A marathon entry to focus on a marathon match and one of the biggest tests of endurance in sport took place over the last three days at Wimbledon. John Isner and Nicholas Mahut broke most of the tennis records as they spent over 8 hours serving and receiving as they reached 69-68 without a break before Mahut's resolve finally broke and Isner stumbled on into the next round.
Everything else that happened over these two days were overshadowed by the events out on court 18 with no shocks and the likes of Roddick, Venus, Djokovic, Clijsters, Hewitt and Federer all progressing without too much trouble.
On day 4, one person who did try to divert the attentions from court 18 was the Queen who arrived at SW19 with all the pomp and circumstance as she took her seat in the royal box for the first time since Virginia Wade won the Women's singles in 1977. She saw Andy Murray comfortably dispatch Jarkko Nieminen in straight sets. She took her leave of the Championships although Andy Murray will be hoping that she makes a return trip 10 days later.
If she had stayed she would have seen a great fight from Robin Haase on centre court as he made Rafael Nadal work for his win for the first 3 sets pulling out some great serves and some quite remarkable shots to stretch the French Open champion for 5 sets. Another man who was stretched to five sets was Jo Wilfred Tsonga as the exciting Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov made him struggle for his five set win.
Nothing that happened eclipsed the events on court 18 and the most remarkable thing was that Nicholas Mahut was still playing doubles on court 18 as the darkness fell.
Friday, 25 June 2010
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
Wimbledon Diary 2010: Day 2
After the drama of day 1, day 2 was business as usual in comparison. The three top seeds from the men's draw in action, Nadal, Murray and Soderling, all won pretty comfortably in straight sets. Indeed in Soderling's match he cared more about a butterfly fluttering around his baseline than he did for poor Robby Ginepri being pulverised at the other end of the court.
On the woman's side Sam Stosur followed her conquerer at the French Open final, Francesca Schiavone out of the tournament but Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki looked untroubled as the proceeded onwards. One to watch out for this year could be Maria Sharapova. It has been hard going for her in recent years with a procession of fairly serious injuries but could she finally be out of the woods? She won comfortably 6-1, 6-0 and will be hoping to make an impact on this years championships.
Focusing on the Brits and although Andy Murray provided Britain with it's obligitary 1st round win it was another bad day for women's tennis. Deja vu struck on court 12 when Anne Keothavong, as her compatriot Elena Baltacha did on the same court 24 hours earlier, grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory. Having won the first set but slipped behind in the second, Keothavong seemingly had control of the 4th with a 4-0 lead before losing 6 consecutive games to lose the final set 6-4. Scot Jamie Baker followed her out of the tournament in straight sets. But as with day 1 there was a silver lining and it came with another teenage Junior Grand Slam Champion. Heather Watson, the 18 year old US Open Junior Champion was up against the talented Italian, Romina Sarina Oprandi. Despite being ranked 139, Oprandi is clearly more talented than that ranking suggests but perhaps without the application to move up to the top 50. Heather Watson put in a good solid performance but just lacked the experience to win the important points and lost in three sets 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. It was a good solid debut in Grand Slam tennis and she definitely has the talent to move up the rankings. It will certainly be interesting for Britain to have potentially two top women in years to come.
Day 3 sees the demotion to court 1 of Roger Federer for the first time in living memory, or so it seems. He will probably relish the change of scenery after the scare he had on Monday. Novak Djokovic will be looking to put Monday nights late late show behind him and move forward against Taylor Dent while Heather Watson hopes to repeat the England cricket team's emphatic victory in a main draw doubles match with fellow Brit Jocelyn Rae against a pair from Australia.
On the woman's side Sam Stosur followed her conquerer at the French Open final, Francesca Schiavone out of the tournament but Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki looked untroubled as the proceeded onwards. One to watch out for this year could be Maria Sharapova. It has been hard going for her in recent years with a procession of fairly serious injuries but could she finally be out of the woods? She won comfortably 6-1, 6-0 and will be hoping to make an impact on this years championships.
Focusing on the Brits and although Andy Murray provided Britain with it's obligitary 1st round win it was another bad day for women's tennis. Deja vu struck on court 12 when Anne Keothavong, as her compatriot Elena Baltacha did on the same court 24 hours earlier, grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory. Having won the first set but slipped behind in the second, Keothavong seemingly had control of the 4th with a 4-0 lead before losing 6 consecutive games to lose the final set 6-4. Scot Jamie Baker followed her out of the tournament in straight sets. But as with day 1 there was a silver lining and it came with another teenage Junior Grand Slam Champion. Heather Watson, the 18 year old US Open Junior Champion was up against the talented Italian, Romina Sarina Oprandi. Despite being ranked 139, Oprandi is clearly more talented than that ranking suggests but perhaps without the application to move up to the top 50. Heather Watson put in a good solid performance but just lacked the experience to win the important points and lost in three sets 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. It was a good solid debut in Grand Slam tennis and she definitely has the talent to move up the rankings. It will certainly be interesting for Britain to have potentially two top women in years to come.
Day 3 sees the demotion to court 1 of Roger Federer for the first time in living memory, or so it seems. He will probably relish the change of scenery after the scare he had on Monday. Novak Djokovic will be looking to put Monday nights late late show behind him and move forward against Taylor Dent while Heather Watson hopes to repeat the England cricket team's emphatic victory in a main draw doubles match with fellow Brit Jocelyn Rae against a pair from Australia.
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Wimbledon Diary 2010: Day 1
The 124th edition of the Championships at Wimbledon began with the fleeting trumpeting of Vuvezelas and truly lived up to that fanfare with the two top men in action being drawn into five set thrillers.
First Roger Federer, the reigning champion, came out against Alejandro Falla, a man he had beaten comfortably in his two previous tournaments, it was not however the cakewalk many anticipated. Falla matched him and stole the first two sets through hard work and good application of his game. However, as has happened many times during Federer's career, in five set matches he always finds a way of wearing down his opponent and this was no different with Falla eventually succumbing 6-0 in the final set, not a true reflection of how close this match was for much of it's course.
Novak Djokovic delivered a patchy and unconvincing win against perrenial also-ran Oliver Rochus competing in his ninth consecutive championships. The match swung this way and that and neither player seemed to deserve nor indeed want to win the match. There was an astonishing 16 breaks exchanged throughout the five sets with an even more amazing 21 break point chances squandered by the two players. The match had to be completed under the roof and lights of centre court for only the second time since the roof was operational last year. By the time Djokovic finally hit the winning match point the clock had struck 11.59 and it was officially the latest ending to a day of play at Wimbledon in it's 124 year history.
Another man held to an epic five setter on day one of the 2010 Championships was Nikolay Davydenko who, on his comeback from injury, eventually prevailed 9-7 in the fifth.
On the women's side, the biggest shock of the day was new French Open champion Francesca Schiavone losing in three sets to world number 56, Vera Dushevina while the comeback Belgian's were both assured on their respective returns to SW19. Kim Clijsters, the US Open champion comfortably beat Maria Elena Camerin 6-0, 6-3 while Henin made short work of beating Sevastova of Latvia 6-4, 6-3.
It was a bad day for British tennis on day one with four British women in action on day 1 and all four being knocked out of the singles draw. Baltacha was perhaps the most disappointing when despite all the progress she has made over the last six to nine months, she threw away a winning position to lose in the third as her debilitating fear of closing out matches returned at the most inoppurtune moment. Katie O'Brien and Melanie South soon followed but the most positive of the opening day defeats was Laura Robson's straight sets defeat to former world number 1 and 4th seed here, Jelena Jankovic. The former Girls champion started badly, gifting Jankovic a break in the first game but played altogether better once she had settled down and almost took the second set in a tie break having already broken back and saved numerous match points. There were many positives to take from her showing, particularly in her serve, and should develop into a fine player in the coming years.
From a British point of view tomorrow brings the much brighter chance of a win through the world number 4, Andy Murray opening his Championships second on court 1 however, another one to watch tomorrow is Heather Watson who was handed a much easier draw than her fellow Grand Slam Junior Champion and should give a good account of herself in her Grand Slam debut at senior level. Tomorrow also brings the return of Nadal for the first time since THAT final and Soderling also starts his campaign. What is for sure, if Day two is anything like Day one, we're in for a hell of a ride, more tomorrow.
First Roger Federer, the reigning champion, came out against Alejandro Falla, a man he had beaten comfortably in his two previous tournaments, it was not however the cakewalk many anticipated. Falla matched him and stole the first two sets through hard work and good application of his game. However, as has happened many times during Federer's career, in five set matches he always finds a way of wearing down his opponent and this was no different with Falla eventually succumbing 6-0 in the final set, not a true reflection of how close this match was for much of it's course.
Novak Djokovic delivered a patchy and unconvincing win against perrenial also-ran Oliver Rochus competing in his ninth consecutive championships. The match swung this way and that and neither player seemed to deserve nor indeed want to win the match. There was an astonishing 16 breaks exchanged throughout the five sets with an even more amazing 21 break point chances squandered by the two players. The match had to be completed under the roof and lights of centre court for only the second time since the roof was operational last year. By the time Djokovic finally hit the winning match point the clock had struck 11.59 and it was officially the latest ending to a day of play at Wimbledon in it's 124 year history.
Another man held to an epic five setter on day one of the 2010 Championships was Nikolay Davydenko who, on his comeback from injury, eventually prevailed 9-7 in the fifth.
On the women's side, the biggest shock of the day was new French Open champion Francesca Schiavone losing in three sets to world number 56, Vera Dushevina while the comeback Belgian's were both assured on their respective returns to SW19. Kim Clijsters, the US Open champion comfortably beat Maria Elena Camerin 6-0, 6-3 while Henin made short work of beating Sevastova of Latvia 6-4, 6-3.
It was a bad day for British tennis on day one with four British women in action on day 1 and all four being knocked out of the singles draw. Baltacha was perhaps the most disappointing when despite all the progress she has made over the last six to nine months, she threw away a winning position to lose in the third as her debilitating fear of closing out matches returned at the most inoppurtune moment. Katie O'Brien and Melanie South soon followed but the most positive of the opening day defeats was Laura Robson's straight sets defeat to former world number 1 and 4th seed here, Jelena Jankovic. The former Girls champion started badly, gifting Jankovic a break in the first game but played altogether better once she had settled down and almost took the second set in a tie break having already broken back and saved numerous match points. There were many positives to take from her showing, particularly in her serve, and should develop into a fine player in the coming years.
From a British point of view tomorrow brings the much brighter chance of a win through the world number 4, Andy Murray opening his Championships second on court 1 however, another one to watch tomorrow is Heather Watson who was handed a much easier draw than her fellow Grand Slam Junior Champion and should give a good account of herself in her Grand Slam debut at senior level. Tomorrow also brings the return of Nadal for the first time since THAT final and Soderling also starts his campaign. What is for sure, if Day two is anything like Day one, we're in for a hell of a ride, more tomorrow.
Sunday, 10 January 2010
The prodigious talent of Laura Robson
The 2008 Wimbledon tournament was seen as an unmitigated disaster until the final weekend of the tournament when all but one of the nine British participants were out by the second round; Britain’s one great hope Andy Murray had his game torn apart in a one sided quarter final by the eventual champion Rafael Nadal and Britain’s hero from 2007, Andy’s older brother Jamie, fell short of defending his mixed doubles crown by going out in the semis. Through this doom and gloom of newspaper stories and columns dominated with condemnation of yet another failure of the LTA’s bid to bring forth a future Wimbledon singles champion emerged a certain 14 year old, unnoticed until Jamie and Andy bid farewell to SW19, who surged towards the final of the junior tournament with a refreshing innocence and all the while completely oblivious to the fact that she was suddenly rivalling Federer, Nadal and the Williams sisters in terms of column inches in the national newspapers as she pushed aside players 3 or 4 years older than her.
The rest of 2008 and 2009 were less groundbreaking for Robson as continuous changes to her body affected her ability to maintain the remarkable levels she found during Wimbledon. Indeed during 2009 she was overshadowed by fellow British junior, Heather Watson, who capped off a great year with the US Open Junior title. Over the past week, however, she has once again shown the promise and quality she showed during that remarkable run in 2008. The Hopman Cup could be seen as a baptism of fire, thrown into senior competition with women ranked in the top 60 and men ranked equally impressively in a series of tough mixed doubles ties. Robson has shown though that the only thing these girls have on her is experience. Her first three singles ties got progressively harder but instead of shying away and accepting the beating, she fought hard and gave a good account of herself even when up against the world number 5, Elena Dementieva who herself came remarkably close to breaking the Williams cartel on the Wimbledon Championship with a very good performance in the 2009 semi final.
Robson seems to have all the attributes of a true champion and although the otherwise reliable Andy Murray let a British win ultimately slip from the grasp of the pair in the final tie against Spain, Robson’s assured win over the world number 26, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez is sure to strike a warning shot in women’s tennis. She still has a long way to go and her body will still develop further. If all goes well though it will hopefully not be too long before her emphatic statement in her post match interview to that Wimbledon final about then Wimbledon champion, Venus Williams, will come true. "I’ll take her down!"
The rest of 2008 and 2009 were less groundbreaking for Robson as continuous changes to her body affected her ability to maintain the remarkable levels she found during Wimbledon. Indeed during 2009 she was overshadowed by fellow British junior, Heather Watson, who capped off a great year with the US Open Junior title. Over the past week, however, she has once again shown the promise and quality she showed during that remarkable run in 2008. The Hopman Cup could be seen as a baptism of fire, thrown into senior competition with women ranked in the top 60 and men ranked equally impressively in a series of tough mixed doubles ties. Robson has shown though that the only thing these girls have on her is experience. Her first three singles ties got progressively harder but instead of shying away and accepting the beating, she fought hard and gave a good account of herself even when up against the world number 5, Elena Dementieva who herself came remarkably close to breaking the Williams cartel on the Wimbledon Championship with a very good performance in the 2009 semi final.
Robson seems to have all the attributes of a true champion and although the otherwise reliable Andy Murray let a British win ultimately slip from the grasp of the pair in the final tie against Spain, Robson’s assured win over the world number 26, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez is sure to strike a warning shot in women’s tennis. She still has a long way to go and her body will still develop further. If all goes well though it will hopefully not be too long before her emphatic statement in her post match interview to that Wimbledon final about then Wimbledon champion, Venus Williams, will come true. "I’ll take her down!"
Thursday, 31 December 2009
Top 20 of 2000s
So here it is, the end of another decade... These events inevitably prompt an endless number of list to define the decade we will soon be bidding farewell to. Here is my attempt at a top 20 of songs that meant something to me personally throughout the 2000s...
20. Rage Against The Machine – Killing In The Name (2009)*
19. Clint Eastwood – Gorillaz (2001)
18. Please Don’t Leave Me – Pink (2009)
17. Teenage Dirtbag – Wheatus (2000)
16. Bleed It Out – Linkin Park (2007)
15. Ruby – Kaiser Chiefs (2007)
14. The Kill – 30 Seconds To Mars (2006)
13. Best Of You – Foo Fighters (2005)
12. Viva La Vida – Coldplay (2008)
11. Sex On Fire – Kings Of Leon (2008)
10. Welcome To The Black Parade – My Chemical Romance (2006)
9. Seven Nation Army – The White Stripes (2003)
8. Complicated – Avril Lavigne (2002)
7. By The Way – Red Hot Chili Peppers (2002)
6. Dakota – Stereophonics (2005)
5. American Idiot – Green Day (2004)
4. Buck Rogers – Feeder (2001)
3. Bring Me To Life – Evanescence (2003)
2. All The Small Things – Blink 182 (2000)
1. Mr Brightside – The Killers (2004)
*I am aware that this song is technically not from the ‘noughties’ as such but I feel that the impact it made in finally pushing X Factor off the Christmas Number 1 spot warrants its inclusion in such a list.
My new years resolution is to right much more regular posts, Happy New Year!!!
20. Rage Against The Machine – Killing In The Name (2009)*
19. Clint Eastwood – Gorillaz (2001)
18. Please Don’t Leave Me – Pink (2009)
17. Teenage Dirtbag – Wheatus (2000)
16. Bleed It Out – Linkin Park (2007)
15. Ruby – Kaiser Chiefs (2007)
14. The Kill – 30 Seconds To Mars (2006)
13. Best Of You – Foo Fighters (2005)
12. Viva La Vida – Coldplay (2008)
11. Sex On Fire – Kings Of Leon (2008)
10. Welcome To The Black Parade – My Chemical Romance (2006)
9. Seven Nation Army – The White Stripes (2003)
8. Complicated – Avril Lavigne (2002)
7. By The Way – Red Hot Chili Peppers (2002)
6. Dakota – Stereophonics (2005)
5. American Idiot – Green Day (2004)
4. Buck Rogers – Feeder (2001)
3. Bring Me To Life – Evanescence (2003)
2. All The Small Things – Blink 182 (2000)
1. Mr Brightside – The Killers (2004)
*I am aware that this song is technically not from the ‘noughties’ as such but I feel that the impact it made in finally pushing X Factor off the Christmas Number 1 spot warrants its inclusion in such a list.
My new years resolution is to right much more regular posts, Happy New Year!!!
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Feeling the hope.
So, here it is. Barack Obama is the 44th president of the United States and true to his word he has hit the ground running by instantly shutting down the so called 'legal' activities that the Bush administration was carrying out in Guantanamo Bay. While many were calling for the prisoners held there to be put straight through the American legal system, I can see the advantages in temporarily putting a halt to the torture and 'trials' running rampant at the terrorism camp off Cuba while he sifts through the mess left by the previous administration. Each case has to be sifted through on a case by case basis. Some prisoners will be tried through the American legal system, others will be deported back to their own countries. It is the other cases which complicate things however. Some will not be able to go through the legal system due to the illegal methods that have been used to extract information even if they pose a credible threat to America. Others would not be safe back in their own countries. It is here where Obama needs to make the tough decisions. Shutting down the trials was the easy bit, now he needs to work out how to clean up his predecessor's mess.
I have also been keeping a close eye on the Australian open. Could be an interesting tournament, more so on the men's side then the women's side. With four evenly matched contenders who will come up on top. Will it be Murray, the favourite - looking for his first grand slam title and in the best form of his life, Djokovic, the holder - trying to prove he is not simply a flash in the pan, Federer looking to reclaim his form and show that he is still a major force in world tennis, or the world number 1, Rafael Nadal who has never impressed on the hard courts but would desperately want to show he can do the business on all three courts.
I have also been keeping a close eye on the Australian open. Could be an interesting tournament, more so on the men's side then the women's side. With four evenly matched contenders who will come up on top. Will it be Murray, the favourite - looking for his first grand slam title and in the best form of his life, Djokovic, the holder - trying to prove he is not simply a flash in the pan, Federer looking to reclaim his form and show that he is still a major force in world tennis, or the world number 1, Rafael Nadal who has never impressed on the hard courts but would desperately want to show he can do the business on all three courts.
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