City of Lights Part 6: Back from the brink

So Day 10 of the French Open saw more pulsating and electrifying tennis with the continutation of Andy Murray vs Viktor Troicki's 4th round match, Federer vs Monfils, Bartoli vs Kuznetsova and finally Schiavone vs Pavlychenkova.

We'll take these one at a time, starting with Andy's match which saw the deciding 5th set between his match with Viktor Troicki, it was a really topsy turvey encounter, with both players holding serve until 2-2 all and then it went all askew for Andy as he made some more unforced errors and double faults, leaving it wide open for Troicki to take the lead, which he did until it was 5-2.  At this point Troicki served for the match, but then Andy fought back and broke his serve, and then reeled off the next 4 games to take him to a miraculous victory, the final score being 4-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5.  This sees the second time that Andy has reached the quarter finals at Roland Garros, which is great, the first being in 2009.  At the end of the match Andy indeed looked a bit emotional as he sat down and put his head into his towel, possibly having a wee tear.  Overall it really was an incredible match and one of the toughest and most exciting of the year for Andy.  However he's out again tomorrow in his quarter final match against Juan Ignacio Chela, whom he has a perfect record against of 6-0, will tomorrow be Chela's first?  Hopefully not, as this week Andy has inspite his ankle injury pulled off a couple of miracles, so it will be interesting, and it may become Andy's first semi final if he wins.  Its getting that bit more interesting to see how far Andy can go in the tournament, if he meets Nadal who might be in poor form, he stands a good chance of getting to the final.  Could he win the French??? Maybe.  But he would be up against two very in form players in Djokovic and Federer and in Andy's current state it seems doubtful he could live up to playing at their level.  But he has already pulled off a couple of miracles already this week, so who knows?  Maybe that major silver trophy is awaiting him yet.  But if he drops his serve as much as he has already then hasn't got much of a chance, so we need to see a sharp improvement.

Another point also is Djokovic has had it quite easy this week, having a walkover into the semi finals has given him 4 days rest.  Whether or not this is a good thing or not I don't know, on one side he has plenty of rest and will be fit and fresh for Friday, but on the other, he hasn't had any match play, so perhaps that might affect his performance against Federer, who also hasn't dropped a set so far.  Who knows??

In another match, Francesca Schiavone faced a very spirited fight from the young Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.  Schiavone came back from a set down 1-6, and a break down in 1-4 in the second set to level things and break Pavly's serve to take the 2nd in 7-5.  In the third Schiavone stormed ahead until 3-0, but then Pavly fought back to make it 5-5 all, but again Schiavone found extra reserves to break her and took the match in 7-5.  Its great to see Schiavone play with such fire in her, she really has brought some of her best tennis to this tournament so far, as she is obviously so hungry and determined to defend her title, so best of luck with that.

In Federer vs Monfils match, it promised to deliver quite a bit.  However due to the very blustery conditions on court, it was a big struggle for both players, morely so for Gael Monfils who's serve continually broke down as served up 11 double faults.  As Mats Wilander said, Monfils had two opponents that day, Federer and the wind, and I think the latter was even worse!  In the end though it was Federer who held his composure and took the match in straight sets winning 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(3).  In fact Monfils did well taking it to a 3rd set tiebreak because he really did look down and out in the second set, but ultimately it was always going to be Federer that would prevail.

So next up for Fed is another mammoth challenge, as he hopes to derail the mighty Djokovic and end his unbeaten run?  Can he do it??? Judging by his current form quite possibly, but Djoko's confidence is off the charts so beating him is nigh impossible at the moment, however its not actually impossible, just very very difficult.  One way or another, it will be a thrilling match, and if Federer didn't drop sets up until now, he will start on Friday, but I think its going to be a real battle.

Onto the last match, which featured some of the best news of the day, as Marion Bartoli took on former French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and defeated her in two straight sets, winning in 7-6, 6-4.  It was great to see Marion go through as she's one of my favourite players and for her to win the match and reach the semi finals of the French Open for the first time was terrific.  Its also great for the home crowd, and without a doubt, Bartoli is playing the tennis of her life at the moment.  Next up for her is Francesca Schiavone, which will be another marathon battle I think, who will come out on top?? Who knows?? But if Bartoli wins she could come a strong favourite to win the title, which would be tremendous for France, but she maybe up against Sharapova, Azarenka or even Petkovic.  So no easy feat ahead of her but I wish all the best, but I also think it will be another teriffic battle. 

So more great tennis tomorrow, its getting near the finish line, and its heating up tomorrow will see Nadal vs Soderling, Murray vs Chela, Sharapova vs Petkovic and Li Na vs Azarenkna.  Its looking very exciting.

However I do have one main concern out of those matches, and no its not Andy and his ankle, its Rafa.  Rafa is in a worrying state just now, he's really lacking in confidence and tomorrow he faces Robin Soderling, who put him out of the French Open in 2009.  Rafa has also openly admitted that he isn't playing well enough to win the title, however he said if he plays well in his quarter final match it will give him more confidence.  But it doesn't look great from the defending champion whether or not he can pull through tomorrow we'll soon find out.  At least with Andy, despite some ropey match play, he's winning matches by showing guts, belief and determination, and that's something Rafa needs to show more of. 

Right that's all for the mo.

The Apprentices

Been catching up on some of the latest series of The Apprentice, which is into its 4th show I think unless I'm mistaken.  So far the series has been fairly entertaining but I really have to say the candidates this time really are a boring bunch with not much in the way of personality or humour.  I don't know if this is because Lord Sugar wants to cast more business like people with a no nonsense attitude in the show, rather have some jokers thrown in.  But the series really does benefit from its characters, but I guess after the sham with Stuart Baggs, Lord Sugar didn't want any bullshitters, so this time around its all a bit dour and down to business. 

Having said that there are still plenty of quips from Lord Sugar when he's berating the apprentices in the boardroom and the dry wit of Nick his right hand man is still very much present.  Also when they go out and about we meet some of the colourful public which helps take away from some of the more boring scenes with the apprentices just whittering on about business or whatever else. 

Speaking of the contestants might as well state my opinion about one or two of them, the big guy Vincent, who has the almost 80s style slick back hairdo, comes across a real arrogant knob.  Already he's gotten in trouble with some of the women for being brash, especially in one of the tasks a couple of weeks ago when he nearly wrench a phone out of Ellie's hand (but of whinger she is, if you ask me).  He also has an annoying habit of saying "sure" all the time, how far he will go in the programme I don't know.  Leon, the posh fella comes across as not too bad a guy, and is one of the rare contestants that exhibits little signs of a personality, although in his latest task of running a beauty business, he had a weird habit of leading his customers by the pinky!  Susan Ma, the young Asian girl, comes across a bit annoying and opinionated, although in the beauty I did feel a bit sorry for her as she was being ganged up on a bit.  But I'd say the best of the bunch so far would be the Irish fella Jim Eastwood, who comes across quite a nice guy, and quite a genuine grafter.  Whether or not he's the ideal man for Lord Sugar to be business partners with remains to be seen.  As this year its not about being offered a job to work for Lord Sugar its for to become a business partner in which Sugar will put in £250000 into their business.  Not a bad investment eh???

Anyway, I'll keep an eye on the series as it progresses, but overall as I said the contestants lack much interest so far, there are a few cross words but its hardly fireworks.  So we will need to see a bit of light heartedness come into the procedings.

So....

.... that....

 .... will do. (trying something different :-)). 

City of Lights Part 5: Yaheee and Het-ugghhhh!

If the title of my post confuses you (or anyone who might read this, that I haven't drawn any attention toward as this blog is actually more for my own personal amusement, but if anyone is reading it, feel free please!) it refers to the grunts of two tennis players that played today at the French Open.

The first un is the defending ladies champion of the French Open, Francesca Schiavone, who played today against Jelena Jankovic.  Up until now Schiavone had quite an easy time of things with her opponents, but beating Jelena is no easy feat as the current FO champion battled it out with the Serb for nearly 2 hour and 40 minutes before the Italian finally prevailed in 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.  But it once again showed Schiavone's sheer determination and class, Jankovic also provided some great quality tennis also as the two players shared out the breaks and kept on the pressure.  Its good to see Schiavone so motivated as well and so passionate out on court in Paris, as she really feels at home there and without a doubt she brought her best tennis to Roland Garros so far, she knows what it means to her to defend her title and she is going the right way about it.  Francesca was so pleased in fact at the end of the match she got on ground and kissed the clay, like she did last year after she won the title, well ok, Fran you're not quite there yet!  But well done to her.

The other player's grunt in the title of my post, of course belongs to Novak Djokovic who took on home fav Richard Gasquet.  However as I predicted it was a fairly straightforward win for Djoko as he beat Gasquet in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.  I didn't think somehow Gasquet had in it him to test Djokovic much anyway, to be fair he did play quite well for the first two sets, and he now and then fired out a few winners, but in the end he wasn't consistent and Djokovic was nothing but and that cost him the match.  So by the third Djokovic broke Gasquet quite easily and after that it was steamroller time and it saw Gasquet's gasket well and truly blown oot.  Next up for Djokovic is the Italian player Foginini who came through an epic 5 set battle against the Spaniard Albert Montanes, however Foginini suffered from leg cramps so what his state will be like by Tuesday is unsure, one way or another, the guy won't trouble Djoko too much.

A quick word about Federer who played his native bud Stan Wawrinka, who Federer beat relatively comfortably in 3 sets, although Stan did mount a mini battle in the 3rd set, as he was a break up but then Fed broke back to level it out 5-5, and then after that Federer took the set in 7-5.  So Federer will next face the winner of the David Ferrer and Gael Monfils match, which has been suspended until tomorrow but so far has itself proved to be a great match already into the 4th set, with Monfils leading 2 sets to 1 so far, in 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, 0-2.

And finally some more good news today for the French fans as the ladies French No.1 player Marion Bartoli made it into the quarter finals of the French Open for the first time in her career.  Unfortunately though it was the result of a retirement from her opponent Gisela Dulko who retired due to a thigh inury, but she's through and I'm sure she'll be pleased.  However Marion has been in great form throughout this tournament so far, and more impressively she also defeated in the previous round Julia Goerges who already has twice defeated Caroline Wozniacki on clay.  So to see Marion beat a player of Goerges's calibre was really quite impressive, especially on clay, so I wish Marion the best of luck for the remainder of the tournament as she is up against Svetlana Kuznetsova next, which will be a tough one.  And more recent developments on the women's draw, Andrea Petkovic is through to the quarter finals, as is Maria Sharapova who defeated Agnieszka Radwanska, and Li Na also who defeated Petra Kvitova, which saw Li Na get revenge for her defeat at Madrid.  Although at her post match conference she sounded a bit negative saying "I don't like clay courts, if you don't like the weather, the arena, and the surface, you still have to play".  Feck sake Li Na, you are only into the quarter finals of the French Open, not to mention she is the first Chinese woman to reach that far at Roland Garros.  Try and lighten up a bit and be more positive!!  It sounded like she didn't want to be there.  What if she won the title, would she give it back??? Anyway the Chinese No.1 is through. 

On the Muzza front, Andy after some practice play decided to play his 4th round match against Viktor Troicki the 15th seed.  And at the start it looked like a real disaster for Andy, as he was all over the place in the first set and was 0-5 down, but clawed it back to 4-6, and in the second he had a break but he squandered it and lost 4-6 as well.  In fact things looked pretty bleak for Andy, also I think his ankle was still troubling him, but at one point he wanted the strap taken off it.  But when things looked bad, Andy fought back in the 3rd set and took it 6-3, and in the fourth he maintained his momentum and took it 6-2.  But due to the light curfew at 9:30pm, play was suspended, so it will resume tomorrow, with both players having to play the final deciding 5th set.  It was quite incredible to watch Andy come back from 2 sets down, he has done it a few times before, but considering his injury, its quite remarkable, and by the time he got to the 4th set he had a lot more spring in his step.  So tomorrow sees the decider, I'm hoping and I am fairly certain Andy will win it, as he is the hungrier of the two players.  But Troicki is an excellent player as well, and I have to commend his great efforts.  So can't wait to see that one!   

So that's....... it!

One door closes...

Well that's the Estrado theatre play Another Road over with.  Overall I think the play was fairly well received by the audience, although to be honest I wish the audiences we had on the Saturday were a bit more responsive than they were, but they did give warm applause.  As a great audience can make all the difference to a show and when you get one for any show, it makes it quite special and you can feed off their energy also.


However I still cannot help but feel disappointed and underwhelmed by my experience with the play, mainly of course because my McVay scene was cut completely due to timing reasons, which is a shame is it has been quite a pleasant experience up until then.  But I do think some room could still have been made for it, and the concerns over the lack of projection for my scene partner Sabina I think are somewhat irrelevant as I heard feedback from people I knew that some of the cast couldn't be heard that well either.  I would never insult anyone in the cast though as its very bad form to do that, although I do think certain scenes were stronger than others, and just perhaps if one or two were dropped they wouldn't necessarily be missed.  I don't say that to be nasty, but overall even with the cuts that were made to the play, it was still a bit too long as it still ran for about 2 hours and 30 minutes.


And to have my scene cut from the play on the day of the opening night just made me feel so demoralised, and it hardly instills you with a lot of confidence when you go on.  It just starts to feel like a thankless task.  But I guess no matter how small the part, there is always the chance audience members can still pick up on the nice little details from the smaller parts, and I did hear a nice bit of feedback to that effect about the McVays last night.  In a way the smaller parts can be a lot more fun, which I actually found to my pleasure when we did Measure for Measure at the Ramshorn.  It is difficult to cater for a large cast and to please everyone, but I also think with this play there was a lack of preparation and organisation, if they could have managed to run a few full rehearsals beforehand it would have allowed to see what scenes could stay or go.  The play itself had 25 scenes, and overall that's just way too many. 

Despite my disappointments there were still some really good moments in the play and fine scenes.  Some of the favourites included Martin Haddow's monologue as Maynard, a crazed skinhead who rants about politics and fighting strangers, and without a doubt has my favourite line in the play "you just keep taking the cuts! Cuts cuts cuts CUNTS!!!" (forgive the language).  Just think of an intellectual Bebgie and that's you there.  Other scenes such as the chip shop scene with the phoney Italian Girgio were very funny, which ends with the two girls Dora and Lana rowing with each which was also funny and got the biggest laugh from the audience.  Marianna Mok's monologue as the Chinese girl Wing, was also funny too as she observes the differences between Chinese and British cultures.  Also the scene between the mother and daughter, Brenda and Carol respectively was very funny too with some great dialogue from Carol (play by Valerie) who says to her mother "your tits look like two pages torn out of an F2 jotter!".  Of course the opening scene with the young couple Cathy and Mike, who are both ill with malnutrition and are lying in bed is quite powerful albeit very heavy going, but both Stewart and Jennifer give great performances.  I also quite liked my short scenes with the McVays, unfortunately one of them was cut too due to a lack of preparation and rehearsal.  But of course ironically the scene I enjoyed most that I was in was the disco scene with the DJ Bonkers and all the cast on the floor dancing away.  I hated rehearsing that scene but on stage it was alot of fun to do as it gave you more room to improvise and interact with the cast.   
 

But that's it over now and no doubt Estrado will be regrouping to start looking at their next production, so I will wait and see how that goes.  In the meantime we'll await the reviews of the play as some reviewers came along to see it on the Saturday performances, from the List and the Skinny and possibly one or two others.  I'm not too fussed if we get negative reviews but obviously it would be nice for the cast and crew if it is well received by the critics.  And that'll do it.

City of Lights Part 4: Twists and turns

Well day 6 of the French Open saw one or two interesting matches out on display, as we saw the continuation of the much anticipated Djokovic vs Del Potro match, and Andy Murray's match up with German player Michael Berrer.

Dealing with Andy's match first, he and Berrer got off to a good start in the first set as they both traded very entertaining rallies which later lead to Andy closing out the 1st set 6-2.  However in the 2nd set, near disaster struck as Andy rolled over his ankle while chasing down a drop shot, which forced him to take a medical timeout while his ankle was taped up and dressed.  Despite the injury, Andy was able to carry on and even more impressively he closed out the match with Berrer even with the opportunity to take full advantage of Andy's lack of mobility, Berrer couldn't win it.  Although Berrer later said in a post match interview that he decided not to play drop shots against Andy as he felt bad about his injury and didn't want to exploit the injury.  But I think Berrer also showed incredible sportmanship by doing that, and showed much consideration toward his injured opponent.  Unlike Andy himself in that situation he would have used drop shots to close out the match (like he did with Gilles Simon in Monte-Carlo), but then again alot of players would, such as Ferrer (not B!) and Djokovic to name but two.  Anyway Andy in the meantime will assess the damage and potential risk of his ankle injury and see if he feels fit enough to play his next opponent Viktor Troicki in the 4th round.  Hopefully he will, as it would be a great shame to see him go out early in the tournament, he also has some time on his side as he isn't due out on court until Monday.

So for the second match of the day, the much hyped encounter between Delpo and Djoko resumed after a delay from last night due to limited light, which saw the match as 1 set all.  Unfortunately the promises of the match delivering more exciting stuff largely didn't live up to its expectations, mainly due to the simple fact that Djokovic did what he always does, upped his game and took it to Del Potro, winning in 4 sets in 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.  However it was far from an overall letdown as the big guy still managed to force Djokovic to drop a set, which is more than more players have done, so that makes the 10th set Djoko has dropped so far this year.  It also shows that Del Potro while he himself admitted he isn't quite back to his best yet, he can take on the top players and give them a match, especially the world's best player.  Like Andy, Delpo isn't quite ready yet to beat Djokovic, but that day might come in the future.  But I have to say I was quite annoyed at the French crowds booing outside the gates as the change of court due to the Wawrinka/Tsonga match over running, which went on during the Djokovic Delpo match, and it was above all else very distracting for the players as well, even Djokovic asked the umpire to find out what was going on at one point.  But it was of course because they wouldn't let the people in to see the match, so I guess its natural they were unhappy, and well they are French and they just love to boo!!!  

Speaking on that subject, Rafa today played his first impressive and convincing match as he beat Antonio Veic, a Croatian qualifier in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3, 6-0.  It seems almost like the further he goes into the tournament the easier his opponents get, until of course he reaches possibly Andy Murray (if Andy get's that far) and possibly Djoko in the final.  However I don't think we can even begin to dismiss Federer, who I have to say so far has been playing immensely well at the French Open.  I would almost go as far as to say his performance has been even more impressive than Djokovic's so far!  If Federer keeps this state of play up, he could beat Djokovic, should they meet and most likely will in the inevitable semi final.  But we are talking about the man who has forgotten how to lose, can Federer even in his current form beat him???  If he maintains his current level of play and if it is equal that of his performance at the ATP Tour World Finals last year, he will beat Djoko.  But the Djoker is not the same player he was last year and therein lies the question, but it would make for a nice symmetry if it was Federer who was the last man to defeat Djokovic before his current form became the very man to end his winning streak.  And on that task I wish him the best of luck, cos he will need it.  

But of course there is also Rafa, who still is the king of clay, despite his two clay defeats from the Djokinator, should they meet in the final, I think Nadal will push Djokovic all the way, and maybe there is a chance Rafa could still win.  I personally would very much like to see Rafa win, but I wouldn't mind seeing Federer beating Djokovic to reach the final, which would also set up an exciting showdown encounter of its own between the Nad and Fed (or Rog and Raf).  It would also re-establish that old rivalry very nicely.  I would take a Djokovic defeat by Federer any day, but I would take Rafa win over Djokovic any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Anyway tomorrow sees some more interesting matches, Swiss buddies Roger and Stan will play each other, but we know who will win that one!  And Djokovic takes on top French player Richard Gasquet, but I think we know the winner of that one too!!  Its a shame if Gasquet gets straight set defeated by Djoker, as he has been playing some great tennis at this tournament so far, having many convincing victories, but it most likely will end tomorrow, as Novak will be poised to claim another scalp (he must onto his fifth scalp bag by now!!).  Hopefully Gasquet can give Djokovic a match as well, but something tells me it might be more straightforward.  But then again maybe not, Gasquet is no pushover either.  We shall find out!

Right that's enough!  Enough!! Enough!!! (Maynard mode off, character from the play Another Road, more on that later!).

Wee bit of pre-match tennis and some grumbling

Well today should an exciting day for the tennis as it sees the much anticipated match between Djokovic and Del Potro, it will be on later, so hopefully it will be an absolute belter.  Or then again it might be just a straight set blootering from the mighty Serb, we shall see, one thing is for sure, its gettin taped!

In other matches so far today, Federer had another convincing win against another Serb Janko Tipsaveric who he defeated in straight sets 6-1, 6-4, 6-3, making short work of the Serbian in just 1 hour and 30 minutes.  And as I type this (well later I will be typing more) Marion Bartoli is making a good headway in the 3rd set against Germany's Julia Goerges, who took the first set in 6-3, but Marion took the secon in 6-2.  But Goerges is a fighter so she might yet still come back from the brink.  Later on Caroline Wozniacki and Daniella Hantuchova will be playing as well, which should prove to be a testing match.  Earlier today Francesca Schiavone went through to the 4th round after Chinese seed Shuai Peng retired due to illness.  In fact I just seen the results for the Wozzer and Hantuchova match and in a real upset Caroline Wozniacki has been defeated in straight sets by Hanty in 6-1 6-3.  But it just shows time and time again that Caz just isn't a clay court player, it also puts into question her World No.1 ranking and is she really justfying it?  I mean all players have defeats but Caroline has had a habit of going out early especially on clay in the 3rd round or the quarter or semi finals.  But well done to Daniella so she will go through to the 4th round, as does Marion Bartoli who overcame Julia Goerges in 3 sets in 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. 

Right now time for a grumble about the play I'm in just now called Another Road.  When I started this play I had three small scenes to do, but as time went on the director decided to give my character McVay and his wife Mrs McVay (funnily enough) a full scene.  However as yesterday was the technical and dress rehearsal run, the director decided the play was running far too long, which of course it was, as it was well over 3 hours.  So as a result my scene has been removed altogether, which now means my presence in the play has been reduced to two little scenes, which means my presence in the play is now no more than a walk-on part.  So suffice to say I am a bit annoyed about this, and its not only my scene that has been cut, others have been cut too, again for timing purposes.  I frankly feel very fecked off and disappointed in this decision, but I do appreciate for timing reasons sacrifices have to be made, as the audience would drift off to sleep after 3 hours, but to do it at the last minute is just not on.  What should have been done is the play should have been timed much earlier so they could guage what could stay and what could go, but to be honest it has been a real disorganised mess.  I do also appreciate due to the scale and size of the play that they have had much difficulty in trying to get the cast altogether at the same time, which has also hampered rehearsals, so getting a full rehearsal done has been next to impossible.

But I'm still pissed off about this whole thing, to make such drastic last minute changes just shows a total lack of organisation, not to mention disrespect to the people who have put in hours of hard work on their scenes which have now had to be scrapped.  In the end the play has too many scenes in it, was too long and is too ambitious.  Next time they would do better to focus on a smaller play, as ensemble pieces as proved with this one can be a real nightmare.

So on that grumpy note I will leave it there, I hope no one reads this from the cast, but to be honest who cares?? (not much chance of that anyway!) You have to vent your spleen somewhere.

And that's alll fer noooowww!!

Clay City of Lights Part 3 Its gettin blustery!!!!!

Well day 4 and day 5 didn't see too much spectacular tennis on display, however both of those days did nonetheless have some interesting moments.

On Day 4 for starters, Djokovic and Federer both breezed through in straight sets against their opponents, although Djoko's opponent Victor Hanescu had to retire due to a thigh injury, which was a shame as he seemed to be playing well to begin with.  One great match which I didn't get to see however was Marion Batoli who took on Olga Govortsova in a real 3 set scrap, which saw Marion drop the 2nd set in a tiebreak, but she came back impressively in the 3rd and sealed the win in 6-4, 6-7, 6-2 in just shy of 3 hours.  Also quite good to see Bartoli out there on court so long, despite her injury last week in Strasbourg which cost her the title there to Petkovic, it shows Bartoli has good stamina, shame she didn't get a full chance to pitch that against Wozzer back in Indian Wells.

Other matches that day saw one or two upsets and a bit of drama, mainly on the woman's court.  To start off Caroline Wozniacki played her similarly surnamed opponent Alexandria Wozniack, which to start off appeared to be a fairly straightforward match but in the second Wozniack stepped up her game and pushed the World No.1 to a 2nd set tiebreaker.  In the tiebreaker things were going Wozniack's way (yep Alexandra not Caroline!) as she was 6-2 up in the tiebreak when all of a sudden, Caroline thought her serve was in but it was called out by the umpire, but Caroline refused to accept it and ended up arguing with the umpire, provoking the infamously fickle French crowd to boo her.  In the end Caroline had to get on with it, even with her dad shouting at her to get on with that match, and she won the tiebreak regardless as Wozniack's serves faltered, but Caz walked off the court receiving more boos from the crowd.

The other upset of day 4 saw World No.3 Vera Zvonareva who took on Sabine Lisicki of Germany.  Vera was a set down but came back into the second set and took it 7-5, and in the third set Lisicki again to appeared to have the advantage but Vera came back again and claimed the 3rd set 7-5.  This was also in part due to the fact that Sabine started suffering from leg cramps and dizziness which worsened in the 3rd set, so at the end of the match it saw her go down on her knees, sobbing, and having to be taken off court on a stretcher.   

So onto Day 5, which did see more upsets in the French Open.  For starters Kim Clijsters went out in a shock result as her opponent Arantxa Rus defeated her in 3 sets 6-3, 5-7, 1-6.  After the first set and despite being 5-1 up, Kim's game just completely disintegrated and she haemorraged more unforced errors than any other player on tour so far, at a record of 65!  I think though her loss might be attributed toward not enough match play, as this was her first return to the game since Miami in March, also she was trying to play on clay in an attacking way, which probably wasn't the right way for the surface.  Upsets on the men's side also saw top seeds Jurgen Melzer and Nikolai Davydenko go out too.

So onto the anticipated men's matches of the day, starting with Andy Murray who played the Italian qualifier Simone Bolelli, who Andy defeated in straight sets, however it was anything but easy, as the Italian made things very difficult for Andy.  Throughout Andy made many mistakes and dropped serve, however fortunately for him, Bolelli did the same thing, allowing Andy to break back when he needed to.  The blustery conditions on court also made things very difficult for the players to hit through the ball well without it changing direction.  But in the end after nearly 3 hours, Andy pulled through and took the match in 7-6(3), 6-4, 7-5.  It wasn't by any means Andy's best performance, but given the difficult windy conditions on the court, he did well to pull through the match in straight sets.   But it was a shame to see the other two British players, Elena Baltacha the ladies No.1 and Heather Watson the now No.2, go out in their second round matches against Kaia Kanepi and Ivana King respectively.  But at least the Muzza is still in the mix, next up he plays Michael Berrer, a German player who beat Armand Clemaunt in 4 sets, no doubt it will be another test, but hopefully one that Murray can win. 
 
Next up Nadal went on court to face fellow Spaniard Pablo Andujar in what might have seemed a fairly easy match up after his epic 1st round battle with John Isner.  However Andjuar proved also to be quite a tricky customer, as he gave Nadal a bit of a headache, especially in the 3rd set where Nadal was trailing badly 1-5 down.  But Rafa being Rafa, did what he needed to do and stepped up his level to break back and make it 5-5 all, after the set went to a tiebreak and Rafa prevailed winning in 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(4).  Again it does raise questions over Rafa's ability and current performance in light of his recent defeats against Djokovic, which have certainly left him more vulnerable than before, as it has shown that he can be pushed alot more than he used to.  At this rate he is in danger of losing his throne as the king of clay, and if he is going to pull out a win against Djokovic, he's going to have to grind like he's never grinded before.  I think he will get to the final but the path he has taken to get there seems to be far from the easy one.  Hopefully Rafa can pick up things a bit more as he goes on, I just hope he doesn't receive a slew of these tests as it could leave him with less in the tank if and when he does reach the final.

Anyway that's enough for the last two days tennis at the French, while not spectacular, it has been interesting.  But tomorrow should be very interesting as there are quite a few promising not to mention tough matches ahead.  The most high profile one of course is Djokovic who faces the mighty Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro, who was the US Open 2009 champion.  Delpo has made quite a comeback so far this year, and I think this match might well be Djokovic's first true test at the French Open.  Can Delpo defeat the Djokster and end his unbeaten run??? Most likely not, but then again there have already been quite a few upsets at this tournament, and Del Potro is the sort of guy when he sees chances, he does seize them.  And if he played Djokovic in Rome and was in Murray's shoes, he would have beaten him.  But on the other hand, no matter how big the test is, Djokovic has time and time again proved so far this year to be unbeatable, and I don't think the mighty Del Potro will even stop him, but it should hopefully be quite a match.

Other very intersting matches tomorrow will include: the Wozzer (Caroline) vs Daniella Hantuchova, David Ferrer vs Sergy Stakhosky, Marion Bartoli vs Julia Goerges (real tough one to call, but I think Goerges might edge it), Richard Gasquet vs Thomaz Bellucci (the Brazillian Murray and Berdych beater in Madrid) and of course Shuai Peng vs Francesca Schiavone.  Schiavone so far has been really impressive at Roland Garros, she hasn't held back and has so far been blootering her opponents off the court, but Peng Shuai will be her first test, so it will be intersting.

And well that's a big post, so enough of that for now.

 

City of Lights Part 2: The king of clay lives to see another day

Day 3 of the French Open was quite an eventful one with plenty of interesting matches on the go.  But the main match of interest of the day was Rafa's first round match against the American giant John Isner.  Now on paper this match sounded like a breeze, but of course it was anything but.  What looked like a routine win for Nadal turned into an out and out battle with the Spaniard having to fight out of the tightest of tight corners to stay in the match and the tournament, as he came back from 2 sets down in the 2nd and 3rd, to eventually close out the win against the giant yank, in an epic result of 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 6-2, 6-4.  The big guy's serve did indeed post a serious threat to Rafa, but in the end when it came to a 5 set match, its always about stamina, and after 4 hours, Rafa had much more in the tank then the tall yank did, who ironically ran out of legs!!  (Funny eh??? ;-). 

This is the first Nadal has been pushed to a 5 set match on clay as well as at Roland Garros, and to have it happened in the opening match frankly is a worry.  I thought John Isner might give him a bit of match but I didn't realise just how far he would push Rafa out of his comfort zone.  Nevertheless on the basis of this, Rafa has shown time and time again his resilience to pressure from his opponents, with the exception of Djokovic, there hasn't been another player he hasn't been able to overcome on the tour so far this year, but that was a real close shave. But its funny to think just a year ago Rafa was imperious, winning 3 grand slams at the French, Wimbledon and the US Open, not to mention all 3 clay court Masters titles into the bargain, but this year he's traded places with Djokovic, he looks befuddled at what to do.

Nevertheless when it comes to the crunch I still think Djokovic will be still up against it should he and Rafa face each other in the final.  Djokovic might still come out on top, but he hasn't played Rafa before in a grand slam final on clay, and this is a different kettle of fish than winning a Masters title in two straight sets.  Rafa will dig as deep as he can and try to bring his game to the match.  Today by no means saw Rafa at his best, but what it did show is that he refused to go down without a fight, and he came through with his usual admirable display of determination and guts (or cojones should I say!).  Lets not forget at Wimbledon last year, Nadal also had two very tough 5 set matches in his 3rd and 4th round, and he still came through and went on to win the title.  So perhaps this might be the case with Nadal this year in the French Open, just maybe he can dig dig dig and get to win.  Or I might be totally wrong and Djokovic might straight set pummel him, but that's all waiting to happen, but I really think it won't be the case.  But I would really like to see the Spaniard lift the trophy at the end of tournament, and who knows it might just yet happen.  One way or another at this tournament Rafa has to sound out a warning to Djokovic saying if Djoko wants to win he's gonna have to fight.  But I'm sure with the big yin out his way, Rafa will focus on his game and play much better for the rest of the tournament.  Well he better! 

Anyway as for other matches today, Andy Murray came through in a relatively comfortable win in straight sets 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 against French qualifier Eric Prodon, who did give a little cause for discomfort for Andy by throwing him off his rhythym.  Andy loves to play his drop shots but for once he met his match with the Frenchman who outplayed him on that front.  Nonetheless Prodon lacked consistency and in the end he failed to push through, even though he was up a break in the 3rd set, Andy instantly broke back and closed out the remaining games to take the match.  So its quite a good start for Andy, perhaps not his absolute best tennis, but it did show promise, however he still needs to work on that serve if he wants any chance against the tougher players ahead.  Regardless I don't see Muzza winning the title, but it will be interesting to see how far he can go, and hope he does progress quite deep into the tournament, getting to the quarters or semis against Nadal would be terrific, but I don't see him going all the way.  Next up Andy faces another qualifier in the 2nd round, the Italian Simon Bolelli, who might prove to be an imposition to the Scot, but hopefully Andy will come through it. 

In other matches Robin Soderling came through against the young American Ryan Harrison in 4 sets, Fernando Verdasco came through also in 4 sets against Juan Monaco, and on the ladies side, Andrea Petkovic won in two tight straight sets against the Serb Jovovic in 6-4, 7-6(3).  Also British No.1 Elena Baltacha came through her first round match against Stephanie Sloane in straight sets also 7-5, 6-2, which was another good result for the Brits as she is the second woman to make the 2nd round of the French Open since 1994, just after Heather Watson the other day.  Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters also moved through quite comfily with minimal fuss.  Personally I think Sharapova is strong favourite to win this title, she still is up against some fine players such as Clijsters, Wozniacki, Azarenka and perhaps even maybe the darkhorse Julia Goerges.  But overall I think she has a strong chance, winning in Rome would also give her much confidence, and if nothing else this woman is totally determined to do it.  So it will be quite a match if she does get there.

So that's quite enough o all that fer the now.

Peace out.

Clay City of Lights Part 1

The second grand slam of the season, the French Open at Roland Garros Stadium has gotten well under way now, with it being the 2nd day into the tournament so far.

With the day 2 over, we've seen a lot of the big hitters come out to player already.  On Sunday there Sam Stosur was the first of the top female seeds to play as she easily went through in 6-2 6-3 against her opponent.  David Ferrer also similary went through with fair ease against Finnish  Jarko Nieminen in straight sets.

Today though saw quite a few of the big names out on court, Francesca Schiavone breezed through her first round in 6-2 6-0, as did Caroline Wozniacki against Kimm Date Krumm in just an hour wining 6-0, 6-2.  Novak Djokovic naturally also came through without much trouble against Thiemo De Bakker in 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 and Federer went through against the tricky Feliciano Lopez in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(3).  Another good result saw Juan Martin Del Potro win over a tough opponent in the massive Ivo Karlovich whom he defeated in 4 sets, Karlovich being 6ft 10inch even towered over the big Argentine, especially with his mostly unreturnable serve, but in the end Delpo cut him down.  And if Del Potro gets through to the 3rd round which he most likely will, he will face Djokovic, which should hopefully make for a very interesting match, can he stop Djokovic's winning streak?  Probably not, but it should be a good one!  Although one big upset today saw Tomas Berdych go out in the first round against a French qualifier Stephane Robert in an epic 5 set battle, as the frenchman finally prevailed against the Czeck in 3-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 9-7.

So tomorrow, the Muzza is in action as he gets his campaign started, first up he's playing another French qualifier, Eric Prodon, however will he have the same trouble Berdych had?  For Andy's sake I hope not, but he has been playing a whole lot better and I think his slump has been put well behind him.  If nothing else nearly defeating Djokovic and pushing him further than any player this year, will give Andy much confidence in the French, so hopefully he will breeze through tomorrow, or battle through, but I think he'll get there.  And of course, the king of clay, well until Sunday 7 June anyway at least, Rafa will be out on court tomorrow too, facing the big giant yank John Isner, should be an interesting match.  No doubt Rafa will beat him, probably in straight sets, although Isner being a big guy with a big serve makes him quite a difficult opponent, but Nadal should come through fairly unscathed.

Also on the ladies side, Maria Sharapova is out on court as is Kim Clijsters.  Kim has made a comeback since losing in Miami back in March, and is recovering from a ankle injury so we'll see how she get's on.  Also one of the best pieces of news today for the British players saw the new kid on the block, the 19 year old Heather Watson win her first round match on the clay against the French Stephanie Foretz Gacon in 7-6(6), 6-1, which makes her the first women to reach the second round of the French Open since 1994.  No bad eh??

Right that's enough fer now, since there are 14 days worth of tennis, I won't do 14 posts, so might do half that amount instead, just to save blog space.

So that's eeeet!

Always another road

I haven't blogged much at all about my acting activities for a while, mainly because I've been nattering way too much about tennis!! But on the acting side of course I have a part in a play that is coming up called Another Road, which is an adaptation of playwright Jim Cartwright's drama Road, written back in the early 1980s as an endictment against the Tory government of that time and how it effected the lives of the unemployed public.  So naturally now that we are under a similar government this is a rather timely play and will hit home with quite a few people.  The play also has its fare share of grimness and humour at the same time.

But it has been fun to be a part of, as the cast are all a nice bunch, and its good to be part of an ensemble cast as opposed to carrying the can for most of the play, which helps relieve the stress of taking part.  Being such as big cast has brought some complications of course, as over time the play has gone from having a cast of 35 down to 24, due to actors dropping out, having other commitments and so on.  Also the play in itself is quite long so also there has been some necessary trimming to certain scenes.  But thanks to our director Thom, everyone has been nicely catered for and given a nice scene, so there has been a good slice of the pie for everyone, unlike in some other plays where actors can be reduced to just a handful of lines and no more.

My part is of a grumpy neighbour, Jim McVay, who has grown discontent with his life, and shows nothing but disdain for his surroundings and everyone on the road get's a piece of his mind often!  McVay's wife, Ingrid, who is from Germany, always sees the brighter side of life, and has a sunnier disposition.  McVay pretty much does bare a similarity to Victor Meldrew, well they are both Scottish, mind you I am a fair bit younger and have more hair!  So in a same vein, McVay will provide some comic relief in the play in his smaller scenes which have been a lot of fun to do.  My main scene as McVay with his wife Ingrid (or Mrs McVay) has been a bit more challenging as it deals more with their relationship and lack of communication, as its all about Mrs McVay trying to get through McVay's defensive nature.  I guess it also humanises McVay's character a bit more and shows he isn't just purely a mean spirited git, although one of his other scenes, McVay does show a bit of concern for a young girl Karen, who is out flirting with people in order to ciggies, as he doesn't want to see her get hurt or in trouble.  In the end McVay is a decent guy but he has lost his way along the road, so to speak, but he is also basically a bit of a numpty, as well as good fun to play. :-)    

So I'm looking forward to performing the play as it starts this Friday 27 May up at Cottier Theatre and ends on Saturday 28 May, so it will be three performances in all, as the theatre was shut for several years, but since has been redone and will be open again, with our play I believe being the first show put on!

Of course Another Road will pull no punches in its display of modern day life, struggles, dispair, poverty and of course depravity!  So any one of a sensitive disposition may not fancy going along to it, however if you have the stomach for it, you will hopefully find much to enjoy.  The play is as I said not without humour and there are plenty of scenes of humour in there.  In a way it probably echoes Alan Bleasdale's Boys from the black stuff, although its not really too similar, but certainly it deals the same themes. 


So anyways that'll be it for now, I'll post up more when the play is under way.

New Who

Been meaning to blog up about the new Doctor Who series so far, starring Mr Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor.

And so far it has been not too bad, but to be honest I don't think so far this series has been as good as the previous one.  Somehow the stories are less appealing, and there is again that usual problem with the shows new format is that they have to cram everything into the one episode, rather than letting it develop like the old serials did over 4 episodes or more.  Regardless there have been some good moments in the new series and the regular cast are all fine.  Matt Smith is also starting to show a few more shades of vulnerability in his character, as was nicely displayed in the episode "The Doctor's Wife" when he meets a woman who has been absorbed with Time Lord energy, which lets her power a spare TARDIS for the Doctor.  The Doc's wife at the end expires and he has a tear in his eye. 

It also shows the Doctor wants to help fix his wrongs as is implied in the latest episode that was just on "The Rebel Flesh" in which the Doctor, Amy and Rory land on Earth in the future to find a group humans who have cloned themselves, but their clones run rampant and they are out to get one another.  This was a pretty good episode, which I enjoyed a bit more than some of the previous ones, it was also good to see Raquel Cassidy in the show, who played Susan Gately in the tv comedy series Teachers.  The human clones were also quite creepy the way they kept phasing in and out of their normal/abnormal appearance.  However it might be a bit scary for the younger kids this story, as the clones aren't for young yins eyes.  I'm sure this year they have tried to concentrate on making Doctor Who a bit more scary this year, and most likely it will be 12 rated when the DVDs come out.  The Rebel Flesh also has a pretty good cliffhanger, which promises for a good episode next week. 

So a rather short post, but I will keep an eye on the new Doctor Who episodes over the following weeks, although there will be only either 6 or 7 in the spring, and then probably another 6 in the autumn, just to help break up the season over the year a bit more evenly, which is fair enough.

So that's it for now.  More Time Lordy stuff to come.  

Steve Davis's cup and that T word once again

Well not long now till the French Open begins at Roland Garros stadium in Paris, which will be two weeks of fabulous tennis hopefully, plenty of 3 set battles on the ladies side, and 5 set epics on the guys side.  Who will emerge victorious??? We'll see!

It looks very interesting though, on the men's side of the draw, there are few tough customers, first off for Rafa there is the US giant John Isner, well shouldn't be too tough for the king.  Andy Murray will face a qualifier, we don't know who yet, but thankfully form wise he is miles above what he was back in those terrible days in his hard court season this year.  Another interesting and tough draw choice for Novak Djokovic is Juan Martin Del Potro, who might meet in the 3rd round.  The Argentine who has recently come back from a year off due to a wrist injury, has made a very impressive return to form himself, having already won two ATP 250 events in the USA at Delray Beach and Estoril in Portgual.  Already having won a grand slam himself at the US Open in 2009, Del Potro will be no pushover, but I'm fairly certain Novak will overcome him.  I quite liked BBC Scotland sports reporter Kheredine Idessane who interviewed Djokovic in Paris and said to him about his winning streak of 37 matches "This is getting ridiculous isn't it???".  

On the women's side of things not so sure of the draw as yet, although it was good to see Heather Watson, British world no.3 come through her qualifier matches to play in the French Open for the first time.  Elena Baltacha should be playing in the first round against qualifier Sloane Stephens and Caroline Wozniacki will play Kimiko Kate Drumm, a Japanese player who is the oldest on the tour, and is twice Caz's age!!  Kim Clijsters of course returns to the scene at the French Open too, which will be really good, as she had a torn ligament in her ankle after an injury when attending a wedding (perhaps she had one too many???) which since has been taped up and is on the mend.

Speaking of the women's tour, there was a really good match today between Caroline Wozniacki and Francesca Schiavone, as the two went head to head in the semi finals at the Brussels Open.  The two went at it, despite a slew on unforced errors on either side, Caroline prevailed in 3 sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.  Schiavone of course being the defending champion at Roland Garros, will be disappointed no doubt, but her form has been really up and down lately, so it remains to see how well she will do this year.  Tomorrow Caroline will face the Chinese player Shuia Peng who defeated Vera Zvonareva in straight sets 6-3 6-3, so I do predict a fourth title win on the cards for Caroline.  Good on her, as she has struggled in her last 3 clay court tournaments to get a win, obviously clay isn't her best surface, but hopefully she can do well this year at the French Open, and she did get to the quarter finals last year, so maybe she can do better this time.

On another WTA tournament in Strasbourg, which unfortunately isn't televised, Andrea Petkovic is through to the final and will play French nutter Marion Bartoli, both of which are two of my favourite players (plus Petko is a bit of a honey).  Just a shame I can't watch but I will follow scores on that one, as far as I know Petkovic has only won one title in her career so far, so this would make for a good second.  But Bartoli is no pushover throughout this tournament going by her results so far, she has straight set ploughed her way to the final, so has Petkovic for that matter until today when she had a tough match against Daniella Hantuchova.  But their final should be a tough one, so it will be a close call whoever wins and will be worth following.

Ahh and finally I got tickets to go to see the Davis Cup at Braehead Arena in July, so really looking forward to seeing it, as it will be the first tennis match I'll have seen live so to speak.  In the Davis cup event at Braehead, Great Britain will play a rubber round against Luxemborg, so I think its a case of each top player from both countries will player another, and there will be a doubles day in between.  To be honest I have no idea who the number 1 from Luxemborg is, and even more to the point I don't know if Andy will play at the event, as he usually hasn't showed up much in the past, so it will probably be Jamie Baker, the British number 2, who will play.  Britain aren't however in the world group, they are further down in the Europe/Africa zone, probably out where the bins are so to speak as Malcolm Tucker might say.  In otherwords there won't be much chance of Britain winning the Davis Cup this year!  But again when do win anything?????! :-( :-)

An update for the WTA tour in Brussels, the final between Caroline Wozniacki and Peng Shuai was a very good match and fierce battle from both players.  It also featured one of the best games I've seen in recent matches during the 3rd game in the second set, that gave Caroline the crucial lead she needed to get ahead after being a set down in the first.  In the end Cazza came through in 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, which means she now has 16 titles under her belt and its the 4th title of the year for her, so well done.  Its good to see her win after having struggled badly to win in the last three tournaments in Stuttgart, Madrid and Rome, so this should give Caroline a confidence boost going into the French Open.  Although at one point she did sustain a thigh injury in the 3rd set, but hopefully it won't be anything serious for her going into Roland Garros next week.

On the other WTA tournament in Strasbourg, Andrea Petkovic claimed her second title of her career as she won against Marion Bartoli who had to retire due to injury in 6-4 1-0.  Since I quite like Petko myself I was quite pleased to see her win, this will also give her much confidence going into the French Open.  The French Open for the women's tour is more exciting this year as there is no clear favourite who might win.  It could be Wozniacki, Sharapova, Clijsters, Azarenka (if she doesn't retire again) maybe even Schiavone, or someone else.  It is up for grabs and no one knows what will happen.  So it will be interesting to follow going into the next fortnight.

And that's it for now!! 

Smith.... Doctor John Smith

Yesterday after a fairly long wait I got the Doctor Who boxset Mannequin Mania, which came out last Monday, but play.com took a week to delivery it, but in retrospect I could have just went out to HMV and probably got it quicker for only a couple more quid!

But anyway I was quite pleased with the boxset as it includes two of Jon Pertwee's most enjoyable stories, his debut Spearhead from Space and his fifth story Terror of the Autons which introduce the UNIT family and Jo Grant.

Starting off with Spearhead from Space, its a classic story, which introduces Jon Pertwee as the Doctor in style, as at this point he is exiled to Earth by the Time Lords for tinkering about in the TARDIS too much and interferring with history.  During the story the Doctor gets involved in fighting off an alien invasion from the plastic baddies the Autons, who are controlled by a collective intelligence called the Nestenes.

This is a really good opener for the Pertwee era, it features a fine cast, and introduces of course Liz Shaw as played by Caroline John, his companion who is a highly intelligent and capable scientist.  Unlike most companions Liz hadn't as much need as the others to continually ask what was going on, and this did cause a bit of concern for Barry Letts (who at this stage was still to take over as producer of the show) as he felt it left less explanation to the viewers.  Nevertheless Liz is a strong companion and makes a welcome change from the screamers that the Doctor would have over the years.  On the supporting cast, it also features a fine performance from John Woodnutt as the weak minded Hibbert who allows the Nestenes to control his mind, and of course a very creepy and eeiry performance from Hugh Burden as the icy cold and calculating Channing.

Another couple of great successes of the story were that for a start the story was the only one to be shot entirely on film, which helped give the show a far more cinematic feel, not to mention it didn't look so low budget either.  The other is of course the autons themselves, they make for great baddies, and their window shop dummy masks are very creepy and effective, they are also complimented well by Brian Hodgson's eeiry sound effects, as they signal in on their prey.

Spearhead from Space's documentary on the DVD is also quite interesting although it deals morely with the transition of the show from black and white days into colour, as well as the show being under threat of cancellation.  The commentaries are also fine, with the late Nicholas Courtney and Caroline John bantering away nicely and fondly remembering the shooting of the story.  The other commentary (more recently recorded) with Terrance Dicks and the then producer Derrick Sherwin is no less interesting, although Sherwin does come across as being quite bitter at times over his treatment at the BBC.

Moving onto Terror of the Autons, this story was another landmark in Doctor Who's history as it introduced as well as the UNIT family of Captain Mike Yates, the Brig and Sergeant Benton, it also introduced his new companion Jo Grant, and his arch enermy The Master.  The story is similar to Spearhead in that the Master arrives on Earth and steals the nestene energy from a museum and uses to revive and create more autons in an attempt to destroy Earth.  The Doctor of course joins up with UNIT and Jo to stop him.

Terror of the Autons is certainly just as good as Spearhead, although there are certain less successful aspects to the story, for starters the autons themselves aren't as impressive and their masks are pretty naff in comparison as they just look like silver or marble based.  The Master is of course on the best enemies to come out of the programme in a long time, but despite spending most of the story aiding to help the Nestenes invade Earth, he changes his allegiances to help the Doctor prevent them coming with the snap of one sentence from the Doctor.  It seemed a bit of a copout way of finsihing out the story in order to stop the baddies from coming through.  But ultimately perhaps the Master was doing what he felt he needed to do in order to save his own skin.  Another dodgy aspect of the story is the overuse of CSO (Colour Separartion Overlay) which was heavily used in the 1970s to superimpose backgrounds or to create background effects with people in shot.  OK to use it for certain background shots is fine, such as the Master climbing up the research centre tower, but he even goes as far as to use it to for a CSO kitchen!  I mean surely they could have built a kitchen set!! 

However Terror saw changes in Doctor Who for the better, if the series had continued on in the similar vein as it did in the previous season with alot of Quartermass styled doom and gloom it would have ended the show.  So Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks realised the show needed a change of tone and pace, and they did the right thing.  Terror also featured again some nice performances from the new cast, Richard Franklin does well as Captain Yates, as he plays him with a smooth charm.  And yeah ok Katy Manning isn't the best actress in the world, but she made Jo Grant her own and a fairly endearing character, despite some cheesy corny moments in her peformance in this story, especially when the Doctor tells her not to go anywhere near the ugly puppet that they took from one of the Master's victims, "I won't go near it, yuughhh" she says.  Coh!

But of course one of Terror of the Autons main successes is the Master played by Roger Delgado, who is terrific as the Doctor's nemesis.  Delgado brought a great deal of sly and sinsiter charm to the character while at the same time ensuring he displayed the Master's undefitigably evil nature. Although perhaps one of the weaknesses of the Season 8 of Doctor Who, which Terror is the first story of, is that they overused the Master a little too much as he appears in every story, which leaves less room for predictability in anticipating the real villain.  Mind you one talent the Master had for sure was his make-up artist skills as he must have spent plenty of time making up latex masks for his disguises!   

On the DVD side of things there is a pleasant and informative commentary from Barry Letts, Terrance Dicks, Nick Courtney and of course Katy Manning.  However I have to say that Katy Manning does grate on your nerves after a while, I'm sure she is a nice person, but her continual use of her comical stupid helium type voice in between discussion is just irritating.  If only they had a silence button on her it would make things more easy!!  Anyway there is also a very good documentary on the DVD too about the making of Terror of the Autons, which features some cast interviews and Barry and Terrance (marbled mouthed Terry!).   

So that's a lengthy one (that's what she said! OK enough of that!).

More posts to follow no doubtttt.

Beyond the lighted stage

On Saturday night I went to see Rush with my bro Steven, my cuz Dale, and Steven's friend Dazza (or Darren) and it really was a fun night. 

To be honest my attention to the Rush gig did somewhat wonder due to a certain match in progress, which I have went into too much detail about already!  But I definitely did get into some of their songs.  Rush played a fine set but not one of their best at the same time, in the first half of the show they played too much of the newer stuff, some of which wasn't as good as their old classic tracks.  However in the second half they did play more of their old school Rush tracks, not to mention the whole of the Moving Pictures album, so it was great to hear the classics such as "Tom Sawyer" and "Red Barchetta", and of course "YYZ" as well as "Vital signs" which is very Police-esque sounding. 

Some of the other standout tracks on the night for me were "Far Cry" great song, replete with big firecrackers going off, the instrumental track "Leave that thing alone" which is one of my favourite instrumentals of theirs as well as "La villa strangiato" which is one of their most complex tracks.  "Subdivisions" was a real good one, and of course we couldn't go without some "2112" which is of course just legendary Rush.  Unfortunately though they still don't play the the second half of the first side of the album, just the Overture and Temples of Syrinx, I guess Geddy's voice just doesn't reach those high notes anymore like it used to! 

But they did omit some of their best tracks though such as "Cygnus X-1" which they played a tiny 5 second snippet from before they went off stage!  "Natural Science", "Digital Man", "Analog Kid", "Between the wheels", "Dreamline" the list could go on.  They have of course a massive repetoire of songs and they can only play so many in three hours, and yes I have heard some of these at their previous gigs, but it would be nice to hear them again. 

Another couple of gripes about the gig were that well first of all the tickets were rather extortionate at £60 each, yes you do get three high quality hours of Rush time, and yep the comic videos they play on the massive backscreen projectors are somewhat amusing, but I still think its a bit on the dear side.  Not to mention the amount of money they must make off merchandising, as my brother Steven spent an amount I won't utter here on merchandise alone! 

The other gripe was about the sound, again the sound at the SECC isn't the best, and whoever took care of the sound did a poor job that night, as straight from the get go, things did sound muffled, the songs lacked clarity.  Mind you there are far worse venues in Glasgow for sound, one of which was and probably still is the O2 Academy, which had the most dreadful bass acoustics you will hear in one hall!  Some venues are on the other hand not too bad such as the ABC which generally has quite a decent sound, and the Clyde Auditorium which has a terrific sound, but the last gig I saw in there was Tori Amos and that was over 13 years ago, so things might have changed.   

But regardless of any of my gripes aside and lapses in concentration on the gig, it was a great fun night and it was good to see Rush return to the UK after a near four year absence.  I think Rush are recording a new album soon, so I'll imagine another tour will be not far around the corner. 

So that's it fer now.  Time fer bedddd....

Rome Part 6, you will never guess?????????

OK its the end of another ATP/WTA tournament at the Italian Open in Rome and the outcomes were well... predictable.  Well kind of.

Starting with the WTA tour, I was actually pleased to see Maria Sharapova come through and win against Sam Stosur in the final, although it was a fairly straightforward win in 6-2 6-4, nothing too tasking for Maria.  Despite it the brevity of the match, which was in itself about only 1 hour and 22 minutes, it did have some good stuff in there, the last game of the match was particularly good, albeit a bit too short.  But it was her first clay court win at Rome, and naturally she was delighted, and it will give her much confidence going into the French Open.  It always struck me though about how contradictory Sharapova is in her nature on court, in between points and games, she is very calm and composed, even if she makes an unforced error or a fault she holds it together.  However when she serves or returns shots she screams at the top of her lungs, or rather she starts off softly and as the match progresses she gets louder and louder!  To be honest I don't mind her grunting so much, as Sharapova does grunt more out of sheer effort than anything else, but I wouldn't want to be sitting in seats close to her, because I think I wouldn't have any hearing left!  In fact her grunt was once recorded at a peak volume of about 101 decibles, that's almost as bad as being at a Who concert!     

However on the ATP tour side of things, there was a real upset, something amazing happened.  I mean just didn't see this coming!!! Wow!!! I swear I wouldn't have thought this would have happened!  Oh wait, it already has.  Yes Novak Djokovic, the unstoppable machine, lived up to his recent reptutation and sealed another victory over Rafa in a rather underwhelming final, in which the Djokster defeated Nadal with a fraction more comfort than even last time in 6-4 6-4.  It was obviously quite a predictable result because Djoko had beaten him the weekend before quite convincingly, so I didn't see any live text on the BBC website for it which meant they obviously knew what the outcome would be! 

To be fair, congrats to Djokovic, the guy has pulled out all the stops and made this year his own so far, its the impossible dream come true.  When you think of it, I think when Djokovic won his crucial rubber round match in the Davis Cup last year, you could see a look of new found confidence in him that wasn't there before then, and its then when he thought he can beat anyone, and well the rest is history.  But I am getting tired of listening to him constantly roaring with joy when he wins a title, yeah well done, but he just can't resist broadcasting it!!   

But I kind of am worried a bit for Rafa, the king of clay is no longer going out there like a raging lion, he's now out there more like a neutered dog.  But with the French Open now only a week away, can Rafa really try and hold onto his reputation as the king of clay or will he truly let it fall by the way side.  Time will tell.  It does seem based on tonight's performance more likely that the mighty Serb will claim his throne in three weeks time at the final.  I hope at least by then Rafa gather his might and take Djokovic at the final if they should meet.  Being a grand slam it will also give him an advantage, if he does drop the first 2 sets, he can cushion himself by trying to win in the 3rd, and when it comes to a slam I don't think Rafa will give up his throne without a fight.  Perhaps that's what Rafa has been doing, just biding his time, savouring his best for Roland Garros.  I sincerely hope so, in the past he has always brought his best to the majors.  But who knows? 

I just hope when we come to the French Open it will make a for a great final and not a straight set washout.  But perhaps Rafa has been doing a rope-a-dope with Djokovic in Muhammad Ali style, then at the final in Paris he will turn round and say "Is that all you've got Djkoy???".  From what I've read in the news it does appear that's what Rafa might be doing for Roland Garros, biding his time, learning from his previous defeats and working out just how to beat Djokovic.  Remember when it comes to the grand slams, the real pressure is on, maybe then Djokovic really might feel the heat and in that regard Nadal has had more experience of coping with that pressure.  Grand slams are gruelling and far more physically demanding than any events on the ATP tour that's for certain, particularly the French Open on clay, so we will see how the Serb responds.   

One man that might go far for sure in the French Open will be Andy Murray (I don't mention him much really) who not only played the match of the tournament at Rome, he also proved to be the one of only two or three men that could defeat Djokovic.  He was so close, but again that's one thing with Andy, its always been a case of so near yet so far, and it could be his epitaph.  But his confidence has definitely grown, and he said he feels great going into Roland Garros, so I wish him all the best, he's had a terrific start to his clay season, the best yet in fact, having taken a set each off both of the top 2 world players.  This guy has real talent and class, anyone on the tour has struggled to even get near taking a set off Djokovic, and in one match Andy nearly had him beat.  No one else did that except Nadal.  That says an awful lot about his ability.  And if he can just sort out that serve of his then Andy himself would have beaten Djokovic that night not only that he would be winning slams by now. 

So for the rest of the week there are no big ATP titles for Djokovic to steal and stash in his growing trophy cabinet, its the second slam of the year up next in a week's time.  For the rest of the players on the tour they might as well just consider going into any tournament that doesn't involve Djokovic!

But the French is going to be exciting and plenty of potentially great matches coming up.  The men's title might be a three-way horse, but the ladies title could be anybodys, which actually helps make the ladies tour that bit more unpredictable and exciting just now.  Not only that but the BBC will be doing full coverage of the French Open too so that's great! :-) 

Speaking of the next WTA Premier event this week is from Brussels, which doesn't see all the top seeds in play, but does feature quite a few of the main ones including Caroline Wozniacki, Francesca Schiavone, Jelena Jankovic and Vera Zvonareva, so it will definitely make for compelling stuff.  Especially as Wozniacki and Schiavone are particularly so eminently watchable.   Francesca for me is possibly my favourite player on the tour ladies tour just now, I just love her shots, even her grunt is so unique, her style of play is almost like Roger Federer, and she brings so much entertainment to the game through her own flamboyance.  While Caroline Wozniacki isn't so flamboyant and I must admit her game isn't as exciting, but what I do like about her game is for the most part it is rock solid, and she has the will and stamina to go deep into rallies and how much she loves her sport.  I also like to see how she reacts to being put under pressure from her opponents, but she can also show vulnerability and can be beaten, like Rafa, she's not invincible but she is interesting in terms of her career pattern and where it could go. 

Also its great preparation for the French Open too just before the clincher, and it will be very interesting to see how the defending champion Francesca Schiavone will perform not only in Roland Garross but at Brussels too.  On the tour this year I have to say Schiavone hasn't been overly impressive, she has been in and out of form, she has had some great matches, but hasn't pushed often beyond the third or fourth round.  However at the Australian Open she was incredible in her epic 4 hour and 44 minute match against Svetlana Kuznetsova, and almost as impressive in her quarter final match against Caroline Wozniacki.  I don't really see however Wozniacki winning at the French, she will hopefully get to the quarter or semi finals, but I think this title could well have Sharapova's name on it.

Anyway its all in the future, waiting to be mapped out.  I'll be back with a bit on the Brussels Open WTA event in the week.

Tara!!

PS The next post will have nothing to do with tennis.  Promise!

Rome Part 5, in one word WOW!!!!!!!!

Jeeeee whizzzzzzzzzz!

Wow, tonight's much anticipated match between the current hottest player in the world, Novak Djokovic and British No.1 Andy Murray feared to be a big blowout with another crushing straight sets defeat to the Muzza, just like Robin Soderling did last night.  But tonight was anything but, tonight was one of the most outstanding displays that Andy Murray has ever produced on a tennis court.  It was an epic match, truly worthy of ATP World Tour Finals match he played against Nadal last year.  It proved what I said about Andy being a better player than Soderling, he's miles above him. 

And yeah ok as predicted Djokovic did prevail, but he did so by the skin of his teeth.  Andy after a crushing first set, fought back to produce some simply phenomenal tennis in the second and third set, as he took the second and pushed Djokovic to the absolute limit in a tiebreaker in the third.  However the Serb came through and defeated the Scot in the 3rd, the final result being 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(2) in Djokovic's favour.  Its only the second time this year that Djokovic has been pushed so far in a match.  And to be pushed by his rival in the Australian Open final it made it even more remarkable.  It was the Aussie Open final that should have been.  Not only that, despite his loss, he handed Djokovic the toughest test of his unbeaten record so far, bar none (well except for Miami).  Just great. 

Despite Andy who fought so hard against Djokovic losing, it showed nothing but positives against the world's top player, Andy went toe to toe with him, while so many other players struggled to even take a set off him.  Andy tonight proved emphatically that he is a threat to the Serb, and just maybe he will seriously have his hands full going into the French Open.  That shows what serious talent Andy has at his disposal, he can even challenge the inevitably new World No.1 player.  In the past people have said that Andy has what it takes to be a grand slam champion and tonight I think he almost proved that.   Without a doubt even if Andy fails to win a slam this year, he has proven to be a true threat to Djokovic tonight.  I think come if not the French Open, then at Wimbledon, Andy will be a serious danger to Djokovic.  He surely is hot on Djoky's heels and Andy might just become the new World No.3 before the end of the year. 

I knew that Djokovic winning in the end would be inevitable but I'm just astounded at how far Andy pushed him, it was beyond my expectations, especially after such an awful first set.  So my thoughts of Andy would be, first off, well bloody done, and take that performance and use it in the French Open.  And it also proved what I said tonight, well almost, that Andy Murray is one of the few people that can potentially defeat Novak Djokovic, he's not quite ready to do that yet, but its only a matter of time.  Tonight was an utterly outstanding display of perserverance from the Briton, just a shame about the outcome.  But as far as I'm concerned its all good and there so many positives for Andy to take away from that match.

Tomorrow Djokovic again for the fourth time will face Nadal, and naturally the Serbian is the hot favourite to win, but Andy pushed him to his limits, so just perhaps maybe Nadal can utilise that to beat him.  However even in times of sheer pressure this year Djokovic has managed to produce some reserve energy when he really needed it.  But to be fair to Djoky I do have to take my hat off to him, its quite an achievement, win or lose today, his run is an incredible feat, how long it will last is not certain, but he could go unbeaten all year!  But in the meantime another intruiging final awaits.   

So on WTA side tomorrow its Sam Stosur vs Maria Sharapova, who both took out Li Na and Caroline Wozniacki respectively, both of these players really have made an incredible return to form so tomorrow should make for an exciting match.  But I remember Stosur saying that Sharapova had always beaten her in the past so I would say that Maria is the favourite, but who knows, this tournament has really been topsy turvey, and by God it has produced some exciting tennis.  So hopefully tomorrow will prove to be no exception.

And that's it for now, can't wait!!

Rome Part 4 the foreboding of defeat.....

Ohhhhhhhhhhh jeeeeeeeeeez!!!   Yep more T.

Welly well, Novak Djokovic cannot stop winning just now, that's another one under his belt (he must need some big belt by now!!!!).  As he has just blown the World No.5 Robin Soderling off the court in straight sets 6-3, 6-0, a quite convincing defeat.  To be fair to Robin the outcome was probably also not helped by the fact he had sustained a leg injury during play in the second set, but it wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference to the outcome.

So that's Djokovic through to the semis and Andy Murray awaits him.  The funny thing about this tournament is there has been a lot of rematches from previous grand slam events with different players, Schiavone vs Stosur, Li Na potentially vs Wozniacki, and now Andy vs Novak.  After tonight's performance I'm starting to grow more doubtful that Andy can pull through this one.  But in all honesty he is a much better player than Robin Soderling is, and he is capable of beating Djokovic, but not right now, the guy is just too good.  But I sincerely hope the best for Andy tomorrow and hope he can push Djokovic as far as he can.  The dangerous thing with Djoko now is, the more he plays on each surface, the quicker he can adapt to it, which means it'll be quicker for him to finish off matches.  But rewatching the Australian Open footage of the final, I actually thought Andy didn't play at all badly, the first set showed great promise, and in the second he lost the plot, but in the third he pulled it back a bit.  But what he needs is his absolute best form tonight, of the world tour finals Nadal match quality, but inconsistent sums up Murray lately, and Djokovic has been nothing but consistent.

However it all remains to be seen but I don't see the young Scot pulling through this one, or if he does I'd be very very impressed.  But if he can at least take a set off him, it would make for a very impressive result too.  Andy has said in interview he feels he is confident for tomorrow and he thinks he can beat Djokovic, but there is a big difference between thinking it and doing it.  Ah well, time will tell.   

Either way I think it will be a very intruiging (and potentially very frustrating, infuriating and disappointing) and perhaps just maybe the match of the tournament, or just another Djokovic demolition and total wash out.  I'm out to see Rush at the SECC tomorrow so I'll checking the results on my phone furiously (and probably getting annoyed, frustrated, deflated and just maybe excited in between songs lol!).  In fact I'm glad I will be out as if I saw it at home I'd be just a bag of nerves!  But I do sense something different this time, I might be totally wrong here, but I don't think its going to be a pushover for Djoko, I just don't.   

In fact a wee paragraph about Rush, one of the best rock bands that came out of Canada or anywhere else.  This will be the third time I will have seen them play at the SECC, and every time their shows are great, which feature a nice mix of animation and great lighting effects (not to mention some vending machines or washing machines in the background, yes those crazy Canadians and their sense of humour!!).  Rush's music has always been second to none and they have over 20 albums out so plenty to choose from.  Perhaps the only bad thing about them is the amount they charge for each ticket!! (£45-60 coh!!).  But I'm looking forward to seeing them play for sure.  I will try and smuggle in my camera so plenty of high quality pics can be taken, cos my mobile phone isn't too great for that!  Also I will post up an entry on the blog about them.

And also I will post up another entry on the Doctor Who Mannequin mania box set which I hope I will get in the post tomorrow (yeah c'mon the post!) as it features the double bill of Jon Pertwee's first and fifth stories, Spearhead from Space and Terror of the Autons.  Both of the stories features the creepy plastic baddies, the autons (with their concealed hand guns, i.e. their hand drops out to reveal the gun!) as well as the introduction of the Doctor's arch nemesis, the Master.  It will also feature a generous collection of extras documentaries and commentaries etc.  The great thing about the DVDs of the old Doctor Who series is that the documentaries for each tend to be great, with plenty of good interviews from the cast and crews.  It is also amusing to see just how old some of the cast members have got also.

On a sad note on Doctor Who, earlier this year saw the passing away of two of Doctor Who's most memorable actors Elisabeth Sladen (as Sarah Jane Smith) and Nicholas Courtney who played Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart.  So its quite poignant when you hear them on recorded DVD commentaries, to know they've passed away since then is a shame, as well as the likes of Barry Letts former producer and director David Maloney.

But anyway despite that cheery note I'll look forward to getting the box set, and yes as I said a blog entry will be up about it soon enough, as it has been tennis overload of late and more of that to follow.

And back to that quickly, predictions for tomorrow: Djokovic will win in 3 sets (hopefully pushed very far!!! Or just a straight set destruction, but hope not!!).

On the woman side of the tour: Wozniacki and well Sam Stosur got through, and wow is she playing well just now!

And to win the titles: Probably Stosur because she is really on form and most likely Djokovic, but I want revenge for Rafa!!!

And on that note, tttttthat's alll!!!

Rome Part 3 Its dicy

I'll start with some of my thoughts on today's results at the Italian Open in Rome from the ATP Masters/WTA Premier 5 events. 

To start with Djokovic breezed through his 2nd round opener match against an unseeded player Lukasz Kubot in 6-0, 6-3, although tomorrow he will face Swedish No.2 Stanilas Wawrinka, which could be a tricky match for him if Wawrinka plays well.  However I get the feeling after Madrid Djokovic has started to really adjust well to the clay so a demolition might be on the cards, I hope not, because Wawrinka is a really strong player so hopefully it will be a good one.  Federer eased through too against Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in straight sets 6-4, 6-2.  Rafa however in his 2nd round match had a real scare as he played against an unseeded player Paolo Lorenzo who pushed him to a 3rd set, after Nadal lost the first set tiebreak, however he did come through it in 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-0. 

This is a concern because normally Nadal never drops a set in an opening round on clay, so I do think his confidence has been shaken by his defeat to Djokovic last week.  Rafa said that himself as he was not playing his best because he felt a bit tired, drained and a bit sad that he lost the Madrid title.  The worry here is the tougher the players get will Rafa be able to maintain his concentration?  As this means he will need to work harder.  His next opponent will be fellow native Feliciano Lopez, which could be another really tough match, as Lopez was on form of late and took Federer to a 3 set tiebreak in Madrid, and even Djokovic to a 1st set tiebreak in Serbia. 

I think like Andy Murray, Nadal has also been a bit shaken by his defeats from Djokovic, as he no longer appears so confident on the court as he plays him, after pushing him all the way in Miami and still not coming through, must have made Rafa realise how much he is up against it with this guy.  And losing to him in Madrid slammed that home even more so.  I think he will pull through his matches till the final, but I don't predict he will win against Djokovic this time either.  And if Nadal loses before reaching the final he will lose his World No.1 ranking to Djokovic, but I think its inevitable that he will lose it.  No doubt unless Rafa can pull off a surprise defeat on Sunday and end Djokovic's winning streak, we will see the Serb scream out in joy, holding his hands up in glee (as he does!). 

No offence to Djokovic, his winning streak is highly impressive but I think its a case of one man with an excess of good fortune.  It also leaves no room for unpredictability with Djokovic winning all the time either, some of Djokovic's clay court matches have been quite tough so far, but if he gets into a rhythm of winning matches quickly it can get tedious real quickly.  Hopefully Djokovic can continue to be pushed more on the clay like he was last week, and to be fair to Djokovic the challenge for him I'm sure is just as enjoyable for us to watch as it must be for him, as I'm sure he feels more satisfaction coming through a tough but good win. 

Anyway moving onto the Muzza, who faces his next opponent tomorrow, the italian Petito Starace, who defeated the Serb Victor Troicki tonight 6-4, 6-4.  This again could be a potentially dangerous match for Andy, Starace is a good clay court player and he also has the home advantage, so it could work against him.  However Andy has played and beaten Starace in the past so he does at least know this time who he is up against unlike with Thomaz Bellucci (who has been put out!) who he never played before.  So hopefully we will see Andy come through this won, or maybe not, but it would be great if he can. 

That's it the now!

Rome part 2 this time its error strewn

Well the second round of the Italian Open is well on the way now and Andy Murray has finished his first match of the tournament against Xavier Malisse, which he came through after a real struggle and an error strewn performance against the spirited Belgian in 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.  In a way it was a miracle that Andy managed to pull through this match as his performance was pretty poor, to be fair his return game was for the most part really good but his service game was terrible, as he dropped so many first serves, with it down as far as 50%.  First serves has always been Andy's main achilles heel in tennis and today was a bad one, however where he won was mostly on attacking Malisse's service, and Andy did produce some excellent shots, as did the Belgian.  In the first set Andy did play quite well, but in the second he lost control of the match letting Malisse in to take the second set, but in the third Andy pulled it back despite making more errors, but he did at least serve out the match in style with 3 much needed aces.  And yes he has finally trimmed his barnet hairdo a bit! 

So again it wasn't a pretty win by any means, but Andy is once more through to the 3rd round, but the worrying thing is he really needs to improve his game this week otherwise he will be out early again like last week in Madrid.  At least in his post match interview he admitted his game was too much up and down, so he was honest, which again is one of Murray's best traits, being honest and not giving any excuses.  His next opponent will be either the Serb Victor Troicki or Potito Starace, either one could be troublesome for Andy so he really will need to step up his game if he wants any chance of getting through.  One thing is for sure if he maintains this form he won't, and even if he did, he would get torn apart by Djokovic in the semis.  So c'mon Muzza, pull it together lad!  At least he has the day off tomorrow to concentrate on his game more, just hope it helps.

In another match Robin Soderling saved a match point against Fernando Verdasco in the second set to take it to a 3rd set, where Verdasco double faulted three times to hand Soderling three match points in the 3rd.  In a way another good comeback, well better than Murray's for sure.

On the WTA side of things Francesca Schiavone advanced through the third round after a convincing defeat against American Christine McHale in 6-3, 6-1, as did Maria Sharapova who took out fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova in 6-1, 6-1.  The rest of the top players will play tomorrow also on the ladies side we have Caroline Wozniacki, Sam Stosur and Victoria Azarenka.  On the ATP side we have the top 3 out with Rafa, Djokovic and Federer all starting their blanket massacre campaigns.  ;-) 

More to follow!

When in Rome

Guess what??? You will never guess what this post is about.  Never.  Give up??? Ok.  Yup its more of the T word!

The ATP 1000 Masters and WTA Premier 5 (worth 900 points) series Italian open in Rome (or the Internazionali BNL d'Italia) has gotten underway already this week, with yet another opporunity for the top seeds to take on each other and try and battle for supremacy.  So it promises to hopefully be another fine tournament just like the Madrid Open which was so far the best clay court tournament of the season.  Again the draw has been shaken up with some players in different sides of the draw, Federer and Nadal are still in the same draw (well they are the odd numbered players so usually it works that way odd draw and even draw) and Murray and Djokovic are in the same draw too.

Which brings me once again onto the young Briton who has struggled this year to win a title so far.  But so far apart from Djokovic, Andy's draw doesn't appear to be too bad, as his first opponent is Xavier Malisse whom he has previously beaten before twice in their last two meetings.  But again its easy to suppose he will win the match, but hopefully he should, all good and well and as long as his elbow doesn't trouble him and he can adjust well to the court conditions, which Andy has said in the past were quite well suited to him.  Anyway he faces Malisse tomorrow evening so I'll be watching that one with keen interest, after that match should he win, he'll go onto possibly face Victor Troicki and Jurgen Melzer in the quarter finals before facing the mammoth test in Djokovic.

I hope Andy does well and gets to the semis as if he is on form this week then it will make for a potentially exciting match, but again he could just get a straight set ass handing (to coin a phrase!) from the Djoker, but I think he still has plenty left in the tank and he ain't done yet.  The Muzza also said he aims to win the Rome tournament, from here I don't see it, but I admire his ambition at least, and should he pull off such a miraculous event, it would certainly stand him in good stead as a possible contender for the French Open.  Not to mention it would make for a great birthday present as he will turn 24 on the day the Rome tournament ends on15 May.  But there is also the problem of his elbow injury, which could flare up again at some point, and it would be really crap for him if he had to retire during the French Open for example, but he'll just have to stay fit and healthy to try and avoid that.

On the WTA side of the Italian Open, all the top seeds are pretty much playing, although Madrid Open ladies winner Petra Kvitova isn't playing, so just maybe that might give the Madrid finalist Victoria Azarenka a chance of winning ths time.  Of course there is also the home favourite and last year's French Open champion, Francesca Schiavone (Dave Grohl lookalike!) who also might stand a chance, but she has really been up and down in her performance since the Australian Open where she put in an impressive run up until the quarter finals against Caroline Wozniacki.  In fact since watching her on the WTA tour on Eurosport I haven't seen her win a single match every time I watch her!  Caroline Wozniacki might have an outside chance but she's not the best clay court player, as was clearly displayed last week when she went out in the 3rd round against semi finalist Julia Goerges who beat her for the second time.  But its all to play for.    

So anyway another tournament is on the go, so I'll be watching intently once more.  Will Rafa win? (hope so! Cmon the Rafa!!!) Will Djokovic? (most likely!), will Andy beat Rafa or Djokovic? (Naw!! But would be great if he gets to face Djoko, cmon Muzza!!) or will Federer makes a miraculous victory? (bigger hmmmm!).  Will Caroline Wozniacki win her first red clay title?  (Hmmm) Will Azarenka get there first? (probably) Will Schiavone win instead?? (Yahheeee! No sure) Am I doing too many of these questions??? (Yup!!!)

Once more we shall see whit happens.