Australian Open 2016 - Women draw review

Well the Australian Open 2016 is now over and the winner of the women's draw   was Angelique Kerber. She beat Serena Williams in three sets. 

It was unexpected result everyone including me thought that Serena would win this in straight sets! But Angelique Kerber had other ideas and her serve and return of serve is what won her the match. 

Angelique's serve was reasonably impressive and her never give up attitude was incredible! Whereas Serena lacked match fitness and found it difficult to stay in points. 

So I believe that Angelique was the rightful winner and Serena lack of matches plus pressure of breaking Steffi Graf's 22 Grand Slams title is making even harder for Serena to concentrate.

Elsewhere in the Women's draw British/Hungarian player Johanna Konta played well and reached the quarters finals and I am sure she has won some tier one titles then she will have a realistic chance of winning a Grand Slam.

Whereas it was another disappointing Australian Open for Heather Watson an as she went out in the first round again. 

I really think for Heather this her make or break year and even for retain her become British number one is going to be a mammoth task. However maybe possible but is really going to require to have a complete change of mindset. 

2nd/3rd January 2016

The new year Premier League fixtures had again some predictable results. Arsenal beat Newcastle by a goal to nil and this was a good win for Arsenal who have started the New Year top of the league! 

Manchester City beat Watford by two goals to one  and this a pretty predictable result and I would have been shocked if Watford had won. 

Manchester United beat Swansea City by two goals to one and this was well needed win for Manchester United who seem to struggling for confidence. 

Liverpool lost by three goals to nil and this  was a bad loss for them. It was looking like they had turned a corner but this result highlighted the serious lack of quality in the team. 

Chelsea got a fantastic win as they beat Crystal Palace three goals to nil and this was much needed win however this win has made little difference in their league as they are still languishing in fourteenth position. 

28th/29th/30th December 2015

The bank holiday fixtures where more predictable than the Boxing Day results. Arsenal got a somewhat predictable win. They beat Bournemouth by two goals to nil. 

This was a good win for Arsenal especially after that humiliating Boxing Day loss and it was good to see that they could recover so quickly. 

Manchester United and Chelsea drew nil nil and this was a surprising scoreline as a year ago this would have been a high scoring game but both teams are lacking in confidence.

Manchester City drew nil nil with Leicester City and both teams have been doing well, however I half expected Manchester City win to that match.

 Liverpool beat Sunderland by a goal to nil and this was a reasonably good win for Liverpool and this may mean that this team are finally gelling together. 

Boxing Day 2015

Wow it been awhile since I blogged but I thought it was quite important to at least start blogging again in the New Year! The Boxing Day was a pretty horrendous start for some teams. 

Arsenal lost four goals to nil to Southampton and it was there worst loss in about eighteen months. I can only speculate that the teams mind was elsewhere which caused them to loose badly. 

Manchester United also had a bad day they lost two nil to Stoke City and for Manchester United they have been experiencing quite a few losses recently and their fans are getting nervous 

now. 

Chelsea drew two all with Watford which was really awful draw for them

As they desparately needs to win games to climb up the table. 

Manchester City did very well and they beat Sunderland by four goals to one. This means are they still in the top four. 

Liverpool also got a good win the best Leicester City by a goal to nil and Liverpool have been struggling and even their new manager I can imagine it will take at least a season before they start getting real results. 

So the Boxing Day match result where somewhat of a shock and I was surprised that both Manchester United and Arsenal got so badly beaten. 

Premier league - 24/25th October 2015

So I haven't blogged for a little while but that does not mean I have not been following the action... First off Arsenal beat Everton by two goals to one and this win helped them to go joint top of the league. 

Arsenal have been playing well recently and Arsene Wenger seems to be using the same players. Now he plays Theo Walcott in a more attacking position than before. 

Manchester City and Manchester United had a nil nil draw which was a little surprising because normally it is a goals thriller. However the draw helped Manchester City to stay top of the league. 

The shock of the weekend was Chelsea losing by two goals to one to West Ham. It is early days but seeing Chelsea down in 15th is very strange but I am sure they will some good wins to see them climb back up the table. 

Premier league - 19/20 September

In this weekend fixitures Chelsea beat Arsenal by two goals to nil in a controversial match that saw two Arsenal players sent off! 

This was defintely a surprise result for me as Chelsea have not being getting the results and so I thought Arsenal would be able to take advantage and get a win against them but it was not meant to be. 

The sending off Gaberial definitely impacted on the game and Arsenal ability to get a goal. However I still think Arsenal defensive frailties will cost them a few matches this season and the realistic chance to win the league. 

Elsewhere Manchester United got a narrow victory against Southampton has they beat them by three goals to two and helped to keep them within two points of leaders Man City. 

Manchester City had an awful weekend as they lost at home to West Ham. West Ham beat them by two goals to one and this ended Manchester City unbeaten run. However they are still top the league by two points. 

Liverpool drew one all to Norwich as there indifferent season continues and I really think Liverpool will struggle this season as they don't see have too many world class players in their team.  

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.