Well for a change I thought I'd type up a bit about some theatre I've been to see recently in Glasgow as I seen two plays over the weekend (well technically three).
Last night I went to see a double bill of the theatre group Rekindle Theatre who put on two plays My Child and One Good Beating at The Arches in glasgow. The first play My Child featured one or two familiar faces (well one really) one of which was one of my former acting tutors John Gilmour who played the lead part of a father who is accussed of hurting his son, while he also has to contend with his incontinent aging mother in law and his bitter ex-wife, but then he runs off with his estranged son in a desparate attempt to get to know him better. The overall tone of My Child was pretty bleak but it did feature some excellent performances from the cast, also the liberal use of Mogwai on the soundtrack added to the mood of the piece. I also quite liked the minimal use of props in the play, the sparse space in the Arches made it quite effective to the kind of despairing tone of the play. Perhaps overall the play was a bit too bleak, but it did feature some moments of humour too, my favourite bit was where one of the girls (playing a foreigner) in the play asks John "does this train go to Miln-gavvyy??".
The play which featured my fellow acting thesp Scott (founder of Rekindle) One Good Beating had quite a different change in tone, as it was more humorous although at the core it was still a very dramatic piece. One good beating focussed on a bitter cynical father who's two children have locked him in their garden tool shed. The father berates his weak son (Scott) although he has a strange fondness for his daughter as he sees himself in here, as she is feisty and strong, but they very much have a love-hate relationship (with more hate). It was a very entertaining and funny play and the cast were all excellent, particularly good was the actor who played the father, he brought out alot of bitter and bullying humour at the same time. The end of the play was also hilarious with the daughter promising to let the dad out of the garden shed by giving him her permission and she waits poised with a shovel in her hands to give him his good beating!
So onto tonight's theatre at the Ramshorn theatre, where Rona Munro's play Bold Girls was on its final night. Again it was a really entertaining and enjoyable play, which focussed around the lives of two sisters and their mother during the troubled times in Belfast in the year 1990. Again the performances were all great, and of course my acting buddie the lovely Gillean Young was great in a part that was tailor made for her as she played one of the feisty sisters Cassie (loved her dancing, quite funny!), and also Amy Williamson who was terrific as her older sister Marie. The actress playing the mother Nora was also very funny as she came out with plenty of funny stories from her olden days. And Jennifer Joyes was also quite creepy and mysterious as the young Deirdre. It was a fine production with a good set and a nifty soundtrack (being of course an Irish play they couldn't go without Shane McGowan's Fairy Tale of New York could they??! :-)). And of course a lot of credit goes to the actresses who all had perfect northern Irish accents, which has always been a really tough accent for me to try to do, its one that I could never do and keep it consistent, it would fall into Swahili or something similar!
But it was good to see another show at the Ramshorn, which unfortunately is falling foul to the budget cuts at the hands of Strathclyde Uni who want to push the arts out the door so they can save money and concentrate on making the university a "centre of business and technical excellence" as they have put it in the past. This unfortunately of course means that the Ramshorn will close in July, as of course in small part this is also due to the expense of maintaining of the building too. But hopefully the STG can try and find another venue where they can continue to put on their shows, it would be a great shame to see many talented performers without a place to be on stage, so I hope something will work out for them. Its a great shame that the arts and culture always seems to suffer at the hands of organisations and finance, as quite often the case is the people behind all this are more concerned about expenditure, its clearly a case of "know the price of everything and the value of nothing!".
And well that's all for now.
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Clay part 5, this time itssss exciiittttting!!
So far the Mutua Madrid Open has been an absolutely excellent tournament with some great matches so far and today we were treated with some more.
On the WTA tour side of things, there were some good results with Petra Kvitova who came through a tough battle against Dominika Cibulkova in 3 sets to make the semi finals. Victoria Azarenka also came through a fairly tough match against Lucie Safarova (Tomas Berdych's bird in case you didn't know) in 3 sets, 6-3 3-6 6-2. Also Stuttgart Tennis Porsche Gran Prix winner Julia Goerges came through her quarter final match against Anatasia Pavly in a fairly easy straight set win in 6-4 6-2. And finally Li Na fought it out against a game (and still bizarrely dressed like a character from the fighting video game Tekken!) Bethanie Mattek-Sands in 3 sets also winning 6-4 4-6 6-4. I was quite pleased to see Li Na come through to the semis after so many early round defeats in previous tournaments since her impressive Australian Open finalist run. So Li Na will face an on form Petra Kvitova tomorrow and Victoria Azarenka faces an also on form Julia Goerges. Its going to make for two great semi finals and to be honest there will be no favourites among any of them, they are all on form players. Li Na is playing great as is Petra and Azarenka is playing her most aggressive tennis I've seen so far, while Goerges is shown sheer utter determination, so its going to be very interesting to see who will come through.
On the men's ATP side of things, it was no less exciting and intruiging. Rafa though had the easiest match against Michael Llodra winning comfortably in 6-2 6-2, but Tomas Berdych also got an upset defeat at the hand of Andy Murray's conqueror, Thomaz Bellucci who defeated Berdych in straight sets 7-6(2) 6-3 without dropping his serve. Federer also played a fairly tricky match against Robin Soderling, but he came through in straight sets winning 7-6(2) 6-4.
But the match of the day without a doubt was from the so far unbeatable Novak Djokovic and clay court veteran David Ferrer. I somehow didn't think this match would be a walk in the park, but I did think it might be a straight set win for Djoko, but thankfully I was proved wrong, as the match was a very tough battle for the World No 2. Ferrer showed the same incredible resiliance as he showed Andy Murray at the Australian Open and he pushed Djokovic as far as he could into a 3 set battle. The windy conditions on court also made things difficult for Djoky too as he dropped his serve in the second set and made some unforced errors allowing Ferrer to take his chances to take the second set away from him. But in the third set Djokovic found his game again and defeated the world no 7 scoring 6-4 4-6 6-3. But I really do admire Ferrer's spirit, guts and sheer determination to battle it out against such an opponent as Djokovic. It makes me think if he got to the Australian Open final instead, he could have punished Djokovic a whole lot more than Andy could have done. In fact in retrospect I wish Ferrer had got to the final as I think it would have been a much tigher match, and Ferrer would have gone down fighting, unlike Andy who just went down whinging.
Not to sound mean spirited towards Djokovic, I do appreciate his tremendous talent and formidable skill that he has displayed this year so far, but I was glad to see him tested so much tonight on the clay, as I don't believe he should be allowed to steamroll his way through the season. It also showed while Djokovic can demolish players on hard court, he certainly can't on clay, and it signals he could be in for a really tough French Open.
And Murray/Berdych beater Thomas Bellucci also appears to share the same level of belief as Djokovic does, as he thinks he can beat anyone on his best surface too. However as much as I admire the young Brazillian's spirit, I do think he is being a little bit delusional on this one, from here I can't see Bellucci beating Djokovic. It would be terrific if he could and it would show how remarkable an achievement it could be for an unseeded player to take someone at the peak of their game. But I think its a massively big ask, and I don't really see it happening. Although it would be terrific to see if Bellucci could really push Djoko as far as he can and again test the Serbian like Ferrer did. He could be the underdog, the Rocky if you will, the southpaw jinx who comes on and shakes up the World No 2. Again Bellucci has the advantage of never having played Djokovic before so perhaps Djoky doesn't fully know what to expect from the Brazillian, so it could make for a very exciting encounter, or just a straight forward win for Djoky. But it could upset the final we all want to see Rafa vs Djoko if Bellucci does win and I can't see him upsetting Rafa too much for that matter, so we will wait and see!
Now of course there is another more interesting semi final that awaits us, the showdown between the two titans, Rafa and Roger. Now last time Rafa handed Roger's ass to him in Miami as he beat Roger quite easily in 6-3 6-2. But hopefully this time Roger will have brought his A-game to the proceedings, so we can only hope it will make for an exhilirating semi final, but I think we know the outcome of the match before it begins. But hopefully it will be the match we all hope it will be, as Roger will be out looking for revenge or something close to it. Shall see shall we.
Its all good from here, bring it on once more!!! Cue part 6!
On the WTA tour side of things, there were some good results with Petra Kvitova who came through a tough battle against Dominika Cibulkova in 3 sets to make the semi finals. Victoria Azarenka also came through a fairly tough match against Lucie Safarova (Tomas Berdych's bird in case you didn't know) in 3 sets, 6-3 3-6 6-2. Also Stuttgart Tennis Porsche Gran Prix winner Julia Goerges came through her quarter final match against Anatasia Pavly in a fairly easy straight set win in 6-4 6-2. And finally Li Na fought it out against a game (and still bizarrely dressed like a character from the fighting video game Tekken!) Bethanie Mattek-Sands in 3 sets also winning 6-4 4-6 6-4. I was quite pleased to see Li Na come through to the semis after so many early round defeats in previous tournaments since her impressive Australian Open finalist run. So Li Na will face an on form Petra Kvitova tomorrow and Victoria Azarenka faces an also on form Julia Goerges. Its going to make for two great semi finals and to be honest there will be no favourites among any of them, they are all on form players. Li Na is playing great as is Petra and Azarenka is playing her most aggressive tennis I've seen so far, while Goerges is shown sheer utter determination, so its going to be very interesting to see who will come through.
On the men's ATP side of things, it was no less exciting and intruiging. Rafa though had the easiest match against Michael Llodra winning comfortably in 6-2 6-2, but Tomas Berdych also got an upset defeat at the hand of Andy Murray's conqueror, Thomaz Bellucci who defeated Berdych in straight sets 7-6(2) 6-3 without dropping his serve. Federer also played a fairly tricky match against Robin Soderling, but he came through in straight sets winning 7-6(2) 6-4.
But the match of the day without a doubt was from the so far unbeatable Novak Djokovic and clay court veteran David Ferrer. I somehow didn't think this match would be a walk in the park, but I did think it might be a straight set win for Djoko, but thankfully I was proved wrong, as the match was a very tough battle for the World No 2. Ferrer showed the same incredible resiliance as he showed Andy Murray at the Australian Open and he pushed Djokovic as far as he could into a 3 set battle. The windy conditions on court also made things difficult for Djoky too as he dropped his serve in the second set and made some unforced errors allowing Ferrer to take his chances to take the second set away from him. But in the third set Djokovic found his game again and defeated the world no 7 scoring 6-4 4-6 6-3. But I really do admire Ferrer's spirit, guts and sheer determination to battle it out against such an opponent as Djokovic. It makes me think if he got to the Australian Open final instead, he could have punished Djokovic a whole lot more than Andy could have done. In fact in retrospect I wish Ferrer had got to the final as I think it would have been a much tigher match, and Ferrer would have gone down fighting, unlike Andy who just went down whinging.
Not to sound mean spirited towards Djokovic, I do appreciate his tremendous talent and formidable skill that he has displayed this year so far, but I was glad to see him tested so much tonight on the clay, as I don't believe he should be allowed to steamroll his way through the season. It also showed while Djokovic can demolish players on hard court, he certainly can't on clay, and it signals he could be in for a really tough French Open.
And Murray/Berdych beater Thomas Bellucci also appears to share the same level of belief as Djokovic does, as he thinks he can beat anyone on his best surface too. However as much as I admire the young Brazillian's spirit, I do think he is being a little bit delusional on this one, from here I can't see Bellucci beating Djokovic. It would be terrific if he could and it would show how remarkable an achievement it could be for an unseeded player to take someone at the peak of their game. But I think its a massively big ask, and I don't really see it happening. Although it would be terrific to see if Bellucci could really push Djoko as far as he can and again test the Serbian like Ferrer did. He could be the underdog, the Rocky if you will, the southpaw jinx who comes on and shakes up the World No 2. Again Bellucci has the advantage of never having played Djokovic before so perhaps Djoky doesn't fully know what to expect from the Brazillian, so it could make for a very exciting encounter, or just a straight forward win for Djoky. But it could upset the final we all want to see Rafa vs Djoko if Bellucci does win and I can't see him upsetting Rafa too much for that matter, so we will wait and see!
Now of course there is another more interesting semi final that awaits us, the showdown between the two titans, Rafa and Roger. Now last time Rafa handed Roger's ass to him in Miami as he beat Roger quite easily in 6-3 6-2. But hopefully this time Roger will have brought his A-game to the proceedings, so we can only hope it will make for an exhilirating semi final, but I think we know the outcome of the match before it begins. But hopefully it will be the match we all hope it will be, as Roger will be out looking for revenge or something close to it. Shall see shall we.
Its all good from here, bring it on once more!!! Cue part 6!
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Clay part 4, this time itsssss upsetting!!
If you pardon the pun of the title (upsetting,up and set, geddit??) it pretty much sums up what kind of day it has been for tennis at the Matua Madrid Open today.
Morely so for the woman on the WTA tour, as it saw not one but three top seeds being blasted off the court by lower ranked players, Julia Goerges for starters upsetted Caroline Wozniacki in 3 sets, then Sam Stosur got the boot by Anatasia Pavlyunchenko in two sets 7-6 6-3, and finally Francesca Schiavone got her comeuppance by the American (not to mention weirdly Goth like dressed and complete with war paint!) Bethanie Mattek Sands also in straight sets in 7-6 6-3 also. So its been upsets galore as we've seen so far, in fact I think there are only two of the top 10 seeds still in the tournament for the woman, Victoria Azarenka who ruthelessly dispatched her opponent today Santonja in 6-0 6-3, and Li Na who also beat her opponent Roberta Vinci in 3 sets. Its good to see Li Na back on form though as she has been playing consistently well at this tournament so far, although she will face an on form Mattek Sands tomorrow. So tomorrow's WTA tour matches will be very interesting as we will have the final eight battle it out for a place in the semis, Li Na vs Mattek Sands, Azarenka vs Safarova, Goerges vs Pavly and Cibulkova vs Kvitova. So far though I have to say I think Victoria Azarenka could be a favourite to win this one, either that or even on the outside maybe even Julia Goerges who has been formidable so far this week. So more to follow soon.
On the men's side of things there was another upset of course as Andy Murray made an early exit today against the Brazillian player Thomaz Bellucci who defeated the Muzza in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. In a way its to be expected as Murray hadn't exactly played his best yesterday against Gilles Simon, also he had never played Bellucci before or was that much aware of him, not to mention Bellucci is naturally a very good clay court player and Andy isn't so that left him at a massive tactical disadvantage. So in a way its not too big a deal, he did at least win one match and he still has time to get himself more in shape for Rome and the French Open. I also think that while Andy is perceived to be a sore loser, I think he is far from it, as he usually takes each loss in his stride and he appeared to show a lot of respect to Bellucci when he shook hands after his defeat. Also disappointingly we were robbed of Nadal's face off match with Juan Martin Del Potro, who had to pull out as he sustained a hip injury in his first game on Monday.
So tomorrow again the men's tour will be very interesting as Federer takes on Robin Soderling, should be a good one, Rafa takes on Michel Llodra, and most interestingly of all, Novak Djokovic takes on David Ferrer. Now this match is the one that I am most eager to follow as David Ferrer is a seasoned clay court player and a veteran of the red dirt, so hopefully it should be a very good match, although it does look certain that Djoky in his current imperious form will beat Ferrer. But he will be up against one of the top clay court players out there as Ferrer has already beaten Djokovic three times on clay, can he make it a forth and end Djoko's unceasing winning streak???? We shall see. So bated breath for tomorrow.
Part 5 will be along at some point.
Morely so for the woman on the WTA tour, as it saw not one but three top seeds being blasted off the court by lower ranked players, Julia Goerges for starters upsetted Caroline Wozniacki in 3 sets, then Sam Stosur got the boot by Anatasia Pavlyunchenko in two sets 7-6 6-3, and finally Francesca Schiavone got her comeuppance by the American (not to mention weirdly Goth like dressed and complete with war paint!) Bethanie Mattek Sands also in straight sets in 7-6 6-3 also. So its been upsets galore as we've seen so far, in fact I think there are only two of the top 10 seeds still in the tournament for the woman, Victoria Azarenka who ruthelessly dispatched her opponent today Santonja in 6-0 6-3, and Li Na who also beat her opponent Roberta Vinci in 3 sets. Its good to see Li Na back on form though as she has been playing consistently well at this tournament so far, although she will face an on form Mattek Sands tomorrow. So tomorrow's WTA tour matches will be very interesting as we will have the final eight battle it out for a place in the semis, Li Na vs Mattek Sands, Azarenka vs Safarova, Goerges vs Pavly and Cibulkova vs Kvitova. So far though I have to say I think Victoria Azarenka could be a favourite to win this one, either that or even on the outside maybe even Julia Goerges who has been formidable so far this week. So more to follow soon.
On the men's side of things there was another upset of course as Andy Murray made an early exit today against the Brazillian player Thomaz Bellucci who defeated the Muzza in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. In a way its to be expected as Murray hadn't exactly played his best yesterday against Gilles Simon, also he had never played Bellucci before or was that much aware of him, not to mention Bellucci is naturally a very good clay court player and Andy isn't so that left him at a massive tactical disadvantage. So in a way its not too big a deal, he did at least win one match and he still has time to get himself more in shape for Rome and the French Open. I also think that while Andy is perceived to be a sore loser, I think he is far from it, as he usually takes each loss in his stride and he appeared to show a lot of respect to Bellucci when he shook hands after his defeat. Also disappointingly we were robbed of Nadal's face off match with Juan Martin Del Potro, who had to pull out as he sustained a hip injury in his first game on Monday.
So tomorrow again the men's tour will be very interesting as Federer takes on Robin Soderling, should be a good one, Rafa takes on Michel Llodra, and most interestingly of all, Novak Djokovic takes on David Ferrer. Now this match is the one that I am most eager to follow as David Ferrer is a seasoned clay court player and a veteran of the red dirt, so hopefully it should be a very good match, although it does look certain that Djoky in his current imperious form will beat Ferrer. But he will be up against one of the top clay court players out there as Ferrer has already beaten Djokovic three times on clay, can he make it a forth and end Djoko's unceasing winning streak???? We shall see. So bated breath for tomorrow.
Part 5 will be along at some point.
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Clay part 3, this time its messsyyyy!!
Its been quite an exciting day so far at the Mutua Madrid Open for both the ladies and gents tennis with quite a few good matches. On the woman's side there's been another upset as Vera Zvonareva has gone out in straight sets against Petra Kvitova who has rapidly been improving (she even beat Kim Clijsters a few months back at the Suez Open in France). And Julia Goerges came through a stern match against Danira Safina of Russia, who battled back but ultimately lost in 3 sets, 4-6 6-4 4-6. I thought Goerges would win as she has been on top form since beating Caroline Wozniacki at Stuttgart quite convincingly. Speaking of which Caroline plays Julia again tomorrow, which should make for a really interesting match, I hope Caroline can pull through and win this one this time. Hopefully she will have looked at what she did wrong last time and make it right, but if she goes out again, Goerges sure will prove to be an absolutely formidable opponent, who could even take it as far as the finals and maybe even win. We'll see, but it should be quite a match.
And as it happened it was quite a match with another upset for the World No.1 who went out against the feisty German Goerges who defeated Caroline in 3 sets, despite suffering from fatigue and blisters in the second set, she still came through and won the match in 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. But clearly clay court isn't Caroline's forte, so she will have to be very careful at the French Open as if she runs into Julia again it will be three in a row. So Goerges will go on to face either Sam Stosur or Anatasia Pavly (call her that for short as her surname is too long!) and I'm thinking she could beat either player as she beat Stosur last time as well. I'm beginning to think that Julia could go all the way in this tournament, although the noisy Victoria Azarenka has been playing very well too, as so far she's been demolishing players, so we'll see how it pans out.
On the men's side of things we had a few interesting matches, firstly Novak Djokovic continued his seemingly unending winning streak today against Kevin Anderson from South Africa, who Djoko beat in straight sets 6-3 6-4, Djokovic has now gone 28-0 this year (30 matches in total counting the last two from 2010) but it remains to be seen if he can keep it up. Perhaps more impressively Juan Martin Del Potro continued his immensely impressive comeback today against Marin Cilic, as he hammered the Croat in two straight sets with a crushing score of 6-3 6-0. Tomorrow he faces an almighty challenge against Rafa, no doubt the king of clay will triumph but it will be interesting to see how much Del Potro can push Nadal.
And of course we go to one of the main interests of the men's tennis today, Andy Murray who made his comeback from his elbow injury today, who played against Frenchman Gilles Simon for the second time this year. Simon got injured in their last match which Murray took advantage of to finish off the match. But this time he was up against a much tougher opponent in Simon, who this time pushed Murray all the way in the first two sets. In fact it has to be said it was one of Murray's poorer performances this year (his straight set losses not withstanding) as he dished out a stream of unforced errors and double faults, as Simon managed to take advantage of them, especially in the second set (which was met with a lot of angry expletives from the dour faced Murray) which Simon won. In the third set though Andy knuckled down and started playing more consistently and served better, although he still had to fend off a series of break points by Simon, but he did successfully as he broke down the increasingly frustrated Frenchman and gave him a third set bagel, the final score being 6-4, 3-6, 6-0.
No doubt about it this was a brutal match for Andy, and he certainly has played a whole lot better, I wonder if it was just a mixture of match nerves and not being used to the high bounce of the ball, not to mention the speed of the Madrid court. Let's hope he's gotten more used to the court when he meets Thomaz Bellucci in the third round tomorrrow. But he can't afford to play as shakily as he did today, although to give him credit, he did battle back very well and his own stubborness to refuse to give in saw the match through. But on the plus side it was a win, if not a pretty one.
But the match of the day had to be Federer who played against the gutsy Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. Lopez already had given Djokovic a hard time last week as he took him to a first set tiebreak before losing 2-6 in the second. But this time Lopez managed to push the former world no. 1 all the way in a thrilling 3 set match, which ultimately saw him fall in the closest of margins as Federer triumphed in 7-6(13), 6(1)-7, 7-6(7). It definitely possibly will be the match of the week, but I'm sure this week will hopefully see a few more thrillers to come. Its already a great tournament, both for the men and ladies.
So part 4 beckons......
And as it happened it was quite a match with another upset for the World No.1 who went out against the feisty German Goerges who defeated Caroline in 3 sets, despite suffering from fatigue and blisters in the second set, she still came through and won the match in 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. But clearly clay court isn't Caroline's forte, so she will have to be very careful at the French Open as if she runs into Julia again it will be three in a row. So Goerges will go on to face either Sam Stosur or Anatasia Pavly (call her that for short as her surname is too long!) and I'm thinking she could beat either player as she beat Stosur last time as well. I'm beginning to think that Julia could go all the way in this tournament, although the noisy Victoria Azarenka has been playing very well too, as so far she's been demolishing players, so we'll see how it pans out.
On the men's side of things we had a few interesting matches, firstly Novak Djokovic continued his seemingly unending winning streak today against Kevin Anderson from South Africa, who Djoko beat in straight sets 6-3 6-4, Djokovic has now gone 28-0 this year (30 matches in total counting the last two from 2010) but it remains to be seen if he can keep it up. Perhaps more impressively Juan Martin Del Potro continued his immensely impressive comeback today against Marin Cilic, as he hammered the Croat in two straight sets with a crushing score of 6-3 6-0. Tomorrow he faces an almighty challenge against Rafa, no doubt the king of clay will triumph but it will be interesting to see how much Del Potro can push Nadal.
And of course we go to one of the main interests of the men's tennis today, Andy Murray who made his comeback from his elbow injury today, who played against Frenchman Gilles Simon for the second time this year. Simon got injured in their last match which Murray took advantage of to finish off the match. But this time he was up against a much tougher opponent in Simon, who this time pushed Murray all the way in the first two sets. In fact it has to be said it was one of Murray's poorer performances this year (his straight set losses not withstanding) as he dished out a stream of unforced errors and double faults, as Simon managed to take advantage of them, especially in the second set (which was met with a lot of angry expletives from the dour faced Murray) which Simon won. In the third set though Andy knuckled down and started playing more consistently and served better, although he still had to fend off a series of break points by Simon, but he did successfully as he broke down the increasingly frustrated Frenchman and gave him a third set bagel, the final score being 6-4, 3-6, 6-0.
No doubt about it this was a brutal match for Andy, and he certainly has played a whole lot better, I wonder if it was just a mixture of match nerves and not being used to the high bounce of the ball, not to mention the speed of the Madrid court. Let's hope he's gotten more used to the court when he meets Thomaz Bellucci in the third round tomorrrow. But he can't afford to play as shakily as he did today, although to give him credit, he did battle back very well and his own stubborness to refuse to give in saw the match through. But on the plus side it was a win, if not a pretty one.
But the match of the day had to be Federer who played against the gutsy Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. Lopez already had given Djokovic a hard time last week as he took him to a first set tiebreak before losing 2-6 in the second. But this time Lopez managed to push the former world no. 1 all the way in a thrilling 3 set match, which ultimately saw him fall in the closest of margins as Federer triumphed in 7-6(13), 6(1)-7, 7-6(7). It definitely possibly will be the match of the week, but I'm sure this week will hopefully see a few more thrillers to come. Its already a great tournament, both for the men and ladies.
So part 4 beckons......
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Clay part 2 the revenge
The Mutua Madrid Open is well under way now for the WTA/ATP tour season, and already there has been some really good matches and a couple of upsets. Andrea Petkovic already has made an early exit as has Agnieszka Radwanska today as well, and now Marion Bartoli has been defeated by a Russian player Anastasia Pavlyunchenkova in a crushing result of 7-5, 6-1, which was the exact reverse defeat Andy Murray suffered in Miami against Alex Bogomolov (i.e. 6-1, 7-5). Its like Marion took some of Andy Murray's losing juice, hopefully Andy has got well rid of it since!!
On the men's side of things also some upsets have taken place, Andy Roddick has gone out, as has Mardy Fish who lost out to John Isner. On the doubles Andy and Jamie Murray have already gone out in the first round as they lost to the pairing of Granollers and Lopez in 6-2 6-2. I just hope Andy's singles game is on better form tomorrow as he is due to play Gilles Simon again, thankfully he has won 5 of their previous 6 meetings, but who knows how the pendulum may swing? Andy appears to be still in good spirits after his very good campaign at Monte-Carlo last month, hopefully things will remain good for him. But the other top players start their campaign tomorrow too, as Rafa, Djokovic and Federer are all on court tomorrow too, so as things progress they will get much tougher. But with Andy's recent form it should make for another exciting tournament to watch. But it makes me think, can Novak Djokovic beat Rafa? Yesterday I was starting to think he really could, he already has won 5 titles this year and has an unceasing winning streak of 27 matches this year along (29 in total including 2 from last year). He has also said he feels a big confidence playing against Rafa now, even on clay that form could be a serious danger for Rafa. Another point was when they both met 2 years ago in Madrid at the semi-finals where Djokovic pushed Nadal to the absolute limit of his ability in an exhaustive amazing 4 hour match, where Nadal just won by a gnats hair and no more in 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(9). We can at least hope if they do meet in the final, and they most likely will, that it will be another epic match of those proportions or at least similar to their Miami match last month.
So tomorrow will be an interesting day for the Madrid Open and it should see some exciting games. More to follow....
On the men's side of things also some upsets have taken place, Andy Roddick has gone out, as has Mardy Fish who lost out to John Isner. On the doubles Andy and Jamie Murray have already gone out in the first round as they lost to the pairing of Granollers and Lopez in 6-2 6-2. I just hope Andy's singles game is on better form tomorrow as he is due to play Gilles Simon again, thankfully he has won 5 of their previous 6 meetings, but who knows how the pendulum may swing? Andy appears to be still in good spirits after his very good campaign at Monte-Carlo last month, hopefully things will remain good for him. But the other top players start their campaign tomorrow too, as Rafa, Djokovic and Federer are all on court tomorrow too, so as things progress they will get much tougher. But with Andy's recent form it should make for another exciting tournament to watch. But it makes me think, can Novak Djokovic beat Rafa? Yesterday I was starting to think he really could, he already has won 5 titles this year and has an unceasing winning streak of 27 matches this year along (29 in total including 2 from last year). He has also said he feels a big confidence playing against Rafa now, even on clay that form could be a serious danger for Rafa. Another point was when they both met 2 years ago in Madrid at the semi-finals where Djokovic pushed Nadal to the absolute limit of his ability in an exhaustive amazing 4 hour match, where Nadal just won by a gnats hair and no more in 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(9). We can at least hope if they do meet in the final, and they most likely will, that it will be another epic match of those proportions or at least similar to their Miami match last month.
So tomorrow will be an interesting day for the Madrid Open and it should see some exciting games. More to follow....
Sunday, 1 May 2011
More clay!
The tennis clay court season continues this week as it sees the start of the WTA Premier Mandatory and ATP 1000 Masters Series Matua Madrid Open today. Of course I'll be following both the men and ladies tournaments closely and I really look forward to this one. It also sees the return of Andy Murray to the foray, elbow and current form permitting he should have a really good tournament here. I hope Andy's elbow injury doesn't flare up again though, hopefully it won't as it could be very troubling for him if it does, but I think he has been undergoing rigorous physiotherapy to help with his elbow so fingers crossed for him. He has recently confirmed that he has been working with Darren Cahill (who coached Andre Agassi) at the weekend and he is ready to make a comeback at Madrid. Andy will have a bye into the second round, so he'll face either Frenchman Gilles Simon, who he defeated at Monte-Carlo, or Ivan Ljubicic, so should be interesting whoever Andy faces.
I was also quite interested in the draw at the Madrid Open men's draw which sees Federer and Nadal on the same draw, and even more interestingly Murray and Djokovic in the same draw too! Andy having had time to really prepare on clay and already put in a very impressive performance at Monte-Carlo might just give Djokovic a run for his money this time. Djokovic who is currently playing in the Serbia Open in Belgrade has just taken the title, the 23rd of this career and the 5th this year so far. But the match was far from an easy one against his opponent Feliciano Lopez, as he met with some stiff opposition as he was pushed to a 1st set tiebreak which Djokovic ultimately won, and in the second set there was a rain delay which I think gave Djoko the advantage and he cleaned up in a comfortable second set, a straight set win in 7-6(4), 6-2.
But it does remain to be seen just how well Djokovic can make the transition to clay for the remainder of the season, his super confidence aside, he can still be beaten, he may be the master of the hard court, but he sure isn't the clay court master yet. Lopez at the Serbia open did show that Djokovic can be pushed by other players on clay, so imagine what some of the top players could do to him. But it will be interesting to see how it pans out. Andy Murray for instance who has so far had a really good start to his clay court season so far could really give Djokovic some problems, it would be interesting to see if he could defeat him, it would also be good payback for his Australian Open loss and would see the end of Djoko's winning streak. And if he beats Andy there is of course the strong possibility that Rafa will also remain unbeaten on the clay, he hasn't lost in two years, albeit also at Madrid to Federer. But without a doubt this could make for an exciting and unpredictable tournament, as proven Djokovic isn't nearly as invincible on clay so far as he is on hard court, so it would make the matches tougher and longer.
But its all waiting to unfold at the moment, so it will be an exciting tournament to watch. The WTA Madrid Open will also be just as exciting as its a biggie for the women being a Premier Mandatory title (both ATP and WTA Madrid titles are worth 1000 points to the winner). However I'm not sure if Caroline Wozniacki will win this title, so far the red clay has eluded her trophy cabinet, although she did win on the green clay at Charleston earlier last month. But she will be up against some very strong clay court players on the tour such as Sam Stosur, Francesa Schiavone not to mention Victoria Azarenka. But she has beaten them of course on different occassions, so she could do it, it will be exciting to watch no doubt and there will be plenty of great matches ahead. It will also be interesting to see how other up and coming players will get on such as Andrea Petkovic (one of my favourites, not just because she is very fine!) who has made a mark against Caroline Wozniacki at the Sony Ericsson Open, can she do the same here? Also Julia Goerges who defeated Caroline in the final at Stuttgart as well, will she make a similar impresseion?
I must say though I enjoy watching Andrea Petkovic's fun videos on youtube as she always comes across as a fun person with a nice personality, and even better she's a fan of rock music and she likes her Rage against the machine (I love one of her interviews where she does a bit from Bullet in your head!) which has made her go even further up in my estimation. I think she's like the female Novak Djokovic, great sense of fun and brings a lot of light heartedness to the game.
So bring out the clay and come whit may! (OK dodgy rhyme I know!).
I was also quite interested in the draw at the Madrid Open men's draw which sees Federer and Nadal on the same draw, and even more interestingly Murray and Djokovic in the same draw too! Andy having had time to really prepare on clay and already put in a very impressive performance at Monte-Carlo might just give Djokovic a run for his money this time. Djokovic who is currently playing in the Serbia Open in Belgrade has just taken the title, the 23rd of this career and the 5th this year so far. But the match was far from an easy one against his opponent Feliciano Lopez, as he met with some stiff opposition as he was pushed to a 1st set tiebreak which Djokovic ultimately won, and in the second set there was a rain delay which I think gave Djoko the advantage and he cleaned up in a comfortable second set, a straight set win in 7-6(4), 6-2.
But it does remain to be seen just how well Djokovic can make the transition to clay for the remainder of the season, his super confidence aside, he can still be beaten, he may be the master of the hard court, but he sure isn't the clay court master yet. Lopez at the Serbia open did show that Djokovic can be pushed by other players on clay, so imagine what some of the top players could do to him. But it will be interesting to see how it pans out. Andy Murray for instance who has so far had a really good start to his clay court season so far could really give Djokovic some problems, it would be interesting to see if he could defeat him, it would also be good payback for his Australian Open loss and would see the end of Djoko's winning streak. And if he beats Andy there is of course the strong possibility that Rafa will also remain unbeaten on the clay, he hasn't lost in two years, albeit also at Madrid to Federer. But without a doubt this could make for an exciting and unpredictable tournament, as proven Djokovic isn't nearly as invincible on clay so far as he is on hard court, so it would make the matches tougher and longer.
But its all waiting to unfold at the moment, so it will be an exciting tournament to watch. The WTA Madrid Open will also be just as exciting as its a biggie for the women being a Premier Mandatory title (both ATP and WTA Madrid titles are worth 1000 points to the winner). However I'm not sure if Caroline Wozniacki will win this title, so far the red clay has eluded her trophy cabinet, although she did win on the green clay at Charleston earlier last month. But she will be up against some very strong clay court players on the tour such as Sam Stosur, Francesa Schiavone not to mention Victoria Azarenka. But she has beaten them of course on different occassions, so she could do it, it will be exciting to watch no doubt and there will be plenty of great matches ahead. It will also be interesting to see how other up and coming players will get on such as Andrea Petkovic (one of my favourites, not just because she is very fine!) who has made a mark against Caroline Wozniacki at the Sony Ericsson Open, can she do the same here? Also Julia Goerges who defeated Caroline in the final at Stuttgart as well, will she make a similar impresseion?
I must say though I enjoy watching Andrea Petkovic's fun videos on youtube as she always comes across as a fun person with a nice personality, and even better she's a fan of rock music and she likes her Rage against the machine (I love one of her interviews where she does a bit from Bullet in your head!) which has made her go even further up in my estimation. I think she's like the female Novak Djokovic, great sense of fun and brings a lot of light heartedness to the game.
So bring out the clay and come whit may! (OK dodgy rhyme I know!).
Some Who
I watched the second part of the two part story in Doctor Who's new series last night, Day of the moon, which was good, with the Doctor, Amy, River and Rory trying to sort out the terror with the scary looking aliens called The Silence who threaten the Earth. The cast again are all fine and as well as a fine guest appearance of Mark Sheppard who plays the special agent Canton Delaware (who turns out to be gay at the end! Perhaps Russel T Davies is still exherting a behind the scenes influence on the show! ;-)).
But as usual things get sorted out one way or another, although the end of the episode seen a very interesting development with the little girl who was in the astronaut suit. It appears when at the end of the first episode that when Amy shot the little girl (because in the future the astronaut kills the future Doctor) in the astronaut suit, at the end of the second part that she staggers into a gutter where she says to a tramp "I'm dying, but its ok, I think I can fix it" at that point she starts to appear to regenerate in a Time Lord fashion! Possibly the little girl had absorbed some of the Doctor's DNA when she shot him maybe?? Its interesting to see what will happen there. It also reminded me of the Doctor's daughter who back in the eponymous episode died at the end (again shot) then comes back to life and takes in a spaceship, we might see her again too.
Another interesting factor of the story was at the end of the episode River kisses the Doctor goodbye (again not in a platonic way!) and he almost resists in his reponse, quite surprised at it happening as he tells River they've never kissed before, which makes River realise just how little the Doctor knows her yet. Obviously in the future (or past) they are a couple and the Doctor is just at the beginning of their relationship while in a way River is at the end. It will be interesting to see just how River's character develops throughout the rest of the series.
Anyhow the next episode looks like a fun light hearted one, The Curse of the Black Spot, with the Doc and his companions materialising on a 17th century pirate ship. As long as its not a poor retread of the already piss poor Pirate of the Caribean movies it should be good.
Moving onto more Doctor Who, on Monday 9 May there will be the release of the Mannequin Mania DVD box set, which is the autons double bill (the plastic baddies with their guns hidden in their hands) from the Jon Pertwee era, Spearhead from Space and The Terror of the Autons. Both stories are historic within the Pertwee era of Doctor Who, as Spearhead was the first Jon Pertwee story (also the only one to be shot entirely on film and the first in colour!) and Terror of the Autons introduce the UNIT family (Benton, Mike Yates, not to mention Jo Grant) and the Doctor's ultimate arch nemesis, the Master. The other great news about the box set is that Spearhead which was previously released will also be given a revisitation with plenty of extras, as well as a remaster of the film print. So really looking forward to that.
So that's enough Who for now. More tennis posts to follow! It looks just like its now a Doctor Who and Tennis blog, but more different posts will follow. I promise!
But as usual things get sorted out one way or another, although the end of the episode seen a very interesting development with the little girl who was in the astronaut suit. It appears when at the end of the first episode that when Amy shot the little girl (because in the future the astronaut kills the future Doctor) in the astronaut suit, at the end of the second part that she staggers into a gutter where she says to a tramp "I'm dying, but its ok, I think I can fix it" at that point she starts to appear to regenerate in a Time Lord fashion! Possibly the little girl had absorbed some of the Doctor's DNA when she shot him maybe?? Its interesting to see what will happen there. It also reminded me of the Doctor's daughter who back in the eponymous episode died at the end (again shot) then comes back to life and takes in a spaceship, we might see her again too.
Another interesting factor of the story was at the end of the episode River kisses the Doctor goodbye (again not in a platonic way!) and he almost resists in his reponse, quite surprised at it happening as he tells River they've never kissed before, which makes River realise just how little the Doctor knows her yet. Obviously in the future (or past) they are a couple and the Doctor is just at the beginning of their relationship while in a way River is at the end. It will be interesting to see just how River's character develops throughout the rest of the series.
Anyhow the next episode looks like a fun light hearted one, The Curse of the Black Spot, with the Doc and his companions materialising on a 17th century pirate ship. As long as its not a poor retread of the already piss poor Pirate of the Caribean movies it should be good.
Moving onto more Doctor Who, on Monday 9 May there will be the release of the Mannequin Mania DVD box set, which is the autons double bill (the plastic baddies with their guns hidden in their hands) from the Jon Pertwee era, Spearhead from Space and The Terror of the Autons. Both stories are historic within the Pertwee era of Doctor Who, as Spearhead was the first Jon Pertwee story (also the only one to be shot entirely on film and the first in colour!) and Terror of the Autons introduce the UNIT family (Benton, Mike Yates, not to mention Jo Grant) and the Doctor's ultimate arch nemesis, the Master. The other great news about the box set is that Spearhead which was previously released will also be given a revisitation with plenty of extras, as well as a remaster of the film print. So really looking forward to that.
So that's enough Who for now. More tennis posts to follow! It looks just like its now a Doctor Who and Tennis blog, but more different posts will follow. I promise!
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