down to massive underdogs Israel in front of just 300 invited guests, with anti-Israel more »
