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.
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