US Open - Preview 2015

The US Open starts today and as usual it promises to be the best ever.. In the Women's draw Serena Williams is going for the Grand Slam record and vying for her 22nd Grand Slam..

This is not going to be easy and she is up against history and the burden of expectation and only time will tell if she can overcome the pressure and burden of expectation to win this 22nd Grand Slam. 

Another challenge for the title would be Petra Kivitova and after winning the New Haven this weekend she is now fully fit and could contend for title. 

Simona Halep is another contender for the title and she is yet to win a Grand Slam so she may win her maiden title. 

Garbine Murgurza is another contender for the title and after getting to the final Wimbledon, I would not be surprised if she made it to this final 

From a British prespective I am really hoping that Heather Watson can at least make it third round of this would be great from ranking points of view as she has never been past the first round. Which is a surprise as she won junior US Open. 

Johanna Konta has also made the main draw and I think she can realistically make it to the second round. 

Laura Robson is also in the main draw but she has been out so long with injury and has not played any warm up tournaments so should be interesting to see how well she does. 

The men's draw is more competitive and any of the top four men can win the title. I am hoping that Rafa Nadal will get his act together and get back to his winning ways. 

Roger Federer would love to win his 18th title however I don't believe that these days he can consistently win five set matches. 

Novak Djokovic is the firm favourite to win his 10th Grand Slam title and I personally would not bet against him but anything can happen. 

From a British prespective Andy Murray has a real realistic opportunity of winning his second US Open title. Hopefully he will overcome his semi -final problems  to make it to the final and win. 

Premier League - 28th/29th August 2015

This weekends premiership was definitely eventful to say the least. It probably started the premiership holders Chelsea losing by two goals to one Crystal Palace. 

Chelsea have had a truly rotten start and they are not firing on all cylinders and it is a big surprise I thought with all there amazing players they would have no problems. But somehow they are not clicking together. 

Arsenal were fortunate enough to beat Newcastle by a goal to nil and Arsenal are also struggling and have not found there stride yet. 

Last week Arsenal managed a nil nil draw with Liverpool and they had a lot of chance and this week they managed to beat Newcastle by an own goal and their win was not convincing. 

Manchester City are doing well they beat Watford by two goals to nil and they continue the start of the season with 100% wins. 

One of the shocks of the weekend was Manchester United losing  by two goals to one to Swansea City. Manchester United  have been doing reasonably well so I did not see them losing to Swansea City. 

Another big shock was Liverpool losing by three goals to nil to West Ham. However although it was a shock result, I suspected that Liverpool would struggle as losing two key players would impact on them and in my opinion Brendan Rogers as not replaced them. 

Now there will be a break for the international break and it will be interesting to see how they could come back from this break. 

Premier League 14th/15th/16/17th August 2015

In this weekend fixtures Manchester United beat Aston Villa by a goal to nil and this was an expected win for Man U anything else would have been a little odd. 

Tottenham continued their poor start with a two all draw against Stoke City. I am think that Tottenham still have a holiday mindset. It's a little unusual to see them start to badly. 

Arsenal got their first win of the season and they had to work very hard to beat Crystal Palace by two goals one. 

I have to say I am little surprised by this struggle because the preseason games they played suggested that Arsenal would have a good season. 

Manchester City hammered Chelsea three goals to nil and Chelsea have also had a poor start to their season. As the holders of the title they should be doing a lot better.  But frankly I think they were very fortunate to win the title last season. 

Liverpool beat Bournemouth by a goal to nil to win their match. Liverpool have have done well in two games of the season. 

However it will be interesting to see how cope with tougher opposition and without their former captain Gerard. 

So it was a real mixed bag of results this weekend and the team that maybe struggling the most are last years winners Chelsea. 

Premier League - 8/9/10th August 2015

Yay the Premier league is back! Yes I missed it but the same time glad for the break.. Football can make or break a weekend it has been nice not worry about Arsenal!

Manchester United started the new season well they beat Tottenham by one goal to nil. I still think this will be another tough season for Man U were fans have unrealistic expectations of them winning everything. 

I think Tottenham will also struggle this season as they haven't really spent any money and I think they want a top four finish then they would have needed to spend more money. 

Chelsea drew two all with Swansea City in a match they would have been expected to win. This is not the kind of start the holders would have wanted but at least they got a point. 

Liverpool got off too a good start as they beat Stoke City by a goal to nil. I am not quite sure Liverpool will do this season now that both Steven Gerard and Raheem Stirling have moved on but I guess only time will tell..

The worst start of the new season goes to Arsenal who somehow managed to lose two goals to nil at home! Now if anybody asked me about Arsenal chances last week I would have said this the season that I am most optimistic. 

Then they season starts and Arsenal play exactly the same way they started last season. It is very frustating if Arsenal have any realistic chances of winning the league then they need to be consistent or it's going to be another top four finish.