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.
No comments:
Post a Comment