So that's the the Shakespeare at Large event over with which took place in the Ramshorn Graveyard, which took place on Saturday and Sunday just there as part of the Glasgow Fringe Festival and it was a lot of fun to take part in.
For my scene I chose one from Measure for Measure, which I had already performed in a production of last year at the theatre, which was one of most enjoyable productions I had been a part of. So this time I chose to play the part of the Duke and Michael Emans, who played the same part in the full production played the Friar. The first day was not too bad, although we didn't have much of an audience for the piece, but on the second day we had much bigger crowds to play to, as our scene tied in with Chris and India's scene as they played Angelo and Isabella. On the second day unfortunately Michael couldn't make it due to other commitments, so I managed to rope in the help of the excellent Gary Hurr who read in for Michael. So it was good fun to do some role reversal and I even got some nice feedback from some of the audience (and some of my fellow M & M cast members). I also for the scene sprouted a bit of a beard, while it wasn't a full blown belter like Michael's (great beard he has I have to say!) it had a fair bit of growth, but I have since shaved it off as I have an interview today!
As for the others scenes at the event, there were some really good ones that I saw, one of my favs was a scene from The Tempest, with Chris, Tony and Will, all of whom were excellent and it was funny too. Tony (Pat Williams, the director's husband) in particular was really funny as he has tremendous comic timing (replete with Jester outfit!), as he was hilarious in Measure for Measure also as the bumbling constable Elbow. The scenes in the theatre were also really good particularly the scene from A midsummer night's dream, Pyramis and Fisbe, where the actors played out a part of a comical tragedy, also with the young actors playing the Lion, the brick wall, and the moon.
Later on after the show had finished we came back after a few drinks to see the Grimm Tales in the graveyard, the perfect setting for it, as Lou and Anna told some macabre stories from Germany as written by the Brothers Grimm. Although I had to take a quick bathroom break as they say, it was a very funny and bizzarely entertaining show, and the fact that it was just the two of them, made it a more intimate show than their theatre piece last year.
And that's unfortunately the end for the Ramshorn theatre, the building will close at the end of the month and renovations are already taking place on the building, which is a shame the lovely church stands as something of a landmark and to have it covered by some ugly scaffolding does it a mass disservice. STG will carry in some form or other, and you can hope that they will continue to put on some excellent shows in the future. Its just a shame as usual that colleges and universities keep pushing the arts and culture out the door for the sake of saving on money and keeping it all about business. It definitely shows how short sighted these education authorities are as they far less interested in creativity and more in productivity, but its their loss (and well ours too I guess).
Well............. that it. Fin.
Monday 25 July 2011
Sunday 24 July 2011
What is it with 27????
Well the world a music saw a tragedy yesterday as Amy Winehouse was found dead in her flat in London yesterday, and she was only 27. But what is it with this 27???
I don't know why these troubled musicians choose to go when they are that age, its almost like they want to make sure they have put their bodies through enough trouble and suffering that they are certain to die at this age. Amy Winehouse for a long time struggled with her health as she had a serious drug problem, between that and smoking crack cocaine, it was destroying her lungs, and quite often in the latter years, Amy could be seen on stage barely able to stand up and mumbling her words rather than singing. Add onto that she had suffered the expected bouts of depression, self harm and eating disorders, which certainly added up to one unhappy lass.
I remember quite a few years back that Jack White himself, was really anxious and afraid of falling foul of the "27" curse and dying at that age as well. But Jack obvioulsy isn't the tormented substance abuser that Amy was or any of these other rock stars, and thankfully is still very much with us. But Amy has definitely now joined that rather sad and inglorious group of talented musicians who died long before their time, which in itself is really sad and tragic. With Jim Morrison he just put his body under so much abuse of alcohol, drugs and smoking that his heart gave out, Kurt Cobain troubled with severe depression, stomach problems and also a massive heroin habit, saw him end his life with a single bullet (Layne Staley later died 8 years on, again from an overdose on approximately the exact same day as Cobain apparently did on 5 April). Janis Joplin died from alcohol related circumstances as she choked on her own vomit as did Jimi Hendrix, and Brian Jones the Rolling Stones former guitarist died again from a drug overdose as he drowned in his swimming pool.
Its a shame that most musicians today who live life on the wild side can't take more heed from these tragedies and live a more careful life, yes sure rock n roll is about cutting loose sometimes, but it should also be about being professional and putting a good show on for a crowd. You don't for example the likes of KT Tunstall, Tori Amos or Bjork (well.... ok she might assault someone!) throwing their life away to drugs and alcohol and Tori for example had her own personal demons to set to rest as she was raped at the age of 21.
While I wasn't her biggest fan, I did feel sorry for Amy Winehouse as she fell under more scrutiny from the press than any other singer, as week after week we saw nothing but Amy in the headlines as she got into trouble for assault, drug abuse, falling on stage, going in and out of rehab etc. Whatever way you wan't to look at it, music has lost another one of its talents, she was a great singer but it was only a matter of time.
And on that rather sad note I'll leave it there.
I don't know why these troubled musicians choose to go when they are that age, its almost like they want to make sure they have put their bodies through enough trouble and suffering that they are certain to die at this age. Amy Winehouse for a long time struggled with her health as she had a serious drug problem, between that and smoking crack cocaine, it was destroying her lungs, and quite often in the latter years, Amy could be seen on stage barely able to stand up and mumbling her words rather than singing. Add onto that she had suffered the expected bouts of depression, self harm and eating disorders, which certainly added up to one unhappy lass.
I remember quite a few years back that Jack White himself, was really anxious and afraid of falling foul of the "27" curse and dying at that age as well. But Jack obvioulsy isn't the tormented substance abuser that Amy was or any of these other rock stars, and thankfully is still very much with us. But Amy has definitely now joined that rather sad and inglorious group of talented musicians who died long before their time, which in itself is really sad and tragic. With Jim Morrison he just put his body under so much abuse of alcohol, drugs and smoking that his heart gave out, Kurt Cobain troubled with severe depression, stomach problems and also a massive heroin habit, saw him end his life with a single bullet (Layne Staley later died 8 years on, again from an overdose on approximately the exact same day as Cobain apparently did on 5 April). Janis Joplin died from alcohol related circumstances as she choked on her own vomit as did Jimi Hendrix, and Brian Jones the Rolling Stones former guitarist died again from a drug overdose as he drowned in his swimming pool.
Its a shame that most musicians today who live life on the wild side can't take more heed from these tragedies and live a more careful life, yes sure rock n roll is about cutting loose sometimes, but it should also be about being professional and putting a good show on for a crowd. You don't for example the likes of KT Tunstall, Tori Amos or Bjork (well.... ok she might assault someone!) throwing their life away to drugs and alcohol and Tori for example had her own personal demons to set to rest as she was raped at the age of 21.
While I wasn't her biggest fan, I did feel sorry for Amy Winehouse as she fell under more scrutiny from the press than any other singer, as week after week we saw nothing but Amy in the headlines as she got into trouble for assault, drug abuse, falling on stage, going in and out of rehab etc. Whatever way you wan't to look at it, music has lost another one of its talents, she was a great singer but it was only a matter of time.
And on that rather sad note I'll leave it there.
Sunday 17 July 2011
Getting into bed with Lord Sugar
So it was the Apprentice final tonight and this post naturally is expressly all about it. So the four finalists had to work on and present their business plan on paper and undergo a tough interview process regarding their plans.
In the interviews no one of course came through unscathed and everyone had their share of flaws which the tough interviewers were fast to pick up on. Susan for starters had the idea of injecting the £250000 into starting her own cosmetics business, but she made some very unrealistic estimates for her turnover for the first year, as she stated she could make a million pounds! Jim came up with the plan to provide e-learning services to educate children and give them employability skills, however he had done no research on this at all, and he also called it AMSmart, which was a rather naff take on Lord Sugar's AMStrad. Margaret, Lord Sugar's previous advisor on the program, rightly pointed out that Jim is the walking cliche man, as he couldn't even describe himself without using a cliche, even when Margaret asked him not to! Tom's business plan however did have a potentially good idea that was to market a chair and other products to help people with problems in the workplace such as RSI, but his business plan was poorly written and didn't make any sense. But Helen's plan turned out to be the most disappointing as she came up with the idea of creating a concierge business to help people organise their lives, i.e. to remind them of appointments for the dentist, booking a table for dinner, etc. However I think her plan was really flaky and aimed to be far too ambitious for one person to try and spearhead, especially as there many services available that set reminders, as a dentist will send out reminder appointments, and people can set their own reminders whether be on paper, email or whatever else!
But in the boardroom it was down to Lord Sugar to make up his own mind on who should be hired as his business partner. Straight away Lord Sugar saw through Jim's plan as he felt it would be more suited to a non profit organisation and there was no business worth in it, so he was given the boot first. I also loved the bit where Jim inadvertently called Lord Sugar "Sugar" before he corrected himself, I think Jim was trying to do more than get "into bed" with him there! After that Susan was the next to go as Lord Sugar tried to make Susan understand her annual turnover profit estimates were totally unrealistic and it would take more than £250000 to make it work. Which left the final two, and Helen started off by saying she had another potential business plan, which was to run a chain of bakeries, which should could run on her own without Lord Sugar's assistance. Now why Helen who has had experience of this service industry didn't go with this idea in the first place is beyond me, as it could have given her a chance of winning and would have seen her get a far more favourable review from the advisors. In fact its ironic because not one of the finalists business plans was given much credit!
In the end it was down to Tom and Lord Sugar saw that he was more viable a candidate to go into business with as he is an inventor who has already marketed products, and I think Lord Sugar had Tom in mind already. Tom has had the experience behind him and that definitely worked to his credit, he was also one of the most likeable people in the house, with a good personality (and some of them didn't have that!) so it was a really good combination. However if it was still the old format of the show where it was all about hiring someone for a job, Helen would have won it hands down so it was shame he couldnt't have given her a job regardless. And as one of the panel on You're Hired said if it was the old format then Tom would have been fired weeks ago, but it wasn't. But big congrats to Tom, he is a really creative, friendly and pleasant chap and he did deserve the win.
So that's another series of the Apprentice over with, it remains to be seen if they will carry on with the new format, which I quite liked. Perhaps next time they could recruit a few more personalities into the show, but there were thankfully a few, such as Susan, Tom, Leon and eventually Jim. And that's TV back to being that bit more boring from now on until something good comes back on.
In the interviews no one of course came through unscathed and everyone had their share of flaws which the tough interviewers were fast to pick up on. Susan for starters had the idea of injecting the £250000 into starting her own cosmetics business, but she made some very unrealistic estimates for her turnover for the first year, as she stated she could make a million pounds! Jim came up with the plan to provide e-learning services to educate children and give them employability skills, however he had done no research on this at all, and he also called it AMSmart, which was a rather naff take on Lord Sugar's AMStrad. Margaret, Lord Sugar's previous advisor on the program, rightly pointed out that Jim is the walking cliche man, as he couldn't even describe himself without using a cliche, even when Margaret asked him not to! Tom's business plan however did have a potentially good idea that was to market a chair and other products to help people with problems in the workplace such as RSI, but his business plan was poorly written and didn't make any sense. But Helen's plan turned out to be the most disappointing as she came up with the idea of creating a concierge business to help people organise their lives, i.e. to remind them of appointments for the dentist, booking a table for dinner, etc. However I think her plan was really flaky and aimed to be far too ambitious for one person to try and spearhead, especially as there many services available that set reminders, as a dentist will send out reminder appointments, and people can set their own reminders whether be on paper, email or whatever else!
But in the boardroom it was down to Lord Sugar to make up his own mind on who should be hired as his business partner. Straight away Lord Sugar saw through Jim's plan as he felt it would be more suited to a non profit organisation and there was no business worth in it, so he was given the boot first. I also loved the bit where Jim inadvertently called Lord Sugar "Sugar" before he corrected himself, I think Jim was trying to do more than get "into bed" with him there! After that Susan was the next to go as Lord Sugar tried to make Susan understand her annual turnover profit estimates were totally unrealistic and it would take more than £250000 to make it work. Which left the final two, and Helen started off by saying she had another potential business plan, which was to run a chain of bakeries, which should could run on her own without Lord Sugar's assistance. Now why Helen who has had experience of this service industry didn't go with this idea in the first place is beyond me, as it could have given her a chance of winning and would have seen her get a far more favourable review from the advisors. In fact its ironic because not one of the finalists business plans was given much credit!
In the end it was down to Tom and Lord Sugar saw that he was more viable a candidate to go into business with as he is an inventor who has already marketed products, and I think Lord Sugar had Tom in mind already. Tom has had the experience behind him and that definitely worked to his credit, he was also one of the most likeable people in the house, with a good personality (and some of them didn't have that!) so it was a really good combination. However if it was still the old format of the show where it was all about hiring someone for a job, Helen would have won it hands down so it was shame he couldnt't have given her a job regardless. And as one of the panel on You're Hired said if it was the old format then Tom would have been fired weeks ago, but it wasn't. But big congrats to Tom, he is a really creative, friendly and pleasant chap and he did deserve the win.
So that's another series of the Apprentice over with, it remains to be seen if they will carry on with the new format, which I quite liked. Perhaps next time they could recruit a few more personalities into the show, but there were thankfully a few, such as Susan, Tom, Leon and eventually Jim. And that's TV back to being that bit more boring from now on until something good comes back on.
Friday 15 July 2011
Bit of acting
I haven't talked much about my acting marlarky lately mainly because I haven't been doing much. Although I am about to do a scene for the Ramshorn theatre's Shakespeare at Large event which will be on 23/24 July as part of the Glasgow Fringe Festival.
The scene in question is one I played opposite Michael Emans who played the part of the Duke in the play Measure for Measure, while I played the role of the Friar, except this time our roles will be reversed! So I've been rehearsing the Duke's lines and there are quite a few of them, it is a fairly tough scene to get to grips with as the Duke is a very verbose character, even if he doesn't know what he's wittering on about half the time. It is a really good scene and I am looking forward to performing it, apparently the event will take place in the graveyard outside the theatre. But I am glad its just one scene as opposed to the whole play as I can hardly imagine how hellish it must have been to take on the role of the Duke given his massive and various monologues! However it is also a welcome little challenge from playing the bit parts I had been doing of late.
After the disappointment of working with the Estrado theatre group, I would be keen at some point to be on the lookout for another drama group, as I am sure there are plenty. But right now as much as I enjoy the acting, I'm not as fired up about as I was before, I guess after a while of doing it, you feel you need a break, and I don't have the boundless enthusiasm for it as some of my fellow thesps have. I suppose in terms of an actual career its not exactly one I would choose to go for, as I have found with the downside of acting, it is way too cliquey, especially when you join a new drama group you will fill the sense of the cliques and its not a good thing to feel outside that.
Generally speaking I don't like cliques anyway, and was I at the Edinburgh festival last year with a couple of acting pals who both have sinced graduated from the RSAMD and I felt a bit outside the whole experience of their world etc as they kept talking about plays or actors they knew, which naturally I knew nothing of, so I was on the outside of their conversations. I can imagine when you go onto a career in professional acting, not only is the competition more fierce but also the prima donnery and bitchery would also be worse, which is also something I could never be bothered with. Some actors very much have delusions of grandeur or a very tenuous grip on reality as it is, and the whole artistic side of it can be alot of wank (to put it delciately!). Its also not the most financially viable profession either as alot of actors do struggle not only for voluntary work, but even more so for paid work.
But that's not to say I haven't enjoyed working with people in amateur groups as I very much have so and there plenty of people who are very nice and down to earth. I think its definitely an important thing for actors, budding professionals, amateurs or whatever to keep a level head and not get carried away. In the end the reason I took doing acting was for a bit of fun, meet new people and take on the challenge of performing in a few plays to see how I could do. Having done that I feel quite happy to not rush into doing something else so quick, but if something does come up (depending what it is!) I wouldn't turn it down.
In the meantime I shall get on with the rehearsals for my M & M scene (with K & M!) and I'll blog up more once its done.
The scene in question is one I played opposite Michael Emans who played the part of the Duke in the play Measure for Measure, while I played the role of the Friar, except this time our roles will be reversed! So I've been rehearsing the Duke's lines and there are quite a few of them, it is a fairly tough scene to get to grips with as the Duke is a very verbose character, even if he doesn't know what he's wittering on about half the time. It is a really good scene and I am looking forward to performing it, apparently the event will take place in the graveyard outside the theatre. But I am glad its just one scene as opposed to the whole play as I can hardly imagine how hellish it must have been to take on the role of the Duke given his massive and various monologues! However it is also a welcome little challenge from playing the bit parts I had been doing of late.
After the disappointment of working with the Estrado theatre group, I would be keen at some point to be on the lookout for another drama group, as I am sure there are plenty. But right now as much as I enjoy the acting, I'm not as fired up about as I was before, I guess after a while of doing it, you feel you need a break, and I don't have the boundless enthusiasm for it as some of my fellow thesps have. I suppose in terms of an actual career its not exactly one I would choose to go for, as I have found with the downside of acting, it is way too cliquey, especially when you join a new drama group you will fill the sense of the cliques and its not a good thing to feel outside that.
Generally speaking I don't like cliques anyway, and was I at the Edinburgh festival last year with a couple of acting pals who both have sinced graduated from the RSAMD and I felt a bit outside the whole experience of their world etc as they kept talking about plays or actors they knew, which naturally I knew nothing of, so I was on the outside of their conversations. I can imagine when you go onto a career in professional acting, not only is the competition more fierce but also the prima donnery and bitchery would also be worse, which is also something I could never be bothered with. Some actors very much have delusions of grandeur or a very tenuous grip on reality as it is, and the whole artistic side of it can be alot of wank (to put it delciately!). Its also not the most financially viable profession either as alot of actors do struggle not only for voluntary work, but even more so for paid work.
But that's not to say I haven't enjoyed working with people in amateur groups as I very much have so and there plenty of people who are very nice and down to earth. I think its definitely an important thing for actors, budding professionals, amateurs or whatever to keep a level head and not get carried away. In the end the reason I took doing acting was for a bit of fun, meet new people and take on the challenge of performing in a few plays to see how I could do. Having done that I feel quite happy to not rush into doing something else so quick, but if something does come up (depending what it is!) I wouldn't turn it down.
In the meantime I shall get on with the rehearsals for my M & M scene (with K & M!) and I'll blog up more once its done.
Wednesday 13 July 2011
Fast food
The penultimate episode of the Apprentice was quite an enjoyable one with the final five getting down to the wire as they did their final task, which was to come up with a fast food restaurant chain (a mock one of course!). So the two teams were split into Tom and Helen (Logic) and Jim, Natasha and Susan (Venture).
Logic had the idea of doing British themed steak pies (or beef or any other type of pies for that matter!) where they named a pie after a famous British historical personality such as Drake, Nightingale, and of course the ultimate Brit: Christopher Columbus! Yep they did their research there alright!! Regardless of their little faux pas there, Logic had a much better and more original concept on their hands than Venture did. As for Venture they decided to go with the Mexican restaurant theme idea and came up a rather silly take of Maracas, called Caracas, which they of course were unaware was the captial city of Venezula! But their food apparently was cack, on the first day they served it up for the pre-opening day customers who gave their feedback as the nachos were served cold and were kept waiting too long.
By the next day when Lord Sugar and his host of fast food industry experts came along to test out the food and the service, and they themselves made up their minds. In the feedback it was revealed there was an overwhelming difference between the two teams, Venture's Caracas idea was crap (scoring only 4/10) while Logic's idea was better received (scoring 7/10). Team Logic's success secured both Helen and Tom's place in the final, so that's now a record breaking 10 wins for Helen, having lost only one task, if she wins the process, that will almost make her like the female Novak Djokovic of the program (i.e. he's only lost one tennis match all year and has won everything else!).
However in the boardroom, the losing team had it out with each other as they battled to see who will stay in the process. Natasha and Susan both put forward very firm cases for Jim to be fired. But in the end Lord Sugar decided that Natasha was the one to go as he felt she had lost her energy and enthusiasm in the latter stages of the process, which I thought was fair to be honest. Susan on this episode though was a bit irritating and overbearing as she did keep criticising everything Natasha said to her in the brainstorm sessions. Susan at times amid her daft naievity does talk sense, she has started her own business, something that Jim or Helen hasn't done, but she is rather gobby and there are times which she seems not to get on with anyone. Jim on the other hand did flounder badly in this episode but I think he didn't get a great deal of support from Susan or Natasha, although Susan did contribute more than Natasha did. In fact I think Jim came out of the boardroom better than Susan did, as he tried his best not to go for jugular like Susan. I did like Susan but now I must admit she is starting to bug me, her over enthusiasm is annoying and the way in which she either agrees with everyone "I agree, exactly" or "I think that's a bad idea" becomes grating after a while.
So as I said I think the right person went, as Lord Sugar is looking for a business partner who does more than stand around and not doing much. Its also ironic once again, that every time a candidate who says they have special skills and expertise and they have to use them in a task it ALWAYS goes wrong for them! As Natasha said she has an honours degree in Catering and Hospitality, but she said she couldn't cook so she refused to help with the cooking in the background, which I thought was a really bad decision and certainly didn't do her any favours. Again if you refuse to do things that are actually within your scope, then its not going to win you any brownie points with Lord Sugar.
So we are down to the final four: Jim, Helen, Susan and Tom and next week is the moment we have all been waiting for, not only do we find out who will be Lord Sugar's business partner we will also get to the best part of the program: yep the interview stages! I'm really pleased that they have saved this till last, as I sometimes think having the interview stage as the penultimate episode leaves the final episode to be a bit of an anti-climax. But thankfully this time they have got it right, and I am already looking forward to seeing who will get grilled the most (well they all will get their fair share). Of all the candidates I wan't to see Helen win, she has won the most tasks, is very level headed and shrewd, and she definitely seems to have a good grasp on how to run a business (plus she is a honey :-). Failing that I wouldn't mind seeing Tom win as he is also quite sharp as well as very inventive, but I'm not so keen to see Jim or Susan win, but we will soon find oot.
So that will do eeeet!
Logic had the idea of doing British themed steak pies (or beef or any other type of pies for that matter!) where they named a pie after a famous British historical personality such as Drake, Nightingale, and of course the ultimate Brit: Christopher Columbus! Yep they did their research there alright!! Regardless of their little faux pas there, Logic had a much better and more original concept on their hands than Venture did. As for Venture they decided to go with the Mexican restaurant theme idea and came up a rather silly take of Maracas, called Caracas, which they of course were unaware was the captial city of Venezula! But their food apparently was cack, on the first day they served it up for the pre-opening day customers who gave their feedback as the nachos were served cold and were kept waiting too long.
By the next day when Lord Sugar and his host of fast food industry experts came along to test out the food and the service, and they themselves made up their minds. In the feedback it was revealed there was an overwhelming difference between the two teams, Venture's Caracas idea was crap (scoring only 4/10) while Logic's idea was better received (scoring 7/10). Team Logic's success secured both Helen and Tom's place in the final, so that's now a record breaking 10 wins for Helen, having lost only one task, if she wins the process, that will almost make her like the female Novak Djokovic of the program (i.e. he's only lost one tennis match all year and has won everything else!).
However in the boardroom, the losing team had it out with each other as they battled to see who will stay in the process. Natasha and Susan both put forward very firm cases for Jim to be fired. But in the end Lord Sugar decided that Natasha was the one to go as he felt she had lost her energy and enthusiasm in the latter stages of the process, which I thought was fair to be honest. Susan on this episode though was a bit irritating and overbearing as she did keep criticising everything Natasha said to her in the brainstorm sessions. Susan at times amid her daft naievity does talk sense, she has started her own business, something that Jim or Helen hasn't done, but she is rather gobby and there are times which she seems not to get on with anyone. Jim on the other hand did flounder badly in this episode but I think he didn't get a great deal of support from Susan or Natasha, although Susan did contribute more than Natasha did. In fact I think Jim came out of the boardroom better than Susan did, as he tried his best not to go for jugular like Susan. I did like Susan but now I must admit she is starting to bug me, her over enthusiasm is annoying and the way in which she either agrees with everyone "I agree, exactly" or "I think that's a bad idea" becomes grating after a while.
So as I said I think the right person went, as Lord Sugar is looking for a business partner who does more than stand around and not doing much. Its also ironic once again, that every time a candidate who says they have special skills and expertise and they have to use them in a task it ALWAYS goes wrong for them! As Natasha said she has an honours degree in Catering and Hospitality, but she said she couldn't cook so she refused to help with the cooking in the background, which I thought was a really bad decision and certainly didn't do her any favours. Again if you refuse to do things that are actually within your scope, then its not going to win you any brownie points with Lord Sugar.
So we are down to the final four: Jim, Helen, Susan and Tom and next week is the moment we have all been waiting for, not only do we find out who will be Lord Sugar's business partner we will also get to the best part of the program: yep the interview stages! I'm really pleased that they have saved this till last, as I sometimes think having the interview stage as the penultimate episode leaves the final episode to be a bit of an anti-climax. But thankfully this time they have got it right, and I am already looking forward to seeing who will get grilled the most (well they all will get their fair share). Of all the candidates I wan't to see Helen win, she has won the most tasks, is very level headed and shrewd, and she definitely seems to have a good grasp on how to run a business (plus she is a honey :-). Failing that I wouldn't mind seeing Tom win as he is also quite sharp as well as very inventive, but I'm not so keen to see Jim or Susan win, but we will soon find oot.
So that will do eeeet!
Monday 11 July 2011
Emotions run deep
So another bit of good news to start off this post as Great Britain have managed to win their tie against Luxembourg in the Davis Cup rubber round matches. Andy Murray himself in his match against Gilles Muller sealed GB's win as he won the match in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-1. After the match in Andy's post match interview he fought back the tears as he was overcome with emotion at being back in Scotland and playing in front of a home crowd, as it was the first time he was there in nearly 18 months.
It must be quite tough for tennis players who take so much time away from home, for the last five weeks Andy has managed to be at home in London when played Queens and Wimbledon. But certainly for him to go back to Glasgow was a very special homecoming, and brought back the memories an all that. It was also great that after suffering the defeat at Wimbledon at Rafa's hands Andy decided to play for Great Britain, it was a commitment he had already moment and it was great to see he adhered to it. And to seal a win for Great Britain in the process was terrific and it was a great way to end his mid-season, before the hard court season begins in August. If Andy decides to play more matches for Great Britain in the future it would signify better chances for the team to go into further rounds, and you never know what if he helps in one day sealing Britain's first win of the Davis Cup in well over 70 years, when it was won by Fred Perry and his partner Bunny Austin. And no mistake about it, Andy is the greatest British player in the game since Fred Perry and he may yet prove vital in Britain's success not only in the Davis Cup but also in that bloomin elusive Grand Slam business.
So anyway that's that over with for now and there of course some smaller tennis tournaments on the go just now, but I'll take a tennis posting break for a bit, cos God knows I've done enough, I almost know how tired these players must feel! Ahh ok I'm joking! But once the hard court season rears up, I'll be bloggin like mad! And I think the next big hard court tournament is the Rogers Cup, Canada's ATP 1000 Masters title, which is split between Montreal one year and Toronto the next. Andy is the title holder just now, one that he has defended back to back for the last two years, but of course let's not forget a certain player Novak Djokovic, who has been oblierating every player of late, and well its hard court season so it might be cleanup time and may see Andy handing his title over to the Djoker. I hope not, it would be great to see Andy defeat him, and hold onto that title, and show Djoky that he ain't invincible and he can be beaten and it ain't all about Serbia this year and that the Muzza is coming for him! Or I could be just ready for heavy word eating, in fact that's usually the case, but we shall see.
Until then rock on. And that's eet for the tennis postings fer a bit. More to follow of a non tennisy nature soon!
It must be quite tough for tennis players who take so much time away from home, for the last five weeks Andy has managed to be at home in London when played Queens and Wimbledon. But certainly for him to go back to Glasgow was a very special homecoming, and brought back the memories an all that. It was also great that after suffering the defeat at Wimbledon at Rafa's hands Andy decided to play for Great Britain, it was a commitment he had already moment and it was great to see he adhered to it. And to seal a win for Great Britain in the process was terrific and it was a great way to end his mid-season, before the hard court season begins in August. If Andy decides to play more matches for Great Britain in the future it would signify better chances for the team to go into further rounds, and you never know what if he helps in one day sealing Britain's first win of the Davis Cup in well over 70 years, when it was won by Fred Perry and his partner Bunny Austin. And no mistake about it, Andy is the greatest British player in the game since Fred Perry and he may yet prove vital in Britain's success not only in the Davis Cup but also in that bloomin elusive Grand Slam business.
So anyway that's that over with for now and there of course some smaller tennis tournaments on the go just now, but I'll take a tennis posting break for a bit, cos God knows I've done enough, I almost know how tired these players must feel! Ahh ok I'm joking! But once the hard court season rears up, I'll be bloggin like mad! And I think the next big hard court tournament is the Rogers Cup, Canada's ATP 1000 Masters title, which is split between Montreal one year and Toronto the next. Andy is the title holder just now, one that he has defended back to back for the last two years, but of course let's not forget a certain player Novak Djokovic, who has been oblierating every player of late, and well its hard court season so it might be cleanup time and may see Andy handing his title over to the Djoker. I hope not, it would be great to see Andy defeat him, and hold onto that title, and show Djoky that he ain't invincible and he can be beaten and it ain't all about Serbia this year and that the Muzza is coming for him! Or I could be just ready for heavy word eating, in fact that's usually the case, but we shall see.
Until then rock on. And that's eet for the tennis postings fer a bit. More to follow of a non tennisy nature soon!
Friday 8 July 2011
Davis cup rolls into town
So today I went to see my first live tennis match at the Braehaed arena, as Great Britain and Luxembourg played their tie in the Davis Cup. The Davis Cup which is essentially the world cup of men's tennis sees the top players from each country play each other in rubber round matches, and the team that wins the most matches will progress to the next round.
So today's matches so the singles players from Great Britain and Luxembourg play each other. First up we had British No.2 James Ward take on the Luxembourg No.1 Gilles Muller, which was a really good match, and proved to be quite a test for James Ward who suffered a straight sets defeat, but he did well in the first two sets before going off the boil in the 3rd, which saw Muller take the match in 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-1. Both players played a good match and traded some really good rallies, with Muller being the higher ranked and better player, although there probably wasn't a vast amount between them. But I was quite impressed with both players and it was great to see some live tennis as you really appreciate the pace, power and precision of their play alot more, and when you see a shot go long or wide you really get just how wide or long it is! Muller at Wimbledon already proved to Nadal he wasn't a pushover, so I think Andy will be in for a tough one on Sunday as they play their singles match.
Which brings me onto the Muzza who was up against the unranked player Laurent Bram, who on paper didn't sound like he'd give a player of Andy's calibre much of a challenge and well, he certainly didn't! Right from the get go, Bram put together a string of double faults and unforced errors that would have put Kim Clijsters on a really really bad day to shame, as he just handed game after game to Andy. In the end the scoreboard showed a humiliating triple bagel for the unlucky Luxembourger 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 which must easily have been one of the easiest matches Andy had ever played in his career. I felt sorry for Bram as he really couldn't get anything going at all in the match, and by the end it must have felt like a thankless task, as it took just 52 minutes for Andy to blooter him off the court. If it was Djokovic that was playing I think he would have gubbed the guy in half that time, so by the end of Andy's match he would have been back at his hotel ordering dinner!
Anyway so that's the first two matches of the Davis Cup tie over with, tomorrow is the doubles and then on Sunday Andy will play Muller and James Ward will play Bram. I can't imagine Ward having too much trouble against Bram either, although he might win the odd game, if he does win one I think he deserves a rapturous applause! It was a shame I won't get to see Andy play Muller on Sunday as apparently it is already sold out, and I was hoping to get a ticket on the day. Never mind cos it will be on Eurosport so I will definitely watch it on Sunday, it should be a really good match.
So it was great to finally see the Muzza play in the flesh, and it is fair to say he is even more impressive in real life to watch as a player as you really get the sense of how good his control of the ball on the court is, the precision and power of his shots, and just how fast and powerful that serve of his is! Its funny because I was expecting live tennis to actually be that bit faster and speedier in real life, but it isn't that far off the level of what you see on TV, but you can definitely appreciate their play more live in front of you and you can react to it as part of the audience. Just a shame more live tennis from top players doesn't come to town. And to top it off I don't think I seen myself on TV tonight as I watched a repeat of the Davis Cup coverage, probably a good thing! ;-)
So that it.
So today's matches so the singles players from Great Britain and Luxembourg play each other. First up we had British No.2 James Ward take on the Luxembourg No.1 Gilles Muller, which was a really good match, and proved to be quite a test for James Ward who suffered a straight sets defeat, but he did well in the first two sets before going off the boil in the 3rd, which saw Muller take the match in 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-1. Both players played a good match and traded some really good rallies, with Muller being the higher ranked and better player, although there probably wasn't a vast amount between them. But I was quite impressed with both players and it was great to see some live tennis as you really appreciate the pace, power and precision of their play alot more, and when you see a shot go long or wide you really get just how wide or long it is! Muller at Wimbledon already proved to Nadal he wasn't a pushover, so I think Andy will be in for a tough one on Sunday as they play their singles match.
Which brings me onto the Muzza who was up against the unranked player Laurent Bram, who on paper didn't sound like he'd give a player of Andy's calibre much of a challenge and well, he certainly didn't! Right from the get go, Bram put together a string of double faults and unforced errors that would have put Kim Clijsters on a really really bad day to shame, as he just handed game after game to Andy. In the end the scoreboard showed a humiliating triple bagel for the unlucky Luxembourger 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 which must easily have been one of the easiest matches Andy had ever played in his career. I felt sorry for Bram as he really couldn't get anything going at all in the match, and by the end it must have felt like a thankless task, as it took just 52 minutes for Andy to blooter him off the court. If it was Djokovic that was playing I think he would have gubbed the guy in half that time, so by the end of Andy's match he would have been back at his hotel ordering dinner!
Anyway so that's the first two matches of the Davis Cup tie over with, tomorrow is the doubles and then on Sunday Andy will play Muller and James Ward will play Bram. I can't imagine Ward having too much trouble against Bram either, although he might win the odd game, if he does win one I think he deserves a rapturous applause! It was a shame I won't get to see Andy play Muller on Sunday as apparently it is already sold out, and I was hoping to get a ticket on the day. Never mind cos it will be on Eurosport so I will definitely watch it on Sunday, it should be a really good match.
So it was great to finally see the Muzza play in the flesh, and it is fair to say he is even more impressive in real life to watch as a player as you really get the sense of how good his control of the ball on the court is, the precision and power of his shots, and just how fast and powerful that serve of his is! Its funny because I was expecting live tennis to actually be that bit faster and speedier in real life, but it isn't that far off the level of what you see on TV, but you can definitely appreciate their play more live in front of you and you can react to it as part of the audience. Just a shame more live tennis from top players doesn't come to town. And to top it off I don't think I seen myself on TV tonight as I watched a repeat of the Davis Cup coverage, probably a good thing! ;-)
So that it.
Wednesday 6 July 2011
Selling any old tat
The seventh series of The Apprentice tonight saw episode 10 and it was one of the most entertaining episodes of the series so far.
This week the two teams Logic (lead by Natasha) and Venture (lead by Melody) had to sell wholesale items to the public and reinvest by buying in more of the same items they've sold, and the team with the most assets will win the task.
However the two teams had a fair bit of misunderstanding over the meaning of the task, Natasha for example refused to budge on reinvesting their profit and Jim on their team who really came into his own on this task, kept pushing that point to her but she didn't listen. Melody and Helen also struggled with the point of the task as well, and Melody made the bad decision of neglecting to pick up popular items such as the nodding dogs which Tom had managed to sell quite well, and instead she casually just picked items off the shelves of a wholesalers, while they sold fairly well, they didn't get the figures in they were looking for. This episode also was unique for a couple of reasons, the first being that Helen suddenly offered on the morning of the second day to offer to step up and take over managing the task, as she felt Melody had no structure and strategy in leading the task. Naturally though Melody refused to let Helen do this and they carried on and Helen wanted to sell to retailers (I think I might have got this wrong myself, its very confusing!!) in bulk when the idea was really to sell to the public, and retailers could just buy from wholesalers anyway! So they had to resort to buying these new items and sell them to the public.
On Natasha's team however Jim sold brilliantly and finally started to show some signs of personality and likeability, as he did at last use some of his charm which worked very well on the customers. But Natasha herself despite being project manager didn't do a good job, in fact she pretty much just hung around while Susan, who also sold quite well, had the good idea of selling some bracelets she bought from a local shop. And while Susan did that all Natasha did was whinge at her for not keeping her sales updated in the order book, and generally she was being quite aggressive toward her and Jim when she refused to let them reinvest until they sold all their current stock, and by the time Jim had sold it all and got more they had ran out of time on the task.
However in the boardroom two surprises were revealed, first Helen for once was not on the winning team, as team Venture failed in securing the most assets and therefore lost. And the second surprise was while team Logic won the task, it was a very hollow victory as they neglected to reinvest much of their profit, which really pissed off Lord Sugar so much that he decided to not let them have their treat, which was a first in the programme. I thought that was a harsh decision personally, and the winning team went back to the house where they argued about how they failed to get their treat, which Natasha unfairly pinned right on Susan. This week I really think that Natasha has gone way down in my estimation, not that she was far up it in the first place, but all she did was boss her teammates around, be aggressive and get flustered. And in the end she contributed far less to the task than her teammates. In fact I feel a bit of sympathy for Susan because she quite often gets bullied and used as a scapegoat for the failure of tasks throughout the program by certain candidates. I quite like her also because her naievity is quite funny and she is rather gormless, especially when she saw a parade lead by mounted police and she said "why are they walking in the middle of the road? Can't they walk faster??". The bit in the car when her phone was ringing with a call from Natasha and she was nodding off to sleep was also priceless, and I think the audience see her as a favourite of the show, she's almost like this year's most amusing character like Stuart Baggs was, except for different reasons.
But in the boardroom despite making a very vocal and impassioned plea, Melody ended up leaving the process, mainly because Lord Sugar felt he couldn't go into business with her and he didn't even understand what her existing business was about!! In fact I don't think anyone did. I'm also surprised how she did so well in business in the first place as she doesn't seem to listen to anyone, and how can you get ahead in business if you don't listen!
So that's us down to the second last week, week 11 next and in the next episode its another task instead of the interviews stage. I guess because this time its about going into business with Lord Sugar rather than working for him, there won't be an interview stage, not unless they will do that on the last week.
And that's enough o that.
This week the two teams Logic (lead by Natasha) and Venture (lead by Melody) had to sell wholesale items to the public and reinvest by buying in more of the same items they've sold, and the team with the most assets will win the task.
However the two teams had a fair bit of misunderstanding over the meaning of the task, Natasha for example refused to budge on reinvesting their profit and Jim on their team who really came into his own on this task, kept pushing that point to her but she didn't listen. Melody and Helen also struggled with the point of the task as well, and Melody made the bad decision of neglecting to pick up popular items such as the nodding dogs which Tom had managed to sell quite well, and instead she casually just picked items off the shelves of a wholesalers, while they sold fairly well, they didn't get the figures in they were looking for. This episode also was unique for a couple of reasons, the first being that Helen suddenly offered on the morning of the second day to offer to step up and take over managing the task, as she felt Melody had no structure and strategy in leading the task. Naturally though Melody refused to let Helen do this and they carried on and Helen wanted to sell to retailers (I think I might have got this wrong myself, its very confusing!!) in bulk when the idea was really to sell to the public, and retailers could just buy from wholesalers anyway! So they had to resort to buying these new items and sell them to the public.
On Natasha's team however Jim sold brilliantly and finally started to show some signs of personality and likeability, as he did at last use some of his charm which worked very well on the customers. But Natasha herself despite being project manager didn't do a good job, in fact she pretty much just hung around while Susan, who also sold quite well, had the good idea of selling some bracelets she bought from a local shop. And while Susan did that all Natasha did was whinge at her for not keeping her sales updated in the order book, and generally she was being quite aggressive toward her and Jim when she refused to let them reinvest until they sold all their current stock, and by the time Jim had sold it all and got more they had ran out of time on the task.
However in the boardroom two surprises were revealed, first Helen for once was not on the winning team, as team Venture failed in securing the most assets and therefore lost. And the second surprise was while team Logic won the task, it was a very hollow victory as they neglected to reinvest much of their profit, which really pissed off Lord Sugar so much that he decided to not let them have their treat, which was a first in the programme. I thought that was a harsh decision personally, and the winning team went back to the house where they argued about how they failed to get their treat, which Natasha unfairly pinned right on Susan. This week I really think that Natasha has gone way down in my estimation, not that she was far up it in the first place, but all she did was boss her teammates around, be aggressive and get flustered. And in the end she contributed far less to the task than her teammates. In fact I feel a bit of sympathy for Susan because she quite often gets bullied and used as a scapegoat for the failure of tasks throughout the program by certain candidates. I quite like her also because her naievity is quite funny and she is rather gormless, especially when she saw a parade lead by mounted police and she said "why are they walking in the middle of the road? Can't they walk faster??". The bit in the car when her phone was ringing with a call from Natasha and she was nodding off to sleep was also priceless, and I think the audience see her as a favourite of the show, she's almost like this year's most amusing character like Stuart Baggs was, except for different reasons.
But in the boardroom despite making a very vocal and impassioned plea, Melody ended up leaving the process, mainly because Lord Sugar felt he couldn't go into business with her and he didn't even understand what her existing business was about!! In fact I don't think anyone did. I'm also surprised how she did so well in business in the first place as she doesn't seem to listen to anyone, and how can you get ahead in business if you don't listen!
So that's us down to the second last week, week 11 next and in the next episode its another task instead of the interviews stage. I guess because this time its about going into business with Lord Sugar rather than working for him, there won't be an interview stage, not unless they will do that on the last week.
And that's enough o that.
Sunday 3 July 2011
SW19 Part 9 - We have a new No.1
Sooooooo that's another Wimbledon over as the mens singles final has finished and we saw Rafa fall to the mighty Novak Djokovic, very much the man of the moment who has now stepped up to the plate and taken it and swopped it for a 12 inch buffet plate! In otherwords Djokovic managed to defeat Rafa and take his first Wimbledon title.
The match did in my opinion fall a bit short of my expectations, it was still a good final, but it lacked what anyone's expectations of a pure classic might have promised. Djokovic for the most part was in control, after a tightly contested 1st set Djoko got the break at 5-4 on Rafa's serve and took the first set. In the second Djokovic was in full control as he blootered Nadal off the court, in the third however Rafa fought back into the match and got an early break to take the set, but in the fourth Rafa despite breaking back at one point, had his serve broken once again and secured Djoko's first Wimbledon title. I was glad it wasn't a straight set defeat for Rafa, but if you look at the scoreline 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, Rafa didn't fare much better than Andy did, in fact Rafa won one less game than Andy did in their semi final match, i.e. Rafa won 14 games to Andy's 15. So in retrospect Andy really didn't play that badly overall in the semi finals, and he should at least take a little solace from that, as Djokovic made Nadal look quite ordinary at times. In fact Nadal had a similar problem in his match where he had a good chance to break Djoko in his opening service game of the 4th set, but he couldn't take it as he fired a forehand that went long, ring any bells? If Nadal had got that break things might have turned out differently or we might have been looking at a 5th set at least, but again its the fate of circumstances in a way. But its ironic that the losing players in both the semis and finals matches had very similar patterns in their outcome.
Regardless of the match, Djokovic definitely deserves praise for his performance, he came through a very tough Wimbledon campaign to win the title, having dropped 4 sets throughout the tournament, whereas he only dropped one in the Australian Open. His performance against Rafa was mostly imperious as he showed nothing but control over the now former World No.1, who for the most part couldn't do much against the Serb's all out attack on his serve and return. Nadal must be kicking himself over his defeat, as that's five in a row now, in his post match interview you got the impression he was saying "how in the hell can I beat this guy?? What do I have to do??" cos right now he doesn't have the answers. I'm sure at some point Rafa will beat him again but not just now.
But of course now that Djoko is the World No.1 we can unfortunately expect yet another unceasing winning streak, so far he's up to 7 matches, how long will this one go on for???? It could be another 6 months or at least until next year at the Aussie Open where he will probably win again and extend the streak even further!!! I hope it doesn't last as long this time, but let's face it, who is to stop him??? Not Rafa that's for sure, the only two players that can potentially stop him are Federer and Murray, Roger handed him his only defeat this year while Andy came to within 2 points from beating him in Rome.
But Djokovic is the world's best player now without a doubt and he is a likeable guy and has definitely worked very hard to get to where he is, so we will see how his career pans out for the remainder of the year. But with the hard court season coming up again, Djokovic's favourite surface, all I can say is God help the rest of the players on tour because this man is about to clean up once more! No one once again will ever win a title with him in it lol. Jeez! This time he might try and equal Stefi Graff's record of 66 matches in one season, I hope not, it would be just a bit too much. But all that aside Djokovic definitely deserves credit for his performance throughout the year so far, he has become such a complete player, the guy serves great, returns great, vollies and drop shots brilliantly, he can hit winners from virtually anywhere on the court and he can break serve like snapping a twig. In short he's the complete package.
One thing I must say though is Djokovic couldn't take his hands off that trophy and he kept snogging it! I mean get a room!! ;-) Oh and one more thing I have to say about the Wimbledon champions is I was looking at the Wimbly website and they had a picture of Novak Djokovic and Petra Kvitova with their respective trophies in hand (or cup and saucer!) both all dressed up. And I have to say that Petra is a bit of a honey all dressed up with her hair done, she looks pretty good. Just thought I'd share that. :-)
Anyway it was good to see Andy still writing on his BBC column after his defeat about his loss and how he took it, but he's ready to come back for the Davis cup this week, and he will put in a lot of time to train hard for the US Open which will start at the end of August. Can he rise to the challenge and win the title there? Well after 3 grand slam losses this year I have to say no, I don't have any expectations of him winning because these top 2 guys are just better than everyone else. Djokovic is red hot just now and hard court is his playground, so I'm almost 100% certain he will be the one lifting that trophy come September. But you can but dream I guess, then wake up. ;-)
No but seriously if Andy does train hard enough and believe enough and if he most importantly SERVES well enough then he will have a chance. But in these instances its usually the same outcome, every grand slam comes around we build up our hopes only to have them crushed once again. Its all "ohh he's gonna do it! this time I can feel it! He will win!" then "ahhh shit he didn't win again, oh well maybe next time!". But hard court is Andy's best surface he will be able to go toe to toe with Nadal but with Djokovic he will most likely be outmanoevered by him on the court, but if he ever plays him in the final I hope he gives him a real match and not allow himself to be trounced like he did at Melbourne. Achhh well time will tell, but the Serb is the overwhelming favourite I think as he can now beat Rafa even in grand slams, so there was no difference in the pressure of the event and it didn't phase him at all. What Andy has to do now is to try and emulate what Djokovic has done and above all work on his mental strength, especially when dealing with adversity as Tim Henman so aptly put it, and get his 1st serve percentages consistently high up in the 75% area at least, then his chances will get better. John McEnroe himself made the prediction last year that Andy Murray's grand slam breakthrough will come at the 2011 US Open, usually he get's it right, but he might be wrong this time, as Djokovic might have pipped him to the post already.
David Lloyd, a former Davis cup captain said that Andy needs to improve his image in public, i.e. come on court clean shaven and well dressed as well as to work on his serve. I mean he doesn't half state the bleeding obvious does he???? Its just nitpicking actually, as we all know Andy needs to work on his serve more than anything else, so whether he comes on court sprouting a bit of stubble or not isn't exactly going to ruin his chances is it??? Just because Djokovic, Federer and Nadal are clean shaven, it isn't necessarily the key to success, but then again, it might be worth a shot, in fact Andy has taken it onboard as he has been seen in the press since with a stubble free shaven face. Perhaps that grand slam isn't far away now! ;-)
Anyway that's enough tennis for now, my next tennis post will be based on live tennis, i,e. the Davis Cup which takes place at Braehead Arena this Friday, so I'm going along to see that for sure, and Andy Murray has confirmed that he will be playing at it, and he's tweeted that he's arrived in Glasgow, heyy! Hopefully Muzza will put in a good performance, although I heard that he will play Gilles Muller, who took on Rafa in his 3rd round Wimbly match, and he gave him quite a test (well for 2 sets 7-6, 7-6 that is before he gubbed him 6-0 in the 3rd) and it might be a tough match for Andy too, but I'm really looking forward to it. I just hope he is playing on Friday as I'd hate it if it were Sunday! So I will post more on that later in the week.
So that'ssssss it!!!
The match did in my opinion fall a bit short of my expectations, it was still a good final, but it lacked what anyone's expectations of a pure classic might have promised. Djokovic for the most part was in control, after a tightly contested 1st set Djoko got the break at 5-4 on Rafa's serve and took the first set. In the second Djokovic was in full control as he blootered Nadal off the court, in the third however Rafa fought back into the match and got an early break to take the set, but in the fourth Rafa despite breaking back at one point, had his serve broken once again and secured Djoko's first Wimbledon title. I was glad it wasn't a straight set defeat for Rafa, but if you look at the scoreline 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, Rafa didn't fare much better than Andy did, in fact Rafa won one less game than Andy did in their semi final match, i.e. Rafa won 14 games to Andy's 15. So in retrospect Andy really didn't play that badly overall in the semi finals, and he should at least take a little solace from that, as Djokovic made Nadal look quite ordinary at times. In fact Nadal had a similar problem in his match where he had a good chance to break Djoko in his opening service game of the 4th set, but he couldn't take it as he fired a forehand that went long, ring any bells? If Nadal had got that break things might have turned out differently or we might have been looking at a 5th set at least, but again its the fate of circumstances in a way. But its ironic that the losing players in both the semis and finals matches had very similar patterns in their outcome.
Regardless of the match, Djokovic definitely deserves praise for his performance, he came through a very tough Wimbledon campaign to win the title, having dropped 4 sets throughout the tournament, whereas he only dropped one in the Australian Open. His performance against Rafa was mostly imperious as he showed nothing but control over the now former World No.1, who for the most part couldn't do much against the Serb's all out attack on his serve and return. Nadal must be kicking himself over his defeat, as that's five in a row now, in his post match interview you got the impression he was saying "how in the hell can I beat this guy?? What do I have to do??" cos right now he doesn't have the answers. I'm sure at some point Rafa will beat him again but not just now.
But of course now that Djoko is the World No.1 we can unfortunately expect yet another unceasing winning streak, so far he's up to 7 matches, how long will this one go on for???? It could be another 6 months or at least until next year at the Aussie Open where he will probably win again and extend the streak even further!!! I hope it doesn't last as long this time, but let's face it, who is to stop him??? Not Rafa that's for sure, the only two players that can potentially stop him are Federer and Murray, Roger handed him his only defeat this year while Andy came to within 2 points from beating him in Rome.
But Djokovic is the world's best player now without a doubt and he is a likeable guy and has definitely worked very hard to get to where he is, so we will see how his career pans out for the remainder of the year. But with the hard court season coming up again, Djokovic's favourite surface, all I can say is God help the rest of the players on tour because this man is about to clean up once more! No one once again will ever win a title with him in it lol. Jeez! This time he might try and equal Stefi Graff's record of 66 matches in one season, I hope not, it would be just a bit too much. But all that aside Djokovic definitely deserves credit for his performance throughout the year so far, he has become such a complete player, the guy serves great, returns great, vollies and drop shots brilliantly, he can hit winners from virtually anywhere on the court and he can break serve like snapping a twig. In short he's the complete package.
One thing I must say though is Djokovic couldn't take his hands off that trophy and he kept snogging it! I mean get a room!! ;-) Oh and one more thing I have to say about the Wimbledon champions is I was looking at the Wimbly website and they had a picture of Novak Djokovic and Petra Kvitova with their respective trophies in hand (or cup and saucer!) both all dressed up. And I have to say that Petra is a bit of a honey all dressed up with her hair done, she looks pretty good. Just thought I'd share that. :-)
Anyway it was good to see Andy still writing on his BBC column after his defeat about his loss and how he took it, but he's ready to come back for the Davis cup this week, and he will put in a lot of time to train hard for the US Open which will start at the end of August. Can he rise to the challenge and win the title there? Well after 3 grand slam losses this year I have to say no, I don't have any expectations of him winning because these top 2 guys are just better than everyone else. Djokovic is red hot just now and hard court is his playground, so I'm almost 100% certain he will be the one lifting that trophy come September. But you can but dream I guess, then wake up. ;-)
No but seriously if Andy does train hard enough and believe enough and if he most importantly SERVES well enough then he will have a chance. But in these instances its usually the same outcome, every grand slam comes around we build up our hopes only to have them crushed once again. Its all "ohh he's gonna do it! this time I can feel it! He will win!" then "ahhh shit he didn't win again, oh well maybe next time!". But hard court is Andy's best surface he will be able to go toe to toe with Nadal but with Djokovic he will most likely be outmanoevered by him on the court, but if he ever plays him in the final I hope he gives him a real match and not allow himself to be trounced like he did at Melbourne. Achhh well time will tell, but the Serb is the overwhelming favourite I think as he can now beat Rafa even in grand slams, so there was no difference in the pressure of the event and it didn't phase him at all. What Andy has to do now is to try and emulate what Djokovic has done and above all work on his mental strength, especially when dealing with adversity as Tim Henman so aptly put it, and get his 1st serve percentages consistently high up in the 75% area at least, then his chances will get better. John McEnroe himself made the prediction last year that Andy Murray's grand slam breakthrough will come at the 2011 US Open, usually he get's it right, but he might be wrong this time, as Djokovic might have pipped him to the post already.
David Lloyd, a former Davis cup captain said that Andy needs to improve his image in public, i.e. come on court clean shaven and well dressed as well as to work on his serve. I mean he doesn't half state the bleeding obvious does he???? Its just nitpicking actually, as we all know Andy needs to work on his serve more than anything else, so whether he comes on court sprouting a bit of stubble or not isn't exactly going to ruin his chances is it??? Just because Djokovic, Federer and Nadal are clean shaven, it isn't necessarily the key to success, but then again, it might be worth a shot, in fact Andy has taken it onboard as he has been seen in the press since with a stubble free shaven face. Perhaps that grand slam isn't far away now! ;-)
Anyway that's enough tennis for now, my next tennis post will be based on live tennis, i,e. the Davis Cup which takes place at Braehead Arena this Friday, so I'm going along to see that for sure, and Andy Murray has confirmed that he will be playing at it, and he's tweeted that he's arrived in Glasgow, heyy! Hopefully Muzza will put in a good performance, although I heard that he will play Gilles Muller, who took on Rafa in his 3rd round Wimbly match, and he gave him quite a test (well for 2 sets 7-6, 7-6 that is before he gubbed him 6-0 in the 3rd) and it might be a tough match for Andy too, but I'm really looking forward to it. I just hope he is playing on Friday as I'd hate it if it were Sunday! So I will post more on that later in the week.
So that'ssssss it!!!
Saturday 2 July 2011
SW19 Part 8 - the battle of the Ovas and who's it gonna be????
So Wimbledon 2011 is getting ever closer toward the end, and today we saw the ladies singles final between new upcomer Petra Kvitova and the mighty Maria Sharapova, who were to slug it out for the ultimate grass title.
In the final Petra came out with a touch of nerves as she failed to hold her serve straight off, but on Sharapova's serve, she broke back straight away and made it 1-1 all, after that Petra had no problem holding serve or otherwise, the young lass was in total control. In the 2nd set however Petra and Maria both shared breaks of serve, but ultimately Maria made too many unforced errors on her serve, not to mention she served up 7 double faults, and well Petra hardly made that many. So in the end Petra showed little to no nerves in serving out for the match and she secured her first grand slam title with an ace, with the young Czeck dropping her racquet and falling to her knees in delight, winning in 6-3 6-4.
Despite the somewhat straight forward scoreline it was a very good match and again adds to a fine collection of ladies grand slam finals this year, as Petra and Maria both traded some really good rallies and the breaks of serve kept things interesting. I also have to say a big well done Petra Kvitova as she totally kept her cool and composure in the match and throughout the tournament, its ironic that Sharapova hadn't dropped a set up until that match but in the end it was Petra that was too strong for her. Like Li Na at the French Open (who Li Na actually defeated!), Petra played a stunning game with some amazingly powerful forehands, she just knew how to hit and direct the ball. She really is a player to watch out for in the future, and I even remember her playing in the Suez Open back in February in the final against Kim Clijsters and she beat her to take the title. She has since gone on and won at the Matua Madrid Open, which saw her win her first Premier mandatory WTA event and now she has backed that up with her first Grand slam title. Without a doubt Kvitova is a really special player and she will have a very bright future ahead of her.
On the ladies doubles finals I was a bit disappointed to see Sabine Lisicki and Sam Stosur lose out in the finals to the No.2 seeds Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik, but it was still a great achievement to reach the final of Wimbledon, especially as they just formed their partnership a few months ago. Also quickly on the mens doubles final, it saw the number 1 seeds the Bryan brothers pull out a win again, as they defeated their opponents Tec and Lec let's call them (cos I can't bothered looking up their names!) in straight sets in 6-3, 6-4, 7-6. This is the twins 11th grand slam doubles title and their 2nd at Wimbledon so well done lads.
Right onto the real biggie, tomorrow's men's final, the utltimate showdown between the best two players in the world, Rafa Nadal vs Novak Djokovic, as they battle it out to see who will win the ultimate trophy in tennis. So who is it going to be??? To be honest I don't really know, there is a strong case for both men, on one hand Rafa despite having the stuffing knocked out of him by Djokovic in their last four meetings, he has found his form again at Wimbledon, especially after winning at the French Open, it has given a big confidence boost. So to write off Rada in tomorrow's final could not be a bigger mistake. On the other hand Djokovic has been the most successful player this year in men's tennis, he has put together one of the longest winning streaks in one year, won 7 titles in a row and basically has stepped up his game to Olympian heights. Djokovic will also take big confidence from defeating Rafa in four ATP Masters events, 2 on hard court and 2 on clay, so there is a strong chance of his winning the title.
But tomorrow hopefully will be one of the most anticipated and best Wimbledon finals since at least the 2009 final against Federer and Roddick, on the other hand it might be a big blowout, with either Rafa not bringing anything to the table and Djoko beating him in straight sets or Djoko bottling it under the pressure and suffer a straight set defeat. But I really don't think either of these scenarios will be the case, hopefully it will be a real battle between the two of them, what we want is of course a real 5 set battle, or even a tight 4 set battle. Who is going to win??? Well either of them really, but we will soon find out. But I really think its going to be one hell of a final with little letup from either player.
So on the baited breath note that's eeeet. The final post mortem post will up soon!
In the final Petra came out with a touch of nerves as she failed to hold her serve straight off, but on Sharapova's serve, she broke back straight away and made it 1-1 all, after that Petra had no problem holding serve or otherwise, the young lass was in total control. In the 2nd set however Petra and Maria both shared breaks of serve, but ultimately Maria made too many unforced errors on her serve, not to mention she served up 7 double faults, and well Petra hardly made that many. So in the end Petra showed little to no nerves in serving out for the match and she secured her first grand slam title with an ace, with the young Czeck dropping her racquet and falling to her knees in delight, winning in 6-3 6-4.
Despite the somewhat straight forward scoreline it was a very good match and again adds to a fine collection of ladies grand slam finals this year, as Petra and Maria both traded some really good rallies and the breaks of serve kept things interesting. I also have to say a big well done Petra Kvitova as she totally kept her cool and composure in the match and throughout the tournament, its ironic that Sharapova hadn't dropped a set up until that match but in the end it was Petra that was too strong for her. Like Li Na at the French Open (who Li Na actually defeated!), Petra played a stunning game with some amazingly powerful forehands, she just knew how to hit and direct the ball. She really is a player to watch out for in the future, and I even remember her playing in the Suez Open back in February in the final against Kim Clijsters and she beat her to take the title. She has since gone on and won at the Matua Madrid Open, which saw her win her first Premier mandatory WTA event and now she has backed that up with her first Grand slam title. Without a doubt Kvitova is a really special player and she will have a very bright future ahead of her.
On the ladies doubles finals I was a bit disappointed to see Sabine Lisicki and Sam Stosur lose out in the finals to the No.2 seeds Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik, but it was still a great achievement to reach the final of Wimbledon, especially as they just formed their partnership a few months ago. Also quickly on the mens doubles final, it saw the number 1 seeds the Bryan brothers pull out a win again, as they defeated their opponents Tec and Lec let's call them (cos I can't bothered looking up their names!) in straight sets in 6-3, 6-4, 7-6. This is the twins 11th grand slam doubles title and their 2nd at Wimbledon so well done lads.
Right onto the real biggie, tomorrow's men's final, the utltimate showdown between the best two players in the world, Rafa Nadal vs Novak Djokovic, as they battle it out to see who will win the ultimate trophy in tennis. So who is it going to be??? To be honest I don't really know, there is a strong case for both men, on one hand Rafa despite having the stuffing knocked out of him by Djokovic in their last four meetings, he has found his form again at Wimbledon, especially after winning at the French Open, it has given a big confidence boost. So to write off Rada in tomorrow's final could not be a bigger mistake. On the other hand Djokovic has been the most successful player this year in men's tennis, he has put together one of the longest winning streaks in one year, won 7 titles in a row and basically has stepped up his game to Olympian heights. Djokovic will also take big confidence from defeating Rafa in four ATP Masters events, 2 on hard court and 2 on clay, so there is a strong chance of his winning the title.
But tomorrow hopefully will be one of the most anticipated and best Wimbledon finals since at least the 2009 final against Federer and Roddick, on the other hand it might be a big blowout, with either Rafa not bringing anything to the table and Djoko beating him in straight sets or Djoko bottling it under the pressure and suffer a straight set defeat. But I really don't think either of these scenarios will be the case, hopefully it will be a real battle between the two of them, what we want is of course a real 5 set battle, or even a tight 4 set battle. Who is going to win??? Well either of them really, but we will soon find out. But I really think its going to be one hell of a final with little letup from either player.
So on the baited breath note that's eeeet. The final post mortem post will up soon!
Friday 1 July 2011
Sweet and bittersweet
Its week 9 on The Apprentice and its getting closer to the end of the road for the candidates on the show, pretty soon Lord Sugar will have to decide who he is going into business with. But it was a very enjoyable episode which involved the two teams having to create a brand new biscuit to market to retailers.
So the two teams Logic (lead by Zoe) and Venture (lead by Helen) decided which biscuits they decided to go for. Helen decided to go for a star shaped biscuit which they called Special Stars, which Helen's team successfully managed to pitch to Asda to make a massive sale of 800,000 units. Mr Personality Jim headed the pitch, while Natasha contributed to the pitch, but she ended up being shut down by Helen for adding any unecessary info during the pitch. I felt that was a bit unfair to Natasha as she was again largely sidelined on the task, unlike Melody, Natasha does know when to back off when faced with authority and work as a teamplayer. Natasha also raised the fair point that the slogan for their product was "treat time is any time" which is very confusing because clearly a treat isn't for any time, so its contrary and doesn't make sense. However Jim also made some ridiculous promises that their team could adhere to a massive scale marketing strategy as if they had millions of pounds at their disposal, which they didn't. OK they did well but Jim once again came off like a real dick. But I must say I am getting fed up hearing the same phrases being used in the series, especially "we've identified a gap in the market", ahh shut up! If there is a gap in the market just cover it over with some canvass or something and that will do it! ;-) I can just imagine businesses saying "if we hear that one more time!".
However Zoe's team were not so well lead, Zoe struggled to come up with a target market to sell the product to, and after one pitch, which featured some really cringeworthy roleplay from Melody and Tom. To be honest though I preferred Logic's product, OK they said the biscuit itself wasn't so great, but I thought the name BixMix was good and the package was very good. But Zoe just totally lost control of her team and got flustered, she also had to deal with an impossible to control Melody, who while she is very shrewd she just doesn't listen to anyone.
And in the boardroom of course team Logic lost to Venture, as they had zero sales, nil points, which is pretty bad. So as Lord Sugar brought Zoe, Tom and Melody back into the boardroom, cross words flew across the table between Zoe and Melody who did not see eye to eye at all on the task. I can see why Zoe doesn't like Melody though, she just bulldozes her way through tasks, isn't a team player and just doesn't listen! But in the end I think Lord Sugar made the right call, Zoe screwed up, and she was a bit of a pain herself.
Now there is only 3 weeks left, and 6 candidates left, next week will be the last team task and then it will be into the gruelling interview process, which is always the best part of the series. I really do think that Helen who now has won all the tasks so far in this series is the strongest candidate, yet in the boardroom she has largely gone under the radar from Lord Sugar, he usually just praises her with the odd "very well done!". In next week's clip we saw a team argument and obviously the team Helen was in wasn't working well so she offered to step in and take over the as PM, good idea??? Oh aye I would let her! But if you are doing something right and not getting any lip back she certainly is doing something right! However it remains to be seen who will stay and go.
Fin.
So the two teams Logic (lead by Zoe) and Venture (lead by Helen) decided which biscuits they decided to go for. Helen decided to go for a star shaped biscuit which they called Special Stars, which Helen's team successfully managed to pitch to Asda to make a massive sale of 800,000 units. Mr Personality Jim headed the pitch, while Natasha contributed to the pitch, but she ended up being shut down by Helen for adding any unecessary info during the pitch. I felt that was a bit unfair to Natasha as she was again largely sidelined on the task, unlike Melody, Natasha does know when to back off when faced with authority and work as a teamplayer. Natasha also raised the fair point that the slogan for their product was "treat time is any time" which is very confusing because clearly a treat isn't for any time, so its contrary and doesn't make sense. However Jim also made some ridiculous promises that their team could adhere to a massive scale marketing strategy as if they had millions of pounds at their disposal, which they didn't. OK they did well but Jim once again came off like a real dick. But I must say I am getting fed up hearing the same phrases being used in the series, especially "we've identified a gap in the market", ahh shut up! If there is a gap in the market just cover it over with some canvass or something and that will do it! ;-) I can just imagine businesses saying "if we hear that one more time!".
However Zoe's team were not so well lead, Zoe struggled to come up with a target market to sell the product to, and after one pitch, which featured some really cringeworthy roleplay from Melody and Tom. To be honest though I preferred Logic's product, OK they said the biscuit itself wasn't so great, but I thought the name BixMix was good and the package was very good. But Zoe just totally lost control of her team and got flustered, she also had to deal with an impossible to control Melody, who while she is very shrewd she just doesn't listen to anyone.
And in the boardroom of course team Logic lost to Venture, as they had zero sales, nil points, which is pretty bad. So as Lord Sugar brought Zoe, Tom and Melody back into the boardroom, cross words flew across the table between Zoe and Melody who did not see eye to eye at all on the task. I can see why Zoe doesn't like Melody though, she just bulldozes her way through tasks, isn't a team player and just doesn't listen! But in the end I think Lord Sugar made the right call, Zoe screwed up, and she was a bit of a pain herself.
Now there is only 3 weeks left, and 6 candidates left, next week will be the last team task and then it will be into the gruelling interview process, which is always the best part of the series. I really do think that Helen who now has won all the tasks so far in this series is the strongest candidate, yet in the boardroom she has largely gone under the radar from Lord Sugar, he usually just praises her with the odd "very well done!". In next week's clip we saw a team argument and obviously the team Helen was in wasn't working well so she offered to step in and take over the as PM, good idea??? Oh aye I would let her! But if you are doing something right and not getting any lip back she certainly is doing something right! However it remains to be seen who will stay and go.
Fin.
SW19 Part 7 - ugghhhh!
Wellllll that's another mens Wimbledon semi final over and wellll what can you say????
Starting with the Muzza vs Nadal match, it as usual promised so much but once again disappointment reared its ugly head. The match did of course get off to a terrific start with Andy coming out all guns firing, serving well and holding his serve quite comfortably, and Nadal actually looked like the poorer player making some unforced errors almost uncharacteristic ones and this lead to Andy winning the first set. However in the 2nd set, Andy still playing great with the momentum in his favour when it was 2-1 on Nadal's serve, Andy mis-hit a forehand down the right hand side which cost him a potential break point on Nadal's serve, and after that I don't think Andy recovered. From that point on Nadal took control of the match and broke Andy's serve and never looked back, and then the match became quite depressing to watch. In the end Rafa sealed the win in 5-7, 6-2,6-2, 6-4 which saw Rafa make his 5th Wimbledon where he will defend his title for the 3rd time.
And in the other match Djokovic survived a real test from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, clearly it was the better match, and ok Tsonga did go off the boil a bit in the 2nd, but he got back into it in the 3rd and played a terrific tiebreak to seal the 3rd, but in the 4th Djoko took control once more and secured his place in the final with a score of 7-6, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3. Not only that it also sees Djokovic become the World No.1 for the first time in his career. Djoko had no difficulty showing his emotions on court ater his victory, falling flat on his back, leaping around in joy and kissing the grass (as you do). Fair play to Djokovic though he has worked exceptionally hard to get to this point and for tennis players its all about Wimbledon and this is definitely Djoko's best chance to grab the trophy. Also the fact that he's beaten Rafa 4 times in their previous encounters will give him big confidence going into the final, but Rafa has also boosted his own confidence having won the French, and he has been playing consistently well throughout the tournament, bar the odd the game or two. I did feel disappointed for Tsonga of course as he played a really good match, he always does, he's a great player, very tough to beat, and I liked his post match conference where someone asked him what is the best thing about playing on grass and he said "You can dive on grass, if you dive on other surfaces you go to the hospital!".
So that's the mens final set on Sunday, it is Djokovic vs Nadal after all, and I'm sure it will be a terrific match and hopefully a real 5 set battle between the world's 2 best players. Out of the two, even though I'm actually less inclined to care for once, but I'd possibly rather see Rafa win, mainly cos I don't want Djoko to be handed another unceasing winning streak, it would be just too much to see that again. In fact I'm almost bored of the men's tennis at times, because there is no room for unpredictability, its just the same top guys getting to the final time and time again. I would have loved to have seen Andy get to the final but I just knew deep down that he wouldn't make it past Nadal, the guy is just too good, and it will be the same at the US Open. To top things off at the US Open, Djokovic will be the red hot favourite to win there too, and if Andy plays well enough he will get to the semis, face Nadal and be put out once again. It really is disappointing but its to be expected, these guys are just that bit ahead of Andy, and he really probably will have missed the boat there, so I now have zero expectations of him winning there either. I hope he does well at the US Open and reaches the quarters or semi finals because at least he will have consistently made it to the semis in all four grand slams in the season and that in itself is impressive, but he will always fall short of the greatest prize.
It is a great shame for Andy and I do feel sorry for him as he really does take the brunt of it in the press and the nation does expect too much from him at times, the guy goes out there and tries the best he can, and sadly against the top 3 it just isn't enough. You could naturally see how gutted Andy looked in the post match interview saying how he played well to begin with but then made mistakes in the 2nd set and after that Rafa played much better. The only realistic way he can win a slam is if these guys either retire through injury, or don't take part in the event due to illness or injury and usually there is no chance of that. Andy Roddick himself was fortunate enough to win a grand slam at the US Open just before Federer rose to prominence because he himself since then has found it equally impossible to win at Wimbledon, US Open or the French. Nadal and Federer have dominated the field for so long it leaves absolutely no room for anyone else, and now with the emergence of Djokovic its the same thing again. Its like when your pre-order a DVD to get it before anyone else, these guys do that with the slams, they book their place in the final before anyone else can get there. Rafa was as usual nothing but gracious and sympathetic for Andy after the semi final match, he knows how good the guy is more than anyone else, and he even went as far to call him "the greatest player I've ever seen who hasn't won a grand slam". In fact Rafa probably has more respect for Andy than any other player on the tour (well except the other two guys). And of course Andy quite often gets the sarcastic "Come on Tim" chants from the crowd when he plays at Wimbledon, but Andy is a far better player than Henman, but the question is, is he good enough to win one? The debate rages on.
But despite the disappointing way the match turned out, Andy did at least succeed in taking a set off Rafa on grass, so its an improvement from that point of view, but his whole game really needs work, and that 1st serve of his was and still very much is his curse. Until he get's that sorted he will never win a slam, and this year is taken up already, its Djoko or Nadal for the US Open final, they are all over it, their tickets have been booked for that final already, its pre-ordained.
So its a big letdown for Andy Murray and Britain once more, its not really a surprise, but to be fair to Andy he is showing signs of improving his attitude, he's holding it together that bit better, but he just needs to step up his level more and its in the 5 set matches where he really struggles to keep the consistency. Ah well that's another one over with, next up Andy is scheduled to play at the Davis Cup next week, which I am attending, I just hope he doesn't feel too discouraged to take part in it, as he has been confirmed to do so, and if he does I hope he isn't back on another losing streak form. We will soon find out but hopefully not. He has at least been tweeting on Twitter again, so it does show he's chilling out, taking things in his stride again, so hopefully he can play well next week.
Anyway the ladies final is on tomorrow between Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova, whether or not Maria can hold her game together or not remains to be seen, or if Petra can hold her nerve in the final to take the title. We will soon find out, it should be a good one, hopefully not in straight sets, it would be great to see a real battle. It is also good to see the Sabine Lisicki, the singles semi finalist year, partnered up with Sam Stosur again in the ladies doubles, they are in the semi finals just now and it would be great if they could make it to the final. They met and played together back in Stuttgart earlier this year and they make for a really good doubles partnership, so its great to see how well they have done at Wimbledon. Sam Stosur herself is a terrific doubles player who has already won several Grand Slam doubles titles, so here's hoping they do well here.
Right that's enough!!
Starting with the Muzza vs Nadal match, it as usual promised so much but once again disappointment reared its ugly head. The match did of course get off to a terrific start with Andy coming out all guns firing, serving well and holding his serve quite comfortably, and Nadal actually looked like the poorer player making some unforced errors almost uncharacteristic ones and this lead to Andy winning the first set. However in the 2nd set, Andy still playing great with the momentum in his favour when it was 2-1 on Nadal's serve, Andy mis-hit a forehand down the right hand side which cost him a potential break point on Nadal's serve, and after that I don't think Andy recovered. From that point on Nadal took control of the match and broke Andy's serve and never looked back, and then the match became quite depressing to watch. In the end Rafa sealed the win in 5-7, 6-2,6-2, 6-4 which saw Rafa make his 5th Wimbledon where he will defend his title for the 3rd time.
And in the other match Djokovic survived a real test from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, clearly it was the better match, and ok Tsonga did go off the boil a bit in the 2nd, but he got back into it in the 3rd and played a terrific tiebreak to seal the 3rd, but in the 4th Djoko took control once more and secured his place in the final with a score of 7-6, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3. Not only that it also sees Djokovic become the World No.1 for the first time in his career. Djoko had no difficulty showing his emotions on court ater his victory, falling flat on his back, leaping around in joy and kissing the grass (as you do). Fair play to Djokovic though he has worked exceptionally hard to get to this point and for tennis players its all about Wimbledon and this is definitely Djoko's best chance to grab the trophy. Also the fact that he's beaten Rafa 4 times in their previous encounters will give him big confidence going into the final, but Rafa has also boosted his own confidence having won the French, and he has been playing consistently well throughout the tournament, bar the odd the game or two. I did feel disappointed for Tsonga of course as he played a really good match, he always does, he's a great player, very tough to beat, and I liked his post match conference where someone asked him what is the best thing about playing on grass and he said "You can dive on grass, if you dive on other surfaces you go to the hospital!".
So that's the mens final set on Sunday, it is Djokovic vs Nadal after all, and I'm sure it will be a terrific match and hopefully a real 5 set battle between the world's 2 best players. Out of the two, even though I'm actually less inclined to care for once, but I'd possibly rather see Rafa win, mainly cos I don't want Djoko to be handed another unceasing winning streak, it would be just too much to see that again. In fact I'm almost bored of the men's tennis at times, because there is no room for unpredictability, its just the same top guys getting to the final time and time again. I would have loved to have seen Andy get to the final but I just knew deep down that he wouldn't make it past Nadal, the guy is just too good, and it will be the same at the US Open. To top things off at the US Open, Djokovic will be the red hot favourite to win there too, and if Andy plays well enough he will get to the semis, face Nadal and be put out once again. It really is disappointing but its to be expected, these guys are just that bit ahead of Andy, and he really probably will have missed the boat there, so I now have zero expectations of him winning there either. I hope he does well at the US Open and reaches the quarters or semi finals because at least he will have consistently made it to the semis in all four grand slams in the season and that in itself is impressive, but he will always fall short of the greatest prize.
It is a great shame for Andy and I do feel sorry for him as he really does take the brunt of it in the press and the nation does expect too much from him at times, the guy goes out there and tries the best he can, and sadly against the top 3 it just isn't enough. You could naturally see how gutted Andy looked in the post match interview saying how he played well to begin with but then made mistakes in the 2nd set and after that Rafa played much better. The only realistic way he can win a slam is if these guys either retire through injury, or don't take part in the event due to illness or injury and usually there is no chance of that. Andy Roddick himself was fortunate enough to win a grand slam at the US Open just before Federer rose to prominence because he himself since then has found it equally impossible to win at Wimbledon, US Open or the French. Nadal and Federer have dominated the field for so long it leaves absolutely no room for anyone else, and now with the emergence of Djokovic its the same thing again. Its like when your pre-order a DVD to get it before anyone else, these guys do that with the slams, they book their place in the final before anyone else can get there. Rafa was as usual nothing but gracious and sympathetic for Andy after the semi final match, he knows how good the guy is more than anyone else, and he even went as far to call him "the greatest player I've ever seen who hasn't won a grand slam". In fact Rafa probably has more respect for Andy than any other player on the tour (well except the other two guys). And of course Andy quite often gets the sarcastic "Come on Tim" chants from the crowd when he plays at Wimbledon, but Andy is a far better player than Henman, but the question is, is he good enough to win one? The debate rages on.
But despite the disappointing way the match turned out, Andy did at least succeed in taking a set off Rafa on grass, so its an improvement from that point of view, but his whole game really needs work, and that 1st serve of his was and still very much is his curse. Until he get's that sorted he will never win a slam, and this year is taken up already, its Djoko or Nadal for the US Open final, they are all over it, their tickets have been booked for that final already, its pre-ordained.
So its a big letdown for Andy Murray and Britain once more, its not really a surprise, but to be fair to Andy he is showing signs of improving his attitude, he's holding it together that bit better, but he just needs to step up his level more and its in the 5 set matches where he really struggles to keep the consistency. Ah well that's another one over with, next up Andy is scheduled to play at the Davis Cup next week, which I am attending, I just hope he doesn't feel too discouraged to take part in it, as he has been confirmed to do so, and if he does I hope he isn't back on another losing streak form. We will soon find out but hopefully not. He has at least been tweeting on Twitter again, so it does show he's chilling out, taking things in his stride again, so hopefully he can play well next week.
Anyway the ladies final is on tomorrow between Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova, whether or not Maria can hold her game together or not remains to be seen, or if Petra can hold her nerve in the final to take the title. We will soon find out, it should be a good one, hopefully not in straight sets, it would be great to see a real battle. It is also good to see the Sabine Lisicki, the singles semi finalist year, partnered up with Sam Stosur again in the ladies doubles, they are in the semi finals just now and it would be great if they could make it to the final. They met and played together back in Stuttgart earlier this year and they make for a really good doubles partnership, so its great to see how well they have done at Wimbledon. Sam Stosur herself is a terrific doubles player who has already won several Grand Slam doubles titles, so here's hoping they do well here.
Right that's enough!!
SW19 Part 6 - Getting down to the net...
So that's the ladies semi final matches over with and as predicted the two players I thought would win did indeed get through.
In the first match Victoria Azarenka took on Petra Kvitova, both of them are terrific top 10 players so right from the get go we knew it would be difficult and Petra came out fighting and putting in a very impressive first set, but in the second she dipped in form and let Azarenka back into the match, which saw a 3rd set, but by this time Petra reasserted herself and sealed the match in 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. This sees Petra reach her first ever Grand Slam final so it will be very interesting to see how she gets on.
So in the second match we had Maria Sharapova take on the German wilcard Sabine Lisicki in what could have been a very tightly contested match. But in the end after a poor start Sharapova took control of the match and dominated Lisicki and sealed the win in 6-4, 6-3. Perhaps Lisicki looked down the other end of the court and realised who she was playing, but at any rate Sharapova was the firm favourite to win and win she did.
Well this sets up the ladies final, Sharapova vs Kvitova, and it promises to be a really good match, both of them are tough players, but in the aggression stakes Sharapova will definitely dominate the proceedings. However Sharapova also has a tendency to start off terribly and she could do that on Saturday, which she simply cannot afford to do against Kvitova. But luckily for Maria, Petra also has her own wobbles as she showed in the 2nd set of today's match and also at Eastbourne against Marion Bartoli. So either way, they both have a real shot.
Moving onto the mens semi finals tomorrow, which promise to be very exciting with the much anticipated match up between Rafa and Andy once again. Rafa has beaten Andy in their last two Wimbledon meetings, both in straight sets, not only that Rafa has a win loss ratio of 11-4. Could tomorrow be Andy's 5th win??? I hope so, but the odds are very firmly stacked in Rafa's favour, he is World No.1, 10 slams behind him, 2 Wimbledon titles and counting. On the other hand Andy has been playing some great tennis on the grass this year, breezing his way through the last two matches, surviving Ljubicic, not to mention winning Queens against Tsonga. Andy always has been the underdog, can he really show his winning qualities against Rafa?? Is Andy finally going to be the Rocky of tennis??? For Rafa is Apollo (well the white version!). We will soon find out. I just hope its going to be a really great match, both players will have to raise their levels against each other, let's just hope Andy raises his that little bit higher, he deserves this win.
So onto the other men's semi final which you never know might prove to be an even greater match between Djokovic and Tsonga. This will be a rematch of the 2008 Australian Open final, which saw Djoko take the title back then, will he be able to do the same this time?? Possibly, but Tsonga is playing some of his very best tennis just now and Djoko has already had a few wobbles this tournament. Tsonga looks really strong and solid,so if he can beat Djokovic it will give even himself a strong chance of winning the title, but if Andy wins against Rafa it will be his best chance of winning a grand slam and he must take it with both hands.
OK so some of that sounds a bit OTT, he must do it, he must etc etc! But basically it boils down to how well these four guys play tomorrow. The most likely outcome will be a final with Djoko and Nadal, but I sincerely its those two other guys in the final, cos between the top 2 guys, they've won quite enough.
And that's yer lot!
In the first match Victoria Azarenka took on Petra Kvitova, both of them are terrific top 10 players so right from the get go we knew it would be difficult and Petra came out fighting and putting in a very impressive first set, but in the second she dipped in form and let Azarenka back into the match, which saw a 3rd set, but by this time Petra reasserted herself and sealed the match in 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. This sees Petra reach her first ever Grand Slam final so it will be very interesting to see how she gets on.
So in the second match we had Maria Sharapova take on the German wilcard Sabine Lisicki in what could have been a very tightly contested match. But in the end after a poor start Sharapova took control of the match and dominated Lisicki and sealed the win in 6-4, 6-3. Perhaps Lisicki looked down the other end of the court and realised who she was playing, but at any rate Sharapova was the firm favourite to win and win she did.
Well this sets up the ladies final, Sharapova vs Kvitova, and it promises to be a really good match, both of them are tough players, but in the aggression stakes Sharapova will definitely dominate the proceedings. However Sharapova also has a tendency to start off terribly and she could do that on Saturday, which she simply cannot afford to do against Kvitova. But luckily for Maria, Petra also has her own wobbles as she showed in the 2nd set of today's match and also at Eastbourne against Marion Bartoli. So either way, they both have a real shot.
Moving onto the mens semi finals tomorrow, which promise to be very exciting with the much anticipated match up between Rafa and Andy once again. Rafa has beaten Andy in their last two Wimbledon meetings, both in straight sets, not only that Rafa has a win loss ratio of 11-4. Could tomorrow be Andy's 5th win??? I hope so, but the odds are very firmly stacked in Rafa's favour, he is World No.1, 10 slams behind him, 2 Wimbledon titles and counting. On the other hand Andy has been playing some great tennis on the grass this year, breezing his way through the last two matches, surviving Ljubicic, not to mention winning Queens against Tsonga. Andy always has been the underdog, can he really show his winning qualities against Rafa?? Is Andy finally going to be the Rocky of tennis??? For Rafa is Apollo (well the white version!). We will soon find out. I just hope its going to be a really great match, both players will have to raise their levels against each other, let's just hope Andy raises his that little bit higher, he deserves this win.
So onto the other men's semi final which you never know might prove to be an even greater match between Djokovic and Tsonga. This will be a rematch of the 2008 Australian Open final, which saw Djoko take the title back then, will he be able to do the same this time?? Possibly, but Tsonga is playing some of his very best tennis just now and Djoko has already had a few wobbles this tournament. Tsonga looks really strong and solid,so if he can beat Djokovic it will give even himself a strong chance of winning the title, but if Andy wins against Rafa it will be his best chance of winning a grand slam and he must take it with both hands.
OK so some of that sounds a bit OTT, he must do it, he must etc etc! But basically it boils down to how well these four guys play tomorrow. The most likely outcome will be a final with Djoko and Nadal, but I sincerely its those two other guys in the final, cos between the top 2 guys, they've won quite enough.
And that's yer lot!
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