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. 

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 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 Day One

First day of Wimbledon was full of surprises both in the men and the ladies games.

Men

I am  disappointed that Rafal Nadal is out of Wimbledon and I think that his style of tennis will be missed in the next two weeks.

I am hoping that Rafal will get proper treatment for his knee and only return when he is 125% fit. There were also good routine wins for Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Jon Wilfred Tsonga.

Women

I am not surprised that Sara Errani lost today as she does not really have  a good record at Wimbledon. Maria Sharapova won in two sets however the first set was a real struggle for her and she seemed to be a little irritated today and I was surprised to see her arguing with the umpire. 

The all American first round tie between Jamie Hampton and Sloane Stephens was won by Sloane Stephens who played quite well and won the big points when it mattered.

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.

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