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 four

There were few shocks today after all the excitement of yesterday a lot of the top seeds in both the women and the men's draw had routine wins.

Men

Novak Djokovic got through to the third round beating the American Bobby Reynolds in three straight sets. For the American men Wimbledon has not been good to them because with Bobby Reynolds out it is the first time since 1912 that there are no American man in the third round.

I know that John Isner pulled out yesterday but realistically it's highly unlikely that he would have got past the fourth round and it's a real shame that USTA did not build on the success of Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick.

Women

Serena Williams had comfortable win against Caroline Garcia, beating her in straight sets. I have to say that I really liked Caroline's game and I think that  if she played like that every week she would quickly rise in the rankings. 

Serena Williams is playing Kimiko Date on Saturday and as great as it is for a 42 year old women to be still playing competitive tennis. I hope Serena is going to continue learn and develop her game and most importantly does not lose focus when she is playing Kimiko Date.  

The day of the under dog!

 All the years I have been watching tennis I have never witnessed a day like this, it really is the day of the underdog!

Men

What a shock Tsonga  and Federer out! truly unbelievable it was a bit sad because at the end of the day you want the best players to be there on the last weekend of Wimbledon. I was shocked when Tsonga could no longer continue but watching Federer get beaten like that was a bit of shock but I didn’t think he was going to win this year.

 I watched Tsonga take apart Federer at the French Open and I thought his days of being a champion was over. However I thought that Federer  would have exited the tournament at the quarter final stage.

However it was a very good day for Andy Murray who had a straight set win against Yen Hsun Lu and with the loss of both Tsonga and Federer there is going to be even greater pressure for Andy to win. 

Excellent win for Sergiy Stakhovsky against Federer  he was very impressive and he had no fear  after losing the third set  and he was able to regroup and win the fourth set and the match.

Dustin Brown against Lleyton Hewitt turned out to be a Wimbledon classic. I did not know anything about Dustin but by the end of the match I felt like he was a personal friend! His story to how he got Wimbledon is inspirational and it just goes to show2 that nobody should ever give up on their dream.

Women

Women’s tennis today was equally shocking as Maria Sharapova, the winner in 2004 was also beaten and Victoria  Azarenka pulled out with an injury and Jelena Jankovic  was also beaten in straight sets. However women that did very well today include Sloane Stephens and Michelle Di Barito .

It was a very strange day at Wimbledon so I was relieved that both  Sloane Stephens and Andy Murray  made it to the third round with little fuss.

 

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.

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