Right! Ok so this will be my final post on the 2016 Wimbledon championships which has now come to an end and in this post I will look at the men's and ladies final matches and who the champions were (well the pictures above tell all!).
So let's take a look....
LADIES FINAL
So the ladies final was between the World No.1 and defending champion, Serena Williams and the reigning Aussie open champion, Angelique Kerber in what promised to be a cracking final.
And the match itself proved to be pretty much just that as both players produced their best tennis in what was a very entertaining and competitive final. The 1st set in particularly saw little separating the two players as they battled it out from the baseline and Kerber showed her mettle as she held her own against the mighty Serena. However Serena's determination shone through as she managed to break Kerber at 6-5 to take the 1st set. And in the 2nd set the high quality play continued but Serena at 4-3 got the crucial break that saw her go 5-3 up and to serve for the match, which she served out confidently to finally equal Stefi Graf's record of 22 grand slam titles as Serena won the title with a 7-5, 6-3 victory.
While this was a pretty short match (only 1 hour and 21 minutes) it was still high on quality and both players brought their A game but it was Serena who brought her best to the court as every facet of her game was on fire. And Serena looked determined right from the start to win the match as she finally got herself over that hurdle to level Graf's record of 22 major titles and regardless of when it would be it was inevitable that she would get there.
As for Kerber well this was a disappointing result no doubt but she played her part in the match and showed that she has got the grit to stick with Serena as she did earlier this year but on grass against the World No.1 she was always likely to come up short. But regardless of Kerber's loss it shows that she is playing great tennis herself and she should have a pretty good shot for the US Open when it comes around next month.
MEN'S FINAL
Right so now we get to the men's final which saw Andy Murray take on the in form Milos Raonic for the title and given that Raonic has been coached by John McEnroe through the grass season, this looked to be a very dangerous match for Andy.
However throughout the tournament, Andy has been in the form of his life as he had only dropped two sets going into the final and he got off to a very strong start here as he broke Raonic at 4-3 to go ahead and serve out the 1st set. In the 2nd set things were tighter as Raonic held his serve and pushed Andy to a tiebreak but the Canadian in the breaker was unable to assert himself as Andy dominated it and took the two set lead. And in the 3rd set, Raonic started to impose himself a little as Andy came under fire at 2-3 and had to stave off two break points, which he did. After this play yet again went to a tiebreak and yet again Andy proved to be the stronger player as he served magnificently and secured a double minibreak and with a backhand error into the net from Raonic, Andy sealed his 2nd Wimbledon title with a superb 6-4, 7-6, 7-6 victory.
While this wasn't one of the greatest Wimbledon finals it was still quite an entertaining match and the contrast in styles between the two players produced some fun points for the crowd particularly with some of the Raonic's netplay and Andy's stunning returns. And the match itself was particularly notable for one point where Andy managed return the fastest serve of the tournament from Raonic which was 147 mph and not only did Andy return it he went to win the point too!
And I think this alone was the most spectacular performance of Andy Murray's career in a tennis match as he was just about perfect from start to finish. Throughout the match, Andy served exceptionally well and he saved any break points against his serve and it was credit to Raonic that he was able to keep himself in the match for as long as he did. And even though it was straight sets the match itself was pretty close with only one break of serve in all. And it was clear at the end of the match how much winning the title again meant to Andy as he was overcome with emotion and he sat sobbing into his towel.
As for Raonic I'm sure he will no doubt be disappointed with the result and he said during the trophy presentation that the loss would "sting" for a while. However despite that Raonic will take many positives from the tournament as he showed impressive resolve throughout thanks to McEnroe's coaching, not to mention he put out the great Roger Federer and ended his 10 Wimbledon semi final match winning streak which is some feat in itself! And from his performance here its safe to say that Raonic will most likely be a future slam winner himself and no doubt he will get there one day.
As for Andy well this is a mighty impressive victory and by winning this title it will give him a great deal of confidence to go on and win more. And no doubt Novak (Djokovic) should look at this match and Andy's form and be wary of him especially now that Ivan Lendl is back in his team this will help give back the mental edge he had before to push through and beat Novak and win more major titles.
In fact from here its safe to say that Andy will be a strong favourite to win his 2nd US Open title come September and this could a be stepping stone toward him usurping Novak in the rankings to become the World No.1 player. However there is still a fair gap between them as Andy now sits at 10,195 ranking points next to Novak's 15,040 which is a total of 4,845 points difference, but if you think about it, if Andy were to win the US Open and claim a few Masters titles he could well go on to be the World No.1. In fact that could well be one of the reasons Andy hired Lendl back so he could achieve that goal to reach the very top of the men's game and it will interesting to see if together they can do it.
As for Novak however I'm sure the No.1 spot is not something he will be prepared to give up likely and after his defeat at Wimbledon I'm sure he will come back strong to try and win the Olympics and also the US Open and its possible that he could do both. But if there is one man that can stand in his way in claiming both titles then its Andy Murray and his fortnight at Wimbledon has proved just that so we will see how things go from here. But one thing is for sure, with the reuniting of Lendl and his 2nd Wimbledon victory, Andy has re-announced himself as the biggest threat to Novak Djokovic and the "Big One" might just have become the "Big Two".
Right, so that's it for now and its been a great Wimbledon this year and has ended with a terrific result for Serena Williams sealing her 22nd major and with Andy sealing his 3rd so congrats to them both.
And I will be back on here soon with maybe a look at the Davis cup quarter final clash with the defending champions, Great Britain vs Serbia. Unfortunately for the GB team, Andy has said it is unlikely that he will play although he did say he will travel with the team to Belgrade to support them even if he doesn't play. And perhaps one of the reasons why Andy chose not to play other than the sheer physical and emotional effort of winning Wimbledon, could also be to do with having to adapt from grass back to clay as this is the chosen surface for the tie by the Serbian team. Although Andy has still not definitely confirmed he won't play so there is still the possibility that he might so just watch this space.
However should Andy decide not to play it will put a big question mark over GB's chances against Serbia as without him there is a strong chance that they might not go through. However Novak Djokovic will not be playing for Serbia either so that leaves the world's top two players out of the competition so just perhaps it might be a more level plane field without them for both teams but I guess we will soon find out.
So, that's it for now and I will see you's soon.
