Wimbledon Day Eight

Today was the women's quarter finals day and as the tournament favourite Serena Williams had exited the tournament the previous day so the draw was now very open.

After beating Serena Williams the previous day, Sabine Lisicki managed to regain her focus to comprehensively beat Kaia Kanpei who was outplayed on every front. Sabine has now become the tournament favourite and I hope she does win as I like her style of tennis.

Aga Radwanska managed to get past Na Li in her typical "I refuse to make winners" fashion. I for one have never understood how Radwanska expects to become a grand slam champion based on other people's errors.  Lindsay Davenport pointed out  that at the end of the match was the first time she had seen Aga happy.

 During the course of the match Radwanska always looked to me like she was about to cry. Maybe this is her game plan but she comes across as negative and not having much believe in herself.

I also don't understand why Radwanska waste so much energy chasing down very single ball. Yes she is 90% successful with this tactic but personally I don't believe that this is strategy that she can maintain long term.

 The most worrying part about Radwanksa's game is the way she goes down on her knees to hit a low ball. if she is not careful she is going to end up with a serious knee injury she already  has bandages around her thighs and I can't imagine those bandages are going to help her win a tough semi final and final should she get there.

Marion Bartoli beat the last American Sloane Stephens and Sloane played a very very poor match. Maybe the nerves of the big occasion and being on a show court got to her. But when you are losing fourteen straight points on your serve that is not grand slam winning ability.

She needs to learn how to capitalize on those opportunities when they come. But I guess that as it is her first Wimbledon quarter final  she was nervous and I hope that she has learnt from this experience.

Kirsten Flipkens saw off Petra Kivtova and Kirsten played a very intelligent match and was rewarded. She broke when it was necessary and stuck to her game and was not overwhelmed by Kivtova or being on Centre Court.

Predictions !!!!

I think that in the semi-finals Sabine Lisicki should beat the "partly injured" Aga Radwanska however I would say that if Sabine makes lost of errors then Aga will win as Aga rarely makes any errors.

I can see Kirsten Flipkens beating Marion Bartoli if plays the way she  did against Kivovta by sticking to her game plan and not going for too much. As Marion can be very erratic so for Marion to beat Flipkens she going to have to play a more consistent game and not go for too much too soon.

 So what are your predictions for the semi-finals?

Wimbledon Day Seven

 

Now that we are down to the last sixteen players this is what I see has the business end of the tournament, were players feel better about playing on the grass court.

Men

Novak Djokovic played well against Tommy Hass and Tommy is only player that has managed to break Novak serve in this Wimbledon. Novak seems really focused and I would be very surprised if he did not make the final.

Andy Murray did enough to win the match and at one point was trailing in the second set but managed to come back and win in straight sets. He also is coming across as very focused and I hope from a UK perspective he makes it to his second Wimbledon final.

Women

Very disappointed to see Serena exit the tournament but if I am honest she has not had the complete focus that she normally has at grand slams and although the has been moving around the court really well. I thought her return of serve really let  her down today and she also seemed a little intimidated by Sabine Lisicki. However I am confident that Serena will bounce back and win the US open.

Sloane Stephens did will to beat Monica Puig but now she face Marion Bartoli and she is going to need to step it up a couple more gears to beat Marion.

Laura Robson did very well against Kaia Kanpei and  it was always going to be a tall ask to expect her to beat Kanepi. Laura will have gained from valuable experience and ranking points which definitely help to make her life easier coming into the hard court season.

Wimbledon day Five and Six

Two very interesting days some good and some not so good and some truly inspirational players.

Day Five

Men

I was really sad to see Dustin Brown go out on day five his story really touched me. Normally in the UK we hear that most people playing tennis come from middle class backgrounds were money is not an issue. So to think that Dustin travelled around for five years in camper van and finally qualified and succeeded at Wimbledon is very inspirational as he never gave up on his dreams.

I was also sad to see Sergiy Stakhovsky go out again he had that similar determination that Dustin Brown has and he came across really well. I think that some of the men are so focused on winning that few have charismatic personalities so it nice to see guys with personalities in this years Wimbledon.

Women

Sloane Stephens had a very lucyk escape her match was completed on day six and she won third set.  I think Sloane has a great chance to at least  to make the semi finals but the way she lost that second set 6 love was scary and also rather fortunate that the match was completed on day six as opposed to day five.

Day Six

Men

 

Andy Murray did what he needed to do win his match and with little fuss. Andy is now very comfortable both on and off court.  The only worry I have for him is that he could get  a little complacent but I’m hoping that will not happen.

Novak Djokovic made very well and has this look of steely determination and he will be very hard to beat. He has really developed his grass court game and if Andy is to beat Novak then Andy will really have to step it up.

Women

Laura Robson played well enough to make the fourth round but to beat Kaia Kanepi she is really going have to play well which means serving incredibly well and moving a lot faster. I think that nerves may now become a real problem for Laura and if she is not careful the match maybe over before it has started.

Serena Williams played enough to beat Kimiko Date Krumm but her fourth round match against Sabine Lisicki will be the first real test. I am confident that if she serves like she did in the French Open then she will be fine.  Sabine is a very good player and she will able to get balls that Kimiko Date Krumm could not get to. So it should be a very high level match which hopefully Serena will win.

 

 

Wimbledon Day Two

Day two of Wimbledon was full of shocks and surprises and this is my review of men's and women's games.

Men

Novak Djokovic had a comfortable straight sets victory and I  Iike Novak’s style of tennis and he also come across as an engaging character. For this tournament now that Rafa is out I would love Andy, Novak or Jon Wilfred to win.

Women

I  am disappointed that Heather Watson went out in the first round and watching her match I could see that she was struggling with her fitness. I noticed that she is also going to play doubles which I think is probably not a great idea as she still needs to recover from that bout of glandular fever.

Laura Robson did very well and I did not expect her to get past Maria Kirilenko but she served and returned the ball really well and hardly made any errors. I was very surprised at Maria Kirilenko as she is normally a good grass court player but she seemed a little one dimensional today and when she was losing it did not seem to me that she had a plan B.

After the disappointment of Heather Watson, Tara Moore definitely lifted my gloom and even though she lost in to Kaia Kanepi she is definitely one for the future. I was very impressed with Tara’s serve and movement so I did a little google research and found out she trained at Nick Bollettieri’s academy which explains a lot. As there are not too many UK female tennis players that can move and serve like that. I am hoping that Tara will get right sort of sponsors and a coach that will help take her career to the next level.

I am little surprised that Daniela Hantuchova is out already after winning the title in Birmingham I thought she was going to do well here but sadly this did not happen and was beaten in straight sets. Serena Williams played well enough to win the match and I think she was familiarising herself with the grass and so I hope she will be able to play even better in second round.