Swedish Open -Final

So I got half of my predictions right:) as the final was between Serena Williams and the surprise package of Johanna Larsson and that is where the surprises end. It was a comfortable straight sets win for Serena which as I alluded to in a previous post is what she probably needs at the moment following her surprise early exit from Wimbledon.

As Serena is not defending her Stanford title and she is not scheduled to play again until mid August which would be shortly before she starts her defence of  the US open title. I'm hoping she will be little more focused than she was at Wimbledon, where I personally believe that those outside non-tennis related distractions cost her the defence of her title.

For Johanna Larsson it has been a win/win situation most of us had probably not heard of her and few would have expected her to beat Serena. I think the match of her life was probably beating Flavia Pannetta. She did well against Serena and was by no means embarrassed so it has been a tennis learning curve for in terms of where her game is and what she needs to do become a good top 10 player.

 

Swedish Open Semi-Finals

The first semi finals of the Swedish Open will take place between Serena Williams and Klara Zakopalova. So far Serena has had a relatively straightforward passage to the semi finals. 

After the disappointment of losing to Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round at Wimbledon. Serena has got back to her winning ways. Although this tournament is a tier two I guess you could say that a win is a win. 

Klara is a better player than Serena's previous opponents. However I expect Serena to win but in two tighter straight sets.

The second semi-final is between Flavia Pennetta and Johanna Larsson. I would expect that Flavia being the more experienced and the higher ranked player to win comfortably. 

Therefore the final would be between Serena Williams and Flavia Pennetta.

 

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 Finals

Both finals were gripping and inspirational...

Women 

Marion Bartoli hammered a poor Sabine Lisicki in straight sets. Sabine had a poor start and it was only really towards the end of the second set were she really started contending for the title.

Sabine broke down crying in the middle of the second set which probably did not help her and might even have motivated Marion.

Marion played a superb match backing up her strong serve with some powerful groundstrokes.

Men 

Andy Murray beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets. Although Murray was down in the second and the third sets he found the courage to come back both sets and ultimately winning the match.

Andy's first serve and grass court coverage were key to his success against Novak. 

Whilst Novak's serve let him down and he had little variety in his game other than the occasional drop shot. Which Andy eventually was able to read.

Andy's win will hopefully give UK tennis players the belief that they can compete and win and it will hopefully help to inspire a generation. 

Wimbledon Semi-Finals

The semi-finals of both the men and women's lived up to expectations.

Men

Novak Djokovic beat Juan Martin Del Potro in five sets. It was the longest ever Wimbledon semi-final and it lasted nearly five hours. 

Andy Murray beat Jerzy Janowicz in four sets. Andy had to play very good tennis to beat Janowicz and rose to the challenge. It will be interesting to see if he can rise to challenge again and beat Djokovic in the final.

Women

Marion Bartoli hammered Kirsten Flipkens (who appeared to have  an injury) in straight sets. It was a very one sided semi-final and was finished in just over an hour.

Sabine Lisicki beat (the sulky) Aga Radwanska in three sets. Aga gave all she had but Sabine's serve definitely helped power her to a good win and a place in the Wimbledon final .

Predictions!!!

Men

Andy Murray's serve has really impressed me and his court craft gets better and better. 

What will also help Andy against Novak is the crowd. If the crowd really supports him that could help carry him to the title.

I really believe that Andy can win if he goes into this match confidently.

Women

Believe it or not this is a difficult match to predict. I really hope Sabine does well but Sabine will need to start very quickly and keep those unforced errors down to win the title!!!

Wimbledon Day 9

The last four places for the men's semi finals  have been decided and the matches yesterday were enthralling. 

Novak Djokovic made it to the semi-finals without dropping a set and he played Tomas Berdych . Djokovic is the man to beat and he is playing well.

Juan Martin Del Potro also made it to the semi-finals beating David Ferrer in straight sets. What made Del Potro's victory even more remarkable was the fact that he he fell badly in the first game. 

He had an injury time out whilst the Doctor taped his leg and he was still able to defeat Ferrer in straight sets.

Jerzy Janowicz beat his country man Lucasz  Kubot to make it to the semi-finals. To be honest that before Wimbledon I had never heard of either player. 

Jerzy Janowicz will now play Andy Murray and Murray will have to be at his best to beat Janowicz as Janowicz is playing his first Wimbledon semi-final and has nothing to lose.

Andy Murray's match against Fernando Verdasco was thrilling. Andy came from two sets down to win in five sets. Once it got to three all in the fifth set I could barely watch. 

I felt for Fernando Verdasco as he had thrown away two sets to love and then to lose in five sets must have been very painful for him.

Predictions!!!

I think or I am hoping that Andy Murray will beat Jerzy Janowicz in straight sets.

I think that Djokovic will beat Del Potro in straight sets as well and this means it would be an Andy v Novak final. 

Which would mean a repeat of the US Open 2012 final where Andy was victorious.

Wimbledon Day Eight

Today was the women's quarter finals day and as the tournament favourite Serena Williams had exited the tournament the previous day so the draw was now very open.

After beating Serena Williams the previous day, Sabine Lisicki managed to regain her focus to comprehensively beat Kaia Kanpei who was outplayed on every front. Sabine has now become the tournament favourite and I hope she does win as I like her style of tennis.

Aga Radwanska managed to get past Na Li in her typical "I refuse to make winners" fashion. I for one have never understood how Radwanska expects to become a grand slam champion based on other people's errors.  Lindsay Davenport pointed out  that at the end of the match was the first time she had seen Aga happy.

 During the course of the match Radwanska always looked to me like she was about to cry. Maybe this is her game plan but she comes across as negative and not having much believe in herself.

I also don't understand why Radwanska waste so much energy chasing down very single ball. Yes she is 90% successful with this tactic but personally I don't believe that this is strategy that she can maintain long term.

 The most worrying part about Radwanksa's game is the way she goes down on her knees to hit a low ball. if she is not careful she is going to end up with a serious knee injury she already  has bandages around her thighs and I can't imagine those bandages are going to help her win a tough semi final and final should she get there.

Marion Bartoli beat the last American Sloane Stephens and Sloane played a very very poor match. Maybe the nerves of the big occasion and being on a show court got to her. But when you are losing fourteen straight points on your serve that is not grand slam winning ability.

She needs to learn how to capitalize on those opportunities when they come. But I guess that as it is her first Wimbledon quarter final  she was nervous and I hope that she has learnt from this experience.

Kirsten Flipkens saw off Petra Kivtova and Kirsten played a very intelligent match and was rewarded. She broke when it was necessary and stuck to her game and was not overwhelmed by Kivtova or being on Centre Court.

Predictions !!!!

I think that in the semi-finals Sabine Lisicki should beat the "partly injured" Aga Radwanska however I would say that if Sabine makes lost of errors then Aga will win as Aga rarely makes any errors.

I can see Kirsten Flipkens beating Marion Bartoli if plays the way she  did against Kivovta by sticking to her game plan and not going for too much. As Marion can be very erratic so for Marion to beat Flipkens she going to have to play a more consistent game and not go for too much too soon.

 So what are your predictions for the semi-finals?