Day 2: Brit-Watch at Wimbledon 2011

Flickr Creative Commons by Marc Di Luzio

So it's the end of day two at Wimbledon and a host of British tennis players took to the courts today. There were 11 British hopefuls at the start of the tournament but how many remain now?

Yesterdays win for Andy Murray against Daniel Gimeno-Traver was unsurprising, although he suffered a bit of a scare after losing the first set 4-6 before coming back 6-3 and then winning the remaining two sets 6-0, 6-0. He now faces world number 83 Tobias Kamke in the second round.

Emily Webley-Smith, who received a wildcard put up a fantastic fight against the world number 38 Klara Zakopalova and after losing the first set the lowly 244th ranked Webley-Smith 6-3 came back to win the second 5-7. It was in vain though as she ended up losing in the third set 8-6. Still it was an honourable performance.

There were high hopes for James Ward after his heroics at Queens but he couldn't respond to 19th seed Michael Llodra's excellent serving - at one point the Frenchman had 81% of his first serves finding the mark. Ward lost in straight sets 6-3, 7-6, 6-3. He still has some work to do if he is to meet his aim of breaking into the worlds top 100. 

Britain's number four Dan Evans took his opponent, 20th seed Florian Mayer, to four sets including two tie-breaks (both of which he lost), before winning the third set 6-3 but was eventually overpowered and was yet another British casualty.

Another Dan (Cox), meanwhile lost in straight sets to world number 46, Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine the lowest ranked of the British male wildcard's opponents but still too good for the world 273. The result was 6-2, 6-4, 6-4.

Flickr Creative Commons by Marc Di Luzio

Thank our lucky stars then for the all-British pairing of Anne Keothavong and Naomi Broady, which at least guaranteed us a British woman in the second round. Keothavong prevailed winning in straight sets xx xx against an inconsistent Broady - who although showed potential was no match for the higer ranked Keothavong. Next up Kvitova tomorrow, which will be a much sterner test for the British number three. 

Then came world number 68 and British number one Elena Baltacha who played German qualifier Mona Barthel. Baltacha looked nervous at times, this was after all the same court where she was knocked out a year ago against a lower ranked player, but she gritted her teeth and knocked out a 6-2, 6-4 win against the world number 114. 

Heather Watson and Laura Robson didn't get to play their matches so should be up tomorrow - so another day of nail biting and crossed fingers.


So there we have it. Out of eleven British players, three still stand and a further two are still to play a match. Not as bad as last year, so it's a step in the right direction and there's still a chance I could be proved wrong.

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?

Will James Ward be the Next Big British Male Tennis Star?

So today James Ward, the British number two, ranked at 216 in the world beat the defending champion, Sam Querrey at Queens and then followed it up with a 6-2 6-7 (14-16) 6-4 win over world number 54 Adrian Mannarino. 


Are we about to see a breakthrough for another British male tennis player? The 24 year old Ward has recently been training with a cage fighter Diego Visotzky to toughen him up and it seems to have worked as he had already knocked Stanislas Wawrinka in a previous round. 

It's about time we had a challenger to Murray, although he is a way off from catching the world number 4 yet. With 3 women, Heather Watson, Elena Baltacha and Ann Keothavong breaking into the world top 100 recently, another male player doing well has been long overdue.


I can't help getting excited. Although a few years ago Britain went crazy for Chris Eaton when he went into round 2 of Wimbledon after coming into the competition as a qualifier and we haven't heard much from him since (he is currently not even in the top 400). 


I will certainly be cheering for Ward in the semi-finals, where he meets Jo Wilfred Tsonga who today knocked Nadal out of the competition - which will be a tough match. Who know's it could be an all British final. Now that would be something to shout about.