Right well welcome to what will be my last post on the two Wimbledon 2014 finals for the ladies and men's singles titles. So let's get the racquets, load up the Pimms and give it a look....
So ladies first and the ladies final comprised of Petra Kvitova, the former champion and the Canadian newcomer, Eugenie Bouchard, in what promised to be quite an exciting match. However the match itself was nothing more than an exhibition of Petra Kvitova's sensational skills on a grass court as she dominated Bouchard in the first set and took a break to seal it. In the set however any chance of a fightback from Bouchard was quickly snuffed off as Kvitova went on to obliterate the Canadian's chances of a comeback by handing her a bagel set to clinch her second Wimbledon title in under an hour with a 6-3, 6-0 victory.
Well while this final fell way short of the expectations that it promised it has to be said that Petra Kvitova without a doubt deserves her victory as she put in a simply stunning performance in destroying the young Eugenie Bouchard, who almost looked out of her depth in the final after the first set, she was nowhere on the court. And it also showed that Petra appears to have conquered her nerves in regards to winning more majors and after her remarkable year in 2011, she was tipped to be the next big thing in the ladies game, however she failed to handle the pressure involved and it never really happened for her and Petra went on to suffer a string of early defeats in slams as well as upsets. But now with her second Wimbledon title, Petra has proven that she is no flash in the pan and from here, she can surely go on and win many more major titles and I'm sure she will have plenty more before she hangs up her racquet.
However it also shows Bouchard's very impressive consistency this year in the slams as she has already reached two semis and one final and she also deserves a great deal of credit for her efforts. And Bouchard undoubtedly has the potential to be a grand slam winner in the future as she is an aggressive player with a tough mindset, even though she came short in the final on Saturday, she still managed to show that she got what it takes to get there again and I'm sure she will one day. So that's it for my look at the ladies final, which I know is pretty short but then again it was a pretty short final and so there wasn't as much to talk about. But overall for the ladies it has been a very entertaining 2014 Wimbledon and I'm sure we will get some more high quality tennis next year from them aswell.
So now to get on to the men's final which was a much anticipated clash between two old rivals, Roger Federer, the seven time champion and Novak Djokovic, the 2011 champion. And this match promised to be a cracker, given the dramatic and entertaining matches they've played in the past and thankfully the match itself did not disappoint as it was a high quality affair from start to finish, which saw both guys battle it out on centre court. The first set itself was a very tight close affair with nothing in it and play went to a tiebreak, which saw Roger seal it 9-7. In the 2nd set Nole started his fightback and he broke Roger to move ahead and grab the 2nd set to level the match and in the 3rd set, play went by serve again into a tiebreak, but this time Novak wrestled the breaker in his favour and took the two sets to one lead. In the fourth set, Novak appeared to have the match firmly in his hands as he broke Rog to go ahead and at 5-3 he served for the title, but nerves got the better of him and Roger broke back and he went on to break Nole to grab the 4th set and push it to the decider. And in the decider things remained close until 5-4 when Novak after piling the pressure on Roger's serve, he finally managed to get the breakthrough, which saw him win the match and his 2nd Wimbledon title after a dramatic and enthralling 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 result.
There is no doubt this was one of the best Wimbledon men's finals in recent memory and both Rog and Nole played a very high quality match from the get go and it saw the momentum swing to and fro throughout. And for Novak it was a very important victory as he had lost the last three major finals he has been in and it was good to see that he was able to make that breakthrough. It also saw Novak reclaim the No.1 spot from Rafa and in a way it rightfully sees him take that spot as he is without a doubt the best player in the world right now in terms of consistency and his ability to reach the finals of most of the major tournaments. And with the US Open coming I think its safe to say that Novak will be the top favourite to win it as his favourite surface is hard court, but having won his 2nd Wimbledon title it has shown that he is no specialist for one surface and he can play great on all surfaces.
And I'm sure one man who will be relieved with this result will be Boris Becker, who so far has had a couple of near misses with Novak in the slams and if, as a former Wimbledon champ himself, wasn't able to help Novak get over the finish line this time, then maybe it could have been curtains for their partnership??? Well yeah OK maybe not, but you never know, but the signs of the Becker effect seemed to finally take effect here in the final as Novak was handed several chances to close out the match and didn't take them but he hung tough and go it done in the end. So I'm sure their partnership will continue for the foreseeable future although how it will pan it out remains to be seen, but I think together they can win a few more majors before they are done.
As for Roger Federer well he proved once again that there is still life in the old dog yet, if you can forgive the cliche and you can never write him off, especially in this match where he was a two sets to one and a break down and he managed to break Nole back twice in the 4th set and take the set to level the match. And that Rog was able to reach the final and play as well as he did throughout the tournament and take the world's best player the distance, just shows how good Roger Federer still really and just maybe there will be another slam left in the guy yet. However I think that was Roger's best chance to win a slam this year has just passed him and I don't see him winning the US Open this year and he may well have to wait another year until Wimbledon comes around again before he will have a chance to win his 8th unprecedented crown at SW19. But on the plus side Roger's great form in 2014 continues and I'm sure he will continue to do very well on the tour this season and there might be a few titles with his name on it yet this year.
Well that's it for my posts on Wimbledon 2014 which has been another rollercoaster ride of a tournament just like last year's was, which saw quite a few big upsets the top one being Andy Murray being toppled in the quarter finals by Grigor Dimitrov. And it was good to see we were also treated to such a great quality final for the men's singles and it also saw a funny symmetry in terms of the results for the champions this year, as both Petra Kivtova and Novak Djokovic won the Wimbledon title three years ago and they both did it again this year. Funny eh????
Anyway I shall leave you there and be back in the near future.
Bye the nowww!
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