Australian Open 2016 - Men's draw

This year winner was fairly predictable to say least! Novak Djokovic beat Andy Murray in straight sets. This was a match that Andy got soundly beaten the first set but had opportunities to break in the second and third set and he could not take them. 

This is now Novak's eleventh Grand Slam and it's only a couple years ago he only had five Grand Slams. Now he is only six behind Roger Federer to equal the record! 

There where no real surprises in the men's draw other than Rafal Nadal going out in the first round. I think Rafa can still win a couple more Grand Slams but he has to want to break the record to have any chance of winning more Grand Slams. 

Roger Federer did well but he does not have the energy to win Grand Slams in the best of five sets. However he still doing well enough to make to the semi - finals. 

US Open - review 2015

So I didn't get to blog daily about the US Open, however I didn't miss a match! The first week of the US Open was eventful in the women draw at least three of the top ten seeds went out very early and I think that really set the tone for the championships. 

The British number one Heather Watson went out on day one and it was a very disappointing tournament for her. I think it was largely down to poor preparation and still lamenting about the loss to Serena at Wimbledon. 

However the British number two Johanna  Konta did very well and she made it to the fourth round before being knocked out by Petra Kivitova.

The men's first week was largerly uneventful the only real shock was the early exit of Rafael Nadal. Rafa is in a real slump and he threw away a two set lead in a match that he should have won comfortably. 

 

The second of US Open became more eventful in the semi-finals as Serena Williams who was expected to beat Roberta Vinci lost in three sets. 

Serena had looked very nervous and unsure of herself in previous rounds and rightly so Roberta pounced on Serena's uncertainty and was able to win the match and end Serena's bid to win four Grand Slams in a calendar year. 

The other semi final Flavia Panetta beat Simona Halep in straight sets and this too was largely unexpected but Flavia just proved too strong for Simona. 

The men's semi finals was more straight forward both Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer recorded comfortable wins to reach the finals were it would be number one versus number two. 

The women's final was an all Italian affair and Flavia Panetta beat Roberta Vinci in straight sets and rightly so. Has been reasonably well in the last couple of years  so to me richly derseved this title. 

The Men's final Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer to win his 10th Grand Slam title. I think it's only the disgraceful behaviour of the fans that marred his victory. 

The fans where so desperate to see a Roger win that they were clapping a Novak errors which was not nice to see.. However Novak overcame the hostility from the crowd to claim his 10th Grand slam.

Wimbledon first week 2015

I cannot I haven't been blogging about Wimbledon.. I guess I have just been a little to busy with my day job:) but trust me I didn't miss a beat!

This week had it's highs and lows and the main high for me was how well Heather Watson did not only to make to the third round but to push Serena Williams to a third set and at point it looked she was going to win but it was not meant to be. 

Which in reality is not such a bad thing I am one of Heather biggest fan but being known as a "Serena slayer" would put untold pressure on her and her career and I know she wanted to win and is disappointed. 

But the match proved to the world that Heather has got the talent to play with the world best. 

For Serena it was a real relief that she managed to pull of the win and probably underestimating Heather was her biggest mistake. 

The low of the first week was Rafael Nadal going out. However watching his match he didn't seem like he was back to his best and seemed to lacking belief in his shots. But I am confident that he will soon rediscover his form. 

So it was a good first week with some real first class tennis and let's hope the second week will be as good. 

Wimbledon 2015 preview

Ok to my shame I didn't complete the review of the French Open.. However it was truly wonderful to see Serena Williams win her 20th grand slam and it was nice to see Stanislas Wawrinka get is  2nd Grand Slam. 

But I am sure that Wimbledon challenge will be very different for both of these champions. 

The women's draw looks quite competitive this year but I cautiously optimistic that Serena will get the 6th Wimbledon title and her 21st Grand Slam. 

However it's not going to be easy and she will probably need to beat Maria Sharapova in the semis to even make it to the final. 

Last year winner Petra Kivitova is a contender to retain her title she has a very good grass court game and as there normally isn't many rallies on the grass it suits her game perfectly.

From a British prespective both Heather Watson and Johanna Konta have very tough draws and it will not be easy for either to progress to the second round. 

Heather faces Caroline Garcia and who has some powerful ground strokes and for Heather to win she will need to be aggressive and her serve has to be on point. 

Johanna faces Maria Sharapova and the chances of her winning are even more remote. Maybe if the crowd get behind her that might help to get one set! 

 

The men's draw is much more open and realistically either Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stanislas Wawrinka or Rafael Nadal can win the title. 

Rafa is my personal favourite but he has been having a torrid time of lately so is chance of winning the title do not look great. 

Andy Murray is home favourite and a former winner and he knows how to win so I would rule him out of at least getting to the final. 

Novak Djokovic is current champion and I would not bet against him making it to the final as the three time winner he can do it again. 

Stanislas Wawrinka will be feeling very confident so I would not rule him out of getting to at least the finals. 

Roger Federer is a Wimbledon favourite and has won at least six times but he is older now and he cannot win matches like he used and he is unlikely to win a tough five set matches like he used to and but as a former champion I cannot totally rule him out. 

So it should be a another great Wimbledon and hopefully a record breaking Wimbledon for Serena Williams. 

Australian Open - Day Five

Day five of the Austrialian Open and Maria Sharapova beat Zarina Diyas in straight sets. This was much easier match for Maria and needs to wins like this if she has any hope of winning the title.  

Eugenie Bouchard beat Caroline Garcia in straight sets. This was a straight forward win for Eugenie and the first set was competitive but after that Eugenie totally controlled the match. 

Yanina Wickmayer beat Sara Errani in three sets. This was a bit of surprise result but as Sara is the higher ranked player most people would have expected her to win. 

However Yanina is good player and can get these types of results but she doesn't do it consistently that's she is not ranked higher.

In the men's draw Andy Murray beat Joao Sousa in straight sets. This was a nice routine win for Andy and it to be honest it would have been more of surprise if he had lost. 

Rafa beat Dudi Sela in straight sets and this was routine win for Rafa and it would have been more of a surprise if he had lost.  

The surprise of the day Andreas Seppi beating Roger Federer in four sets. Roger won the Brisbane tournament so many thought this title was his. But with his advancing age I think winning a Grand Slam title is looking more remote. 

Australian Open - Day three

Day three at the Australian Open Maria Sharapova beat Alexandra Panova in three sets. It was really hard fought win for Maria to get this result.

It was a surprise Maria struggled because on paper this should have been a comfortable win. Maria is nice part of draw and should really make to the final. 

Simona Halep beat Jamila Gajdosova in straight sets and this was a comfortable win for Simona. Simona has also in the nice part of the draw so she should make to at least the semi finals. 

In the men's draw Rafael Nadal beat Tim Smyczek in five sets and it was tough old match for Rafa who eventually came through it to make the third. 

Rafa is coming back from injury so I guess he still a little rusty so I guess he trying to slowly build momentum. 

In the men's match Roger Federer beat Simone Bolelli in four sets and it was a tough old match for Roger who eventually came through it. 

This is the kind of player that Roger used to beat in his sleep so it was little surprising that he took Roger to four sets. 

I  think it will be a big ask to expect Roger to win this title as he would have to beat at least three top ten players and so it would be a big ask to expect him to win. 

Australian Open 2015 - Day one

Day one of the Australian Open and it is the first Grand Slam of the calendar year and some of the players are still not ready to play. 

There were lots of surprises in the women's draw and the first high profile seed to go out was Ana Ivanovic who lost three sets to Lucie Hradecka   

Next Angelique Kerber lost in three sets to Irina Begu the first day shock kept coming and it ended with eight female seeds going out in one day. 

However there were wins for Simona Halep, Eugenie Bouchard and Maria Sharapova. 

In the men's draw the main title contenders all made it successfully to the second round and these were Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. 

There were few shock losses in the men's draw and I think the women's draw has changed a lot in the last five years and now its not too much of a surprise for a top ten seed to go out as these days women are much closer in ability. 

Preview to the US Open 2014- my take

So the US Open starts today and it is the last Grand Slam of the year. In the men my favourite Rafael Nadal has pulled out due to injury. 

I was disappointed because his style of tennis makes the men's game exciting to watch. But now Rafa is out I think that Novak Djokovic is my firm favourite to win the title. 

I would like to see Andy Murray do well but I am not quite sure if he is hungry enough to win his second US Open title.  

I think that Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka are both dark horses to win this title and I suspect Roger will make it to at least the semi-finals. 

The women's draw is much more open but I would not bet against Serena Williams. 

She has not had a great grand slam year but this would be great way to end the year. 

Outside of Serena, Maria Sharapova could win her second grand slam of the year. I think Petra Kivitova has got a good draw and could do quite well. 

The dark horse to win women's title is Simona Halep and there is always a lot of hype around Simona interesting to see if she can live up to the hype. 

Another of my personal favourite is Britain's Heather Watson, Heather has never won round at senior level so hopefully this she will win a round and make it to at least the third round. 

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 eight

Day eight at Wimbledon and Angelique Kerber beat Maria Sharapova in three sets and it was three very tight sets and could have gone either way. 

However Angelique was able to serve better when it mattered and was able to put away some amazing winners. 

Petra Kivitova beat Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in straight sets and to be fair it would have been a bigger surprise if Barbora had won. 

Petra has a big serve so it is incredibly difficult to get the ball back and out of her hitting zone. But Barbora gave it her all and put up an amazing fight which was sadly not good enough. 

Simona Halep beat Zarina Diyas in straight sets and it was a tough match for Zarina who was unable to show case her talent and I think this was probably not helped by nerves and this being her first fourth round draw. 

In the men's draw Roger Federer beat Tommy Rebredo in straight sets and it was a routine win for Roger but he faces tougher challenges ahead. 

The shock of day was Nick Kyrgios beating Rafael Nadal in four sets and it was difficult day for Rafal as Nick's serve was a little too hot to handle.

Rafael seemed a little tired and did not seem to have the energy to run around and Nick just seem to have little more energy and that great serve. 

Wimbledon - Day six

Day six at Wimbledon and it was a bit of a rainy day so not all the matches where completed. However Maria Sharapova beat Alison Riske in straight sets. 

It was a routine win for Maria who has yet to lose a set and Alison did get an early break but was unable to consolidate and Maria went on win the set and the match.

Eugene Bouchard beat Andrea Petkovic in straight sets and this was a good routine win for Eugene who will face tougher challenges as the tournament progresses. 

The shock of the day was Alize Cornet beating Serena Williams in three sets. It was a weird match Serena barely moved her feet and took all the power out of hitting the ball. 

I suspect that either there is a lingering injury or things are not great with her current coach Patrick. 

However it was a good win for Alize and her second consecutive win against Serena this year. This should give her the confidence to believe that she can do well this year. 

In the men's draw Rafael Nadal beat Mikhail Kukushin in four sets and Rafa dropped the first set on a tie break but on the next three sets and the match with ease. 

Roger Federer beat Santiago Giraldo in straight sets and this was a nice routine win for the seven time champion.

Wimbledon - Day four

Day four at Wimbledon and Serena Williams beat Chanelle Scheepers in straight sets. 

This was a routine win for Serena as she tries build momentum to win her eighteen grand slam and her sixth Wimbledon.

Maria Sharapova beat Timea Bacsinszky in straight sets and this was a routine win Maria and her serve seem to hold up better than in the previous round. 

Angelique Kerber beat Heather Watson in three sets and Heather played reasonably well but had too many unforced errors. 

Heather's serve seem let her down and she was unable to get the free points she would have normally gave gotten from her serve. 

However Heather will have many positives to take out of the match and most importantly the ranking points she would gained from making it to the second round. 

In the men's draw Rafael Nadal beat Lukas Rosol in four sets and Rafa really had to pull out all the stops to win this match.

Rafa played well and he kept his unforced errors down although I got the impression that he was quite nervous. 

Roger Federer beat Gilles Muller in straight sets and this was another routine win for Roger. 

Stan Wawrinka beat Yen Hsun Lu in four sets and this the first time in the tournament that Stan has been tested and he managed to dig deep and win the match. 

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. 

Au revoir.... French Open 2014

This year French Open had some early surprises but ultimately the expected winners.

In the women's draw early losses of Li Na and Serena Williams was a shock. However meant that previously unknown players like Taylor Towsend Garbine Muguruza where able to flourish. 

 

The final between Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep with Maria as the winner was no real surprise. 

In the men's draw the early loss for Stanislas Wawrinka was a shock and it that players like Ernest Gulbis where able to step up and make a name for himself. 

The match between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal with Rafa as the winner was no real surprise but it was a fantastic final that really showcased men's tennis. 

So the French Open is over for another year we now have some new household names but the more established players like Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal did what they do best which is winning grand slams. 

French Open - Day fifteen

Day fifteen of the French Open and in the men's final Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic in four sets. It was a fantastic final which really could have gone either way. 

However Novak looked a little lethargic out there and was not really going for the big shots. 

Rafa started of badly but gradually reduced his unforced errors and increased his winner count. In a stark contrast to Novak, Rafa was full of running and was able to take it up to the next level to secure the win. 

Novak played well pretty much in the of the tournament but today he came up against Rafa who is clay court specialist and it seemed a little too much for him but I am sure he will bounce back at Wimbledon. 

This was Rafa ninth French Open title and his fourteenth grand slam and hopefully Rafa will win at least three more grand slams. 

French Open - Day thirteen

Day thirteen of the French Open and it's the men's semi-finals day and Novak Djokovic beat Ernest Gulbis in four sets. 

Novak was cruising in this match and then switched off in the third set and Ernest was able to win it however Novak refocused in the fourth set and won the set and the match. 

It would have been a surprise if Ernest had got this win especially as Novak has been very well. 

 

Rafael Nadal beat Andy Murray in straight sets and the match was a little one sided to the point Andy did not even get a break point chance in the entire match. 

But to be fair to Andy he played at least three five set matches and I don't think that would have helped his cause coming into match against Rafa so he was always going to be up against it. 

So the final will be between Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic and they have both in playing great tennis. 

I would  say Rafa the slight edge partly because I am a fan of his style of tennis and because he has won this title eight times. But that will not phase Novak who ready to step it up to try and dethrone Rafal. 

French Open - Day eleven

Day eleven at the French Open and Simona Halep beat Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets. 

This was a good win for Simona as Svetlana is a former Roland Garros champion. However Svetlana was carrying an injury so that probably helped Simona to get a more straight forward victory. 

Andrea Petkovic beat Sara Errani in straight sets and this was a good win for Andrea as Sara was definitely a contender for this year title. 

In the men's draw Rafael Nadal beat David Ferrer in four sets and this was an emphatic win for Rafa. 

He even managed to bagel David in the third set and David played well but simply could not deal with skill that Rafa presented to him. 

Andy Murray beat Gael Monfils in five sets and this was a strange match. Andy was crusing at two sets to love up and then took his foot of the pedal and was mighty fortunate to be able to complete the match today as the light was fading. 

French Open - Day nine

Day nine of the French Open and Sara Errani beat Jelena Jankovic in straight sets and this was a big win for Sara and she must be one of the favourites for the title. 

Simona Halep beat Sloane Stephens in straight sets and Sloane played pretty poorly and committed too many unforced errors. 

Simona Halep played reasonably well and was able to win the big points and ultimately the match. 

In the men's draw Rafael Nadal beat Dusan Lajovic in straight sets and this was another comfortable win for Rafa and I am hoping he will be able to keep this form up. 

Andy Murray beat Fernando Verdasco in straight sets and this was an excellent win for Andy especially when you think how he struggled in the previous round. 

French Open - Day seven

Day seven at the French Open and Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Petra Kivitova in three sets. The third set could have gone either but a few lose balls from Petra and it handed the game and the match to Svetlana. 

Sloane Stephens beat Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets and this was a good win for Sloane as Ekaterina strikes the ball well and it's hard to break her game down. 

The surprise result in the women draw was Lucie Safarova beating Ana Ivanovic in straight sets. I thought that Ana had a real chance of winning this title so it was  a surprise see her ousted so easily. 

Rafael Nadal beat Lenardo Mayer in straight sets and it was a straight forward win for Rafa. But to be fair I would have been surprised if Lenardo had been Rafa. 

David Ferrer beat Andreas Seppi in straight sets and it was straight forward win and David is quietly going through the draw he could be surprising winner of  this year French Open.  

Guillermo Garcia Lopez beat Donald Young in give sets and Guillermo won the first two sets then gave away set three and four then just about beat Donald in the fifth set. 

French Open - day five

Day five of the French Open and Simona Halep beat Heather Watson in straight sets. The second set was very competitive but Heather made way too many unforced errors to win this match. 

Ana Ivanovic beat Elina Svitolina in straight sets and it was routine win for Ana and if she keeps it up she may win this grandslam.

Sloane Stephens beat Polona Hercog in straight sets and it was a very convincing win by Sloane. 

In the men's draw Rafael Nadal beat Dominic Theim in straight sets and this was a good comfortable win for Rafa.  

Andy Murray beat Marinko Matosevic in straight sets and it was a comfortable match for Andy. 

This hopefully the type of match that should prepare Andy for the tougher matches that will come his way.