Sooooooooooo here's part 4 of my lowdown on the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Gardens in California, and what happened on Wednesday's action. And for a change we saw a momentum shift in the quality of the matches, as the men's match started to become more interesting than the ladies, which well there were only two of them.
So starting for a change with ladies, the first match up was between Victoria Azarenka, the ladies best player of the moment, and the World No.5 Agnieszka Radwanska and on paper it sounded like a really good contest would be had. However we were all proved so wrong as Azarenka proved just why she is the World No.1 and absolutely annihilated Radwanska, taking 11 games in a row off her, before Radwanska finally broke serve and managed take only two games, before falling to Vika in a bruising 6-0. 6-2. This really was a total rout from Vika who notched up her 21st match win, and remains unbeaten in 2012, and it looks like she isn't ready to lose just yet either. The match though was despite its scoreline quite interesting to watch, and there seems to be still a bit of bad blood between Azarenka and Radwanska. And at the end Azarenka showed no mercy and was quite emphatic in her behaviour after winning the match, punching the air shouting "come on!!" at the top of her lungs. Perhaps her reaction was a bit unwarranted, as she had trounced Radwanska, its almost like she was pouring salt into a gaping open wound. Radwanska similar to Caroline Wozniacki is a counterpuncher, and she lacks the power to hit through aggressive players like Azarenka, but I did notice in the match some of the points Radwanska won were because her returns were more aggressive, and she needs to keep that up in order to beat players like Azarenka. In regards to Azarenka's outburst, she off and on has had a habit of displaying firey behaviour on court, but off court she is a different person, nice and friendly, but one thing is for sure, she is a girl that won't take any prisoners, and you would mad to say she is not a favourite to win this title.
However that could all change depending on her next opponent, Angelique Kerber, the fast rising German player, who took out Li Na in straight sets, to reach the semis, winning 6-4, 6-2. Kerber in the last 7 months or so really has made a name for herself after reaching the semi finals of the US Open last year, and quarter finals of the Australian Open this year. So I might be wrong here, but I do think that Kerber just might prove to be a real threat to the Belarusian, we'll soon find out on Friday, but it could be a real battle, or it could be just another piss easy win for Victoria. Regardless though I don't think it will affect the outcome, but we shall see.
So onto the men's, first up we had Novak Djokovic, a not too bad player, take on a rather decent player Pablo Andujar, and after what appeared to be a cakewalk for Djoko, gubbing Andujar in the first 6-0, turned into a contest in the 2nd, as Pablo fought back, and clinched the set in a tiebreak. In the 3rd Andujar kept up the pressure on Djokovic, and even had a break point on his serve, but in the end Spaniard was unable to capitalise on his chances, and Novak soon had the double break and closed it out, with the final 6-0, 6-7, 6-2. This was actually a pretty good match, and Andujar right from the go, looked like a game player, in his opening game he showed much promise, but after he was broken, he was nowhere in the first set. But it was credit to Andjuar that he was able to get back into the match, as Djokovic became a bit defensive, and what definitely appears to be one of his weaknesses, was in losing the tiebreak, as he has always struggled in previous tiebreaks, particularly against the other top three guys. But Djokovic got the win and he is now set to face another Spaniard Nicholas Almagro, who took out Tomas Berdych convincingly in 6-4, 6-0, and yes this time they shook hands! ;-)
And I have to say I am becoming more impressed with Djokovic not only as a player but also as a sportsman, as like Rafa, he shows just about the right amount of confidence and humility, although you definitely get the fact that Djokovic loves being in the public eye that bit more than Rafa. Two examples of his sportsmanship were after his defeat against Andy Murray in Dubai, he posted a message on Facebook saying well done on the win and best of luck in the final. Also after his tough match against Pablo Andujar the other day he greeted him warmly and gave him a hug at the net, clearly appreciating his opponent's efforts. So I really do think that fella Djokovic is not a bad guy at all, in short he's a decent spud.
Onto Roger Federer, who again had a bit of a tough match against the Brazillian Thomaz Bellucci, who last year defeated Andy Murray in Madrid, and gave Djokovic a headache for a set and a bit. Bellucci came out strong and took the first set, then Federer managed to break early in the 2nd set, and in the third Fed got another break, and closed it out in 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Considering that Roger was fighting a touch of the flu and a temperature, it seems absolutely incredible that he was able to go out and play, and also to win the match, so well done to him. Next up for Roger is yet again Del Potro, and this will be the 4th time they have met this year so far already, this promises to be a tough encounter, as was their previous one in Dubai, but Roger has won them all, so we will see what happens. Rafa on the other hand once again had no trouble against Alexandr Dolgopolov, and he dispatched him in straight sets 6-3, 6-2, however Rafa's next match might prove to be tricky as he will face David Nalbandian, who pulled off another upset in taking out Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a 3 set battle, so that promises to be a really good one.
Well that's it for now, more to follow, as the men's quarter finals will be later today (and the early hours of tomorrow!), as will the ladies remaining quarter final matches, between Marion Bartoli and Ana Ivanovic, and the two Russian Marias Sharapova and Kirilenko. So its all good and promises to be very intruiging, exciting and interesting, as it all should be from hereoin in.
Bye the noow.
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Indian Wells Part 3: Falling from grace
Right so now onto yet another post regarding the BNP Paribas Open from Indian Wells, which saw more seeds tumbled by the wayside, but there was some really good tennis on display from both the men's and ladies.
Starting with the men's we had Roger and Rafa out on court, and Rafa had the easier match no doubt as he took on his fellow Spaniard, Marcell Granollers, and dismissed him in 6-1, 6-4, which sees make safe passage into the 4th round. Roger however had a much tougher match on his hand, as he was up against the big serving (and big) Canadian, Milos Raonic, who gave Fed his first big test of the tournament, as the Swiss fella dropped the opening set in a tiebreak. However Roger came back into the match and took the 2nd set with ease, and the 3rd with a single break, and closed it out in 6-7, 6-2, 6-4. Raonic clearly is a really talented new player, as he already has 3 ATP tour level titles to his name, so credit to him for pushing Roger so far, but as Rog said himself, his wealth of experince got him through this one. In other men's matches, the Ukranian Alexander Dolgopolov, battled past Marcos Baghdatis in a three set test, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. And Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also met with a stern test against the Czeck player Radek Stepanek, eventually winning 6-7, 6-4, 6-2. No. 9 seed, Juan Martin Del Potro also made it through against Fernando Verdasco in straight sets 6-2, 7-6. Although another big upset came with David Ferrer being knocked out by the Uzbekistanian player Dennis Istomin.
So this sets up some more potentially interesting matches for the remaining top seeds, as Roger is set to take on the Brazillian Thomaz Belluci, and Rafa will face the unpredictable Alexandr Dolgopolov. Tsonga will next also take on what could be a very interesting match up with David Nalbandian and big John Isner will face the Aussie player Matthew Ebden. And for Tomas Berdych, he will face his favourite player no doubt (ahem!) Nicolas Almagro, which should be very intruiging, as the last time they played, the match didn't finish on the best of circumstances. In their last match as a reminder at the Australian Open, Almagro accidentally played a shot which hit Berdych in the shoulder, and after the match Berdych refused to shake his hand, so I wonder if he will shake hands with him this time!
Sooooooooo onto the ladies (god this is like a news reel!), with a few more seeds tumbling out. The first of the match however was with Agnieszka Radwanska and the upcoming Asian-American player Jamie Hampton. Hampton played a really good match for the most part, as she had the game to outhit Radwanska, and took the 2nd set, however in 3rd set she succumb to cramps, and was forced to retire, trailing 0-3 in the third. In a potentially exciting encounter, the World No.1 Victoria Azarenka took the German Julia Goerges, who has been in form of late, however despite a strong start, Julia's fight soon dissolved, probably due to injury, and after the first set, despite an early break in the 2nd, she never found a way back in. This was a pretty disappointing result as the match had potential on paper, but Azarenka is the in form player just now, playing the best tennis of her career, and it very much looks like she will be set to go on a big unbeaten run just like Djokovic did last year, as she is now 20-0 this season. In other matches, Maria Sharapova breezed past the Italian Roberta Vinci, who only managed to take 3 games of the No.2 seed, as Maria crushed her in 6-2, 6-1. and Marion Bartoli also eased past Lucie Safarova in 6-1, 6-4. But the upset of the day came with Caroline Wozniacki, who clearly has not been playing her best of late, who fell to a new and improved Ana Ivanovic, in straight sets 6-3, 6-2, in just an 1 hour and 10 minutes.
And this is where I will say a bit more about Caroline Wozniacki, as she really has taken a bad tumble lately, and she has been handed a lot of tough defeats, and after her latest defeat she will drop to Number 6 in the rankings. And it would be hard to not feel sorry for her, as after her defeat to Ivanovic she was reportedly nearly in tears in the press conference, and I saw myself on TV how dispondent she looked when she walked off court, which is a real shame. This time last year she was playing terrific stuff, and she was the champion of this event, but a year on, her confidence really has taken a beating, as she has been struggling ever the since the latter half of last year. And the worrying signs continue with the former No.1, and I have to say I just knew that Caroline couldn't defend her title this year, and she herself has failed to win a title since August last year.
So it makes you wonder just what is behind this slump???? I think it could well be that the fire has gone out of her game, and I think to be honest her game has become really predictable, and quite often more than not, she is too passive in her play, and she needs to become more aggressive. And this is the real problem for her, as being a counterpuncher, she fails to hit through the aggressive opponents, which is why players such as Serena Williams, Clijsters, Kvitova, Azarenka, Georges and Ivanovic can blast her off the court with their power and pace. Andy Murray himself has had a few bad slumps, particularly in 2010 where he had his worst season, and yeah ok he's had another early exit in Indian Wells this year, but Andy's slumps only last at the most a few matches, whereas Caroline's slump has lasted well over the last 9 months! I also think that maybe she needs a change in coach as she has relied on her father too much, so perhaps she needs to mix things up a bit and hire someone else to train and re-think how to play her game, as right now too many players in the game can hit through her and day by day she is becoming more vulnerable. So until then I think Caroline will continue to struggle with her game, which is a pity to see such a talented player start to fall by the wayside.
Anywayyyyy that's quite enough for now, more to follow, as the rounds progress things are getting more interesting.
So that it.
Starting with the men's we had Roger and Rafa out on court, and Rafa had the easier match no doubt as he took on his fellow Spaniard, Marcell Granollers, and dismissed him in 6-1, 6-4, which sees make safe passage into the 4th round. Roger however had a much tougher match on his hand, as he was up against the big serving (and big) Canadian, Milos Raonic, who gave Fed his first big test of the tournament, as the Swiss fella dropped the opening set in a tiebreak. However Roger came back into the match and took the 2nd set with ease, and the 3rd with a single break, and closed it out in 6-7, 6-2, 6-4. Raonic clearly is a really talented new player, as he already has 3 ATP tour level titles to his name, so credit to him for pushing Roger so far, but as Rog said himself, his wealth of experince got him through this one. In other men's matches, the Ukranian Alexander Dolgopolov, battled past Marcos Baghdatis in a three set test, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. And Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also met with a stern test against the Czeck player Radek Stepanek, eventually winning 6-7, 6-4, 6-2. No. 9 seed, Juan Martin Del Potro also made it through against Fernando Verdasco in straight sets 6-2, 7-6. Although another big upset came with David Ferrer being knocked out by the Uzbekistanian player Dennis Istomin.
So this sets up some more potentially interesting matches for the remaining top seeds, as Roger is set to take on the Brazillian Thomaz Belluci, and Rafa will face the unpredictable Alexandr Dolgopolov. Tsonga will next also take on what could be a very interesting match up with David Nalbandian and big John Isner will face the Aussie player Matthew Ebden. And for Tomas Berdych, he will face his favourite player no doubt (ahem!) Nicolas Almagro, which should be very intruiging, as the last time they played, the match didn't finish on the best of circumstances. In their last match as a reminder at the Australian Open, Almagro accidentally played a shot which hit Berdych in the shoulder, and after the match Berdych refused to shake his hand, so I wonder if he will shake hands with him this time!
Sooooooooo onto the ladies (god this is like a news reel!), with a few more seeds tumbling out. The first of the match however was with Agnieszka Radwanska and the upcoming Asian-American player Jamie Hampton. Hampton played a really good match for the most part, as she had the game to outhit Radwanska, and took the 2nd set, however in 3rd set she succumb to cramps, and was forced to retire, trailing 0-3 in the third. In a potentially exciting encounter, the World No.1 Victoria Azarenka took the German Julia Goerges, who has been in form of late, however despite a strong start, Julia's fight soon dissolved, probably due to injury, and after the first set, despite an early break in the 2nd, she never found a way back in. This was a pretty disappointing result as the match had potential on paper, but Azarenka is the in form player just now, playing the best tennis of her career, and it very much looks like she will be set to go on a big unbeaten run just like Djokovic did last year, as she is now 20-0 this season. In other matches, Maria Sharapova breezed past the Italian Roberta Vinci, who only managed to take 3 games of the No.2 seed, as Maria crushed her in 6-2, 6-1. and Marion Bartoli also eased past Lucie Safarova in 6-1, 6-4. But the upset of the day came with Caroline Wozniacki, who clearly has not been playing her best of late, who fell to a new and improved Ana Ivanovic, in straight sets 6-3, 6-2, in just an 1 hour and 10 minutes.
And this is where I will say a bit more about Caroline Wozniacki, as she really has taken a bad tumble lately, and she has been handed a lot of tough defeats, and after her latest defeat she will drop to Number 6 in the rankings. And it would be hard to not feel sorry for her, as after her defeat to Ivanovic she was reportedly nearly in tears in the press conference, and I saw myself on TV how dispondent she looked when she walked off court, which is a real shame. This time last year she was playing terrific stuff, and she was the champion of this event, but a year on, her confidence really has taken a beating, as she has been struggling ever the since the latter half of last year. And the worrying signs continue with the former No.1, and I have to say I just knew that Caroline couldn't defend her title this year, and she herself has failed to win a title since August last year.
So it makes you wonder just what is behind this slump???? I think it could well be that the fire has gone out of her game, and I think to be honest her game has become really predictable, and quite often more than not, she is too passive in her play, and she needs to become more aggressive. And this is the real problem for her, as being a counterpuncher, she fails to hit through the aggressive opponents, which is why players such as Serena Williams, Clijsters, Kvitova, Azarenka, Georges and Ivanovic can blast her off the court with their power and pace. Andy Murray himself has had a few bad slumps, particularly in 2010 where he had his worst season, and yeah ok he's had another early exit in Indian Wells this year, but Andy's slumps only last at the most a few matches, whereas Caroline's slump has lasted well over the last 9 months! I also think that maybe she needs a change in coach as she has relied on her father too much, so perhaps she needs to mix things up a bit and hire someone else to train and re-think how to play her game, as right now too many players in the game can hit through her and day by day she is becoming more vulnerable. So until then I think Caroline will continue to struggle with her game, which is a pity to see such a talented player start to fall by the wayside.
Anywayyyyy that's quite enough for now, more to follow, as the rounds progress things are getting more interesting.
So that it.
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Indian Wells Part 2: Dropping like flies...
OK so we are will into the BNP Paribas Open just now and I have to say its been a bit of a mixed bag, with some really good matches and some not so good. The best matches have come from the ladies side of the tournament so far, as there have been plenty of 3 set battles, but on the men's side its been a bit staid. But here's an update on what's been happening so far.
To start with men's side of things, the world number 1, Novak Djokovic had little trouble advancing through to the 4th round as he defeated a sub-par Kevin Anderson in straight sets winning 6-2, 6-3. Although the scoreline was perhaps a little misleading as it did take Djokovic a bit of time to get through that first set, 55 minutes more or less. But soon enough Djoko sealed the giant South African's fate and got the win he needed. It wasn't vintage Djokovic by any means, as his serve did falter a bit, and his 1st serves particularly in the first set were poor, but he kept it together as he does, and that's the main thing you come to expect from the world's best player.
In other matches, Andy Roddick took a tough defeat from the World No.7 Tomas Berdych, losing in 3 sets, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, but at least he put a brave fight before falling to the big Czeck fella. Mardy Fish however made a shock exit at the hands of the Aussie player Matthew Ebden in 6-3, 6-4, however his fast rising compatriot John Isner made it safely through to the 4th round after a tight encounter Juan Monaco with a 7-5, 7-5 win. In fact I can soon see John Isner moving up into the top 10 and getting that American No.1 spot before long, as he really is coming on and has been since last year. The frenchman, Gilles Simon also advanced past Stan Wawrinka in straight sets in 6-4, 6-4, and the man who pulled off the upset of the tournament, Guillermo Garcio-Lopez, who defeated Andy Murray in the 2nd round, has been put out by the talented American player, Ryan Harrison, winning in 6-4, 7-5. And today Roger and Rafa are due to be back in action, however Roger has apparently come down with a high temperature so he might not be playing after all, but we shall see as its not definite yet.
Which brings me onto the women, some of whom have fallen foul to a stomach bug, which has been sweeping the Coachella valley where the tournament is held, as Vera Zvonareva and Francesca Schiavone have already pulled out, and Petra Kvitova has also fallen ill again. In fact the bug has already knocked out 8 players in all, with probably more to follow, as the men have been affected to including Gael Monfils and Jurgen Melzer.
But onto some of the womans' results, starting with Victoria Azarenka who had little trouble getting past the former No.1 Svetlana Kuznetsova, whom she defeated in 6-1, 6-2, which saw her unbeaten run continue now up to 19 matches. Although Vika has a potentially stern test ahead of her as she is set to face the German Julia Goerges, but she should still come through it. Agnieszka Radwanska also came through a very entertaining match against Flavia Pennetta, in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, but they traded many excellent points and rallies along the way. Maria Sharapova also came through a late fight back from another promising player Simona Halep (who is rather weird looking, think of a female Gaz Coombes and you are there!), who put a good fight and traded very well from the baseline, but ultimately fell to the highly erroneous but nevertheless dogged world no.2 in 6-3, 6-4. And Nadia Petrova, who has been out of form in recently, came back against Sam Stosur after taking the 1st set, and losing the 2nd in a tiebreak, she fought back to win the 3rd in a tiebreak, which saw her win against a top 10 player for the first time in quite a while, with a see-saw 6-1, 6-7, 7-6 victory. And finally Caroline Wozniacki also came through a stern test from Sophia Arvidsson, as she fought back from a set down to get past Arvidsson, winning in 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, and Caz will go onto face Ana Ivanovic next.
So that sets up some more great tennis for today, as long as the matches aren't interrupted by more illness here's hoping it gets even better from here.
Till then next one, that's it the now.
To start with men's side of things, the world number 1, Novak Djokovic had little trouble advancing through to the 4th round as he defeated a sub-par Kevin Anderson in straight sets winning 6-2, 6-3. Although the scoreline was perhaps a little misleading as it did take Djokovic a bit of time to get through that first set, 55 minutes more or less. But soon enough Djoko sealed the giant South African's fate and got the win he needed. It wasn't vintage Djokovic by any means, as his serve did falter a bit, and his 1st serves particularly in the first set were poor, but he kept it together as he does, and that's the main thing you come to expect from the world's best player.
In other matches, Andy Roddick took a tough defeat from the World No.7 Tomas Berdych, losing in 3 sets, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, but at least he put a brave fight before falling to the big Czeck fella. Mardy Fish however made a shock exit at the hands of the Aussie player Matthew Ebden in 6-3, 6-4, however his fast rising compatriot John Isner made it safely through to the 4th round after a tight encounter Juan Monaco with a 7-5, 7-5 win. In fact I can soon see John Isner moving up into the top 10 and getting that American No.1 spot before long, as he really is coming on and has been since last year. The frenchman, Gilles Simon also advanced past Stan Wawrinka in straight sets in 6-4, 6-4, and the man who pulled off the upset of the tournament, Guillermo Garcio-Lopez, who defeated Andy Murray in the 2nd round, has been put out by the talented American player, Ryan Harrison, winning in 6-4, 7-5. And today Roger and Rafa are due to be back in action, however Roger has apparently come down with a high temperature so he might not be playing after all, but we shall see as its not definite yet.
Which brings me onto the women, some of whom have fallen foul to a stomach bug, which has been sweeping the Coachella valley where the tournament is held, as Vera Zvonareva and Francesca Schiavone have already pulled out, and Petra Kvitova has also fallen ill again. In fact the bug has already knocked out 8 players in all, with probably more to follow, as the men have been affected to including Gael Monfils and Jurgen Melzer.
But onto some of the womans' results, starting with Victoria Azarenka who had little trouble getting past the former No.1 Svetlana Kuznetsova, whom she defeated in 6-1, 6-2, which saw her unbeaten run continue now up to 19 matches. Although Vika has a potentially stern test ahead of her as she is set to face the German Julia Goerges, but she should still come through it. Agnieszka Radwanska also came through a very entertaining match against Flavia Pennetta, in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, but they traded many excellent points and rallies along the way. Maria Sharapova also came through a late fight back from another promising player Simona Halep (who is rather weird looking, think of a female Gaz Coombes and you are there!), who put a good fight and traded very well from the baseline, but ultimately fell to the highly erroneous but nevertheless dogged world no.2 in 6-3, 6-4. And Nadia Petrova, who has been out of form in recently, came back against Sam Stosur after taking the 1st set, and losing the 2nd in a tiebreak, she fought back to win the 3rd in a tiebreak, which saw her win against a top 10 player for the first time in quite a while, with a see-saw 6-1, 6-7, 7-6 victory. And finally Caroline Wozniacki also came through a stern test from Sophia Arvidsson, as she fought back from a set down to get past Arvidsson, winning in 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, and Caz will go onto face Ana Ivanovic next.
So that sets up some more great tennis for today, as long as the matches aren't interrupted by more illness here's hoping it gets even better from here.
Till then next one, that's it the now.
Sunday, 11 March 2012
Indian Wells Part 1: History repeats itself.....
Ohhhhh dear, well its a shame to open a new blog post with some bad news, well ok its nothing too serious, but its not too good for tennis's British No.1, Andy Murray, who has once again gone out early from the BNP Parbis Open at Indian Wells, again in straight sets to a qualifier, this time to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, in 6-4, 6-2.
In another puzzling display of really poor tennis, Andy failed to get anything going in what must fast be shaping up to be his least favourite tournament on the tour, as his backhand, usually his best and most reliable shot in his game, let him down spectacularly. Garcia-Lopez, while I didn't see the match, and to be honest don't think I want to either, obviously played great from start to finish, especially in dispatching the World No.4 in such a straight forward fashion. But it really is a bizarre reocurrence of his defeat from last year as well, where he lost to Donald Young (mind you this time Young has already gone out!). Indian Wells has not been kind to Andy, but that aside, you really think he shouldn't be losing matches to qualifiers in his first match, and he had a really good run the week before in Dubai. But I guess as Sam Stosur said at the Australian Open, when she went out in her first round match in Melbourne, that you can't pick and chose when you play your best tennis. And sometimes that first match can be the toughest of all, and qualifiers are already match sharp as they have a few matches under their belt coming into the opening rounds in the main draw.
So I guess we can put it down to just another bad day at the office for the Muzza, but he has to ensure that he doesn't go out early once again in Miami, as that would be yet another blow, and would endanger his No.4 ranking. At this rate Andy's goal to reach No.1, is a long long long long way off, but as long as he can try and up his game and improve his consistency then it won't be impossible, just extremely difficult. And he has been known to have these dips in form now and then, as even last year in Montreal, where he was the defending champion of the Rogers Cup, he lost in his opening match to the South African giant Kevin Anderson, also in straight sets but he then went on to win the Cincinnati 1000 Masters series title the very next week. Since then Andy has said to have had a phone conversation with his coach Ivan Lendl about the loss, who helped him put it into perspective, although he didn't say too much about the advice Lendl gave him. Personally I think Andy was probably a little haunted by his scarring experience at Indian Wells last year, and while he said he felt much better than he did last year, it probably still lingered. But Andy has vowed to ensure that it doesn't happen again next time, so here's hoping he doesn't suffer another early exit in Miami, or if he does, at least make it to the 3rd round! ;-) Andy also has previously won the Miami title back in 2009, and he defeated none other than Novak Djokovic. To date the Sony Ericsson Open remains Andy's biggest title, although it is a 1000 Masters series title, it lasts over the standard one week, and nearly as long as a grand slam, so it definitely has that big title feel to it.
In the meantime he's still got the doubles to play with his brother Jamie, and funnily enough they are up against their other compatriots, the fast rising doubles partnership of Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins. And much to my surprise the Murrays ended up winning the match, but it was a real tight one as it went to a tense tiebreaker, which they won, the result being 3-6, 6-2, 13-11. So that is the Murrays through to the 2nd doubles round where they next face Max Mirni and Daniel Nestor, who to be honest I'd favour Mirni and Nestor to win because they are a formidable doubles team in the top 10, but we shall see how it goes.
So Andy may be out of the BNP Paribas Open, but the rest of the top seeds are still very much in, as Djokovic eased through his first match against Andrev Gobulev in 6-3, 6-2, in about 80 minutes, and Berdych battled past Sergiy Stahkovsky in a 2 and a half hour encounter winning in 3 sets. Also Andy Roddick made it through in a tough encounter against Lukas Kubot, winning in 4-6, 7-6, 6-3. And today Rafa and Roger are out playing their respective matches, so you should expect fairly straight forward victories for them.
And on the ladies side, the defending champion, Caroline Wozniacki, former World No.1, breezed through her opening match in 6-2, 6-0, as did Sam Stosur in 6-0, 6-3, and Maria Sharapova as well in 6-0, 6-2 against Geisa Dulko. And there is full coverage of the ladies campaign on Eurosport throughout the week, which I will be keeping a close eye on, starting tonight, so I'm really looking forward to that one. And as a brief update on that, Victoria Azarenka the new World No.1, in her first round match on Friday had a real scare against the up and coming German player, Mona Barthel, who pushed her to the absolute limit in a 3 hour battle. Vika clearly not on form, played some incredibly poor tennis herself, but unlike Andy Murray, she was really fortunate to stave off Barthel's attack, who even had a chance to serve for the match twice. But Victoria managed to come through it in the end, holding on to the last point, and barely scraped through to her 18th successive match win, in 6-4, 6-7, 7-6.
This was a rather surprising near defeat for Azarenka, who normally is so rock solid in the early matches, but Barthel is without a doubt a very talented player, who played some great tennis, and some times, as I said that first match can sometimes be the toughest. But I expect Victoria will play much better from hereon in, her next match today is up against Svetlana Kuznetsova, so I would expect her to come through that one, unless she gets injured! ;-)
Right that's more than enough for now. More to follow....
In another puzzling display of really poor tennis, Andy failed to get anything going in what must fast be shaping up to be his least favourite tournament on the tour, as his backhand, usually his best and most reliable shot in his game, let him down spectacularly. Garcia-Lopez, while I didn't see the match, and to be honest don't think I want to either, obviously played great from start to finish, especially in dispatching the World No.4 in such a straight forward fashion. But it really is a bizarre reocurrence of his defeat from last year as well, where he lost to Donald Young (mind you this time Young has already gone out!). Indian Wells has not been kind to Andy, but that aside, you really think he shouldn't be losing matches to qualifiers in his first match, and he had a really good run the week before in Dubai. But I guess as Sam Stosur said at the Australian Open, when she went out in her first round match in Melbourne, that you can't pick and chose when you play your best tennis. And sometimes that first match can be the toughest of all, and qualifiers are already match sharp as they have a few matches under their belt coming into the opening rounds in the main draw.
So I guess we can put it down to just another bad day at the office for the Muzza, but he has to ensure that he doesn't go out early once again in Miami, as that would be yet another blow, and would endanger his No.4 ranking. At this rate Andy's goal to reach No.1, is a long long long long way off, but as long as he can try and up his game and improve his consistency then it won't be impossible, just extremely difficult. And he has been known to have these dips in form now and then, as even last year in Montreal, where he was the defending champion of the Rogers Cup, he lost in his opening match to the South African giant Kevin Anderson, also in straight sets but he then went on to win the Cincinnati 1000 Masters series title the very next week. Since then Andy has said to have had a phone conversation with his coach Ivan Lendl about the loss, who helped him put it into perspective, although he didn't say too much about the advice Lendl gave him. Personally I think Andy was probably a little haunted by his scarring experience at Indian Wells last year, and while he said he felt much better than he did last year, it probably still lingered. But Andy has vowed to ensure that it doesn't happen again next time, so here's hoping he doesn't suffer another early exit in Miami, or if he does, at least make it to the 3rd round! ;-) Andy also has previously won the Miami title back in 2009, and he defeated none other than Novak Djokovic. To date the Sony Ericsson Open remains Andy's biggest title, although it is a 1000 Masters series title, it lasts over the standard one week, and nearly as long as a grand slam, so it definitely has that big title feel to it.
In the meantime he's still got the doubles to play with his brother Jamie, and funnily enough they are up against their other compatriots, the fast rising doubles partnership of Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins. And much to my surprise the Murrays ended up winning the match, but it was a real tight one as it went to a tense tiebreaker, which they won, the result being 3-6, 6-2, 13-11. So that is the Murrays through to the 2nd doubles round where they next face Max Mirni and Daniel Nestor, who to be honest I'd favour Mirni and Nestor to win because they are a formidable doubles team in the top 10, but we shall see how it goes.
So Andy may be out of the BNP Paribas Open, but the rest of the top seeds are still very much in, as Djokovic eased through his first match against Andrev Gobulev in 6-3, 6-2, in about 80 minutes, and Berdych battled past Sergiy Stahkovsky in a 2 and a half hour encounter winning in 3 sets. Also Andy Roddick made it through in a tough encounter against Lukas Kubot, winning in 4-6, 7-6, 6-3. And today Rafa and Roger are out playing their respective matches, so you should expect fairly straight forward victories for them.
And on the ladies side, the defending champion, Caroline Wozniacki, former World No.1, breezed through her opening match in 6-2, 6-0, as did Sam Stosur in 6-0, 6-3, and Maria Sharapova as well in 6-0, 6-2 against Geisa Dulko. And there is full coverage of the ladies campaign on Eurosport throughout the week, which I will be keeping a close eye on, starting tonight, so I'm really looking forward to that one. And as a brief update on that, Victoria Azarenka the new World No.1, in her first round match on Friday had a real scare against the up and coming German player, Mona Barthel, who pushed her to the absolute limit in a 3 hour battle. Vika clearly not on form, played some incredibly poor tennis herself, but unlike Andy Murray, she was really fortunate to stave off Barthel's attack, who even had a chance to serve for the match twice. But Victoria managed to come through it in the end, holding on to the last point, and barely scraped through to her 18th successive match win, in 6-4, 6-7, 7-6.
This was a rather surprising near defeat for Azarenka, who normally is so rock solid in the early matches, but Barthel is without a doubt a very talented player, who played some great tennis, and some times, as I said that first match can sometimes be the toughest. But I expect Victoria will play much better from hereon in, her next match today is up against Svetlana Kuznetsova, so I would expect her to come through that one, unless she gets injured! ;-)
Right that's more than enough for now. More to follow....
Saturday, 3 March 2012
Serve and folly
Achhhh well that's the end of the Dubai Open Championships in.... well Dubai of course, and the final between Roger Federer and Andy Murray ended in not so much of whimper or a bang, but kind of in between.
So to recap, the first set was tight as a drum until 5-5 all, when all of a sudden after playing some highly efficient and aggressive tennis, Andy's serve went walkies and he let Roger in the door who took the break and closed out the set in 7-5. In the 2nd set Roger stepped up the pace and broke Andy in the opening game, however at 3-2, serving for 4-2, Roger dropped serve and very impressively broke back, and soon levelled it to make 4-4. But a case of servitis came back on Andy and he dropped serve yet again, and left Roger with the perfect opportunity, whic he took to close out the match winning his 5th title in Dubai in 7-5, 6-4.
Well it was definitely a disappointing end to an impressive week for the British No.1, especially considering he knocked out Berdych and beat him for the first time in seven years, and then went on to take out the World No.1 Djokovic, in straight sets no less. But Federer no doubt has had an incredible ATP tour season so far this year, and he is yet to lose a match on the tour, if you discount the Davis cup and the Aussie Open losses he sustained (because they aren't really part of the tour as such). And its a shame for Andy to come up short again, and despite the fact he succeeded in getting his 1st service percentage well into the 60s throughout the week, he chose the worst match for it to drop below 50% which it did rather, as his first serves were at a woeful 48%. However Roger's wasn't much better at 52%, but he played the better tennis in the end and that's how it goes. Perhaps this signals that it could be Roger's year, if so its a great pity and a real pisser for Andy, as its like these three guys keep taking turns in denying him a shot at the major prizes. But its only March and there are 3 more majors to go, so there will be more opportunities so we will just have to keep our eyes peeled. Regardless of his loss today, Andy can take away many positives this week from Dubai, especially as this time last year, he failed to even win a set, never mind a match.
However next up will the first big title of the year on the ATP tour circuit, and for the WTA tour for that matter, as the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells awaits for the top players in California. Without a doubt, Indian Wells is a big tournament, and it lasts almost the same length as a slam, in fact with the Sony Ericsson Open, its the only other tournament that lasts longer than the standard week for all the others. And there is also a maximum of seven rounds, just like in the slams, except of course the top seeds get a bye into the 2nd round. Novak Djokovic is the defending champion there in the men's tour, so will he be able to defend it this year???? Hmmmmm, hard to say, with Andy having inflicted Djokovic's first defeat of the season, it definitely sees him look more fallable than last year, when he was unstoppable. Andy himself is playing great tennis just now, so there's even a chance he could lift his first title in Indian Wells also. But of course we have Federer who has been playing terrific tennis at the ATP tour level, and I think he has every chance of winning, in fact I would almost tip him to be the favourite to win. And of course lets not forget Rafa, who has taken a whole month off in between the Aussie open and Indian Wells, so he will be fresh and fit as the proverbial fiddle as anyone else. Whatever happens it promises to be quite an exciting tournament, and it has the look and feel of a really big tournament, which really does add to the excitement of it all.
And quickly on the ladies tour regarding Indian Wells, its going to be really interesting to see who wins there, and the great thing is Eurosport has full coverage so I will be watching it like a hawk. The defending champion there is Caroline Wozniacki, but I really do not see her winning it again this year, as she has fallen rather sharply away from the game, looking too vulnerable and beatable these days, its going to be hard to see her come out on top. So that leaves a big chance for the new World No.1 Victoria Azarenka to step in and steal the title away, but that all depends on her being injury free throughout, if she can and keeps up her current form then I see no reason she can't win. I almost hope she does as it would be great to see her carry on her great unbeaten form, but at this rate she doesn't have the durability that Djokovic has, so at any moment it could fall away from her pretty quick.
Anywaysssss that's all coming up and I'm looking forward to it when it does. So that's it for noww.
So to recap, the first set was tight as a drum until 5-5 all, when all of a sudden after playing some highly efficient and aggressive tennis, Andy's serve went walkies and he let Roger in the door who took the break and closed out the set in 7-5. In the 2nd set Roger stepped up the pace and broke Andy in the opening game, however at 3-2, serving for 4-2, Roger dropped serve and very impressively broke back, and soon levelled it to make 4-4. But a case of servitis came back on Andy and he dropped serve yet again, and left Roger with the perfect opportunity, whic he took to close out the match winning his 5th title in Dubai in 7-5, 6-4.
Well it was definitely a disappointing end to an impressive week for the British No.1, especially considering he knocked out Berdych and beat him for the first time in seven years, and then went on to take out the World No.1 Djokovic, in straight sets no less. But Federer no doubt has had an incredible ATP tour season so far this year, and he is yet to lose a match on the tour, if you discount the Davis cup and the Aussie Open losses he sustained (because they aren't really part of the tour as such). And its a shame for Andy to come up short again, and despite the fact he succeeded in getting his 1st service percentage well into the 60s throughout the week, he chose the worst match for it to drop below 50% which it did rather, as his first serves were at a woeful 48%. However Roger's wasn't much better at 52%, but he played the better tennis in the end and that's how it goes. Perhaps this signals that it could be Roger's year, if so its a great pity and a real pisser for Andy, as its like these three guys keep taking turns in denying him a shot at the major prizes. But its only March and there are 3 more majors to go, so there will be more opportunities so we will just have to keep our eyes peeled. Regardless of his loss today, Andy can take away many positives this week from Dubai, especially as this time last year, he failed to even win a set, never mind a match.
However next up will the first big title of the year on the ATP tour circuit, and for the WTA tour for that matter, as the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells awaits for the top players in California. Without a doubt, Indian Wells is a big tournament, and it lasts almost the same length as a slam, in fact with the Sony Ericsson Open, its the only other tournament that lasts longer than the standard week for all the others. And there is also a maximum of seven rounds, just like in the slams, except of course the top seeds get a bye into the 2nd round. Novak Djokovic is the defending champion there in the men's tour, so will he be able to defend it this year???? Hmmmmm, hard to say, with Andy having inflicted Djokovic's first defeat of the season, it definitely sees him look more fallable than last year, when he was unstoppable. Andy himself is playing great tennis just now, so there's even a chance he could lift his first title in Indian Wells also. But of course we have Federer who has been playing terrific tennis at the ATP tour level, and I think he has every chance of winning, in fact I would almost tip him to be the favourite to win. And of course lets not forget Rafa, who has taken a whole month off in between the Aussie open and Indian Wells, so he will be fresh and fit as the proverbial fiddle as anyone else. Whatever happens it promises to be quite an exciting tournament, and it has the look and feel of a really big tournament, which really does add to the excitement of it all.
And quickly on the ladies tour regarding Indian Wells, its going to be really interesting to see who wins there, and the great thing is Eurosport has full coverage so I will be watching it like a hawk. The defending champion there is Caroline Wozniacki, but I really do not see her winning it again this year, as she has fallen rather sharply away from the game, looking too vulnerable and beatable these days, its going to be hard to see her come out on top. So that leaves a big chance for the new World No.1 Victoria Azarenka to step in and steal the title away, but that all depends on her being injury free throughout, if she can and keeps up her current form then I see no reason she can't win. I almost hope she does as it would be great to see her carry on her great unbeaten form, but at this rate she doesn't have the durability that Djokovic has, so at any moment it could fall away from her pretty quick.
Anywaysssss that's all coming up and I'm looking forward to it when it does. So that's it for noww.
Friday, 2 March 2012
Sending a message
Wellllllll I just watched the semi finals match from ATP Dubai Open Championships with Andy Murray taking on the World No.1 Novak Djokovic, and what a match it was.
I have to say even though it was a short lived match, it was very high on quality as both players laid it out on the court for a highly enthusiastic jam packed crowd who naturally lapped every minute of it. The real surprise of course being that not only did Andy defeat Novak but he also defeated him in straight sets! The first belonged to Andy as he dominated it with agression and precision breaking Djoko twice to take the set 6-2, but in the 2nd despite being 5-3 up and serving for the match, Djokovic broke back to and levelled it at 5-5, however Andy wasn't done yet, after holding serve at 6-5, he broke Djokovic again to take the match, and his first win over the World No.1 in 2012.
While this match was dramatically shorter than the incredible Australian Open semi final match they had, it definitely had plenty of terrific points, and both players were as dynamic and sharp as you would hope they would be. Although Djokovic did make a few uncharacteristic unforced errors, especially in the 1st set, being broken twice, you would expect the world's best player to claw his way back into the match and level it, but it didn't quite work out that way today. It does also show that Djokovic isn't quite as the superhman as he was last year, winning every single match in sight up until the French Open, he won 41 consecutive matches in 2011, this year he won 10 before being beaten. But I also think Djokovic will definitely prioritise the grand slams this year and when it comes to it, he will play his best tennis in the remaining three majors.
As for Andy, well, he really put in quite a performance in this match, he attacked well, returned brilliantly and most importantly he served really well, which is something he has done all week in Dubai, as his first serves are now consistently above 60%, which is really good. If he can keep up this pace, then surely that slam isn't far away now, and this week we really have seen Andy shine, with his whole game and demeanour having changed, he's no longer whinging, muttering and berating himself on court, he's just getting on with it (well for the most part!). We have also just witnessed him push aside the World No.1 in straight sets, and while it was in a smaller tournament, it sure is a signal of things to come. Another great thing is we are starting to see an exciting new rivalry emerge in Andy and Novak, as together they have produced some really explosive tennis when they are on court, so I'm really looking forward to their next meeting.
But first things first, Andy will now face Roger Federer in the final, and well he isn't too bad a player himself. Roger himself had a really good match against Juan Martin Del Poltro, with their last two meetings being easy wins for Fedora, but this time Delpo brought his game to the match and it was a much tighter contest. Federer won the 1st set tiebreak, and then it went to a 2nd set breaker, and despite being 6-2 up, Federer broke back and levelled and then broke to win the breaker and match in 7-6(5), 7-6(6).
So what's my verdict for tomorrow's match??? Its a tough one to call, but I am going to go out on a limb and say that Andy will win this one, as he really has played some terrific tennis this week, and beating Djokovic in the semis will give him big confidence going into the final. However Federer is in great form on the ATP tour so far this year and it would be no surprise if he did win tomorrow, but either way I think promises to be a very good final.
And that's it for now, more to follow once the verdict is in!
I have to say even though it was a short lived match, it was very high on quality as both players laid it out on the court for a highly enthusiastic jam packed crowd who naturally lapped every minute of it. The real surprise of course being that not only did Andy defeat Novak but he also defeated him in straight sets! The first belonged to Andy as he dominated it with agression and precision breaking Djoko twice to take the set 6-2, but in the 2nd despite being 5-3 up and serving for the match, Djokovic broke back to and levelled it at 5-5, however Andy wasn't done yet, after holding serve at 6-5, he broke Djokovic again to take the match, and his first win over the World No.1 in 2012.
While this match was dramatically shorter than the incredible Australian Open semi final match they had, it definitely had plenty of terrific points, and both players were as dynamic and sharp as you would hope they would be. Although Djokovic did make a few uncharacteristic unforced errors, especially in the 1st set, being broken twice, you would expect the world's best player to claw his way back into the match and level it, but it didn't quite work out that way today. It does also show that Djokovic isn't quite as the superhman as he was last year, winning every single match in sight up until the French Open, he won 41 consecutive matches in 2011, this year he won 10 before being beaten. But I also think Djokovic will definitely prioritise the grand slams this year and when it comes to it, he will play his best tennis in the remaining three majors.
As for Andy, well, he really put in quite a performance in this match, he attacked well, returned brilliantly and most importantly he served really well, which is something he has done all week in Dubai, as his first serves are now consistently above 60%, which is really good. If he can keep up this pace, then surely that slam isn't far away now, and this week we really have seen Andy shine, with his whole game and demeanour having changed, he's no longer whinging, muttering and berating himself on court, he's just getting on with it (well for the most part!). We have also just witnessed him push aside the World No.1 in straight sets, and while it was in a smaller tournament, it sure is a signal of things to come. Another great thing is we are starting to see an exciting new rivalry emerge in Andy and Novak, as together they have produced some really explosive tennis when they are on court, so I'm really looking forward to their next meeting.
But first things first, Andy will now face Roger Federer in the final, and well he isn't too bad a player himself. Roger himself had a really good match against Juan Martin Del Poltro, with their last two meetings being easy wins for Fedora, but this time Delpo brought his game to the match and it was a much tighter contest. Federer won the 1st set tiebreak, and then it went to a 2nd set breaker, and despite being 6-2 up, Federer broke back and levelled and then broke to win the breaker and match in 7-6(5), 7-6(6).
So what's my verdict for tomorrow's match??? Its a tough one to call, but I am going to go out on a limb and say that Andy will win this one, as he really has played some terrific tennis this week, and beating Djokovic in the semis will give him big confidence going into the final. However Federer is in great form on the ATP tour so far this year and it would be no surprise if he did win tomorrow, but either way I think promises to be a very good final.
And that's it for now, more to follow once the verdict is in!
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Funny how????
OK movie review time again, plenty of these been done already, so why not do another??? This is pretty much what this blog is now, tennis and movie critiques! (but some different posts will follow at some point).
Anyways I thought I would take a look at another Martin Scorsese classic, Goodfellas, which is based on the real life exploits of the former gangster Henry Hill who was associated with the Luchesse crime family based in New York. The film itself starts in 1955 with Henry as a teenager who lives in East Brooklyn ad he longs to become one of the "wiseguys" and chooses to work for them at the local cabstand. However Henry's father soon finds out he has not been at school and beats him, as he doesn't want his son to have anything to do with the mob. However the mobsters manage to put a stop to this by threatening the local mailman by putting his "fuckin head in the oven first!" if he delivers another letter to Henry's house. After this Henry works full time under the wing of the boss Paulie Cicero (Paul Sorvino) and he also meets his two associates the smooth talking but lethal Jimmy "The Gent" Conway (Robert De Niro) and the psychotic loose canon Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci). After being pinched by the cops for selling cigarettes off the back off a truck, Henry is taken to court, but tells them nothing, and is eventually let go where Jimmy tells him "Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut".
As the film moves into the 1960s, Henry now in his 20s (as is Tommy) are making a solid living stealing cargo from the local airports, and they also pull off the Air France robbery, which sees Henry move up the ranks. By this time Henry also meets his soon to be wife Karen (Lorraine Bracco) a Jewish girl from the Five Towns in New York, initially they dont get on well, and Henry stood her up on their second date, but after Karen confronts him about it, Henry makes it up to her. After this Henry charms Karen with the glamourous side of his life, as he takes her out on expensive dates for meals and drinks. Henry also at one point defends her, by brutally beating up an abusive neighbour of Karen's, and despite her initial shock toward the incident, she admits that it turned her on, and soon after they marry.
Now into the 1970s, where things start to get more heavy as Henry and Jimmy host a party for Billy Batts (Frankie Vincent) who is a made man with the Gambino crime family. During the party, Tommy arrives with his date, where Billy first off warmly greets Tommy but then proceeds to wind him up about his past when he was just a boy who shined shoes, this drives Tommy mad (or madder than before) and he threatens Billy then leaves. Later on Tommy comes back and with Jimmy they both brutally beat up Billy, and later stab and kill him, and soon after bury his body out in the woods. With Batts being a made guy, this causes a serious problem for the three of them as they killed him without consent. And during this period Tommy's psychosis continues as he first off berates and shoots a young hood Spider (Michael Imperioli) in the foot for not getting him drink, and then later shoots Spider dead for talking back to him. Round about this time Henry also starts an affair with a girl Janice Rossi (Gina Mastrogiacomo), but Karen soon finds out about it and rows furiously with him, which leads to Karen becoming hysterical and confronting Henry, pointing a gun at him while they lie on bed, but Henry soon slaps her and takes the gun off her and shouts at her that he's got enough to worry about without coming home to this, and leaves. Soon after, Paulie expresses his concerns about Karen, but insists he can put things to rights, and in the meantime Henry go off with Jimmy on business down to Florida. However on beating up a bookie, things soon go awry as the bookie's sister is revealed to be a typist for the FBI, who gives them up, and Henry, Jimmy and Paulie serve a prison sentence.
After Henry is released, he gets involved in drug dealing (behind Paulie's back who insisted Henry doesn't get involved in it) and he also comes across a very appealing business proposal from his friend and local mobster Morrie Kessler (Chuck Law). This turns out to be the legendary Lufthansa heist at JFK airport, where Jimmy and a small crew pull off a robbery where they steal over 6 million dollars However as a result of the robbery, the crew all buy expensive things with their cut of the money, which infuriates Jimmy who expressly told them not to buy anything as it would attract unwanted attention. Soon after Jimmy has the participants of the heist murdered by Tommy in order to cut any link between himself and the robbery, this includes Morrie, Henry's close friend. Once the dust has cleared from the heist, Tommy receives the good news that he is set to be "made" and ingratiated into the crime family as a proper member. But it soon turns out to be a setup as Tommy is taken into a room by Tuddie (Paulie's brother) and is shot dead, as a revenge for killing Billy Batts and various other things.
By the time we hit 1980, Henry gets involved even heavier in his drug deals and is trying to set up a deal with his associates in Pittsburgh. But by now Henry is a total dishevelled mess, addicted to cocaine and has become increasingly paranoid. However before Henry can get the deal underway he is arrested by narcotics police and he is sent to jail, where Henry fears he may be murdered by his crime partners in case he rats them out. After posting bail, Henry meets with Jimmy who for the first time asks him to do a hit on someone who was supposedly the rat who snitched on them, but Henry realises its a setup because if he decided to go along with the hit, he himself would be killed. Henry afterward realises he has little choice but to become involved in the witness protection program in order to save his own life and his family.
Right from the start you just know that Goodfellas is a classic film, that certainly isn't far off the level of The Godfather. The first scene which definitely ranks as one of the most violent opening scenes in American cinema where Tommy and Jimmy finish off Batts, really grabs you by the throat and pulls you into the film straight off. The characters in Goodfellas are certainly very vividly drawn and Henry Hill himself is far from an angel, but he does appear to be a man who is out of his depth in this world. He is surrounded by vicious thieves and murderers and while he is a thief himself, he isn't murder, and as Hill in real life himself said, he lived in constant fear 24 hours a day, fearing that he might be killed himself at any moment. Hill's narration in the film is also really contrary with the events that occur in the film where he says he loved the life, and the thrill he got from it, but you also see Henry's utter shock and fear at his associates behaviour. This is probably best displayed in the scene after Tommy and Jimmy brutally bludgeon Billy Batts and stick him the boot of their car, they then go and have dinner at Tommy's mother's house, and Henry sits silently, while Tommy and Jimmy laugh and joke, despite what they have just done. But at the end of the film even though he is living in the witness protection program, he still has the nerve to complain about how boring and inconvenient has life has become since leaving the crime life behind. Yet if it wasn't for the program he would have been dead long ago, since then Henry Hill himself said how grateful he was for the program and that it did save his life, although he has since had a few lapses and gotten in trouble with the law for drink and drug abuse.
However Jimmy and Tommy are far from sympathetic as they come across as the vicious bastards they no doubt were in real life, and no doubt in real life they were much worse. Tommy's character was for example based on Thomas DeSimone, Hill's real life criminal associate who Hill himself described as a "sick deadly fuck, who would kill your rather than steal", DeSimmone also in reality attempted to rape Karen Hill as well.
Performance wise there is precious little to fault here as the cast are all really strong and on top form. Ray Liotta is great as Henry Hill, as he starts off as a suave well dressed gangster, but ends up a total mess, burnt out on cocaine. Liotta perfectly grasps the (fancy word here) Hill's ambivalent emotions about the life, as one minute he loves the thrill of stealing, but the next he fears for his life. De Niro is also really good as Jimmy Conway, he plays him with just the right amount of charm and menace. Paul Sorvino also does really well as Paulie Cicero, its basically a part he initially found really difficult to capture, until he saw a look he gave in a mirror which scared the hell out of him! And he adopts this menacing look throughout the film, and his best scene comes when he confronts Henry about drug dealing. Lorraine Bracco is terrific as Karen Hill, and she is a far cry from the quiet wives off The Godfather as such as Kay and Connie. Karen is far more fesity and has the guts to stand up to Henry and confront him about his infidelities, and she also remains strong when Henry serves his time in prison. But the best performance in the film comes from Joe Pesci as the hot headed and aggressive crook Tommy, and its great how he can take his small demeanour and turn himself into quite a chilling but at the same time amusing bad guy. Pesci's famous scene where he asks Henry "funny how?" is a great example of Pesci's intensity and ability to play a scene as being both funny and menacing all at once.
The film itself has only a few flaws, but the main one unfortunately however has to be that after Tommy's character is bumped off, the film takes a dip and the energy and momentum of the film drops. In the last 30 minutes or so, its all about Henry's frantic state of mind as he tries to put his drug deal together, and picking up his brother from hospital and getting him to stir the tomato sauce for their dinner, while at the same he is paranoid about helicopters following him outside. It all becomes a bit bogged down with inconsequential details at this point, and all Henry's running around really drags the pace of the film down. However it does feature a great moment where Karen meets up with Jimmy who says he has some dresses for Karen to look at, which are in the back of Jimmy's warehouse in an alleyway, but Karen out of fear choses not to look and drives away in her car. But the end of the film does feel like a bit of an anti-climax, which is a shame as the rest of it is so good.
Technically though the film is just as good as anything Scorses has done, as there are many great scenes, the scene where Henry escorts Karen through the bowels the club they are going to in order to skip the queue at the front door is definitely one of the most memorable. I also love the pull in zoom shot where Henry meets with Jimmy in a diner toward the end where they discuss Henry's case. Scorsese's also put together a terrific soundtrack for the film and his choice of music is perfect in each scene with such artists as The Rolling Stones, Donovan, The Sex Pistols, George Harrison and Cream.
Soooo that's my review and analysis of Goodfellas over with, its a real classic no doubt it and if you haven't seen it well sort it out right now and get to it!
That it for now.
Anyways I thought I would take a look at another Martin Scorsese classic, Goodfellas, which is based on the real life exploits of the former gangster Henry Hill who was associated with the Luchesse crime family based in New York. The film itself starts in 1955 with Henry as a teenager who lives in East Brooklyn ad he longs to become one of the "wiseguys" and chooses to work for them at the local cabstand. However Henry's father soon finds out he has not been at school and beats him, as he doesn't want his son to have anything to do with the mob. However the mobsters manage to put a stop to this by threatening the local mailman by putting his "fuckin head in the oven first!" if he delivers another letter to Henry's house. After this Henry works full time under the wing of the boss Paulie Cicero (Paul Sorvino) and he also meets his two associates the smooth talking but lethal Jimmy "The Gent" Conway (Robert De Niro) and the psychotic loose canon Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci). After being pinched by the cops for selling cigarettes off the back off a truck, Henry is taken to court, but tells them nothing, and is eventually let go where Jimmy tells him "Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut".
As the film moves into the 1960s, Henry now in his 20s (as is Tommy) are making a solid living stealing cargo from the local airports, and they also pull off the Air France robbery, which sees Henry move up the ranks. By this time Henry also meets his soon to be wife Karen (Lorraine Bracco) a Jewish girl from the Five Towns in New York, initially they dont get on well, and Henry stood her up on their second date, but after Karen confronts him about it, Henry makes it up to her. After this Henry charms Karen with the glamourous side of his life, as he takes her out on expensive dates for meals and drinks. Henry also at one point defends her, by brutally beating up an abusive neighbour of Karen's, and despite her initial shock toward the incident, she admits that it turned her on, and soon after they marry.
Now into the 1970s, where things start to get more heavy as Henry and Jimmy host a party for Billy Batts (Frankie Vincent) who is a made man with the Gambino crime family. During the party, Tommy arrives with his date, where Billy first off warmly greets Tommy but then proceeds to wind him up about his past when he was just a boy who shined shoes, this drives Tommy mad (or madder than before) and he threatens Billy then leaves. Later on Tommy comes back and with Jimmy they both brutally beat up Billy, and later stab and kill him, and soon after bury his body out in the woods. With Batts being a made guy, this causes a serious problem for the three of them as they killed him without consent. And during this period Tommy's psychosis continues as he first off berates and shoots a young hood Spider (Michael Imperioli) in the foot for not getting him drink, and then later shoots Spider dead for talking back to him. Round about this time Henry also starts an affair with a girl Janice Rossi (Gina Mastrogiacomo), but Karen soon finds out about it and rows furiously with him, which leads to Karen becoming hysterical and confronting Henry, pointing a gun at him while they lie on bed, but Henry soon slaps her and takes the gun off her and shouts at her that he's got enough to worry about without coming home to this, and leaves. Soon after, Paulie expresses his concerns about Karen, but insists he can put things to rights, and in the meantime Henry go off with Jimmy on business down to Florida. However on beating up a bookie, things soon go awry as the bookie's sister is revealed to be a typist for the FBI, who gives them up, and Henry, Jimmy and Paulie serve a prison sentence.
After Henry is released, he gets involved in drug dealing (behind Paulie's back who insisted Henry doesn't get involved in it) and he also comes across a very appealing business proposal from his friend and local mobster Morrie Kessler (Chuck Law). This turns out to be the legendary Lufthansa heist at JFK airport, where Jimmy and a small crew pull off a robbery where they steal over 6 million dollars However as a result of the robbery, the crew all buy expensive things with their cut of the money, which infuriates Jimmy who expressly told them not to buy anything as it would attract unwanted attention. Soon after Jimmy has the participants of the heist murdered by Tommy in order to cut any link between himself and the robbery, this includes Morrie, Henry's close friend. Once the dust has cleared from the heist, Tommy receives the good news that he is set to be "made" and ingratiated into the crime family as a proper member. But it soon turns out to be a setup as Tommy is taken into a room by Tuddie (Paulie's brother) and is shot dead, as a revenge for killing Billy Batts and various other things.
By the time we hit 1980, Henry gets involved even heavier in his drug deals and is trying to set up a deal with his associates in Pittsburgh. But by now Henry is a total dishevelled mess, addicted to cocaine and has become increasingly paranoid. However before Henry can get the deal underway he is arrested by narcotics police and he is sent to jail, where Henry fears he may be murdered by his crime partners in case he rats them out. After posting bail, Henry meets with Jimmy who for the first time asks him to do a hit on someone who was supposedly the rat who snitched on them, but Henry realises its a setup because if he decided to go along with the hit, he himself would be killed. Henry afterward realises he has little choice but to become involved in the witness protection program in order to save his own life and his family.
Right from the start you just know that Goodfellas is a classic film, that certainly isn't far off the level of The Godfather. The first scene which definitely ranks as one of the most violent opening scenes in American cinema where Tommy and Jimmy finish off Batts, really grabs you by the throat and pulls you into the film straight off. The characters in Goodfellas are certainly very vividly drawn and Henry Hill himself is far from an angel, but he does appear to be a man who is out of his depth in this world. He is surrounded by vicious thieves and murderers and while he is a thief himself, he isn't murder, and as Hill in real life himself said, he lived in constant fear 24 hours a day, fearing that he might be killed himself at any moment. Hill's narration in the film is also really contrary with the events that occur in the film where he says he loved the life, and the thrill he got from it, but you also see Henry's utter shock and fear at his associates behaviour. This is probably best displayed in the scene after Tommy and Jimmy brutally bludgeon Billy Batts and stick him the boot of their car, they then go and have dinner at Tommy's mother's house, and Henry sits silently, while Tommy and Jimmy laugh and joke, despite what they have just done. But at the end of the film even though he is living in the witness protection program, he still has the nerve to complain about how boring and inconvenient has life has become since leaving the crime life behind. Yet if it wasn't for the program he would have been dead long ago, since then Henry Hill himself said how grateful he was for the program and that it did save his life, although he has since had a few lapses and gotten in trouble with the law for drink and drug abuse.
However Jimmy and Tommy are far from sympathetic as they come across as the vicious bastards they no doubt were in real life, and no doubt in real life they were much worse. Tommy's character was for example based on Thomas DeSimone, Hill's real life criminal associate who Hill himself described as a "sick deadly fuck, who would kill your rather than steal", DeSimmone also in reality attempted to rape Karen Hill as well.
Performance wise there is precious little to fault here as the cast are all really strong and on top form. Ray Liotta is great as Henry Hill, as he starts off as a suave well dressed gangster, but ends up a total mess, burnt out on cocaine. Liotta perfectly grasps the (fancy word here) Hill's ambivalent emotions about the life, as one minute he loves the thrill of stealing, but the next he fears for his life. De Niro is also really good as Jimmy Conway, he plays him with just the right amount of charm and menace. Paul Sorvino also does really well as Paulie Cicero, its basically a part he initially found really difficult to capture, until he saw a look he gave in a mirror which scared the hell out of him! And he adopts this menacing look throughout the film, and his best scene comes when he confronts Henry about drug dealing. Lorraine Bracco is terrific as Karen Hill, and she is a far cry from the quiet wives off The Godfather as such as Kay and Connie. Karen is far more fesity and has the guts to stand up to Henry and confront him about his infidelities, and she also remains strong when Henry serves his time in prison. But the best performance in the film comes from Joe Pesci as the hot headed and aggressive crook Tommy, and its great how he can take his small demeanour and turn himself into quite a chilling but at the same time amusing bad guy. Pesci's famous scene where he asks Henry "funny how?" is a great example of Pesci's intensity and ability to play a scene as being both funny and menacing all at once.
The film itself has only a few flaws, but the main one unfortunately however has to be that after Tommy's character is bumped off, the film takes a dip and the energy and momentum of the film drops. In the last 30 minutes or so, its all about Henry's frantic state of mind as he tries to put his drug deal together, and picking up his brother from hospital and getting him to stir the tomato sauce for their dinner, while at the same he is paranoid about helicopters following him outside. It all becomes a bit bogged down with inconsequential details at this point, and all Henry's running around really drags the pace of the film down. However it does feature a great moment where Karen meets up with Jimmy who says he has some dresses for Karen to look at, which are in the back of Jimmy's warehouse in an alleyway, but Karen out of fear choses not to look and drives away in her car. But the end of the film does feel like a bit of an anti-climax, which is a shame as the rest of it is so good.
Technically though the film is just as good as anything Scorses has done, as there are many great scenes, the scene where Henry escorts Karen through the bowels the club they are going to in order to skip the queue at the front door is definitely one of the most memorable. I also love the pull in zoom shot where Henry meets with Jimmy in a diner toward the end where they discuss Henry's case. Scorsese's also put together a terrific soundtrack for the film and his choice of music is perfect in each scene with such artists as The Rolling Stones, Donovan, The Sex Pistols, George Harrison and Cream.
Soooo that's my review and analysis of Goodfellas over with, its a real classic no doubt it and if you haven't seen it well sort it out right now and get to it!
That it for now.
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