OK its time for the first of my posts on the final grand slam of the season, the US Open, based at Flushing Meadows in New York city. Its the second hard court slam of the season as well, which will see alot of the top players competing it out probably more so than before as most players play well on hard court. Anyway here my first look at the first round matches from Day 1 and Day 2:
Soooo to start with the ladies, we first up had the defending champion Sam Stosur out on court playing Petra Martic, who did well at the French Open in getting to the 4th round. However Petra proved no threat whatsoever to Stosur on Arthur Ashe stadium as she wiped the floor with Martic, conceding only two games enroute to an emphatic 6-1, 6-1 victory. This is a mighty impressive start from Sam who might have felt some pressue going in as the champion, but she very well to find her form straight off, which might help her keep the momentum and title defence alive for a while longer. After that Li Na was up against the British No.1, Heather Watson, but unfortunately for Heather, Li proved to be that bit just too good for her, and it was over pretty quick in 6-2, 6-3. Maria Sharapova also had very little trouble against Melinda Czink of Hungary, as she thrashed her in 6-2, 6-2. Marion Bartoli however had a tougher test against the American player, Jamie Hampton, but she overcame her with a 6-3, 7-6 win. Petra Kvitova also got through, and after a tough first set, she breezed past her opponent, Polona Hercog in 7-6, 6-1. Kim Clijsters, the former champion managed to carve up the American, Victoria Duvla in 6-1, 6-3, to set up a 2nd round match with the british Laura Robson, which should be interesting! And finally Victoria Azarenka crushed her first round opponent (which she usually does!) Alexandra Panova, conceding just one game, with a bruising 6-0, 6-1 win.
There were also some upsets for the German players as we saw three seeds go out already, with Julia Goerges who took a shock exit against the Czeck player, Kristyna Plikova in 7-6, 6-1. And Sabine Lisicki went out after battling against Sorana Cirstea from Romania in 6-4, 2-6, 2-6. And finally Andrea Petkovic, who has just recently made her return on tour after sustaining an ankle injury in Stuttgart that put her out of commission for almost half the year, went out to the Swiss player, Romina Oprandi in 6-2, 7-5. This in a way is understandable since Petko has been out of the game so long and she hasn't had much match play so it will take her a while to build her game up again, so let's hope she can do that soon. But its great to see Andrea back on tour as she really is a breath of fresh for the ladies game as she is such a bubbly bright character, although apparently she is doing away with the Pekto dance!
There was also another big upset, in fact the biggest yet on the laides as Caroline Wozniacki went on out in straight sets to Irina-Camelia Begu in a shock 6-2, 6-2 loss. This probably ranks as the single worst defeat of Caroline's career so far as she has lost early on in tournaments farily regularly of late, but never as bad as this. However I think this defeat was largely down to her knee injury, which she sustained last week when she played in New Haven, where she was the defending champion but was forced to retire in her semi final match. So it really sees the ailing Wozzer go from bad to even worse this year, and yet only 18 months ago she was ontop of the world in the rankings and as a player, but its amazing how things can change. Regardless of that I hope Caroline recovers soon and eventually picks her game up.
Right onto the men, starting with Andy Murray, who after his Olympic gold glory at Wimbledon was expected to put in a strong start, as he faced the Russian/American player, Alex Bogomolov Jr. However it was far from a smooth match, as Andy struggled on serve, particularly in the first two sets, as Bogomolov went up a break in the 1st, before Andy broke back, and the same again in the 2nd set, regardless Andy took the first two sets. And in the 3rd despite a slight blip on serve, Andy finally managed to hold on and closed out a ropey match with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 victory. This was hardly the form we might have expected from the Olympic champion, but then again Andy is no longer on the grass court at Wimbledon with 15,000 fans behind him, and he has to adapt to the change in surface as well. So it was a stuttering start from him, but the main thing was that Andy managed to get the win in straight sets, despite the nature of the match, and that Andy looked sluggish out on court and like he didn't want to be there. But from here things don't get much easier, and Andy will play the talented Croatian player, Ivan Dodig, who could prove to be his first test, so Andy will need to be more on his game and play better, but I'm sure he will, and if he doesn't, then he will do enough to get through. But I think we could be in for our first Murray dramathon in this next one! :-)
Serena Williams on the other hand had zero trouble getting past her fellow American, Coco Vanderweghe (is that how its spelt???) with a brutal 6-1, 6-1 victory, which shows that she means business, and no doubt still remains on course as the hot fav to win the title. However Francesca Schiavone was less fortunate as she lost to the home player and promising upcomer, Sloane Stephens, who beat the Italian, who put in a very ropey performance in 6-3, 6-4. But Jelena Jankovic managed better form as she breezed past Kateryna Bodarenko in 6-1, 6-2.
In other men's matches, Roger Federer had no trouble in getting past the American player, Donald Young, as he cruised past the young (no pun intended!) fella with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win. Young himself was particularly frustrated with the hot and blustery conditions on the court as well as playing under the floodlights on Arthur Ashe stadium, and playing the greatest player to have played the game didn't help either! But that sees Roger get through trouble free to the next match which will be against Bjorn Phau of Germany. Mardy Fish however a tougher time playing the Japanese no.2, Go Soeda, which he defeated in 7-6, 7-6, 6-3. Tomas Berdych overcame the plucky young Belgium player, David Goffin, in straight sets with a 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 win. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga secured his place in the 2nd round after beating Karol Beck in 6-1, 6-2, 7-6, and Nicolas Almagro fought his way past Radek Stepanek in 6-4, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 to reach a 2nd round clash with the German, Philipp Petzchner. And finally Milos Raonic, the in form young big Canadian, battled his way to victory over the Colombian player, Santiago Giraldo, with a 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.
In other matches on the men's Novak Djokovic couldn't have made a more positive start as he emphatically drubbed the Italian Paolo Lorenzi in straight sets with a crushing 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 win. Ouch. I think its safe to say that Djoko means business, and he is looking mighty good again, but it is only the first round, more tough opponents await. David Ferrer who was backlogged in his 1st round match due to the rain on the first day, played his first round match, which was very entertaining against the giant South Aftrican, Kevin Anderson, with the big fella causing one or two problems for the little beast (one of Ferrer's nicknames). However Ferrer proved too good in the end as he overcame the big man in 6-4, 6-2, 7-6(3).
So plenty more matches to follow as the US Open heads towards the 2nd round, and I have to say its been a bit of a slow start so far, with some matches better than others, but I'm sure it will start to pick up soon, as the world's most enthusiastic crowd will have plenty to cheer about as the tournament gets deeper.
And that is that!
Tuesday 28 August 2012
Friday 24 August 2012
US Open draw: toughing it out
Right well the US Open starts this Monday coming on 27 August, and yesterday (on Thursday 23 August) the draw for the men's and ladies was revealed, so this post will be entirely dedicated to just that.
So in the usual fine style, why not start with the ladies, and in fact why not start with the Brits, things on the ladies side of the draw for them have not been kind, as for startes Heather Watson is drawn to face Li Na, the former French Open champion in the 1st round. Let's face it, Heather while she is fast developing as a player, she will struggle to beat a player as seasoned as Li Na, so I would have to say unforunately it may be an early exit for Heather there. Also Anne Keothavong will first face the German No.1, Angelique Kerber, and again I would be very surprised if Anne could make her way past Kerber, who has been in such great form all year, but well you never know. Laura Robson however stands the best chance of making her way past the 1st round as she will face a qualifier, so just maybe one of the Brit girls might make it through.
As for the top seeds well we have Victoria Azarenka, the current world no.1, who is seeded in the top half of the draw, and she along the way the way could face Julia Georges and Sabine Liscki of Germany, and Li Na or Petra Kvitova could be possible semi final opponents, so it could be a stern test for her. Maria Sharapova who recently has returned from having a stomach virus, could face possible opponents such as Nadia Petrova (fellow Russian player), Lucie Safarova, the Czeck player, and with Marion Bartoli and also maybe Petra Kvitova as latter stage opponents. Caroline Wozniacki, the former world no.1 could also face tough opposition as in her section of the draw she could face Ana Ivanovic and Francesca Schiavone, with Serena Williams being a possible semi final opponent. Meanwhile Serena Williams herself could also face Caroline in the semis, as well as other players enroute such as Maria Kirilenko and Peng Shuai of China. And Venus Williams who has one of the toughest draws could come up against Angelique Kerber, who has already beaten both the Williams sisters (as well as many other top players!) in the 2nd round, followed by maybe Tamira Paszek, Christina McHale and Sara Errani. And finally we have Agnieszka Radwanska who in her side of the draw could face a few tricky opponents such as Dominika Cibulkova, Mona Barthel, Yaroslava Shvedova, Jelena Jankovic and Roberta Vinci. So all in all not easy!
So out of all that lot, who is my favourite to win the title???? Well I've already discussed this in my last post, but out of that lot there are a few possible favourites. Serena would be at the top, but I don't quite see her as the outright favourite to win as if there is one person that can beat, its herself, as Serena isn't always the most mentally tough of players, which we have seen already this year. So Serena can either be unstoppable of fallable, so it remains to be seen which Serena we get, but she is the top favourite regardless.
Next up in the pecking order would be Victoria Azarenka, who is the current world no.1, who is playing great tennis this year, and got off to a tremendous start winning the Australian open, followed by titles in Dubai and Indian Wells, as well as the Olympic bronze medal. And Vika's favourite surface is hard court, so if the draw works in her favour (i.e. no Serena to face) then she just might be the one to take the trophy. However one of the other players that could stop her is Petra Kvitova who, while she hasn't quite found the form that propelled her into the top 10 last year, she has re-found some excellent form recently as she won the Rogers cup title in Montreal against Li Na. However Petra has had some good results at the slams so far this year in reaching semis of the Australian open and the French open, and the quarter finals at Wimbledon. And without a doubt, Petra has the game to upset any player, and on her day she can be virtually unplayable, so she also is a strong favourite to win.
Then we have other players such as Li Na, who is already a grand slam champion from the French open last year, and has just won her first title since then in Cincinnati against Angelique Keber. And I also think that Angelique Kerber herself has a pretty strong shout at the title as well, as she really has announced herself this year, having recorded so many wins over top players, its a fair possibility that she could go on to win. Caroline Wozniacki despite her dip in form in recent times, has started to improve her game again so while she is far from the favourite, she could be a real outsider with a possible chance at winning. Caroline also is playing at the New Haven at Yale open in the US, where she has been the defending champion for the last four years running, and so far she has progressed well into the semi finals, where she will face the Russian No.2, Maria Kirilenko. However due to an knee injury, Caroline had to retire in her match against Maria Kirilenko, which has seen her winning streak at New Haven finally come to an end after four years. And its a shame it has to end in that way, and sadly for Caz her title drought continues, and let's hope she is ok for the US Open.
Although I have to say that is one thing that bugs me about these players, why do they insist on playing a tournament the week before a grand slam begins???? For example Radwanska played at New Haven this week as well, but she was forced to retire too, and now Caroline as well, so it doesn't make sense to me why they insist on pushing themselves to get a few extra matches in before hand. In the end all they are doing is punishing their bodies with injury and reducing their chances of doing well in the majors, but anyway its up to them.
And then we have Radwanska, who similar to Caroline lacks the raw power of the big hitters, but she has the craft and ingenuity to outwit alot of her players, her form has been somewhat off lately, as she has struggled with a shoulder injury, but hopefully she will do well at the US Open. Radwanska also managed to reach the Wimbledon final, so she has already proven she has got the tennis balls (so to speak!) to reach a major final, but whether or not she can win there, will depend on how her draw pans out. And before I forget, and can't believe I almost did, there is Maria Sharapova, who this year already completed her career slam by winning the French Open, and to write off Maria's chances would be insane. However her fitness might be a bit in question after having had that stomach virus, so it remains to be seen how well she will perform at the US Open, but all good and well she will be a strong contender, as long as she doesn't play Azarenka or Serena then she could be the next best favourite, and her side of the draw is relatively favourable, but she could face Kvitova in the semis, so we'll soon see.
As for the guys well... it gets interesting, and with the absence of Rafael Nadal, it opens up things slightly for the men in the draw (although not too much!). Roger Federer to start off with, as he is the top seed, has such players in his section of the draw as Fernando Verdasco, Mardy Fish, Ivo Karlovich and Gilles Simon. So its a fairly tricky draw for Rog to negotiate, but he should manage it without too much trouble up until around the quarter finals where he just might face Tomas Berdych, which could prove his first testing opponent. And then that's where things get really interesting as Federer is on the same half of the draw as Andy Murray, so the two of them could meet in the semi finals. Now that could be a really tantalising one!
As for Andy Murray himself well things aren't too kind for him either, he starts off fairly ok with Alex Bogomolov Jr, who he has defeated more times than not. Bogomolov did cause an upset in Miami last year against Andy, but that was when he was suffering his post Australian open blues, so I don't predict another upset this time. However Andy's draw is far from kind as he could still encounter tough opposition such as Ivan Dodig in the 2nd round, the talented Croatian, possibly even Robin Haase in the 3rd, who gave Andy a real scare last year, although he could alternately face Felicianio Lopez (which I'm sure he'd prefer since he so often wins easy against him!). But Andy's problems could really start in the 4th round as he might face Milos Raonic, the big serving Canadian who has already troubled him this year with a straight sets defeat in Barcelona, but in the best of 5 sets, I think Andy's experience will see him come through, but it will be a tough one if they meet. And for the quarter finals Andy could go on to face Tsonga, which doubtless will be tough, and then of course Federer in the semi final.
Djokovic has a kinder start in his draw, but by the 3rd and 4th round he could face opponents such as Marcos Baghdatis, Alexandr Dolgopolov and Stan Wawrinka, all whom could prove troublesome for the Serb, but I'm sure he will negotiate past them. However Djokovic's toughest opponent could well be Del Potro, who he might face in the quarters finals and possibly David Ferrer in the semis, who won't be a pushover either, but in their previous meetings Djokovic has tended to beat the little beast in straight sets, but we'll see. But in that respect Djokovic has got it that bit easier than Andy or Roger does, as he hasn't got Rafa to contend with, so in that way Djokovic has got one up on the other two guys. But still his draw won't be an easy one and there will probably still be some bumps alongs the way.
So out of all that who is my favs to win????? Well I would love to say Andy, but I just think that Federer is that the top favourite to win there, as he is now back to the world no.1, and he is playing his best tennis once more. Andy however would be my next favourite, and he has already proved he can upset the top two guys, by stunning both Djokovic and Federer at the Olympic games. So does Andy stand a chance here??? Yup he certainly does, and it would be terrific if he could walk away with his first ever major title from New York. But beating Federer in the semi finals will prove to be a mighty big ask, and while it won't be impossible, it will be exceptionally difficult. However if Andy maintains the form he showed at the Olympics, then he can win the title, but he has to do that to have any chance, as I'm positive that Federer will be ready for him this time. In fact it would be mad to look past Federer as the player to beat at this tournament, given his form this year, 17 slams already in the bag, and clearly he is hungry for more.
So Andy still needs to prove that he can retain that form, and that it wasn't just a one off at Wimbledon, but if he can, then this will be the springboard that his career needs. And Djokovic managed to beat Federer twice in a row over the last two years in New York in the semis, so if Andy can do that as well I'm certain he can win the title, and all he needs to do is find those miracle forehands like Nole did on the crucial points! But it is ensuring that he can make that transition of form from grass to hard court that might prove tough, and that dreaded first serve percentage might play its part in Andy's downfall. But one thing he has gotten better at is saving break points on his own serve, so he can now play the big points alot better than before, and that also is going to be key to success at Flushing Meadows. And what might be an advantage of playing Federer in the semi final is that Andy has already played the tennis he needs to play to reach the final of a major four times now, so he could also borrow from his experience to do it, and that just might be enough, even against Federer! Or.... he might not make it into the second week, but somehow I doubt that, and someone who has been knocking on the door four times already is bound to crack it sooner or later. Right that's enough on Andy!!
As for Djokovic well I am less convinced by him since he has suffered losses in big matches lately, especially at the French Open, Wimbledon and the Olympics. Djokovic also recently took a trouncing off of Federer in Cincinnati, and on the basis of that match I'm not entirely convinced that Djokovic can hold onto his title, but we'll see. But Nole has reached three US Open finals and the courts there really suit his game, and with neither Andy or Roger in his side of the draw, there is no one apart from maybe Del Potro to stop him from the reaching a 4th US Open final, which might just see him with a chance to clinch a 2nd title there, depending on how his draw pans out. And the US Open could see Djokovic rebound in the best possible way and it would give him the best chance to try and recapture the world no.1 ranking.
Well on that note I will leave it there, the draw is out, we know how will play who, and it will all kick on Monday, so more will follow next week. Until then that's it.
Byeeee!!!
So in the usual fine style, why not start with the ladies, and in fact why not start with the Brits, things on the ladies side of the draw for them have not been kind, as for startes Heather Watson is drawn to face Li Na, the former French Open champion in the 1st round. Let's face it, Heather while she is fast developing as a player, she will struggle to beat a player as seasoned as Li Na, so I would have to say unforunately it may be an early exit for Heather there. Also Anne Keothavong will first face the German No.1, Angelique Kerber, and again I would be very surprised if Anne could make her way past Kerber, who has been in such great form all year, but well you never know. Laura Robson however stands the best chance of making her way past the 1st round as she will face a qualifier, so just maybe one of the Brit girls might make it through.
As for the top seeds well we have Victoria Azarenka, the current world no.1, who is seeded in the top half of the draw, and she along the way the way could face Julia Georges and Sabine Liscki of Germany, and Li Na or Petra Kvitova could be possible semi final opponents, so it could be a stern test for her. Maria Sharapova who recently has returned from having a stomach virus, could face possible opponents such as Nadia Petrova (fellow Russian player), Lucie Safarova, the Czeck player, and with Marion Bartoli and also maybe Petra Kvitova as latter stage opponents. Caroline Wozniacki, the former world no.1 could also face tough opposition as in her section of the draw she could face Ana Ivanovic and Francesca Schiavone, with Serena Williams being a possible semi final opponent. Meanwhile Serena Williams herself could also face Caroline in the semis, as well as other players enroute such as Maria Kirilenko and Peng Shuai of China. And Venus Williams who has one of the toughest draws could come up against Angelique Kerber, who has already beaten both the Williams sisters (as well as many other top players!) in the 2nd round, followed by maybe Tamira Paszek, Christina McHale and Sara Errani. And finally we have Agnieszka Radwanska who in her side of the draw could face a few tricky opponents such as Dominika Cibulkova, Mona Barthel, Yaroslava Shvedova, Jelena Jankovic and Roberta Vinci. So all in all not easy!
So out of all that lot, who is my favourite to win the title???? Well I've already discussed this in my last post, but out of that lot there are a few possible favourites. Serena would be at the top, but I don't quite see her as the outright favourite to win as if there is one person that can beat, its herself, as Serena isn't always the most mentally tough of players, which we have seen already this year. So Serena can either be unstoppable of fallable, so it remains to be seen which Serena we get, but she is the top favourite regardless.
Next up in the pecking order would be Victoria Azarenka, who is the current world no.1, who is playing great tennis this year, and got off to a tremendous start winning the Australian open, followed by titles in Dubai and Indian Wells, as well as the Olympic bronze medal. And Vika's favourite surface is hard court, so if the draw works in her favour (i.e. no Serena to face) then she just might be the one to take the trophy. However one of the other players that could stop her is Petra Kvitova who, while she hasn't quite found the form that propelled her into the top 10 last year, she has re-found some excellent form recently as she won the Rogers cup title in Montreal against Li Na. However Petra has had some good results at the slams so far this year in reaching semis of the Australian open and the French open, and the quarter finals at Wimbledon. And without a doubt, Petra has the game to upset any player, and on her day she can be virtually unplayable, so she also is a strong favourite to win.
Then we have other players such as Li Na, who is already a grand slam champion from the French open last year, and has just won her first title since then in Cincinnati against Angelique Keber. And I also think that Angelique Kerber herself has a pretty strong shout at the title as well, as she really has announced herself this year, having recorded so many wins over top players, its a fair possibility that she could go on to win. Caroline Wozniacki despite her dip in form in recent times, has started to improve her game again so while she is far from the favourite, she could be a real outsider with a possible chance at winning. Caroline also is playing at the New Haven at Yale open in the US, where she has been the defending champion for the last four years running, and so far she has progressed well into the semi finals, where she will face the Russian No.2, Maria Kirilenko. However due to an knee injury, Caroline had to retire in her match against Maria Kirilenko, which has seen her winning streak at New Haven finally come to an end after four years. And its a shame it has to end in that way, and sadly for Caz her title drought continues, and let's hope she is ok for the US Open.
Although I have to say that is one thing that bugs me about these players, why do they insist on playing a tournament the week before a grand slam begins???? For example Radwanska played at New Haven this week as well, but she was forced to retire too, and now Caroline as well, so it doesn't make sense to me why they insist on pushing themselves to get a few extra matches in before hand. In the end all they are doing is punishing their bodies with injury and reducing their chances of doing well in the majors, but anyway its up to them.
And then we have Radwanska, who similar to Caroline lacks the raw power of the big hitters, but she has the craft and ingenuity to outwit alot of her players, her form has been somewhat off lately, as she has struggled with a shoulder injury, but hopefully she will do well at the US Open. Radwanska also managed to reach the Wimbledon final, so she has already proven she has got the tennis balls (so to speak!) to reach a major final, but whether or not she can win there, will depend on how her draw pans out. And before I forget, and can't believe I almost did, there is Maria Sharapova, who this year already completed her career slam by winning the French Open, and to write off Maria's chances would be insane. However her fitness might be a bit in question after having had that stomach virus, so it remains to be seen how well she will perform at the US Open, but all good and well she will be a strong contender, as long as she doesn't play Azarenka or Serena then she could be the next best favourite, and her side of the draw is relatively favourable, but she could face Kvitova in the semis, so we'll soon see.
As for the guys well... it gets interesting, and with the absence of Rafael Nadal, it opens up things slightly for the men in the draw (although not too much!). Roger Federer to start off with, as he is the top seed, has such players in his section of the draw as Fernando Verdasco, Mardy Fish, Ivo Karlovich and Gilles Simon. So its a fairly tricky draw for Rog to negotiate, but he should manage it without too much trouble up until around the quarter finals where he just might face Tomas Berdych, which could prove his first testing opponent. And then that's where things get really interesting as Federer is on the same half of the draw as Andy Murray, so the two of them could meet in the semi finals. Now that could be a really tantalising one!
As for Andy Murray himself well things aren't too kind for him either, he starts off fairly ok with Alex Bogomolov Jr, who he has defeated more times than not. Bogomolov did cause an upset in Miami last year against Andy, but that was when he was suffering his post Australian open blues, so I don't predict another upset this time. However Andy's draw is far from kind as he could still encounter tough opposition such as Ivan Dodig in the 2nd round, the talented Croatian, possibly even Robin Haase in the 3rd, who gave Andy a real scare last year, although he could alternately face Felicianio Lopez (which I'm sure he'd prefer since he so often wins easy against him!). But Andy's problems could really start in the 4th round as he might face Milos Raonic, the big serving Canadian who has already troubled him this year with a straight sets defeat in Barcelona, but in the best of 5 sets, I think Andy's experience will see him come through, but it will be a tough one if they meet. And for the quarter finals Andy could go on to face Tsonga, which doubtless will be tough, and then of course Federer in the semi final.
Djokovic has a kinder start in his draw, but by the 3rd and 4th round he could face opponents such as Marcos Baghdatis, Alexandr Dolgopolov and Stan Wawrinka, all whom could prove troublesome for the Serb, but I'm sure he will negotiate past them. However Djokovic's toughest opponent could well be Del Potro, who he might face in the quarters finals and possibly David Ferrer in the semis, who won't be a pushover either, but in their previous meetings Djokovic has tended to beat the little beast in straight sets, but we'll see. But in that respect Djokovic has got it that bit easier than Andy or Roger does, as he hasn't got Rafa to contend with, so in that way Djokovic has got one up on the other two guys. But still his draw won't be an easy one and there will probably still be some bumps alongs the way.
So out of all that who is my favs to win????? Well I would love to say Andy, but I just think that Federer is that the top favourite to win there, as he is now back to the world no.1, and he is playing his best tennis once more. Andy however would be my next favourite, and he has already proved he can upset the top two guys, by stunning both Djokovic and Federer at the Olympic games. So does Andy stand a chance here??? Yup he certainly does, and it would be terrific if he could walk away with his first ever major title from New York. But beating Federer in the semi finals will prove to be a mighty big ask, and while it won't be impossible, it will be exceptionally difficult. However if Andy maintains the form he showed at the Olympics, then he can win the title, but he has to do that to have any chance, as I'm positive that Federer will be ready for him this time. In fact it would be mad to look past Federer as the player to beat at this tournament, given his form this year, 17 slams already in the bag, and clearly he is hungry for more.
So Andy still needs to prove that he can retain that form, and that it wasn't just a one off at Wimbledon, but if he can, then this will be the springboard that his career needs. And Djokovic managed to beat Federer twice in a row over the last two years in New York in the semis, so if Andy can do that as well I'm certain he can win the title, and all he needs to do is find those miracle forehands like Nole did on the crucial points! But it is ensuring that he can make that transition of form from grass to hard court that might prove tough, and that dreaded first serve percentage might play its part in Andy's downfall. But one thing he has gotten better at is saving break points on his own serve, so he can now play the big points alot better than before, and that also is going to be key to success at Flushing Meadows. And what might be an advantage of playing Federer in the semi final is that Andy has already played the tennis he needs to play to reach the final of a major four times now, so he could also borrow from his experience to do it, and that just might be enough, even against Federer! Or.... he might not make it into the second week, but somehow I doubt that, and someone who has been knocking on the door four times already is bound to crack it sooner or later. Right that's enough on Andy!!
As for Djokovic well I am less convinced by him since he has suffered losses in big matches lately, especially at the French Open, Wimbledon and the Olympics. Djokovic also recently took a trouncing off of Federer in Cincinnati, and on the basis of that match I'm not entirely convinced that Djokovic can hold onto his title, but we'll see. But Nole has reached three US Open finals and the courts there really suit his game, and with neither Andy or Roger in his side of the draw, there is no one apart from maybe Del Potro to stop him from the reaching a 4th US Open final, which might just see him with a chance to clinch a 2nd title there, depending on how his draw pans out. And the US Open could see Djokovic rebound in the best possible way and it would give him the best chance to try and recapture the world no.1 ranking.
Well on that note I will leave it there, the draw is out, we know how will play who, and it will all kick on Monday, so more will follow next week. Until then that's it.
Byeeee!!!
Thursday 16 August 2012
US Open men's preview
Right now onto my thoughts on possible favourites for the US Open this year. But I might as well start by saying that unfortunately Rafa Nadal has confirmed that due to the ongoing tendonitis injury in his knee, that will not be playing at the US Open this year. This is a great pity for Rafa as he has already missed out so much since his shock early exit from Wimbledon, so let's hope he has a speedy recovery and get's back on the tour soon. As usual this post has several updates throughout it, which totally betray the date of the posting, just so you know!
So to kick off, I thought I'd start with Roger Federer, who so far this year has had a great season, having gotten back to the World No.1 spot, winning another Wimbledon title and surpassing Pete Sampras's record time at being at the top (287 weeks!). So in my eyes Roger is a strong favourite to win in New York, but he too will meet some stern resistance along the way, and in the past two years, he has lost to Djokovic in the semis, so it will be tough for him to reach the final. Roger also may face the currently in-form Andy Murray, who devastated him at the Olympic tennis final in straight sets, and they most likely would meet in the final, so this time round it will be even tougher for him, since Andy's best overall surface is hard court, as it Djokovic's. But with his main nemesis, Rafa not playing in the US open, due to his ongoing tendonitis, there is not too much to stop him from reaching that final if he plays well enough, which he most likely will.
In fact after Roger's most recent victory in Cincinnati over Djokovic, I think its safe to say that Roger is the absolute favourtie to win the US Open, especially as he is in great form just now. Rog has also secured his World No.1 spot for another while as well, having won in Cincy it has given him another 1000 points onto his ranking to keep him ahead of Djokovic for the time being. And it has to be said that Novak has been struggling somewhat in recent months against Roger and Rafa, and even Andy, but more on him in just a bit. As for Fed, well things are looking mighty good just now, and winning in Cincy has been the perfect way to rebound after his loss at the Olympics. But whether or not Roger will maintain such form in the US Open remains to be seen, but its not something he hasn't done before, with 17 grand slams to his name already, this most likely could be the 18th. Can he do it? Absolutely, but time will soon tell all, so we will just to have wait and see. But if I was to pick an overall favourite to win the US Open it would be Federer, as with maybe the exception of one or two players (one of them being Murray), I can't quite see anyone else living with him out there, and he also knows a thing or two about winning majors.
Next up there is of course Novak Djokovic, who is the defending champion, who defeated Rafa in that stunning epic final last year. And to write off Nole's chances of defending his title would be insane, as hard court is clearly the surface he is most comfortable on, and he already has successfully defended his title in Melbourne earlier this year. But looking closer at Novak's year overall, despite winning again at the Australian open, and a couple of Masters titles in Miami and Toronto, he has struggled somewhat to maintain his consistent form. Novak is had far from a bad year, but he's not had the best either, as he has endured some tough losses, namely at the French Open final to Rafa, having double faulted to hand the title to his main rival, which must surely have haunted for a while after. He also endured another loss at Wimbledon to Roger Federer, where he again failed to defend a title, of which he has lost several title defences this year already, and most recently Andy Murray defeated Djokovic with a straight sets win at the Olympics. So it will be a tough ask for Novak to defend his title at the US Open this year, but does he have a chance?? He does, and if he can play to his strengths then there can be no reason why he can't defend his title again, and lift that 6th grand slam title.
However Djokovic as I said has been struggling in the big matches lately and he has also just lost the final in Cincinnati to Roger Federer in quite convincing fashion as Fed dominated the Serb to win in straight sets, despite a tight second set, Rog was in full control in the match and he won 6-0, 7-6(9-7). And that has to have been the first bagel set Djokovic has had in quite some time (in fact its the first between him and Fed), which shows that he is flailing quite a bit, and while I didn't fully expect that he would have beaten Federer, I did think he could have at least pushed it to a decider. But again tiebreaks have been noted to be Djokovic's weakness, as he has a tendancy to lose concentration and in tiebreaks Federer is so consistent, so much more so than any other player. So after a remarkable 2011, Djokovic has ended back up where he was prior to his amazing season last year, by struggling to keep the momentum going. And I might be wrong but I am beginning to think that the US Open final could well feature Andy and Roger, which personally would be my choice of final for the men's, as Djokovic just isn't cutting just now. But then again I could be wrong, and Djokovic could really bounce back once he gets to New York.
And now we get on to Andy Murray (which for some reason ALWAYS ends up getting the most space in these entries!), who so far this year, despite a mediocre clay court season, has played some of the greatest tennis of his career so far. With Andy having hired his new coach, Ivan Lendl, things at the start looked to have really paid off for him, as he reached the semi finals of the Australian open and played that stunning 5 set epic match against Djokovic, before he lost. Andy also continued to have a pretty good hard court swing, where he defeat Djokovic in Dubai, before losing to Federer in the final, and in Miami where he lost to Djokovic in the final. However as I already said, his clay court season was disappointing, despite reaching the quarter finals of the French Open, he put in an erratic performance against David Ferrer where he lost in 4 sets. But once he changed to grass, Andy had the greatest grass court season of his career, as he reached the Wimbledon final for he first time in his career, and also broke the record as the first British player in 74 years to reach the final. Andy however succumbed to a tough loss at the hands of Roger Federer, but despite that he put in a really good performance, even winning his first ever set in a slam final. And he went one better at the Olympics where he pulled off the win of his career in defeating Federer in straight sets to claim the Olympic gold medal, something which still eludes Federer and Djokovic.
And its worth noting that Andy has played in three big matches this year, the first being the Aussie Open semi with Djokovic, then the Wimbledon final, and then the Olympic games final with Roger. And in each match Andy rose to the occassion and played a great match, standing up to both guys and giving it plenty. And I think based on that, Andy now knows what to do and how to handle the big matches and the pressure on these occassions, and with each step he will surely move closer to winning that first major. And if he does win it will be the 5th time lucky, just like it was for Ivan Lendl (who won his first at the French Open back in 1984), and by a strange coincidence, Kim Clijsters also took five attempts before she won her first slam title, which was also at the US Open too. So could this be a good omen????? Well you can but hope, or he could just go out in the first week! But I doubt it.
However Andy's preparations for the US Open have suffered a bit of a setback as he lost his title defence in Cincinnati, and was beaten in 3rd round by the French player, Jeremy Chardy in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. However this loss isn't the end of the world, and in the scheme of things doesn't really count for much. And I think we can probably just put this loss down to post Olympic fatigue, and with this loss it will at least give him more time to recover for what lies ahead. So come the US Open, I'm sure Andy will be back to full health and playing his best tennis, which if he does, will see him finally achieve his life's ambition in lifting that elusive major, and it will be about time too!
As for other potential favs, the next one would have to be Juan Martin Del Potro, who already has won the US Open back in 2009, and was the only man to do so outside the top 3 in the last 10 years! So in a way Delpo already has a head start, although he isn't quite playing to the same level as he was back then, and he is yet to defeat Roger Federer since then, although he did come mighty close in that exhaustive Olympics semi final. So Delpo definitely will have his chances, but it will be far from easy for him, and whoever he is drawn with it will be a tough ask to get past the likes of Andy, Roger or Nole, but again nothing is impossible. And let's not forget that Del Potro has already beaten Djokovic at the Olympics to take the Olympic bronze medal, so he could pull off another upset here.
And finally another outsider could be Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who has already been in a slam final, back in the Australian Open in 2008, where he was defeated by Djokovic. However Tsonga is somewhat inconsistent in his form, and despite his big powerful game, he can be quite erratic and hasn't the best return game. But he definitely has the weapons to do damange to the big three, and he also defeated Federer last year at Wimbledon over 5 sets to reach his first semi final, and he also faced Andy Murray in the semis this year. So Tsonga will have his chances and he is a potential outsider to win the title, but given the form of the top 3 its hard to look past them.
Sooooo that's it for my US Open preview analysis for the men's.
More to follow later, but for now, byeee!
So to kick off, I thought I'd start with Roger Federer, who so far this year has had a great season, having gotten back to the World No.1 spot, winning another Wimbledon title and surpassing Pete Sampras's record time at being at the top (287 weeks!). So in my eyes Roger is a strong favourite to win in New York, but he too will meet some stern resistance along the way, and in the past two years, he has lost to Djokovic in the semis, so it will be tough for him to reach the final. Roger also may face the currently in-form Andy Murray, who devastated him at the Olympic tennis final in straight sets, and they most likely would meet in the final, so this time round it will be even tougher for him, since Andy's best overall surface is hard court, as it Djokovic's. But with his main nemesis, Rafa not playing in the US open, due to his ongoing tendonitis, there is not too much to stop him from reaching that final if he plays well enough, which he most likely will.
In fact after Roger's most recent victory in Cincinnati over Djokovic, I think its safe to say that Roger is the absolute favourtie to win the US Open, especially as he is in great form just now. Rog has also secured his World No.1 spot for another while as well, having won in Cincy it has given him another 1000 points onto his ranking to keep him ahead of Djokovic for the time being. And it has to be said that Novak has been struggling somewhat in recent months against Roger and Rafa, and even Andy, but more on him in just a bit. As for Fed, well things are looking mighty good just now, and winning in Cincy has been the perfect way to rebound after his loss at the Olympics. But whether or not Roger will maintain such form in the US Open remains to be seen, but its not something he hasn't done before, with 17 grand slams to his name already, this most likely could be the 18th. Can he do it? Absolutely, but time will soon tell all, so we will just to have wait and see. But if I was to pick an overall favourite to win the US Open it would be Federer, as with maybe the exception of one or two players (one of them being Murray), I can't quite see anyone else living with him out there, and he also knows a thing or two about winning majors.
Next up there is of course Novak Djokovic, who is the defending champion, who defeated Rafa in that stunning epic final last year. And to write off Nole's chances of defending his title would be insane, as hard court is clearly the surface he is most comfortable on, and he already has successfully defended his title in Melbourne earlier this year. But looking closer at Novak's year overall, despite winning again at the Australian open, and a couple of Masters titles in Miami and Toronto, he has struggled somewhat to maintain his consistent form. Novak is had far from a bad year, but he's not had the best either, as he has endured some tough losses, namely at the French Open final to Rafa, having double faulted to hand the title to his main rival, which must surely have haunted for a while after. He also endured another loss at Wimbledon to Roger Federer, where he again failed to defend a title, of which he has lost several title defences this year already, and most recently Andy Murray defeated Djokovic with a straight sets win at the Olympics. So it will be a tough ask for Novak to defend his title at the US Open this year, but does he have a chance?? He does, and if he can play to his strengths then there can be no reason why he can't defend his title again, and lift that 6th grand slam title.
However Djokovic as I said has been struggling in the big matches lately and he has also just lost the final in Cincinnati to Roger Federer in quite convincing fashion as Fed dominated the Serb to win in straight sets, despite a tight second set, Rog was in full control in the match and he won 6-0, 7-6(9-7). And that has to have been the first bagel set Djokovic has had in quite some time (in fact its the first between him and Fed), which shows that he is flailing quite a bit, and while I didn't fully expect that he would have beaten Federer, I did think he could have at least pushed it to a decider. But again tiebreaks have been noted to be Djokovic's weakness, as he has a tendancy to lose concentration and in tiebreaks Federer is so consistent, so much more so than any other player. So after a remarkable 2011, Djokovic has ended back up where he was prior to his amazing season last year, by struggling to keep the momentum going. And I might be wrong but I am beginning to think that the US Open final could well feature Andy and Roger, which personally would be my choice of final for the men's, as Djokovic just isn't cutting just now. But then again I could be wrong, and Djokovic could really bounce back once he gets to New York.
And now we get on to Andy Murray (which for some reason ALWAYS ends up getting the most space in these entries!), who so far this year, despite a mediocre clay court season, has played some of the greatest tennis of his career so far. With Andy having hired his new coach, Ivan Lendl, things at the start looked to have really paid off for him, as he reached the semi finals of the Australian open and played that stunning 5 set epic match against Djokovic, before he lost. Andy also continued to have a pretty good hard court swing, where he defeat Djokovic in Dubai, before losing to Federer in the final, and in Miami where he lost to Djokovic in the final. However as I already said, his clay court season was disappointing, despite reaching the quarter finals of the French Open, he put in an erratic performance against David Ferrer where he lost in 4 sets. But once he changed to grass, Andy had the greatest grass court season of his career, as he reached the Wimbledon final for he first time in his career, and also broke the record as the first British player in 74 years to reach the final. Andy however succumbed to a tough loss at the hands of Roger Federer, but despite that he put in a really good performance, even winning his first ever set in a slam final. And he went one better at the Olympics where he pulled off the win of his career in defeating Federer in straight sets to claim the Olympic gold medal, something which still eludes Federer and Djokovic.
And its worth noting that Andy has played in three big matches this year, the first being the Aussie Open semi with Djokovic, then the Wimbledon final, and then the Olympic games final with Roger. And in each match Andy rose to the occassion and played a great match, standing up to both guys and giving it plenty. And I think based on that, Andy now knows what to do and how to handle the big matches and the pressure on these occassions, and with each step he will surely move closer to winning that first major. And if he does win it will be the 5th time lucky, just like it was for Ivan Lendl (who won his first at the French Open back in 1984), and by a strange coincidence, Kim Clijsters also took five attempts before she won her first slam title, which was also at the US Open too. So could this be a good omen????? Well you can but hope, or he could just go out in the first week! But I doubt it.
However Andy's preparations for the US Open have suffered a bit of a setback as he lost his title defence in Cincinnati, and was beaten in 3rd round by the French player, Jeremy Chardy in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. However this loss isn't the end of the world, and in the scheme of things doesn't really count for much. And I think we can probably just put this loss down to post Olympic fatigue, and with this loss it will at least give him more time to recover for what lies ahead. So come the US Open, I'm sure Andy will be back to full health and playing his best tennis, which if he does, will see him finally achieve his life's ambition in lifting that elusive major, and it will be about time too!
As for other potential favs, the next one would have to be Juan Martin Del Potro, who already has won the US Open back in 2009, and was the only man to do so outside the top 3 in the last 10 years! So in a way Delpo already has a head start, although he isn't quite playing to the same level as he was back then, and he is yet to defeat Roger Federer since then, although he did come mighty close in that exhaustive Olympics semi final. So Delpo definitely will have his chances, but it will be far from easy for him, and whoever he is drawn with it will be a tough ask to get past the likes of Andy, Roger or Nole, but again nothing is impossible. And let's not forget that Del Potro has already beaten Djokovic at the Olympics to take the Olympic bronze medal, so he could pull off another upset here.
And finally another outsider could be Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who has already been in a slam final, back in the Australian Open in 2008, where he was defeated by Djokovic. However Tsonga is somewhat inconsistent in his form, and despite his big powerful game, he can be quite erratic and hasn't the best return game. But he definitely has the weapons to do damange to the big three, and he also defeated Federer last year at Wimbledon over 5 sets to reach his first semi final, and he also faced Andy Murray in the semis this year. So Tsonga will have his chances and he is a potential outsider to win the title, but given the form of the top 3 its hard to look past them.
Sooooo that's it for my US Open preview analysis for the men's.
More to follow later, but for now, byeee!
US Open ladies preview
Ok well its just over a week away from the US Open beginning now, the final grand slam of the tennis season, which begins on Monday 27 August, which will see the top seeds fight it out for the right to win the 4th major trophy of the year. So here's my thoughts on potential winners on both the men's and ladies side of the game.
So to begin with the ladies, well I think the hot favourite has to be Serena Williams, who has been in explosive form since the beginning of the grass court season, as she made her way through a hard fought Wimbledon campaign, and by stark contrast, totally massacred her way to victory in the 2012 Olympics. However that was on grass, and on hard court it is a slightly different kettle of fish (or balls) as she will be up against some stiff competition. And lest we forget last year when Serena made that great run to the final, where she was the dead cert to win, and yet Sam Stosur played a blinder of a match, stunning the former champion in straight sets. So while she is the most likely winner, it is far from written in stone, and she will probably have to fight her way to victory here, either that or it will be just another annihilation.
But as an update Serena was defeated by Angelique Kerber at the Cincinnati Western and Southern Open event, where she played a lacklustre match and lost in 6-4, 6-4, to the German player. And it has to be said that even the very best have their bad days, and Serena is known for having hers now and then. And one area in which Serena can be lacking is her mental strength, as on ocassions she can falter, like she did at the the French Open against Virginia Razzano when she lost in the first round. She also lost to Caroline Wozniacki in Miami in straight sets earlier this year, and of course there was the US Open final last which I already mentioned. So there are times where Serena's attitude can get the better of her, like it did in the US Open final last year after she lost a game for calling out during a point, and she can even get emotional like she did in her French Open match. So if there will be one playet that can beat Serena, it will be herself. But we'll see.
Other favourites also include Maria Sharapova, who triumphed at the French open earlier this year, to complete her career slam, and while her form at Wimbledon was questionable, she will definitely go deep in New York, and will have her chances. However for Maria her biggest obstacles will be Serena, and of course Victoria Azarenka, who I consider to be another strong contender for the title, especially as Vika is so proficient on hard courts, and also won her first major title back at the Australian open earlier this year. But depending on how they are drawn in the draw, they may not face each other until the final or even maybe in the same section, which means they could meet in the semis, but we'll see.
There are one or two other potential favs, the next one being Petra Kvitova, who after losing to Serena in the semis at Wimbledon, and quarter finals of the Olympics to Maria Kirilenko, has already made a strong start on the North American hard court swing, having just won her 8th career title in Montreal. Petra of course has a big game, and can flat out hit winners from anywhere on the court, which makes her very dangerous, and if the draw works out in her favour, I can see her also lifting the title. Then we have Agnieszka Radwanska, who was the Wimbledon finalist, although her form has dipped a bit since, going out in the first round of the Olympics, and losing in straight sets to Li Na in Montreal last week. However Aga is a great player and has won so many matches this year, and has the tenacity to beat the best, although her biggest flaw is her lack of power in her shots, and her second serve is very punishable. So while Aga could be a potential favourite, I don't quite outright see her winnnig the title.
After this there are also another couple of outsiders, starting with Caroline Wozniacki, the former World No.1, who after a bad dip in form, is starting to show signs of improvement. Caroline also recently hired a new coach, Thomas Johanssen, former Australian Open champion, to help her with her game, and become a more aggressive player. For Caroline it will still be a work in progress, but she has shown some impressive results over the summer, despite a first round loss at Wimbledon, she did reach the quarter finals of the Olympics, as well as the semi finals in Montreal last week, before losing to Petra Kvitova. And hard court is also Caroline's favourite surface, which could favour her in New York, where she also reached her only grand slam final, where she lost to Kim Clijsters in a tightly contested match. However in order to win Caroline will definitely have to play more aggressively, and she could still struggle against the big hitters, especially Serena, Kerber, Sharapova, Kvitova and Azarenka, who have stood in her way in the past. Caroline is also yet to even win a WTA tour title this year, so it really is a big ask for to lift the trophy at the US Open, but nothing is impossible, so we'll see how the Dane get's on.
And another potential two favs could well for starters be Sam Stosur, who is the defending champion, but I'm not entirely convinced that she can defend her title this year, although it would be great if she could, but somehow I doubt it, as given the depth of the game, its an incredibly tough thing to do, but I do think she can go deep again, or maybe just go out in the first round, who knows??? But I doubt she will. And also another possible outsider could be Angelique Kerber, who this year has really established her place in the top 10, and has had notable victories over players such as Caroline Wozniacki, Venus Williams, Petra Kvitova and Kim Clijsters. Kerber has a big powerful game, and is yet another big hitter, who is very dangerous, and her chances at the US Open can't be underestimated, as she announced her arrival on the scene last year by reaching the semi finals. So Angie is a possible, even though she's not an outright favourite to win.
But to back that up, Kerber has just defeated Serena in Cincinnati in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, with Serena clearly looking below par (bit like Andy Murray funnily enough in his loss to Jeremy Chardy, again in 6-4, 6-4!). So while Serena was far from her best, it does highlight that Kerber on her day can beat anyone, and Kerber also has beaten Petra Kvitova in Cincinnati as well to reach the final, where she will face Li Na, so there is a strong chance that she can win the title there. So this clearly shows that Angie is a player who has been going from strength to strength, and with these two wins in the bag, I think its a fairly safe bet she could become a stronger favourite to win at Flushing meadows if she maintains this form.
And finally another potential fav could be Kim Clijsters, who is more of an outsider, but she has had great success at the US Open in the past, having been the champion there three times in 2005, 2009 and 2010. However Kim hasn't had as much match play in the past year, due to injury, but she has played a bit more this year, and she did reach the quarter finals of the Olympics before losing to Maria Sharapova. Kim is also due to retire from tennis after she finishes playing at the US Open this year, which is a great pity since she has contributed a great deal to ladies tennis over the years. But it would make for a great swansong if she could pull off a final victory at the US Open before she puts down her racquet, and a fitting end to a great career.
Right well that's it my thoughts on the ladies favourites for the US Open. The men will now follow....
So to begin with the ladies, well I think the hot favourite has to be Serena Williams, who has been in explosive form since the beginning of the grass court season, as she made her way through a hard fought Wimbledon campaign, and by stark contrast, totally massacred her way to victory in the 2012 Olympics. However that was on grass, and on hard court it is a slightly different kettle of fish (or balls) as she will be up against some stiff competition. And lest we forget last year when Serena made that great run to the final, where she was the dead cert to win, and yet Sam Stosur played a blinder of a match, stunning the former champion in straight sets. So while she is the most likely winner, it is far from written in stone, and she will probably have to fight her way to victory here, either that or it will be just another annihilation.
But as an update Serena was defeated by Angelique Kerber at the Cincinnati Western and Southern Open event, where she played a lacklustre match and lost in 6-4, 6-4, to the German player. And it has to be said that even the very best have their bad days, and Serena is known for having hers now and then. And one area in which Serena can be lacking is her mental strength, as on ocassions she can falter, like she did at the the French Open against Virginia Razzano when she lost in the first round. She also lost to Caroline Wozniacki in Miami in straight sets earlier this year, and of course there was the US Open final last which I already mentioned. So there are times where Serena's attitude can get the better of her, like it did in the US Open final last year after she lost a game for calling out during a point, and she can even get emotional like she did in her French Open match. So if there will be one playet that can beat Serena, it will be herself. But we'll see.
Other favourites also include Maria Sharapova, who triumphed at the French open earlier this year, to complete her career slam, and while her form at Wimbledon was questionable, she will definitely go deep in New York, and will have her chances. However for Maria her biggest obstacles will be Serena, and of course Victoria Azarenka, who I consider to be another strong contender for the title, especially as Vika is so proficient on hard courts, and also won her first major title back at the Australian open earlier this year. But depending on how they are drawn in the draw, they may not face each other until the final or even maybe in the same section, which means they could meet in the semis, but we'll see.
There are one or two other potential favs, the next one being Petra Kvitova, who after losing to Serena in the semis at Wimbledon, and quarter finals of the Olympics to Maria Kirilenko, has already made a strong start on the North American hard court swing, having just won her 8th career title in Montreal. Petra of course has a big game, and can flat out hit winners from anywhere on the court, which makes her very dangerous, and if the draw works out in her favour, I can see her also lifting the title. Then we have Agnieszka Radwanska, who was the Wimbledon finalist, although her form has dipped a bit since, going out in the first round of the Olympics, and losing in straight sets to Li Na in Montreal last week. However Aga is a great player and has won so many matches this year, and has the tenacity to beat the best, although her biggest flaw is her lack of power in her shots, and her second serve is very punishable. So while Aga could be a potential favourite, I don't quite outright see her winnnig the title.
After this there are also another couple of outsiders, starting with Caroline Wozniacki, the former World No.1, who after a bad dip in form, is starting to show signs of improvement. Caroline also recently hired a new coach, Thomas Johanssen, former Australian Open champion, to help her with her game, and become a more aggressive player. For Caroline it will still be a work in progress, but she has shown some impressive results over the summer, despite a first round loss at Wimbledon, she did reach the quarter finals of the Olympics, as well as the semi finals in Montreal last week, before losing to Petra Kvitova. And hard court is also Caroline's favourite surface, which could favour her in New York, where she also reached her only grand slam final, where she lost to Kim Clijsters in a tightly contested match. However in order to win Caroline will definitely have to play more aggressively, and she could still struggle against the big hitters, especially Serena, Kerber, Sharapova, Kvitova and Azarenka, who have stood in her way in the past. Caroline is also yet to even win a WTA tour title this year, so it really is a big ask for to lift the trophy at the US Open, but nothing is impossible, so we'll see how the Dane get's on.
And another potential two favs could well for starters be Sam Stosur, who is the defending champion, but I'm not entirely convinced that she can defend her title this year, although it would be great if she could, but somehow I doubt it, as given the depth of the game, its an incredibly tough thing to do, but I do think she can go deep again, or maybe just go out in the first round, who knows??? But I doubt she will. And also another possible outsider could be Angelique Kerber, who this year has really established her place in the top 10, and has had notable victories over players such as Caroline Wozniacki, Venus Williams, Petra Kvitova and Kim Clijsters. Kerber has a big powerful game, and is yet another big hitter, who is very dangerous, and her chances at the US Open can't be underestimated, as she announced her arrival on the scene last year by reaching the semi finals. So Angie is a possible, even though she's not an outright favourite to win.
But to back that up, Kerber has just defeated Serena in Cincinnati in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, with Serena clearly looking below par (bit like Andy Murray funnily enough in his loss to Jeremy Chardy, again in 6-4, 6-4!). So while Serena was far from her best, it does highlight that Kerber on her day can beat anyone, and Kerber also has beaten Petra Kvitova in Cincinnati as well to reach the final, where she will face Li Na, so there is a strong chance that she can win the title there. So this clearly shows that Angie is a player who has been going from strength to strength, and with these two wins in the bag, I think its a fairly safe bet she could become a stronger favourite to win at Flushing meadows if she maintains this form.
And finally another potential fav could be Kim Clijsters, who is more of an outsider, but she has had great success at the US Open in the past, having been the champion there three times in 2005, 2009 and 2010. However Kim hasn't had as much match play in the past year, due to injury, but she has played a bit more this year, and she did reach the quarter finals of the Olympics before losing to Maria Sharapova. Kim is also due to retire from tennis after she finishes playing at the US Open this year, which is a great pity since she has contributed a great deal to ladies tennis over the years. But it would make for a great swansong if she could pull off a final victory at the US Open before she puts down her racquet, and a fitting end to a great career.
Right well that's it my thoughts on the ladies favourites for the US Open. The men will now follow....
Thursday 9 August 2012
Hard court return
Right well that's the grass court season finally over with so now its back over to the hard courts with the North American swing back into play, which starts off with the Rogers cup from Canada this week for both the men's and ladies tour, so let's have a quick look at that.
Starting with the ladies, the Rogers Cup takes place this year in Montreal, and most of the top seeds will be playing such as Victoria Azarenka, Petra Kvitova, Caroline Wozniacki, Angelique Kerber and Marion Bartoli. However last year's defending champion Serena Williams will not be playing this time as she has chosen not to compete. So this leaves this year's title up for grabs for the other seeds and anyone else who is fortunate enough to stay in. Some of the matches so far have seen one or two seeds go out already such as Jelena Jankovic, who lost to the Canadian player, Alexandra Wozniak in straight sets 6-2, 6-3, and worst of all Ana Ivanovic who suffered a double bagel rout at the hands of the Italian player, Roberta Vinci, with a crushing 6-0, 6-0 win. Most of the other top seeds are still in however, with Sam Stosur who has made it into the 3rd round after her opponent, Simona Halep retired who was trailing 5-7, 4-4. Lucie Safarova is also through after she defeated Sesil Karantantcheva 6-4, 6-4, and Sara Errani has beaten her opponent Jene Cepelova in straight sets 6-3, 6-2. Petra Kvitova had a much tougher time of it against Ksenia Pervak, but she managed to finish strong in the final set with a 4-6, 7-6, 6-0 win.
So more matches will follow on the ladies soon with Azarenka taking on the Wimbledon quarter finalist and Eastbourne champion, Tamira Paszek, Caroline Wozniacki will face Kiki Bertens, and Angelique Kerber who will face the Russian, Ekaterina Makarova. So quite a few more to go, out of all those I would quite like to see Caroline Wozniacki win through to take the title, but there quite a few heavy hitters in her way, so I can't quite see her win the title, but we will see.
However as a quick update, its good to report that Caroline Wozniacki has been playing really well in Montreal, but she has had some tough matches along the way, as she had to battle past Vervara Lepchenko of the USA, in 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, and then she overcame the home fav Alexandria Wozniak in 6-4, 6-4. However next up for Caroline will be Petra Kvitova, who has gotten back on form this week, and she has impressively been blasting her way through the opposition, as she thrashed Marion Bartoli in 6-1, 6-1, and Tamria Paszek in 6-3, 6-2. However her next match up with Caroline promises to be a really good one. Also on the other semi final match in the ladies we have Li Na take on Lucie Safarova, so on the face of it, Li Na is the favourite there but we'll see what happens. And my pick of those two would be Li Na and Petra to reach the final, either way it promises to be a good one.
Right on the men's tennis from the Rogers Cup, which is based in Toronto, as the event switches between the two cities of Montreal and Canada each year for the men's and ladies events. Novak Djokovic is the defending champion, however he will face some stern resistance in his way before he can defend his title sucessfully, as he will have to face some big hitters as well, such as Sam Querrey, and maybe even John Isner or Tomas Berdych in the final. However of the other top 10 seeds that are in the tournament, or rather where, they are three casualties, the first two were Juan Martin Del Potro and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Del Potro faced Radek Stepanek, and big Delpo was clearly feeling the effects of his efforts at the Olympics, and ended up losing in 4-6, 6-7. Tsonga also went out to his fellow Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy also in straight sets again in 4-6, 6-7 (popular score!) as he felt the fatigue of his efforts at the Olympics as well. And finally we had Andy Murray who after his victory over the Italian player, Flavio Cipolla, decided to withdraw from the tournament due to a knee injury, which he incurred after chasing down a ball in the 2nd set of his match.
So this leaves the draw a bit more wide open for Djokovic, as he now has no Murray, Tsonga, Del Potro, or even Federer (who chose not to compete anyway) to face. Perhaps the lack of competition from those seeds might be a disappointment for Djokovic, but perhaps also a relief, especially as he is just fresh off two defeats at the hands of Andy and Delpo. And can Djokovic can defend his title??? Yep I think he can, and I'm sure he will more than eager to, as it will give him a much needed boost after suffering recent losses at the French Open, Wimbledon and the Olympics. And now that Djokovic is back on hard court, he will feel more at home, so it will still be a tough draw for him to get to, but he has already gotten past Beranrd Tomic with a convincing win in 6-2, 6-3, so he looks to be making a good start.
As for Andy Murray, well I'm a bit surprised he decided to go to Toronto to play so soon after the Olympics anyway, as he had played alot of matches there, so naturally you would expect him to be suffering from a few niggles. And right enough it turned out to be the case where Andy had sustained a knee injury during the Cipolla match, but he definitely has made the right decision to withdraw from Toronto, as the last thing he wants to do is further damage to his body. And with the US Open coming up I'm sure Andy will want to be in peak condition for the final slam of the season, so he would be wise to rest up. However next up on the ATP tour will be the Cincinnati Masters, or the Western and Southern Open as its known over there, which Andy is the defending champion of. So whether or not he is ready to compete there or not we will soon find out, but the main priority for him is obviously to get fit and ready for the US Open. But playing in Cincinnati would be his last window of preparation for playing at the US Open, unless there are some exhibition matches he can play prior to going to Flushing Meadows. And of course the transition from grass to hard court will be tough for players, especially as hard court is tougher on players bodies, especially in the arms and leg joints. Anyway in the meantime, let's hope Andy's knee injury is nothing serious and that he will be fit and well to play in Cincinnati or more importantly at the US Open. Most likely however I'm sure if he isn't fit enough to play next week in Cincinnati, he will do all he can to be fit for Flushing Meadows.
Sooooo that's it for now, more to follow soon!
Starting with the ladies, the Rogers Cup takes place this year in Montreal, and most of the top seeds will be playing such as Victoria Azarenka, Petra Kvitova, Caroline Wozniacki, Angelique Kerber and Marion Bartoli. However last year's defending champion Serena Williams will not be playing this time as she has chosen not to compete. So this leaves this year's title up for grabs for the other seeds and anyone else who is fortunate enough to stay in. Some of the matches so far have seen one or two seeds go out already such as Jelena Jankovic, who lost to the Canadian player, Alexandra Wozniak in straight sets 6-2, 6-3, and worst of all Ana Ivanovic who suffered a double bagel rout at the hands of the Italian player, Roberta Vinci, with a crushing 6-0, 6-0 win. Most of the other top seeds are still in however, with Sam Stosur who has made it into the 3rd round after her opponent, Simona Halep retired who was trailing 5-7, 4-4. Lucie Safarova is also through after she defeated Sesil Karantantcheva 6-4, 6-4, and Sara Errani has beaten her opponent Jene Cepelova in straight sets 6-3, 6-2. Petra Kvitova had a much tougher time of it against Ksenia Pervak, but she managed to finish strong in the final set with a 4-6, 7-6, 6-0 win.
So more matches will follow on the ladies soon with Azarenka taking on the Wimbledon quarter finalist and Eastbourne champion, Tamira Paszek, Caroline Wozniacki will face Kiki Bertens, and Angelique Kerber who will face the Russian, Ekaterina Makarova. So quite a few more to go, out of all those I would quite like to see Caroline Wozniacki win through to take the title, but there quite a few heavy hitters in her way, so I can't quite see her win the title, but we will see.
However as a quick update, its good to report that Caroline Wozniacki has been playing really well in Montreal, but she has had some tough matches along the way, as she had to battle past Vervara Lepchenko of the USA, in 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, and then she overcame the home fav Alexandria Wozniak in 6-4, 6-4. However next up for Caroline will be Petra Kvitova, who has gotten back on form this week, and she has impressively been blasting her way through the opposition, as she thrashed Marion Bartoli in 6-1, 6-1, and Tamria Paszek in 6-3, 6-2. However her next match up with Caroline promises to be a really good one. Also on the other semi final match in the ladies we have Li Na take on Lucie Safarova, so on the face of it, Li Na is the favourite there but we'll see what happens. And my pick of those two would be Li Na and Petra to reach the final, either way it promises to be a good one.
Right on the men's tennis from the Rogers Cup, which is based in Toronto, as the event switches between the two cities of Montreal and Canada each year for the men's and ladies events. Novak Djokovic is the defending champion, however he will face some stern resistance in his way before he can defend his title sucessfully, as he will have to face some big hitters as well, such as Sam Querrey, and maybe even John Isner or Tomas Berdych in the final. However of the other top 10 seeds that are in the tournament, or rather where, they are three casualties, the first two were Juan Martin Del Potro and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Del Potro faced Radek Stepanek, and big Delpo was clearly feeling the effects of his efforts at the Olympics, and ended up losing in 4-6, 6-7. Tsonga also went out to his fellow Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy also in straight sets again in 4-6, 6-7 (popular score!) as he felt the fatigue of his efforts at the Olympics as well. And finally we had Andy Murray who after his victory over the Italian player, Flavio Cipolla, decided to withdraw from the tournament due to a knee injury, which he incurred after chasing down a ball in the 2nd set of his match.
So this leaves the draw a bit more wide open for Djokovic, as he now has no Murray, Tsonga, Del Potro, or even Federer (who chose not to compete anyway) to face. Perhaps the lack of competition from those seeds might be a disappointment for Djokovic, but perhaps also a relief, especially as he is just fresh off two defeats at the hands of Andy and Delpo. And can Djokovic can defend his title??? Yep I think he can, and I'm sure he will more than eager to, as it will give him a much needed boost after suffering recent losses at the French Open, Wimbledon and the Olympics. And now that Djokovic is back on hard court, he will feel more at home, so it will still be a tough draw for him to get to, but he has already gotten past Beranrd Tomic with a convincing win in 6-2, 6-3, so he looks to be making a good start.
As for Andy Murray, well I'm a bit surprised he decided to go to Toronto to play so soon after the Olympics anyway, as he had played alot of matches there, so naturally you would expect him to be suffering from a few niggles. And right enough it turned out to be the case where Andy had sustained a knee injury during the Cipolla match, but he definitely has made the right decision to withdraw from Toronto, as the last thing he wants to do is further damage to his body. And with the US Open coming up I'm sure Andy will want to be in peak condition for the final slam of the season, so he would be wise to rest up. However next up on the ATP tour will be the Cincinnati Masters, or the Western and Southern Open as its known over there, which Andy is the defending champion of. So whether or not he is ready to compete there or not we will soon find out, but the main priority for him is obviously to get fit and ready for the US Open. But playing in Cincinnati would be his last window of preparation for playing at the US Open, unless there are some exhibition matches he can play prior to going to Flushing Meadows. And of course the transition from grass to hard court will be tough for players, especially as hard court is tougher on players bodies, especially in the arms and leg joints. Anyway in the meantime, let's hope Andy's knee injury is nothing serious and that he will be fit and well to play in Cincinnati or more importantly at the US Open. Most likely however I'm sure if he isn't fit enough to play next week in Cincinnati, he will do all he can to be fit for Flushing Meadows.
Sooooo that's it for now, more to follow soon!
Monday 6 August 2012
2012 Olympic Tennis Part 5: The golden boy
Well this is the last of my posts on the 2012 Olympics tennis from Wimbledon, whch sees the conclusion of the mens and ladies singles and doubles finals so let's get to it!
So the ladies matches starting with the gold medal final between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, promised to be quite an encounter, but in the end it was nothing but a cakewalk for Serena who crushed Maria without mercy, putting on a ruthless display for the audience, and only conceding one game on her way to victory, as Serena went on to secure her golden career, by winning the one title that aluded her, the gold medal, with a brutal 6-0, 6-1 victory. This wasn't so much a match as a warm up for Serena, as Maria just couldn't get anything going as she struggled badly in the blustery conditions on court, and Serena was at her ruthless best throughout the tournament and didn't stop her either, as she dismantled the former No.1 in just over an hour. So the match itself didn't really make for that entertaining a view, as it was really just one-way traffic from Serena, and there is nothing worse than watching something like that. But overall it was a great victory for Serena so she deserved it, as she was totally dominant throughout the event.
Next up we had the bronze medal match, which was between Victoria Azarenka, the current No.1, and the Russian No.2, Maria Kirilenko. Thankfully their match was far more competitive and entertaining as the two players shared breaks in both sets, but it was ultimately Vika who came up with big points when she really needed them and she managed to serve it out for a her first ever Olympic medal, securing the bronze with a 6-3, 6-4 win. I didn't catch all of the match but from what I had seen it was pretty entertaining and Kirilenko who looked down and out at times, fought well to get herself back into the match, but in the end Vika was the better player and deserved to win, and she looked delighted after she won, she rallied the court with her nation's flag.
So onto the men's matches, starting with the bronze medal match first, which was between the two losing semi finalists, Djokovic and Del Potro. Naturally you would expect Djokovic to win here, but it was Del Potro who took the initiative and stunned the former world no.1 in a straight set victory, winning in 7-5, 6-4. This was another shock result for Djokovic, who lately seems to have been dipping off, and its like that defeat he suffered at the French Open has continued to haunt him, as he suffered the 9th loss of his season. However with the hard court season looming ahead, I'm sure Djokovic will bounce back (no pun intended!). But I was pleased for big Delpo, as he thoroughly deserved the bronze medal, especially after battling so hard against Federer in the semis, it was great he had something to show for it.
Which brings me onto the men's gold final match, which was between Roger Federer and Andy Murray, which was a rematch of their Wimbledon final. This promised to be quite a match, and this time there was no real favourite because they were both going for something they have never won before. And those odds certainly helped out Andy who after a slightly shaky start on his first service game, tore right through Federer, with a ruthless display of aggression and accuracy, as he broke twice in the opening set. Andy continued this form in the 2nd set, as he broke Fed again early on, although he did face a shaky game at 2-0, but he went on to hold, and never looked back to close out the set. In the 3rd set, Andy broke again in the 5th game, but this time Roger managed to keep it to just the single break, but this didn't stop Andy at all, and despite the fear of any last minute nerves of him serving it out for the the biggest win of his career, they didn't show as he served an ace down the T to seal his first ever Olympic gold medal, and win over Roger Federer on the centre court at Wimbledon with a quite emphatic 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 victory.
If you read this before you had even seen the match you simply wouldn't have believed it, and frankly nor would I, as the match itself had to be seen to be believe at all. And while it was going on I could scarcely believe me eyes, as Andy Murray dismantled the greatest player to have played the game, on his own favourite court no less. And while Roger was pretty subpar in the match, Andy was absolutely on fire, and it really reminded me of Djokovic's form from last year. And it wasn't a bad match at all, although it was a bit disappointing that Federer didn't get more into it, but it was morely just that Andy simply didn't let him, and any break point chances Federer had, Andy denied him them all. This match also really showed a different Andy Murray to what we have seen since, a player who was in full control of his game, going for all his shots, and just about getting them all in! His first serve percentage was still a bit low just over the 50% mark as it usually is, but the rest of his game was so sharp it didn't matter. Andy played the match of his career out there, and he obviously felt inspired by the success that his fellow GB athletes were having in the Olympics, and that must have spurred him on. He also showed no sign of nerves in serving out for the match and that alone also shows the sign of a real champ and someone who believes in himself.
It was also the perfect time to have the Olympics as well as the location of it being in London, where Andy would get the most support, and it really did help him out there too, and it was just what he needed after his tough loss to the same man 4 weeks ago. Roger Federer afterwards was gracious in defeat and said that he was happy for Andy that he was able to win the medal for Great Britain, and that he was impressed with the way he came back after his loss at Wimbledon, to win the gold medal, and that was the reaction of a champion. And that is a word I think you can safely associate with Andy now, a champion, and by winning the Olympic gold, not only has he achieved the most important win of his career, he has also won something that Djokovic and Federer may never have, which is in itself special, as only he and Rafa have won the Olympic gold. And as for Roger Federer well I didn't feel too sorry for him anyway, and he said himself that he was quite happy winning the silver medal, and he is a man who has pretty much won it all anyway, so surely its something he can deal with. In fact I think Roger once made a comment that after he lost big matches in slams, it took him about 15 or 30 minutes to get over it! (pretty quick eh???!).
Anyway this was a terrific result for Andy and over the summer I think its safe to say he's had the best two months of his career, reaching the two finals at Wimbledon, being the first British man to reach the final of the grass court major in 74 years, and winning the Olympic gold medal. I think its also safe to say that this win could very well inspire Andy to play at this level for the rest of the season, and I really am beginning to think he could win the US Open, and it would be terrific if he did, and for once it would see the four slams being shared out among the top four, which would make for a change wouldn't it? And if Rafa still isn't back in action in time for the US Open then Andy's odds just might increase in getting to the final, and he already has shown he has the mettle to beat Federer and Djokovic so its not beyond the realms of imagination that he could win. And once I got into tennis, I always thought that the US Open would be the slam that Andy would make his breakthrough at, and it might just happen this year, but we will find out.
In the meantime I think Andy deserves tremendous credit for his efforts this week and he thoroughly deserves his gold medal, and its wonderful at last to see him win a big major title, and while its not a grand slam, its definitely the next best thing. Next up for him will be the Rogers cup Masters event in Toronto, which he will start play on Wednesday 8 August, with his first opponent being the Italian player, Flavio Cipolla. And if he were to play Djokovic (who is also the defending champion), and win in the final, then this would see his ranking go up to the world no.3, so I can imagine it would give him great motivation this week, and it would be a good test to see just where his game is at on hard court, and if he can pick up where he left off from the grass courts.
However Andy's transition from the grass to hard court might be quite tricky for him in such a short space of time. And I coule be wrong and his grass season could have been just a one off for him and he may revert to struggling in the American hard court season, but something tells me different, as this could be the start of something special and it has to start somewhere. It started for Djokovic when Serbia won the Davis cup in 2010, and this just might be the springboard that Andy's career needs to get into winning the grand slams. And even if he doesn't win the US Open, if he can put in a really good performance there then it shows he is ready to compete and win in the big ones, and I really think its just now a matter of time before he does. And when he does win one, it will hopefully finally silence all of his critics and naysayers once and for all, he already will have silenced some of them with his Olympic win, but once he wins that major, then they might all get off his back. OK that's quite enough of that, I've droned on enough, but can't help it! ;-)
So quickly onto the doubles, with the men's doubles, Richard Gasquet and Julienne Benneteau won the bronze medal against David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez of Spain, and both frenchmen were estatic about their win (in fact when they embraced on the court they looked like they were making out!!). The Bryan Brothers won the gold medal against the french team of Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. And the Williams sisters won their ladies doubles gold medal against the Czeck team. And finally Andy Murray and Laura Robson, who had a chance at taking home another gold medal, just came up short in a very tight match against the Belarusian team of Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka, who beat them by a couple of points in the champions tiebreak, and so they both ended up with the silver medal. It was a pity because there were so close and I think unfortuantely due to Laura's inexperience, they missed out on a few key points when they could have won, but regardless they did great getting that far. And even in the doubles you could see just how potent and aggressive a player Andy had become as he was crunching Azarenka's returns back at her with powerful winners that rocked her off her feet! Andy also helped Laura along with her play in the mixed doubles and no doubt they fed off each others energy, just a pity they came up short though.
Right well that's that, some terrific news for Great Britain, and more importantly for Andy Murray, who after capturing the biggest title of his career so far with the Olympic gold, this should fuel him with more belief in his game and will hopefully lead to even bigger and better things.
So for the Olympics tennis posts, its been fun, but that's the lot! Bye now!
So the ladies matches starting with the gold medal final between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, promised to be quite an encounter, but in the end it was nothing but a cakewalk for Serena who crushed Maria without mercy, putting on a ruthless display for the audience, and only conceding one game on her way to victory, as Serena went on to secure her golden career, by winning the one title that aluded her, the gold medal, with a brutal 6-0, 6-1 victory. This wasn't so much a match as a warm up for Serena, as Maria just couldn't get anything going as she struggled badly in the blustery conditions on court, and Serena was at her ruthless best throughout the tournament and didn't stop her either, as she dismantled the former No.1 in just over an hour. So the match itself didn't really make for that entertaining a view, as it was really just one-way traffic from Serena, and there is nothing worse than watching something like that. But overall it was a great victory for Serena so she deserved it, as she was totally dominant throughout the event.
Next up we had the bronze medal match, which was between Victoria Azarenka, the current No.1, and the Russian No.2, Maria Kirilenko. Thankfully their match was far more competitive and entertaining as the two players shared breaks in both sets, but it was ultimately Vika who came up with big points when she really needed them and she managed to serve it out for a her first ever Olympic medal, securing the bronze with a 6-3, 6-4 win. I didn't catch all of the match but from what I had seen it was pretty entertaining and Kirilenko who looked down and out at times, fought well to get herself back into the match, but in the end Vika was the better player and deserved to win, and she looked delighted after she won, she rallied the court with her nation's flag.
So onto the men's matches, starting with the bronze medal match first, which was between the two losing semi finalists, Djokovic and Del Potro. Naturally you would expect Djokovic to win here, but it was Del Potro who took the initiative and stunned the former world no.1 in a straight set victory, winning in 7-5, 6-4. This was another shock result for Djokovic, who lately seems to have been dipping off, and its like that defeat he suffered at the French Open has continued to haunt him, as he suffered the 9th loss of his season. However with the hard court season looming ahead, I'm sure Djokovic will bounce back (no pun intended!). But I was pleased for big Delpo, as he thoroughly deserved the bronze medal, especially after battling so hard against Federer in the semis, it was great he had something to show for it.
Which brings me onto the men's gold final match, which was between Roger Federer and Andy Murray, which was a rematch of their Wimbledon final. This promised to be quite a match, and this time there was no real favourite because they were both going for something they have never won before. And those odds certainly helped out Andy who after a slightly shaky start on his first service game, tore right through Federer, with a ruthless display of aggression and accuracy, as he broke twice in the opening set. Andy continued this form in the 2nd set, as he broke Fed again early on, although he did face a shaky game at 2-0, but he went on to hold, and never looked back to close out the set. In the 3rd set, Andy broke again in the 5th game, but this time Roger managed to keep it to just the single break, but this didn't stop Andy at all, and despite the fear of any last minute nerves of him serving it out for the the biggest win of his career, they didn't show as he served an ace down the T to seal his first ever Olympic gold medal, and win over Roger Federer on the centre court at Wimbledon with a quite emphatic 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 victory.
If you read this before you had even seen the match you simply wouldn't have believed it, and frankly nor would I, as the match itself had to be seen to be believe at all. And while it was going on I could scarcely believe me eyes, as Andy Murray dismantled the greatest player to have played the game, on his own favourite court no less. And while Roger was pretty subpar in the match, Andy was absolutely on fire, and it really reminded me of Djokovic's form from last year. And it wasn't a bad match at all, although it was a bit disappointing that Federer didn't get more into it, but it was morely just that Andy simply didn't let him, and any break point chances Federer had, Andy denied him them all. This match also really showed a different Andy Murray to what we have seen since, a player who was in full control of his game, going for all his shots, and just about getting them all in! His first serve percentage was still a bit low just over the 50% mark as it usually is, but the rest of his game was so sharp it didn't matter. Andy played the match of his career out there, and he obviously felt inspired by the success that his fellow GB athletes were having in the Olympics, and that must have spurred him on. He also showed no sign of nerves in serving out for the match and that alone also shows the sign of a real champ and someone who believes in himself.
It was also the perfect time to have the Olympics as well as the location of it being in London, where Andy would get the most support, and it really did help him out there too, and it was just what he needed after his tough loss to the same man 4 weeks ago. Roger Federer afterwards was gracious in defeat and said that he was happy for Andy that he was able to win the medal for Great Britain, and that he was impressed with the way he came back after his loss at Wimbledon, to win the gold medal, and that was the reaction of a champion. And that is a word I think you can safely associate with Andy now, a champion, and by winning the Olympic gold, not only has he achieved the most important win of his career, he has also won something that Djokovic and Federer may never have, which is in itself special, as only he and Rafa have won the Olympic gold. And as for Roger Federer well I didn't feel too sorry for him anyway, and he said himself that he was quite happy winning the silver medal, and he is a man who has pretty much won it all anyway, so surely its something he can deal with. In fact I think Roger once made a comment that after he lost big matches in slams, it took him about 15 or 30 minutes to get over it! (pretty quick eh???!).
Anyway this was a terrific result for Andy and over the summer I think its safe to say he's had the best two months of his career, reaching the two finals at Wimbledon, being the first British man to reach the final of the grass court major in 74 years, and winning the Olympic gold medal. I think its also safe to say that this win could very well inspire Andy to play at this level for the rest of the season, and I really am beginning to think he could win the US Open, and it would be terrific if he did, and for once it would see the four slams being shared out among the top four, which would make for a change wouldn't it? And if Rafa still isn't back in action in time for the US Open then Andy's odds just might increase in getting to the final, and he already has shown he has the mettle to beat Federer and Djokovic so its not beyond the realms of imagination that he could win. And once I got into tennis, I always thought that the US Open would be the slam that Andy would make his breakthrough at, and it might just happen this year, but we will find out.
In the meantime I think Andy deserves tremendous credit for his efforts this week and he thoroughly deserves his gold medal, and its wonderful at last to see him win a big major title, and while its not a grand slam, its definitely the next best thing. Next up for him will be the Rogers cup Masters event in Toronto, which he will start play on Wednesday 8 August, with his first opponent being the Italian player, Flavio Cipolla. And if he were to play Djokovic (who is also the defending champion), and win in the final, then this would see his ranking go up to the world no.3, so I can imagine it would give him great motivation this week, and it would be a good test to see just where his game is at on hard court, and if he can pick up where he left off from the grass courts.
However Andy's transition from the grass to hard court might be quite tricky for him in such a short space of time. And I coule be wrong and his grass season could have been just a one off for him and he may revert to struggling in the American hard court season, but something tells me different, as this could be the start of something special and it has to start somewhere. It started for Djokovic when Serbia won the Davis cup in 2010, and this just might be the springboard that Andy's career needs to get into winning the grand slams. And even if he doesn't win the US Open, if he can put in a really good performance there then it shows he is ready to compete and win in the big ones, and I really think its just now a matter of time before he does. And when he does win one, it will hopefully finally silence all of his critics and naysayers once and for all, he already will have silenced some of them with his Olympic win, but once he wins that major, then they might all get off his back. OK that's quite enough of that, I've droned on enough, but can't help it! ;-)
So quickly onto the doubles, with the men's doubles, Richard Gasquet and Julienne Benneteau won the bronze medal against David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez of Spain, and both frenchmen were estatic about their win (in fact when they embraced on the court they looked like they were making out!!). The Bryan Brothers won the gold medal against the french team of Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. And the Williams sisters won their ladies doubles gold medal against the Czeck team. And finally Andy Murray and Laura Robson, who had a chance at taking home another gold medal, just came up short in a very tight match against the Belarusian team of Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka, who beat them by a couple of points in the champions tiebreak, and so they both ended up with the silver medal. It was a pity because there were so close and I think unfortuantely due to Laura's inexperience, they missed out on a few key points when they could have won, but regardless they did great getting that far. And even in the doubles you could see just how potent and aggressive a player Andy had become as he was crunching Azarenka's returns back at her with powerful winners that rocked her off her feet! Andy also helped Laura along with her play in the mixed doubles and no doubt they fed off each others energy, just a pity they came up short though.
Right well that's that, some terrific news for Great Britain, and more importantly for Andy Murray, who after capturing the biggest title of his career so far with the Olympic gold, this should fuel him with more belief in his game and will hopefully lead to even bigger and better things.
So for the Olympics tennis posts, its been fun, but that's the lot! Bye now!
Friday 3 August 2012
2012 Olympics tennis part 4: NOW it get's exciting!!
Righty-ho well that's the 2012 Olympics tennis semi finals matches over with and what a day it was out there on centre court at Wimbledon, so let's start with the ladies matches.
OK starting with the two Ruskies, Maria Sharapova and Kirilenko who went at it for a place in the final for the Olympic gold. The match itself while I didn't see much of it, from what I gather from the commentators was that it was quite competitive and entertaining, but for most of the match Sharapova dominated the proceedings and was in control. And in the end it was Sharapova that came through in straight sets in 6-2, 6-3, to compete for her first ever career olympic gold medal. The second match of the day was between the current world No.1 Victoria Azarenka and the current Wimbledon champion, Serena Williams. The match promised to be quite a cracker, but unfortunately for Vika it was nothing but a total rout, as Serena totally outplayed her from the first point to the last, breaking twice in both sets, and securing her place in the final to compete for the Olympic gold, with a 6-1, 6-2 win.
So its a showdown between two former World No.1s and it promises to be quite a match, although given Serena's frighteningly good form throughout the Olympics, its hard to imagine anyone but her wearing that gold medal tomorrow. Sharapova definitely has the chops to give Serena a match, but as we know she can be really prone to making errors and serving double faults, so she really will have to be on the top of her game to have any chance whatsoever. But overall the favourite has to be Serena and I think she can win it in straight sets, and I hope that Maria's sake that it isn't a dead easy one-sided victory for Serena, as there is nothing more boring than watching a match that is just one way traffic. So here's to the ladies for ramorra and let's hope they give the crowd a really entertaining match that isn't less than an hour!
Right onto the men's matches which were much more competitive (and lengthy!) with the first match being between Roger Federer and Juan Martin Del Potro. This match promised to be a cracker and it turned out to be just that, as Federer played one of the toughest matches of his career in trying to take Del Potro, with the big Argentine who made Fed work for every single point, and he took the first set. The second set went by serve until Federer won the tiebreak to level the match, and in the 3rd set both men went at it hammer and tongs, giving each other absolutely nothing. At 9-10 on Del Potro's serve, Federer finally broke to serve for the match, but Del Potro instantly broke back, and things went on serve up until 18-17 when Del Potro served to make it 18-18, when he finally capitulated on serve and Federer seized his chance to break and win the match, which ranked as the longest Olympic tennis match in history, with an exhaustive 3-6, 7-6, 19-17 scoreline.
This was quite a remarkable battle from both players and this match easily was one of the highlights of the tournament, and Del Potro played a terrific part in the match as he put Federer under extreme pressure on his own serve more times than I'd care to remember. But Federer proved once again just why he is the greatest player of all time, and held his nerve, resolve, and kept fighting until he got the crucial break and seal the win, to see him reach his first Olympic gold medal final.
So onto the second men's semi final match which was the most anticipated match of the day as the British No.1, Andy Murray took on the former World No.1, Novak Djokovic for a place in the gold medal final. And despite Djokovic being the slight favourite here, it was Andy that came out the stronger, playing highly aggressive tennis, and firing on all cylinders, and despite a few tense moments on his own serve,Andy managed to pressure Djoko's more as he broke at 6-5 to take the first set. In the 2nd set, Andy faced more break points but he saved them all on his own serve, and once again at 6-5 with Djoko serving to take it into a tiebreak, he faltered for the last time on his serve to end his Olympic gold dream and hand Andy his place in the gold medal final, with a 7-5, 7-5 victory.
This easily had to be one of the finest matches of Andy's career, and it was finally a sweet revenge for his loss to Djokovic at the Australian Open semi final earlier this year. From the get go Andy looked utterly determined to win the match and he played some of his best tennis and was aggressive on nearly every point. The match itself was one of the highlights of the tournament as well and it easily had to be the most exciting match of the lot, with both players playing some superb tennis for the packed out crowd, and Andy himself playing some miraculous tennis at times, he even did a Boris Becker dive on the court to win a point! After the match again we saw just how much the victory meant to Andy as his face was filled with emotion and he made those familiar gestures to the sky with his fingers (wonder what that's about!) and then did a Tsonga like leap into the air, punching his fist, grinning ear to ear. As for Djokovic well I did feel a bit sorry for him as he looked at times in the match like a beaten man, which is very unlike him, but clearly he was frustrated with some of the unforced errors he made, also he probably felt the pressure of the home crowd against him. It also had seen Djokovic fail to achieve his second goal of the year, to win the Olympic gold, as he was also beaten in the French Open final by Rafa. Its almost like that loss in the French Open has dented his confidence a bit, and so far we have seen a different Djokovic than last year.
But for Andy its been a magnificent victory and it also gives him a chance for revenge against Federer in the final, after he lost Roger in the Wimbledon championships final four weeks ago. And some people, myself included, probably thought that after his loss at Wimbledon, that might not have gotten this far, but he has once again proved them wrong, and in doing so he has also defeated one of the top two players in the world. And all he needs to do now is defeat Roger in the final on Sunday, which is going to be incredibly tough but this time I think he can do it, and with Roger having played such an exhaustive match today against Del Potro, Andy will be the fresher of the two on the day. However Fed isn't the world No.1 for nothing, and even after a long long match like he played today, he can still dig deep from his reservoir of belief and turn things around to win. So it wouldn't surprise me at all if Federer does win on Sunday, and he is the one guy that can deal with any situation and any pressure that is thrown his way. Andy is also in action on Satuday playing the mixed doubles with Laura Robson and they are doing a great job as they are now into the semi finals, after a tight victory against the Aussie team of Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Stosur in 6-3, 3-6, 10-8. And its great to report that Andy and Laura have won their semi finals match to reach the gold medal final, after they battled it out with the German team, winning ultimately in 6-1, 6-7, 10-7. So that is two finals Andy will play in on Sunday, here's hoping he can win one of them, or even better both, but I think we all know which one he'd rather win.
So Andy will have his chances on Sunday and he looks more than ever like he believes in himself and that he can do this, and after his superb performance in the semi final match against Djokovic, I think his chances have increased dramatically. And this would be one of the best chances for revenge for Andy that he will ever have, in that they are both competing for something they have never won, so there will be nerves on both sides. As for the match itself, how will it go I think???? Well its going to be a tough one that's for sure, and as its the Olympics gold medal final, it will be the best of 5 sets, it could go the distance, and I do think if Andy will win it will be in 5 sets, whereas with Roger it will be in 4 or 5 sets (not straight sets this time!). But whichever way it goes, it promises to be a terrific final, and just maybe one of the matches of the year, and even if Andy loses, he will have the silver medal, which is still a terrific achievement, but he wants to go all the way, and here's hoping he does, and he already is in line to have won something Djokovic hasn't!
And in my opinion Andy deserves it more because he has fought so hard throughout his career and been denied so much by the same three guys, especially in the majors, and its about time he got payback for all those tough losses. And one thing is for sure, throughout the Olympics, Andy looks like a man who believes in himself and he will do all he can to get that gold medal on Sunday, and I have to say this week alone he has played the best tennis I have ever seen him play.
As for the guy's bronze medal match, well we have another cracker lined up with Novak Djokovic set to face Juan Martin Del Potro, although this match will be the best of 3 sets as opposed to 5 (but still no tiebreak in the final set). And for that match, well Djokovic is naturally the favourite to win, but I would quite like to see Delpo win this one, especially as he battled so hard against Federer in their semi final match, and after such an effort he deserves a medal, but I think Djokovic will win it in 3. But it promises to be a great match either way.
Soooo on that exciting note I will leave it there.
OK starting with the two Ruskies, Maria Sharapova and Kirilenko who went at it for a place in the final for the Olympic gold. The match itself while I didn't see much of it, from what I gather from the commentators was that it was quite competitive and entertaining, but for most of the match Sharapova dominated the proceedings and was in control. And in the end it was Sharapova that came through in straight sets in 6-2, 6-3, to compete for her first ever career olympic gold medal. The second match of the day was between the current world No.1 Victoria Azarenka and the current Wimbledon champion, Serena Williams. The match promised to be quite a cracker, but unfortunately for Vika it was nothing but a total rout, as Serena totally outplayed her from the first point to the last, breaking twice in both sets, and securing her place in the final to compete for the Olympic gold, with a 6-1, 6-2 win.
So its a showdown between two former World No.1s and it promises to be quite a match, although given Serena's frighteningly good form throughout the Olympics, its hard to imagine anyone but her wearing that gold medal tomorrow. Sharapova definitely has the chops to give Serena a match, but as we know she can be really prone to making errors and serving double faults, so she really will have to be on the top of her game to have any chance whatsoever. But overall the favourite has to be Serena and I think she can win it in straight sets, and I hope that Maria's sake that it isn't a dead easy one-sided victory for Serena, as there is nothing more boring than watching a match that is just one way traffic. So here's to the ladies for ramorra and let's hope they give the crowd a really entertaining match that isn't less than an hour!
Right onto the men's matches which were much more competitive (and lengthy!) with the first match being between Roger Federer and Juan Martin Del Potro. This match promised to be a cracker and it turned out to be just that, as Federer played one of the toughest matches of his career in trying to take Del Potro, with the big Argentine who made Fed work for every single point, and he took the first set. The second set went by serve until Federer won the tiebreak to level the match, and in the 3rd set both men went at it hammer and tongs, giving each other absolutely nothing. At 9-10 on Del Potro's serve, Federer finally broke to serve for the match, but Del Potro instantly broke back, and things went on serve up until 18-17 when Del Potro served to make it 18-18, when he finally capitulated on serve and Federer seized his chance to break and win the match, which ranked as the longest Olympic tennis match in history, with an exhaustive 3-6, 7-6, 19-17 scoreline.
This was quite a remarkable battle from both players and this match easily was one of the highlights of the tournament, and Del Potro played a terrific part in the match as he put Federer under extreme pressure on his own serve more times than I'd care to remember. But Federer proved once again just why he is the greatest player of all time, and held his nerve, resolve, and kept fighting until he got the crucial break and seal the win, to see him reach his first Olympic gold medal final.
So onto the second men's semi final match which was the most anticipated match of the day as the British No.1, Andy Murray took on the former World No.1, Novak Djokovic for a place in the gold medal final. And despite Djokovic being the slight favourite here, it was Andy that came out the stronger, playing highly aggressive tennis, and firing on all cylinders, and despite a few tense moments on his own serve,Andy managed to pressure Djoko's more as he broke at 6-5 to take the first set. In the 2nd set, Andy faced more break points but he saved them all on his own serve, and once again at 6-5 with Djoko serving to take it into a tiebreak, he faltered for the last time on his serve to end his Olympic gold dream and hand Andy his place in the gold medal final, with a 7-5, 7-5 victory.
This easily had to be one of the finest matches of Andy's career, and it was finally a sweet revenge for his loss to Djokovic at the Australian Open semi final earlier this year. From the get go Andy looked utterly determined to win the match and he played some of his best tennis and was aggressive on nearly every point. The match itself was one of the highlights of the tournament as well and it easily had to be the most exciting match of the lot, with both players playing some superb tennis for the packed out crowd, and Andy himself playing some miraculous tennis at times, he even did a Boris Becker dive on the court to win a point! After the match again we saw just how much the victory meant to Andy as his face was filled with emotion and he made those familiar gestures to the sky with his fingers (wonder what that's about!) and then did a Tsonga like leap into the air, punching his fist, grinning ear to ear. As for Djokovic well I did feel a bit sorry for him as he looked at times in the match like a beaten man, which is very unlike him, but clearly he was frustrated with some of the unforced errors he made, also he probably felt the pressure of the home crowd against him. It also had seen Djokovic fail to achieve his second goal of the year, to win the Olympic gold, as he was also beaten in the French Open final by Rafa. Its almost like that loss in the French Open has dented his confidence a bit, and so far we have seen a different Djokovic than last year.
But for Andy its been a magnificent victory and it also gives him a chance for revenge against Federer in the final, after he lost Roger in the Wimbledon championships final four weeks ago. And some people, myself included, probably thought that after his loss at Wimbledon, that might not have gotten this far, but he has once again proved them wrong, and in doing so he has also defeated one of the top two players in the world. And all he needs to do now is defeat Roger in the final on Sunday, which is going to be incredibly tough but this time I think he can do it, and with Roger having played such an exhaustive match today against Del Potro, Andy will be the fresher of the two on the day. However Fed isn't the world No.1 for nothing, and even after a long long match like he played today, he can still dig deep from his reservoir of belief and turn things around to win. So it wouldn't surprise me at all if Federer does win on Sunday, and he is the one guy that can deal with any situation and any pressure that is thrown his way. Andy is also in action on Satuday playing the mixed doubles with Laura Robson and they are doing a great job as they are now into the semi finals, after a tight victory against the Aussie team of Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Stosur in 6-3, 3-6, 10-8. And its great to report that Andy and Laura have won their semi finals match to reach the gold medal final, after they battled it out with the German team, winning ultimately in 6-1, 6-7, 10-7. So that is two finals Andy will play in on Sunday, here's hoping he can win one of them, or even better both, but I think we all know which one he'd rather win.
So Andy will have his chances on Sunday and he looks more than ever like he believes in himself and that he can do this, and after his superb performance in the semi final match against Djokovic, I think his chances have increased dramatically. And this would be one of the best chances for revenge for Andy that he will ever have, in that they are both competing for something they have never won, so there will be nerves on both sides. As for the match itself, how will it go I think???? Well its going to be a tough one that's for sure, and as its the Olympics gold medal final, it will be the best of 5 sets, it could go the distance, and I do think if Andy will win it will be in 5 sets, whereas with Roger it will be in 4 or 5 sets (not straight sets this time!). But whichever way it goes, it promises to be a terrific final, and just maybe one of the matches of the year, and even if Andy loses, he will have the silver medal, which is still a terrific achievement, but he wants to go all the way, and here's hoping he does, and he already is in line to have won something Djokovic hasn't!
And in my opinion Andy deserves it more because he has fought so hard throughout his career and been denied so much by the same three guys, especially in the majors, and its about time he got payback for all those tough losses. And one thing is for sure, throughout the Olympics, Andy looks like a man who believes in himself and he will do all he can to get that gold medal on Sunday, and I have to say this week alone he has played the best tennis I have ever seen him play.
As for the guy's bronze medal match, well we have another cracker lined up with Novak Djokovic set to face Juan Martin Del Potro, although this match will be the best of 3 sets as opposed to 5 (but still no tiebreak in the final set). And for that match, well Djokovic is naturally the favourite to win, but I would quite like to see Delpo win this one, especially as he battled so hard against Federer in their semi final match, and after such an effort he deserves a medal, but I think Djokovic will win it in 3. But it promises to be a great match either way.
Soooo on that exciting note I will leave it there.
2012 Olympics Tennis Part 3: Case scenarios
Welll here we are getting to last four of the Olympics tennis from Wimbledon for the men's and ladies events, so here is more on that as I dissect the quarter finals matches.
Starting as usual with the ladies, first up we had last year's Wimbledon champion, Petra Kvitova take on the Russian No.3, Maria Kirilenko, however it was Kirilenko that emerged victorious, by upsetting the World No.6 in straight sets 7-6, 6-3. This was another surprise upset for Petra and after such a great year last year, Petra has struggled her consistency this year in winning the majors or any other titles, so this shows that maybe she is starting to go on a bit of a downward turn, which is a pity as it would be great to see her rise up the rankings again. Next up Serena Williams played the former World. No.1, Caroline Wozniacki for a place in the semi finals, but she had trouble getting past the Dane, as she thrashed her opponent in emphatic fashion with a 6-0, 6-3 win. So far Serena has proved to be the hot favourite to win the gold medal and her form at the Olympics has been frighteningly good so far, as she has barely conceded more than 5 games in a match, which is a scary stat. After this we had Victoria Azarenka play Angelique Kerber, which promised to be quite a tough match and it proved to be just that, as Kerber put in a gutsy performance, breaking back several times throughout the match, but in the end Victoria had just about too much for her, and emerged the winner after a 6-4, 7-5 win. And finally in what promised to be the match of the day, we had Maria Sharapova take on Kim Clijsters, however for the fist set Maria made short work of Kim, breaking twice to win the first set. The second set however was more competitive as Kim after going a break down, broke back, and at 5-5, with Kim serving, Maria broke and went on to close out he match with a 6-2, 7-5 win to secure her place in the semi finals.
So this sees a showdown between Maria's Sharapova and Kirilenko, which let's face it is going to be a really noisy one, and Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka. My pick of those two matches natually will be Sharapova and Serena as the winners, but hopefully both matches will be really good ones, but I'd imagine the best one might be Sharapova vs Kirilenko, hopefully Victoria can given Serena a match as well, but the odds are firmly stacked in Serena's favour on that one. And here's hoping it will be a Serena and Maria showdown for the gold medal, but I think Serena will win, and if Vika plays Kirilenko then Vika will win, so I predict Serena for gold, Maria for silver and Vika for bronze. But we shall see, whatever it goes, it promises to be an interesting day today.
Right now onto the men, which first up we had Andy Murray take on the Spanish No.3, Nicolas Almagro, who as it turned out was no match for the British No.1. Almagro was also hampered by a shoulder injury, and despite putting in good in the first set, but losing by a break, Andy proceeded to wipe out Almagro in the 2nd set, and put him out of his misery to seal his place in the semis witha 6-4, 6-1 win. Next up we had Novak Djokovic play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, this match promised to be a real cracker, however probably due to fatigue after his lengthy match with Raonic, Tsonga looked under cooked as he was broken twice in the 1st set by Djoko, however in the 2nd things got tighter, as Tsonga broke Djoko. But Djokovic being the player he is, held his nerve and dug deep to level the scores and broke Tsonga to make it 6-5, and serve it out with ease for a place in the semis with Andy Murray. After that we had Juan Martin Del Potro who was up against one of his Wimbledon opponents, Kei Nishikori, and once again he emerged victorious with a straight sets win in 6-4, 7-6. And finally in what proved to be the match of the day on the men's we had Roger Federer take on John Isner, with the Fed being put under pressure by the big yin constantly on serve. But Roger held his iron nerves to break in the opening set, however in the 2nd, things were even pegged until the tie break, and by a cruelt twist of fate, Roger at match point returned Isner's serve, with a net cord, to secure a place in the semis against Del Potro, with a 6-4, 7-6(5) victory.
So that sets up a mouth watering semi final showdown between four of the world's best players, Federer vs Del Potro, and Djokovic vs Murray. My pick out of those two matches??? Well for the first match, I'd really have to go with Roger, as Delpo hasn't been able to beat Roger all year, or since their 2009 US Open final, plus he is the World No.1, and is back to playing his best tennis, so for me his place in the final is already booked. As for the other match, well its difficult to say, especially considering Andy's form on grass, and he has a strong chance here, but I think that Djokovic just might edge it, given his slam experience, however it could go either way, so its 50/50 on this one.
But in regards to Andy there are a few scenarios here, the best scenario of all is that Del Potro beats Roger, and he beats Djokovic for a place in the final, and if that happens then Andy is sure to win a gold medal. Or Djokovic could beat Andy to leave him with a chance to win the bronze medal, either against Federer or Del Potro, and out of those two I'd much rather see Andy play Del Potro, as he will have a stronger chance of winning the medal. And personally I would be quite happy to see Andy win the bronze medal if he was to lose today, and if he plays Del Potro, I think it could be a great match, especially as they haven't played each other for quite a while. But the worst case scenario would be that if Andy and Federer both lose today then I would be almost certain that Andy would be guaranteed to lose the bronze medal match, and he would leave empty handed, which is the last thing I want to see. There is also the possibility we could have another Andy and Roger final like we did four weeks ago, and there Andy will have his chances, but there is a strong chance he could end up losing again, to garner a silver medal. But on a personal level I'd much rather see Andy win the gold or the bronze, because either way he has won the match, rather than lost it.
Sooooooo it promises to be a very exciting day in the mens and ladies semi finals matches, which way it goes we will soon find out.
And on that note I will leave it there!
Starting as usual with the ladies, first up we had last year's Wimbledon champion, Petra Kvitova take on the Russian No.3, Maria Kirilenko, however it was Kirilenko that emerged victorious, by upsetting the World No.6 in straight sets 7-6, 6-3. This was another surprise upset for Petra and after such a great year last year, Petra has struggled her consistency this year in winning the majors or any other titles, so this shows that maybe she is starting to go on a bit of a downward turn, which is a pity as it would be great to see her rise up the rankings again. Next up Serena Williams played the former World. No.1, Caroline Wozniacki for a place in the semi finals, but she had trouble getting past the Dane, as she thrashed her opponent in emphatic fashion with a 6-0, 6-3 win. So far Serena has proved to be the hot favourite to win the gold medal and her form at the Olympics has been frighteningly good so far, as she has barely conceded more than 5 games in a match, which is a scary stat. After this we had Victoria Azarenka play Angelique Kerber, which promised to be quite a tough match and it proved to be just that, as Kerber put in a gutsy performance, breaking back several times throughout the match, but in the end Victoria had just about too much for her, and emerged the winner after a 6-4, 7-5 win. And finally in what promised to be the match of the day, we had Maria Sharapova take on Kim Clijsters, however for the fist set Maria made short work of Kim, breaking twice to win the first set. The second set however was more competitive as Kim after going a break down, broke back, and at 5-5, with Kim serving, Maria broke and went on to close out he match with a 6-2, 7-5 win to secure her place in the semi finals.
So this sees a showdown between Maria's Sharapova and Kirilenko, which let's face it is going to be a really noisy one, and Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka. My pick of those two matches natually will be Sharapova and Serena as the winners, but hopefully both matches will be really good ones, but I'd imagine the best one might be Sharapova vs Kirilenko, hopefully Victoria can given Serena a match as well, but the odds are firmly stacked in Serena's favour on that one. And here's hoping it will be a Serena and Maria showdown for the gold medal, but I think Serena will win, and if Vika plays Kirilenko then Vika will win, so I predict Serena for gold, Maria for silver and Vika for bronze. But we shall see, whatever it goes, it promises to be an interesting day today.
Right now onto the men, which first up we had Andy Murray take on the Spanish No.3, Nicolas Almagro, who as it turned out was no match for the British No.1. Almagro was also hampered by a shoulder injury, and despite putting in good in the first set, but losing by a break, Andy proceeded to wipe out Almagro in the 2nd set, and put him out of his misery to seal his place in the semis witha 6-4, 6-1 win. Next up we had Novak Djokovic play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, this match promised to be a real cracker, however probably due to fatigue after his lengthy match with Raonic, Tsonga looked under cooked as he was broken twice in the 1st set by Djoko, however in the 2nd things got tighter, as Tsonga broke Djoko. But Djokovic being the player he is, held his nerve and dug deep to level the scores and broke Tsonga to make it 6-5, and serve it out with ease for a place in the semis with Andy Murray. After that we had Juan Martin Del Potro who was up against one of his Wimbledon opponents, Kei Nishikori, and once again he emerged victorious with a straight sets win in 6-4, 7-6. And finally in what proved to be the match of the day on the men's we had Roger Federer take on John Isner, with the Fed being put under pressure by the big yin constantly on serve. But Roger held his iron nerves to break in the opening set, however in the 2nd, things were even pegged until the tie break, and by a cruelt twist of fate, Roger at match point returned Isner's serve, with a net cord, to secure a place in the semis against Del Potro, with a 6-4, 7-6(5) victory.
So that sets up a mouth watering semi final showdown between four of the world's best players, Federer vs Del Potro, and Djokovic vs Murray. My pick out of those two matches??? Well for the first match, I'd really have to go with Roger, as Delpo hasn't been able to beat Roger all year, or since their 2009 US Open final, plus he is the World No.1, and is back to playing his best tennis, so for me his place in the final is already booked. As for the other match, well its difficult to say, especially considering Andy's form on grass, and he has a strong chance here, but I think that Djokovic just might edge it, given his slam experience, however it could go either way, so its 50/50 on this one.
But in regards to Andy there are a few scenarios here, the best scenario of all is that Del Potro beats Roger, and he beats Djokovic for a place in the final, and if that happens then Andy is sure to win a gold medal. Or Djokovic could beat Andy to leave him with a chance to win the bronze medal, either against Federer or Del Potro, and out of those two I'd much rather see Andy play Del Potro, as he will have a stronger chance of winning the medal. And personally I would be quite happy to see Andy win the bronze medal if he was to lose today, and if he plays Del Potro, I think it could be a great match, especially as they haven't played each other for quite a while. But the worst case scenario would be that if Andy and Federer both lose today then I would be almost certain that Andy would be guaranteed to lose the bronze medal match, and he would leave empty handed, which is the last thing I want to see. There is also the possibility we could have another Andy and Roger final like we did four weeks ago, and there Andy will have his chances, but there is a strong chance he could end up losing again, to garner a silver medal. But on a personal level I'd much rather see Andy win the gold or the bronze, because either way he has won the match, rather than lost it.
Sooooooo it promises to be a very exciting day in the mens and ladies semi finals matches, which way it goes we will soon find out.
And on that note I will leave it there!
Thursday 2 August 2012
2012 Olympics Tennis Part 2: Getting down to business
Well I've finally got round to a doing a catch up post on the tennis at the 2012 Olympics from Wimbledon, and there have been plenty of cracking matches this week so here's an update on them.
Starting with the ladies, there has been several matches since that have been more than worthy of attention. First up was a major upset in the first round as we saw the No.2 seed, Agnieszka Radwanska go out to the German player, Julia Goerges, who hit the Pole off the court, but it was far from easy as the two battled it out over 3 sets, with the score finally reading 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. This was a real surprise and as the Wimbledon finalist, it made me wonder if Aga had a case of the post-slam blues, but anyway that's her out with plenty more seeds left in.
Serena Williams however had no such trouble as she has blasted her away through the opposition so far, thrashing Jelena Jankovic, Ursula Radwanska (Aga's younger sister), and worst of all Vera Zvonareva in straight sets, with Vera coming away with only one game to her name, 6-1, 6-0. Caroline Wozniacki however has had a tougher passage to the quarter finals of the Olympics, having to beat Anne Keothavong and Yanina Wickmayer in 3 sets (both excellent matches), which has more than made up for her first round exit at the Wimbledon championships, but she managed to defeat Daniella Hantuchova in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, to set up a meeting with Serena Williams, which hopefully promises to be a good one, but I think we all know the winner already!
Kim Clijsters also has had a pretty straight forward passage into the quarter finals, defeating Robert Vinci, Carla Suarez Navarro, and Ana Ivanovic in straight sets to set up a mouth watering meeting with Maria Sharapova, which promises to be a cracker. Maria Sharapova has had a tougher time of it, having faced a plucky Laura Robson in second round, she overcame the young Brit in 7-6, 6-3, but it took more than that to get by the German, Sabine Lisicki, as she battled it out over 3 sets, but ultimately winning in 6-7, 6-4, 6-3. Victoria Azarenka also has had a fairly tough passage to the quarter finals, beating the tricky Roumanian player, Irina-Camela Begu in 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, after an easy second round, she faced Nadia Petrova, eventually prevailing in 7-6, 6-4. Vika will now go on and face Angelique Kerber, which promises to be another really good match, as they played a high quality match earlier in the year at Indian Wells.
On the Brits side of things however for the ladies, they haven't had much luck sadly, after reaching the 2nd round, Elena Baltacha went out to Ana Ivanovic, but it was a really good match, with Elena playing some excellent tennis, but in the end Ana came through in 6-4, 7-6. Heather Watson also fell at the 2nd hurdle, as she met the Russian player Maria Kirilenko, 14th seed, who defeated Heather emphatically in 6-3, 6-2. And as already mentioned Laura Robson went out against Maria Sharapova in another gutsy match, losing in straight sets. However Laura still will be involved in the doubles this week, as she has teamed up with Andy Murray for the mixed doubles tomorrow, which should be interesting.
Right onto the guys, there have been plenty of interesting developments, starting with Roger Federer who in the 2nd round faced Julien Benneteau, who he had a really tough match with back in the championships. However this time it couldn't be more different as Federer steamrolled over the Frenchman, conceding only four games, winning in under an hour in 6-2, 6-2. Today however Roger had a tougher match against the Kazhak, Denis Istomin, but won in straight sets 7-5, 6-3, which now sets up his quarter final match against the giant John Isner, who should be a tough one, and well worth watching.
Novak Djokovic also so far has had a tough passage, starting with the Italian player, Fabio Fognini, Djoko dropped the opening set, and after a lengthy rain delay, he eventually found his form, breaking Fabio twice in the 2nd set, and the same in the 3rd to win 6-7, 6-2, 6-2. However he had an easy time getting past Andy Roddick, which we all thought would have been a really competitive match, but in the end, Djokovic gubbed him in 6-2, 6-1. In the 3rd round, Djokovic had another scare as he faced the former Wimbledon champion, Lleyton Hewitt, whom he had to battle with to win in 3 sets in 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. Juan Martin Del Potro hasn't the easiest of times getting this far either, as after an easy first round against the Croat, Ivan Dodig, he met with Andreas Seppi, who he beat in 6-2, 7-6, and his toughest match was with Gilles Simon in the 3rd round, in which he eventually won in 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
But the match of the week so far on the men's tournament has been Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Milos Raonic, the big serving Canadian. After the two men levelled the match at a set all, the decider was an epic which went on for nearly two hours, as both men tried to break serve, and with Tsonga even having a few match points. But it wasn't until the scoreline was 24-23 (with Raonic serving to make it 24-24), that the big Canadian finally capitulated on serve, handing a historic victory to Tsonga, as they played the longest match in Olympic tennis history, at just under four hours, with a score of 6-3, 3-6, 25-23.
Now finally onto Andy Murray, who after the disappointing and emotional loss at the Wimbledon championships a few weeks back, has continued his great form at the Olympics. In the first two rounds, Andy dispatched both Stan Wawrinka and Jarko Nieminen in straight sets, showing that he is still in fine fettle. However in the 3rd round he had a much tougher opponent in Marcos Baghdatis, as Andy dropped his serve to let Baghdatis take the opening set, in the 2nd however, Andy got back into the match, breaking the Cypriot twice to level the match. And in the decider, Andy got the decisive break, and with some impressive serving he put Baghdatis down, to secure a place in the quarter finals, with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory.
So that's the Muzza into the quarter finals at the Olympics for the first time, and when we saw his reaction after his victory, you knew just how much it means to him to try and win an Olympic medal. Wimbledon so far has been very kind to Andy, despite his loss in the slam, he has proven that his relationship with Ivan Lendl really is starting to pay off, and we are starting to really see a change in his demeanour on court (although Lendl was nowhere to be seen this week on court!). No longer do we see the whinning and whinging Andy Murray of old, now he is more focused, determined, and mentally stronger than before, and he deals with the pressure so much better in the big events. So will he win a medal??? In my opinion absolutely. I'm not sure that Andy can win the Olympic gold, although it would be terrific if he did, but he still has to face possibly Djokovic in the semis and possibly Federer in the final before he has a chance to wear that much desired medal, so its not going to be easy by any stretch of the old imagination. But I really do believe he has a good chance at winning the Olympic bronze or silver at least, and it would be great if he could walk away from this event with a medal to his name.
Soooooo after that exhaustive post, that's it for now, more to follow as the matches come in.
Bye the now!
Starting with the ladies, there has been several matches since that have been more than worthy of attention. First up was a major upset in the first round as we saw the No.2 seed, Agnieszka Radwanska go out to the German player, Julia Goerges, who hit the Pole off the court, but it was far from easy as the two battled it out over 3 sets, with the score finally reading 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. This was a real surprise and as the Wimbledon finalist, it made me wonder if Aga had a case of the post-slam blues, but anyway that's her out with plenty more seeds left in.
Serena Williams however had no such trouble as she has blasted her away through the opposition so far, thrashing Jelena Jankovic, Ursula Radwanska (Aga's younger sister), and worst of all Vera Zvonareva in straight sets, with Vera coming away with only one game to her name, 6-1, 6-0. Caroline Wozniacki however has had a tougher passage to the quarter finals of the Olympics, having to beat Anne Keothavong and Yanina Wickmayer in 3 sets (both excellent matches), which has more than made up for her first round exit at the Wimbledon championships, but she managed to defeat Daniella Hantuchova in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, to set up a meeting with Serena Williams, which hopefully promises to be a good one, but I think we all know the winner already!
Kim Clijsters also has had a pretty straight forward passage into the quarter finals, defeating Robert Vinci, Carla Suarez Navarro, and Ana Ivanovic in straight sets to set up a mouth watering meeting with Maria Sharapova, which promises to be a cracker. Maria Sharapova has had a tougher time of it, having faced a plucky Laura Robson in second round, she overcame the young Brit in 7-6, 6-3, but it took more than that to get by the German, Sabine Lisicki, as she battled it out over 3 sets, but ultimately winning in 6-7, 6-4, 6-3. Victoria Azarenka also has had a fairly tough passage to the quarter finals, beating the tricky Roumanian player, Irina-Camela Begu in 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, after an easy second round, she faced Nadia Petrova, eventually prevailing in 7-6, 6-4. Vika will now go on and face Angelique Kerber, which promises to be another really good match, as they played a high quality match earlier in the year at Indian Wells.
On the Brits side of things however for the ladies, they haven't had much luck sadly, after reaching the 2nd round, Elena Baltacha went out to Ana Ivanovic, but it was a really good match, with Elena playing some excellent tennis, but in the end Ana came through in 6-4, 7-6. Heather Watson also fell at the 2nd hurdle, as she met the Russian player Maria Kirilenko, 14th seed, who defeated Heather emphatically in 6-3, 6-2. And as already mentioned Laura Robson went out against Maria Sharapova in another gutsy match, losing in straight sets. However Laura still will be involved in the doubles this week, as she has teamed up with Andy Murray for the mixed doubles tomorrow, which should be interesting.
Right onto the guys, there have been plenty of interesting developments, starting with Roger Federer who in the 2nd round faced Julien Benneteau, who he had a really tough match with back in the championships. However this time it couldn't be more different as Federer steamrolled over the Frenchman, conceding only four games, winning in under an hour in 6-2, 6-2. Today however Roger had a tougher match against the Kazhak, Denis Istomin, but won in straight sets 7-5, 6-3, which now sets up his quarter final match against the giant John Isner, who should be a tough one, and well worth watching.
Novak Djokovic also so far has had a tough passage, starting with the Italian player, Fabio Fognini, Djoko dropped the opening set, and after a lengthy rain delay, he eventually found his form, breaking Fabio twice in the 2nd set, and the same in the 3rd to win 6-7, 6-2, 6-2. However he had an easy time getting past Andy Roddick, which we all thought would have been a really competitive match, but in the end, Djokovic gubbed him in 6-2, 6-1. In the 3rd round, Djokovic had another scare as he faced the former Wimbledon champion, Lleyton Hewitt, whom he had to battle with to win in 3 sets in 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. Juan Martin Del Potro hasn't the easiest of times getting this far either, as after an easy first round against the Croat, Ivan Dodig, he met with Andreas Seppi, who he beat in 6-2, 7-6, and his toughest match was with Gilles Simon in the 3rd round, in which he eventually won in 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
But the match of the week so far on the men's tournament has been Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Milos Raonic, the big serving Canadian. After the two men levelled the match at a set all, the decider was an epic which went on for nearly two hours, as both men tried to break serve, and with Tsonga even having a few match points. But it wasn't until the scoreline was 24-23 (with Raonic serving to make it 24-24), that the big Canadian finally capitulated on serve, handing a historic victory to Tsonga, as they played the longest match in Olympic tennis history, at just under four hours, with a score of 6-3, 3-6, 25-23.
Now finally onto Andy Murray, who after the disappointing and emotional loss at the Wimbledon championships a few weeks back, has continued his great form at the Olympics. In the first two rounds, Andy dispatched both Stan Wawrinka and Jarko Nieminen in straight sets, showing that he is still in fine fettle. However in the 3rd round he had a much tougher opponent in Marcos Baghdatis, as Andy dropped his serve to let Baghdatis take the opening set, in the 2nd however, Andy got back into the match, breaking the Cypriot twice to level the match. And in the decider, Andy got the decisive break, and with some impressive serving he put Baghdatis down, to secure a place in the quarter finals, with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory.
So that's the Muzza into the quarter finals at the Olympics for the first time, and when we saw his reaction after his victory, you knew just how much it means to him to try and win an Olympic medal. Wimbledon so far has been very kind to Andy, despite his loss in the slam, he has proven that his relationship with Ivan Lendl really is starting to pay off, and we are starting to really see a change in his demeanour on court (although Lendl was nowhere to be seen this week on court!). No longer do we see the whinning and whinging Andy Murray of old, now he is more focused, determined, and mentally stronger than before, and he deals with the pressure so much better in the big events. So will he win a medal??? In my opinion absolutely. I'm not sure that Andy can win the Olympic gold, although it would be terrific if he did, but he still has to face possibly Djokovic in the semis and possibly Federer in the final before he has a chance to wear that much desired medal, so its not going to be easy by any stretch of the old imagination. But I really do believe he has a good chance at winning the Olympic bronze or silver at least, and it would be great if he could walk away from this event with a medal to his name.
Soooooo after that exhaustive post, that's it for now, more to follow as the matches come in.
Bye the now!
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