Mr Musing's: Five Certainties for Wimbledon 2011

I am SO excited that Wimbledon is almost here. I happen to be off work for pretty much the whole tournament, which means that as well as trying to get along and get a ground pass so that I can catch some of the live action, I will happily spend hours watching every match on TV.


I am such a geek when it comes to Wimbledon, devouring all the statistics, reading everything on the BBC news website that is tennis related - rankings, head-to-head, form and completely useless tidbits.


I thought I'd share my five Wimbledon certainties with you. Every year the same anecodotes, debates and discussions happen and it's possible to check them off like a kind of tennis bingo.


1. Andy Murray will be the only Briton to get past Round two in the singles. 

However, much I would like to believe otherwise it just ain't going to happen this year. Even though we are guaranteed a British woman in the second round, as Anne Keothavong and Naomi Broady play each other in the first, the winner will face 8th Seed Petra Kvitova from the Czech Republic. Double bagel anyone?

Elena Baltacha, who admittedly is playing the best tennis of her career, faces an as yet unknown qualifier in round one but if she comes through that unscathed faces Peng of China, the 20th Seed, who recently knocked out two Brits at Birmingham (Broady and Watson). Will she make it a hat-trick?


James Ward, who I got very excited about at Queen's has been pitched against Michael Llodra of France, the 19th Seed. Now Ward did beat players of a higher calibre at Queen's to make the semi-finals, so there is a slim chance, but it is very slim. Although if he did win he would probably face Ricardo Mello, the world number 90.

2. The British press will bemoan the lack of British talent in tennis. 

Following on from my first certainty and after Andy Murray is the only British player left in the singles the press will moan about the state of British tennis - why can we not produce the stars like other countries? Are our tennis players to pampered? There will be talk of a 'new crop' of young players coming up through the ranks (we have been having that same discussion for about ten years now - so where are they?) The words Fred and Perry will no doubt come up time and time again. 


3. There will be a debate about the 'grunting' in the women's game.

Comparisons will be made to aircraft taking off and pneumatic drills. This happens every year, without fail. Either ban it or get over it, the discussion is boring. I personally am not bothered by it at all.


4. There will be a debate about the state of the women's game. 

Questions about Wozniacki and her lack of Grand Slam wins, references to Safina - and discussion about the lack of consistency in the women's game, along with the way the seedings work and a general sense that it 'just ain't as good as it used to be'.


5. Hundreds of people will search for 'Andy Murray muscle', 'Andy Murray bulge' or 'Andy Murray body' and some will reach my site.

Seriously, it never ceases to amaze me that every time there is a Grand Slam, the traffic to my site increases loads due to people entering these search terms in Google. And I have never written about Andy Murray's bulge in my life (well until now).


So there you have it, my five certainties for Wimbledon this year. Let me know what yours are?