Wimbledon - review from the sofa:)

This years Wimbledon was almost as strange as the previous year. In the ladies draw the top two seeds Serena Williams and Li Na went out early. 

The women'sdraw was uneven and this is how Petra Kvitova managed to get to the final without playing a single top ten seed. 

The women's final was a little embarrassing to watch and Petra did what she needed to do to win the match. 

But it was rather painful watching Eugenie Bouchard making the same errors over and over again. 

It was one of those finals that few will be talking about as players were so unevenly matched. 

The men's draw was a little better but it was sad to see both Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal go out early. 

But at least the final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer was entertaining.

 However I would say that both play quite a predictable game and so it took the match a while to warm up and when it did it was well worth the wait.

So it was a a rather strange Wimbledon especially in the women's draw but the men's draw definitely lived up to expectations. 

Wimbledon - Day Five

Day five at Wimbledon and Petra Kivitova beat Venus Williams in three sets and this was probably the match of the tournament. 

Venus played incredibly well and only dropped her serve once in the entire match. But sadly these days Venus does not have the movement that she once had. 

Therefore had to overly rely on her serve and to be fair Petra has a fantastic serve and it's difficult to get her serves back!

So all credit to Petra for getting this win and for Venus the furthest she has progressed in a grandslam in three years.

Simona Halep beat Lesia Tsurenko in three sets and it was a really topsy turvy match which really Simona should have won in straight sets. 

Especially as Lesia is ranked a hundred and seventy in the world. But Simona prevailed and won the third set and the match. 

The shock of the day was Barbora Zahlavova Strycova beating Li Na in straight sets. Li Na was not able to play her game  against Barbora who was able to win the big points when it mattered.  

In the men's draw Novak Djokovic beat Gilles Simon in straight sets and it was another routine win for Novak who has yet to be tested in this tournament. 

Andy Murray beat Roberto Bautista Agut in straight sets and it was a routine win for Andy who has been playing without the pressure he was under last year. 

However he will face tougher opponents as he progresses through the draw. He may face Novak in the semi finals and who will be different to the kind of player to the ones he has faced so far. 

Wimbledon - day one

Day one at Wimbledon and Venus Williams beat Maria-Teresa Torro Flo in three sets.  

Venus's serve was on point and she was served about eleven aces and most importantly had no double faults. 

Venus had a bit of a stutter in the second set but totally took control of the third set and the match.  

Elsewhere Maria Kirilenko beat Sloane Stephens in straight sets and Sloane had a poor match. 

She was always on the back foot and when she finally got a set point in the second set she was unable to take it. 

After this embarrasing loss Sloane needs to regroup as she will fall out of the top twenty and is going to need to work to get back into the top twenty and beyond. 

Li Na beat Paula Kania in straights sets and this good routine win for Li Na as she attempts to win her third grand slam and after her terrible first round loss in the French Open. 

In the men's draw the current men's champion Andy Murray beat David Goffin in straight sets. This was a good routine win for Andy who has quite a tough draw but will hoping to make at least the semi finals.

Novak Djokovic beat Andrey Golubev in straight sets and he will be happy to have had a nice routine and win will be hoping to win his second Wimbledon title. 

Preview of Wimbledon 2014

So my favourite tournament starts today! And in the women's draw my personal favourite to win is Serena Williams. 

However Serena has had quite a few injuries this year and they seem to be occurring around the grandslams. 

I would say that barring injury then I  cannot see her losing in this tournament. I also think that Maria has a great chance of winning this tournament her confidence would be high after winning the French Open. 

Looking at the draw I would not be surprised if Venus Williams was able to string some results together and win this title.

Li Na is someone else I can imagine winning she has a good draw and will be difficult to beat. 

I am hoping that Britain's Heather Watson will follow up on her Eastbourne success and at least make it to the third round and this could see her getting  back into top fifty. 

In the men's draw my personal favourite to win would be Rafael Nadal. However he faces a stiff challenge from players like Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer or last year winner Andy Murray. 

The dark horse in the men's draw would be Stanislas Wawrinka he is the current Australian Men's champion and he has got a strong grass court game and will be tough beat. 

Preview of the French Open 2014

The French Open starts this week and it promises to bring us lots of entertainment. 

In the men's draw the defending Champion Rafal Nadal has his work cut out to retain the his title. 

Rafa is not playing at the level you would expect him to be playing. However I think he will retain his title. 

He will have stiff competition from Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray who have been playing well and I am sure they will both push Rafa to limit if he is to retain his title. 

In the women's draw the defending champion Serena Williams will also have stiff competition to retain her title.

Both Li Na and Maria Sharapova will provide Serena with some stiff competition.

 However I think barring injury Serena will retain her title as others don't have the speed or Serena's serve. 

From a British point of view Heather Watson is our sole  female representative and her realistic goal is to try and pick up as many ranking points as possible. 

Hopefully Heather will at least make it to third round then she will pick up some very much needed ranking points to help her get back into the top fifty. 

Overall I am expect both Rafa Nadal and Serena Williams to retain their titles but it will not be easy for either of them. 

Miami Open - WTA Final

In the final of the Miami Open and Serena Williams beat Li Na in straight sets. The first set was very competitive and at one point Serena was  2 - 5 down. But was able to pull it back and win the set and the match. 

This is the seventh time Serena has won this title and to be fair she was not playing what I would call her best tennis. 

However Serena's serve remained consistent and it never let her down and her serve holding up was key to her retaining her title. 

Li Na had a good tournament and I suspect if had been facing a player other than Serena the she probably would have won the title.

Right now Serena is making and breaking records and it is certainly makes it more interesting for me and I am sure it serves as additional motivation for Serena.  

Review of the Australian Open from the sofa!

This years Australian Open was interesting to say the least. The adverse weather conditions meant players where playing tennis in forty two degrees heat. 

These weather conditions lasted for almost the first week of the slam and resulted in players getting dehydrated, vomiting or some even passing out. 

The second week started with a shock when the women's favourite for title Serena Williams was beating by Ana Ivanovic. 

Serena's exit of the tournament was closely followed by Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka's exits. This ultimately lead to Li Na beating Dominika Cibulkova in the final. 

The men's draw was much more stable and than the women's. It was only final that had me most surprised when Stanislas Wawrinka beat Rafael Nadal. 

The Aussie fans where particularly vocal in the men's final and had some point sections in the crowd where booing Rafael Nadal for his injury time out. Which I thought was particularly unpleasant and was totally uncalled for. 

Some of the men's matches where played until 01.30 in the morning which I thought was a little strange. 

Overall I was surprised by wins of Li Na and Stanislas Wawrinka which I did not see coming. I guess that is why I love tennis because sometimes it can be unpredictable. 

However I can bet a bottom dollar that the players who under performed at this tournament will have a bigger impact in the remaining Gram Slams. 

Australian Open - Day Eleven

Day eleven at the Australian Open and it is ladies semi finals day. Li Na beat the young Canadian Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets. 

This result was not a surprise as Eugenie did incredibly well to get to this stage and I am sure in a few years time she will be winning grand slams. 

Dominika Cibulkova beat Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets and this result was a surprise as Agnieszka is the higher ranked player. 

But at the same time Agnieszka has played a lot of three set matches and it was only matter of time before her energy levels dropped. 

So the women's final will be between Li Na and Dominika Cibulkova. 

In the men's draw Stanislas Wawrinka beat Tomas Berdych in four sets and he is now through to the final where he will face  either Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal. 

WTA Championships - Final

The WTA championships final took place yesterday and as widely expected Serena Williams beat Li Na in three sets to retain her title. 

It was not easy for Serena who was fighting fatigue and she lost the first set, then had to dig deep to win the remaining two sets. 

Li Na played well but I am not really sure she believes that she can beat Serena. 

 Li Na has not had a great year so reaching the final has hopefully set her up for better year next year. 

By contrast Serena has had a good year and at thirty two she is not getting any younger, but hopefully she will have a good 2014 and make even more history and break more records!

WTA Championships - Semi Finals

The semi-finals of the WTA championships took place yesterday and in the first semi-final Li Na beat Petra Kivitova in three sets. 

This was a really good win for Li Na who hasn't really had a great year. However in the final she faces the formidable Serena Williams.

Serena Williams beat Jelena Jankovic in three sets to make the final. It was a weird match in that Serena appeared to be injured. 

However on the on-court interview she said that it was tiredness that affected her game. 

So the final between Ni La and Serena Williams will be interesting as Serena is battling fatigue so this could be Li Na's best opportunity to beat her. 

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.