OK yup I confess this is yet another tennis post (coh! sigh I know!) but instead here its about the clay season and of course on the controversial decision of the organisers of the 2012 Mutua Madrid Open to dye the red clay to the colour blue.
So yes this has caused quite a furore with some of the players, and one man who is particularly unhappy about it is Rafael Nadal, who has made his feelings quite clear on the subject. Rafa said that he felt that making a court the colour blue right in the middle of the red clay season was a big mistake. And Novak Djokovic also admitted that he wasn't too happy about playing on blue clay either, although he did admit he felt it was at least something different. Roger however remained evasive on the subject, refusing to really venture an opinion, and Andy Murray said he felt that while he wasn't overly keen on the idea, he could see why they did it, as with the ball travelling at such a high altitude on the courts at Madrid, with the clay dyed blue, it will make the ball easier to see.
Whether or not this will help matters or not really isn't certain, I guess the only way we will find out is for the players to go out and play their matches. But one thing is for sure if they aren't happy, they will certainly let people know about it. I always thought looking at the dyed clay makes it just look like a hard court, and I wonder if that might favour Djokovic more psychologically??? You never know, or Andy maybe???? Again who knows, as I'm just guessing. Regardless of the colour, the players are all still playing on clay, regardless of the colour, and time will soon tell what the feeling of it all is.
As for the tournament itself in Madrid, I thought I would have a few pre-event thoughts on who might do well there. One player I have to say straight off who might have struggled is Andy Murray, although he did reach two quarter finals in Monte Carlo and in Barcelona, he has in the past struggled with the high bounce and the speed of the ball in Madrid. However that's irrelevant now as Andy has since stated in the press that he will have to miss out Madrid due to a back injury, which is a real shame as its always good to follow the Muzza in a tournament wherever he goes. So all the best to Andy and here's hoping he will be back in action for Rome in just over a week's time, and let's hope he can get revenge over Djokovic for his loss last year in Italy, but that's still a wee way off yet.
As for Novak, the defending champion, well he has a very good chance, should he find his form again, although he did suffer the loss of his grandfather during his week at Monte Carlo, which had affected his play that week, where he lost to Rafa for the first time since November 2010. But I'm sure that Djokovic will pose quite a big threat to Rafa should they meet in the final on a week on Sunday. Rafa on the other hand probably has an even better chance this year of getting revenge against Novak for his loss last year, and so far this season he has yet to drop a set on clay. And its safe to say that the king of clay is looking back on formidable form again this year, so can he win Madrid? Most likely, he is the top favourite, but we'll find out. And for Roger Federer well realistically I have to say he doesn't have much of a chance of actually winning the title, as long as he faces Nadal in the final, he will forever struggle to defeat his old nemesis on the clay (red, blue or otherwise). But it should be fun to watch.
So for the ladies who will have a shot at winning the title in Madrid? Well..... based on her performance last week, I'd probably have to say Maria Sharapova, who was very impressive on the clay last week in Stuttgart. Maria moves surprisingly well on the clay, and she also backed up her impressive efforts after winning in Rome last year. If Maria also wins this title then she will move to the No.1 spot, which I'm certain she is determined to do, but she will have to get past Victoria Azarenka first, which will be very tough. But on clay I think Maria has the advantage as she can use the surface more patiently than she can on hard court, where Victoria has the upper hand, but its going to be interesting to find out what happens.
In regards to other players on the ladies tour, we have Petra Kvitova who is the defending champion from last year, who has a chance of defending the title, but Maria definitely so far seems to have the edge over her this year, having beaten her twice already in Melbourne and Stuttgart, but that's not to say she can't win, she still has a good shot. As for Caroline Wozniacki unfortunately, she doesn't stand much of a chance of winning in Madrid or anywhere else just now, and she herself isn't a traditional clay court player, so I don't see her getting further than say the quarter finals. Agnieszka Radwanska on the other hand stands an excellent chance of getting to the deeper stages of the event, however as soon as she meets Azarenka, that's her scuppered, as she has failed to get anywhere near beating Victoria, so her best chance is hoping that someone knocks out Vika en-route. And there is also Sam Stosur, who two years ago made the final of the French Open, but she so far has struggled to win titles on the WTA tour, apart from the US Open last year, so I don't rate her chances of actually winning.
And then we have Serena Williams who will make her return to the WTA tour at this event, and she has definitely been getting back on form, and her scarily good performance at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston proved that. Serena definitely has a good a chance as any, and while she is ranked as the World No.9, she really is on her day, and when on form, unplayable and the best player in the world. So there is a strong shout that Serena could well be the winner in Madrid as well.
Anywayyyyyyyyyyyyy that's enough surmising, I will leave it there now. More will follow on the Mutua Madrid Open once its under way.
Till then that's ittt.
No comments:
Post a Comment