Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Back from vacations
Hello everyone! hope you are all doing well. I had indeed restarted to post on my blog and things were all going well, then what happened..dead again? Most certainly not. Actually, I should have advised all of you but I had actually left on vacations for a week...! Beach, a hot sun, girlfriend and family. Oh and I also had a tv to watch some Wimbledon action, what could I have asked for more? Can't see anything really!! Anyway, I was able to see some great matches and by chance decided to come back on Saturday and so waking up Sunday morning with my alarm clock to see the Federer vs Nadal final was exciting. And I didn't even have an idea how great of a final it would be.
Turned out to be perhaps the best tennis match I've seen, ever. Could have been a bit better (at least for me) if Roger Federer would have came out on top but oh well, it was still a great match, and I'm lucky to have watched all of it really.
I would like to also thank Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for producing one of the best matches ever. They did a great pleasure to all tennis fans and probably converted quite a few. I've never heard so much tennis conversation with family, friends and co-workers who usually do not care for tennis all that much...!!
So i'm back, I'll have lots to blog about in the coming weeks!! Can't wait!!
Friday, June 27, 2008
Tennis at its best..
After 5 days of Wimbledon tennis, we had seen a little bit of everything; big upsets (Djokovic, Sharapova, etc), drama (Ivanovic saving match point), style talk (Sharapova), trash talk).. but the one thing we had not witnessed yet was a truly great tennis match, not just a close match, but one of great quality.
And today, on the Wimbledon centre court, a full stadium as well as millions around the world witnessed as good of a 3rd round as anyone could hope for. In fact, even a final with such quality would be welcome.
On one side, Croatia's Mario Ancic, the tall server, who plays short points, a fairly classic grass game, and being so tall makes him difficult to pass at the net.
His opponent, Spaniard David Ferrer, not known as a grass court specialist at all, actually posted an impressive win in the Wimbledon tune-up event giving him hope of making the 2nd week of Wimbledon.
The match started and Mario Ancic's serving gave him a very strong start, he jumped to a 2 set to love lead. But as the 3rd set continued, David Ferrer, was not giving up and was gaining some momentum. The crowd as well as the two favourites, knew that with each game that went on, it was more likely that Ancic, who has been injured and missed a lot of action in past months, would grow more vulnerable. And indeed, as the 3rd sset started, Mario Ancic who had not faced a single break point, was facing more and more of them.
But then, with darkness around the corner, Ancic had hope as the 4th set would be the last one played tonight and so he could give his all and recover overnight for the 5th set.
Through desperation, great volleys and great serving, Mario Ancic was able to force another tie-break and this time, through inspired play, he was able to close the deal and take out David Ferrer, a 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 win that now puts him in the Wimbledon 4th round, a great reward for one of the guys on tour who has struggled the most with injuries in past months... congrats Mario
"I've been spending hours in the gym dreaming of playing on Centre Court again so this is a big moment," Ancic told BBC Sport.
"I have great memories of Wimbledon and this was an incredible match, we were both fighting until the end. Ferrer showed what a great player he is."
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Sharapova's turn to exit...
Wow, another day has gone by, with 2 more big names dropping out of the Wimbledon Championships. The first and bigger shock of the 2 was the loss of #3 Maria Sharapova against Alla Kudryatseva, a little known Russian ranked #154 in the world. While Maria Sharapova has not been as solid in recent years, she had been rock solid in Australia earlier in the year and after tougher times on clay, Maria was expected to play much better in Wimbledon and was even the favourite according to bookmakers. With her strong groundstrokes and solid return game, Maria was fit to play well in Wimbledon. But then something happened. What exactly? Hard to say, because in fact it was nothing. Maria came out flat..
"I guess it wasn't my day. She just did everything better than I did. You know, she played much better. She hit the ball harder. She, uhm, you know, served and returned better."
Very disapointing for tennis fans all around the world who were hoping for a classic Venus Williams vs Sharapova match..! It won't happen.
And with Andy Roddick and Novak Djokovic on the men's side already out, the tournament is looking a whole lot less unpredictable than initially believed...!!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Ana battles through leaving no doubt about "mental state"
Wow, few expected a close match today between Ana Ivanovic and Nathalie Dechy today. Just before the match, ESPN was mentionning how Ana was probably the favourite for the Wimbledon Championships and the debate was between Ana and Novak Djokovic (shocked today by Marat Safin) as to which Serbian would win Wimbledon the 1st time.But a close match it was. the whole first set was very close and when Nathalie Dechy pulled ahead during the tie-break to take the opening set. But even then, bookmakers were setting Ana as the heavy favourite and as she advanced to an early lead in the 2nd set, she gave the impression she would roll through the next 2 sets... but Nathalie Dechy fought right back, came and made the 2nd set very very interesting. She even eventually got a match point which Ana was able to fight back with a bit of luck hitting the net. ********************************************
Q. When you hit that forehand down match point, what did you think was going to happen?
ANA IVANOVIC: I felt like time stopped for a moment because I thought I hit pretty good shot and I moved forward, so there was a momentum going forward.
Then ball hit the net and it was in air for a couple of seconds. It was moving away, so I thought maybe even it will go out. Just so many thoughts at same moment.
I just, you know, thought the match would be over. I felt like, you know, after that point ‑‑ you know, you have some situations through your career that you feel, you know, you lose the match, and afterwards you think, I should have done that differently.
So you really want to go out and play again the match. After that point, I felt like it was a new match for me and I had a new opportunity.
***************************************So what do you think? Could this be the turning point for Ana or is this a warning that Ana is perhaps not playing her best tennis right now and might be exhausted? I'd personally vote for the 1st option. Over the past few months, it's happened quite a few times that Ana had an early struggle but then would fight back and play a lot better. So we'll keep our eyes open but I'm predicting a much better effort for Ana in her 3rd round match...
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Finally back on court
It's been tough for Daniela Hantuchova in the past few months as she's struggled with multiple injuries (mainly a stress fracture) that caused her to miss over 2 months of activity, but not just any months. With the whole clay court season, the French Open and the Wimbledon tune-up events out of the picture, Daniela was going to endure a severe hit to her ranking (currently #12) and perhaps even more important was Wimbledon.
Even if you discount that Daniela's natural game fits well with grass, it's difficult to imagine doing well with so little preparation (unless you are the Williams sisters of course but that's a whole other subject) and that is exactly what Daniela was up against in today's opening match as she faced Italian Sara Errani who in many ways was a good opponent for the match.
Daniela was up against the #57 ranked player who is not a grass specialist and who had enjoyed a few good wins on clay. But on grass, Daniela had a fair shot and so she took it.
Despite having a few ups and downs (understandable given how she'd been out for so long), Daniela was able to fight through it all and come up with a big 7-6, 6-4 win!! Again, her next match is a fairly good draw as she will face Alisa Kleybanova, who is beatable...! Daniela will need to play a bit better but you'd think even getting one win will help in so many ways!
Best of luck Daniela!!
