OK after that tennis marathon here's a wee change of subject, as this is about my Microsoft exams as I was studying to get my 2nd Microsoft Windows 7 exam out of the way (70-685), but I have had a bit of a debacle with the college out in Motherwell (or Motherwell college if you like!).
At the start of the year, I was supposed to sit the exam just after I had started work with Zurich Financial Services (which I am still there, for now!) and I went out to Motherwell college. But when I got there I found out from the woman invigilating the exams that my exam didn't download as the Prometric server had crashed. Now Prometric are supposed to provide testing and assessment services for IT exams, and to say they have given the college problems has been an understatement. Suffice to say that night I didn't get to sit my exam as the supervisor was concerned I would run short on time, and the Windows 7 70-685 is very difficult (perhaps even more so than the 70-680).
So after that I arranged another date to go back (which was last Thursday there on 26th January) to Mothewell college again, and I was quite keen to get it out the way, and hopefully get a pass. And on that day, that's when the snow decided to come to town, regardless I was able to still get out to the college, but again when I got there the problems with the Prometric server reared their ugly head again. This time the exam invigilator (Laura I think!) said that my exam voucher was no longer valid as it had already registered me to sit the exam, even though I had never started it, since it hadn't properly downloaded last time! And of course she couldn't get me another one, so that meant once again my attempt to sit the exam had been thwarted!! So I was pretty pissed off by then, as by this time I had wasted two trips out to the back of beyond (at Shieldmuir station) to get there. And the first time was particularly annoying since I had to wait an hour for the train (as only one train an hour comes at Shieldmuir!) and then it was another hour to get home. Thankfully the second time, my tutor from the course very kindly gave me a lift back. But it was another wasted journey, and it was really infuriating to wait all this time to no avail once more. It was also the same for one of the guys I was on the course with, as he had sat the exam once, it first of all said he had passed, then it came up as an error, then he had to resit the exam and it chucked out half way through it!!
As for Prometric for a so called "leading global provider of comprehensive testing and assessment services" they really are utterly pathetic and provide a really piss poor service. Despite the fact they are closely connected with Microsoft, you think they should provide a professional service to its clients that is efficient and works. Instead they made the Motherwell college staff look like idiots and me and my fellow course man without a qualification once again.
And this does lead me onto another bugbear about the Microsoft exams in general, as with this exam and the previous one, I felt from the course material I have learned something, but from doing the exams I feel have learned nothing, as the two are so different. The exams definitely encompass stuff that is way outside the course material we were given, which really annoys me. I guess you will always get stuff like that in exams, but Microsoft seem to have taken a mish-mesh of different exams, such as Windows Server exams and Windows Desktop Support exams, and blended them together, in order to confuse and annoy the students taking the exam. In fact when I originally did this course I later found that our class was actually used as guinea pigs to see how the course was and how easy/difficult it would be. As it turned out it was anything but easy, however it certainly is a good course to do and if you want another IT qualification under your belt, then its one to go for.
But once again that's me waiting to find out, just when the hell am I going to finally be able to sit this exam and get it out the way. Hopefully I won't be out at Motherwell college again as it really is too far away, and its been a massive waste of my time so far going out there. I've made it clear to my tutor so far that I don't want to go out there again, so if they can try and get my a test centre somewhere in Glasgow, that would be much better.
Anyways that's all waiting to be sorted, in the meantime I'll just on with work and gaming. ;-)
Tuesday 31 January 2012
Sunday 29 January 2012
Melbourne Part 6: The immovable object
Soooooooooooooooooooooooo that's the end of another Australian open and what a tournament it has been, as there has been the usual mix of drama and excitement, and it also easily ranks as one of the best year's of the tournament's run. And the focus of this post is of course the men's singles final between the two best players in the world, Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal, as they faced off each other for the title.
And the final itself, intiailly was a slow burner but when it kicked it in it became one of the most exciting and thrilling matches in the Australian open era. It also made history as it was the longest grand slam final in the history of tennis, as Djokovic who easily defeated Rafa quite a few times in the past, especially at Rome, Madrid and Wimbledon, faced off a relentless opponent in Rafa who just refused to go away. Early on Rafa took the first set, but in the 2nd and 3rd, the match dipped in quality as Djokovic dominated the play, but in the 4th set after holding at 4-4 all, Rafa turned it around into one of the most thrilling contests seen in the sport, as he took the magnificent 4th set tiebreak, and the match went into a pulsating decider. In the 5th, Rafa seized the initiative and took the break at 4-2, however, against all the odds, Djokovic being the immovable object that he is (hence the title!) then broke back, and at 5-5 all, he made the vital break on Rafa's serve, where he then served it out, to win the title after an extremely gruelling and intense 5 hours and 53 minutes, ultimately winning in 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6(5)-7, 7-5.
This definitely will go down as one of the most memorable finals in the annals of the sport, and both players couldn't have given more, it even made their US Open final from last year look like a picnic, as the two players battled it out for almost two hours longer than that one! In fact you could almost say it was two matches, the first three sets being a bit lacklustre in places, and the second two sets being absolutely thrilling. Djokovic himself toward the end, despite having already played a brutal match against Andy Murray, looked at times both absolutely exhausted, especially at the start of the match, and near the end he look so done in, he could barely stand up! However he had moments where he was able to just muster whatever reserves he had in the crucial moments to come through. The fact that the man over the space of two days just spent 11 hours on court and still won is just utterly remarkable in itself as well as unbelievable. Although I have to say I was really gutted for Rafa when he lost, as I was really hoping he would have won the match after breaking in the 5th set, and he looked so determined at that point, but still Djokovic came back! I'm sure it will be a tough loss for Rafa to take, and its just as well he is taking Februrary off to recover, and if I were Djokovic, I would do the same! Although Rafa later on said that he took alot of positives out of the match, and that he felt that he no longer had the inner demons that haunted him from last year when to losing to Novak. In fact Rafa even looked happier standing alongside Djokovic with their respective trophies, as he turned to leave Djokovic to his photos, he gave a smile and winked at Djokovic afterwards. And I recall even last year at Wimbledon he looked almost indignant towards Djokovic after the final, but this year so far he seems to have gotten rid of that seeming animosity, which is a good thing.
So that's five majors now in the cabinet for Djokovic, so where do things go from here??? He can easily go on and win more this year, whether or not he can complete the career slam this year or not, remains to be seen. Djokovic has a new threat in Andy Murray emerging as he has really come into his own in the tournament despite his semi final loss. But it has to be said that Djokovic will certainly be the favourite going into the French Open when it comes, and who knows how big a winning streak he will go on this year. After 2011 we didn't know where Djokovic's game would be, but even he felt he could possibly carry on and repeat last year, and at this rate, he might just be right! One thing is for sure, Djokovic is the player to beat in 2012, and undoubtedly the world's best player. I also think that its possibly that Andy could move up in the rankings this year and usurp Roger to get to number 3, whether or not he does we shall find out as the year progresses. But it really says something about the top four guys in tennis, they really are that league above everyone else, and yeah ok you can say that its really the top 3 and Andy, but I think Andy as he said has closed that gap. And it also really says a lot about the other top three guys that they are the only ones to have managed to take Djokovic the distance in a grand slam match.
Anyway it was quite an encounter between the world's two best players and they both gave very fine speeches in the award ceremony, with Rafa joking about how early it was in the morning to the crowd, and they were also rightly given seats afterwards as well! It will certainly take a long time for both players to recover physically from this match and where it goes from here we will soon find out.
Right well that's enough tennis for now, more to follow soon, with the ladies next week coming from the Suez Open in Paris, where some of the top seeds will be playing such as Maria Sharapova, Marion Bartoli and Jelena Jankovic, so that should be good. And I will be going to Great Britain's Davis cup tie out at Braehead arena again next month, which unfortunately this time will not include Andy Murray as he is taking time off due to niggling injuries, he picked up in Australia. So that means GB will have a tough time against their next opponents, Slovakia, as they have a few players that are ranked inside the top 100, and with the absence of Andy, it will be tougher for them to come through. Fortunately the GB team still have James Ward, who is an excellent singles player, ranked around 160, and they also have the great doubles partnership of Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins. Last time Hutchins himself played a singles rubber round match (a dead one) and he won the match, but this time they will be up against sterner opposition. But hopefully the GB team will be able to come through what should be a testing round robin.
So that's enough tennis for now. Till the next one, bye the now!
And the final itself, intiailly was a slow burner but when it kicked it in it became one of the most exciting and thrilling matches in the Australian open era. It also made history as it was the longest grand slam final in the history of tennis, as Djokovic who easily defeated Rafa quite a few times in the past, especially at Rome, Madrid and Wimbledon, faced off a relentless opponent in Rafa who just refused to go away. Early on Rafa took the first set, but in the 2nd and 3rd, the match dipped in quality as Djokovic dominated the play, but in the 4th set after holding at 4-4 all, Rafa turned it around into one of the most thrilling contests seen in the sport, as he took the magnificent 4th set tiebreak, and the match went into a pulsating decider. In the 5th, Rafa seized the initiative and took the break at 4-2, however, against all the odds, Djokovic being the immovable object that he is (hence the title!) then broke back, and at 5-5 all, he made the vital break on Rafa's serve, where he then served it out, to win the title after an extremely gruelling and intense 5 hours and 53 minutes, ultimately winning in 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6(5)-7, 7-5.
This definitely will go down as one of the most memorable finals in the annals of the sport, and both players couldn't have given more, it even made their US Open final from last year look like a picnic, as the two players battled it out for almost two hours longer than that one! In fact you could almost say it was two matches, the first three sets being a bit lacklustre in places, and the second two sets being absolutely thrilling. Djokovic himself toward the end, despite having already played a brutal match against Andy Murray, looked at times both absolutely exhausted, especially at the start of the match, and near the end he look so done in, he could barely stand up! However he had moments where he was able to just muster whatever reserves he had in the crucial moments to come through. The fact that the man over the space of two days just spent 11 hours on court and still won is just utterly remarkable in itself as well as unbelievable. Although I have to say I was really gutted for Rafa when he lost, as I was really hoping he would have won the match after breaking in the 5th set, and he looked so determined at that point, but still Djokovic came back! I'm sure it will be a tough loss for Rafa to take, and its just as well he is taking Februrary off to recover, and if I were Djokovic, I would do the same! Although Rafa later on said that he took alot of positives out of the match, and that he felt that he no longer had the inner demons that haunted him from last year when to losing to Novak. In fact Rafa even looked happier standing alongside Djokovic with their respective trophies, as he turned to leave Djokovic to his photos, he gave a smile and winked at Djokovic afterwards. And I recall even last year at Wimbledon he looked almost indignant towards Djokovic after the final, but this year so far he seems to have gotten rid of that seeming animosity, which is a good thing.
So that's five majors now in the cabinet for Djokovic, so where do things go from here??? He can easily go on and win more this year, whether or not he can complete the career slam this year or not, remains to be seen. Djokovic has a new threat in Andy Murray emerging as he has really come into his own in the tournament despite his semi final loss. But it has to be said that Djokovic will certainly be the favourite going into the French Open when it comes, and who knows how big a winning streak he will go on this year. After 2011 we didn't know where Djokovic's game would be, but even he felt he could possibly carry on and repeat last year, and at this rate, he might just be right! One thing is for sure, Djokovic is the player to beat in 2012, and undoubtedly the world's best player. I also think that its possibly that Andy could move up in the rankings this year and usurp Roger to get to number 3, whether or not he does we shall find out as the year progresses. But it really says something about the top four guys in tennis, they really are that league above everyone else, and yeah ok you can say that its really the top 3 and Andy, but I think Andy as he said has closed that gap. And it also really says a lot about the other top three guys that they are the only ones to have managed to take Djokovic the distance in a grand slam match.
Anyway it was quite an encounter between the world's two best players and they both gave very fine speeches in the award ceremony, with Rafa joking about how early it was in the morning to the crowd, and they were also rightly given seats afterwards as well! It will certainly take a long time for both players to recover physically from this match and where it goes from here we will soon find out.
Right well that's enough tennis for now, more to follow soon, with the ladies next week coming from the Suez Open in Paris, where some of the top seeds will be playing such as Maria Sharapova, Marion Bartoli and Jelena Jankovic, so that should be good. And I will be going to Great Britain's Davis cup tie out at Braehead arena again next month, which unfortunately this time will not include Andy Murray as he is taking time off due to niggling injuries, he picked up in Australia. So that means GB will have a tough time against their next opponents, Slovakia, as they have a few players that are ranked inside the top 100, and with the absence of Andy, it will be tougher for them to come through. Fortunately the GB team still have James Ward, who is an excellent singles player, ranked around 160, and they also have the great doubles partnership of Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins. Last time Hutchins himself played a singles rubber round match (a dead one) and he won the match, but this time they will be up against sterner opposition. But hopefully the GB team will be able to come through what should be a testing round robin.
So that's enough tennis for now. Till the next one, bye the now!
Saturday 28 January 2012
Melbourne Part 5: Queen of the grunters
Wellllllll that's the end of another Australian Open ladies campaign as the final concluded today with Victoria Azarenka facing off against the mighty Maria Sharapova, so here's more on that.
In the first set there were a trade of breaks between the two as Sharapova broke early on, only to have Azarenka break back, and then she herself broke Sharapova to win the first set in 6-3. However in the second set, Sharapova didn't even get a look in as Azarenka ruthlessly dominated the play and totally outplayed her opponent, to secure her first ever grand slam title, handing Sharapova an Aussie open cream bagel to take home as a rather inglorious reminder of the set, winning in a crushing 6-3, 6-0. After she won, Azarenka fell to her knees and had a dazed look of disbelief on her face as she got up and looked at the crowd as if to say "did this really just happen????".
So the ladies game now has a new world no.1, Victoria Azarenka, who frankly I always saw as a possible grand slam champion, ever since she won the Sony Ericsson Open last year, where she ruthlessly dismissed Sharapova there too, albeit that was a tougher match despite its scoreline. But if I have one major criticism of the ladies slam finals and that is that they are way too short, usually you find the men's finals are at least three or four times as long! Victoria on court definitely has an intimidating demeanour but off court she is actually quite a nice sweet lass, and despite the rather muted response throughout the tournament she got from the audience (probably because of her ridiculous grunting!), they finally warmed to her in the award ceremony as she gave a fine acceptance speech. And that is already her second title of the year and I'm sure many more will follow and possibly no doubt one or two more slams. Although the ladies game now clearly has two new rivals in Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitvoa, both whom are now slam champions, so it could be a fascinating rivalry to follow throughout the year, when they should meet up.
And Azarenka's play throughout the Australian was so impressive it was almost like watching Djokovic at work last year, who ruthlessly cast aside so many players in straight sets, she herself could even go on an invincible winning streak this year. Although the women that have won grand slams last year have failed to capitlise on their wins and went on to struggle badly (except Petra), but I think it would be good for the sport to have one or two dominant players, such as Petra and Victoria to provide the excitement and consistency that the ladies tennis really needs as well as the rivalry. But Azarenka without doubt deserved the title, as she played brilliantly throughout and rarely had a dip, dropping only two sets on her way to the final, so this should give her massive confidence for the rest of the year.
So this leads me on to say a bit about Caroline Wozniacki, who now drops to the No.4 in the womans rankings, which is a bit of a letdown for her, it also now sees her as the equivalent of Andy Murray, a great player who has never yet won a major. But for me Andy is starting to move in the right direction, as he use to be a counterpuncher and a bit too passive, but now he is stepping forward and playing more aggressively, and that's what Caroline needs to do if she is to win a major. If you look at all the players that won majors on the ladies and the men's side of the tour, they have all been aggressive players and that is the key to winning one. Azarenka and Kvitova have both proved to be just that, aggressive powerful hitters who take chances and move forward in their games, but for Wozniacki this remains a problem, as too often I have seen her passively trade blows from the baseline. Wozniacki games also appears to lack variety too, as its mainly forehand/backhand, forehand/backhand. But maybe one day she can step up to the plate and maybe win one herself, as the ladies game for the moment is still wide open, unless Azarenka is about to dominate, but that remains to be seen. Until Wozniacki makes the move herself, the game will always belong to the players like Azarenka and Kvitova, who are willing to take their chances. But it is only the beginning of another season and anything can happen.
Welllllllllllllllll that's my critique for the ladies game over, admittedly the ladies campaign at times, lacked exictement, there has been some terrific matches, but in some ways it could have been better, but I'm plenty of great stuff awaits on WTA tour.
Next up is the men's final between Djokovic and Rafa, so I will post that up once Djokovic has won, ahem!! Or will he????? The stats point towards it, but we shall see, but I think it will be one hellva of a final.
Bye the now.
In the first set there were a trade of breaks between the two as Sharapova broke early on, only to have Azarenka break back, and then she herself broke Sharapova to win the first set in 6-3. However in the second set, Sharapova didn't even get a look in as Azarenka ruthlessly dominated the play and totally outplayed her opponent, to secure her first ever grand slam title, handing Sharapova an Aussie open cream bagel to take home as a rather inglorious reminder of the set, winning in a crushing 6-3, 6-0. After she won, Azarenka fell to her knees and had a dazed look of disbelief on her face as she got up and looked at the crowd as if to say "did this really just happen????".
So the ladies game now has a new world no.1, Victoria Azarenka, who frankly I always saw as a possible grand slam champion, ever since she won the Sony Ericsson Open last year, where she ruthlessly dismissed Sharapova there too, albeit that was a tougher match despite its scoreline. But if I have one major criticism of the ladies slam finals and that is that they are way too short, usually you find the men's finals are at least three or four times as long! Victoria on court definitely has an intimidating demeanour but off court she is actually quite a nice sweet lass, and despite the rather muted response throughout the tournament she got from the audience (probably because of her ridiculous grunting!), they finally warmed to her in the award ceremony as she gave a fine acceptance speech. And that is already her second title of the year and I'm sure many more will follow and possibly no doubt one or two more slams. Although the ladies game now clearly has two new rivals in Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitvoa, both whom are now slam champions, so it could be a fascinating rivalry to follow throughout the year, when they should meet up.
And Azarenka's play throughout the Australian was so impressive it was almost like watching Djokovic at work last year, who ruthlessly cast aside so many players in straight sets, she herself could even go on an invincible winning streak this year. Although the women that have won grand slams last year have failed to capitlise on their wins and went on to struggle badly (except Petra), but I think it would be good for the sport to have one or two dominant players, such as Petra and Victoria to provide the excitement and consistency that the ladies tennis really needs as well as the rivalry. But Azarenka without doubt deserved the title, as she played brilliantly throughout and rarely had a dip, dropping only two sets on her way to the final, so this should give her massive confidence for the rest of the year.
So this leads me on to say a bit about Caroline Wozniacki, who now drops to the No.4 in the womans rankings, which is a bit of a letdown for her, it also now sees her as the equivalent of Andy Murray, a great player who has never yet won a major. But for me Andy is starting to move in the right direction, as he use to be a counterpuncher and a bit too passive, but now he is stepping forward and playing more aggressively, and that's what Caroline needs to do if she is to win a major. If you look at all the players that won majors on the ladies and the men's side of the tour, they have all been aggressive players and that is the key to winning one. Azarenka and Kvitova have both proved to be just that, aggressive powerful hitters who take chances and move forward in their games, but for Wozniacki this remains a problem, as too often I have seen her passively trade blows from the baseline. Wozniacki games also appears to lack variety too, as its mainly forehand/backhand, forehand/backhand. But maybe one day she can step up to the plate and maybe win one herself, as the ladies game for the moment is still wide open, unless Azarenka is about to dominate, but that remains to be seen. Until Wozniacki makes the move herself, the game will always belong to the players like Azarenka and Kvitova, who are willing to take their chances. But it is only the beginning of another season and anything can happen.
Welllllllllllllllll that's my critique for the ladies game over, admittedly the ladies campaign at times, lacked exictement, there has been some terrific matches, but in some ways it could have been better, but I'm plenty of great stuff awaits on WTA tour.
Next up is the men's final between Djokovic and Rafa, so I will post that up once Djokovic has won, ahem!! Or will he????? The stats point towards it, but we shall see, but I think it will be one hellva of a final.
Bye the now.
Melbourne Part 4.2: Naahhh it can't..... but what a match!
Well that's the ladies and men's semi finals over for the 2012 Australian Open and we have seen some pretty extraordinary tennis on display, particularly from the men, so a bit more on that in a tick or few.
So starting with the ladies and the first semi final match between defending champion Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka, the World No. 3, who went at it in a see saw battle which ultimately saw Azarenka pull off a win that will see her go into her first grand slam final. Naturally the crowd were behind Kim Clijsters to win as she is such a popular champion, but Azarenka I really have to saw was very impressive in this match, as she really dug deep to bring out the win against Kim in 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. In fact I felt a bit sorry for Vika, as I think the crowd almost seemed against her throughout the tournament, but she has worked very hard and played so impressively throughout the tournament. So Azarenka will go on to face the winner of the next semi finals match, which was even more impressive as Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova battled it out for a place in the final. And Maria managed to get the perfect revenge over Petra, as Maria broke her serve to win out a tough match in 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
Its great to see a big name in the ladies game go through to the final, and I'm sure Maria will get the audience's full support behind her. Although one pretty alarming factor to Maria's game is her double faults, as in her semi final match she served up 10 double faults! This isn't going to be good news if she continues to serve up that many in the final, and on that basis it could leave Azarenka as the favourite to win the title. But overall though I think the final will be a really good one, and hopefully it will be a 3 set pitch battle (or court battle!). But its hard to predict who will actually win, as the head to head is 3-3 between them both, so it really could go either way. There are also a couple of other factors to consider too in this match, for one Azarenka has never won a grand slam before, as Maria has won three, so will Victoria be able to hold her nerve???? I guess we will soon find out that one, either way it promises to be a good one!
So onto the men's single semi finals, starting with the ultimate showdown between two of tennis's biggest ever rivals, Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal, as Rog and Raf went right at it in a high quality encounter on Rod Laver Arena. In the first Roger came out of the blocks and played some pretty spectacular tennis and edged Rafa in the tiebreak, however after that Rafa broke Roger and clawed his way back into the match, winning the 3rd set tiebreak and securing the final crucial break in 4th. This saw another bruising victory over Roger with Rafa winning in 6(5)-7, 6-2, 7-6(5), 6-4, and this now sees Rafa's head to head reach 18-9. Its also marks his second Australian open grand slam semi final, where he will have a chance to lift his 11th slam title. But all that hinges on his next opponent...
Which leads me to the second men's semi final, which was a much anticipated re-match of last year's final between World No.1 Novak Djokovic and the World No.4 Andy Murray. Last year Andy suffered a pretty inglorious defeat at Djokovic's hands, as Djoko blasted Andy off the court in a straight sets defeat. However this year's encounter promised to be quite different, and that couldn't have been more true, as this year's match was night and day in difference. A year on we could see evolution of both men's games, and what we were given was a remarkable semi final, which featured some magnificent tennis, although it was peppered with unforced errors from both players. But this didn't detract from the sheer guts, determination and drive from both players out on the court, as they played an intensely brutal match that lasted very nearly 5 hours. Andy nearly pulled off unthinkable here, as he pushed the World No.1 to the absolute limit and took him the distance in an incredible 5 sets. In a quick summary of the match, Djoko broke Andy in the 1st and took it, in the 2nd Andy broke Djoko and took it, and in the 3rd we were treated to a thrilling see-saw set which Andy took in a tiebreak. However despite 2-1 sets lead, Djoko fought back as he is known to do in the 4th set, which took us to a decider, which despite being broken by Djokovic and trailing 5-2, Andy broke back to level the match at 5-5 all. But in the end it was Djokovic that made the crucial break on Andy's serve, which saw the world's best player fall flat on his back, winning an epic match in 6-3, 3-6, 6(4)-7, 6-1, 7-5.
While I have to say the quality of the match was mixed at times, this match was undoubtedly superb in terms of the skills, grit and bravery of the two men on the court. And yes ok Andy lost again, but he made a stellar leap forward from his ignomious defeat last year, and mentally he did not falter, as he hung tough and pushed the world's best player to the limit. Taking Djokovic the distance in a grand slam match, apart from Roger Federer, no other player has been able to do since 2011, and I think Ivan Lendl definitely deserves credit for this as you could clearly see Andy's greatly improved attitude on the court. Yeah ok Andy did fret once or twice, but he mainly kept it under wraps, and it was a match that showed a man who finally is starting to come of age. Throughout match I could scarcely believe the scoreboard at times, as Andy made such great progress against Djokovic, and one of the best things about the match, was for the first time in a while in Andy's camp, he had given them so much to cheer about in a big match situation. And with Lendl coaching Andy, given Lendl's experience, he has the rest of the year to improve and progress, which I'm almost certain he will.
Throughout the match, Andy showboated some of his best tennis and shotmaking, particularly in winning a crucial point in the 3rd set tiebreak against Djokovic at 6-3, he produced a stunning forehand winner. And perhaps Andy's finest moment came when he broke Djokovic to love when Djoko was trying to serve it out at 5-3, simply superb stuff. Based on that performance, Andy could very possibly go on and win a grand slam at some point, and if he is fortunate to reach another final this year, he could stand every chance of making that final step. But that's all ahead of him, for now Andy should take so many positives from that match, just like he should from his match in Rome last year against Djokovic, as it really showed he truly is a threat to the Serb and could yet be his nemesis. So the young Scot may yet lift some of that silverware.
Sooooo anyway that sets up the men's final, which again is between the world's two best players, Rafa and Djoko, it promises to be an absolute belter, and if that's anything like the US Open, it will be quite amazing. The winner of that one clearly points toward Djokovic, he's beaten Rafa six times in a row, and with that record you can't really bet against him. However one thing in Rafa's favour is that he will have had two full days rest before his match with Djokovic, which will leave him the fitter and fresher of the two, especially as Djoko has just finished a very gruelling 5 hour match. But this doesn't necessarily guarantee he will win against Djokovic, as he proved today against Andy, the will to win is still as strong as ever, and by hook or by crook he will try.
Anyway more to follow soon on the ladies final once that's over tomorrow, Maria Sharapova vs Victoria Azarenka, looking forward to that one!
Till then bye for now.
So starting with the ladies and the first semi final match between defending champion Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka, the World No. 3, who went at it in a see saw battle which ultimately saw Azarenka pull off a win that will see her go into her first grand slam final. Naturally the crowd were behind Kim Clijsters to win as she is such a popular champion, but Azarenka I really have to saw was very impressive in this match, as she really dug deep to bring out the win against Kim in 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. In fact I felt a bit sorry for Vika, as I think the crowd almost seemed against her throughout the tournament, but she has worked very hard and played so impressively throughout the tournament. So Azarenka will go on to face the winner of the next semi finals match, which was even more impressive as Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova battled it out for a place in the final. And Maria managed to get the perfect revenge over Petra, as Maria broke her serve to win out a tough match in 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
Its great to see a big name in the ladies game go through to the final, and I'm sure Maria will get the audience's full support behind her. Although one pretty alarming factor to Maria's game is her double faults, as in her semi final match she served up 10 double faults! This isn't going to be good news if she continues to serve up that many in the final, and on that basis it could leave Azarenka as the favourite to win the title. But overall though I think the final will be a really good one, and hopefully it will be a 3 set pitch battle (or court battle!). But its hard to predict who will actually win, as the head to head is 3-3 between them both, so it really could go either way. There are also a couple of other factors to consider too in this match, for one Azarenka has never won a grand slam before, as Maria has won three, so will Victoria be able to hold her nerve???? I guess we will soon find out that one, either way it promises to be a good one!
So onto the men's single semi finals, starting with the ultimate showdown between two of tennis's biggest ever rivals, Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal, as Rog and Raf went right at it in a high quality encounter on Rod Laver Arena. In the first Roger came out of the blocks and played some pretty spectacular tennis and edged Rafa in the tiebreak, however after that Rafa broke Roger and clawed his way back into the match, winning the 3rd set tiebreak and securing the final crucial break in 4th. This saw another bruising victory over Roger with Rafa winning in 6(5)-7, 6-2, 7-6(5), 6-4, and this now sees Rafa's head to head reach 18-9. Its also marks his second Australian open grand slam semi final, where he will have a chance to lift his 11th slam title. But all that hinges on his next opponent...
Which leads me to the second men's semi final, which was a much anticipated re-match of last year's final between World No.1 Novak Djokovic and the World No.4 Andy Murray. Last year Andy suffered a pretty inglorious defeat at Djokovic's hands, as Djoko blasted Andy off the court in a straight sets defeat. However this year's encounter promised to be quite different, and that couldn't have been more true, as this year's match was night and day in difference. A year on we could see evolution of both men's games, and what we were given was a remarkable semi final, which featured some magnificent tennis, although it was peppered with unforced errors from both players. But this didn't detract from the sheer guts, determination and drive from both players out on the court, as they played an intensely brutal match that lasted very nearly 5 hours. Andy nearly pulled off unthinkable here, as he pushed the World No.1 to the absolute limit and took him the distance in an incredible 5 sets. In a quick summary of the match, Djoko broke Andy in the 1st and took it, in the 2nd Andy broke Djoko and took it, and in the 3rd we were treated to a thrilling see-saw set which Andy took in a tiebreak. However despite 2-1 sets lead, Djoko fought back as he is known to do in the 4th set, which took us to a decider, which despite being broken by Djokovic and trailing 5-2, Andy broke back to level the match at 5-5 all. But in the end it was Djokovic that made the crucial break on Andy's serve, which saw the world's best player fall flat on his back, winning an epic match in 6-3, 3-6, 6(4)-7, 6-1, 7-5.
While I have to say the quality of the match was mixed at times, this match was undoubtedly superb in terms of the skills, grit and bravery of the two men on the court. And yes ok Andy lost again, but he made a stellar leap forward from his ignomious defeat last year, and mentally he did not falter, as he hung tough and pushed the world's best player to the limit. Taking Djokovic the distance in a grand slam match, apart from Roger Federer, no other player has been able to do since 2011, and I think Ivan Lendl definitely deserves credit for this as you could clearly see Andy's greatly improved attitude on the court. Yeah ok Andy did fret once or twice, but he mainly kept it under wraps, and it was a match that showed a man who finally is starting to come of age. Throughout match I could scarcely believe the scoreboard at times, as Andy made such great progress against Djokovic, and one of the best things about the match, was for the first time in a while in Andy's camp, he had given them so much to cheer about in a big match situation. And with Lendl coaching Andy, given Lendl's experience, he has the rest of the year to improve and progress, which I'm almost certain he will.
Throughout the match, Andy showboated some of his best tennis and shotmaking, particularly in winning a crucial point in the 3rd set tiebreak against Djokovic at 6-3, he produced a stunning forehand winner. And perhaps Andy's finest moment came when he broke Djokovic to love when Djoko was trying to serve it out at 5-3, simply superb stuff. Based on that performance, Andy could very possibly go on and win a grand slam at some point, and if he is fortunate to reach another final this year, he could stand every chance of making that final step. But that's all ahead of him, for now Andy should take so many positives from that match, just like he should from his match in Rome last year against Djokovic, as it really showed he truly is a threat to the Serb and could yet be his nemesis. So the young Scot may yet lift some of that silverware.
Sooooo anyway that sets up the men's final, which again is between the world's two best players, Rafa and Djoko, it promises to be an absolute belter, and if that's anything like the US Open, it will be quite amazing. The winner of that one clearly points toward Djokovic, he's beaten Rafa six times in a row, and with that record you can't really bet against him. However one thing in Rafa's favour is that he will have had two full days rest before his match with Djokovic, which will leave him the fitter and fresher of the two, especially as Djoko has just finished a very gruelling 5 hour match. But this doesn't necessarily guarantee he will win against Djokovic, as he proved today against Andy, the will to win is still as strong as ever, and by hook or by crook he will try.
Anyway more to follow soon on the ladies final once that's over tomorrow, Maria Sharapova vs Victoria Azarenka, looking forward to that one!
Till then bye for now.
Friday 27 January 2012
Melbourne Part 4.1: Can it???????
Re: Muzza vs Djokovic?????? Will it???? Can it?????? We shall soon find out.
One thing is hopefully for sure, it will be quite a match, hopefully even better than Roger and Rafa's incredible encounter yesterday, or it could be just a straight set whitewash for Andy, or even maybe Djokovic (but I doubt it!!).
Anyways more to follow, need to go work..... bah! So I will keep an eye on the scores with panicked breath.....
But for now, and what has easily got to be shortest post of all time from me, tarra the now.
One thing is hopefully for sure, it will be quite a match, hopefully even better than Roger and Rafa's incredible encounter yesterday, or it could be just a straight set whitewash for Andy, or even maybe Djokovic (but I doubt it!!).
Anyways more to follow, need to go work..... bah! So I will keep an eye on the scores with panicked breath.....
But for now, and what has easily got to be shortest post of all time from me, tarra the now.
Wednesday 25 January 2012
Melbourne Part 4: Fab four in the semis....
Welly welly well, its great to report (or at least type up) that in the men's Australian Open that all four of the top seeds are through to the semi finals. It happened last year twice in the slams at the French Open and the US Open, and its really good to see it happen again this year already into the first slam. It shows just how good the top four guys really are and they totally deserve to be there at the latter stages of the tournament.
Anyways here's a bit more about the matches and how they went, I've already updated about the Rafa and Federer matches in my last post, the former being the best by far as Rafa was pushed nearly all the way in a 4 set epic against Tomas Berdych. Federer however had the easier match in a surprising dispatch of Del Potro in straight sets. And there's one thing I have to say about the difference between Roger and Rafa's matches, for me Roger's matches can at times be a bit too precise and clinical at times, as he dispatches his opponents. But Rafa's matches can tend to be that bit more exciting as Rafa fairly often has to grind out his wins, which makes for longer games and tighter matches, which overall makes it more satisfying to watch.
But I digress, so onto the other two men's quarter finals matches today, starting with Andy Murray who took on the up and coming Japanese player, Kei Nishikori, who made a bit of history in being the first man from Japan to reach a quarter final of a grand slam in over 70 years. And Nishikori, in this match, while clearly it was Andy who was in control, actually acquitted himself pretty well, especially in the first two sets, which were despite the scoreline, pretty tight, as the young player threatened Andy from the baseline. In the third set however I think tiredness had set in for Nishikori, from his 5 set match against Tsonga the other day, and Andy broke easily to clinch the set, winning in 6-3, 6-3, 6-1, in just under 2 hours and 15 minutes. This was another fine performance from the Muzza, and it also sees him as being the freshest he has ever been going into a grand slam semi final match, which is a very good thing indeed. However one very alarming thing that arose from this match was his drastically low first serve percentage, which dropped to 44%! This is pretty woeful even by Andy's standards, and he cannot afford to serve like that in his next match, which I will say more about in a minute.
Now onto the second match of the day between Novak Djokovic, and the World No.5 David Ferrer, and this match turned out to be a much tighter encounter, well for the most apart, as Djoko faced off a very dogged and agile opponent in Ferrer. And for two sets, Ferrer really gave Djokovic the runaround and impressed the audience with his atheletisism and his groundstrokes. But Djokovic being who he his, refused to be undone, and soon went two sets to love up, after a tiebreak in the 2nd, and by the 3rd, Djokovic took total control and sealed the win in 6-4, 7-6, 6-1. This was quite a gripping and entertaining match as both players put on a very high standard of play for the audience, and Djokovic, despite struggling a little with a hamstring injury, still came through in great style. It was a pity for Ferrer who fought so hard and well for the first two sets, to quickly fade away from the match in the 3rd, but he did very well for the most part.
So this sets up two blockbuster semi finals matches, with Roger vs Rafa, and Andy vs Novak, they both promise to be terrific encounters. However tennis is unpredictable game, so you can never tell how things are going to go, as each player could beat the other, but its just a matter of who it will be. My thoughts on the matches are, starting with Roger and Rafa, that I would favour Federer to win this one, as his level of play has been exceptional throughout this tournament and he is yet to drop a set, but I think it will be a much tighter contest than their last meeting in London, where Fed demolished Rafa in 6-3, 6-0. Also I'm sure Roger will want revenge for when he last lost to Rafa at the Australian open final back in 2009, which saw Roger reduced to tears during the award ceremony. It must always be a tough thing for a great player to except when his roll at the top is over, but the way Federer is playing, he could easily win it back.
Now for the Muzza and Djoko, this one is really hard to call, because on one hand, Djokovic is the best player in the world, and on the other Andy has greatly improved his game since this time last year, so it will be really difficult to guage just where they will be at in their respective games till they are out there. However I do have to say, unfortunately that Djokovic might stand a better chance of winning than Andy, although Andy will go into this match feeling fresh and fit, while Djokovic has a mild hamstring injury to contend with and just finished two tough matches. This definitely could work in Andy's favour, but you can never ever understimate Djokovic, as people keep saying, he's number 1 in the world for a reason. There is of course also the danger that Andy might suffer a repeat of last year's defeat in a similar manner, but I really don't think so (well I hope not!!) as I think Andy is playing way better now than he was last year at this time. But I am struggling to actually visualise him winning the match, but he can certainly do it, I just hope he can as it would be a great bit of revenge for his loss last year. So now will be the time to consult Ivan and get all the best advice he can get as to how about he can go about defeating Djokovic this year. But whichever way it goes, I really think it could be the match of the tournament, probably even better than Roger and Rafa's encounter, however it could also be a big blowout, but something really tells me otherwise.
Anyway I shall report back soon, with more on the ladies semi finals matches.
Till then tara the now!
Anyways here's a bit more about the matches and how they went, I've already updated about the Rafa and Federer matches in my last post, the former being the best by far as Rafa was pushed nearly all the way in a 4 set epic against Tomas Berdych. Federer however had the easier match in a surprising dispatch of Del Potro in straight sets. And there's one thing I have to say about the difference between Roger and Rafa's matches, for me Roger's matches can at times be a bit too precise and clinical at times, as he dispatches his opponents. But Rafa's matches can tend to be that bit more exciting as Rafa fairly often has to grind out his wins, which makes for longer games and tighter matches, which overall makes it more satisfying to watch.
But I digress, so onto the other two men's quarter finals matches today, starting with Andy Murray who took on the up and coming Japanese player, Kei Nishikori, who made a bit of history in being the first man from Japan to reach a quarter final of a grand slam in over 70 years. And Nishikori, in this match, while clearly it was Andy who was in control, actually acquitted himself pretty well, especially in the first two sets, which were despite the scoreline, pretty tight, as the young player threatened Andy from the baseline. In the third set however I think tiredness had set in for Nishikori, from his 5 set match against Tsonga the other day, and Andy broke easily to clinch the set, winning in 6-3, 6-3, 6-1, in just under 2 hours and 15 minutes. This was another fine performance from the Muzza, and it also sees him as being the freshest he has ever been going into a grand slam semi final match, which is a very good thing indeed. However one very alarming thing that arose from this match was his drastically low first serve percentage, which dropped to 44%! This is pretty woeful even by Andy's standards, and he cannot afford to serve like that in his next match, which I will say more about in a minute.
Now onto the second match of the day between Novak Djokovic, and the World No.5 David Ferrer, and this match turned out to be a much tighter encounter, well for the most apart, as Djoko faced off a very dogged and agile opponent in Ferrer. And for two sets, Ferrer really gave Djokovic the runaround and impressed the audience with his atheletisism and his groundstrokes. But Djokovic being who he his, refused to be undone, and soon went two sets to love up, after a tiebreak in the 2nd, and by the 3rd, Djokovic took total control and sealed the win in 6-4, 7-6, 6-1. This was quite a gripping and entertaining match as both players put on a very high standard of play for the audience, and Djokovic, despite struggling a little with a hamstring injury, still came through in great style. It was a pity for Ferrer who fought so hard and well for the first two sets, to quickly fade away from the match in the 3rd, but he did very well for the most part.
So this sets up two blockbuster semi finals matches, with Roger vs Rafa, and Andy vs Novak, they both promise to be terrific encounters. However tennis is unpredictable game, so you can never tell how things are going to go, as each player could beat the other, but its just a matter of who it will be. My thoughts on the matches are, starting with Roger and Rafa, that I would favour Federer to win this one, as his level of play has been exceptional throughout this tournament and he is yet to drop a set, but I think it will be a much tighter contest than their last meeting in London, where Fed demolished Rafa in 6-3, 6-0. Also I'm sure Roger will want revenge for when he last lost to Rafa at the Australian open final back in 2009, which saw Roger reduced to tears during the award ceremony. It must always be a tough thing for a great player to except when his roll at the top is over, but the way Federer is playing, he could easily win it back.
Now for the Muzza and Djoko, this one is really hard to call, because on one hand, Djokovic is the best player in the world, and on the other Andy has greatly improved his game since this time last year, so it will be really difficult to guage just where they will be at in their respective games till they are out there. However I do have to say, unfortunately that Djokovic might stand a better chance of winning than Andy, although Andy will go into this match feeling fresh and fit, while Djokovic has a mild hamstring injury to contend with and just finished two tough matches. This definitely could work in Andy's favour, but you can never ever understimate Djokovic, as people keep saying, he's number 1 in the world for a reason. There is of course also the danger that Andy might suffer a repeat of last year's defeat in a similar manner, but I really don't think so (well I hope not!!) as I think Andy is playing way better now than he was last year at this time. But I am struggling to actually visualise him winning the match, but he can certainly do it, I just hope he can as it would be a great bit of revenge for his loss last year. So now will be the time to consult Ivan and get all the best advice he can get as to how about he can go about defeating Djokovic this year. But whichever way it goes, I really think it could be the match of the tournament, probably even better than Roger and Rafa's encounter, however it could also be a big blowout, but something really tells me otherwise.
Anyway I shall report back soon, with more on the ladies semi finals matches.
Till then tara the now!
Monday 23 January 2012
Melbourne Part 3: Getting down to the last eight....
So we are now getting toward the business end of the Australian Open in Melbourne, as the 4th round matches are all now over and the quarter finalists on the mens and ladies draws have been decided and played out. And amidst it there has been some more excellent tennis on display.
So starting with the men, we had Andy Murray who prospectively had a tough match up with the world no.92 Mikhail Khukushkin, who the Muzz had previously met in Brisbane this year and was pushed to three sets. However Andy had no such trouble here, as Kushky was clearly struggling with injury throughout (having previously played two gruelling five setters), which ended up as being no contest for him, and his opponent was forced to retire, trailing 6-1, 6-1, 1-0 ret. So that has given Andy a safe passage into the quarter finals, where he will face a potentially much tougher opponent in Kei Nishikori, who upset Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in a surprising encounter, over 5 sets. However in their last encounter in Shanghai, Andy wiped the floor with Nishikori, but who is to say it will be the same again???? I hope not for Kei's sake, but I definitely want to see Andy get through to the semis, because all want to what hopes to be a real showdown between him and his nemesis, Novak Djokovic from last year.
But anyway more on that later in the week, for now, on with the other matches, which saw David Ferrer, who is very much in form just now, make it past Richard Gasquet impressively in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, 6-1. Ferrer will next up face Djokovic, who himself came through a much anticipated and surprisingly tough encounter with the former World No.1 Lleyton Hewitt, who put up a gusty fight against the Serb. After an easy start, Djokovic broke Hewitt's serve twice to take the first set, in the second set, he went on and did the same, however in the 3rd set, Hewitt started to find his range and began to really hurt Djoko and forced to drop his first set of the tournament. However in the 4th set, Djokovic managed to break and close out the hard fought match in 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, just shy of 3 hours. This really was a great last hurra from Hewitt before he went out, and I was really impressed with his determination in the match. Frankly I knew he had no real chance of winning it, but he did exceptionally well to take it to Djokovic as much as he did, and he also handed Djokovic his first big test of the tournament. It also showed while Djokovic is still in top form, there are still a few cracks of vulnerability here and there to be exploited, as last year I think Hewitt wouldn't have made a dent on Novak. Regardles it was an excellent match with plenty of gripping points, and Hewitt deserves tremnendous credit for his effort here. So a potentially very good quarter final for Djokovic with David Ferrer awaits, which potentially could be another very tough encounter, and it will be well worth a watch.
Onto Roger and Rafa's matches, as they both managed to breeze past their forth round opponents, with Roger taking on the young Aussie up and comer Bernard Tomic, who ultimately had no answer for Fed express at all. In fact what we got was pretty much the express train flattening the young lad straight through, as Federer dispatched Tomic with great ease in 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. Rafa also won his match against his fellow Spaniard buddie, Feliciano Lopez in straight sets too 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. However Tomas Berdych had a much tougher encounter against another Spaniard Nicholas Almagro as it took four sets for the big Czeck to get by Almagro. This match was also quite controversial because Almagro, accidentally hit Berdych in the arm with one his shots, and despite apologising to Berdych at the net, after the match was over, Berdych refused to shake Almagro's hand. This made Berdych very unpopular with the crowd who continually booed him throughout his interview on court. In restrospect Berdych definitely made a mistake there and he should have just shook Almagro's hand at the net, although perhaps there is something else going on between them we don't know about. Regardless of that Berdych afterward admitted he made a mistake in not shaking Nick's hand, and for his sake, let's hope he doesn't get booed in his next match, which is against Rafa.
But Roger's next match is undoubtedly the most mouth watering one of the lot, as he will take on the World No.11 and former US Open champion, Juan Martin Del Potro in the quarter finals. This will definitely promise to be an absolute belter of a match, and the two men haven't played each other in a slam match since that US Open final, which saw Delpo upsetting Roger in a 5 set epic. Can Delpo do the same here????? Its really hard to say, but it certainly isn't outwith his ability to do it, and if there are a select few players that can get by Roger, Delpo is one of them. But given Federer's current form, I'd have to give Roger the slight advantage here, but one way or another I think we are in for a real treat with this one.
Update on 24/1/12: However quickly as an update, the Roger v Delpo turned out to be a bit of letdown as Federer dispatched Del potro with ease in straight sets winning 6-4, 6-3, 6-2, as Fed simply was too good for the big Argentine, and that means Roger is through to the semis without dropping a single set. Unlike Roger's match, Rafa had a much tougher match in order to reach the semis, as the former World No.1 had to really battle past Tomas Berdych to get to the semi spot. Berdych for the most part throughout really put Rafa through his paces, and forced Rafa to drop his first set of the tournament, albeit in a dramatic tiebreak, in which there was a line call which Rafa was not happy about, and frankly it looked like he was robbed of that first set. However Rafa battled on and managed to secure the 2nd set tiebreak, and after he was pretty much in control, albeit Berdy continued to play well. In the end though Rafa showed his champion qualities and emerged victorious in 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-3. This was a tumultuous effort from Rafa and the match itself was terrific and one of the real highlights of the tournament so far, with both players putting on some high quality tennis for the thrilled Rod Laver arena crowd. So this sets up perhaps the most mouth watering match of the tournament, two old rivals meet once again in a grand slam match, Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal. How will this one go???? Who knows??? It really is easily the most anticipated match of the tournament that awaits us, but it could go either way, and you never know, Federer could even outclass Rafa in straight sets as well, so we will see, but here's hoping it lives up to its billing.
So that's two of the top four through, we will wait and see if the other two get through and I sincerely hope they do, as its great to see the best four players in the world live up to their rankings and to potentially see them once again all in the semis is just terrific. And when people say that this is the golden age of tennis I couldn't agree more, and we should all count ourselves lucky that we have these four guys providing us all with such brilliant tennis and thrilling entertainment. (Update finished!!).
So onto the ladies matches, first up in the ladies fourth round matches we have Victoria Azarenka who once again had a very straight forward passage into the quarter finals against Iveta Benesova, whom she easily got past in 6-2, 6-2. However next up for Azarenka is Agnieszka Radwanska, which should definitely prove to be Vika's first big test of the tournament, as they have had several really close matches in the past, and this one promises to be a really good one. After that Caroline Wozniacki also managed to make it past Jelena Jankovic, after breezing her way past in the first set, Caroline faced a late fightback against Jankovic, but it wasn't enough and in the end, Caz managed to close it out in 6-0, 7-5.
And next up for Caroline will be Kim Clijsters, who also had a very tough and dramatic 4th round encounter with Li Na. The match promised to be good and it certainly was, although both players weren't exactly at their best, and Li's confidence dwindled really badly toward the end. In fact its a great shame for Li Na, as she must be the single most least confident player on the ladies tour just now, as she continually doubts herself on the court and off it. And despite winning the French Open last year, you think this would have spurred her own, but has had the opposite effect largely, and as Vriginia Wade, aptly described it, its like once these woman win their first slam, its like giving birth and after they suffer post-natal depression! This certainly is a good analogy to explain what's happened to Li Na, so we can only hope she picks up again throughout the year. Caroline Wozniacki however will definitely have her hands full in her next match against Clijsters, however with Kim's ankle injury, Caroline might be able to take advantage of her lack of mobility, but its impossible to write off Kim in any situation, so this promises to be a good one.
Anyway moving onto other matches, Petra Kvitova took on the back in form Ana Ivanovic, who gave Petra a fairly testing encounter, but the Czeck ultimately came through in 6-2, 7-6 to make it to the quarters where she will play Sara Errani of Italy. Kvitova admittedly has had a minor wobble in her second round match, but she seems to have recovered from it, and looks to be back on fine form again, and she definitely still remains as one of the top favourite to win the title. And in probably the biggest upset of the tournament so far, Serena Williams has been knocked out by the Russian player Elena Makarova, in straight sets 6-2, 6-3. From the match it was quite clear the Williams wasn't at her best and the lack of match play made her look pretty sluggish as she didn't move to well at all, so it remains to be seen how Serena will progress later in the year. And finally Maria Sharapova came through her 4th round match against Sabine Lisicki, which unlike last year at Wimbledon, proved to be quite a tough match, as Sharapova had to battle back from a set down to win against the saucy German player in 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. So Sharapova will next play Elena Makarova, and she has a very good head to head against her, so its a safe bet to say Sharapova could well be in the semi finals, but we shall see.
And on that rather exhaustive long posted note, I shall leave it right there!
So starting with the men, we had Andy Murray who prospectively had a tough match up with the world no.92 Mikhail Khukushkin, who the Muzz had previously met in Brisbane this year and was pushed to three sets. However Andy had no such trouble here, as Kushky was clearly struggling with injury throughout (having previously played two gruelling five setters), which ended up as being no contest for him, and his opponent was forced to retire, trailing 6-1, 6-1, 1-0 ret. So that has given Andy a safe passage into the quarter finals, where he will face a potentially much tougher opponent in Kei Nishikori, who upset Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in a surprising encounter, over 5 sets. However in their last encounter in Shanghai, Andy wiped the floor with Nishikori, but who is to say it will be the same again???? I hope not for Kei's sake, but I definitely want to see Andy get through to the semis, because all want to what hopes to be a real showdown between him and his nemesis, Novak Djokovic from last year.
But anyway more on that later in the week, for now, on with the other matches, which saw David Ferrer, who is very much in form just now, make it past Richard Gasquet impressively in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, 6-1. Ferrer will next up face Djokovic, who himself came through a much anticipated and surprisingly tough encounter with the former World No.1 Lleyton Hewitt, who put up a gusty fight against the Serb. After an easy start, Djokovic broke Hewitt's serve twice to take the first set, in the second set, he went on and did the same, however in the 3rd set, Hewitt started to find his range and began to really hurt Djoko and forced to drop his first set of the tournament. However in the 4th set, Djokovic managed to break and close out the hard fought match in 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, just shy of 3 hours. This really was a great last hurra from Hewitt before he went out, and I was really impressed with his determination in the match. Frankly I knew he had no real chance of winning it, but he did exceptionally well to take it to Djokovic as much as he did, and he also handed Djokovic his first big test of the tournament. It also showed while Djokovic is still in top form, there are still a few cracks of vulnerability here and there to be exploited, as last year I think Hewitt wouldn't have made a dent on Novak. Regardles it was an excellent match with plenty of gripping points, and Hewitt deserves tremnendous credit for his effort here. So a potentially very good quarter final for Djokovic with David Ferrer awaits, which potentially could be another very tough encounter, and it will be well worth a watch.
Onto Roger and Rafa's matches, as they both managed to breeze past their forth round opponents, with Roger taking on the young Aussie up and comer Bernard Tomic, who ultimately had no answer for Fed express at all. In fact what we got was pretty much the express train flattening the young lad straight through, as Federer dispatched Tomic with great ease in 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. Rafa also won his match against his fellow Spaniard buddie, Feliciano Lopez in straight sets too 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. However Tomas Berdych had a much tougher encounter against another Spaniard Nicholas Almagro as it took four sets for the big Czeck to get by Almagro. This match was also quite controversial because Almagro, accidentally hit Berdych in the arm with one his shots, and despite apologising to Berdych at the net, after the match was over, Berdych refused to shake Almagro's hand. This made Berdych very unpopular with the crowd who continually booed him throughout his interview on court. In restrospect Berdych definitely made a mistake there and he should have just shook Almagro's hand at the net, although perhaps there is something else going on between them we don't know about. Regardless of that Berdych afterward admitted he made a mistake in not shaking Nick's hand, and for his sake, let's hope he doesn't get booed in his next match, which is against Rafa.
But Roger's next match is undoubtedly the most mouth watering one of the lot, as he will take on the World No.11 and former US Open champion, Juan Martin Del Potro in the quarter finals. This will definitely promise to be an absolute belter of a match, and the two men haven't played each other in a slam match since that US Open final, which saw Delpo upsetting Roger in a 5 set epic. Can Delpo do the same here????? Its really hard to say, but it certainly isn't outwith his ability to do it, and if there are a select few players that can get by Roger, Delpo is one of them. But given Federer's current form, I'd have to give Roger the slight advantage here, but one way or another I think we are in for a real treat with this one.
Update on 24/1/12: However quickly as an update, the Roger v Delpo turned out to be a bit of letdown as Federer dispatched Del potro with ease in straight sets winning 6-4, 6-3, 6-2, as Fed simply was too good for the big Argentine, and that means Roger is through to the semis without dropping a single set. Unlike Roger's match, Rafa had a much tougher match in order to reach the semis, as the former World No.1 had to really battle past Tomas Berdych to get to the semi spot. Berdych for the most part throughout really put Rafa through his paces, and forced Rafa to drop his first set of the tournament, albeit in a dramatic tiebreak, in which there was a line call which Rafa was not happy about, and frankly it looked like he was robbed of that first set. However Rafa battled on and managed to secure the 2nd set tiebreak, and after he was pretty much in control, albeit Berdy continued to play well. In the end though Rafa showed his champion qualities and emerged victorious in 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-3. This was a tumultuous effort from Rafa and the match itself was terrific and one of the real highlights of the tournament so far, with both players putting on some high quality tennis for the thrilled Rod Laver arena crowd. So this sets up perhaps the most mouth watering match of the tournament, two old rivals meet once again in a grand slam match, Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal. How will this one go???? Who knows??? It really is easily the most anticipated match of the tournament that awaits us, but it could go either way, and you never know, Federer could even outclass Rafa in straight sets as well, so we will see, but here's hoping it lives up to its billing.
So that's two of the top four through, we will wait and see if the other two get through and I sincerely hope they do, as its great to see the best four players in the world live up to their rankings and to potentially see them once again all in the semis is just terrific. And when people say that this is the golden age of tennis I couldn't agree more, and we should all count ourselves lucky that we have these four guys providing us all with such brilliant tennis and thrilling entertainment. (Update finished!!).
So onto the ladies matches, first up in the ladies fourth round matches we have Victoria Azarenka who once again had a very straight forward passage into the quarter finals against Iveta Benesova, whom she easily got past in 6-2, 6-2. However next up for Azarenka is Agnieszka Radwanska, which should definitely prove to be Vika's first big test of the tournament, as they have had several really close matches in the past, and this one promises to be a really good one. After that Caroline Wozniacki also managed to make it past Jelena Jankovic, after breezing her way past in the first set, Caroline faced a late fightback against Jankovic, but it wasn't enough and in the end, Caz managed to close it out in 6-0, 7-5.
And next up for Caroline will be Kim Clijsters, who also had a very tough and dramatic 4th round encounter with Li Na. The match promised to be good and it certainly was, although both players weren't exactly at their best, and Li's confidence dwindled really badly toward the end. In fact its a great shame for Li Na, as she must be the single most least confident player on the ladies tour just now, as she continually doubts herself on the court and off it. And despite winning the French Open last year, you think this would have spurred her own, but has had the opposite effect largely, and as Vriginia Wade, aptly described it, its like once these woman win their first slam, its like giving birth and after they suffer post-natal depression! This certainly is a good analogy to explain what's happened to Li Na, so we can only hope she picks up again throughout the year. Caroline Wozniacki however will definitely have her hands full in her next match against Clijsters, however with Kim's ankle injury, Caroline might be able to take advantage of her lack of mobility, but its impossible to write off Kim in any situation, so this promises to be a good one.
Anyway moving onto other matches, Petra Kvitova took on the back in form Ana Ivanovic, who gave Petra a fairly testing encounter, but the Czeck ultimately came through in 6-2, 7-6 to make it to the quarters where she will play Sara Errani of Italy. Kvitova admittedly has had a minor wobble in her second round match, but she seems to have recovered from it, and looks to be back on fine form again, and she definitely still remains as one of the top favourite to win the title. And in probably the biggest upset of the tournament so far, Serena Williams has been knocked out by the Russian player Elena Makarova, in straight sets 6-2, 6-3. From the match it was quite clear the Williams wasn't at her best and the lack of match play made her look pretty sluggish as she didn't move to well at all, so it remains to be seen how Serena will progress later in the year. And finally Maria Sharapova came through her 4th round match against Sabine Lisicki, which unlike last year at Wimbledon, proved to be quite a tough match, as Sharapova had to battle back from a set down to win against the saucy German player in 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. So Sharapova will next play Elena Makarova, and she has a very good head to head against her, so its a safe bet to say Sharapova could well be in the semi finals, but we shall see.
And on that rather exhaustive long posted note, I shall leave it right there!
Saturday 21 January 2012
Melbourne Part 2: 4th round beckoning.....
So we are approaching the end of the first week of the Aussie open in Melbourne Park, and the 3rd round matches are now complete, and there has been some excellent tennis on display from the players.
First off starting with the guys, in the 3rd round there was plenty of good stuff, Roger Federer took on the tallest man on the tour, Ivo Karlovich, in what proved to be quite a tough encounter, as in the first two sets, Fed was pushed to the limit, by the big serving Croatian. But in the 3rd Fed was fortunate to come through them, and in 3rd set, Federer got the break and closed it out, winning 7-6, 7-5, 6-3. Clearly Federer was quite relieved to get by the giant Croat, as he shouted many big come on's at crucial points. Next up for Federer will be Bernard Tomic, who in the past has made some pretty arrogant comments about Lleyton Hewitt, which didn't go down too well, so here's hoping Federer will teach him a lesson, personally I can't see an upset there. Rafa on the other hand a pretty easy passage into the 4th round as he defeated Lucas Lacko in 6-2, 6-4, 6-2, and Djokovic today simply blasted Nicolas Mahut off the court, albeit who was injured, winning with devastating scoreline of 6-0, 6-1, 6-1. To be honest though so far, Djokovic has had a pretty easy passage through so far, and no big names to test him, but that could change in the next round as he faces previous World No.1 Lleyton Hewitt, who has come through in an excellent match against the big Canadian Milos Raonic.
It was great to see the former World No.1 make it through as it was a very tough encounter with the big serving Milos making life difficult for the Aussie. However he will seriously be up against it with Djokovic, and I sincerely doubt he can pull off an upset, so the best we can hope for is a fairly tight match, but this match will definitely be the first proper guage of just where Djoko's tennis is at. If its a straight forward win or a total rout, then the rest of the draw should be cacking themselves, but we will soon find out, but frankly there will be only one winner, and sadly for Lleyton it won't be him, but it will be an intruiging one, and he will get the full support of the crowd to cheer him on, one way or another.
So onto Andy Murray quickly, who had a very entertaining match with the eccentric Frenchman Michael Llodra, as they both played a fair bit of what had to be exhibition tennis. But Andy was in complete control right from the start and put in a terrific performance, as he was more than good enough for Llodra, winning in straight sets in 6-4, 6-2, 6-0. The two also traded some extraordinary points, particularly the winning point for the 2nd set for Muzza, as they played close to the net and Llodra pulled off a hotdog lob, which Andy deflected to win the set, and he tumbled backwards over his heels! It was also good to see in the post match interview that Andy showed his light hearted side to the crowd, when he was given some left-field questions, such as who his favourite film star is, who he preferred Kate or Pippa (Middleton, the royal lassie with the upstaging dress!) and also making a crack about going tonight and "getting hammered!". Next up for Andy will be Mikhail Khukushkin, who upset Gael Monfils in 5 sets, the two of them have previously met in Brisbane and it was tough match, but I'm sure Andy will come through it, either in straights or 4 sets.
Now onto the ladies, which saw some fine tennis as well, although there were quite a few easy straight set wins for the top seeds. To start with Serena Williams, who simply blew Greta Arn off the court in very easy win in 6-1, 6-1. Maria Sharapova also put in an equally impressive performance by dismissing last year's US Open semi finalist Angelique Kerber in 6-1, 6-2. Sabine Lisicki however had a tougher test against the former World No.1 Svetlana Kuznetsova, as she needed 3 sets to get past her. Victoria Azarenka, who up until also had a straight easy run, met her first tricky customer with the talented German Mona Barthel, who after an easy first set, pushed Vika much more in the 2nd set. Azarenka also at one point in the 2nd set lost the rag on court as she wanted to challenge a point that was clearly out, but she had no challenges left, so ended up rowing with the umpire. Vika also went off the court to some boos from the crowd, but at least she is through to the next round with a 6-2, 6-4 win. Caroline Wozniacki however made short work of her opponent Monica Niculescu with a 6-2, 6-2 win, but she too will face her first tough test against Jelena Jankovic in the 4th round. Kim Clijsters, the defending champion also impressively made it through easily against the Slovak Daniela Hantuchova in 6-3, 6-2, where she will next have a rematch of her final last year with Li Na, so that promises to be a really good one, and just maybe Li can get revenge??? And finally Petra Kvitova got the easiest passage through as her opponent Miria Kirilenko, who was forced to retire with injury in 6-0, 1-0 ret.
So that sets up some pretty exciting tennis for tomorrow on both the mens and ladies side of the net, Roger Federer taking the cocky Bernard Tomic on, so I expect a lesson will be given out. Rafa will face his fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, which could be either easy or difficult. Tomas Berdych will take on Nicholas Almagro, which could also prove to be very tricky, and what could be a very exciting match, is Juan Martin Del Potro against the talented Austrian, Philipp Kolschreiber. On the ladies we will have as I said Kim Clijsters vs Li Na, which will get top billing, and the Wozza vs the Jankor, which should be very good. Additionally on the ladies we will also get another very promising match between Agnieszka Radwanska and Julia Goerges and Victoria Azarenka against Iveta Benesova. So its all good and plenty to look forward to.
So that's it for now.
First off starting with the guys, in the 3rd round there was plenty of good stuff, Roger Federer took on the tallest man on the tour, Ivo Karlovich, in what proved to be quite a tough encounter, as in the first two sets, Fed was pushed to the limit, by the big serving Croatian. But in the 3rd Fed was fortunate to come through them, and in 3rd set, Federer got the break and closed it out, winning 7-6, 7-5, 6-3. Clearly Federer was quite relieved to get by the giant Croat, as he shouted many big come on's at crucial points. Next up for Federer will be Bernard Tomic, who in the past has made some pretty arrogant comments about Lleyton Hewitt, which didn't go down too well, so here's hoping Federer will teach him a lesson, personally I can't see an upset there. Rafa on the other hand a pretty easy passage into the 4th round as he defeated Lucas Lacko in 6-2, 6-4, 6-2, and Djokovic today simply blasted Nicolas Mahut off the court, albeit who was injured, winning with devastating scoreline of 6-0, 6-1, 6-1. To be honest though so far, Djokovic has had a pretty easy passage through so far, and no big names to test him, but that could change in the next round as he faces previous World No.1 Lleyton Hewitt, who has come through in an excellent match against the big Canadian Milos Raonic.
It was great to see the former World No.1 make it through as it was a very tough encounter with the big serving Milos making life difficult for the Aussie. However he will seriously be up against it with Djokovic, and I sincerely doubt he can pull off an upset, so the best we can hope for is a fairly tight match, but this match will definitely be the first proper guage of just where Djoko's tennis is at. If its a straight forward win or a total rout, then the rest of the draw should be cacking themselves, but we will soon find out, but frankly there will be only one winner, and sadly for Lleyton it won't be him, but it will be an intruiging one, and he will get the full support of the crowd to cheer him on, one way or another.
So onto Andy Murray quickly, who had a very entertaining match with the eccentric Frenchman Michael Llodra, as they both played a fair bit of what had to be exhibition tennis. But Andy was in complete control right from the start and put in a terrific performance, as he was more than good enough for Llodra, winning in straight sets in 6-4, 6-2, 6-0. The two also traded some extraordinary points, particularly the winning point for the 2nd set for Muzza, as they played close to the net and Llodra pulled off a hotdog lob, which Andy deflected to win the set, and he tumbled backwards over his heels! It was also good to see in the post match interview that Andy showed his light hearted side to the crowd, when he was given some left-field questions, such as who his favourite film star is, who he preferred Kate or Pippa (Middleton, the royal lassie with the upstaging dress!) and also making a crack about going tonight and "getting hammered!". Next up for Andy will be Mikhail Khukushkin, who upset Gael Monfils in 5 sets, the two of them have previously met in Brisbane and it was tough match, but I'm sure Andy will come through it, either in straights or 4 sets.
Now onto the ladies, which saw some fine tennis as well, although there were quite a few easy straight set wins for the top seeds. To start with Serena Williams, who simply blew Greta Arn off the court in very easy win in 6-1, 6-1. Maria Sharapova also put in an equally impressive performance by dismissing last year's US Open semi finalist Angelique Kerber in 6-1, 6-2. Sabine Lisicki however had a tougher test against the former World No.1 Svetlana Kuznetsova, as she needed 3 sets to get past her. Victoria Azarenka, who up until also had a straight easy run, met her first tricky customer with the talented German Mona Barthel, who after an easy first set, pushed Vika much more in the 2nd set. Azarenka also at one point in the 2nd set lost the rag on court as she wanted to challenge a point that was clearly out, but she had no challenges left, so ended up rowing with the umpire. Vika also went off the court to some boos from the crowd, but at least she is through to the next round with a 6-2, 6-4 win. Caroline Wozniacki however made short work of her opponent Monica Niculescu with a 6-2, 6-2 win, but she too will face her first tough test against Jelena Jankovic in the 4th round. Kim Clijsters, the defending champion also impressively made it through easily against the Slovak Daniela Hantuchova in 6-3, 6-2, where she will next have a rematch of her final last year with Li Na, so that promises to be a really good one, and just maybe Li can get revenge??? And finally Petra Kvitova got the easiest passage through as her opponent Miria Kirilenko, who was forced to retire with injury in 6-0, 1-0 ret.
So that sets up some pretty exciting tennis for tomorrow on both the mens and ladies side of the net, Roger Federer taking the cocky Bernard Tomic on, so I expect a lesson will be given out. Rafa will face his fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, which could be either easy or difficult. Tomas Berdych will take on Nicholas Almagro, which could also prove to be very tricky, and what could be a very exciting match, is Juan Martin Del Potro against the talented Austrian, Philipp Kolschreiber. On the ladies we will have as I said Kim Clijsters vs Li Na, which will get top billing, and the Wozza vs the Jankor, which should be very good. Additionally on the ladies we will also get another very promising match between Agnieszka Radwanska and Julia Goerges and Victoria Azarenka against Iveta Benesova. So its all good and plenty to look forward to.
So that's it for now.
Wednesday 18 January 2012
Melbourne Part 1: Carry the can for the Brits....and one or two upsets
So here's my first post on the Australian Open which is now into day 3, and well actually nearly into day 4 as I write this, and we are already into the second round of the singles matches, with one or two upsets along the way. So here is a bit more on them....
To start off with, the biggest upsets (yep upsets) of the tournament so far have been the knockout of all the British singles players, except the British No.1. So on day 1 we saw the defeat of Heather Watson (lost to Azarenka in 6-1, 6-0), Elena Baltacha (lost to qualifier in 6-2, 6-4), Laura Robson (lost to Jelena Jankovic in 6-2, 6-0), and Anne Keothavong (lost to Mona Barthel 6-0 ret), and James Ward (lost to Blaz Kavicic in 6-4, 6-3, 6-4) all in one foul swoop! So it was a pretty grim opening for the British players in the singles draw, and what's even more shocking is that none of them managed to win a set between them! Naturally I expected Heather and Laura to go out in straight sets, particularly with Heather, as she played Azarenka who is well known for not taking any prisoners when playing lower ranked players, and Jankovic was by far the more seasoned player against Laura Robson. But I was really surprised that Elena Baltacha didn't get a win against the qualifier Stephanie Forez Gacon, as she was a lower ranked player. But Elena in her post match interview said she just felt it wasn't her day on court, and that she was uncomfortable and didn't move well, also alot of players complained about the heat and the lack of shade. So its disappointing as well as alarming, but it is just one tournament (albeit one of the big ones), there will be many more to come, and more opportunities for the Brits throughout the year.
Which of course leaves the World No.4, Andy Murray in the draw, who himself got off to a rusty start as he faced a tough opponent in the young talented American, Ryan Harrison, who came out swinging in the first set, and broke Andy to take the first set. However, Andy stepped up a gear in the second and took it, to level the match, and after that it was Muzza who took control to seal out the victory in 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. While it wasn't the most encouraging of starts, Andy did at least finish up fairly strong, but I could still see him hampered by that serve of his, and usual more 1st serves were being dumped into the net. And the worrying thing is, even a lower ranked player like Ryan Harrison managed to take advantage of Andy's 2nd serve, so again, if Andy will have any chance, it hinges on him serving better, but is he capable of it????? Hmmmmmmm. On the positive side though, Andy so far has shown an improvement in his mental attitude, as even when he was a set down, he didn't lose the rag, so hopefully Ivan Lendl, his new coach, is getting him to finally cut out the histrionics on the court. But the important thing is Andy is through to the 2nd round, next up he faces a Frenchman Eduardo Roger-Vasselin, so hopefully it will be a straight set victory for the Muzza, but you can never tell, but he definitely should make it through.
Anyway quickly onto the top three guys, so far Rafa and Roger have made smooth progress, as Rafa made it past his first round opponent with little trouble in 6-4, 6-1, 6-1, and Roger got past a Russian qualifier, in a slightly more tricky match in 7-5, 6-2, 6-2. And Djokovic once again demonstrated just why he is the World No.1, as he put in a frighteningly good display against Paolo Lorenzi, conceding only two games, winning in straight set drubbing, 6-2, 6-0, 6-0. With a display like that, it is hard to imagine Djokovic not defending his title this year, and out of the four slams, Melbourne definitely seems to favour him the most. So the other players will most likely be quaking in their boots when they are due to take on Djoko on the court. Next up he will face Santiago Giraldo, an unseeded qualifier, but at this rate, Giraldo might as well shake hands and walk off court before the match begins! And one thing is for sure, Djokovic is going to be mighty hard to stop in this tournament. And there was one big upset on the men's side which saw Mardy Fish go out in straight sets against the qualifier Alejandro Falla. In other matches, Berdych made it through easily against Oliver Rochus in straight sets, Alexandr Dolgopolov, last year made the quarter finals, lasted against Tobia Kamke, in a five set battle. And probably the most controversial match of the 2nd round on the mens' was between the giant John Isner vs the Argentine David Nalbandian. Nalbandian throughout showed his anger toward the umpires, who made some calls that he thought were unjust, especially in the 5th set where Isner was awarded a game point at 8-8 all. But this sees Isner go through to the next round anyway, and on the other side of the Yankee fence, Andy Roddick made it through to the 3rd also, where he will play a much anticipated match against Lleyton Hewitt, so should be good!
Now onto some of the ladies results, and the biggest shock on the ladies draw so far was the defeat of home favourite, Sam Stosur, who lost to Sorona Cirstea in straight sets, 7-6, 6-3. This was a real upset for the Aussie fans who no doubt were hoping that Stosur could have gone all the way, being the US Open champion last year, it definitely seemed possible, but I guess it just wasn't to be, and Stosur herself said you don't get to pick when it will all come together for you. Caroline Wozniacki, the current World No.1 made it through to the 3rd round with fair ease, winning in 6-2, 6-1 in her first match, and 6-1, 7-6, in the second. Azarenka also ruthlessly brushed past Casey Dalleqca in 6-1, 6-0, a home qualifier, and the defending champion Kim Clijsters breezed through her match in 6-0, 6-1. And Li Na and Jelena Jankovic also made through in their repsective matches, both in straight sets. There are also four players in the draw, who are vieing for the top spot, with Kvitova, Sharapova and Azarenka with their eyes on it, if they can make it all the way. Kvitova herself will gurarantee the top spot if Caroline loses before the quarter finals. So its all happening!
And that's enough for now.
To start off with, the biggest upsets (yep upsets) of the tournament so far have been the knockout of all the British singles players, except the British No.1. So on day 1 we saw the defeat of Heather Watson (lost to Azarenka in 6-1, 6-0), Elena Baltacha (lost to qualifier in 6-2, 6-4), Laura Robson (lost to Jelena Jankovic in 6-2, 6-0), and Anne Keothavong (lost to Mona Barthel 6-0 ret), and James Ward (lost to Blaz Kavicic in 6-4, 6-3, 6-4) all in one foul swoop! So it was a pretty grim opening for the British players in the singles draw, and what's even more shocking is that none of them managed to win a set between them! Naturally I expected Heather and Laura to go out in straight sets, particularly with Heather, as she played Azarenka who is well known for not taking any prisoners when playing lower ranked players, and Jankovic was by far the more seasoned player against Laura Robson. But I was really surprised that Elena Baltacha didn't get a win against the qualifier Stephanie Forez Gacon, as she was a lower ranked player. But Elena in her post match interview said she just felt it wasn't her day on court, and that she was uncomfortable and didn't move well, also alot of players complained about the heat and the lack of shade. So its disappointing as well as alarming, but it is just one tournament (albeit one of the big ones), there will be many more to come, and more opportunities for the Brits throughout the year.
Which of course leaves the World No.4, Andy Murray in the draw, who himself got off to a rusty start as he faced a tough opponent in the young talented American, Ryan Harrison, who came out swinging in the first set, and broke Andy to take the first set. However, Andy stepped up a gear in the second and took it, to level the match, and after that it was Muzza who took control to seal out the victory in 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. While it wasn't the most encouraging of starts, Andy did at least finish up fairly strong, but I could still see him hampered by that serve of his, and usual more 1st serves were being dumped into the net. And the worrying thing is, even a lower ranked player like Ryan Harrison managed to take advantage of Andy's 2nd serve, so again, if Andy will have any chance, it hinges on him serving better, but is he capable of it????? Hmmmmmmm. On the positive side though, Andy so far has shown an improvement in his mental attitude, as even when he was a set down, he didn't lose the rag, so hopefully Ivan Lendl, his new coach, is getting him to finally cut out the histrionics on the court. But the important thing is Andy is through to the 2nd round, next up he faces a Frenchman Eduardo Roger-Vasselin, so hopefully it will be a straight set victory for the Muzza, but you can never tell, but he definitely should make it through.
Anyway quickly onto the top three guys, so far Rafa and Roger have made smooth progress, as Rafa made it past his first round opponent with little trouble in 6-4, 6-1, 6-1, and Roger got past a Russian qualifier, in a slightly more tricky match in 7-5, 6-2, 6-2. And Djokovic once again demonstrated just why he is the World No.1, as he put in a frighteningly good display against Paolo Lorenzi, conceding only two games, winning in straight set drubbing, 6-2, 6-0, 6-0. With a display like that, it is hard to imagine Djokovic not defending his title this year, and out of the four slams, Melbourne definitely seems to favour him the most. So the other players will most likely be quaking in their boots when they are due to take on Djoko on the court. Next up he will face Santiago Giraldo, an unseeded qualifier, but at this rate, Giraldo might as well shake hands and walk off court before the match begins! And one thing is for sure, Djokovic is going to be mighty hard to stop in this tournament. And there was one big upset on the men's side which saw Mardy Fish go out in straight sets against the qualifier Alejandro Falla. In other matches, Berdych made it through easily against Oliver Rochus in straight sets, Alexandr Dolgopolov, last year made the quarter finals, lasted against Tobia Kamke, in a five set battle. And probably the most controversial match of the 2nd round on the mens' was between the giant John Isner vs the Argentine David Nalbandian. Nalbandian throughout showed his anger toward the umpires, who made some calls that he thought were unjust, especially in the 5th set where Isner was awarded a game point at 8-8 all. But this sees Isner go through to the next round anyway, and on the other side of the Yankee fence, Andy Roddick made it through to the 3rd also, where he will play a much anticipated match against Lleyton Hewitt, so should be good!
Now onto some of the ladies results, and the biggest shock on the ladies draw so far was the defeat of home favourite, Sam Stosur, who lost to Sorona Cirstea in straight sets, 7-6, 6-3. This was a real upset for the Aussie fans who no doubt were hoping that Stosur could have gone all the way, being the US Open champion last year, it definitely seemed possible, but I guess it just wasn't to be, and Stosur herself said you don't get to pick when it will all come together for you. Caroline Wozniacki, the current World No.1 made it through to the 3rd round with fair ease, winning in 6-2, 6-1 in her first match, and 6-1, 7-6, in the second. Azarenka also ruthlessly brushed past Casey Dalleqca in 6-1, 6-0, a home qualifier, and the defending champion Kim Clijsters breezed through her match in 6-0, 6-1. And Li Na and Jelena Jankovic also made through in their repsective matches, both in straight sets. There are also four players in the draw, who are vieing for the top spot, with Kvitova, Sharapova and Azarenka with their eyes on it, if they can make it all the way. Kvitova herself will gurarantee the top spot if Caroline loses before the quarter finals. So its all happening!
And that's enough for now.
Saturday 14 January 2012
Australian Open 2012: A preview.
Well its another year for tennis (yep another tennis post!) and the first grand slam of the season is nearly upon us, as the Australian open starts on Sunday at midnight (technically 11am on Monday morning, Melbourne time). So no doubt its going to be another exciting tournament this year, and again as its a new season, it raises question marks as to why is going to win the title, so here's a bit of speculation.
On the men's side, there is of course the top four, who will definitely come into Melbourne in fine form, however in the past 8 years, its all been about the top 3 players as no one else has come close to winning the Aussie title. And personally I think its about high time that someone else stepped in there and took it from them, and for me that one man should be Andy Murray. Andy so far has been in two Melbourne finals, in the last two years, and in both he was roundly beaten by Federer and Djokovic. But this year, and with the appointment of his new coach Ivan Lendl, here's hoping that Andy crank his game up another notch and take that trophy off Djokovic. Although its difficult to say at this stage how well Andy will play under Lendl's instruction against the top three, he could lose again, but that all remains to be seen. And even if he does, and still manages to perform really well in say reaching the semis or the final, he can at least take heart in that he has another three slams to really hone his game and his mental belief.
But Andy doesn't have the kindest of draws, as he will face Djokovic in the semis, should he get there, he will have to play the match of his life to get past him, either that or hope Djokovic isn't on form by then, which is very unlikely. And it also boils down to taking from Lendl, his knowledge and experience, and applying that in the big matches. But if he can do that, then there is no reason why Andy shouldn't be able to defeat any of the top three guys to lift that trophy, and in the end if it is a close match, it can come down to only one point. So its going to be exciting and nerve wracking watching Muzza progress through the tournament and see if he can make it to his 3rd final.
So onto the top three, who is going to have the best chance there? Well in my opinion its got to be down to either Djokovic or Federer, naturally Djoko is the favourite out of those two, being number one and also previously beaten Federer in two Aussie opens. Its also a tournament which he has done extremely well in obviously, having won there twice, the surface definitely favours and if Djokovic can play anything like he did last year, then no one will get a look-in. However Federer finished off last year in great style again, having won the ATP World Tour Finals for second time in a row, although he wasn't able to apply that to Melbourne last year, but each year is different, so there could be a chance that Roger will win too. Roger definitely still has something to prove, as before he retires, he surely will want another couple of slams under his belt (or shorts, that would be tough, mind!). And then there is Rafa, and the expectations of Rafa winning again seem to be remote, but he too could turn it around and shock everyone by taking his 2nd title there, it would also be great revenge for him if he manages to defeat Djokovic in the final, and snap his losing streak. In Doha, we did see signs of the old hungry Rafa back on court, the determination was definitely there, so I think he will definitely do his damndest to put that in practise in Melbourne.
And outside the top four guys there is also another couple of players worth considering, particularly Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who finished off last year in fine style reach the ATP Finals against Federer, and was a previous finalist in Melbourne as well. Tsonga is without a great player, although he isn't always consistent, but last year in the second half he definitely showed amazing progress, reaching the Wimbledon semis, US Open quarters, Paris Masters final and the already mentioned ATP year end championships. Tsonga definitely also has the game and the power to defeat these guys, so he definitely cannot be counted out. Then there is Juan Martin Del Potro, who made a terrific comeback last year, starting off 2011 ranked as about 483 and ending it as the world no 11! That's quite a meteoric rise over 12 months, and throughout last year, Del Potro showed just how he is one of the best players in the world on the men's tour. Also already having been a slam champion and the only guy outside the top three to have won a major in the last 8 years, it makes Delpo a strong contender. But his tennis in the slams in 2011 wasn't the best, despite very tight matches against Djokovic and Rafa, but you can never count him out, and its a new season.
So quickly on the ladies tour, there are a few favourites, the main one being Petra Kvitova, who last year announced her arrival as a major force in the womens' game, winning both Wimbledon and the WTA Championships. Although Kvitova's one weakness is her inconsistency, she can either be unbeatable in a tournament, or she can go out early or falter near the end, as she did against Li Na this week in Sydney. So it does leave a small doubt about her, as there are some players who could upset her, but regardless I think she is one of the top favourites. There is also Serena Williams, who did roll her ankle a couple of weeks ago, but she too, fitnessing permitting will be a strong threat to everyone else in the draw. And Kim Clijsters, who is the defending champion, will be a big threat to the other players as well, although she also sustained a hip injury last week in Brisbane, but if she is all well for Melbourne, then there is every chance she could defend her title. And another favourite worth considering could be Victoria Azarenka, who has just won the title in Sydney against Li Na, and also reached the WTA Championships final last year against Petra Kvitova. So the field in the ladies is wide open, far more so than the man.
Right that will do for now, more will follow once the Aussie open is well under way, so its going to be exciting to find out just who is going to make through.
Till then that's it!
On the men's side, there is of course the top four, who will definitely come into Melbourne in fine form, however in the past 8 years, its all been about the top 3 players as no one else has come close to winning the Aussie title. And personally I think its about high time that someone else stepped in there and took it from them, and for me that one man should be Andy Murray. Andy so far has been in two Melbourne finals, in the last two years, and in both he was roundly beaten by Federer and Djokovic. But this year, and with the appointment of his new coach Ivan Lendl, here's hoping that Andy crank his game up another notch and take that trophy off Djokovic. Although its difficult to say at this stage how well Andy will play under Lendl's instruction against the top three, he could lose again, but that all remains to be seen. And even if he does, and still manages to perform really well in say reaching the semis or the final, he can at least take heart in that he has another three slams to really hone his game and his mental belief.
But Andy doesn't have the kindest of draws, as he will face Djokovic in the semis, should he get there, he will have to play the match of his life to get past him, either that or hope Djokovic isn't on form by then, which is very unlikely. And it also boils down to taking from Lendl, his knowledge and experience, and applying that in the big matches. But if he can do that, then there is no reason why Andy shouldn't be able to defeat any of the top three guys to lift that trophy, and in the end if it is a close match, it can come down to only one point. So its going to be exciting and nerve wracking watching Muzza progress through the tournament and see if he can make it to his 3rd final.
So onto the top three, who is going to have the best chance there? Well in my opinion its got to be down to either Djokovic or Federer, naturally Djoko is the favourite out of those two, being number one and also previously beaten Federer in two Aussie opens. Its also a tournament which he has done extremely well in obviously, having won there twice, the surface definitely favours and if Djokovic can play anything like he did last year, then no one will get a look-in. However Federer finished off last year in great style again, having won the ATP World Tour Finals for second time in a row, although he wasn't able to apply that to Melbourne last year, but each year is different, so there could be a chance that Roger will win too. Roger definitely still has something to prove, as before he retires, he surely will want another couple of slams under his belt (or shorts, that would be tough, mind!). And then there is Rafa, and the expectations of Rafa winning again seem to be remote, but he too could turn it around and shock everyone by taking his 2nd title there, it would also be great revenge for him if he manages to defeat Djokovic in the final, and snap his losing streak. In Doha, we did see signs of the old hungry Rafa back on court, the determination was definitely there, so I think he will definitely do his damndest to put that in practise in Melbourne.
And outside the top four guys there is also another couple of players worth considering, particularly Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who finished off last year in fine style reach the ATP Finals against Federer, and was a previous finalist in Melbourne as well. Tsonga is without a great player, although he isn't always consistent, but last year in the second half he definitely showed amazing progress, reaching the Wimbledon semis, US Open quarters, Paris Masters final and the already mentioned ATP year end championships. Tsonga definitely also has the game and the power to defeat these guys, so he definitely cannot be counted out. Then there is Juan Martin Del Potro, who made a terrific comeback last year, starting off 2011 ranked as about 483 and ending it as the world no 11! That's quite a meteoric rise over 12 months, and throughout last year, Del Potro showed just how he is one of the best players in the world on the men's tour. Also already having been a slam champion and the only guy outside the top three to have won a major in the last 8 years, it makes Delpo a strong contender. But his tennis in the slams in 2011 wasn't the best, despite very tight matches against Djokovic and Rafa, but you can never count him out, and its a new season.
So quickly on the ladies tour, there are a few favourites, the main one being Petra Kvitova, who last year announced her arrival as a major force in the womens' game, winning both Wimbledon and the WTA Championships. Although Kvitova's one weakness is her inconsistency, she can either be unbeatable in a tournament, or she can go out early or falter near the end, as she did against Li Na this week in Sydney. So it does leave a small doubt about her, as there are some players who could upset her, but regardless I think she is one of the top favourites. There is also Serena Williams, who did roll her ankle a couple of weeks ago, but she too, fitnessing permitting will be a strong threat to everyone else in the draw. And Kim Clijsters, who is the defending champion, will be a big threat to the other players as well, although she also sustained a hip injury last week in Brisbane, but if she is all well for Melbourne, then there is every chance she could defend her title. And another favourite worth considering could be Victoria Azarenka, who has just won the title in Sydney against Li Na, and also reached the WTA Championships final last year against Petra Kvitova. So the field in the ladies is wide open, far more so than the man.
Right that will do for now, more will follow once the Aussie open is well under way, so its going to be exciting to find out just who is going to make through.
Till then that's it!
You'll believe a man can fly Part 4: he returns....
So onto the final part of the Superman film anthology, which is for Superman Returns, which saw the franchise after a near 20 year absence make a reappearance, with a new cast (well it could hardly be the old one!), and production crew. So here's a bit more about the plot.
Its starts with Superman having been missing for 5 years, returns to Earth, as he heard that Astronomers had found the location of Krypton, however on his return he found nothing of his planet of origin. Since Superman has been missing, Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has become cynical of Superman and wrote an article "Why the world doesn't need Superman" which she won the Pulitzer Prize for. Superman goes back to his Clark Kent identity and gets his job back at the Daily Planet, due to one of the former employees passing away, and meets back up with Lois, chief editor Perry White (Frank Langella) and Jimmy Olsen (Sam Huntington). However bad things are afoot as Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) has been released from prison, and since then he married an aged widow, who on her deathbed, decrees her will over to him. Luthor then travels to the Fortress of Solitude where he steals some kryptonite crystals, which he uses in a scheme to create a new landmass in the Atlantic Ocean, which will result in the deaths of billions of people. Superman prior to this of course reannounces his presence to the world as he rescues a test flight space shuttle, which Lois is on, covering a story, and lands it in a baseball stadium. Superman soon carries on his good deeds, foiling robberies, criminals of all sorts, and he also speaks to Lois to explain his absence. However, Luthor's plan to create a landmass soon comes to fruition, and its up to Superman to stop him, as he soon confront the slapheaded madman.
I have to say that while it stands easily hand and shoulders over Superman IV, that Superman Returns, next to that, is my second least favourite film in the series. Bryan Singer definitely does deserve credit for bringing the superhero back to the big screen, but unfortunately the pace of the film is sluggish, and the tone is pretty dreary, and at 2 hours and 30 minutes, it is way overlong. Many scenes in the film definitely feel slow and lack pace, excitement or any sense of fun, and that's definitely what is missing here: fun. Singer, even in the titles, is clearly paying tribute to Richard Donner's original movie, but Donner, gave that film the perfect mix of drama and humour, but here its mainly 80% drama and 20% very dry humour. I can see that Singer definitely tries to keep the expectations of the kick start of the franchise alive, but here its definitely falls somewhat flat. And on a plot point, it seems very strange that no one seems to arouse suspicion around Clark Kent's disappearnce for 5 years also, but when he comes back, Superman arrives at the same time. Surely based on that they can put two and two together! But I guess Clark's timid nature makes him incosequential in everyone's eyes, unlike Superman, he isn't really missed.
However that's not to say the film doesn't have its good aspects, it certainly does have them, mainly the casting of Brandon Routh, which is actually inspired in a way, as Routh is really good as Superman, and he even bears a close resemblance to Christopher Reeve (particularly as Clark Kent!). However his part in a way largely minimised, especially in his dialogue as both Clark Kent and Superman, as he barely speaks in either role! And I think this was unfair on Brandon Routh, as clearly he is actually a good actor, and I definitely think the script lets him down and to say its underwritten is an understatement! Kevin Spacey however, gets his fair share of dialogue and is excellent as Lex Luthor, as he plays him with a far more twisted sense of menace than Gene Hackman's comic depiction. But Spacey is also let down by the turgid nature of the film, as with a better script and pacing, his role as Luthor could have been even better. The supporting cast are also quite good, as Kate Bosworth does well as Lois Lane, as she get's Lois' bossy, and sassy qualities to the forefront. Frank Langella, while I think was a bit miscast as Perry White, still does a fine job as editor and chief of the Daily Planet, and Parker Posey adds a bit of amusement to the film as Luthor's mistress and henchwoman, Kitti Kowalski.
On the production front of course the film has some excellent special effects, and John Ottman (Bryan Singer's usual composer) does a fine rendition of John Williams original score as well as add new music. Although one thing I didn't like was Superman's custome, as its nowhere near as cool as Christopher Reeve's was. In fact it resembles in colour more like the bad Superman's costume in Superman III, as the colours are darker and more insipid looking, and the "S" crest is also a bit too small and crap looking. And another problem with the film is the look of the film as the photography is just a bit too soft and the muted colours also do precious little to add to the proceedings (actually the film was apparently shot using high def cameras).
So overall Superman Returns for me was a disappointment, it did well to bring the superhero back to the cinema, and Brandon Routh was an excellent choice as Supe. But I think the Brandon and the cast were handed a bum steer on this one and the film could easily have been much better than it is.
And on that note, that concludes my Supe analysis.
Its starts with Superman having been missing for 5 years, returns to Earth, as he heard that Astronomers had found the location of Krypton, however on his return he found nothing of his planet of origin. Since Superman has been missing, Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has become cynical of Superman and wrote an article "Why the world doesn't need Superman" which she won the Pulitzer Prize for. Superman goes back to his Clark Kent identity and gets his job back at the Daily Planet, due to one of the former employees passing away, and meets back up with Lois, chief editor Perry White (Frank Langella) and Jimmy Olsen (Sam Huntington). However bad things are afoot as Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) has been released from prison, and since then he married an aged widow, who on her deathbed, decrees her will over to him. Luthor then travels to the Fortress of Solitude where he steals some kryptonite crystals, which he uses in a scheme to create a new landmass in the Atlantic Ocean, which will result in the deaths of billions of people. Superman prior to this of course reannounces his presence to the world as he rescues a test flight space shuttle, which Lois is on, covering a story, and lands it in a baseball stadium. Superman soon carries on his good deeds, foiling robberies, criminals of all sorts, and he also speaks to Lois to explain his absence. However, Luthor's plan to create a landmass soon comes to fruition, and its up to Superman to stop him, as he soon confront the slapheaded madman.
I have to say that while it stands easily hand and shoulders over Superman IV, that Superman Returns, next to that, is my second least favourite film in the series. Bryan Singer definitely does deserve credit for bringing the superhero back to the big screen, but unfortunately the pace of the film is sluggish, and the tone is pretty dreary, and at 2 hours and 30 minutes, it is way overlong. Many scenes in the film definitely feel slow and lack pace, excitement or any sense of fun, and that's definitely what is missing here: fun. Singer, even in the titles, is clearly paying tribute to Richard Donner's original movie, but Donner, gave that film the perfect mix of drama and humour, but here its mainly 80% drama and 20% very dry humour. I can see that Singer definitely tries to keep the expectations of the kick start of the franchise alive, but here its definitely falls somewhat flat. And on a plot point, it seems very strange that no one seems to arouse suspicion around Clark Kent's disappearnce for 5 years also, but when he comes back, Superman arrives at the same time. Surely based on that they can put two and two together! But I guess Clark's timid nature makes him incosequential in everyone's eyes, unlike Superman, he isn't really missed.
However that's not to say the film doesn't have its good aspects, it certainly does have them, mainly the casting of Brandon Routh, which is actually inspired in a way, as Routh is really good as Superman, and he even bears a close resemblance to Christopher Reeve (particularly as Clark Kent!). However his part in a way largely minimised, especially in his dialogue as both Clark Kent and Superman, as he barely speaks in either role! And I think this was unfair on Brandon Routh, as clearly he is actually a good actor, and I definitely think the script lets him down and to say its underwritten is an understatement! Kevin Spacey however, gets his fair share of dialogue and is excellent as Lex Luthor, as he plays him with a far more twisted sense of menace than Gene Hackman's comic depiction. But Spacey is also let down by the turgid nature of the film, as with a better script and pacing, his role as Luthor could have been even better. The supporting cast are also quite good, as Kate Bosworth does well as Lois Lane, as she get's Lois' bossy, and sassy qualities to the forefront. Frank Langella, while I think was a bit miscast as Perry White, still does a fine job as editor and chief of the Daily Planet, and Parker Posey adds a bit of amusement to the film as Luthor's mistress and henchwoman, Kitti Kowalski.
On the production front of course the film has some excellent special effects, and John Ottman (Bryan Singer's usual composer) does a fine rendition of John Williams original score as well as add new music. Although one thing I didn't like was Superman's custome, as its nowhere near as cool as Christopher Reeve's was. In fact it resembles in colour more like the bad Superman's costume in Superman III, as the colours are darker and more insipid looking, and the "S" crest is also a bit too small and crap looking. And another problem with the film is the look of the film as the photography is just a bit too soft and the muted colours also do precious little to add to the proceedings (actually the film was apparently shot using high def cameras).
So overall Superman Returns for me was a disappointment, it did well to bring the superhero back to the cinema, and Brandon Routh was an excellent choice as Supe. But I think the Brandon and the cast were handed a bum steer on this one and the film could easily have been much better than it is.
And on that note, that concludes my Supe analysis.
Tuesday 10 January 2012
You'll believe a man can fly Part 3: You always wanted to fly Kent, now's your chance!!
So onto Part 3 of my critique of the Superman films, which is of course all about Superman 3, which was directed by Richard Lester, so the comic tone that he added to Superman 2 is on full flight here, and we also have the inclusion of Richard Pryor, to further the comedy elements. But more on that soon, now onto the plot.
So Supe 3 starts with Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor) an umemployed fella who is down on his luck when the social security cut off his money, who finds out he has a knack for computers, as he takes a job with the firm Webscoe and manages to embezzle $85000 in half cents from the organisation. After Gus unintentionally draws attention to himself by buying a fancy sports car with his money, the CEO Ross Webster (Robert Vaughan) brings him up and decides to use his talents for hacking for his own ends.
Meanwhile Clark Kent (Reeve) gets permission from Perry White (Jackie Cooper) to do a story on his hometown school reunion in Smallville, where he returns and strikes up a friendship with his childhood friend Lana Lang (Annette O'Toole, lovely). Lana is now single and a divorcee with one young son Ricky, however she is still pestered by her ex-boyfriend from high school, Brad Wilson (Gavan O'Herlihy).
Back to Gus, Webster now manipulates Gus into doing his dirty as he makes him hack into one of Webscoe's small computer offices (in Smallville funnily enough!) where he contacts the Vulcan satelitte, which controls the weather, and makes it create a torando to destroy Colombia's coffee crop, as a result of the country refusing to do business with Webster. However Superman intervenes and stops the tornado and dries up the crops, which incenses Webster, who now wants to get rid of Superman. With his busty blonde nutrionist Lorelei (Pamela Stephenson) telling Webster that kryptonite is the only thing that can hurt Superman, Wesbter gets Gus to use the Vulcan satelitte to track the whereabouts of Krypton's former location in hopes to find a chunk of Kryptonite. The computer scans show up an unknown element in the kryptonite, which Gus substitutes as Tar (taken from his pack of cigarettes).
Superman on Ricky's birthday turns up, and the event is turned into a parade, where Gus and Webster's sister Vera (Annie Ross) drive up, dressed in an army uniform, Gus give a speech to the audience and hands Superman as a gift, the chunk of synthetic kryptonite, made up from the elements scanned by the Vulcan satelitte. However the kryptonite appears to have no effect on him, at first that is, but soon after, the kryptonite starts to make Superman behave strangely, as he becomes moody, apathetic, and commits some petty acts of vandalism, such as straightening the learning tower of Pisa and blowing out an olympic runner's torch just at the crucial moment of lighting the olympic flame. Webster also takes advantage of Superman's behaviour as he get Lorelei to lure Superman into helping them with their oil scam, as they get all the oil tankers to go to a certain destination, except one, which Superman flies to and punctures the hull, to bleed the oil out into the sea. This also causes chaos as Metropolis, doesn't get its oil supplies and the oil pumps dry up, which creates riots in the city. Superman's mood worsens, as his sinks into depression, which culiminates with him sitting in a bar getting drunk, smashes bottles of alcohol, simply by flicking peanuts at them! With Lana and Ricky arriving in Metropolis, they witness the drunken Superman walk out of the bar, growling at the spectators, he flies off, while Ricky calls out after him, with his words echoing in his head, Superman's torment reaches its limit, as he flies into a junkyard. In the junkyard Superman persona splits into two, as Clark Kent emerges from himself, as the two of them fight it out for their right to live, and after repeated attempts to kill off Clark, the bad Superman puts Clark in a car crusher, who burts out of it to strangle the bad Supe, who vanishes. At this point Clark opens his shirt, revealing his Superman suit, as he flies off and puts the damage he did to rights and goes off to find Webster.
By this time Gus has ideas to build a supercomputer, which he has written out blueprints for, the computer is essentially an invincible machine that can counter attack and wipe out its enemies. Intruiged by the possibilities of what the computer can do for him, Webster agrees to have the computer built. The supercomputer once fully built, is ready in time for Superman arriving, which attacks the caped dude with missiles. Superman survives the attacks and then goes in to confront Webster in the climactic sequence. (Sheesh what a long plot summary!).
Despite the mixed reviews that Superman III got at the time, I have to say I really did enjoy it as a film, and despite the overly comic tones in certain scenes it has alot going for it. One of the things that really works in the film is Clark's development as a character, as he no longer is as bumbling and awkward as he was before, now he is more confident and sure of himself. His scenes with Lana are also nicely played, especially the way they keep talking at cross purposes, as an example Clark helps Lana clean up after the school reunion party, and she talks about her ex-husband while sorting out the potato salad, "You know what the problem is???" and Clark says "Eehhh, too much mayonaisse??" "What?? No my husband loved mayonaise!". And also the scene where they picnic out in the fields, and Lana says to Clark "Clark, can I tell you something. My oil pan is leaking!".
And another highlight of Superman III is of course the casting of Richard Pryor, who plays the neurotic Gus Gorman with a wonderful sense of comic neurosis, a computer genius, who starts off being a little naughty by embezzling Webster's company, only to find himself out of his depth with the overly ambitious millionaire forcing to be involved in his dastardly schemes. Gus of course at no point really comes across as the bad guy, he's just an ordinary joe, who gets caught up in some bad events with some bad people. And toward the end Gus realises just how maniacal Webster is, when Superman is nearly killed by one of the supercomputer's ray beams (harnessing kryptonite rays) he tries to turn off the computer, and smashes up the kryptonite ray beam that is hurting Superman. Its also in a way a neat touch, that the computer at that point becomes self aware and turns itself back on, feeding off the powerlines of Metropolis, but in the end Superman manages to save the day. And there is a nice symmetrical touch to Gus's character, as Gus at the end of the movie ends up right back where he started, having gone from rags to riches, and back again, starting off the film as being unemployed, and ending it as the same! There was also a bit of criticism levelled at the film because it appeared to be more like a comedy vehicle for Richard Pryor than an actual Superman film, and to an extent maybe you could say that, but overall I don't think Pryor overshadows Christopher Reeve in it too much.
There are of course quite a few highlights in the film, and without a doubt of the film's best scene is Superman's dual with himself in the junkyard, as the evil Superman and good Clark Kent fight it out for survival. Christopher Reeve always wanted to play the part of the evil Superman, and he was reported as having really enjoyed it, and its something he does really well in the film. And in a way the dark cape, also neatly lends to his darkening personality in the film, its also perhaps the single best aspect of the film in fact, as it helps lend a bit of much needed dramatic weight to offset much of its comedic tone. Another highlight scene is of course, when the good Superman flies off to confront Webster, who attacks him with the supercomputer's defence system, firing missiles galore at him, its a scene that always stuck in my mind as I remember seeing it as a clip on TV as a kid when it first came out back in 1983 (yup I'm old!). I also like the scene with Richard Pryor sitting getting drunk with Brad Wilson in the Webscoe office, wearing the ridiculously big cowboy hat!
But if there are any weaknesses in the film then yes it is the overly comedic slapstick tone set by Richard Lester, the opening scene with the busty Lorelei, getting the attention of an onlooker who bumps into a mime, sets off a chain reaction of accidents. Its well staged, but it just looks silly, and it no longer looks like we are in Metropolis, it might as well be an village idiot's convention. Another silly scene is where Gus goes to Smallville and hacks into the computers and wreaks havoc with computer systems controlling the ATM machines, the traffic, and especially with the green and red traffic men signs fighting with one another. Its just silly and naff. The terse relationship between Lorelei and Vera is also enteratining but it is also a bit too farcical as well, although I do like their exchange when they argue infront of Webster, and Lorelei shouts about Vera "She's a big pig!".
On the music front Ken Thorne once again provides the score, again he delivers much of John Williams score from the first film, but he also adds some nice passages of music himself. Lester often used Ken Thorne as his regular composer, although if one criticism can be levelled at the score, it still does sound like TV film music, and not something that really belongs to a film on the big screen.
So overall for me Superman III is an underrated sequel, and yeah ok, there a few criticisms that can be levelled at it for its overtly comic tone, but I feel it doesn't really deserve or deserved the stick it got from the critics or the public. And without a doubt it stands head and shoulders above the abysmal Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, which in itself was mystifying that any of the original cast, such as Kidder and Hackman wanted to be even involved in it, in the first place. In fact its so naff I won't even give it a critique, as its horribly written, badly drected, cheaply made, and makes a total mockery of the previous films and everyone involved in it. Its also a great shame that Christopher Reeve bowed out of the Superman films, in such a dire way with Superman IV, as he and the character deserved so much better than that. But that unfortunately was the way it went, although the series did go some way in redeeming itself by getting restarted by Bryan Singer who directed Superman Returns, which to be fair does deserve a critique, so it will be getting one next.
So cue part 4.......
So Supe 3 starts with Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor) an umemployed fella who is down on his luck when the social security cut off his money, who finds out he has a knack for computers, as he takes a job with the firm Webscoe and manages to embezzle $85000 in half cents from the organisation. After Gus unintentionally draws attention to himself by buying a fancy sports car with his money, the CEO Ross Webster (Robert Vaughan) brings him up and decides to use his talents for hacking for his own ends.
Meanwhile Clark Kent (Reeve) gets permission from Perry White (Jackie Cooper) to do a story on his hometown school reunion in Smallville, where he returns and strikes up a friendship with his childhood friend Lana Lang (Annette O'Toole, lovely). Lana is now single and a divorcee with one young son Ricky, however she is still pestered by her ex-boyfriend from high school, Brad Wilson (Gavan O'Herlihy).
Back to Gus, Webster now manipulates Gus into doing his dirty as he makes him hack into one of Webscoe's small computer offices (in Smallville funnily enough!) where he contacts the Vulcan satelitte, which controls the weather, and makes it create a torando to destroy Colombia's coffee crop, as a result of the country refusing to do business with Webster. However Superman intervenes and stops the tornado and dries up the crops, which incenses Webster, who now wants to get rid of Superman. With his busty blonde nutrionist Lorelei (Pamela Stephenson) telling Webster that kryptonite is the only thing that can hurt Superman, Wesbter gets Gus to use the Vulcan satelitte to track the whereabouts of Krypton's former location in hopes to find a chunk of Kryptonite. The computer scans show up an unknown element in the kryptonite, which Gus substitutes as Tar (taken from his pack of cigarettes).
Superman on Ricky's birthday turns up, and the event is turned into a parade, where Gus and Webster's sister Vera (Annie Ross) drive up, dressed in an army uniform, Gus give a speech to the audience and hands Superman as a gift, the chunk of synthetic kryptonite, made up from the elements scanned by the Vulcan satelitte. However the kryptonite appears to have no effect on him, at first that is, but soon after, the kryptonite starts to make Superman behave strangely, as he becomes moody, apathetic, and commits some petty acts of vandalism, such as straightening the learning tower of Pisa and blowing out an olympic runner's torch just at the crucial moment of lighting the olympic flame. Webster also takes advantage of Superman's behaviour as he get Lorelei to lure Superman into helping them with their oil scam, as they get all the oil tankers to go to a certain destination, except one, which Superman flies to and punctures the hull, to bleed the oil out into the sea. This also causes chaos as Metropolis, doesn't get its oil supplies and the oil pumps dry up, which creates riots in the city. Superman's mood worsens, as his sinks into depression, which culiminates with him sitting in a bar getting drunk, smashes bottles of alcohol, simply by flicking peanuts at them! With Lana and Ricky arriving in Metropolis, they witness the drunken Superman walk out of the bar, growling at the spectators, he flies off, while Ricky calls out after him, with his words echoing in his head, Superman's torment reaches its limit, as he flies into a junkyard. In the junkyard Superman persona splits into two, as Clark Kent emerges from himself, as the two of them fight it out for their right to live, and after repeated attempts to kill off Clark, the bad Superman puts Clark in a car crusher, who burts out of it to strangle the bad Supe, who vanishes. At this point Clark opens his shirt, revealing his Superman suit, as he flies off and puts the damage he did to rights and goes off to find Webster.
By this time Gus has ideas to build a supercomputer, which he has written out blueprints for, the computer is essentially an invincible machine that can counter attack and wipe out its enemies. Intruiged by the possibilities of what the computer can do for him, Webster agrees to have the computer built. The supercomputer once fully built, is ready in time for Superman arriving, which attacks the caped dude with missiles. Superman survives the attacks and then goes in to confront Webster in the climactic sequence. (Sheesh what a long plot summary!).
Despite the mixed reviews that Superman III got at the time, I have to say I really did enjoy it as a film, and despite the overly comic tones in certain scenes it has alot going for it. One of the things that really works in the film is Clark's development as a character, as he no longer is as bumbling and awkward as he was before, now he is more confident and sure of himself. His scenes with Lana are also nicely played, especially the way they keep talking at cross purposes, as an example Clark helps Lana clean up after the school reunion party, and she talks about her ex-husband while sorting out the potato salad, "You know what the problem is???" and Clark says "Eehhh, too much mayonaisse??" "What?? No my husband loved mayonaise!". And also the scene where they picnic out in the fields, and Lana says to Clark "Clark, can I tell you something. My oil pan is leaking!".
And another highlight of Superman III is of course the casting of Richard Pryor, who plays the neurotic Gus Gorman with a wonderful sense of comic neurosis, a computer genius, who starts off being a little naughty by embezzling Webster's company, only to find himself out of his depth with the overly ambitious millionaire forcing to be involved in his dastardly schemes. Gus of course at no point really comes across as the bad guy, he's just an ordinary joe, who gets caught up in some bad events with some bad people. And toward the end Gus realises just how maniacal Webster is, when Superman is nearly killed by one of the supercomputer's ray beams (harnessing kryptonite rays) he tries to turn off the computer, and smashes up the kryptonite ray beam that is hurting Superman. Its also in a way a neat touch, that the computer at that point becomes self aware and turns itself back on, feeding off the powerlines of Metropolis, but in the end Superman manages to save the day. And there is a nice symmetrical touch to Gus's character, as Gus at the end of the movie ends up right back where he started, having gone from rags to riches, and back again, starting off the film as being unemployed, and ending it as the same! There was also a bit of criticism levelled at the film because it appeared to be more like a comedy vehicle for Richard Pryor than an actual Superman film, and to an extent maybe you could say that, but overall I don't think Pryor overshadows Christopher Reeve in it too much.
There are of course quite a few highlights in the film, and without a doubt of the film's best scene is Superman's dual with himself in the junkyard, as the evil Superman and good Clark Kent fight it out for survival. Christopher Reeve always wanted to play the part of the evil Superman, and he was reported as having really enjoyed it, and its something he does really well in the film. And in a way the dark cape, also neatly lends to his darkening personality in the film, its also perhaps the single best aspect of the film in fact, as it helps lend a bit of much needed dramatic weight to offset much of its comedic tone. Another highlight scene is of course, when the good Superman flies off to confront Webster, who attacks him with the supercomputer's defence system, firing missiles galore at him, its a scene that always stuck in my mind as I remember seeing it as a clip on TV as a kid when it first came out back in 1983 (yup I'm old!). I also like the scene with Richard Pryor sitting getting drunk with Brad Wilson in the Webscoe office, wearing the ridiculously big cowboy hat!
But if there are any weaknesses in the film then yes it is the overly comedic slapstick tone set by Richard Lester, the opening scene with the busty Lorelei, getting the attention of an onlooker who bumps into a mime, sets off a chain reaction of accidents. Its well staged, but it just looks silly, and it no longer looks like we are in Metropolis, it might as well be an village idiot's convention. Another silly scene is where Gus goes to Smallville and hacks into the computers and wreaks havoc with computer systems controlling the ATM machines, the traffic, and especially with the green and red traffic men signs fighting with one another. Its just silly and naff. The terse relationship between Lorelei and Vera is also enteratining but it is also a bit too farcical as well, although I do like their exchange when they argue infront of Webster, and Lorelei shouts about Vera "She's a big pig!".
On the music front Ken Thorne once again provides the score, again he delivers much of John Williams score from the first film, but he also adds some nice passages of music himself. Lester often used Ken Thorne as his regular composer, although if one criticism can be levelled at the score, it still does sound like TV film music, and not something that really belongs to a film on the big screen.
So overall for me Superman III is an underrated sequel, and yeah ok, there a few criticisms that can be levelled at it for its overtly comic tone, but I feel it doesn't really deserve or deserved the stick it got from the critics or the public. And without a doubt it stands head and shoulders above the abysmal Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, which in itself was mystifying that any of the original cast, such as Kidder and Hackman wanted to be even involved in it, in the first place. In fact its so naff I won't even give it a critique, as its horribly written, badly drected, cheaply made, and makes a total mockery of the previous films and everyone involved in it. Its also a great shame that Christopher Reeve bowed out of the Superman films, in such a dire way with Superman IV, as he and the character deserved so much better than that. But that unfortunately was the way it went, although the series did go some way in redeeming itself by getting restarted by Bryan Singer who directed Superman Returns, which to be fair does deserve a critique, so it will be getting one next.
So cue part 4.......
Friday 6 January 2012
You'll believe a man can fly Part 2: These humans are beginning to bore me!
I'm sorry but I had to put this as the title as it made me laugh, so now I'm onto Part 2, which is Superman II (funnily enough), which was a highly successful sequel to the original, which was a bit controversial during its production as Richard Donner was fired during filming and replaced with Richard Lester. And it certainly shows its change in tone with the director of The Beatles films Help and A Hard Day's Night at the helm, as we get more slapsticky and comedic stuff than the down to earth quality that Donner provided. But enough of that for now, let's investigate the plot... (PLENTY OF SPOILERS AHEAD!!).
So Superman II kicks off with Superman flying off to Paris to save the city from terrorists who are threatening to detonate a hydrogen bomb in Eiffel tower, and Lois Lane is already been sent to investigate the story. However as Lois clambers underneath the underside of the lift, the terrorists detonate the bomb, with Lois being violently hurdled toward the ground, when Superman flies up and stops the lift, letting Lois out, Supe then flies the lift deep into space where it explodes safely. However as a result of the explosion, the three villains from the first film (during the opening trial scene) are released from the phantom zone, and to make matters worse, because they are Kryptonians aswell they have the same powers as Superman. And its not long before General Zod (Terence Stamp), Ursa (Sarah Douglas) and Non (Jack O'Halloran) arrive on Earth and wreak absolute havoc, destroying anyone and anything in their way, with their super powers. However while this is going on, Clark Kent/Superman is oblivious as he is on an assignment with Lois Lane and they are sent by the Daily Planet to Niagra Falls to investigate honeymoon hotel scams. During their trip, Lois grows suspicious of Clark's behaviour as he conveniently disappears when a young boy falls into the Niagra Falls, only to have Superman fly out seconds later to save him. Initially Clark manages to bluff Lois, but later on in their suite, Clark trips and his hands fall into a log fire, checking Clark's hands, Lois is amazed to find he isn't burned. Clark finally relents, takes off his glasses and reveals himself to be Superman to Lois, they fly off to the Fortress of Solitude, where Superman explains his real background to Lois. Clearly Superman and Lois are in love with each other, and Superman talks with the image of his mother (a holographic image the same as in the first film) and declares his love for Lois, but his mother warns him if he choses Lois he must become human. Superman agrees and steps into a molecule chamber, which removes his powers, on leaving the chamber, Clark and Lois go off and to quote Alan Partridge, make sweet love.
While this is all going on by now, Zod, Ursa and Non have invaded the Whitehouse and forced the President to surrender his power over to them. Meanwhile Clark and Lois go off to a diner (driving by car this time!), and Clark soon finds out when he stands up to a thuggish customer, that he is indeed vulnerable, as the customer beats him up. At this point, Clark sees Zod on the TV with the President who declares he has given his power over to Zod. Clark then realises, having made a terrible mistake in giving up his powers, that he must go back, but the process of losing his powers is irreversible. Regardless Clark goes back to the fortress, and appeals to his father, but receives no response, about to leave though he spots the green crystal, which created the fortress. Meanwhile Lex Luthor, having escaped prison, makes an uneasy alliance with Zod, who flies to the Daily Planet to take Lois hostage to force Superman out in the open. And pretty soon the caped wonder flies back on the scene and challenges Zod and his two underlings to "step outside" and the rest is history.
Superman II clearly is something of a split film, as you can see the change in tone between the scenes that were clearly directed by Richards Donner and Lester. Donner provides the scenes with more weight, and down to earth humour, while Lester provides the more slapstick approach. Regardless of the outcome of the conflicting styles, Superman II really works well as a film and a sequel to the first film. The characters continue to be developed and we start to see Clark Kent become a little bit less awkward, although he is still quite bumbling. But its Lois we get to see develop more than anyone else, as she professes her love for Superman, and her scene with Clark near the very end when she knows his real identity and how it tears her up to not tell anyone, is really nicely played by Margot Kidder. Perhaps though in that scene (Another SPOILER) after it being played so well by both Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder, its a bit convenient and pat that they decided to have Superman erase Lois's memory of their relationship with one kiss!
And while the two leads are excellent as usual, the supporting cast also deserve credit as well, particularly Terence Stamp as General Zod, who plays him as cold, callous and calculating, not to mention just a tad maniacal. He is also responsible for one of the best lines in the film and the line which is the title of my entry "these humans are beginning to bore me!". Gene Hackman once again is great as Lex Luthor, although he does keep referring to himself just a bit too much "Me??? Lex Luthor??? The greatest criminal mind of our age???" "Me???? Lex Luthor???? Extinguish the greatest flame of our age???". Although I do find it slightly peculiar he would still keep in touch with Miss Tessmacher, who rescues him from prison, after she betrayed him in the first film, by letting Superman go.
The film has many enteratining scenes, one of the highlights of course is Superman's battle with Zod, Ursa and Non, as after so much bad-ass dominance its a great moment in the film when Supe finally shows up and asks the General to "step outside". The scene where Lois is convinced that Clark is really Superman and she throws herself into the Niagra falls is funny as well, as Clark has to subtly save Lois without unveiling his identity. Another great scene is where Clark returns to the Fortress of Soltitude and asks for his parents help, and screams "FATHER!!" to no avail, its one of the best moments of Chris's performance in the film. And last but not least the scene at the end where Clark returns to the diner to get revenge on the thuggish customer Rocky (Pepper Martin) who beat him up earlier. I also love that while Superman/Clark Kent is a real good guy of great moral courage and everything, he still wants revenge over someone who has wronged him, so he's not oh so goody goody that he doesn't take pleasure in getting his own back.
Onto a quick word about Richard Lester's direction, which while it certainly shifted the tone of the film, it hardly destroys the film's credibility. And yeah ok admittedly it could have done without that hugely slapsticky scene near the end where Zod, Ursa and Non use their super powers to blow away everyone who tries to get at them, and we see a guy in the telephone booth flying along the ground, and he's clinging talking and laughing as he dragged with it. But he does add some nice moments in the film, particularly the scenes between Clark and Lois, when Clark reveals his identity, their chat at the beginning in the Daily Planet office (where Lois tries to make a glass of fresh orange using about a dozen oranges!) and the end where Lois doesn't know how to deal with knowing Clark's dual identity.
Also finally a little note on Ken Thorne's music score, which is mostly an adaptation and variation on John Williams main score from the original film. Admittedly Ken Thorne's score isn't in the same league as John Williams, in fact there are at times you think you are listening to the score from a TV movie. But overall he doesn't do a bad job at orchestrating the music for the film, and he adds in a couple of good passages of music himself (the scene where Lois ascends the Eiffel is one).
So overall Superman II, while it doesn't quite fully live up to the expectations of the first film, it does succeed in being a worthy and very enteratining sequel, with plenty to commend it.
And on that note, that's it for Supe II, time for III......
So Superman II kicks off with Superman flying off to Paris to save the city from terrorists who are threatening to detonate a hydrogen bomb in Eiffel tower, and Lois Lane is already been sent to investigate the story. However as Lois clambers underneath the underside of the lift, the terrorists detonate the bomb, with Lois being violently hurdled toward the ground, when Superman flies up and stops the lift, letting Lois out, Supe then flies the lift deep into space where it explodes safely. However as a result of the explosion, the three villains from the first film (during the opening trial scene) are released from the phantom zone, and to make matters worse, because they are Kryptonians aswell they have the same powers as Superman. And its not long before General Zod (Terence Stamp), Ursa (Sarah Douglas) and Non (Jack O'Halloran) arrive on Earth and wreak absolute havoc, destroying anyone and anything in their way, with their super powers. However while this is going on, Clark Kent/Superman is oblivious as he is on an assignment with Lois Lane and they are sent by the Daily Planet to Niagra Falls to investigate honeymoon hotel scams. During their trip, Lois grows suspicious of Clark's behaviour as he conveniently disappears when a young boy falls into the Niagra Falls, only to have Superman fly out seconds later to save him. Initially Clark manages to bluff Lois, but later on in their suite, Clark trips and his hands fall into a log fire, checking Clark's hands, Lois is amazed to find he isn't burned. Clark finally relents, takes off his glasses and reveals himself to be Superman to Lois, they fly off to the Fortress of Solitude, where Superman explains his real background to Lois. Clearly Superman and Lois are in love with each other, and Superman talks with the image of his mother (a holographic image the same as in the first film) and declares his love for Lois, but his mother warns him if he choses Lois he must become human. Superman agrees and steps into a molecule chamber, which removes his powers, on leaving the chamber, Clark and Lois go off and to quote Alan Partridge, make sweet love.
While this is all going on by now, Zod, Ursa and Non have invaded the Whitehouse and forced the President to surrender his power over to them. Meanwhile Clark and Lois go off to a diner (driving by car this time!), and Clark soon finds out when he stands up to a thuggish customer, that he is indeed vulnerable, as the customer beats him up. At this point, Clark sees Zod on the TV with the President who declares he has given his power over to Zod. Clark then realises, having made a terrible mistake in giving up his powers, that he must go back, but the process of losing his powers is irreversible. Regardless Clark goes back to the fortress, and appeals to his father, but receives no response, about to leave though he spots the green crystal, which created the fortress. Meanwhile Lex Luthor, having escaped prison, makes an uneasy alliance with Zod, who flies to the Daily Planet to take Lois hostage to force Superman out in the open. And pretty soon the caped wonder flies back on the scene and challenges Zod and his two underlings to "step outside" and the rest is history.
Superman II clearly is something of a split film, as you can see the change in tone between the scenes that were clearly directed by Richards Donner and Lester. Donner provides the scenes with more weight, and down to earth humour, while Lester provides the more slapstick approach. Regardless of the outcome of the conflicting styles, Superman II really works well as a film and a sequel to the first film. The characters continue to be developed and we start to see Clark Kent become a little bit less awkward, although he is still quite bumbling. But its Lois we get to see develop more than anyone else, as she professes her love for Superman, and her scene with Clark near the very end when she knows his real identity and how it tears her up to not tell anyone, is really nicely played by Margot Kidder. Perhaps though in that scene (Another SPOILER) after it being played so well by both Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder, its a bit convenient and pat that they decided to have Superman erase Lois's memory of their relationship with one kiss!
And while the two leads are excellent as usual, the supporting cast also deserve credit as well, particularly Terence Stamp as General Zod, who plays him as cold, callous and calculating, not to mention just a tad maniacal. He is also responsible for one of the best lines in the film and the line which is the title of my entry "these humans are beginning to bore me!". Gene Hackman once again is great as Lex Luthor, although he does keep referring to himself just a bit too much "Me??? Lex Luthor??? The greatest criminal mind of our age???" "Me???? Lex Luthor???? Extinguish the greatest flame of our age???". Although I do find it slightly peculiar he would still keep in touch with Miss Tessmacher, who rescues him from prison, after she betrayed him in the first film, by letting Superman go.
The film has many enteratining scenes, one of the highlights of course is Superman's battle with Zod, Ursa and Non, as after so much bad-ass dominance its a great moment in the film when Supe finally shows up and asks the General to "step outside". The scene where Lois is convinced that Clark is really Superman and she throws herself into the Niagra falls is funny as well, as Clark has to subtly save Lois without unveiling his identity. Another great scene is where Clark returns to the Fortress of Soltitude and asks for his parents help, and screams "FATHER!!" to no avail, its one of the best moments of Chris's performance in the film. And last but not least the scene at the end where Clark returns to the diner to get revenge on the thuggish customer Rocky (Pepper Martin) who beat him up earlier. I also love that while Superman/Clark Kent is a real good guy of great moral courage and everything, he still wants revenge over someone who has wronged him, so he's not oh so goody goody that he doesn't take pleasure in getting his own back.
Onto a quick word about Richard Lester's direction, which while it certainly shifted the tone of the film, it hardly destroys the film's credibility. And yeah ok admittedly it could have done without that hugely slapsticky scene near the end where Zod, Ursa and Non use their super powers to blow away everyone who tries to get at them, and we see a guy in the telephone booth flying along the ground, and he's clinging talking and laughing as he dragged with it. But he does add some nice moments in the film, particularly the scenes between Clark and Lois, when Clark reveals his identity, their chat at the beginning in the Daily Planet office (where Lois tries to make a glass of fresh orange using about a dozen oranges!) and the end where Lois doesn't know how to deal with knowing Clark's dual identity.
Also finally a little note on Ken Thorne's music score, which is mostly an adaptation and variation on John Williams main score from the original film. Admittedly Ken Thorne's score isn't in the same league as John Williams, in fact there are at times you think you are listening to the score from a TV movie. But overall he doesn't do a bad job at orchestrating the music for the film, and he adds in a couple of good passages of music himself (the scene where Lois ascends the Eiffel is one).
So overall Superman II, while it doesn't quite fully live up to the expectations of the first film, it does succeed in being a worthy and very enteratining sequel, with plenty to commend it.
And on that note, that's it for Supe II, time for III......
You'll believe a man can fly Part 1: Say Jim!! That's a bad outfit!!
Well as the title of this entry suggests, this will be my critique on the Superman films, starting with of course Superman: The Movie. The first film in the Supe cannon is generally regarded the best and I have to agree, as Richard Donner brilliantly brought the superhero to our screens, and found the perfect mix of seriousness and humour. So here's a bit about the plot.
The film starts on the planet Krypton where Jor-El (Marlon Brando), one of the esteemed scientists of their civilisation, states that the planet will explode within a short space of time (30 days or less), however the high council of Krypton refuse to believe him and insist he keep quiet on his findings. Regardless of this though, Jor-El is proved to be right as the planet does indeed start to destroy itself, but before doing so, Jor-El arranges for his son to be evacuated in a spaceship. The baby Kal-El (Superman of course as a wee yin) travels in the spaceship for three years before it gets to Earth. On crash landing on Earth, in a small mining town Smallville, a middle aged couple, Johnathan (Glenn Ford) and Martha Kent (Phyllis Thaxter), come across the young Kal-El and adopt him as their own son, and he later is named as Clark Kent. As a teenager however, Clark's father Jonathan dies from a heart attack, after this happens, Clark is awoken one night and goes into the house barn and he finds a glowing green crystal. On finding this, Clark decides to leave Smallville and head North where he throws the crystal into the icy waters, and it soons causes the creation of the Frotress of Solitutde. On entering the Fortress, Clark finds a crystal which allows him to talk to a holographic projection of his father, who tells him who he really is and informs of his powers. 12 years later, Clark leaves the Fortress for Metropolis (New York City in real life) where he gets a job as a reporter, and befriends Lois Lane, an esteemed reporter with the Daily Planet.
However after their first night of work, Lois who is scheduled to do an interview, sets out to make the trip in a helicopter, however there is an accident, which causes the helicopter to crash land on the edge of the Daily planet roof. Clark emerges from the building and looks up, and then decides this as his moment to unveil his identity (although at this point he's not named as Superman), as he changes into Superman and rescues Lois. Later that night Superman makes his presence known in Metropolis as he does a number of good deeds, such as foil robberies, prevent a plane from crashing, and of course helping a cat stuck up a tree. Soon after he is made public, the newspapers and television go wild, and soon enough Lois gets an exclusive interview with Superman, whereafter she names him in the press as "Superman". But as things get going for Superman, the villanous Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman), schemes to destroy him, as he locates a piece of debris from Krypton. Luthor lures Superman with the threat of killing the popluation of Metropolis with poisonous gas, which turns out to be just a trick. However Luthor's real aim is to destroy California by having changed the trajectory of newly launched test missiles, and use the barren lands he has bought as the new West Coast which he will own. From here Superman is deceived into opening a lead box (he can't see through lead of course) holding the kryptonite, which Lex puts on Superman, and throws him in his swimming pool leaving him to die. However Lex's girlfriend Eve Tessmacher (Valerie Perrine) out of guilt rescues Superman, who then proceeds to try and thwart Luthor's plan and stop the rockets from hitting their targets.
Superman: The Movie, is without a doubt something of a landmark in Superhero films, as the film itself was a massive undertaking, with an incredible budget (55 million dollars) and covering alot of ground in Superman's background, civilian life and being a superhero. And one of the film's main triumphs is of course the casting of Christopher Reeve as Superman, who makes the character so believable. Reeve also beautifully balances Superman's heroic righteouness and Clark Kent's bumbling awkwardness, and it would be hard to find an actor who could have played the part better. The other cast members are perfect in their roles as well, particularly Margot Kidder as Lois Lane, as she plays Lois as being feisty, headstrong as well as being head over heels in love with Superman. Gene Hackman, who up to that point in time was a serious actor, made a wonderul transition into comedy in this film as Lex Luthor, as he plays him so brilliantly, with just the right amount of malice, egotism and intelligence. Other roles are nicely filled such as Jackie Cooper as Perry White, Marc McClure as Jimmy Olsen, Valerie Perrine as Eve Tessmacher (nicely filled out too!) and Ned Beatty as Otis, Lex Luthor's incompetent henchman.
Plot wise the film as I said does cover a lot of ground, and if you could aim a criticism at it, then it would that it does take its time to get going, but once it does its great to watch. In fact the changes in tone between the early scenes and later ones are quite seismic, from incredibly serious to quite comedic, it definitely feels like watching two different films. The early sequences on Krypton are quite lengthy, and it has to be said that the depiction of the destruction of planet Krypton is actually quite harrowing, as you see the planet collapse, and people screaming and falling to their deaths, heavy stuff. Later on with Clark Kent as a teenager, the film lightens a little in tone, and features a charming scene between Clark and his adopted father Jonathan, played nicely by Glenn Ford, who dies from a heart attack shortly after. And from there, the film really does fly (sorry about the pun) as Clark Kent goes to Metropolis and unveils himself as Superman.
Of course alot of credit in the film really does go to Richard Donner (who later on directed the Lethal Weapon films) as he had a massive task on his hands in bringing the film to the screen. Donner also later revealed that he a fallout with the producer Alexander Salykynd, and during the filming of Superman II, was fired from the project, and then replaced with Richard Lester. This was an unfortunate decision as Donner had such a great rapport with the cast and crew, and if he had completed work on Superman II, it would have been very interesting to see how it would have turned out. Donner himself later issued his own director's cut of Supe II, but I'll say more about that in my next post.
Another highlight of the film undoubtedly is the music by John Williams, who did a terrific job in creating a highly memorable score for the movie. Donner himself was stunned at how Williams orchestrated the word "Superman" in the title theme as its almost as if the music is singing the word. Its definitely one to remember and no doubt as a kid it was one of my favourites too.
Technically the film is also quite superb as the model effects by Derek Meddings are quite stunning at times (even if you can tell a mile away that for example the houses at the end during the damn breaking are miniatures!). And above all the flying scenes are superbly realised, it also is helped by the fact that Christopher Reeve makes Superman in flight seem so real and believable. So you can easily forget that while he is held up by wires, you can also believe the man can fly!!
Soooo that's it for Part 1 and Supe 1 the Movie. Now onto Part 2......
The film starts on the planet Krypton where Jor-El (Marlon Brando), one of the esteemed scientists of their civilisation, states that the planet will explode within a short space of time (30 days or less), however the high council of Krypton refuse to believe him and insist he keep quiet on his findings. Regardless of this though, Jor-El is proved to be right as the planet does indeed start to destroy itself, but before doing so, Jor-El arranges for his son to be evacuated in a spaceship. The baby Kal-El (Superman of course as a wee yin) travels in the spaceship for three years before it gets to Earth. On crash landing on Earth, in a small mining town Smallville, a middle aged couple, Johnathan (Glenn Ford) and Martha Kent (Phyllis Thaxter), come across the young Kal-El and adopt him as their own son, and he later is named as Clark Kent. As a teenager however, Clark's father Jonathan dies from a heart attack, after this happens, Clark is awoken one night and goes into the house barn and he finds a glowing green crystal. On finding this, Clark decides to leave Smallville and head North where he throws the crystal into the icy waters, and it soons causes the creation of the Frotress of Solitutde. On entering the Fortress, Clark finds a crystal which allows him to talk to a holographic projection of his father, who tells him who he really is and informs of his powers. 12 years later, Clark leaves the Fortress for Metropolis (New York City in real life) where he gets a job as a reporter, and befriends Lois Lane, an esteemed reporter with the Daily Planet.
However after their first night of work, Lois who is scheduled to do an interview, sets out to make the trip in a helicopter, however there is an accident, which causes the helicopter to crash land on the edge of the Daily planet roof. Clark emerges from the building and looks up, and then decides this as his moment to unveil his identity (although at this point he's not named as Superman), as he changes into Superman and rescues Lois. Later that night Superman makes his presence known in Metropolis as he does a number of good deeds, such as foil robberies, prevent a plane from crashing, and of course helping a cat stuck up a tree. Soon after he is made public, the newspapers and television go wild, and soon enough Lois gets an exclusive interview with Superman, whereafter she names him in the press as "Superman". But as things get going for Superman, the villanous Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman), schemes to destroy him, as he locates a piece of debris from Krypton. Luthor lures Superman with the threat of killing the popluation of Metropolis with poisonous gas, which turns out to be just a trick. However Luthor's real aim is to destroy California by having changed the trajectory of newly launched test missiles, and use the barren lands he has bought as the new West Coast which he will own. From here Superman is deceived into opening a lead box (he can't see through lead of course) holding the kryptonite, which Lex puts on Superman, and throws him in his swimming pool leaving him to die. However Lex's girlfriend Eve Tessmacher (Valerie Perrine) out of guilt rescues Superman, who then proceeds to try and thwart Luthor's plan and stop the rockets from hitting their targets.
Superman: The Movie, is without a doubt something of a landmark in Superhero films, as the film itself was a massive undertaking, with an incredible budget (55 million dollars) and covering alot of ground in Superman's background, civilian life and being a superhero. And one of the film's main triumphs is of course the casting of Christopher Reeve as Superman, who makes the character so believable. Reeve also beautifully balances Superman's heroic righteouness and Clark Kent's bumbling awkwardness, and it would be hard to find an actor who could have played the part better. The other cast members are perfect in their roles as well, particularly Margot Kidder as Lois Lane, as she plays Lois as being feisty, headstrong as well as being head over heels in love with Superman. Gene Hackman, who up to that point in time was a serious actor, made a wonderul transition into comedy in this film as Lex Luthor, as he plays him so brilliantly, with just the right amount of malice, egotism and intelligence. Other roles are nicely filled such as Jackie Cooper as Perry White, Marc McClure as Jimmy Olsen, Valerie Perrine as Eve Tessmacher (nicely filled out too!) and Ned Beatty as Otis, Lex Luthor's incompetent henchman.
Plot wise the film as I said does cover a lot of ground, and if you could aim a criticism at it, then it would that it does take its time to get going, but once it does its great to watch. In fact the changes in tone between the early scenes and later ones are quite seismic, from incredibly serious to quite comedic, it definitely feels like watching two different films. The early sequences on Krypton are quite lengthy, and it has to be said that the depiction of the destruction of planet Krypton is actually quite harrowing, as you see the planet collapse, and people screaming and falling to their deaths, heavy stuff. Later on with Clark Kent as a teenager, the film lightens a little in tone, and features a charming scene between Clark and his adopted father Jonathan, played nicely by Glenn Ford, who dies from a heart attack shortly after. And from there, the film really does fly (sorry about the pun) as Clark Kent goes to Metropolis and unveils himself as Superman.
Of course alot of credit in the film really does go to Richard Donner (who later on directed the Lethal Weapon films) as he had a massive task on his hands in bringing the film to the screen. Donner also later revealed that he a fallout with the producer Alexander Salykynd, and during the filming of Superman II, was fired from the project, and then replaced with Richard Lester. This was an unfortunate decision as Donner had such a great rapport with the cast and crew, and if he had completed work on Superman II, it would have been very interesting to see how it would have turned out. Donner himself later issued his own director's cut of Supe II, but I'll say more about that in my next post.
Another highlight of the film undoubtedly is the music by John Williams, who did a terrific job in creating a highly memorable score for the movie. Donner himself was stunned at how Williams orchestrated the word "Superman" in the title theme as its almost as if the music is singing the word. Its definitely one to remember and no doubt as a kid it was one of my favourites too.
Technically the film is also quite superb as the model effects by Derek Meddings are quite stunning at times (even if you can tell a mile away that for example the houses at the end during the damn breaking are miniatures!). And above all the flying scenes are superbly realised, it also is helped by the fact that Christopher Reeve makes Superman in flight seem so real and believable. So you can easily forget that while he is held up by wires, you can also believe the man can fly!!
Soooo that's it for Part 1 and Supe 1 the Movie. Now onto Part 2......
Sunday 1 January 2012
2012 is here! And a preview of tennis.... (wow there's a switch!)
So might as well start off my first post of 2012 by saying Happy new year to everyone who is out there and I wish them well for this year, as I do myself and my family and all that.
Now onto something completely different, well actually its virtually almost the same as the usual, yep tennis. The 2012 season is just beginning for the men and ladies tour, as this week there will be tournaments in Brisbane, Doha, and Auckland. Already the men's tour started back with an exhibition tournament at Abu Dhabi, where Novak Djokovic came back to the foray, and firmly reminded us why he is the world's best player, as he played some terrific tennis on the way to lifting his first title at the event, with a convincing defeat of David Ferrer in 6-2, 6-1.
And next week we will see Andy Murray get back into the action in Brisbane, as he already has his preparations for Melbourne well under way, and in some more exciting news, Andy has finally revealed his new full time coach to be Ivan Lendl. There was speculation about Lendl being a potential coach for Andy earlier last year, but nothing was set in stone, and as the year progressed, Andy had the best season of his career to date even without a full time coach. But with the 8 time grand slam champion helping him out on a full time basis, this definitely shows that Andy is willing to take help from someone who has been there and done it, and on that basis he would have been mad to turn it down. But whether or not Lendl can help deliver to Andy his first slam is another question altogether. I'm positive that Lendl has the experience and tools to let Andy know how he suceeded in winning his first major (at the French Open back in 1984) but it all boils down to how the Muzza will take that instruction and apply it. If Andy can make a winning start in Melbourne it will definitely signal his arrival as a major force in the sport, he already is one of the best players in the game never to have won a major, but I think its up to Andy and Lendl to try and remedy this once and for all. Let's just hope this year will be Andy's breakthrough.
Which brings us onto Novak Djokovic who remains the dominant World No.1 and it remains to be seen if Andy can usurp the Serb and beat him at his own game, if he can then we will soon be looking at a prospective new No.1 in the works. But until then, Djokovic is still the world's best player, and he will go into 2012 full of confidence, so defeating him will be one tall order, for Andy or any other player. Whether or not Djoko can go on another invincible winning streak like he did last year is not certain, is he capable of it? Definitely, but will it happen???? Who knows, I really don't know myself, nor does anyone else at this stage.
On the ladies tour, during 2011 we have also seen the emergence of another great player, Petra Kvitova, who made her first major breakthrough, winning Wimbledon and also the WTA year end championship. Petra is now ranked No.2 but I definitely think she will soon usurp (my favourite word already in this post!) the current World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, and take the mantle from her, especially as Caroline has struggled to make that breatkthrough herself into winning a major. But again with the ladies tour, the field is far more open, and yes this year will see the return of Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams to Australia and Melbourne, which means some of the old rivals are back, but will they still be able to knock the upcoming Petra off? Possibly, but you can't be at the top forever, sooner or later, new blood comes in.
So its all in front of us, as 2012 promises to be another exciting year for tennis, and with Andy's new coach appointment of Ivan Lendl, it makes the upcoming Australian open an even more intruiging prospect. Whatever happens, we will soon find out.
As for the rest of the year, and outwith tennis, here's hoping that 2012 for myself and everyone else is a good one, and that we get out of it what we want.
Till then, have a good one (then a drink). :-)
Now onto something completely different, well actually its virtually almost the same as the usual, yep tennis. The 2012 season is just beginning for the men and ladies tour, as this week there will be tournaments in Brisbane, Doha, and Auckland. Already the men's tour started back with an exhibition tournament at Abu Dhabi, where Novak Djokovic came back to the foray, and firmly reminded us why he is the world's best player, as he played some terrific tennis on the way to lifting his first title at the event, with a convincing defeat of David Ferrer in 6-2, 6-1.
And next week we will see Andy Murray get back into the action in Brisbane, as he already has his preparations for Melbourne well under way, and in some more exciting news, Andy has finally revealed his new full time coach to be Ivan Lendl. There was speculation about Lendl being a potential coach for Andy earlier last year, but nothing was set in stone, and as the year progressed, Andy had the best season of his career to date even without a full time coach. But with the 8 time grand slam champion helping him out on a full time basis, this definitely shows that Andy is willing to take help from someone who has been there and done it, and on that basis he would have been mad to turn it down. But whether or not Lendl can help deliver to Andy his first slam is another question altogether. I'm positive that Lendl has the experience and tools to let Andy know how he suceeded in winning his first major (at the French Open back in 1984) but it all boils down to how the Muzza will take that instruction and apply it. If Andy can make a winning start in Melbourne it will definitely signal his arrival as a major force in the sport, he already is one of the best players in the game never to have won a major, but I think its up to Andy and Lendl to try and remedy this once and for all. Let's just hope this year will be Andy's breakthrough.
Which brings us onto Novak Djokovic who remains the dominant World No.1 and it remains to be seen if Andy can usurp the Serb and beat him at his own game, if he can then we will soon be looking at a prospective new No.1 in the works. But until then, Djokovic is still the world's best player, and he will go into 2012 full of confidence, so defeating him will be one tall order, for Andy or any other player. Whether or not Djoko can go on another invincible winning streak like he did last year is not certain, is he capable of it? Definitely, but will it happen???? Who knows, I really don't know myself, nor does anyone else at this stage.
On the ladies tour, during 2011 we have also seen the emergence of another great player, Petra Kvitova, who made her first major breakthrough, winning Wimbledon and also the WTA year end championship. Petra is now ranked No.2 but I definitely think she will soon usurp (my favourite word already in this post!) the current World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, and take the mantle from her, especially as Caroline has struggled to make that breatkthrough herself into winning a major. But again with the ladies tour, the field is far more open, and yes this year will see the return of Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams to Australia and Melbourne, which means some of the old rivals are back, but will they still be able to knock the upcoming Petra off? Possibly, but you can't be at the top forever, sooner or later, new blood comes in.
So its all in front of us, as 2012 promises to be another exciting year for tennis, and with Andy's new coach appointment of Ivan Lendl, it makes the upcoming Australian open an even more intruiging prospect. Whatever happens, we will soon find out.
As for the rest of the year, and outwith tennis, here's hoping that 2012 for myself and everyone else is a good one, and that we get out of it what we want.
Till then, have a good one (then a drink). :-)
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