Australian Open - Day One - Women's Draw

The Australian Open started today and it is the first grand slam of the tennis season.

Daniela Hantuchova beat Heather Watson in three close sets. Heather played well in most parts but her unforced error counts where the most telling. 

Daniela was able to use her fourteen years of tennis experience to win this match. Using tactics like the moon balls which I have not seen for a while. 

Heather will drop even lower in the rankings but she can use this performance in a positive way and the good results will soon come. 

Kirsten Flipkens beat Laura Robson in straight sets. It was a poor match from Laura's perspective and she simply did not look match fit. 

I always thought it was going to be a tough match for Laura but this was not helped by her lack of match fitness. 

Ekaterina Makarova beat Venus Williams in three close sets and in what was a very high quality match.

Serena Williams beat seventeen year old Ashley Barty in straight sets. However played well and she is definitely one to watch for the future. 

The shock of the day was Petra Kivitova losing to Luksika Kumkhum in three close sets. 

Luksika has never played a top ten player but she was able to match Petra's power and win the match. 

Australian Open - Preview

The Australian Open starts tonight and it is the first grand slam of the tennis calendar. 

In the women's draw Serena Williams is the hot favourite to take the title. As was the case last year but Victoria Azarenka ended up winning it. 

This year barring injury I can't imagine Serena not winning this title. Outside of Serena, Victoria Azarenka could still retain her title.  

Elsewhere Heather Watson made it to the main draw after winning three qualifying matches. 

Her first round is against the former top five player Daniela Hantuchova. This will be a tough match for Heather but if she keeps her unforced errors down she will prevail.

Laura Robson faces 18th and Wimbledon semi-finalist Kirsten Flipkens in the first round. 

This will be tough match for Laura especially as she is recovering from a wrist injury. 

 

The men's draw is a little more open than the women. As there is a number of men that can realistically win the title. 

Last years champion Novak Djokovic has the ability to retain his title. US Open champion Rafael Nadal has a big shot at this title but he has a very tough draw. 

Roger Federer probably as an outside chance of winning but personally I think it is an outside shot. 

Lastly the current Wimbledon champion Andy Murray as a chance at this title. However he did spend the latter part of the year injured so I am not sure if he is match fit. 

My prediction is that Serena Williams will win the women's title and Novak Djokovic will win the men's title. 

What are your predictions? 

WTA HP Open, Osaka, Japan- podcast

Something a little different for this blog!

My take on Laura Robson and Heather Watson's participation in the Osaka Open.

Click here to listen to my podcast



 

WTA China Open, Beijing - day one

Round one of China Open started yesterday and Serena Williams beat Elena Vesnina in straight sets. 

It was a pretty tough first round for Serena and the first set was very competitive.

 But after winning the first set Serena was able to take control of the second set and win the second and the match.

Heather Watson lost to Vavara Lepenchko in three sets. Heather won the first set very comfortably then seemed to lose confidence and the match in the second and third set. 

This was a bad loss for Heather and her world ranking will now drop to ninety. Next week she has to defend her Osaka title and if she is unsuccessful then she will drop out of the top 100. 

Laura Robson beat Klara Zakopalova in three sets. It was a real battle in the first and second set but she won the third set comfortably and she now faces Angelique Kerber in the second round.

Toray Pan Pacific Open- day one

The Toray Open started yesterday and Venus Williams beat Mona Barthel in straight sets. 

I was surprised by the ease  in which Venus beat Mona. However in the next second round she faces world number two Victoria Azarenka and that will be a lot tougher. 

Laura Robson lost in straight sets to Ayumi Morita. I think Laura is now going through a mini slump, hopefully she will get out of this mini slump soon. 

The young Canadian Eugenie Bouchard beat Monica Puig in straight set. Eugenie is already top thirty so a good run in this tournament could see climb further up the rankings.

Guangzhou Open - China

It was quarter finals day and both Laura Robson and Johanna Konta where in action today.

Laura lost in three sets Jie Zheng and to be honest even though Laura lost. It was not a huge surprise Jie Zheng is a good solid player and a former world number fifteen. 

So although Laura is the higher ranked player, I think that Jie Zheng had the ability and the experience to help her beat Laura.

Laura got to the final of this tournament last year so she will lose some ranking points.

But as Laura is still a teen this experience will help her to come back better and win her first WTA title.

Johanna Konta lost in straight sets to Zhang Shui and even though Johanna lost, she will gain valuable ranking points. 

Johanna Konta has been steadily rising up the rankings and I would have thought her next goal would be to break the top one hundred ranking.

 This will not be easy but if she is able to consistently make quarter finals then she will achieve it.

Review of the US Open

The US Open 2013 tournament was incredibly entertaining with some very high quality matches. 

My favourite match of the tournament was when Serena Williams played Sloane Stephens. It was good to see an up and coming player like Sloane push Serena to play her best tennis. 

From a British perspective it was nice that Dan Evans was able to make a name for himself by reaching the third round for the first time ever! 

I was disappointed that Andy Murray was unable to retain his title. However I am confident that he will bounce back at the Australian Open. 

Both Heather Watson and Laura Robson went into the open nursing injuries of some sort. Therefore we didn't get to see either of them play their best tennis. 

However Laura did manage to make it to the third round. So it was better tournament for Laura as Heather was knocked out in the first round. I am hoping that they will both come back healthier and fitter for the rest 2013. 

The biggest upset was when seventeen year old Victoria Duval beating former grand slam winner Sam Stosur. I am sure we will see and hear a lot more from Victoria in the years to come.

Overall it was a fun and riveting US Open to watch and I was pleased that both Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal won their respective titles.

US Open - day five

Day five at the US Open was filled with high drama. 

Andy Murray beat Leonard Mayer in four sets. This was not one of Andy's best matches and seem to switch off in third set but most importantly he won and is through to face Florian Mayer. 

Li Na beat Britain's Laura Robson in straight sets. It was always going to be a tough ask to expect Laura to beat an in-form Li Na. 

However It was disappointing to see Laura go out but Laura's game is still developing and she is still only a teenager with many more US Opens ahead of her.

The shock of the day was Sabine Lisicki losing to Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets.

 Sabine seems to only do well at Wimbledon and struggles at the other grand slams. However for me this was a shock result and I was expecting Sabine to do better.

US Open - day three

Day three at the US Open was filled with highs and lows.

The main disappointment was Venus Williams losing in three sets to Jie Zheng.  Venus really played her heart out and could  not have done much more and I think she just run out of energy.

The match was three hours and two minutes which would have been really draining especially with the medical condition Venus has so to me she did very well. 

Andy Murray beat Michel Llodra in straight sets and Andy played well and completed the match in about two hours which good as there will be tougher matches to come.

Laura Robson did well to beat Caroline Garcia in straight sets as her wrist was troubling her. She now plays Na Li in the third round which will be a much tougher match. 

US Open -Day One

The US Open has started and both the men's and the women's draw had some interesting games. 

Men's draw

Rafael Nadal beat Ryan Harrison in straight sets and this hopefully means that the injuries that have plagued his career are behind him. 

In a surprising result the British qualifier Dan Evans beat Kei Nishikori in straight sets to make it to the second round. This is really good for British tennis and I think that Andy Murray's success has given the other GB tennis players the belief that they can make it at the highest level.

Women's draw

I'm really happy that Venus Williams was able to beat Kirsten Flipkens in straight sets. 

But the problem is Venus hasn't got the energy she once had so as much as I want her to do well, it will be a real challenge for Venus to keep her energy levels up.

Serena Williams beat Francesca Schiavone in straight sets and only dropped one game and hopefully she will keep this level up and stay focused and motivated.

Britain's Laura Robson beat Lourdes Dominguez Lino in straight sets. Laura has not played any tennis for about three weeks so it will be interesting to see if she can go further than she did last year. 

US Open has started well and I am hoping that the players I regularly discuss on my blog will continue to do well.

Mini round up of the various tennis tournaments taking place this week

I am disappointed that both Laura Robson and Heather Watson lost there second matches. Laura was playing in the Mercury Insurance Open and lost in straight sets to Petra Kivtova. Heather was playing in the Citi Open and lost in straight sets to Alize Cornet.

Heather is currently number 76 in the world so this will not help her ranking and on top of that she has just split from her long term coach and is now working with Jeremy Bates until the end of the hard court season. I am not sure this a good strategy and it could set her back least a year and the chances of winning any kind of silverware become slimmer and slimmer with every passing day.

Agnieska Radwanska is playing her second match at the Citi Open tournament against Daniela Hantuchova. After Agnieska shock loss to Dominika Cibulková  in the Stanford final she will want to bounce back with this title. So it will be interesting to see if she is able to succeed but I think that with the defensive type of tennis that she plays  it will always be challenge to win tennis tournaments.

I am looking forward to the Canadian Open as Serena Williams is scheduled to play there and unfortunately Maria Sharapova has pulled out  of this tournament with an injury but I am confident that it will still be a competitive tournament.

A review of Wimbledon from the sofa!

This year’s Wimbledon was very different to the previous years that I have been watching as the seeded players went out a lot earlier than expected. One of the most surprising aspects of this year’s Wimbledon was the rise of the “underdogs” i.e. Sergiy Stakhovsky and Dustin Brown.

 I had never heard of either player before Wimbledon but they both definitely helped me to look at tennis in different light. As I tend to focus on the seeded players it is easy to forget the men/women out there working really hard for the same recognition.

Men’s draw changed once Roger Federer and Rafal Nadal went out it became little more open but ultimately it was Novk Djokovic and Andy Murray that made it to the final. As I have said in a previous post I am just relieved that Andy was able to win.

Now hopefully Andy can enjoy the experience of being a Wimbledon champion and I suspect now that he has his Wimbledon title he will more relaxed about the challenges ahead.

The women’s draw also had a few shocks with Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams all exiting the tournament before the quarter finals. I was little surprised about Sabine Lisicki and Marion Bartoli getting to the final.

However the biggest shock for me was watching Serena lose a match that she was in total command. I think Serena underestimated Sabine fighting spirit and before she could mount a comeback she was in the locker room!

Laura Robson also did well to reach the fourth round were she lost to Kaia Kanepi. I am sure that if Laura gets right support and development then she will go even further into the tournament next year.

Heather Watson did not have a great Wimbledon and I suspect she is still recovering from the glandular fever but did not want to miss Wimbledon. Therefore it is difficult to assess her game as the lack of match fitness was key to her first round exit.

As I said in the previous post the Sabine and Marion final was very one-sided with Sabine struggling to get manage her emotions. It was an amazing win by Marion who had beat the odds of getting to the final and winning.

I am really hoping that young children watching both the men’s and women’s final will be inspired enough to want to start playing tennis. As I was inspired by some of the players who never gave up on their dreams.

 

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.

Wimbledon Draw

Wimbledon gets under way today so I thought I would give my brief view of the draws.

Men’s draw

It’s a little sad that Rafal Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Jon Wilfred Tsonga are all on in the same part of the draw. It means that potentially Roger and Rafa could meet in the quarters final which I think is slightly too early and sometimes it can make the semi finals and final are little boring to watch.

Women’s draw

I really like the women’s draw as it has spread out the talent evenly and Serena Williams is at the opposite end of the draw to Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka. Serena’s path to the final looks fairly straightforward although she may need to play a tricky third round against the Chinese player Je Zheng .

Heather Watson could possibly make the third round as her first round is against Madison Keys which I think is very winnable match and in the second round she could face either Monica Niculescu or Mona Barthel . If Heather gets this far then it is a very winnable match. However Heather’s third round could be against Agnieszka  Radwanska and this is probably when Heather exits the tournament. On a positive note if she did make it to the third round she would not lose any ranking points as that is the stage she exited the tournament last year.

Laura Robson as not been given a nice draw she has a very tough first round against Maria Kirilenko.  If she was able to get past Maria then she would probably get Julia Georges in the second round and it would get even tougher after that. I’m not saying Laura cannot do it but it will be really tough get past Maria Kirilenko who has good record at Wimbledon.

One interesting first round match to watch would between Jamie Hampton and Sloane Stephens. Jamie did very well at Eastbourne eventually losing to Elena Vesnina. Sloane Stephens has also been rising up the rankings and they are both very different players so this all American first round could be very interesting.

Eastbourne update

Both Heather Watson and Laura Robson went out of Eastbourne yesterday. Having watched both games I was disappointed that Heather let it slip away after coming back in the second set. She did look a little fatigued and that probably did not help.  After gifting  Vesnina a five love lead in the third set she did try to come back but it was too late.

Laura did her best against Caroline and I am sure if she gets fitter she will be challenging for a top ten place. Right  now both Laura and Heather are on a steep learning curve and I hope they both rise to the challenge without getting demoralis

Preview of Wimbledon 2013

Wimbledon is nearly here! And it is the tournament that as a child got me hooked on tennis. It is the most important tournament in the UK tennis calendar and it is really the only time in the UK when people are really focused on tennis. This year’s tournament will hopefully showcase some of the emerging tennis talent and however I do feel that experience of grand slams will help win the tournament!

Men’s draw

I’m writing at the time when the men’s draw has not been released so I am basing this review on my knowledge of the men’s game. If it was obvious already the men to watch are Roger Federer, Rafal Nadal Andy Murray and the world number one Novak Djokovic. The outsiders to the title would Jon Wilfred Tsonga Juan Martin Del Petro. Time and time again the men’s draw proves to be predictable and the top seed seem to move to each round quite comfortably and on occasions they might be tested to five sets but experience has tended to win the day.

 

 

 

My prediction

Okay as much I want Andy Murray to do well I truly believe that his success will depend on his mental toughness and not worrying about the public. I think if he worries less and his game comes together then he has got every chance of winning this.

 I think Roger Federer will do well depending on the draw I suspect he will at least make it to the quarter finals.  After that it will all depend on the shape that he is in and Roger did win a grass court tournament last week so I suspect he is more than ready for the challenge.

Rafal Nadal didn’t do particularly well last year and he lost fairly early it was probably because he had been carrying the injury. But as a previous Wimbledon winner and my personal favourite I hope he does well. Rafal makes tennis exciting and he doesn’t play text book tennis....and to me his shot making is unique.

Tsonga is my outside bet for the title but after his below par performance at French Open I saw him in different light. I hope he is now put that shambolic performance behind him and is able to play well at Wimbledon.

Women’s draw

Again this is being written before the draw is out so it based entirely based entirely on my previous knowledge of the players. The players to watch are Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova. The women’s draw historically is a little less predictable the three women I have previously mentioned are the ones I think have a real realistic chance to win.

 There are probably two outsiders in Petra Kvitova and Svetlana Kuznetsova. Petra won the tournament two years ago but has since failed to live up to expectations. Kuznetsova is a good grass court player so depending on the draw she could do quite well.  

Heather Watson is battling back to full fitness and I think her goal should be realistically to make to third round now if she does get to the third round maybe just maybe she could make it to the quarter finals but that is a long shot.

I watched Laura Robson’s game on TV yesterday and she was playing a qualifier at Eastbourne and she did seem herself and seemed very nervous. Most of time she looked like she had a scowl on her face and I think that now she playing in the women’s main draw the pressure of having to succeed is probably getting to her and to be fair at Wimbledon it will only get worse for her she needs to develop coping mechanism and quickly too.

 

 

My prediction

I suspect that Serena Williams (my personal favourite) will retain her title but Maria and Victoria will both be tough challenges for her. Maria beat Serena at Wimbledon for her very first title about nine years ago so anything could happen....

Now please tell me what your predictions are....or if agree or disagree with my predictions..

Looking forward to reading them J

UK Tennis

I have just read a very interesting article on the BBC website about the current funding plans for UK tennis.  As an avid tennis fan I have waited a long time to see some real UK talent coming through and at the moment I am pleased with the current crop of tennis stars i.e. Andy Murray, Heather Watson and Laura Robson.

Anyone who follows tennis knows  that it does take time to get a tennis super star. Five years ago the UK was in a tennis abyss and now five years down the line we have finally got a tennis champion in Andy Murray.

Yes I do understand that neither Andy nor Heather learnt their game in the UK but I believe that this is more of a damming indictment of the training facilities in the UK.  Even if a child is talented the cost plus the bureaucracy that parent has to go through is probably no joke.

However I do believe that the UK is heading in the right direction and what I have noted from following the careers of Steffi Graf, Venus and Serena Williams is that you have to give the child a racket from the age of 3-4 onwards and in this country that is practically unheard of so I guess we need to realise where not harming child by wanting to develop them when they are young.   So by the time they reach 21 they are on the verge of winning grand slams.