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!!
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