Day 4: My Day at Wimbledon 2011

 I managed to get over to Wimbledon yesterday (well as a South Londoner it would have been rude of me not to) and after queuing for about two and half hours my brother and I finally managed to get ground passes.


The weather was a real concern beforehand, not helped by the Met Office's predictions of heavy rain but in fact it turned out to be a really nice day, with only a few short showers to interrupt the day. In fact, I awoke this morning to some quite impressive sunburn on my face - the run was really hot when it appeared from behind the clouds. Oh well of to Spain tomorrow so will top it up with a bit of Spanish sun. 


When I went a few years ago to Wimbledon we managed to get resale tickets to Court 1 quite easily so I was hopeful we might be able to get some again, particuarly as Laura Robson was due to play the last match. That idea quickly went out of the window once I saw the queue's though, which were stretching for about a mile and the thought of queuing again was just too much. 

Almagro v Isner

We did get to see some good matches though taking in the very tall John Isner V 16th seed Nicolas Almagro and Dmitry Tursunov against 11th seed Jurgen Melzer which was a good match until the fading light stopped play.

Melzer

Tursunov

              
We also some of the all-Czech match between Lucie Safarova, the 31st seed who was beaten by Klara Zakopalova, who beat Brit qualifier Emily Webley-Smith in the first round. 

Henman Hill

The nice weather meant that we also spent some time sitting up on Henman Hill and took in Serena Williams match against Simona Halep, which Serena won after losing the first set. Stupidly we left the hill after Lleyton Hewitt was two sets to love up and 3-3 in the 3rd to try and get on one of the courts. Little did we know that Robin Soderling was about to come back and win the next three sets to take the match!

Troicki

Lu

I managed to get quite a good picture of a forlorn looking Viktor Troicki after being beaten by Yen-Hsun Lu (also pictured) who was mobbed by a throng of Chinese fans outside the court as he left.


Unfortunately even though she walked right by me and I had a clear view I didn't manage to get my iPhone out, unlock it open the camera and get a photo of the beautiful Ana Ivanovic. I wouldn't make a very good paparazzi!


I also managed to get filmed for a quick vox pop..... how camp do I sound?! Lol.

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.

Can Andy Murray Win the US Open This Year (2009)?

Is 2009 the year that Andy Murray finally wins a Grand Slam? After coming so close last year in the US Open (he made the final against Federer) he has got to be in with a shout right? Murray says that the hard courts are his preferred surface and it is here that he won the Junior US Open in , so here is hoping.


With Nadal having missed Wimbledon and therefore losing his title, he will be keen to return to winning ways and fight his way back to the number 1 spot. However, Murray did beat Nadal on the way to the final last year, so he has it in him to beat him on the hard courts. Nadal's troublesome knee could cause him problems.


If Andy Roddick plays like he did at Wimbledon, cheered on by his home crowd, he could be a serious threat too and will take confidence from the fact that he beat Murray at Wimbledon this year.


I may be wrong but I am discounting Novak Djokovic, as I don't think he is a major threat. He doesn't seem to have the hunger of Murray, Federer and Nadal and now that he has made some good money, I think he will slowly drop down the rakings a bit.


And obviously nobody should ever discount Federer, that goes without saying! Federer, even when you think he is not playing brilliantly, seems to be able to just take it up another gear and find a way to win. He must surely be the favourite to win this year?


Maybe it is foolhardy optimism but I feel like a major Grand Slam win is just around the corner for Andy Murray. I like his spirit and attitude, the way he has bulked and strengthened up and worked hard to improve his game. Sure he comes across as moody sometimes, but that is probably down to how focused he is on being the best. If that's what it takes to win a grand slam I am happy to allow him that.


Come on Andy YOU CAN DO IT!

The US Open starts on 31st August 2009