Well (starting off the paragraph with another "well" you see), as I might have said I've secured a role in the Estrado theatre group's upcoming play The Road (it was just Road initially but that's been changed), which is an adaptation of the play by Jim Cartwright, which took place back in England in the early 80's under Thatcher's regime, and how the unemployed affected people back then. The difference with Estrado's version is that its updated to contemporary day Glasgow. The role is of McVay, a grumpy cantankerous old git, who doesn't like his peace being disturbed and his wife winds him up all the time. Initially it was to be a very small role, but our director Thom McEwan has very kindly extended the role to incorporate a full scene between McVay and Mrs McVay (or Jim and Ingrid being their first names) where they discuss their lack of communication. The scene is a work in progress but its shaping up nicely and we did a re-write so to speak last night with Thom, which I've just read and is looking really good already. The scene is again going to be something of an emotional piece, which reminds me of The Glass Menagerie, since doing the Menagerie I actually feel that bit more comfortable taking on more dramatic roles, but there will be some comic elements to McVay too. But I'm hoping this scene will be funny and touching all at once. Estrado are also having a fundraiser night tomorrow so there will be plenty of activity there with some of the cast/crew doing some live music, comedy and other stuff, so should be interesting and fun. The cast of the play is very big indeed with well over 30 people in it, so it will also be a nice way to meet up and chat with some of them more, than we've had before now.
In fact just back in from the Fundraiser night and it was a lot of fun, there were some good fun acts from some of the Estrado members (including the director Thom, who told a hilarious joke!) and also a great funky band to whom the name I don't know who played a fair bit of the night, and John Rodgers from the Estrado cast did some fine covers of T-Rex songs including 20th Century Boy (his guitar sounded just like it does in the track!). So all in all it was a good night and well worth going along to support the Estrado drama group, I hope they get the funding they are looking for their future shows. And we have another rehearsal for The Road on Sunday coming, which should be good. My only concern with Thom having changed the name of the play from Road to The Road might pre-empt alot of people into thinking they are coming to see an adaptation of the Viggo Mortensen film, but of course its not. Perhaps they should put that in the posters and flyers, this is nothing to do with the film of the same name. ;-)
Now guess what? Guess what? (OK I am the only person (that I know of) that's reading this!). More tennis!
I've been following the WTA tennis and the ATP results too, and on the WTA side of tennis there has been a couple of surprises in yesteday's matches. The first surprise saw Caroline Wozniacki, who was up against the world no 23, Andrea Petkovic, crash out as she lost to the Petkovic in 3 sets, the result being 7-5 3-6 6-3 to Petkovic. I had caught the first few games of the match last night before I went out and I could already see Petkovic was fighting back with a great deal of self assurance, exploiting the weakeness in Caroline's game which is her forehand. It just shows even if you are number 1 in the world there will always be some surprising upsets in your game.
Which brings me onto the second surprise of the day, which was the match between Agnieszka Radwanska and Francesca Schiavone, which on paper sounded like a terrific battle was going to take place. But it was unfortunately a big disappointment as Schiavone struggled to get anything going at all against Radwanska, making a record number of double faults (20 I think!) and over 50 unforced errors, with the first set being a disastrous 6-0 loss to Schiavone. In the second set Schiavone fought back a bit more, and the opening game featured a terrific rally from both players, but unfortunately Schiavone still produced too many errors and lost the match with a poor score of 6-2 to Radwanska. In fact it was so poor it made Andy Murray's defeat look not too bad in comparsion, mind you at least Schiavone made it that far into the tournament! I think though Schiavone has struggled to get past the 4th round at Miami in the past and this year was no exception, it also marked her first defeat to Radwanska in their last five meetings. So today see's Jelena Jankovic who is back on form take on Andrea Petkovic, and Ana Ivanovic taken on Kim Clijsters.
And on another surprising up turn Andrea Petkovic carried on with her winning streak as she defeated world no 7 Jelena Jankovic in a very tight close 3 set battle, finally scoring 2-6 6-2 6-4, in what turned out to be a cracking match after a slow start. Andrea who is now into the semi final, is starting to look like a firm favourite if not to at least win the title but definitely getting into the final, her play has been incredibly strong and on court she shows a great deal of positive energy and confidence, as well as doing her cheesy dances after her victories. I actually quite like Andrea, she's got a positive attitude, she's a terrific player, and let's face it, she's pretty nice looking too! In fact I watched a video of her at the Australian Open interviewing a few players on the tour and she's pretty funny, a really good sense of humour, in fact you could almost say she's the female Novak Djokovic, in her video they shared a funny moment where Novak said she's the most beatiful player on the tour, and after she slipped him a 100 dollars for it! Another thing about her I like is how she plays and reacts when scoring points she does it in a completely non-girly way, she has a real tomboy quality about her in her style, which I have to say is rather sexy.
Following that match were two other absolute crackers which alas I wasn't able to see, Kim Clijsters in the 4th round battled it out with Ana Ivanovic to a very tight 3 set match, Kim came back from 5-1 games down in the 3rd set to make it 5-5 all, and carried onto a tiebreak, again she was 5 match points down and she made them up all the way and took the game to the foxy Ana and defeated her. Kim Clijsters from this match alone has proved what an incredible champion she is, she really is the female Roger Federer of her time, the fact she can come back from the 5-1 down is the sort of thing Federer frequently did back in his heyday (and still does to an extent). The other amazing match was a lengthy battle between Maria Sharapova and Alexandra Delgheru which was stretched to an incredible 3 hours and 30 minutes, where Maria defeated Alexandra by 3-6 7-6 7-6. I caught the last couple of minutes of it, but it appeared to be an absolute belter of a match. On other news, Vera Zvonareva is through to the semis having defeated Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets 7-5 6-3, so she'll face Victoria Azarenka ( the mad grunter!) who in another surprising turn defeated Kim Clijsters in straight sets 6-3 6-3.
In the first semi finals match Maria Sharapova and Andrea Petkovic battled it out against blustery conditions on court, with the first set Petkovic took control, but in the 2nd Maria came right back in and steamrolled over Petkovic, and pretty much kept her control in the 3rd apart from a few double faults, that let Petkovic back into the game. But Sharapova came back and won the match 3-6 6-0 6-2, which marks her third final at Miami, and with other women's semi final remaining between Vera Zvonareva and Victoria Azarenka, which should be a fine match, on paper Vera might have the edge, but its hard to say how it will go since they are both great players. However as it turned out Azarenka defeated Vera quite convincingly with a 6-0 6-3 win, which means it will be the battle of the screams on Saturday afternoon Sharapova vs Azarenka, should be a good match but for the audience get your earplugs ready!! Its gonna be a loud one!!! I hope Sharapova wins as its been good to see her come back into the game after so many injuries and time out, she already has an impressive record behind her with 3 grand slam wins, at the Australian and US Open and Wimbledon, and this will see her get back into the top 10. Plus she's also so hungry and determined to get back into the big time and win the big titles and winning the Sony Ericsson Open would be the perfect place to start.
On the ATP side of the tour, top seeds Federer and Nadal managed to get through their matches to reach the 4th round. Federer had a fairly tough match against Juan Monaco, as he eventually won the watch 7-6(4) 6-4. Nadal faired better against his fellow spaniard Feliciano Lopez winning 6-3 6-3. And well Djokovic so far has been doing his usual demolition jobs against his last two opponents, one of which was James Blake, whom he defeated 6-0 6-2. Its surprising to see just how unrelenting Djokovic is in his play just now, as he's really destroying the opposition, but funny how with Federer and Nadal you can take a few games off them and even give them some discomfort before they win. Unfortunately due to rain delays Jo Wilfred Tsonga and Alexandr Dolgopolov's match was interrupted, but it looked to be a fairly tight 3 set match before it was called off, which the Dog eventually won, and went on to face Nadal who defeated Dogly in straight sets 6-1 6-2.
In the quarter finals Djokovic had a tough match against the south african Kevin Anderson, who he defated in straight sets 6-4 6-2, despite the scores Djokovic said the match itself was really tough and didn't reflect the score board. Djokovic will go on to face Mardy Fish who defeated David Ferrer in straight sets 7-5 6-2, which will leave it a tough match to call as Mardy is on top form just now as well as he previously defeated Del Potro and Richard Gasquet. Mardy has also as a result of his win against Ferrer has become the top US player in tennis will enter the top 10 for the first time, as he will replace Andy Roddick in the rankings. And Roger and Rafa also have their quarter final matches today against Gilles Simon and Tomas Berdych respectively. I initially though that Roger's match would be the tougher of the two, but it was quite the reverse, mainly in part due to the fact that Gilles Simon had to retire due to a neck injury after 3 games. Rafa's match went to a 3 set stretch as the two of them had it out, with Rafa gaining the upper hand very early on in the first set, however in the second Rafa showed signs of struggling as he needed treatment for his shoulder which helped Berdych take the second set, but in the end Rafa triumphed in the 3rd, winning 6-2 3-6 6-3. So it will be the dream semi-final after all Roger vs Rafa. Can't wait to follow that one! Unfortunately and rather predictably for Mardy Fish, he couldn't withstand Djokovic and was defeated in straight sets in the semi final 6-3 6-1, it makes for a disappointing result but to be entirely expected. But all credit to Djokovic who has had an exceptional start to the year and he's a terrific player so it looks very possible he will take his 4th title of the year and remain unbeaten on hard court. The clay court season looms though, so will he be able to dominate Rafa? Hmmmm, most possibly not, we shall see.
Right that's enough of that.
Tuesday 29 March 2011
Friday 25 March 2011
The imposter looms again!!!
I've updated this article all the time, so since it says I posted on Friday 25 March, there's loads of new stuff in it. Cool eh?? (its only me that's reading it!).
Dearie dear. Oh poor Andy Murray, things just aren't getting any better for you are they?
As the title of my post has said it all, Andy Murray has just extended his losing streak as he has just been knocked out in his first match for the third consecutive time in an ATP tournament, this time at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, by another unseeded player Alex Bogomolov (not relation to Doglypov I think!) in straight sets 1-6 5-7. This is not only starting to look embarrassing its also quite depressing, especially for British tennis, Andy Murray isn't out on court just now, its an imposter. At least his female british compatriot Elena Baltacha, who has similarly been knocked in the 2nd round, plays with a fight in her and a positive spirit. But clearly something is up with Andy Murray, I think his confidence must have taken a real beating after losing at the Australian Open as its devastated his game and now he's gone from losing poorly to losing extremely badly. Third time's a charm clearly wasn't the case with Andy, perhaps as Joe Pesci said in My Cousin Vinny, maybe six times might be a charm?! I'll give him till then at least.
What ever is wrong with Andy I really think now he should take time out from playing for a while and try and sort his head out, as his inability to even win a set never mind a match is very worrying indeed. Its a real shame for him but if you are losing to that extent I think you must really take stock of what's going wrong and look at ways to sort it out. But I don't even know if Murray is doing that and its now just shocking to follow his matches, I had a half hope he would at least take his battle with Bogomolov to him, but he didn't, he tried to fight back in the 2nd set and made it 5 games all and after that he never recovered. Dear oh dear.
But it makes me think of the ultimate irony of the results of the Australian Open, since then Djokovic has been playing the best tennis of his life, and since then Andy Murray has been playing the worst tennis of his life! And ironically the other players who lost out in the Australian Open slam, such as Ferrer and Soderling have gone on to win titles at Acapulco and Rotterdam respectively, which shows they are still playing very good tennis, so why can't Andy??? What is holding him back?? Its a mystery and perhaps even he can't quite fathom it. Also not to add insult to the injury, but both these unseeded players since have been defeated by top 20s player Tommy Robredo (defeated Donald Young) in Indians Wells and top 30s player John Isner who defeated Bogomolov in Miami. If you are a top 10 player and players seeded well above you can defeat unseeded players that defeated you, there is something seriously wrong there.
The clay season is looming as well which is of course Murray's least preferred surface, but it would be ironic if he started to play well on that surface instead, perhaps a change of surface is what he needs! But Andy's main focus just now shouldn't be trying to win titles, it should be trying to win actual matches, if he can start to do that again, it will give him more confidence, which he is soarly lacking in just now in his singles game.
On a fairly positive note, up until recently Andy was playing well in the doubles matches with his brother Jamie, as they got to the Rotterdam semi finals and quarter finals at Indian Wells, and at Miami he teamed up with Novak Djokovic of all players for the doubles, on paper they sounded like a great team. But alas, he hasn't even managed to win a match there either in Miami, as he and Djokovic lost their first match, albeit in a tight tiebreaker with the overall result 7-5, 3-6 (8-10). The result in itself was far from a disgrace, in fact it made for an excellent match, with one of the best doubles points of the tournament, Djoky and Murray in retrospect both did well, they just got unlucky. However his brother Jamie Murray so far has done a much better at Miami, as he and his doubles partner Xavier Malisse have won their first match tonight, with Malisse already having taken the Indian Wells title, perhaps they could both do the same here. Fingers crossed fer you Jamie. At least one of the Murray's will do well.
But unfortunately for Andy it is another loss which has been added to his already growing collection, so for now I think the best for thing for Andy is to take a break and reflect on how he can get back on form again. I think his next tournament is at the Barcelona Open in April, but it is on his least preferable surface, clay, will he be able to perform well there? Hmmmm not so sure, even if he could win a couple of matches there that would be something. The important thing is that Andy must start to bounce back, exactly when he will do it, God alone knows, but the sooner the better. Roger Federer over the weekend has also offered some kind words of encouragment saying that Andy will rediscover his form, and that he himself went through a few bad spells at Andy's age and he is too good a player for this to affect him for long. I'm sure he's right, just as long as its not too long.
Sadly though for Andy no matter how well he does bounce back, I really don't think he will win a grand slam this year, we all would love to see him do it and be proved wrong, but with Nadal and Djokovic still in his way I think its an impossible task this year anyway. Not unless he miraculously comes back and wins the French Open or Wimbledon, but I can hear the sound of pigs and flapping wings at that thought. A shame but let's be real. But on a more positive note I definitely think he will recover his form fairly soon, and as a prediction I think he will win the Paris Masters at the end of the year as a big consolation, and just maybe he might be in with a shout for the ATP World Tour Finals championship, its not a slam but its certainly the next best thing. Which reminds me of the Andy Murray we saw last year at the World Finals where he put in a performance against Nadal that was nothing short of spectacular, he lost by the narrowest of margins, but that's the Andy we want to see come back into the game. That Andy Murray would have even given Djokovic in his current form something to think about!
I've also recently read that former grand slam champion Ivan Lendl has expressed interest in becoming Andy Murray's new coach, which sounds great on paper as who better to be his coach than someone who has been there and done it. Lendl himself lost in his first four grand slam finals before he went on to win 8 titles in all, at the French, Australian and US Open. It might be a wise move for Murray but again it all depends on how he feels. He has also just announced that he has parted ways with his coaching consultant Alex Corretja who has worked with him for the past 3 years. And it has just been confirmed very recently that Andy Murray is very keen to appoint a new coach before the clay court season begins, so the clock is ticking, I hope he finds one soon!
Anyways depsite another shock loss for Murray, I'll keep tabs on how the Sony Ericsson Open is going with much interest, so it will be another interesting tournament and the WTA coverage starts again on Sunday for the tournament so more to follow then.
Dearie dear. Oh poor Andy Murray, things just aren't getting any better for you are they?
As the title of my post has said it all, Andy Murray has just extended his losing streak as he has just been knocked out in his first match for the third consecutive time in an ATP tournament, this time at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, by another unseeded player Alex Bogomolov (not relation to Doglypov I think!) in straight sets 1-6 5-7. This is not only starting to look embarrassing its also quite depressing, especially for British tennis, Andy Murray isn't out on court just now, its an imposter. At least his female british compatriot Elena Baltacha, who has similarly been knocked in the 2nd round, plays with a fight in her and a positive spirit. But clearly something is up with Andy Murray, I think his confidence must have taken a real beating after losing at the Australian Open as its devastated his game and now he's gone from losing poorly to losing extremely badly. Third time's a charm clearly wasn't the case with Andy, perhaps as Joe Pesci said in My Cousin Vinny, maybe six times might be a charm?! I'll give him till then at least.
What ever is wrong with Andy I really think now he should take time out from playing for a while and try and sort his head out, as his inability to even win a set never mind a match is very worrying indeed. Its a real shame for him but if you are losing to that extent I think you must really take stock of what's going wrong and look at ways to sort it out. But I don't even know if Murray is doing that and its now just shocking to follow his matches, I had a half hope he would at least take his battle with Bogomolov to him, but he didn't, he tried to fight back in the 2nd set and made it 5 games all and after that he never recovered. Dear oh dear.
But it makes me think of the ultimate irony of the results of the Australian Open, since then Djokovic has been playing the best tennis of his life, and since then Andy Murray has been playing the worst tennis of his life! And ironically the other players who lost out in the Australian Open slam, such as Ferrer and Soderling have gone on to win titles at Acapulco and Rotterdam respectively, which shows they are still playing very good tennis, so why can't Andy??? What is holding him back?? Its a mystery and perhaps even he can't quite fathom it. Also not to add insult to the injury, but both these unseeded players since have been defeated by top 20s player Tommy Robredo (defeated Donald Young) in Indians Wells and top 30s player John Isner who defeated Bogomolov in Miami. If you are a top 10 player and players seeded well above you can defeat unseeded players that defeated you, there is something seriously wrong there.
The clay season is looming as well which is of course Murray's least preferred surface, but it would be ironic if he started to play well on that surface instead, perhaps a change of surface is what he needs! But Andy's main focus just now shouldn't be trying to win titles, it should be trying to win actual matches, if he can start to do that again, it will give him more confidence, which he is soarly lacking in just now in his singles game.
On a fairly positive note, up until recently Andy was playing well in the doubles matches with his brother Jamie, as they got to the Rotterdam semi finals and quarter finals at Indian Wells, and at Miami he teamed up with Novak Djokovic of all players for the doubles, on paper they sounded like a great team. But alas, he hasn't even managed to win a match there either in Miami, as he and Djokovic lost their first match, albeit in a tight tiebreaker with the overall result 7-5, 3-6 (8-10). The result in itself was far from a disgrace, in fact it made for an excellent match, with one of the best doubles points of the tournament, Djoky and Murray in retrospect both did well, they just got unlucky. However his brother Jamie Murray so far has done a much better at Miami, as he and his doubles partner Xavier Malisse have won their first match tonight, with Malisse already having taken the Indian Wells title, perhaps they could both do the same here. Fingers crossed fer you Jamie. At least one of the Murray's will do well.
But unfortunately for Andy it is another loss which has been added to his already growing collection, so for now I think the best for thing for Andy is to take a break and reflect on how he can get back on form again. I think his next tournament is at the Barcelona Open in April, but it is on his least preferable surface, clay, will he be able to perform well there? Hmmmm not so sure, even if he could win a couple of matches there that would be something. The important thing is that Andy must start to bounce back, exactly when he will do it, God alone knows, but the sooner the better. Roger Federer over the weekend has also offered some kind words of encouragment saying that Andy will rediscover his form, and that he himself went through a few bad spells at Andy's age and he is too good a player for this to affect him for long. I'm sure he's right, just as long as its not too long.
Sadly though for Andy no matter how well he does bounce back, I really don't think he will win a grand slam this year, we all would love to see him do it and be proved wrong, but with Nadal and Djokovic still in his way I think its an impossible task this year anyway. Not unless he miraculously comes back and wins the French Open or Wimbledon, but I can hear the sound of pigs and flapping wings at that thought. A shame but let's be real. But on a more positive note I definitely think he will recover his form fairly soon, and as a prediction I think he will win the Paris Masters at the end of the year as a big consolation, and just maybe he might be in with a shout for the ATP World Tour Finals championship, its not a slam but its certainly the next best thing. Which reminds me of the Andy Murray we saw last year at the World Finals where he put in a performance against Nadal that was nothing short of spectacular, he lost by the narrowest of margins, but that's the Andy we want to see come back into the game. That Andy Murray would have even given Djokovic in his current form something to think about!
I've also recently read that former grand slam champion Ivan Lendl has expressed interest in becoming Andy Murray's new coach, which sounds great on paper as who better to be his coach than someone who has been there and done it. Lendl himself lost in his first four grand slam finals before he went on to win 8 titles in all, at the French, Australian and US Open. It might be a wise move for Murray but again it all depends on how he feels. He has also just announced that he has parted ways with his coaching consultant Alex Corretja who has worked with him for the past 3 years. And it has just been confirmed very recently that Andy Murray is very keen to appoint a new coach before the clay court season begins, so the clock is ticking, I hope he finds one soon!
Anyways depsite another shock loss for Murray, I'll keep tabs on how the Sony Ericsson Open is going with much interest, so it will be another interesting tournament and the WTA coverage starts again on Sunday for the tournament so more to follow then.
Tuesday 22 March 2011
A+ Plus A Schmlus and money that never sleeps
On Thursday I'm going to sit my last A+ certification exam, the Practical Applications one, which I'm hoping to pass, as I've been reading the material for over 10 weeks now, so I'm getting a bit bored of reading the same stuff over and over. I was hoping to do it last week, but with the viral infection I had last week, it put an end to that. Regardless I hope I can't get it out the way and move onto the next one, Network+, which is another CompTIA course.
It'll be good to move onto the Network+ stuff as I feel I need a refresher with my network stuff, the A+ covers small parts of it, but this course will go more in depth. I expect it will be a challenge, as I haven't done any network stuff since my Cisco semesters over 2 years ago, which I frankly hated, as they were so goddamn difficult, but after 2 years of study and classes I managed to pass out, but of course I don't have the certificate for the CCNA, which would take months more study and probably a mental freakout in the process, due to the very high pass mark required. But I can worry about that another day, right now its all about getting these courses done and trying to get some work experience on the go.
I haven't seen much films wise of late (well anything new that is) but one film I recently watched was the sequel to Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, which sees the return of Michael Douglas as the slimy Gordon Gekko. The film's other main character is Jake Moore (Shia LeBeouf) who is the fiance to Gekko's daughter Winnie (Carrie Mulligan), who despises her dad as he went away to jail for insider trading and fraud. With Gekko released from jail years later, he aims to rebuild his financial empire slowly, and befriends Jake so he can get back on good terms with his daughter Winnie. Jake also wants help getting revenge for the death of his boss Lou Zabel (Frank Langella) who's business went under due to a rival business tycoon Bretton (Josh Brolin). For a sequel to such a solid original, I expected Money Never Sleeps to be a disappointment, but I was pleasantly surprised as it was actually a pretty good film. Michael Douglas is good as ever in his Gekko role, playing Gekko with a more wisened sense, and still has the ability to manipulate situations to his advantage. Shia LeBeouf is also similarly quite good as the young Jake Moore, and an impressive aspect of his character is his moral conviction in trying to sort out what's right and wrong. The only weak link for me was Carrie Mulligan, who was pretty inaffectual in her role and she didn't really cut it as Gekko's daughter, perhaps she should have been cast as someone more feisty like Mary Elizabeth Winstead. But overall it was a good sequel to the original and is well worth a watch.
Oh and did you notice this post has no tennis in it??? Impressive eh?
And on that note I will stop right there! :-)
It'll be good to move onto the Network+ stuff as I feel I need a refresher with my network stuff, the A+ covers small parts of it, but this course will go more in depth. I expect it will be a challenge, as I haven't done any network stuff since my Cisco semesters over 2 years ago, which I frankly hated, as they were so goddamn difficult, but after 2 years of study and classes I managed to pass out, but of course I don't have the certificate for the CCNA, which would take months more study and probably a mental freakout in the process, due to the very high pass mark required. But I can worry about that another day, right now its all about getting these courses done and trying to get some work experience on the go.
I haven't seen much films wise of late (well anything new that is) but one film I recently watched was the sequel to Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, which sees the return of Michael Douglas as the slimy Gordon Gekko. The film's other main character is Jake Moore (Shia LeBeouf) who is the fiance to Gekko's daughter Winnie (Carrie Mulligan), who despises her dad as he went away to jail for insider trading and fraud. With Gekko released from jail years later, he aims to rebuild his financial empire slowly, and befriends Jake so he can get back on good terms with his daughter Winnie. Jake also wants help getting revenge for the death of his boss Lou Zabel (Frank Langella) who's business went under due to a rival business tycoon Bretton (Josh Brolin). For a sequel to such a solid original, I expected Money Never Sleeps to be a disappointment, but I was pleasantly surprised as it was actually a pretty good film. Michael Douglas is good as ever in his Gekko role, playing Gekko with a more wisened sense, and still has the ability to manipulate situations to his advantage. Shia LeBeouf is also similarly quite good as the young Jake Moore, and an impressive aspect of his character is his moral conviction in trying to sort out what's right and wrong. The only weak link for me was Carrie Mulligan, who was pretty inaffectual in her role and she didn't really cut it as Gekko's daughter, perhaps she should have been cast as someone more feisty like Mary Elizabeth Winstead. But overall it was a good sequel to the original and is well worth a watch.
Oh and did you notice this post has no tennis in it??? Impressive eh?
And on that note I will stop right there! :-)
Monday 21 March 2011
Third time's a charm?
OK I must really change the title of this blog to Tennis Bloggy Blog Blog, as its just about the only thing I natter about on it! But I won't change it.
Well I made a mistake as I thought the Sony Ericcson Open Masters in Miami started next week, its actually this week. So it starts as usual with the qualifying rounds before the big players come in, so nothing to write home about yet.
But I thought I would say a bit more about our side of the fence's number 1, Andy Murray, or Rusty Murray as he was nicknamed on Wikipedia (his article was hacked of course!). As we know after his finals defeat at the Aussie Open, his singles tennis has been far from kind to him, he has fared better in doubles with his brother Jamie, but his main area of expertise is really lacking just now. Its a worry frankly, but I'm hoping he can pull his finger out and regroup for the Miami tournament, but with Novak Djokovic winning everything in sight so far, its going to be virtually impossible for him to take back this title like he did two years ago (against Djoko no less!). But even if he can pull it together to win a few matches, and get himself to the quarters or even semi final then it would give Murray a boost to his singles game, which it desparately needs right now. Again its really a case Murray putting the defeats out of his mind and getting on with the present, and if he does that he will do well this year, although not as well as the Djoker, but you can't win em all! I noticed that Murray will be playing another unseeded qualifying player Alex Bogomolov in his 2nd round bye, will he allow himself to make the same mistakes this time? Hopefully not, Murray should have by now tried to take stock of what is going wrong in his game and try to sort it out, but again upsets of all kinds can happen in these tournaments.
Anyway I wish Andy the best of luck for this tournament, as I don't want to see him go out at the first hurdle again. So as the title of this post says, will the third time be a charm? Hope so for Murray's sake.
Well I made a mistake as I thought the Sony Ericcson Open Masters in Miami started next week, its actually this week. So it starts as usual with the qualifying rounds before the big players come in, so nothing to write home about yet.
But I thought I would say a bit more about our side of the fence's number 1, Andy Murray, or Rusty Murray as he was nicknamed on Wikipedia (his article was hacked of course!). As we know after his finals defeat at the Aussie Open, his singles tennis has been far from kind to him, he has fared better in doubles with his brother Jamie, but his main area of expertise is really lacking just now. Its a worry frankly, but I'm hoping he can pull his finger out and regroup for the Miami tournament, but with Novak Djokovic winning everything in sight so far, its going to be virtually impossible for him to take back this title like he did two years ago (against Djoko no less!). But even if he can pull it together to win a few matches, and get himself to the quarters or even semi final then it would give Murray a boost to his singles game, which it desparately needs right now. Again its really a case Murray putting the defeats out of his mind and getting on with the present, and if he does that he will do well this year, although not as well as the Djoker, but you can't win em all! I noticed that Murray will be playing another unseeded qualifying player Alex Bogomolov in his 2nd round bye, will he allow himself to make the same mistakes this time? Hopefully not, Murray should have by now tried to take stock of what is going wrong in his game and try to sort it out, but again upsets of all kinds can happen in these tournaments.
Anyway I wish Andy the best of luck for this tournament, as I don't want to see him go out at the first hurdle again. So as the title of this post says, will the third time be a charm? Hope so for Murray's sake.
The new sheriff in town
Welly welly well. Welly well well well. Or should I say Indian Welly Welly Well. OK to the point now.
The ATP Paribas Open 2011 tournament from Indian Wells California is now over and Novak Djokovic has just transformed from a top player into the tennis terminator, as he's just defeated Rafael Nadal in 3 sets at the Indian Wells, scoring 4-6 6-3 6-2. Its the first time he has beaten Nadal in any final and its certainly payback for his defeat at the US Open last year, but its an unbelievable result for the young Serbian, with an undefeated run since the beginning of the year, having won 20 matches. No one is safe now from the Djokoniator. I honestly thought Rafa might beat him but this was a real surprising turnaround, this is undoubtedly Djokovic's year and his time. Just as Nadal is the king of clay, Djokovic is now the king of the hard court. I bet Murray will be quaking in his boots right now, he might as well pray for an early exit in Miami, cos beating this man is now a seemingly impossible task. I've not seen anything like it since Federer in his heyday, who is a man who has now it seems past his best, although he did produce some fine tennis against Djokovic in the semi-final.
But the question now remains: can Djokovic dominate the other surfaces now? As we know Nadal is still the king of clay, so he will have to work pretty hard to defeat him, even on grass Roger Federer could make a resrugance, its hard to say, but if Djokovic can, he will be number 1 easily by the end of the year. Its a shame for Murray too, as he's worked so hard to try and win a grand slam, but I think Novak has ended that dream altogether for him, unless Djoky gets injured before a slam, then maybe he might get a chance, but its looking mega doubtful.
But I have to say a big well done to Djokovic, he has proved himself to be a truly great player this year alone, his country winning the Davis Cup, winning the Australian Open, victory at Dubai and now Indian Wells, its best the start to a year one player could ever have dreamed of. Novak said after his Aussie win, he is a tennis player and he believes in the dream, and he has certainly proved it. Doubtless he will win at Miami as well, the hard court season is his, we'll see how the rest of the year pans out for him, but I think things are looking ultra bright for the Djoker.
On a final note of the Indian Wells tournament, I was really pleased to see Alexandr Dolgopolov take his first tennis title with Xavier Malisse, winning the men's doubles against the Swiss team Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka. The two of them went on an unstoppable run of their own, defeating all the top singles players playing doubles enroute including the world best doubles players, the Bryan brothers, as well as the Murrays, and finally Roger and Stan. It was a big win for a first title, so well done to the Dog, he is up and coming too.
Moving onto the WTA tennis at Indian Wells, Caroline Wozniacki took her first title there in the woman's single finals. I must admit I wasn't so keen to watch the final because I thought it would be a pushover for Wozniacki as most of her matches appear to be, so I thought it would be a short and disappointing final, but it was actually far from it, as it was stretched to a 3 set battle packed with some terrific rallies, the match lasting 2 hours and 8 minutes. In fact it was so good I thought the much anticipated Nadal vs Djokovic showdown paled in comparison. In the final Caroline faced off a very tough opponent in Marion Bartoli, who after blowing her off the court in the first set, Bartoli came back into the game and blew Wozniacki off the court in the second set! Leaving the world number 1 needing to dig down and fight back in the 3rd set, where she battled it out with a tired but still game Bartoli, with the final result 6-1 2-6 6-3. It was good to see Caroline earn her title as I always felt a bit frustrated by seeing some of her easy winnings in the past, but with more at steak, the opponents will take up the fight and it certainly was a great match, in fact it was one of the best matches I've seen this year so far, so well done to Caroline. One advantage I must say the runners up of the men and woman singles have is at least they don't have to hold that massive bloody glass trophy as it looks like it weighs a ton!!
I also really admired Marion Bartoli's battle and her tennis play throughout the tournament has been pretty strong so it was good to see her in a final as prestigious as the BNP Paribas Open. Unfortunately for Marion, Caroline was a much fitter more agile opponent but she put up a great fight and I'll certainly be watching her with interest from now on. I also really like her style of playing which is very unorthodox, she always uses a two handed forehand and backhand, fires shots with great speed and aggression at different angles, as well as her quirky on court behaviour such as jumping up and down on the spot, swinging her racquet, and her unusual but very balletic serve. Which is another great thing about Bartoli and players similar to her who are unorthodox in style, such as Gael Monfils, Alexandr Dolgopolov, they bring something fresh and interesting to tennis, which is always welcome.
Anyway enough of my tennis ramblings. More will doubtless follow when the Sony Ericsson Open rears.
The ATP Paribas Open 2011 tournament from Indian Wells California is now over and Novak Djokovic has just transformed from a top player into the tennis terminator, as he's just defeated Rafael Nadal in 3 sets at the Indian Wells, scoring 4-6 6-3 6-2. Its the first time he has beaten Nadal in any final and its certainly payback for his defeat at the US Open last year, but its an unbelievable result for the young Serbian, with an undefeated run since the beginning of the year, having won 20 matches. No one is safe now from the Djokoniator. I honestly thought Rafa might beat him but this was a real surprising turnaround, this is undoubtedly Djokovic's year and his time. Just as Nadal is the king of clay, Djokovic is now the king of the hard court. I bet Murray will be quaking in his boots right now, he might as well pray for an early exit in Miami, cos beating this man is now a seemingly impossible task. I've not seen anything like it since Federer in his heyday, who is a man who has now it seems past his best, although he did produce some fine tennis against Djokovic in the semi-final.
But the question now remains: can Djokovic dominate the other surfaces now? As we know Nadal is still the king of clay, so he will have to work pretty hard to defeat him, even on grass Roger Federer could make a resrugance, its hard to say, but if Djokovic can, he will be number 1 easily by the end of the year. Its a shame for Murray too, as he's worked so hard to try and win a grand slam, but I think Novak has ended that dream altogether for him, unless Djoky gets injured before a slam, then maybe he might get a chance, but its looking mega doubtful.
But I have to say a big well done to Djokovic, he has proved himself to be a truly great player this year alone, his country winning the Davis Cup, winning the Australian Open, victory at Dubai and now Indian Wells, its best the start to a year one player could ever have dreamed of. Novak said after his Aussie win, he is a tennis player and he believes in the dream, and he has certainly proved it. Doubtless he will win at Miami as well, the hard court season is his, we'll see how the rest of the year pans out for him, but I think things are looking ultra bright for the Djoker.
On a final note of the Indian Wells tournament, I was really pleased to see Alexandr Dolgopolov take his first tennis title with Xavier Malisse, winning the men's doubles against the Swiss team Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka. The two of them went on an unstoppable run of their own, defeating all the top singles players playing doubles enroute including the world best doubles players, the Bryan brothers, as well as the Murrays, and finally Roger and Stan. It was a big win for a first title, so well done to the Dog, he is up and coming too.
Moving onto the WTA tennis at Indian Wells, Caroline Wozniacki took her first title there in the woman's single finals. I must admit I wasn't so keen to watch the final because I thought it would be a pushover for Wozniacki as most of her matches appear to be, so I thought it would be a short and disappointing final, but it was actually far from it, as it was stretched to a 3 set battle packed with some terrific rallies, the match lasting 2 hours and 8 minutes. In fact it was so good I thought the much anticipated Nadal vs Djokovic showdown paled in comparison. In the final Caroline faced off a very tough opponent in Marion Bartoli, who after blowing her off the court in the first set, Bartoli came back into the game and blew Wozniacki off the court in the second set! Leaving the world number 1 needing to dig down and fight back in the 3rd set, where she battled it out with a tired but still game Bartoli, with the final result 6-1 2-6 6-3. It was good to see Caroline earn her title as I always felt a bit frustrated by seeing some of her easy winnings in the past, but with more at steak, the opponents will take up the fight and it certainly was a great match, in fact it was one of the best matches I've seen this year so far, so well done to Caroline. One advantage I must say the runners up of the men and woman singles have is at least they don't have to hold that massive bloody glass trophy as it looks like it weighs a ton!!
I also really admired Marion Bartoli's battle and her tennis play throughout the tournament has been pretty strong so it was good to see her in a final as prestigious as the BNP Paribas Open. Unfortunately for Marion, Caroline was a much fitter more agile opponent but she put up a great fight and I'll certainly be watching her with interest from now on. I also really like her style of playing which is very unorthodox, she always uses a two handed forehand and backhand, fires shots with great speed and aggression at different angles, as well as her quirky on court behaviour such as jumping up and down on the spot, swinging her racquet, and her unusual but very balletic serve. Which is another great thing about Bartoli and players similar to her who are unorthodox in style, such as Gael Monfils, Alexandr Dolgopolov, they bring something fresh and interesting to tennis, which is always welcome.
Anyway enough of my tennis ramblings. More will doubtless follow when the Sony Ericsson Open rears.
Saturday 19 March 2011
Acting and guess what? Yep, tennis!!!
OK acting first cos my tennis paragraphs always are bigger, and yes I know its become a real obssession of me, or OTD if you like, but I'll try make the tennis one a bit shorter (well no one is reading this anyway, that I know if that is!).
So yesterday I helped Richard Pears, who of course directed Abigail's Party and The Glass Menagerie in the Patter Merchants drama group, with filming a short coporate video for a friend of his Del Shields, who works for Dell (Del of Dell eh?). The video I think is about trying to make Dell sales people or staff to be aware of the customer's needs when it comes to IT solutions in their business, and I was a plumber with a small business looking to expand, and in the next scene I am dressed as a businessman (still the plumber) who's business has grown. Now this video all in all wouldn't be more than 5 minutes in total, but by heck it was one tough shoot for me, since I've not done any acting in front of the camera before (although it was just a wee digicam). I wasn't so worried about the camera being there, morely about trying to remember my lines!! As every time I got to a certain paragraph or sentence I lost the thread, so it was a case of one hundred takes at least (well maybe not quite but couldn't be far off!). All in all it took over four hours for me to be able to finally deliver all the stuff Richard needed, so it was the toughest thing by far I've done in acting yet! Despite that it was fun to do and a good challenge to finally do some acting in front of the camera, so best of luck to Del and Richard with their video, I might end up on TV yet (big gulp!!!).
Anyway onto the tennis with the ATP/WTA Indian Wells Masters now into the semi finals for the ATP and the soon the upcoming finals for the WTA. First the ATP which saw the first quarter finals get under way with Novak Djokovic taking on Richard Gasquet, who gave Djoky a little bit more trouble than his previous opponents, with a straigh sets defeat of 6-2 6-4, but it was still as comfortable win for Novak. And in the other quarter final Roger Federer successfully took on his fellow Swiss friend Stanislas Wawrinka, whom he comfortably defeated in straight sets 6-3 6-4, ironically his game took just over an hour, as Djoky's took 1 hour 35 minutes! So that sets up a very intruiging semi final between Fed and Djok, with the odds stacked in Djokovic's favour I have to say since he's beaten Federer in their last two meetings but who knows. Also Nadal faces next the resurging Del Potro, which could be a very tough match for Nadal, infact this could be one of the most exciting matches of the tournament if it goes the distance, it also could be a replay of the US Open 2009 if Del Potro beats Nadal and Federer makes it into the final. If so could Del Potro win this time too?? We'll see.
Onto the the WTA, Caroline Wozniacki again comfortably breezed through to the finals against Maria Sharapova, winning in 6-1 6-2, much as I appreciate Wozniacki's skill, her one sided matches can be boring to watch as she doesn't have enough tight matches to really challenge her. Marion Bartoli is set to take her on in the final, but as I remember in Dubai, Wozniacki steamrolled over her, which means this could be another quick Wozniacki demolition job, which could make for another one sided match, I hope not cos it would be great to see Bartoli really take her on. But we shall see.
Right that is enough for now.
So yesterday I helped Richard Pears, who of course directed Abigail's Party and The Glass Menagerie in the Patter Merchants drama group, with filming a short coporate video for a friend of his Del Shields, who works for Dell (Del of Dell eh?). The video I think is about trying to make Dell sales people or staff to be aware of the customer's needs when it comes to IT solutions in their business, and I was a plumber with a small business looking to expand, and in the next scene I am dressed as a businessman (still the plumber) who's business has grown. Now this video all in all wouldn't be more than 5 minutes in total, but by heck it was one tough shoot for me, since I've not done any acting in front of the camera before (although it was just a wee digicam). I wasn't so worried about the camera being there, morely about trying to remember my lines!! As every time I got to a certain paragraph or sentence I lost the thread, so it was a case of one hundred takes at least (well maybe not quite but couldn't be far off!). All in all it took over four hours for me to be able to finally deliver all the stuff Richard needed, so it was the toughest thing by far I've done in acting yet! Despite that it was fun to do and a good challenge to finally do some acting in front of the camera, so best of luck to Del and Richard with their video, I might end up on TV yet (big gulp!!!).
Anyway onto the tennis with the ATP/WTA Indian Wells Masters now into the semi finals for the ATP and the soon the upcoming finals for the WTA. First the ATP which saw the first quarter finals get under way with Novak Djokovic taking on Richard Gasquet, who gave Djoky a little bit more trouble than his previous opponents, with a straigh sets defeat of 6-2 6-4, but it was still as comfortable win for Novak. And in the other quarter final Roger Federer successfully took on his fellow Swiss friend Stanislas Wawrinka, whom he comfortably defeated in straight sets 6-3 6-4, ironically his game took just over an hour, as Djoky's took 1 hour 35 minutes! So that sets up a very intruiging semi final between Fed and Djok, with the odds stacked in Djokovic's favour I have to say since he's beaten Federer in their last two meetings but who knows. Also Nadal faces next the resurging Del Potro, which could be a very tough match for Nadal, infact this could be one of the most exciting matches of the tournament if it goes the distance, it also could be a replay of the US Open 2009 if Del Potro beats Nadal and Federer makes it into the final. If so could Del Potro win this time too?? We'll see.
Onto the the WTA, Caroline Wozniacki again comfortably breezed through to the finals against Maria Sharapova, winning in 6-1 6-2, much as I appreciate Wozniacki's skill, her one sided matches can be boring to watch as she doesn't have enough tight matches to really challenge her. Marion Bartoli is set to take her on in the final, but as I remember in Dubai, Wozniacki steamrolled over her, which means this could be another quick Wozniacki demolition job, which could make for another one sided match, I hope not cos it would be great to see Bartoli really take her on. But we shall see.
Right that is enough for now.
Tuesday 15 March 2011
Bugsy, wee bit a acting and more tennis!
Not feeling so well today think I picked up some kind of bug (its hard to know just what bugs they are!), as I had an upset stomach earlier on, I feel a bit better now but my head still feels not quite right, so I think I will stay off work tomorrow. Unfortunately that means I will need to cancel my exam for the A+ Practical Applications course, which I was hoping to get out of the way, but I guess needs must and its better to sit and pass it when I feel better.
On the acting side things are a bit busier again as I've got a part in a play coming up with the theatre group Estrado, as they are putting on an adaptation of playwright Jim Cartwright's play Road. Road was originally based in Thatcher's England back in the 80s and how the lives of the unemployed felt totally disaffected by the government. Its a big cast with over 35 people in it, so I'm very much looking forward to taking part in it, as I will be playing the part of McVay, a nosy cantankerous neighbour, probably much like a younger version of Mr Heckles from Friends (except he has a wife of course and is probably much dimmer). But anyway rehearsals will start very soon so it should be fun. Also I will be helping out my ol Patter Merchants director, Richard Pears with a short coporate video he's making for a friend, so I've to do that hopefully this Friday, which will make my first foray into acting in front of the camera. Yikes! Just hope I feel better enough to do it by then.
Finally onto more tennis coverage, I've been watching it once again. There have been quite a few good matches, a few upsets along the way too lately. Robin Soderling for example was knocked out yesterday by the German player Philipp Kholschreiber, today Jelena Jankovic the defending champion for the ladies title has been knocked out by fellow-ess Serbain Ana Ivanovic, and finally Kim Clijsters has retired from the tournament due to a shoulder injury while playing Marion Bartoli. But one man who is almost certain to win this tournament and in the singles matches hasn't even dropped a set yet is Novak Djokovic. To say that Djokovic has been on form ever since his victory at the Australian Open is an understatement, I've never seen Djoky play so confidently or aggressively since before this year. His last two matches at Indian Wells has seen him utterly crush his opponents, with his latest win over Ernests Gulbis he steamrolled over him with a 6-0 6-1 win and the same again against his doubles partner and compatriot Victor Troicki in 6-0 6-1. I think its a safe bet that Djokovic might take the Indian Wells title, but it remains to be seen, he will overcome Federer I'm sure, but he might end up playing Rafa in the final or even the returning to form Del Potro, although Djoky is playing so well I don't think Del Potro would upset him too much, whatever way it goes it will interesting to see how it turns out.
And that's enough for noow.
On the acting side things are a bit busier again as I've got a part in a play coming up with the theatre group Estrado, as they are putting on an adaptation of playwright Jim Cartwright's play Road. Road was originally based in Thatcher's England back in the 80s and how the lives of the unemployed felt totally disaffected by the government. Its a big cast with over 35 people in it, so I'm very much looking forward to taking part in it, as I will be playing the part of McVay, a nosy cantankerous neighbour, probably much like a younger version of Mr Heckles from Friends (except he has a wife of course and is probably much dimmer). But anyway rehearsals will start very soon so it should be fun. Also I will be helping out my ol Patter Merchants director, Richard Pears with a short coporate video he's making for a friend, so I've to do that hopefully this Friday, which will make my first foray into acting in front of the camera. Yikes! Just hope I feel better enough to do it by then.
Finally onto more tennis coverage, I've been watching it once again. There have been quite a few good matches, a few upsets along the way too lately. Robin Soderling for example was knocked out yesterday by the German player Philipp Kholschreiber, today Jelena Jankovic the defending champion for the ladies title has been knocked out by fellow-ess Serbain Ana Ivanovic, and finally Kim Clijsters has retired from the tournament due to a shoulder injury while playing Marion Bartoli. But one man who is almost certain to win this tournament and in the singles matches hasn't even dropped a set yet is Novak Djokovic. To say that Djokovic has been on form ever since his victory at the Australian Open is an understatement, I've never seen Djoky play so confidently or aggressively since before this year. His last two matches at Indian Wells has seen him utterly crush his opponents, with his latest win over Ernests Gulbis he steamrolled over him with a 6-0 6-1 win and the same again against his doubles partner and compatriot Victor Troicki in 6-0 6-1. I think its a safe bet that Djokovic might take the Indian Wells title, but it remains to be seen, he will overcome Federer I'm sure, but he might end up playing Rafa in the final or even the returning to form Del Potro, although Djoky is playing so well I don't think Del Potro would upset him too much, whatever way it goes it will interesting to see how it turns out.
And that's enough for noow.
Sunday 13 March 2011
Achhh Murrayyyy!!
Dear oh dear, well that's another great upset for British tennis this weekend with Andy Murray again struggling to keep his head above board by losing in straight sets in his first match at the Indian Wells Masters, having been defeated by the unseeded Donald Young by 6-7 3-6.
Already I can see a familiar pattern to last year after Murray suffered his first defeat at the Australian Open final to Roger Federer, although this year Murray says he is in better frame of mind than he was last year, and judging by interviews I've seen he does appear to be. But it hasn't helped with his game, having both crashed out in Rotterdam and now Indian Wells it really makes you wonder about Murray and how well did he take his defeat at the Aussie open. He had said that while working with his trainers that he has changed a few small things in his game and tactics, but obviously they didn't work, which brings back the old maxim: if ain't broke don't fix it!
I do sincerely hope Murray can come back from this sudden slump, its the Miami Masters in two weeks time, but if he falls again at the first hurdle it really will be worrying for him not only that it could affect his world ranking and see him plummet out of the top 10 into the 100 even. On a more positive note though he has been performing well as a doubles player as he got to the semi final of the Rotterdam tournament with Jamie Murray last month, and already they have won their first two games at Indian Wells, which means they are now into the quarter finals, maybe they can do better here as well, it would really be satisfying if they managed to claim the tournament trophy for the doubles, probably not but you never know, it would also be a nice comeback against been defeated by Rafa and Djokovic, should Andy (with Jamie) face either of them in the next doubles meetings and defeat them! But again we'll just need to wait and see.
But Murray hasn't been alone in the knockout department, David Ferrer, the world number 6 also has been knocked out in his first singles match at Indian Wells, in addition to that were two players within the top 20, Jo-Wilfred Tsonga and Marcos Baghdatis. But its Murray belief system on court that really needs re-examining, whether he is defeated in a grand slam or a masters tournament he just needs to press on and not let it get to him and affect his game. Perhaps he can sort himself out for Miami in two weeks time, but frankly who knows? One thing we know for certain is Murray despite a few lapses is without a doubt a top player and one of the best British players in the history of the game, and while he hasn't won a major, he has made 3 grand slam finals and he has won 6 ATP Masters titles, which is more than most British players have won in their lifetime. In fact its more than most of the top 10 players just now, Soderling has only won one, Tsonga one, Ferrer none, Berdych one and so on, it does show the guy has undeniable talent, but winning a grand slam is sheer pressue for any top player no matter how good they are. Anyway regardless Murray hopefully will regroup for Miami. So watch this space.
One good piece of news from the Indian Wells tournament was seeing the growing resurgence of Juan Martin Del Potro, as he successfully defeated last year's defending champion Ivan Ljubicic in 3 sets, which shows gentle Argentinian giant coming back into the foreground. This could indeed be the start of a really good year for Del Potro, he could even possibly be within a shout of winning this tournament if he carries on the way he is playing, sealing his potential first Masters win. More space watching ahead. :-)
Another good bit of news is of course the WTA coverage of Indian Wells is on Eurosport ramorra so I can start watching that, it would be good to follow the mens tennis but sadly I don't have Sky Sports, but I'm sure the ladies tennis will be just as good to watch. So yet more space watching looms.
Anyhoow I'm looking forward to the remainder of this tournament to see how it pans out, can Del Potro win the singles? Can the Murray brothers take the doubles trophy? We'll see, stranger things have already happened. So watch.... ok that's enough!
Already I can see a familiar pattern to last year after Murray suffered his first defeat at the Australian Open final to Roger Federer, although this year Murray says he is in better frame of mind than he was last year, and judging by interviews I've seen he does appear to be. But it hasn't helped with his game, having both crashed out in Rotterdam and now Indian Wells it really makes you wonder about Murray and how well did he take his defeat at the Aussie open. He had said that while working with his trainers that he has changed a few small things in his game and tactics, but obviously they didn't work, which brings back the old maxim: if ain't broke don't fix it!
I do sincerely hope Murray can come back from this sudden slump, its the Miami Masters in two weeks time, but if he falls again at the first hurdle it really will be worrying for him not only that it could affect his world ranking and see him plummet out of the top 10 into the 100 even. On a more positive note though he has been performing well as a doubles player as he got to the semi final of the Rotterdam tournament with Jamie Murray last month, and already they have won their first two games at Indian Wells, which means they are now into the quarter finals, maybe they can do better here as well, it would really be satisfying if they managed to claim the tournament trophy for the doubles, probably not but you never know, it would also be a nice comeback against been defeated by Rafa and Djokovic, should Andy (with Jamie) face either of them in the next doubles meetings and defeat them! But again we'll just need to wait and see.
But Murray hasn't been alone in the knockout department, David Ferrer, the world number 6 also has been knocked out in his first singles match at Indian Wells, in addition to that were two players within the top 20, Jo-Wilfred Tsonga and Marcos Baghdatis. But its Murray belief system on court that really needs re-examining, whether he is defeated in a grand slam or a masters tournament he just needs to press on and not let it get to him and affect his game. Perhaps he can sort himself out for Miami in two weeks time, but frankly who knows? One thing we know for certain is Murray despite a few lapses is without a doubt a top player and one of the best British players in the history of the game, and while he hasn't won a major, he has made 3 grand slam finals and he has won 6 ATP Masters titles, which is more than most British players have won in their lifetime. In fact its more than most of the top 10 players just now, Soderling has only won one, Tsonga one, Ferrer none, Berdych one and so on, it does show the guy has undeniable talent, but winning a grand slam is sheer pressue for any top player no matter how good they are. Anyway regardless Murray hopefully will regroup for Miami. So watch this space.
One good piece of news from the Indian Wells tournament was seeing the growing resurgence of Juan Martin Del Potro, as he successfully defeated last year's defending champion Ivan Ljubicic in 3 sets, which shows gentle Argentinian giant coming back into the foreground. This could indeed be the start of a really good year for Del Potro, he could even possibly be within a shout of winning this tournament if he carries on the way he is playing, sealing his potential first Masters win. More space watching ahead. :-)
Another good bit of news is of course the WTA coverage of Indian Wells is on Eurosport ramorra so I can start watching that, it would be good to follow the mens tennis but sadly I don't have Sky Sports, but I'm sure the ladies tennis will be just as good to watch. So yet more space watching looms.
Anyhoow I'm looking forward to the remainder of this tournament to see how it pans out, can Del Potro win the singles? Can the Murray brothers take the doubles trophy? We'll see, stranger things have already happened. So watch.... ok that's enough!
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