Looking forward to the finals
There doesn’t seem a worse way to be knocked from a tournament, than when you play your absolute best and yet your opponent manages to beat you in straight sets. Unfortunately for Andy Murray, this was the case yesterday in the semi-finals. Rafael Nadal beat Murray 6-4 7-6 (8-6) 6-4, bringing out those big guns of his to knock back Britain’s hopes for another year. The crowd were split in their loyalties; many of course had paid good money to see Murray, but Nadal isn’t a stranger to the Wimbledon audience and although his winning points weren’t greeted with quite such raucous enthusiasm, there were nonetheless a great number of Rafa fans to spur him on.
Murray didn’t play badly; he seemed so relaxed and focused he was almost Federer-esque. The occasion of the moment didn’t, at least obviously, be affecting his game. The pair were both into a rhythm from the word go, showing off their respective talents in serving, forehands and backhands. Murray’s serve was particularly good, undoubtedly an asset when you have a man like Nadal prowling at the other end of the court. The first break was at 4-4, with Murray pushing a forehand out of the tramlines and giving Nadal the chance to seal the first set. The second set remained very similar to the first; Murray’s serve kept himself out of trouble and Rafa continued to play groundstrokes at a speed that seemed humanly impossible.
You had to wonder whether any of those balls had offended Nadal during the tournament, because he se more »
Written by:Men’s Quarter Finals
As if the women’s quarter finals weren’t enough, the men’s singles quarter finals have managed to give me palpitations. Novak Djokovic started off the first quarter final match and although it wasn’t a shocker for him to beat Yen-Hsun Lu 6-3 6-2 6-2, he played with a vitality, emotion and deftness that made him look like the Djokovic from two or three years ago, the one that won the Australian Open. The stilted, unhappy, out of form Djokovic of the last few years has disappeared; the Djoker has returned. And he will go on to play Tomas Berdych, the culmination of the biggest shock of the day.
Once again, Roger Federer won’t be in a Grand Slam final. At the French Open we could put that down to an anomaly; this time it was just plain freaky. All the credit has to go to his competitor, Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, who beat Federer 6-4 3-6 6-1 6-4. After such a fantastic year at the French Open, Berdych could have disappeared into obscurity in the changeover to grass court. Except of course, this being the wonderful game we know and love, quite the opposite has occurred. Berdych beat Federer Mind-blowing chaos broke out in Centre Court, with barely a handful of people staying on to watch the opening games of Andy Murray’s match, probably needing to dowse themselves with cold water and drink something sugary to help recover from the shock they had just seen.
Fortunately for those of unsound nerves, t more »
Written by:Women’s quarter finals
Well at least we can guarantee there won’t be a Williams/Williams final this year, at least in the women’s singles. Venus Williams was knocked out comprehensively by unseeded Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-2 6-3. Not many would give the 22 year old much chance against the world number 2, but not only did she play the tennis of her life, Venus struggled seriously with key areas of her game.
Twice Williams served consecutive double faults, and struggling to get the throw of the ball right. Now sometimes a player can get away with these kinds of howlers if the opponent isn’t going to take advantage of the weakness, but Pironkova played every ball and created every opportunity to knock Venus from the tournament.
Whilst Venus’ game was stodgy and littered with unenforced errors, Pironkova played with passion and flare. She also managed to save the break points that could have turned the match entirely back into the American’s favour. Although the crowd love an underdog, there weren’t all too many of them there at Court number one, which was a disappointment as this young player certainly has the potential to go very far.
Another upset at the tournament came in the form of21st seed Vera Zvonareva. After looking so confident knocking out Justine Henin, the sky seemed the limit for Clijsters on her first return to Wimbledon. The 25 year old Russian lost the first set 3-6, but Clijsters game appeared to be unravelling at the corners and the former US Open champion was becom more »
Written by:Roddick Crashes Out and other stories
It was a shock seeing last year’s finalist Andy Roddick come a cropper in a tournament many had pipped him to win, and if not win at least a final or semi-final place. But he came unstuck against Taiwanese Yen-Hsun Lu. Unseeded, and ranked world number 82, Lu gave the performance of his life to get past the former finalist.
It wasn’t until the last few games of the fifth set that you could truly believe Lu could win. Andy Roddick is good at five setters, and Lu had never played in a fourth round match before; more than that he had never been pass the second round at Wimbledon in any of his six appearances at the grand slam. So the odds appeared stacked against him; particularly with a man as fit and formidable as Roddick. He had fallen short at Queens, but this was his chance to get back to where he had failed last year and this time come out the triumphant one. Even discounting last year’s final performance, Roddick’s playing history shows a comfort level at Wimbledon that certainly surpassed Lu’s.
Whatever it was - whether comfort level, pressure, skill, fitness, a better game plan - Lu did what many was thought the impossible and knocked Roddick from his beloved tournament. The first set was won comfortably by Roddick, but Lu went on to take the next two sets in two very tense tie-breaks. The nerves of a possible victory in the fourth set appeared to rattle Lu’s game, and he was unable to send Roddick home just yet. It took a very close fifth set, where Lu saved br more »
Written by:The Longest Match in History
Desperate for that summer bikini body? Wanting to get rid of some of the midriff flab? Allergic to any form of physical exercise? I have the perfect solution: watch John Isner play Nicolas Mahut, and I guarantee the pounds will shed as you sweat and twitch from nerves and pure exhaustion. The longest match in tennis history – a staggering 11 hours and five minutes over three days - was wearily won by the big American Isner. Many who read this and hadn’t heard of the match may think the scoreline you are about to read is a typo, but I can assure you it isn’t: the final score settled at 6-4 3-6 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-3) 70-68. It’s exhausting just reading that, never mind actually having to play it.
The match past rather unnoticed on its first day. It was when it became obvious that day two wasn’t going to finish the match off that the crowd and the audiences around the world began to realise what exactly was happening. No man was breaking the other’s serve, with the pair were both playing the services games of their lives, and as the day dwindled on day two the shock and awe at exactly how long this match had gone on for – and could continue to go on for – finally sank in. Isner started to move like the court was a pool of treacle, and with each lumber towards the court it seemed that Mahut had the advantage. He skipped and jumped whilst Isner traipsed and lolloped. Mercifully for the two athletes, the match was drawn to a close as the light dimmed, halted at an unbelievable 59- more »
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