Ok before I go on to women's draw I have to detour and congratulate Lewis Hamilton for winning in F1 (not the race but the title).
But now back to tennis. The Women's draw is the worst thing that could have happened!
Jelena/Ana/Svetlana/Vera
This gives perfect chance for Ana to get to the semis.
Dinara/Serena/Elena/Venus
This is a really difficult draw I think, Elena is technically on the back foot here but she could do some upsets.
All in all everything went not to plan. Now Venus really has to fight for her spot.
Let's now extimate what would happen for each match
Jelena Vs. Ana
Jelena has an overwhelming bad win loss record against her serbian compatriot however Ivanovic is not in great form, it seems very difficult to predict who will have the better form on the day as last year Jankovic did terribly here. On paper this should be a tough match but it all depends on whether the two are in form or not, however with Jankovic's new ranking I think she'll feel more confident against Ivanovic.
Jelena Vs. Svetlana
Funnily enough Jankovic has a losing record to Kuznetsova also, however Jankovic has been the victor every time they reach the final (both being only two set matches as well). It all depends on the form of Svetlana but I expect this to be a two set match with Jankovic as the victor.
Jelena Vs. Vera
Jankovic should be fine against Zvonareva, considering the Year Ending is on Hard Courts as Vera has only beaten Jankovic once of hard and that was way back in 2006.
Ana Vs. Svetlana
These two haven't played since Indian Wells and most can agree that Ivanovic was at a much better form at that point, however I think Ivanovic may have the upper hand against Svetlana though I'd be expecting a three setter here.
Ana Vs. Vera
The results between these two have always been easy, two setters never having reached a tie break. I'm expecting the same as Ivanovic recently beat Zvonareva 6-2,6-1.
Svetlana Vs. Vera
These two have not played since 2006! So really it seems very difficult to predict what would happen, I do think Svetlana may have the slight advantage.
Dinara/Serena/Elena/Venus
Dinara Vs. Serena
Personally I think Serena should be fine against Dinara on hard courts. I don't think Safina has the game to beat Serena on hard unless Serena succumbs to injury!
Dinara Vs. Elena
Twice they've played on Hard courts and both times Elena won in three sets. I'm kind of anticipating a very difficult tussle between the two, the thing is Elena's last victory against her was in the Olympics but for some reason I think Elena has extra vigour in the Olympics but never seems to have the same energy in the Year End.
Dinara Vs. Venus
There one tussle in Stuttgart isn't really enough to decide as Venus is never a predictable player.
Serena Vs. Elena
Serena has a winning record against Elena but if you discount anything before 2005 then Serena is on very thin ice as she hasn't beaten her since 2004. If we were to predict this match from the Olympics it wouldn't be too fair as I said I think Elena has that extra something in the Olympics. I'm expecting this to be a three sets (though it doesn't have to be tough).
Serena Vs. Venus
The pair have played against each other 17 times with Serena capping her latest victory in the US Open. It's very difficult to predict who will win on a Hard Court. It is definitely going to be a tough match but with Serena playing Venus I think Serena has the upper hand.
Elena Vs. Venus
This is probably one of the more difficult games to predict though I'd expect Venus to be on top even though the last time they played on Hard was in 2004! It depends on how the games are scheduled I think.
Sunday 2 November 2008
Saturday 1 November 2008
ATP in Paris
Oh my God none of the Top 4 seeds are in the semis!?!?!
And then it looks like Nadal and Federer aren't at their top forms as both retired from injury!?!?!
On top of that Djokovic isn't on top form either!?!?!
And Del Potro could be knocked off his place in the Year Ending by Nalbandian!!??!!
Why does Nalbandian always perform better in the end of the season??!?!??!
And Tsonga's back???!?!?!?!?
This is going to be a very interesting Year Ending.
And then it looks like Nadal and Federer aren't at their top forms as both retired from injury!?!?!
On top of that Djokovic isn't on top form either!?!?!
And Del Potro could be knocked off his place in the Year Ending by Nalbandian!!??!!
Why does Nalbandian always perform better in the end of the season??!?!??!
And Tsonga's back???!?!?!?!?
This is going to be a very interesting Year Ending.
Tuesday 28 October 2008
Year End Championships
Well well well we're finally here, in a year capped with unexpected disasters we finally reach the Year Ending. Highlights of the Top 8 players are definitely Jelena reaching Number 1 without having won a Grand Slam - very Kim Clijsters/Amelie Mauresmo esque! Dinara Safina shocking the world by becoming Number 2, Serena Williams returning to the No.1 for the briefest moment - her Us Open victory is close! Ana Ivanovic winning Roland Garros but then failing to live up to expectations, Elena Dementieva returning to the elite of tennis with very little press coverage here in Britain, Maria Sharapova collapsing after what I thought would be a handover year to her. Svetlana Kuznetsova continuing her run as player you never knew existed but in the Top 8! Finally Venus Williams winning another Wimbledon title! But all have been overshadowed by the shock retirement of Justine Henin!
Anyway who will win in the Final showdown! Jelena will definitely be on everyone's top 3 lists I think whilst Dinara Safina has a strong chance. You can never discount the Williams sisters either. Then we have the ones I doubt will make it. Though Ana won in Geneva I think against the top tier opponents she will crumble away as usual. Svetlana and Vera are likely to be mentioned as possible outsiders but I doubt they will actualy win the title. Whilst Elena I just think will not win! This is what I want the groups to be.
Jelena/Ana/Elena/Venus
Dinara/Serena/Svetlana/Vera
Ok this is because we have the more powerful opponents on one side and the others on the other side! Nope there's actually more to it! I think Jelena will be sure to make the semis so the group will be left with Ana, Elena and Venus. Venus should be able to take on both Ana and Elena as Ana is on bad form and I think Venus has an advantage against Elena. Whilst on the other side I think Serena is more likely to win against Dinara than win against Jelena whilst Kuznetsova and Vera shouldn't be a problem. As Safina has a 7-4 lead over Kuznetsova I think Dinara will continue on a positive note - the only problem may be Vera Zvonareva who Safina has lost to in their past three meetings - all on Hard courts by the way. However I think Svetlana should have the upper hand against Vera so Dinara should be able to get in the semis as 2nd in the group. This means Jelena will face Dinara and Serena will face Venus - I think that will be the best semi as if Serena faces Venus in the finals I think Serena will win for sure but in the semis I don't know! Weird isn't it! Whilst Jelena and Dinara are left to destroy each other! The thing is this draw is actually possible!
As the mens aren't fully developed I cn only say what I wish to happen which is Simon, Del Potro and Roddick making the final 8 - though I think Ferrer may kick out Simon!
Anyway the draw will be
Nadal/Murray/Del Potro/Simon
Federer/Djokovic/Davydenko/Roddick
Nadal/Djokovic/Davydenko/Simon
Federer/Murray/Del Potro/Roddick
Ok yes I'm indecisive on this one. Here's what I'm thinking. Nadal is quite likely going to win his group - if not he'll at least be 2nd therefore his section needs to be easier for Djokovic and Murray to have a definite chance of going through, therefore I've stuck Djokovic to Davydenko and Murray to Del Potro and as I really want Roddick to have a chance to play Federer he is in Federer's group for both. If Nadal is with Murray then i think it would be Nadal and Murray to make the final 4. However it would be difficult to predict who would win out of Federer and Djokovic. However if Djokovic was in Nadal's group I think Djokovic will face Nadal and Murray will face Federer. But this is what I truly want
Djokovic Vs Murray, Nadal Vs. Federer. This would be the most interesting semis I think but I really want Djokovic to get to the final! It's so difficult! We'll just have to see.
Anyway who will win in the Final showdown! Jelena will definitely be on everyone's top 3 lists I think whilst Dinara Safina has a strong chance. You can never discount the Williams sisters either. Then we have the ones I doubt will make it. Though Ana won in Geneva I think against the top tier opponents she will crumble away as usual. Svetlana and Vera are likely to be mentioned as possible outsiders but I doubt they will actualy win the title. Whilst Elena I just think will not win! This is what I want the groups to be.
Jelena/Ana/Elena/Venus
Dinara/Serena/Svetlana/Vera
Ok this is because we have the more powerful opponents on one side and the others on the other side! Nope there's actually more to it! I think Jelena will be sure to make the semis so the group will be left with Ana, Elena and Venus. Venus should be able to take on both Ana and Elena as Ana is on bad form and I think Venus has an advantage against Elena. Whilst on the other side I think Serena is more likely to win against Dinara than win against Jelena whilst Kuznetsova and Vera shouldn't be a problem. As Safina has a 7-4 lead over Kuznetsova I think Dinara will continue on a positive note - the only problem may be Vera Zvonareva who Safina has lost to in their past three meetings - all on Hard courts by the way. However I think Svetlana should have the upper hand against Vera so Dinara should be able to get in the semis as 2nd in the group. This means Jelena will face Dinara and Serena will face Venus - I think that will be the best semi as if Serena faces Venus in the finals I think Serena will win for sure but in the semis I don't know! Weird isn't it! Whilst Jelena and Dinara are left to destroy each other! The thing is this draw is actually possible!
As the mens aren't fully developed I cn only say what I wish to happen which is Simon, Del Potro and Roddick making the final 8 - though I think Ferrer may kick out Simon!
Anyway the draw will be
Nadal/Murray/Del Potro/Simon
Federer/Djokovic/Davydenko/Roddick
Nadal/Djokovic/Davydenko/Simon
Federer/Murray/Del Potro/Roddick
Ok yes I'm indecisive on this one. Here's what I'm thinking. Nadal is quite likely going to win his group - if not he'll at least be 2nd therefore his section needs to be easier for Djokovic and Murray to have a definite chance of going through, therefore I've stuck Djokovic to Davydenko and Murray to Del Potro and as I really want Roddick to have a chance to play Federer he is in Federer's group for both. If Nadal is with Murray then i think it would be Nadal and Murray to make the final 4. However it would be difficult to predict who would win out of Federer and Djokovic. However if Djokovic was in Nadal's group I think Djokovic will face Nadal and Murray will face Federer. But this is what I truly want
Djokovic Vs Murray, Nadal Vs. Federer. This would be the most interesting semis I think but I really want Djokovic to get to the final! It's so difficult! We'll just have to see.
One more week
One more week until the end of the season! The BNP Paribas marks the final event where the top players have come out in force, whilst the womens have decided to take an early holiday with the Bell Challenge marking the penultimate showdown. Lets quickly cover the Bell Challenge so I can get onto the exciting stuff! Well actually I'll be amazed if Nadia Petrova doesn't win here as her opponents seem to pail in comparison to her ranking! I don't see any possible threats in her half of the draw - sorry Tanasugarn, Groenefeld and King! This then expands to the bottom half of the draw also! Her toughest opponent Sybille Bammer has already been knocked out so Nadia if you don't win this the whole of Russia wll laugh at you! And isn't it amazing how many Canadian players are playing in this tournament! I didn't even know there were that many Canadian players!
Now we move onto the seriou stuff - BNP Paribas. 3 berths ae up for grabs here and I hope it's not Ferrer who gets one - anyway that will be for the next post! Nadal has Monfils in his close vicinity, sadly Safin is out - but at least it was Monaco who beat him. So sad that 3 players that I like are eliminating each other! Anyway the winner; who I think will be Monfils, will take on Nadal - good luck! Wawrinka will face Berdych - who beat Ginepri (again two players I like - luckily Wawrinka isn't one of them!) Davydenko is also in this draw but he's been more than underwhelming lately - I didn't even remember he existed half the time. Also Ljubicic is in this draw - had to comment on him or it would seem like he vaished from the face of the earth! These 4 players are unlikely to challenge Nadal for the Semis spot and to be honest they seem unlikely to be in the QF's end of! Murray must be the talk of Nadal's fear as he is on fine form currently. Though I still doubt Murray has enough to beat Nadal I think he is well on his way to making that upset. His opponents shouldn't be too challenging - also of note Baghdatis has truely vanished from tennis! Whilst Robredo is trying to stay on the turf! Ancic is on the next side but it looks gloomy for him as he's got Del Potro to look forward to. But the potential winner in this section (Del Potro/Ancic, Kiefer/Nalbandian) could be tough opposition for Murray, however I think the semis here will be a Nadal/Murray affair. Roddick is on Djokovic's turf - boo hoo. Even more boo hooey is that Feliciano Lopez and Dmitry Tursunov face them in Round 2! Hopefully Djokovic will stay strong as recently he's been in wavering form. What is most interesting is that Simon and Roddick are scheduled to face each other - if that does happen it would be interesting to see who wins. Tsonga is also here by the way. Ferrer has the added luck of Blake being in his draw, meaning out of the potential Year End Championship players he has probably the easiest route - it may mean Simon is kicked out of the Championships! Anyway Mikhail will hopefully beat Ferrer - hopefully! Sadly Gasquet has decided enough is enough and withdrawn from the tournament, it means Federer has probably the easiest route to the semis - it wouldn't have been that much more difficult if Gasquet was around anyways! But Soderling may force Federer into three sets if Soderling is feeling up for it and you never know the youngster Marin Cilic may fancy a stab at glory! However it seems that the top seeds are likely to face each other in the semis - sadly I think Djokovic may have the smallest chance out of the 4 of getting to the semis. Anyway DJOKOVIC for the FINAL!
Now we move onto the seriou stuff - BNP Paribas. 3 berths ae up for grabs here and I hope it's not Ferrer who gets one - anyway that will be for the next post! Nadal has Monfils in his close vicinity, sadly Safin is out - but at least it was Monaco who beat him. So sad that 3 players that I like are eliminating each other! Anyway the winner; who I think will be Monfils, will take on Nadal - good luck! Wawrinka will face Berdych - who beat Ginepri (again two players I like - luckily Wawrinka isn't one of them!) Davydenko is also in this draw but he's been more than underwhelming lately - I didn't even remember he existed half the time. Also Ljubicic is in this draw - had to comment on him or it would seem like he vaished from the face of the earth! These 4 players are unlikely to challenge Nadal for the Semis spot and to be honest they seem unlikely to be in the QF's end of! Murray must be the talk of Nadal's fear as he is on fine form currently. Though I still doubt Murray has enough to beat Nadal I think he is well on his way to making that upset. His opponents shouldn't be too challenging - also of note Baghdatis has truely vanished from tennis! Whilst Robredo is trying to stay on the turf! Ancic is on the next side but it looks gloomy for him as he's got Del Potro to look forward to. But the potential winner in this section (Del Potro/Ancic, Kiefer/Nalbandian) could be tough opposition for Murray, however I think the semis here will be a Nadal/Murray affair. Roddick is on Djokovic's turf - boo hoo. Even more boo hooey is that Feliciano Lopez and Dmitry Tursunov face them in Round 2! Hopefully Djokovic will stay strong as recently he's been in wavering form. What is most interesting is that Simon and Roddick are scheduled to face each other - if that does happen it would be interesting to see who wins. Tsonga is also here by the way. Ferrer has the added luck of Blake being in his draw, meaning out of the potential Year End Championship players he has probably the easiest route - it may mean Simon is kicked out of the Championships! Anyway Mikhail will hopefully beat Ferrer - hopefully! Sadly Gasquet has decided enough is enough and withdrawn from the tournament, it means Federer has probably the easiest route to the semis - it wouldn't have been that much more difficult if Gasquet was around anyways! But Soderling may force Federer into three sets if Soderling is feeling up for it and you never know the youngster Marin Cilic may fancy a stab at glory! However it seems that the top seeds are likely to face each other in the semis - sadly I think Djokovic may have the smallest chance out of the 4 of getting to the semis. Anyway DJOKOVIC for the FINAL!
Last Week
Ok yet again I'm slightly late but it seems that nowadays that is the norm for me! Anyway did anyone realise that besides Andy Roddick the Top seeds of every other tournament won! Now when have you seen something like that happen! Especially when there were 5 tournaments last week! Anway first off is Geneva. Ok Ivanovic did win but I don't think it is enough to say that she has been doing good this year on the whole, yes this may be a comeback but I don't think she'll get back to Number 1 next year; maybe she'll have a chance in 2010 but not 2009. Anyway bravo to Flavia Pennetta for beating two strong opponents and then doing well against Ivanovic, if she can continue her form she may break the Top 10 next year! Besideds that I've got nothing much more to add here.
Elena won in Luxembourg also and I think I tipped the Semifinalists since the beginning so I'm happy. However It's sad to see how Amelie Mauresmo has seemingly no chance of returning into the Top 10. It seems like I didn't like her when she was good but I like her when she is lying low! Weird isn't it! Anyway I'm also happy for Na Li here as she performed well, hopefully she'll do better next time.
The mens saw Federer win the title but honestly besides the US what large tournament has he won? Anyway enough of that lets move onto Feliciano Lopez - good going for him he got to the Semis! All his matches were so tight! But hopefully he'll move from strength to strength here. Also reading an article saying Wawrinka has a chance of winning and then seeing him lose in the first round was quite comical!
As I said Roddick lost - this time to Soderling! Well there's always next time - wait there's only Paris to go! Gilles SImon is quickly making my Top players, I don't know what it is but I just like him nowadays! But the French must have been happy to see three of the four semifinalists as natives however the winner was Soderling so I guess it was slightly in their faces! I also long to see Gasquet become more consistent - to think that Simon is now No.1 French after so many French guys making headlines this year is truely extraordinary.
Yeah Murray Won! But that seems common this month! However it wasn't enough to cover the loss of Mario Ancic, Dmitry Tursunov, Marat Safin and Mikhail Youzhny all leaving before the QF! The Russians must be fully dissapointed - besides some unknown Russian named Michail Elgin no other Russian made it into the QFs!
Elena won in Luxembourg also and I think I tipped the Semifinalists since the beginning so I'm happy. However It's sad to see how Amelie Mauresmo has seemingly no chance of returning into the Top 10. It seems like I didn't like her when she was good but I like her when she is lying low! Weird isn't it! Anyway I'm also happy for Na Li here as she performed well, hopefully she'll do better next time.
The mens saw Federer win the title but honestly besides the US what large tournament has he won? Anyway enough of that lets move onto Feliciano Lopez - good going for him he got to the Semis! All his matches were so tight! But hopefully he'll move from strength to strength here. Also reading an article saying Wawrinka has a chance of winning and then seeing him lose in the first round was quite comical!
As I said Roddick lost - this time to Soderling! Well there's always next time - wait there's only Paris to go! Gilles SImon is quickly making my Top players, I don't know what it is but I just like him nowadays! But the French must have been happy to see three of the four semifinalists as natives however the winner was Soderling so I guess it was slightly in their faces! I also long to see Gasquet become more consistent - to think that Simon is now No.1 French after so many French guys making headlines this year is truely extraordinary.
Yeah Murray Won! But that seems common this month! However it wasn't enough to cover the loss of Mario Ancic, Dmitry Tursunov, Marat Safin and Mikhail Youzhny all leaving before the QF! The Russians must be fully dissapointed - besides some unknown Russian named Michail Elgin no other Russian made it into the QFs!
Sunday 19 October 2008
WTA next week
Well the Linz tournament is lacking some big names but Flavia Pennetta will be here hoping to win a title - however she faces stiff competition.
Ivanovic leads the seeds here but I highly doubt she'll win. If I was to put a safe bet I would go for Vera Zvonareva making the final. Anyway Flavia Pennetta will have Agnes Szavay to look out for in the 1st round. Ok Agnes is not great currently but you still need to look out for her in case she has a sudden burst of greatness! But Dominika Cibulkova is my main worry here. If it comes down to it I think Pennetta will have enough momentum to beat Ivanovic the only thing that would stop her is her stamina as most players who win one tournament find it difficult to get far in the next because of their stamina. Radwanska leads the next draw but she has the threat of Petrova. I doubt she is a title threat after her loss against Pennetta but she is capable of upsetting the crowd. I will be looking at Kaia Kanepi to make a splash but Srebotnik could also be a dark horse for the semis spot though I'd love to see Tanasugarn up there.
Bartoli wll face Sugiyama - hopefully Sugiyama's experience will crush Bartoli whilst former young hopeful Tamira Paszek has basically lost her way and seems to be going down the drain. Alona Bondarenko will also be here. Alize cornet is the seed alongside Zvonareva but Cornet seems to have lost her momentum and with the threat of Jie Zheng I'm not sure if she can win. Hopefully Maria Kirilenko will have enough to beat the winner of that match and have a go at the semifinalist spot.
The tier 3 tournament doesn't seem much weaker than the Tier II, anyway Elena Dementieva head this draw - it seems like ages since she has done so. Anyway Anna Lena Groenefeld could be her biggest challenge in the early stages as I don't see Amelie Mauresmo making an impact. So I'd expect to see Dementieva in the final 4 at least. Hantuchova is one of the most unpredictable female players in the Top 20 so I wouldn't like to guess, but if she's on form her opponent aren't that difficult to tackle. My eyes will be pealed for Sorana Cirstea though. Garrigues and Wozniacki will probably head the most tight section of the draw. Shuai Peng and Vera Dushevina could be possible threats to the two making a clash - luckily the two will eliminate one another by playing in the first round. However I think Wozniacki is a safer bet for the semis spot. Finally we have Na Li! and Chakvetadze making a scene but Laura Robson is the centre of attention here. She doesn't have too difficult a draw so hopefully she could at least get to the 2nd round. But I think Na Li should have enough to get to the semis here seeing Chakvetadze will probably succumb to Na Li when they clash.
Oh yeah forgot to say it's great to see doubles partners play each other (Medina Garrigues Vs Ruano Pascual) - it's just interesting. Also I love that Dulko is partnering Robson in the doubles!
Ivanovic leads the seeds here but I highly doubt she'll win. If I was to put a safe bet I would go for Vera Zvonareva making the final. Anyway Flavia Pennetta will have Agnes Szavay to look out for in the 1st round. Ok Agnes is not great currently but you still need to look out for her in case she has a sudden burst of greatness! But Dominika Cibulkova is my main worry here. If it comes down to it I think Pennetta will have enough momentum to beat Ivanovic the only thing that would stop her is her stamina as most players who win one tournament find it difficult to get far in the next because of their stamina. Radwanska leads the next draw but she has the threat of Petrova. I doubt she is a title threat after her loss against Pennetta but she is capable of upsetting the crowd. I will be looking at Kaia Kanepi to make a splash but Srebotnik could also be a dark horse for the semis spot though I'd love to see Tanasugarn up there.
Bartoli wll face Sugiyama - hopefully Sugiyama's experience will crush Bartoli whilst former young hopeful Tamira Paszek has basically lost her way and seems to be going down the drain. Alona Bondarenko will also be here. Alize cornet is the seed alongside Zvonareva but Cornet seems to have lost her momentum and with the threat of Jie Zheng I'm not sure if she can win. Hopefully Maria Kirilenko will have enough to beat the winner of that match and have a go at the semifinalist spot.
The tier 3 tournament doesn't seem much weaker than the Tier II, anyway Elena Dementieva head this draw - it seems like ages since she has done so. Anyway Anna Lena Groenefeld could be her biggest challenge in the early stages as I don't see Amelie Mauresmo making an impact. So I'd expect to see Dementieva in the final 4 at least. Hantuchova is one of the most unpredictable female players in the Top 20 so I wouldn't like to guess, but if she's on form her opponent aren't that difficult to tackle. My eyes will be pealed for Sorana Cirstea though. Garrigues and Wozniacki will probably head the most tight section of the draw. Shuai Peng and Vera Dushevina could be possible threats to the two making a clash - luckily the two will eliminate one another by playing in the first round. However I think Wozniacki is a safer bet for the semis spot. Finally we have Na Li! and Chakvetadze making a scene but Laura Robson is the centre of attention here. She doesn't have too difficult a draw so hopefully she could at least get to the 2nd round. But I think Na Li should have enough to get to the semis here seeing Chakvetadze will probably succumb to Na Li when they clash.
Oh yeah forgot to say it's great to see doubles partners play each other (Medina Garrigues Vs Ruano Pascual) - it's just interesting. Also I love that Dulko is partnering Robson in the doubles!
This week 12-19th October
In the WTA I found a highlight of the year and that was Flavia Pennetta getting to the final by beating Jelena Jankovic. As most of ou know Flavia is one of my favourite players, this meant so much to me as she isgetting better and better hopefully next year we'll see her in the Top 10. However Venus was the winner and good for her as she needs this win to get to the Year End whilst Flavia is unlikely to do so. Anyway what made my day early in the week was Flavia thrashing Nadia Petrova. Seeing Nadia lose like that ater such good form made me really happy (not because Nadia lost but because Flavia won). On the other side adly Na Li didn't do so well losing in the 1st round. However I was chearing for Victoria Azarenka after knowing Anna Chakvetadze was unlikely to pass the 2nd round. Victoria played so well that she got a double bagel as well as beating Mauresmo (losing only three games) sadly she retired against Medina Garrigues or I would have had the pleasure of seeing Pennetta against Azarenka.
Kirilenko did well however it was short lived. On the 4th section the most interesting was Ivanovic against Bartoli - both I don't like, it however shows that Ivanovic is better than Bartoli! But Ivanovic had such easy opponents that really she hasn't improved that much since the last tournament.
Murray winning in Madrid topped the week off to becoming one of my favourite weeks of tennis because Murray beat Federer and Nadal lost to Simon (reason because Simon isn't in the Top 10!) The only thing that was missing was Djokovic! If only Djokovic could have won his 3rd Masters Series this year! Anyway next year hopefully he'll get to No.2.
First quarter saw two Spaniards lead the way - the top two spaniards - but what was so exciting about this draw was that all the Top 30 were playing meaning whoever won must be the best player currently on tour on hard courts! Anyway Nadal had little trouble except for against Gulbis - sadly Gasquet didn't cause a problem for Nadal either. But in this section it was Lopez who got my attention (another Spaniard!) beating the top two seeds in that section however losing comprehensibely to Nadal.
The second section saw Djokovic sadly lose to Karlovic - a threat to any player. I would have loved to see Djokovic against Nadal but at least Simon (currently in my Bubbling Under list) beat Nadal. Dmitry Tursunov also suffered an early exit sadly. But Robby Ginepri also did me proud by beating the unstable Nikolay Davydenko. The third section saw 4 players that I liked face each other. In the end Monfils beat Roddick and Murray beat Cilic - besides Roddick beating Monfils there would be no better outcome for me than this one.
In the 4th section veterans Federer and Nalbandian were on hold (sadly Youzhny was not one of them!) and two youngsters Del Potro and Tsonga were targeting their every move - sadly Juan Monaco also lost early. Anyway Tsonga was unable to defeat the stalwart Federer but Del Potro managed to defeat fellow Argentinian Nalbandian. However Federer was too strong sadly for Del Potro - at least Murray did us proud!
Anyway as I said the only thing that would have made my day would be Djokovic getting at least to the Semis but seeing how difficult it was for him to beat Hanescu made me slightly worried about his chances for the Year End title.
Kirilenko did well however it was short lived. On the 4th section the most interesting was Ivanovic against Bartoli - both I don't like, it however shows that Ivanovic is better than Bartoli! But Ivanovic had such easy opponents that really she hasn't improved that much since the last tournament.
Murray winning in Madrid topped the week off to becoming one of my favourite weeks of tennis because Murray beat Federer and Nadal lost to Simon (reason because Simon isn't in the Top 10!) The only thing that was missing was Djokovic! If only Djokovic could have won his 3rd Masters Series this year! Anyway next year hopefully he'll get to No.2.
First quarter saw two Spaniards lead the way - the top two spaniards - but what was so exciting about this draw was that all the Top 30 were playing meaning whoever won must be the best player currently on tour on hard courts! Anyway Nadal had little trouble except for against Gulbis - sadly Gasquet didn't cause a problem for Nadal either. But in this section it was Lopez who got my attention (another Spaniard!) beating the top two seeds in that section however losing comprehensibely to Nadal.
The second section saw Djokovic sadly lose to Karlovic - a threat to any player. I would have loved to see Djokovic against Nadal but at least Simon (currently in my Bubbling Under list) beat Nadal. Dmitry Tursunov also suffered an early exit sadly. But Robby Ginepri also did me proud by beating the unstable Nikolay Davydenko. The third section saw 4 players that I liked face each other. In the end Monfils beat Roddick and Murray beat Cilic - besides Roddick beating Monfils there would be no better outcome for me than this one.
In the 4th section veterans Federer and Nalbandian were on hold (sadly Youzhny was not one of them!) and two youngsters Del Potro and Tsonga were targeting their every move - sadly Juan Monaco also lost early. Anyway Tsonga was unable to defeat the stalwart Federer but Del Potro managed to defeat fellow Argentinian Nalbandian. However Federer was too strong sadly for Del Potro - at least Murray did us proud!
Anyway as I said the only thing that would have made my day would be Djokovic getting at least to the Semis but seeing how difficult it was for him to beat Hanescu made me slightly worried about his chances for the Year End title.
Friday 10 October 2008
Favourite Players
As promised I would do a full Top 100 scan of my favourite players and this is what I got for Men's and Women's
Womens
Favourites
Serena Williams (2), Dinara Safina (3), Maria Sharapova (6), Venus Williams (8), Flavia Pennetta (18), Nicole Vaidisova (22), Maria Kirilenko (32)
Bubbling Under
Elena Dementieva (4), Daniela Hantuchova (13), Dominika Cibulkova (20), Jie Zheng (26), Na Li (29), Lindsay Davenport (34), Tamarine Tanasugarn (36), Gisela Dulko (45)
OK
Victoria Azarenka (17), Alize Cornet (19), Sybille Bammer (24), Sorana Cirstea (39), Iveta Bensova (41), Agnieszka Radwanska (10), Anna Chakvetadze (12) ,Caroline Wozniacki (16), Amelie Mauresmo (25), Ai Sugiyama (31), Alona Bondarenko (33), Shuai Peng (40), Bethanie Mattek (42)
Dislikes
Ana Ivanovic (5), Svetlana Kuznetsova (7), Marion Bartoli (15)
*Others in the Top 50 and not mentioned are in my Not Bothered list.
Special Mentions (50-100)
BU = Bubbling Under
Samantha Stosur, Marta Domachowska, Yung-Jan Chan, Kateryna Bondarenko, Aravane Rezai, Anne Keothavong (BU), Camille Pin, Tatiana Golovin, Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Su Wei Hsieh, Ashley Harkleroad (BU), Sania Mirza
Yep the favourites are all basically the same but without Justine Henin there is such a big gap! Maria use to be in my dislike list (ages ago) but now I really like her as she is a player who is consistent and determined - despite her going through a bad patch. Nicole is losing grace quickly.
The Bubbling Unders list is likely to stay that way for a long time unless Elena and Na Li make me suddenly put them in my favourites. Tamarina Tanasugarn was inducted into this group after her Wimbledon performance which made her my favourite non Chinese Asian beating out Ai Sugiyama.
Yep Anna Chakvetadze made my Ok list, which seems weird considering that I've always said she was an unworthy Top 10, but now that she's out of the Top 10 I find her ranking much more deserving - though still a bit too high! Shuai Peng is not with the contigent of Chinese players in the Bubbling under list because she hasn't been making a scene on tour.
Jelena Jankovic on the other hand has risen from my dislike list - I think she got out of that about half a year ago. I just like her more now compared to her Serbian compatriot.
Ana Ivanovic is the new dislikee in the block - she's just so annoying to me nowadays - from her winning the French I knew I was never going to put her into my Favourites list ever again - basically because she didn't deserve her win - she won it in a time of flailing opponents and a weaker competition! Svetlana Kuznetsova is really there to keep the other two company! Basically I don't like her enough to put her in my not bothered list but I don't hate her as much as the other two. Whilst there's no need for me to say why I hate Marion Bartoli!
Mens
Favourites
Novak Djokovic (3), Andy Murray (4), Andy Roddick (8), Dmitry Tursunov (26), Mario Ancic (31), Marat Safin (40), Feliciano Lopez (45)
Bubbling Under
David Nalbandian (7), James Blake (11), Richard Gasquet (15), Tomas Berdych (21), Mikhail Youzhny (22), Gael Monfils (28), Michael Llodra (36), Juan Monaco (43), Simone Bolelli (46), Jose Acasuso (47)
OK
Juan Martin Del Potro (9), Ivo Karlovic (14), Jo Wilfred Tsonga (16), Gilles Simon (17), Paul-Henri Mathieu (23), Marin Cilic (24), Mardy Fish (25), Nicolas Kiefer (27), Philipp Kohlschreiber (32), Rainer Schuettler (34), Robin Soderling (35), Juan Carlos Ferrero (44), Carlos Moya (48)
Dislikes
Rafael Nadal (1), Roger Federer (2), Stanislas Wawrinka (10), Marcos Baghdatis (42)
Special Mentions (50-100)
Ernests Gulbis (56), Tommy Haas (57) BU, Victor Troicki (60), Robby Ginepri (64) BU, Lleyton Hewitt (67), Yen Hsun Lu (69), Fabio Fognini (73), Kei Nishikori (77) BU, Jeremy Chardy (81), Arnaud Clement (86) BU, Chris Guccione (88), Kristof Vliegen (92), Filippo Volandri (95) BU
Like the womens I have 7 favourite men but Feliciano Lopez was very very close to my Bubbling Under group. AsI said Gasquet droppd to the Bubbling Under because of his lack of consistency, however after last week I may think about putting hi back into the Top; if he continues his form that is. and yes Verdasco is out of the top 3 lists cause I seem to have a change of heart towards Del Potro!
I still Dislike Nadal and Federer, though to a lesser extent. I was really thinking about putting them in my Not Bothered list but then I thought I do bother about them! Stanislas is in here basically because he just dens't get out of the Top 10! It annoys me so much when I don't even remember 1 of his achievements in the whole year! Whilst Baghdatis is a long known enemy of mine! In the special mentions Lleyton Hewitt has dropped out of Bubbling Under because I basically find that I only liked him before because I disliked Federer and liked most of the former No.1's because of that! Kei Nishikori has jumped into the Bubbling Under section as I see a possible Top 20 Asian guy here!
I just wanted to add here how I'm still depressed from the retirement of Henin, she was what tied the WTA together. It has been so so long since she retired its scary. Without her their is such a big gap in the womans game that I have reverted to liking the mens more. She's such a force in tennis that even one of my friends who is a severe Henin hater agreed that without Henin the tour is just not complete.
Womens
Favourites
Serena Williams (2), Dinara Safina (3), Maria Sharapova (6), Venus Williams (8), Flavia Pennetta (18), Nicole Vaidisova (22), Maria Kirilenko (32)
Bubbling Under
Elena Dementieva (4), Daniela Hantuchova (13), Dominika Cibulkova (20), Jie Zheng (26), Na Li (29), Lindsay Davenport (34), Tamarine Tanasugarn (36), Gisela Dulko (45)
OK
Victoria Azarenka (17), Alize Cornet (19), Sybille Bammer (24), Sorana Cirstea (39), Iveta Bensova (41), Agnieszka Radwanska (10), Anna Chakvetadze (12) ,Caroline Wozniacki (16), Amelie Mauresmo (25), Ai Sugiyama (31), Alona Bondarenko (33), Shuai Peng (40), Bethanie Mattek (42)
Dislikes
Ana Ivanovic (5), Svetlana Kuznetsova (7), Marion Bartoli (15)
*Others in the Top 50 and not mentioned are in my Not Bothered list.
Special Mentions (50-100)
BU = Bubbling Under
Samantha Stosur, Marta Domachowska, Yung-Jan Chan, Kateryna Bondarenko, Aravane Rezai, Anne Keothavong (BU), Camille Pin, Tatiana Golovin, Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Su Wei Hsieh, Ashley Harkleroad (BU), Sania Mirza
Yep the favourites are all basically the same but without Justine Henin there is such a big gap! Maria use to be in my dislike list (ages ago) but now I really like her as she is a player who is consistent and determined - despite her going through a bad patch. Nicole is losing grace quickly.
The Bubbling Unders list is likely to stay that way for a long time unless Elena and Na Li make me suddenly put them in my favourites. Tamarina Tanasugarn was inducted into this group after her Wimbledon performance which made her my favourite non Chinese Asian beating out Ai Sugiyama.
Yep Anna Chakvetadze made my Ok list, which seems weird considering that I've always said she was an unworthy Top 10, but now that she's out of the Top 10 I find her ranking much more deserving - though still a bit too high! Shuai Peng is not with the contigent of Chinese players in the Bubbling under list because she hasn't been making a scene on tour.
Jelena Jankovic on the other hand has risen from my dislike list - I think she got out of that about half a year ago. I just like her more now compared to her Serbian compatriot.
Ana Ivanovic is the new dislikee in the block - she's just so annoying to me nowadays - from her winning the French I knew I was never going to put her into my Favourites list ever again - basically because she didn't deserve her win - she won it in a time of flailing opponents and a weaker competition! Svetlana Kuznetsova is really there to keep the other two company! Basically I don't like her enough to put her in my not bothered list but I don't hate her as much as the other two. Whilst there's no need for me to say why I hate Marion Bartoli!
Mens
Favourites
Novak Djokovic (3), Andy Murray (4), Andy Roddick (8), Dmitry Tursunov (26), Mario Ancic (31), Marat Safin (40), Feliciano Lopez (45)
Bubbling Under
David Nalbandian (7), James Blake (11), Richard Gasquet (15), Tomas Berdych (21), Mikhail Youzhny (22), Gael Monfils (28), Michael Llodra (36), Juan Monaco (43), Simone Bolelli (46), Jose Acasuso (47)
OK
Juan Martin Del Potro (9), Ivo Karlovic (14), Jo Wilfred Tsonga (16), Gilles Simon (17), Paul-Henri Mathieu (23), Marin Cilic (24), Mardy Fish (25), Nicolas Kiefer (27), Philipp Kohlschreiber (32), Rainer Schuettler (34), Robin Soderling (35), Juan Carlos Ferrero (44), Carlos Moya (48)
Dislikes
Rafael Nadal (1), Roger Federer (2), Stanislas Wawrinka (10), Marcos Baghdatis (42)
Special Mentions (50-100)
Ernests Gulbis (56), Tommy Haas (57) BU, Victor Troicki (60), Robby Ginepri (64) BU, Lleyton Hewitt (67), Yen Hsun Lu (69), Fabio Fognini (73), Kei Nishikori (77) BU, Jeremy Chardy (81), Arnaud Clement (86) BU, Chris Guccione (88), Kristof Vliegen (92), Filippo Volandri (95) BU
Like the womens I have 7 favourite men but Feliciano Lopez was very very close to my Bubbling Under group. AsI said Gasquet droppd to the Bubbling Under because of his lack of consistency, however after last week I may think about putting hi back into the Top; if he continues his form that is. and yes Verdasco is out of the top 3 lists cause I seem to have a change of heart towards Del Potro!
I still Dislike Nadal and Federer, though to a lesser extent. I was really thinking about putting them in my Not Bothered list but then I thought I do bother about them! Stanislas is in here basically because he just dens't get out of the Top 10! It annoys me so much when I don't even remember 1 of his achievements in the whole year! Whilst Baghdatis is a long known enemy of mine! In the special mentions Lleyton Hewitt has dropped out of Bubbling Under because I basically find that I only liked him before because I disliked Federer and liked most of the former No.1's because of that! Kei Nishikori has jumped into the Bubbling Under section as I see a possible Top 20 Asian guy here!
I just wanted to add here how I'm still depressed from the retirement of Henin, she was what tied the WTA together. It has been so so long since she retired its scary. Without her their is such a big gap in the womans game that I have reverted to liking the mens more. She's such a force in tennis that even one of my friends who is a severe Henin hater agreed that without Henin the tour is just not complete.
WTA and ATP this week
Well Jankovic yet again is looking on course for the title - however a possible shoulder injury could rule her out when she plays Dementieva. Nicole sadly lost in the first round again and she is really making me sit on the edge of my seat. I feel like she should just take 3 months out and recuperate as there's no point trying to compete anymore as she's nowhere near going to get back into the top 20!
Venus also suffered a shock loss to Flavia but I'm happy as that means Flavia is getting better and better. Sadly she lost to Jankovic but she'll have her time.
Dementieva also beat last weeks finalist Nadia Petrova solidifying her name as one of the best Russians on the tour currently - except for Safina of course!
Vera also carried the Russian flag into the semis beating in form Cibulkova who also knocked out the totally stuffed Ivanovic she is totally underwhelming me as a former No.1! Kuznetsova and Safina are the last match to complete te near all Russian affair. Out of the 8 quaterfinalists 5 were Russian and a guaranteed 3 will be Russian in the semis!
In Vienna Wawrinka has lost early being the underwhelming No.1 seed of the tournament. Gilles Simon also fell leaving Petzschner and Moya to reak the benefits. Lopez one of my favourite players has also reached the last 8. Del Potro however had to let off some steam - withdrawing from his match whilst Monfils also is in the last 8 and will play the highest seed left.
Nalbandian leads in Stockholm, he should be head and shoulders above the rest as he's more than 20 rankings above everyone else! Anyway besides that what has got me going is Nishikori getting into the semis. Ok he hasn't beaten the toughest of opponents and further had a walkover from Ancic but just getting to the semis is a feat for this youngster who is doing Asians proud.
Whilst in the Kremlin Cup Safin one of my favourite players will fight against the best Russian on the block - Nikolay Davydenko. Hopefully Safin could get some motivation and beat Davydenko to win in his home country. Youzhny however fell at the first hurdle. Besides that Dmitry Tursunov also lost in the first round sadly after winning a title last week whilst Ginepri new to my mentioning list lost in the second round.
Venus also suffered a shock loss to Flavia but I'm happy as that means Flavia is getting better and better. Sadly she lost to Jankovic but she'll have her time.
Dementieva also beat last weeks finalist Nadia Petrova solidifying her name as one of the best Russians on the tour currently - except for Safina of course!
Vera also carried the Russian flag into the semis beating in form Cibulkova who also knocked out the totally stuffed Ivanovic she is totally underwhelming me as a former No.1! Kuznetsova and Safina are the last match to complete te near all Russian affair. Out of the 8 quaterfinalists 5 were Russian and a guaranteed 3 will be Russian in the semis!
In Vienna Wawrinka has lost early being the underwhelming No.1 seed of the tournament. Gilles Simon also fell leaving Petzschner and Moya to reak the benefits. Lopez one of my favourite players has also reached the last 8. Del Potro however had to let off some steam - withdrawing from his match whilst Monfils also is in the last 8 and will play the highest seed left.
Nalbandian leads in Stockholm, he should be head and shoulders above the rest as he's more than 20 rankings above everyone else! Anyway besides that what has got me going is Nishikori getting into the semis. Ok he hasn't beaten the toughest of opponents and further had a walkover from Ancic but just getting to the semis is a feat for this youngster who is doing Asians proud.
Whilst in the Kremlin Cup Safin one of my favourite players will fight against the best Russian on the block - Nikolay Davydenko. Hopefully Safin could get some motivation and beat Davydenko to win in his home country. Youzhny however fell at the first hurdle. Besides that Dmitry Tursunov also lost in the first round sadly after winning a title last week whilst Ginepri new to my mentioning list lost in the second round.
Update
Just need to update on what I didn't post last week. I'm starting to like Jelena Jankovic more than before because she finally is consistent and a force, before she was just playing as many tournaments as she could and hoping that she will do well in a few but now she is much more consistent - I sense a Lindsay Davenport - one that will be consistent and play for a long time.
However I was really dissapointed that Serena lost like that - after winning 6-0 and then losing the next two sets easily. Vaidisova has also continued my dissapoint of her for the whole year, this year was her chance I'd rather she did average in all other years consistently in the top 20 and broke the top 10 this year rather than what has happened to her now. Svetlana also suffered a shock defeat and it seems she is becoming a Jelena Jankovic of the past! Dementieva was beaten by Azarenka (who I stated as flailing the last time I posted), I take back my word of her flailing now but she still isn't much better off.
Venus lost to Jankovic whilst Pennetta lost to Bondarenko which was a dissapointment. Safina is also moving strength to strength which is encouraging. In the end Petrova Vs. Jankovic wasn't totally what I expected - I expected a US Open rematch but it didn't happen, however Petrova is jumping back up the rankings so is that a good thing?
Caroline Wozniacki won the AIG Open which wasn't really that tough for her except for the three setter posed by Gisela Dulko. Kirilenko also sadly dropped early and Jie Zheng too. Kaia Kanepi exceeded my expectations by getting to the finals.
Sorana Cirstea won in Tashkent but besides that there isn't much else to say.
The Tokyo AIG ATP event was interesting, Del Potro continued his good form by defeating Ferrer and Gasquet to reach the final, Gasquet had one of his good weeks where he also reached the semis. Nishikoriwho is quickly ascending my bubbling unders list is looking good whilst Mikhail Youzhny is dropping fast this year. However Berdych was the winner out of all these amazing efforts. Sadly it wasn't Roddick but he posed a tough challenge to Berdych who fully deserves this title after such a lack luster year.
Whilst in Metz one of my favourite players won - that is none other than Dmitry Tursunov. UI was so happy for him though the icing on the cake would have been if he beat the 1st seed Ivo Karlovic hwoever beating his successor is better than nothing! Mario Ancic and Gilles Simon however had much less luck as they both lost in R1.
However I was really dissapointed that Serena lost like that - after winning 6-0 and then losing the next two sets easily. Vaidisova has also continued my dissapoint of her for the whole year, this year was her chance I'd rather she did average in all other years consistently in the top 20 and broke the top 10 this year rather than what has happened to her now. Svetlana also suffered a shock defeat and it seems she is becoming a Jelena Jankovic of the past! Dementieva was beaten by Azarenka (who I stated as flailing the last time I posted), I take back my word of her flailing now but she still isn't much better off.
Venus lost to Jankovic whilst Pennetta lost to Bondarenko which was a dissapointment. Safina is also moving strength to strength which is encouraging. In the end Petrova Vs. Jankovic wasn't totally what I expected - I expected a US Open rematch but it didn't happen, however Petrova is jumping back up the rankings so is that a good thing?
Caroline Wozniacki won the AIG Open which wasn't really that tough for her except for the three setter posed by Gisela Dulko. Kirilenko also sadly dropped early and Jie Zheng too. Kaia Kanepi exceeded my expectations by getting to the finals.
Sorana Cirstea won in Tashkent but besides that there isn't much else to say.
The Tokyo AIG ATP event was interesting, Del Potro continued his good form by defeating Ferrer and Gasquet to reach the final, Gasquet had one of his good weeks where he also reached the semis. Nishikoriwho is quickly ascending my bubbling unders list is looking good whilst Mikhail Youzhny is dropping fast this year. However Berdych was the winner out of all these amazing efforts. Sadly it wasn't Roddick but he posed a tough challenge to Berdych who fully deserves this title after such a lack luster year.
Whilst in Metz one of my favourite players won - that is none other than Dmitry Tursunov. UI was so happy for him though the icing on the cake would have been if he beat the 1st seed Ivo Karlovic hwoever beating his successor is better than nothing! Mario Ancic and Gilles Simon however had much less luck as they both lost in R1.
Monday 29 September 2008
Players
I have decided to list my favourite players just for the fun of it! (these are only players in the current Top 100 - not in order unless I state)
Mens:
Novak Djokovic - I just don't see how people can dislike him! I don't understand however how people outside of the tennis world don't know about him!
Andy Murray - You have to be patriotic.
Andy Roddick - Still remembering the good old days!
Mikhail Youzhny - Something made me like him a lot before - though I don't remember what it is anymore, I still like him!
Mario Ancic - really liked him when he came on the tour - and beat Federer. Still have high hopes for him.
Dmitry Tursunov - no tournament is complete without him!
Feliciano Lopez - it gets slightly muffled now as I like him for no particular reason! (maybe because you can't not like a single spanish player - there are so many!)
Marat Safin - all worship the king! Love him and will follow his antics until he retires!
Juan Monaco - likewise you can never not like at least one argentinian!
Robby Ginepri - Newly inducted into my Top 10.
Bubbling Under
Lleyton Hewitt - Use to be in my Top 10 but he has been under the radar for too long too sustain a top 10 position.
Tommy Haas - Similaly to Lleyton but he's been coming back up recently.
Richard Gasquet - Too unpredictable for his ranking so I demoted him to bubbling under.
James Blake - I use to have the blake fever but now it has died down
Jo-Wilfred Tsonga - If her gets more consistent he'll be a contender for Top 10.
Mardy Fish - Don't know but always had him as one of my likes.
Paul Henri Mathieu - Currently lie him for some unknown reason!
Gael Monfils - A great player but yet again the French only know how to produce one hit wonders.
Tomas Berdych - Get into the Top 10 and he'll be a contender for my Top 10!!!!
Arnaud Clement - he has been much more in the spotlight recently and when I saw him I was like - why has he been under my radar for so long!
In the near future....
Kei Nishikori - Young and asian - just what the tennis world needs!
Fabio Fognini - Just need an Italian in the mix!
Yen Hsun Lu - one word "ASIAN"!!!!!
Fernando Verdasco - Like many other players that are in these two sections I don't know why but I think I'm warming up to his style of play.
Gilles Simon - Soon to be a possible Bubbling Under
Marin Cilic - Just remember when he had his spree of his own.
Michael Llodra - Him and Clement make a hilarious team!
Simone Bolelli - Don't know really but I like him more than some players!
Womens:
Serena Williams - I am all for the good old days!
Dinara Safina - I remember when I cheered her on before and finally she has made it.
Elena Dementieva - Just like her!
Maria Sharapova - Let's actually like the skilled players!
Venus Williams - You can't only like one sister!
Flavia Pennetta - Finally my favourites are making the grade!
Nicole Vaidisova - Loved her since her debut!
Maria Kirilenko - Go grl!
Anne Keothavong - Patriotic!
Na Li - Go China!
Bubbling Under
Ashley Harkleroad - American - you got to have someone to replace the Williams when their gone!
Samantha Stosur - Liked her doubles so yeah.
Yung-Jan Chan - ASIAN! lol
Gisela Dulko - ?!?!?!
Tamarine Tanasugarn - She was so interesting to watch in Wimbledon.
Alona Bondarenko - I just like sisters!
Lindsay Davenport - I like her more now than before for some reason!
Jie Zheng - Good on her beating Ivanovic!
Daniela Hantuchova - Use to be in my top 10 but got demoted
Victoria Azarenka - One of the new players I like more.
Dominika Cibulkova - She's been rising on my charts lately for some reason.
Amelie Mauresmo - Like Lindsay I like her more now than before!
Ten players I'd rather do without:
Ana Ivanovic - I use to hate Jankovic but at least she deserved what she's done unlike Ivanovic!
Svetlana Kuznetsova - I just rather she wasn't there!
Vera Zvonareva - I just don't really care for her to be in any tournament!
Marion Bartoli - the whole world would collapse if she ever made the top 10 again! Can't believe she is still 14th.
Patty Schnyder - She's just like a stalwart blocking people from entering the top 10!
Nadia Petrova - Like her slightly more now that she has a ranking which she deserves.
Roger Federer - I know now I'll receive hate mail! Anyway just don't like him!
Nikolay Davydenko - He's just there!
Stanislas Wawrinka - I don't like people who are placd too highly.
Marcos Baghdatis - The male version of Bartoli - thank goodness he is ranked 42nd!
All of these are just a quick list - I'll probably do a proper one next month. They are pretty vague and to be honest I think I missed a whole lot of players!
Mens:
Novak Djokovic - I just don't see how people can dislike him! I don't understand however how people outside of the tennis world don't know about him!
Andy Murray - You have to be patriotic.
Andy Roddick - Still remembering the good old days!
Mikhail Youzhny - Something made me like him a lot before - though I don't remember what it is anymore, I still like him!
Mario Ancic - really liked him when he came on the tour - and beat Federer. Still have high hopes for him.
Dmitry Tursunov - no tournament is complete without him!
Feliciano Lopez - it gets slightly muffled now as I like him for no particular reason! (maybe because you can't not like a single spanish player - there are so many!)
Marat Safin - all worship the king! Love him and will follow his antics until he retires!
Juan Monaco - likewise you can never not like at least one argentinian!
Robby Ginepri - Newly inducted into my Top 10.
Bubbling Under
Lleyton Hewitt - Use to be in my Top 10 but he has been under the radar for too long too sustain a top 10 position.
Tommy Haas - Similaly to Lleyton but he's been coming back up recently.
Richard Gasquet - Too unpredictable for his ranking so I demoted him to bubbling under.
James Blake - I use to have the blake fever but now it has died down
Jo-Wilfred Tsonga - If her gets more consistent he'll be a contender for Top 10.
Mardy Fish - Don't know but always had him as one of my likes.
Paul Henri Mathieu - Currently lie him for some unknown reason!
Gael Monfils - A great player but yet again the French only know how to produce one hit wonders.
Tomas Berdych - Get into the Top 10 and he'll be a contender for my Top 10!!!!
Arnaud Clement - he has been much more in the spotlight recently and when I saw him I was like - why has he been under my radar for so long!
In the near future....
Kei Nishikori - Young and asian - just what the tennis world needs!
Fabio Fognini - Just need an Italian in the mix!
Yen Hsun Lu - one word "ASIAN"!!!!!
Fernando Verdasco - Like many other players that are in these two sections I don't know why but I think I'm warming up to his style of play.
Gilles Simon - Soon to be a possible Bubbling Under
Marin Cilic - Just remember when he had his spree of his own.
Michael Llodra - Him and Clement make a hilarious team!
Simone Bolelli - Don't know really but I like him more than some players!
Womens:
Serena Williams - I am all for the good old days!
Dinara Safina - I remember when I cheered her on before and finally she has made it.
Elena Dementieva - Just like her!
Maria Sharapova - Let's actually like the skilled players!
Venus Williams - You can't only like one sister!
Flavia Pennetta - Finally my favourites are making the grade!
Nicole Vaidisova - Loved her since her debut!
Maria Kirilenko - Go grl!
Anne Keothavong - Patriotic!
Na Li - Go China!
Bubbling Under
Ashley Harkleroad - American - you got to have someone to replace the Williams when their gone!
Samantha Stosur - Liked her doubles so yeah.
Yung-Jan Chan - ASIAN! lol
Gisela Dulko - ?!?!?!
Tamarine Tanasugarn - She was so interesting to watch in Wimbledon.
Alona Bondarenko - I just like sisters!
Lindsay Davenport - I like her more now than before for some reason!
Jie Zheng - Good on her beating Ivanovic!
Daniela Hantuchova - Use to be in my top 10 but got demoted
Victoria Azarenka - One of the new players I like more.
Dominika Cibulkova - She's been rising on my charts lately for some reason.
Amelie Mauresmo - Like Lindsay I like her more now than before!
Ten players I'd rather do without:
Ana Ivanovic - I use to hate Jankovic but at least she deserved what she's done unlike Ivanovic!
Svetlana Kuznetsova - I just rather she wasn't there!
Vera Zvonareva - I just don't really care for her to be in any tournament!
Marion Bartoli - the whole world would collapse if she ever made the top 10 again! Can't believe she is still 14th.
Patty Schnyder - She's just like a stalwart blocking people from entering the top 10!
Nadia Petrova - Like her slightly more now that she has a ranking which she deserves.
Roger Federer - I know now I'll receive hate mail! Anyway just don't like him!
Nikolay Davydenko - He's just there!
Stanislas Wawrinka - I don't like people who are placd too highly.
Marcos Baghdatis - The male version of Bartoli - thank goodness he is ranked 42nd!
All of these are just a quick list - I'll probably do a proper one next month. They are pretty vague and to be honest I think I missed a whole lot of players!
Stuttgart, Tokyo, Tashkent, Metz and Tokyo again!
Ok so the most of the WTA is at Stuttgart and finally we get to see Serena since her rise to No.1. Well her draw looks interesting though I think Serena is more than capable of dispatching every one of them. Na Li also posted a victory against Vaidisova (though I like Na Li I love Vaidisova!) Serena's toughest opponent will probably come in the form of Svetlana Kuznetsova but she herself will have to face an enslaught of veterans being Schnyder and then most likely Petrova. Both should be a test for Kuznetsova.
Dementieva heads a much weaker section with a flailing Victoria Azarenka and Agnes Szavay in close proximity. Radwanska the 8th seed and ranked 10th in the world could cause a shock but I doubt it. However the Azarenka/Szavay match should be interesting and the one who wins there will most likely see Radwanska next.
Venus starts off with come back star Anna-Lena Groenefeld who got quite far I think in her last event. Flavia Pennetta is also in this draw. But Venus must have her eyes on Safina the in form player of the season. She'll be probably the toughest opponent if Venus does reach that stage of the draw.
Vera is next and she will face Hantuchova! That seems awfully early! Anyway the winner will probably face Dominika (I hope) as Cibulkova has Bartoli in her 1st round. Jankovic should see off her early opponents easily and aim to pick one of the 4 previously mentioned as her QF opponent. Overall the top 4 seeds look quite strong but is it likely that we'll have all the top 4 seeds in the semis? Look out for Petrova/Kuznetsova in Section 1, Radwanska in section 2, Venus in section 3 and Zvonareva in section 4 to make the possible upsets.
The tier III AIG Japan Open sees Wozniacki lead the pack. She'll face off early against Dulko. Whilst Tanasugarn lurks beneath. Kirilenko winner last week will have Shahar Peer on her side but also the comeback star Kimiko Date Krumm who is looking for an upset here. Kaia Kanepi will be somebody to look out for as she seems to be having a good few weeks whilst Wickmayer could also be a threat but who can discount Jie Zheng who is having a great year. Of course Anabel Medina Garrigures will be a contender in the lower half of the draw. Overall this tournament is interesting considering most top players are at Stuttgart.
Shuai Peng headlines in Tashkent (though she is ranked 41st!) so most players here will be out of my league of knowledge. Sabine Lisicki has been playing well recently though whilst Akgul Amanmuradova is always visible in a draw! Besides that most others are fairly vague to me but lets all support Katie O'Brien! Well what do you expect when the other two tournaments are packed with good players!
On the mens tour however the story is totally different. The AIG Japan Open only sports 2 top 10 players whilst in Stuttgart all 8 seeds are in the top 10. Ferrer yet again headlines but we know not to expect that much now! Notable mentions are that Dudi Sela and Bjorn Phau are playing in round 1 - what a coincidence! Del Potro is also lurking there and could be a tough player for Ferrer to handle if he does reach that stage. Gasquet is around an area with many fellow youngsters - Young, Nishikoi etc. But with Gasquey you never know what is going to happen. Shuettler who has been climbing back up to prominence lately is next to Youzhny who seems to have dissapeared recently. On the other side we have Robredo and Berdych whilst Querrey and Gonzalez are yet again drawn in the same section - wonder whether they'll face each other this time. Tsonga and Roddick are in the same quarter - both winners last week so hopefully they'll make the quaters but Melzer could be a threat. Anyway this draw doesn't seem to interesting besides the induction of Roddick as the seeds go down to rank 62!
To be honest in Metz the draw seems to be much more respectable for a tournament of its size. Karlovic heads the draw with Baghdatis as a 1st round opponent. Moya also is close by whilst the other seed is one of my favourites Dmitry Tursunov. The next section of the draw looks average with Almagro leading the pack whilst Llodra is in their but another of my favourites Feliciano Lopez also features. Ivan Ljubicic also is here (it seems like yesterday when he was in the Top 10!) The highlight of the draw for me is Mario Ancic who hopefully will be making a presence here, he has Tipsaveric to handle whilst Mathieu is the ext seed. The last section features 5 french players out of 8! Clement looks to be a possible threat whilst Simon is obviously someone to look out for.
Dementieva heads a much weaker section with a flailing Victoria Azarenka and Agnes Szavay in close proximity. Radwanska the 8th seed and ranked 10th in the world could cause a shock but I doubt it. However the Azarenka/Szavay match should be interesting and the one who wins there will most likely see Radwanska next.
Venus starts off with come back star Anna-Lena Groenefeld who got quite far I think in her last event. Flavia Pennetta is also in this draw. But Venus must have her eyes on Safina the in form player of the season. She'll be probably the toughest opponent if Venus does reach that stage of the draw.
Vera is next and she will face Hantuchova! That seems awfully early! Anyway the winner will probably face Dominika (I hope) as Cibulkova has Bartoli in her 1st round. Jankovic should see off her early opponents easily and aim to pick one of the 4 previously mentioned as her QF opponent. Overall the top 4 seeds look quite strong but is it likely that we'll have all the top 4 seeds in the semis? Look out for Petrova/Kuznetsova in Section 1, Radwanska in section 2, Venus in section 3 and Zvonareva in section 4 to make the possible upsets.
The tier III AIG Japan Open sees Wozniacki lead the pack. She'll face off early against Dulko. Whilst Tanasugarn lurks beneath. Kirilenko winner last week will have Shahar Peer on her side but also the comeback star Kimiko Date Krumm who is looking for an upset here. Kaia Kanepi will be somebody to look out for as she seems to be having a good few weeks whilst Wickmayer could also be a threat but who can discount Jie Zheng who is having a great year. Of course Anabel Medina Garrigures will be a contender in the lower half of the draw. Overall this tournament is interesting considering most top players are at Stuttgart.
Shuai Peng headlines in Tashkent (though she is ranked 41st!) so most players here will be out of my league of knowledge. Sabine Lisicki has been playing well recently though whilst Akgul Amanmuradova is always visible in a draw! Besides that most others are fairly vague to me but lets all support Katie O'Brien! Well what do you expect when the other two tournaments are packed with good players!
On the mens tour however the story is totally different. The AIG Japan Open only sports 2 top 10 players whilst in Stuttgart all 8 seeds are in the top 10. Ferrer yet again headlines but we know not to expect that much now! Notable mentions are that Dudi Sela and Bjorn Phau are playing in round 1 - what a coincidence! Del Potro is also lurking there and could be a tough player for Ferrer to handle if he does reach that stage. Gasquet is around an area with many fellow youngsters - Young, Nishikoi etc. But with Gasquey you never know what is going to happen. Shuettler who has been climbing back up to prominence lately is next to Youzhny who seems to have dissapeared recently. On the other side we have Robredo and Berdych whilst Querrey and Gonzalez are yet again drawn in the same section - wonder whether they'll face each other this time. Tsonga and Roddick are in the same quarter - both winners last week so hopefully they'll make the quaters but Melzer could be a threat. Anyway this draw doesn't seem to interesting besides the induction of Roddick as the seeds go down to rank 62!
To be honest in Metz the draw seems to be much more respectable for a tournament of its size. Karlovic heads the draw with Baghdatis as a 1st round opponent. Moya also is close by whilst the other seed is one of my favourites Dmitry Tursunov. The next section of the draw looks average with Almagro leading the pack whilst Llodra is in their but another of my favourites Feliciano Lopez also features. Ivan Ljubicic also is here (it seems like yesterday when he was in the Top 10!) The highlight of the draw for me is Mario Ancic who hopefully will be making a presence here, he has Tipsaveric to handle whilst Mathieu is the ext seed. The last section features 5 french players out of 8! Clement looks to be a possible threat whilst Simon is obviously someone to look out for.
Update 21-28th September
Don't have much time and have a lot to post so this will be quick. The China Open was won by Jelena Jankovic in a repeat of the match up between her and Svetlana Kuznetsova last week, however this time Jankovic thrashed Kuznetsova. Na Li sadly lost to Schiavone in Round 1 whilst Anabel Medina Garrigues caused a few shocks before succumbing to Vera Zvonareva who pushed Jankovic to three sets in her semis.
Dominika Cibulkova showing herself to be a force to be recognised beat Mauresmo twice in two weeks and was only supressed by Kuznetsova. Whilst yet again Ivanovic showed herself badly and lost again to Jie Zheng though this time there was a glimmer of hope for Ivanovic.
In the Hansol Korea Open one of my favourites Maria Kirilenko won (and deservedly so). Melani South a lucky loser however was unable to fly the flag for Britain in Round 2 as she retired 6-1, 3-0 down. Kaia Kanepi was a force that looked to be en route to a tough match up between her and Kirilenko but Kirilenko prevailed. Samantha Stosur however was the talk of the town as she got to the finals - however she evaded quite a few seeds whilst getting to the final. Shahar Peer another player who has succumbed to the "San Henin" fever which has caused quite a few players to suddenly drop in their rankings bid, lost out to Craybas in the QF. Well the Thailand Open was a slight upset for me as Djokovic lost in the final but nonetheless he is still my favourite player - it's sad to see though tat Djokovic has been much more variable this year compared to previous ones where he won his first grand slam but has also lost to some obscure players on the tour.
Also sadly Marat Safin lost in Round 1 to a guy I have never heard of! Whilst Monfils did well but it was sad to see him lose like that to Tsonga who seems to be getting back into rhythm. In the ATP China open Andy Roddick won - yeah! If only Djokovic and Safin were in the final of the other and then it would have been a near perfect week! Anyway Ferrer was shocked in the second round by Dudi Sela - yeah I don't know what he's been doing recently! He also beat Robredo and Schuettler enroute to the finals! Sadly Gasquet wasn't capable of playing this see sweeper. Sam Querrey also succumed to an early defeat to my shock but Bjorn Phau (his succesor) also beat Fernando Gonzalez meaning Phau was another seed sweeper (don't like giant killer because Querrey and Gonzalez aren't giants in every term of the word!) of the week though most don't rememeber Phau! Anyway that meant that Roddick didn't have to play a single seed to win the title.However he did have to face former No.1 Ferrero (who seems to be out of it now) and two tough unseeded players being Sela and Phau.
Dominika Cibulkova showing herself to be a force to be recognised beat Mauresmo twice in two weeks and was only supressed by Kuznetsova. Whilst yet again Ivanovic showed herself badly and lost again to Jie Zheng though this time there was a glimmer of hope for Ivanovic.
In the Hansol Korea Open one of my favourites Maria Kirilenko won (and deservedly so). Melani South a lucky loser however was unable to fly the flag for Britain in Round 2 as she retired 6-1, 3-0 down. Kaia Kanepi was a force that looked to be en route to a tough match up between her and Kirilenko but Kirilenko prevailed. Samantha Stosur however was the talk of the town as she got to the finals - however she evaded quite a few seeds whilst getting to the final. Shahar Peer another player who has succumbed to the "San Henin" fever which has caused quite a few players to suddenly drop in their rankings bid, lost out to Craybas in the QF. Well the Thailand Open was a slight upset for me as Djokovic lost in the final but nonetheless he is still my favourite player - it's sad to see though tat Djokovic has been much more variable this year compared to previous ones where he won his first grand slam but has also lost to some obscure players on the tour.
Also sadly Marat Safin lost in Round 1 to a guy I have never heard of! Whilst Monfils did well but it was sad to see him lose like that to Tsonga who seems to be getting back into rhythm. In the ATP China open Andy Roddick won - yeah! If only Djokovic and Safin were in the final of the other and then it would have been a near perfect week! Anyway Ferrer was shocked in the second round by Dudi Sela - yeah I don't know what he's been doing recently! He also beat Robredo and Schuettler enroute to the finals! Sadly Gasquet wasn't capable of playing this see sweeper. Sam Querrey also succumed to an early defeat to my shock but Bjorn Phau (his succesor) also beat Fernando Gonzalez meaning Phau was another seed sweeper (don't like giant killer because Querrey and Gonzalez aren't giants in every term of the word!) of the week though most don't rememeber Phau! Anyway that meant that Roddick didn't have to play a single seed to win the title.However he did have to face former No.1 Ferrero (who seems to be out of it now) and two tough unseeded players being Sela and Phau.
Sunday 21 September 2008
ATP next week
Well the Thailand Open and the China open are next for the mens.
Djokovic leads the seeds in the Thailand Open, he'll be looking for a win here as his next strongest opponent is Tsonga (do we remember the shock he made in the Aussie 2008 - it seems like it was years ago!) Though the The other 3 top seeds are out of their top form they could be dangerous if they were playing at their best. Well Djokovic should find getting to the final an easy feat considering that most of his opponents will rank below 40. Tomas Berydych would have been a threat a year ago but his recent performances show he way below his best.
Though I would love Marko Djokovic (yes Novak's younger brother) to play against Novak but I think it's too early for him to be able to get into the Quaterfinals even with an average score of players in his group.
But all my eyes (well two) would be on Marat Safin, hopefully he'll be able to play Monfisl as his group isn't too difficult, if he does get past these early round maybe he'll be able to reach the finals! That would be great my old favourite player playing against my current favourite player! Anyway Monfils will be a huge hurdle to jump across.
With Tsonga I don't know what to think as besides in the Australian Open I barely remember him playing in any other tournament (of course he has but I just don't remember). So it will be confusing down there but it just looks Djokovic will sweep away this field!
In China it will be a more difficult contest. Ferrer leads the seeds with Roddick as second. Ferrer will probably have to pass Tommy Robredo to reach the Semis as I don't see any of te other players in that group making a threat. The unpredictable Gasquet will be the 4th seed (I just really hope he was steadier instead of the first round loss for two weeks and then suddenly a win in the other type game he has. Rainer Schuettler could cause some problems but Gasquet shouldbe safe in this group.
Gonzalez is the next seed but he'll probably have to play an in form Sam Querrey to reach the semis. Personally I think if they play each other Sam Querrey may have the upper hand.
Finally we have Roddick and to be honest if he doesn't get past this group I will be crying for the next day!
Djokovic leads the seeds in the Thailand Open, he'll be looking for a win here as his next strongest opponent is Tsonga (do we remember the shock he made in the Aussie 2008 - it seems like it was years ago!) Though the The other 3 top seeds are out of their top form they could be dangerous if they were playing at their best. Well Djokovic should find getting to the final an easy feat considering that most of his opponents will rank below 40. Tomas Berydych would have been a threat a year ago but his recent performances show he way below his best.
Though I would love Marko Djokovic (yes Novak's younger brother) to play against Novak but I think it's too early for him to be able to get into the Quaterfinals even with an average score of players in his group.
But all my eyes (well two) would be on Marat Safin, hopefully he'll be able to play Monfisl as his group isn't too difficult, if he does get past these early round maybe he'll be able to reach the finals! That would be great my old favourite player playing against my current favourite player! Anyway Monfils will be a huge hurdle to jump across.
With Tsonga I don't know what to think as besides in the Australian Open I barely remember him playing in any other tournament (of course he has but I just don't remember). So it will be confusing down there but it just looks Djokovic will sweep away this field!
In China it will be a more difficult contest. Ferrer leads the seeds with Roddick as second. Ferrer will probably have to pass Tommy Robredo to reach the Semis as I don't see any of te other players in that group making a threat. The unpredictable Gasquet will be the 4th seed (I just really hope he was steadier instead of the first round loss for two weeks and then suddenly a win in the other type game he has. Rainer Schuettler could cause some problems but Gasquet shouldbe safe in this group.
Gonzalez is the next seed but he'll probably have to play an in form Sam Querrey to reach the semis. Personally I think if they play each other Sam Querrey may have the upper hand.
Finally we have Roddick and to be honest if he doesn't get past this group I will be crying for the next day!
WTA next week
The next two tournaments continue in Asia with the Tier 2 China Open and the Tier 4 Hansol Korea Open. In China (this time Beijing) we will see Jankovic and Ivanovic lead the lines. (In actualy fact the players in this tournament look largely like the players in the Toray Pan Pacific!)
Anyway this time Jankovic will have a much much easier job as she has Daniela Hantuchova on her side! (she's not been doing well lately has she). A favourite of mine Gisela Dulko will be playing her (another favourite of mine) in the first round.
Vera Zvonareva who has already succeeded in China will hope to make it her second title but she has Jankovic to look out for as well as an early possibility of Na Li and an underdog Caroline Wozniacki.
The next group seems to be the most interesting, there is the strong favourite Svetlana Kuznetsova whilst the unsteady Anna Chakvetadze takes the other side, a rematch of last week between Dominika Cibulkova and Amelie Mauresmo will also occur whilst last weeks Guangzhou International finalist Shuai Peng will also be in the mix.
Therefore with such strong adversary for Shuai Peng and possibly Na Li all hopes for China lies on Jie Zheng as she takes on Agieszka Radwanska who is strong but beatable then it will probably go down to the fragile Ivanovic to wrap the loose ends - if she's in form she may get through but if she's not we may see her loose to Alize Cornet. Overall it looks like Jankovic is the favourite here whilst I wouldn't count out Kuznetsova either.
In Korea Maria Kirilenko heads the charge, hopefully with a week tournament she'll be able to get a victory. They do have Kaia Kanepi in the mix which could be a threat to Kirilenko making the final. Besides that Shahar Peer may also pose a challenge if they both get to the final but largely if Maria plays well this should be an easy picking.
Anyway this time Jankovic will have a much much easier job as she has Daniela Hantuchova on her side! (she's not been doing well lately has she). A favourite of mine Gisela Dulko will be playing her (another favourite of mine) in the first round.
Vera Zvonareva who has already succeeded in China will hope to make it her second title but she has Jankovic to look out for as well as an early possibility of Na Li and an underdog Caroline Wozniacki.
The next group seems to be the most interesting, there is the strong favourite Svetlana Kuznetsova whilst the unsteady Anna Chakvetadze takes the other side, a rematch of last week between Dominika Cibulkova and Amelie Mauresmo will also occur whilst last weeks Guangzhou International finalist Shuai Peng will also be in the mix.
Therefore with such strong adversary for Shuai Peng and possibly Na Li all hopes for China lies on Jie Zheng as she takes on Agieszka Radwanska who is strong but beatable then it will probably go down to the fragile Ivanovic to wrap the loose ends - if she's in form she may get through but if she's not we may see her loose to Alize Cornet. Overall it looks like Jankovic is the favourite here whilst I wouldn't count out Kuznetsova either.
In Korea Maria Kirilenko heads the charge, hopefully with a week tournament she'll be able to get a victory. They do have Kaia Kanepi in the mix which could be a threat to Kirilenko making the final. Besides that Shahar Peer may also pose a challenge if they both get to the final but largely if Maria plays well this should be an easy picking.
Toray Pan Pacific Open and the Guangzhou International Open
Well the Toray Pan Pacific has finished, congratuations to the winner Dinara Safina who has done so well this year.
Anyway the first quarter was led by Jelena Jankovic who swept confortably past Flavia Pennetta (boo). Anyway Na Li also sadly lost out here to Svetlana Kuznetsova. So it was Jankovic against Kuznetsova in the Quaterfinals. But this time it was Kuznetsova who survived a three set onslaught from Jankovic 2-6,7-5,7-5. On the other side with Daniela Hantuchova yet again posing little threat we all were guessing that Dementieva would be Kuznetsova's next opponent, but Srebotnik served an upset to make the Semifinals. Anna Chakvetadze also continued her unimpressive year by losing to Kaia Kanepi. Wildcard Amelie Mauresmo started strongly but was overwhelmed by Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova (definitely a rising star). Anyway it was yet again Dinara Safina who came through here but she had a tough match against Chakvetadze conqueror Kaia Kanepi - good job Kaia!
The last section saw Maria Kirilenko fall to Marion Bartoli (I still don't like her) however it was Nadia Petrova who was looking to return to her former Top 10 position who beat the odds of Ivanovic (officially the worst No.1 of all time) and Radwanska. So 4 muscle clad players fought in Tokyo to win the Tier 1 title, though you could not be definite it was quite clear that the final would be a Russian affair.
In the end it was Svetlana against Dinara but it was Dinara who overwhelmed Svetlana winning 6-1,6-3! Another title for a star of 2008 Dinara Safina.
It was another Russian who won in neighbouring China beating three of the countries finest players, it was non other than Vera Zvonareva. Vera who has been having a good year was the lone Top 30 player in this draw. There was a score of Chinese players but by the Quaterfinals there were only 2 left - they were Jie Zheng and Shuai Peng. Though I was routing for Dulko I also wanted the chinese contigent to get somewhere so when Dulko lost out to Arantxa Rus (!) I decided to put my full efforts in cheering on the Chinese Pair. Jie Zheng played well and comfortably went passed the likes of Tamira Paszek whilst Shuai Peng had veteran Jill Craybas to ward off.
The next match for Jie Zheng was Vera Zvonareva - definitely the one to beat. But it was Vera who succeeded, however in the final Shuai Peng was hoping to capture her home title but her too did not succeed in this feat losing to Zvonareva in a topsy turvy 3 sets.
Anyway the first quarter was led by Jelena Jankovic who swept confortably past Flavia Pennetta (boo). Anyway Na Li also sadly lost out here to Svetlana Kuznetsova. So it was Jankovic against Kuznetsova in the Quaterfinals. But this time it was Kuznetsova who survived a three set onslaught from Jankovic 2-6,7-5,7-5. On the other side with Daniela Hantuchova yet again posing little threat we all were guessing that Dementieva would be Kuznetsova's next opponent, but Srebotnik served an upset to make the Semifinals. Anna Chakvetadze also continued her unimpressive year by losing to Kaia Kanepi. Wildcard Amelie Mauresmo started strongly but was overwhelmed by Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova (definitely a rising star). Anyway it was yet again Dinara Safina who came through here but she had a tough match against Chakvetadze conqueror Kaia Kanepi - good job Kaia!
The last section saw Maria Kirilenko fall to Marion Bartoli (I still don't like her) however it was Nadia Petrova who was looking to return to her former Top 10 position who beat the odds of Ivanovic (officially the worst No.1 of all time) and Radwanska. So 4 muscle clad players fought in Tokyo to win the Tier 1 title, though you could not be definite it was quite clear that the final would be a Russian affair.
In the end it was Svetlana against Dinara but it was Dinara who overwhelmed Svetlana winning 6-1,6-3! Another title for a star of 2008 Dinara Safina.
It was another Russian who won in neighbouring China beating three of the countries finest players, it was non other than Vera Zvonareva. Vera who has been having a good year was the lone Top 30 player in this draw. There was a score of Chinese players but by the Quaterfinals there were only 2 left - they were Jie Zheng and Shuai Peng. Though I was routing for Dulko I also wanted the chinese contigent to get somewhere so when Dulko lost out to Arantxa Rus (!) I decided to put my full efforts in cheering on the Chinese Pair. Jie Zheng played well and comfortably went passed the likes of Tamira Paszek whilst Shuai Peng had veteran Jill Craybas to ward off.
The next match for Jie Zheng was Vera Zvonareva - definitely the one to beat. But it was Vera who succeeded, however in the final Shuai Peng was hoping to capture her home title but her too did not succeed in this feat losing to Zvonareva in a topsy turvy 3 sets.
Wednesday 10 September 2008
US Open
A bit late on this but better late than never! Well what an interesting two weeks of tennis it was, sadly I didn't get to watch any of it as I didn't know where I would be able to get it live - and by the time it was aired I would have probably been asleep, well knowing what happens is enough for me.
Firstly it's great to see Federer off his No.1 seed spot as he has been there for the last however many Slams (though personally I would like Djokovic up top!) Sadly Berdych (someone who I was starting to like by the end of last year) went out in the 1st round, he must be suffering the czech fever! I feel that Berdych may have lost his chances to ever get into the Top 5 (which I thought was possible at one stage of his career, instead of booming this year he suffered the same fate as many other tennis players have). Though his successor Sam Querry battled on to take a set from Nadal in the 4th round - definitely a good achievement even if it is on hard courts. Ivo Karlovic also produced some good matches to get to the third round - losing to Querrey.
In section 2 Blake sadly lost to Fish and amazingly Monfils also lost to Fish, but well done to Monfils for making it to the 4th round (better than one hit wonder Tsonga!)
The next section saw a guy who is quickly jumping up my own league table of favourites; beating Ferrer, and that was Nishikori, sadly it was in the expense of Juan Monaco losing in the first round.
In Section 4 all my hopes were on Murray after Lopez suffered a Round 1 lost, he really didn't let me down making mincemeat of Wawrinka.
In section 5 Roddick also reigned supreme evn though he was very much under the radar for me throughout the tournament.
In Section 6 Djokovic was for sure going to win from here, but it was great to see Safin at least get to the second round as a lot of my favourite players seemed to have dwindled.
Sadly Tursunov failed to beat Davydenko but Third Round is a good result for him and of course this group was going to cause one of my major upsets as Haas and Gasquet were playing each other in Round 1. Thinking at least one of them would get to the third round made me feel better but from nowhere Gilles Muller defeated all his opponents en-route to the Quarterfinals!
Finally there was of course Federer which I have to say seemed rather shaky against Andreev, of course he still won but I do think that his days are dwindling.
Of course the highlight of the whole tournament would have been Murray making the final, finally we see some potential of a grand slam winner! But it would be much better to have seen Djokovic in there too as it would be the first grand slam final in ages which wouln't feature either Nadal or Federer.
Well now for the womens game. Isn't it amazing how Ivanovic has done so badly recently and she still was No.1 in the game coming to the US Open! Well for most people who have read this blog you'll know how much I think Ivanovic's No.1 spot is utter bullocks, she doesn't deserve it and instead it may actually kill her career in my opinion.
Well Julie Coin (which I think is her name) shocked us by defeating Ivanovic, well however I knew she wasn't going to reach the QF but for Miss Coin, ranked 188 in the world, at 25 years old and making her debut appearance in a WTA main draw to beat the No.1 in the world - it shows how Ivanovic should be 20 rankings below what she is now! However Amelie Mauresmo would have none of this (she still has a reasonable career to uphold!) But what made me spring up with joy (literally) was Pennetta making it to her first Slam QF.
Hantuchova yet again suffered an early loss (capping a bad year for her; not including the Australian Open success) to eventual 4th rounder Anna Lena Groenefeld - marking a solid comeback to form. Melanie Oudin (a successful junior player) tried her luck in the main draw but was unable to beat fellow wildcard Jessica Moore. Kudryavtseva however failed to improve on her Wimbledon performance by losing in the 1st round.
Section 3 saw Serena Williams lead the pack, with Nicole Vaidisova basically having the worst year of her career it was all for Serena Williams, she only lost 14 games to her 1st 4 opponents!
I would however love to see Vaidisova come back to form as she would be able to capitalize on such a weak WTA at the moment.
Whilst Section 4 also saw sister Venus dominate the matches, only losing 15 games before the QF's.
Section 5 saw Anne Keothavong make a splash by making it to the 3rd round (she is definitely showing some promise to reach the Top 50!) anyway Elena Dementieva continued her good form to win in this section but a special mention goes to Na Li as she is really looking to get back into her top game.
Sadly Dulko and Kirilenko both lost in the 1st round of Section 6 but what interested me the most was that Kuznetsova dropped out in the third round - making another favourite to go far into the tournament loose early on. Section 7 saw Bartoli do better than I wanted, sadly Lindsay Davenport was unable to stop her but at least Bammer wasn't going to let her win! Finally we had Jankovic take Section 8 (though much more difficultly than she would have wanted it to be!) She also played the Junior Champion in the 1st round I think.
Besides Schnyder and Jankovic's induction into the Quaterfinals I mainly liked the draws except for Venus and Serena having to play so early in the draw (ok Quarterfinals but both are potential finalists!) Anyway Flavia sadly lost easily to Safina but she'll have her time I'm sure. Dementieva also continued her recent success by making it to the semis. In the end I think it was predictable that Serena would win - despite everyone saying it was going to be difficult to pick I believed from the start that Serena was the favourite and now that she is No.1 it makes me even happier - to think that finally someone more stable would take No.1.
Firstly it's great to see Federer off his No.1 seed spot as he has been there for the last however many Slams (though personally I would like Djokovic up top!) Sadly Berdych (someone who I was starting to like by the end of last year) went out in the 1st round, he must be suffering the czech fever! I feel that Berdych may have lost his chances to ever get into the Top 5 (which I thought was possible at one stage of his career, instead of booming this year he suffered the same fate as many other tennis players have). Though his successor Sam Querry battled on to take a set from Nadal in the 4th round - definitely a good achievement even if it is on hard courts. Ivo Karlovic also produced some good matches to get to the third round - losing to Querrey.
In section 2 Blake sadly lost to Fish and amazingly Monfils also lost to Fish, but well done to Monfils for making it to the 4th round (better than one hit wonder Tsonga!)
The next section saw a guy who is quickly jumping up my own league table of favourites; beating Ferrer, and that was Nishikori, sadly it was in the expense of Juan Monaco losing in the first round.
In Section 4 all my hopes were on Murray after Lopez suffered a Round 1 lost, he really didn't let me down making mincemeat of Wawrinka.
In section 5 Roddick also reigned supreme evn though he was very much under the radar for me throughout the tournament.
In Section 6 Djokovic was for sure going to win from here, but it was great to see Safin at least get to the second round as a lot of my favourite players seemed to have dwindled.
Sadly Tursunov failed to beat Davydenko but Third Round is a good result for him and of course this group was going to cause one of my major upsets as Haas and Gasquet were playing each other in Round 1. Thinking at least one of them would get to the third round made me feel better but from nowhere Gilles Muller defeated all his opponents en-route to the Quarterfinals!
Finally there was of course Federer which I have to say seemed rather shaky against Andreev, of course he still won but I do think that his days are dwindling.
Of course the highlight of the whole tournament would have been Murray making the final, finally we see some potential of a grand slam winner! But it would be much better to have seen Djokovic in there too as it would be the first grand slam final in ages which wouln't feature either Nadal or Federer.
Well now for the womens game. Isn't it amazing how Ivanovic has done so badly recently and she still was No.1 in the game coming to the US Open! Well for most people who have read this blog you'll know how much I think Ivanovic's No.1 spot is utter bullocks, she doesn't deserve it and instead it may actually kill her career in my opinion.
Well Julie Coin (which I think is her name) shocked us by defeating Ivanovic, well however I knew she wasn't going to reach the QF but for Miss Coin, ranked 188 in the world, at 25 years old and making her debut appearance in a WTA main draw to beat the No.1 in the world - it shows how Ivanovic should be 20 rankings below what she is now! However Amelie Mauresmo would have none of this (she still has a reasonable career to uphold!) But what made me spring up with joy (literally) was Pennetta making it to her first Slam QF.
Hantuchova yet again suffered an early loss (capping a bad year for her; not including the Australian Open success) to eventual 4th rounder Anna Lena Groenefeld - marking a solid comeback to form. Melanie Oudin (a successful junior player) tried her luck in the main draw but was unable to beat fellow wildcard Jessica Moore. Kudryavtseva however failed to improve on her Wimbledon performance by losing in the 1st round.
Section 3 saw Serena Williams lead the pack, with Nicole Vaidisova basically having the worst year of her career it was all for Serena Williams, she only lost 14 games to her 1st 4 opponents!
I would however love to see Vaidisova come back to form as she would be able to capitalize on such a weak WTA at the moment.
Whilst Section 4 also saw sister Venus dominate the matches, only losing 15 games before the QF's.
Section 5 saw Anne Keothavong make a splash by making it to the 3rd round (she is definitely showing some promise to reach the Top 50!) anyway Elena Dementieva continued her good form to win in this section but a special mention goes to Na Li as she is really looking to get back into her top game.
Sadly Dulko and Kirilenko both lost in the 1st round of Section 6 but what interested me the most was that Kuznetsova dropped out in the third round - making another favourite to go far into the tournament loose early on. Section 7 saw Bartoli do better than I wanted, sadly Lindsay Davenport was unable to stop her but at least Bammer wasn't going to let her win! Finally we had Jankovic take Section 8 (though much more difficultly than she would have wanted it to be!) She also played the Junior Champion in the 1st round I think.
Besides Schnyder and Jankovic's induction into the Quaterfinals I mainly liked the draws except for Venus and Serena having to play so early in the draw (ok Quarterfinals but both are potential finalists!) Anyway Flavia sadly lost easily to Safina but she'll have her time I'm sure. Dementieva also continued her recent success by making it to the semis. In the end I think it was predictable that Serena would win - despite everyone saying it was going to be difficult to pick I believed from the start that Serena was the favourite and now that she is No.1 it makes me even happier - to think that finally someone more stable would take No.1.
Tuesday 26 August 2008
Womens US Open draw
I haven't been posting previous tournaments because I have found myself struggling to find interest in posting those tournaments, I believe from now on I will only post select tournaments rather than the whole calendar as it does wear me down. So of course I had to post on the US Open (sorry for being late because I just got off a plane yesterday night).
Well isn't it refreshing to see Nadal at No.1 seed, I wonder how well he'll do, being his first Slam where he is seeded No.1 I'm predicting a semifinal possibility but I haven't seen the draw yet so I shouldn't put judgement that quickly.
Nadal's first match against Phau wasn't that clean and to be honest I think he would much rather have played an easy match to show he has got what it takes on Hard courts. He has American De Heart next, who I've never heard of and possibly Nadal will not have heard of. Troicki could be slightly. Kohlschreiber shouldn't be a problem if Nadal was to meet him. The next section sees Berdych and Karlovic leading the upset pack. I don't think Berdych is having a good enough year to cause a threat. I wouldn't right Karlovic off but I don't think Nadal would lose to him either.
James Blake's bad start to the Open could mean an opening for Mathieu or Grosjean which benefits Nalbandian or Monfils the most, however Blake is still a strong candidate to take on Nadal. Nalbandian doesn't have the best of results in the US and on top of that his year isn't going greatly either but Nalbandian does normally produce his best tennis towards the end of the year. But all in all this should make for easy pickings for Nadal.
Sadly Monaco lost out early (one of my Top 10 favourites of the ATP Tour) but at least it was Nishikori who I'm liking a lot these days. Ferrer got to the semis last year so I wouldn't cut him out but before the semis he had a poor record in the US so anything could happen but I don't think anyone in his part of the draw will cause too much of a trouble for him. With this draw Murray could really capitalize. Firstly this is Murray's breakout year winning his first Masters and jumping to 6th in the rankings, secondly he has got the easiest opponent out of the Top 4 in his quarters and thirdly he doesn't have to go through a vast amount of tough players before he could get to the semis. All in all if Murray is on form we may see him in the Semis. But what I have to say is - does he have what it takes to beat Nadal? Personally I'd say No. Nadal has the game that beats Murray in nearly every way possible, it isn't really how good of a player Nadal is on Hard courts but how much he dominates Murray's game. I think Murray would have to pull off a huge shock to beat Nadal. Sadly Feliciano Lopez lost in the first round so my hopes will be on Murray here, but wait a sec I nearly forgot Youzhny who got into the semis in 2006. Well this year has definitely not been a good one for him compared to the last so he is a dark horse to get to the quarters.
The third quarters see Roddick and Djokovic pulled into one draw, possibly the most exciting one. Roddick would have rested a lot so he should be fresh, hopefully he could emulate the success he had at the start of the year. If he is in form I really don't see any possible upsets. The next section sees the quickly falling Robredo and one of my favourite players Safin. Though both don't seem to be a threat here. Tsonga is also on this section - amazing isn't it that it seems like such a short time since Tsonga did what he did in the Australian Open and subsequently died out of any contention whatsoever in any other competition! Personally nobody should really threat Djokovic or Roddick so I'm waiting to watch this match (though I do hope Safin does well here).
Davydenko and Federer round off the draws, Davydenko has been a semifinalist here for two years but I think he doesn't have enough to beat Federer, however good he is on hard courts. Besides those two I will also be looking to watch out for Tursunov and Gasquet (who will be playing another one of my favourites Tommy Haas). But besides that I'll see what happens before I make any judgement on possible winners, but Djokovic to win!
Well isn't it refreshing to see Nadal at No.1 seed, I wonder how well he'll do, being his first Slam where he is seeded No.1 I'm predicting a semifinal possibility but I haven't seen the draw yet so I shouldn't put judgement that quickly.
Nadal's first match against Phau wasn't that clean and to be honest I think he would much rather have played an easy match to show he has got what it takes on Hard courts. He has American De Heart next, who I've never heard of and possibly Nadal will not have heard of. Troicki could be slightly. Kohlschreiber shouldn't be a problem if Nadal was to meet him. The next section sees Berdych and Karlovic leading the upset pack. I don't think Berdych is having a good enough year to cause a threat. I wouldn't right Karlovic off but I don't think Nadal would lose to him either.
James Blake's bad start to the Open could mean an opening for Mathieu or Grosjean which benefits Nalbandian or Monfils the most, however Blake is still a strong candidate to take on Nadal. Nalbandian doesn't have the best of results in the US and on top of that his year isn't going greatly either but Nalbandian does normally produce his best tennis towards the end of the year. But all in all this should make for easy pickings for Nadal.
Sadly Monaco lost out early (one of my Top 10 favourites of the ATP Tour) but at least it was Nishikori who I'm liking a lot these days. Ferrer got to the semis last year so I wouldn't cut him out but before the semis he had a poor record in the US so anything could happen but I don't think anyone in his part of the draw will cause too much of a trouble for him. With this draw Murray could really capitalize. Firstly this is Murray's breakout year winning his first Masters and jumping to 6th in the rankings, secondly he has got the easiest opponent out of the Top 4 in his quarters and thirdly he doesn't have to go through a vast amount of tough players before he could get to the semis. All in all if Murray is on form we may see him in the Semis. But what I have to say is - does he have what it takes to beat Nadal? Personally I'd say No. Nadal has the game that beats Murray in nearly every way possible, it isn't really how good of a player Nadal is on Hard courts but how much he dominates Murray's game. I think Murray would have to pull off a huge shock to beat Nadal. Sadly Feliciano Lopez lost in the first round so my hopes will be on Murray here, but wait a sec I nearly forgot Youzhny who got into the semis in 2006. Well this year has definitely not been a good one for him compared to the last so he is a dark horse to get to the quarters.
The third quarters see Roddick and Djokovic pulled into one draw, possibly the most exciting one. Roddick would have rested a lot so he should be fresh, hopefully he could emulate the success he had at the start of the year. If he is in form I really don't see any possible upsets. The next section sees the quickly falling Robredo and one of my favourite players Safin. Though both don't seem to be a threat here. Tsonga is also on this section - amazing isn't it that it seems like such a short time since Tsonga did what he did in the Australian Open and subsequently died out of any contention whatsoever in any other competition! Personally nobody should really threat Djokovic or Roddick so I'm waiting to watch this match (though I do hope Safin does well here).
Davydenko and Federer round off the draws, Davydenko has been a semifinalist here for two years but I think he doesn't have enough to beat Federer, however good he is on hard courts. Besides those two I will also be looking to watch out for Tursunov and Gasquet (who will be playing another one of my favourites Tommy Haas). But besides that I'll see what happens before I make any judgement on possible winners, but Djokovic to win!
Mens US Open Draw
I haven't been posting previous tournaments because I have found myself struggling to find interest in posting those tournaments, I believe from now on I will only post select tournaments rather than the whole calendar as it does wear me down. So of course I had to post on the US Open (sorry for being late because I just got off a plane yesterday night).
Well isn't it refreshing to see Nadal at No.1 seed, I wonder how well he'll do, being his first Slam where he is seeded No.1 I'm predicting a semifinal possibility but I haven't seen the draw yet so I shouldn't put judgement that quickly.
Nadal's first match against Phau wasn't that clean and to be honest I think he would much rather have played an easy match to show he has got what it takes on Hard courts. He has American De Heart next, who I've never heard of and possibly Nadal will not have heard of. Troicki could be slightly. Kohlschreiber shouldn't be a problem if Nadal was to meet him. The next section sees Berdych and Karlovic leading the upset pack. I don't think Berdych is having a good enough year to cause a threat. I wouldn't right Karlovic off but I don't think Nadal would lose to him either.
James Blake's bad start to the Open could mean an opening for Mathieu or Grosjean which benefits Nalbandian or Monfils the most, however Blake is still a strong candidate to take on Nadal. Nalbandian doesn't have the best of results in the US and on top of that his year isn't going greatly either but Nalbandian does normally produce his best tennis towards the end of the year. But all in all this should make for easy pickings for Nadal.
Sadly Monaco lost out early (one of my Top 10 favourites of the ATP Tour) but at least it was Nishikori who I'm liking a lot these days. Ferrer got to the semis last year so I wouldn't cut him out but before the semis he had a poor record in the US so anything could happen but I don't think anyone in his part of the draw will cause too much of a trouble for him. With this draw Murray could really capitalize. Firstly this is Murray's breakout year winning his first Masters and jumping to 6th in the rankings, secondly he has got the easiest opponent out of the Top 4 in his quarters and thirdly he doesn't have to go through a vast amount of tough players before he could get to the semis. All in all if Murray is on form we may see him in the Semis. But what I have to say is - does he have what it takes to beat Nadal? Personally I'd say No. Nadal has the game that beats Murray in nearly every way possible, it isn't really how good of a player Nadal is on Hard courts but how much he dominates Murray's game. I think Murray would have to pull off a huge shock to beat Nadal. Sadly Feliciano Lopez lost in the first round so my hopes will be on Murray here, but wait a sec I nearly forgot Youzhny who got into the semis in 2006. Well this year has definitely not been a good one for him compared to the last so he is a dark horse to get to the quarters.
The third quarters see Roddick and Djokovic pulled into one draw, possibly the most exciting one. Roddick would have rested a lot so he should be fresh, hopefully he could emulate the success he had at the start of the year. If he is in form I really don't see any possible upsets. The next section sees the quickly falling Robredo and one of my favourite players Safin. Though both don't seem to be a threat here. Tsonga is also on this section - amazing isn't it that it seems like such a short time since Tsonga did what he did in the Australian Open and subsequently died out of any contention whatsoever in any other competition! Personally nobody should really threat Djokovic or Roddick so I'm waiting to watch this match (though I do hope Safin does well here).
Davydenko and Federer round off the draws, Davydenko has been a semifinalist here for two years but I think he doesn't have enough to beat Federer, however good he is on hard courts. Besides those two I will also be looking to watch out for Tursunov and Gasquet (who will be playing another one of my favourites Tommy Haas). But besides that I'll see what happens before I make any judgement on possible winners, but Djokovic to win!
Well isn't it refreshing to see Nadal at No.1 seed, I wonder how well he'll do, being his first Slam where he is seeded No.1 I'm predicting a semifinal possibility but I haven't seen the draw yet so I shouldn't put judgement that quickly.
Nadal's first match against Phau wasn't that clean and to be honest I think he would much rather have played an easy match to show he has got what it takes on Hard courts. He has American De Heart next, who I've never heard of and possibly Nadal will not have heard of. Troicki could be slightly. Kohlschreiber shouldn't be a problem if Nadal was to meet him. The next section sees Berdych and Karlovic leading the upset pack. I don't think Berdych is having a good enough year to cause a threat. I wouldn't right Karlovic off but I don't think Nadal would lose to him either.
James Blake's bad start to the Open could mean an opening for Mathieu or Grosjean which benefits Nalbandian or Monfils the most, however Blake is still a strong candidate to take on Nadal. Nalbandian doesn't have the best of results in the US and on top of that his year isn't going greatly either but Nalbandian does normally produce his best tennis towards the end of the year. But all in all this should make for easy pickings for Nadal.
Sadly Monaco lost out early (one of my Top 10 favourites of the ATP Tour) but at least it was Nishikori who I'm liking a lot these days. Ferrer got to the semis last year so I wouldn't cut him out but before the semis he had a poor record in the US so anything could happen but I don't think anyone in his part of the draw will cause too much of a trouble for him. With this draw Murray could really capitalize. Firstly this is Murray's breakout year winning his first Masters and jumping to 6th in the rankings, secondly he has got the easiest opponent out of the Top 4 in his quarters and thirdly he doesn't have to go through a vast amount of tough players before he could get to the semis. All in all if Murray is on form we may see him in the Semis. But what I have to say is - does he have what it takes to beat Nadal? Personally I'd say No. Nadal has the game that beats Murray in nearly every way possible, it isn't really how good of a player Nadal is on Hard courts but how much he dominates Murray's game. I think Murray would have to pull off a huge shock to beat Nadal. Sadly Feliciano Lopez lost in the first round so my hopes will be on Murray here, but wait a sec I nearly forgot Youzhny who got into the semis in 2006. Well this year has definitely not been a good one for him compared to the last so he is a dark horse to get to the quarters.
The third quarters see Roddick and Djokovic pulled into one draw, possibly the most exciting one. Roddick would have rested a lot so he should be fresh, hopefully he could emulate the success he had at the start of the year. If he is in form I really don't see any possible upsets. The next section sees the quickly falling Robredo and one of my favourite players Safin. Though both don't seem to be a threat here. Tsonga is also on this section - amazing isn't it that it seems like such a short time since Tsonga did what he did in the Australian Open and subsequently died out of any contention whatsoever in any other competition! Personally nobody should really threat Djokovic or Roddick so I'm waiting to watch this match (though I do hope Safin does well here).
Davydenko and Federer round off the draws, Davydenko has been a semifinalist here for two years but I think he doesn't have enough to beat Federer, however good he is on hard courts. Besides those two I will also be looking to watch out for Tursunov and Gasquet (who will be playing another one of my favourites Tommy Haas). But besides that I'll see what happens before I make any judgement on possible winners, but Djokovic to win!
Friday 8 August 2008
Catchup on ATP Tour
Firstly I'll talk about the Western and Southern Financial Group Masters, definitely the shock of the year I think. Where do I start! Ok firstly lets do what I always do, I'll split it into sections. 1st Section was headlined by Roger Federer, Andy Roddick having retired. We all thought that Federer would find it easy here but oh no it wasn't. Firstly we must have felt slightly shocked when Federer took so long to dispatch of Ginepri, it must have cast a shadow on our minds and then the tall Ivo Karlovic solidified are worries as he beat Federer in a tight three sets. For the people who don't believe that Federer is losing his dominance this is one of many steps that have made him lose grace. Down below Davydenko and Murray were the main seeds with Gasquet a very possible threat, however both Davydenko and Gasquet lost in Round 2. Tursunov having beaten Safin in the first round took another scalp in the draw by defeating Gasquet. It was left to Murray to save some grace for the seeds. Murray did just that by getting to the finals. The third section was headlined by Blake and Djokovic, Blake suffered like many of the seeds and went in Round 3. Novak Djokovic however ran past his competitors until having to go against Nadal. However Djokovic took little time in dispatching the reigning Wimbledon and Roland Garros champion beating Nadal 6-1,7-5. On the fourth section Ferrer had also lost out early along with Youzhny. Haas did well but was unable to beat Nadal in the 4th round. Honestly I don't remember the last time a Masters was played without the prescence of either Nadal or Federer. Also I have to say it's August (only a few months left) and Federer has only won one small title in Germany! How much more do I have to say before people think Federer is gone.
The next was the Rogers Cup and yet again shocks galore. Ok in the first section Federer and Roddick were drawn together again, but who would have thought neither would get to the quaters! Federer lost to Gilles SImon this time, in actual fact he lost in his first match here! Marin Cilic (the rising Croat) was the conqueror of Roddick. Blake and Davydenko were the top seeds in section 2. Haas yet again played well whilst this time Kiefer was the man. Tursunov also yet again did well. Murray and Djokovic were drawn together whilst Safin and Ancic were also drawn in section 3. Murray showed his determination to break the shadow of Djokovic and beat him twice in a row (in actual fact I feel slightly sad that he beat him as Djokovic must be hurt by the two losses, I hope it doesn't take his chances of winning the US Open away, I'd much rather Djokovic do well in the US than Murray as Djokovic needs to catch up with Nadal. Anyway DJOKOVIC I'm cheering for you in the Olympics and US Open. Gasquet did better here but lost to Nadal the eventual winner. I think if Djokovic beat Murray he would have got the finals as Murray's game doesn't work with Nadal whilst Djokovic has better chances of winning especially when he beat him last week and also because Nadal is weaker on hard courts. Anyway to people who still don't believe Federer has gone then I don't have anything else I could say to you but face the facts. I won't talk about the Country Classics yet because they haven't finished.
The next was the Rogers Cup and yet again shocks galore. Ok in the first section Federer and Roddick were drawn together again, but who would have thought neither would get to the quaters! Federer lost to Gilles SImon this time, in actual fact he lost in his first match here! Marin Cilic (the rising Croat) was the conqueror of Roddick. Blake and Davydenko were the top seeds in section 2. Haas yet again played well whilst this time Kiefer was the man. Tursunov also yet again did well. Murray and Djokovic were drawn together whilst Safin and Ancic were also drawn in section 3. Murray showed his determination to break the shadow of Djokovic and beat him twice in a row (in actual fact I feel slightly sad that he beat him as Djokovic must be hurt by the two losses, I hope it doesn't take his chances of winning the US Open away, I'd much rather Djokovic do well in the US than Murray as Djokovic needs to catch up with Nadal. Anyway DJOKOVIC I'm cheering for you in the Olympics and US Open. Gasquet did better here but lost to Nadal the eventual winner. I think if Djokovic beat Murray he would have got the finals as Murray's game doesn't work with Nadal whilst Djokovic has better chances of winning especially when he beat him last week and also because Nadal is weaker on hard courts. Anyway to people who still don't believe Federer has gone then I don't have anything else I could say to you but face the facts. I won't talk about the Country Classics yet because they haven't finished.
Catchup on WTA Tour
Ok so I have been away for about two weeks or so well I finally got something to get onto the internet with, my cousin had this Wi-Fi, HSDPA and 3G gadget thing which he lent me. Well a lot has happened since I have been gone and I am so dissapointed I wasn't able to follow it; I will talk about each and every detail that shocked me during these weeks and I'm sure all of you would know what I am talking about.
Well let's start off from the beginning the Banka Koper Slovenia Open, Maria Kirilenko was the to seed but sadly fell to eventual winner Sara Errani. Besides that I congratule Katie O'Brien for making the second round. Now the Nordea Nordic Light Open. Radwanska was the top seed but lost to eventual winner Caroline Wozniacki. Agnes Szavay also continued her unremarkable year losing to Dushevina this time around. The main tournaments of interest are the East West Bank Classic and the Rogers Cup, both amazingly won by Dinara Safina - go girl you finally show your potential that I knew was in there.
Well first let's talk about the East West Bank Classic. Now that Justine Henin is gone I find that the womens draw is blank, anyone could win now! I think nobody is going to dominate the scene this year, maybe Sharapova will fight for the spot next year but this year I find it very gloomy unless the William's sisters have anything to say. Well Jankovic played easy opponents until Nadia Petrova got in her way (I see her as a resurgent power in the womens game currently), Jankovic was eventually stopped by Safina in a humiliating second set. Alla Kudryavtseva is also showing some promise taking her fellow russian Dinara Safina into a tense three sets. On the other side FLAVIA PENNETTA got to the final - great! I was in slight shock when I saw her name at the finalist section. Anyway that draw was weak so anyone could have come out the victor really. Sadly Nicole Vaidisova has still not found her form or she would have been able to capitalize on this weak draw. I feel so sad nowadays because she has been overtaken by fellow teens. Anyway congratulations to Bethanie Mattek and Melanie South for achieveing good results. Rogers Cup was packed with more top seeds but as I have said without the Williams or Henin the draw seems vacant.
Well where do I begin, Ivanovic as I have always said is probably the weakest No.1 (or least dominant) we have ever seen, she is not ready for this title and I think it would hurt her more than help her as the pressure will build on her to keep this title - she has also got it easy as her competition are all falling by the wayside. However it did shock me when Tamira Paszek beat her! Anyway on the other side the dominant Safina took the stage again and went straight to the finals, other notables include Flavia Pennetta who sadly lost to Larcher De Brito - probably because of fatigue. On the other side my demons began! MARION BARTOLI got to the semis!!!! Well I have to sauy it is mainly because of a weak draw, out of the top 8 Chakvetadze is the weakest to be honest and then Sugiyama is much too old to make a threat to the draws. Sharapova retiring also solidified my opinion that the womens game is weak currently. I thought with Justine gone at least Sharapova would take the spot but she looks so out of sorts lately, come on William's sisters play more - if you do I am sure that you would win most competitions you play in. However the spotlight was on Cibulkova, she thrashed Vesnina in the first round and then took out Dementieva, Petrova, Jankovic and Bartoli - a total of four seeds. As I said the womens game is the weakest I have ever seen it.
Well let's start off from the beginning the Banka Koper Slovenia Open, Maria Kirilenko was the to seed but sadly fell to eventual winner Sara Errani. Besides that I congratule Katie O'Brien for making the second round. Now the Nordea Nordic Light Open. Radwanska was the top seed but lost to eventual winner Caroline Wozniacki. Agnes Szavay also continued her unremarkable year losing to Dushevina this time around. The main tournaments of interest are the East West Bank Classic and the Rogers Cup, both amazingly won by Dinara Safina - go girl you finally show your potential that I knew was in there.
Well first let's talk about the East West Bank Classic. Now that Justine Henin is gone I find that the womens draw is blank, anyone could win now! I think nobody is going to dominate the scene this year, maybe Sharapova will fight for the spot next year but this year I find it very gloomy unless the William's sisters have anything to say. Well Jankovic played easy opponents until Nadia Petrova got in her way (I see her as a resurgent power in the womens game currently), Jankovic was eventually stopped by Safina in a humiliating second set. Alla Kudryavtseva is also showing some promise taking her fellow russian Dinara Safina into a tense three sets. On the other side FLAVIA PENNETTA got to the final - great! I was in slight shock when I saw her name at the finalist section. Anyway that draw was weak so anyone could have come out the victor really. Sadly Nicole Vaidisova has still not found her form or she would have been able to capitalize on this weak draw. I feel so sad nowadays because she has been overtaken by fellow teens. Anyway congratulations to Bethanie Mattek and Melanie South for achieveing good results. Rogers Cup was packed with more top seeds but as I have said without the Williams or Henin the draw seems vacant.
Well where do I begin, Ivanovic as I have always said is probably the weakest No.1 (or least dominant) we have ever seen, she is not ready for this title and I think it would hurt her more than help her as the pressure will build on her to keep this title - she has also got it easy as her competition are all falling by the wayside. However it did shock me when Tamira Paszek beat her! Anyway on the other side the dominant Safina took the stage again and went straight to the finals, other notables include Flavia Pennetta who sadly lost to Larcher De Brito - probably because of fatigue. On the other side my demons began! MARION BARTOLI got to the semis!!!! Well I have to sauy it is mainly because of a weak draw, out of the top 8 Chakvetadze is the weakest to be honest and then Sugiyama is much too old to make a threat to the draws. Sharapova retiring also solidified my opinion that the womens game is weak currently. I thought with Justine gone at least Sharapova would take the spot but she looks so out of sorts lately, come on William's sisters play more - if you do I am sure that you would win most competitions you play in. However the spotlight was on Cibulkova, she thrashed Vesnina in the first round and then took out Dementieva, Petrova, Jankovic and Bartoli - a total of four seeds. As I said the womens game is the weakest I have ever seen it.
Saturday 12 July 2008
Departure Week
Next week I'll be leaving for Hong Kong so for more than a month I will be unlikely to post regularly or even post at all, but I will make up for it when I get back. Anyway about next week, I've only seen half of the draws but I'll post about them anyway.
In Indianapolis James Blake will headline the seeds, he should feel more comfortable on hard and in America. I will be cheering for Dmitry Tursunov, hopefully he'll do fine as his draw isn't too strong. The usual spread of Americans inhabit the bottom half of the draw but Tommy Haas will be my favourite here. So in Indianapolis I'll be cheering for Tursunov and Haas.
The draw in Amersfoot doesn't seem so interesting to be honest.
Serena will be headlining in Stanford. She should be fine with her early draw but I would love to see Gisela Dulko do some damage. Lindsay Davenport could be a possible threat to get to the quaterfinals but should be not too much of a problem for Serena. Then we have Petrova just off from a good run in Wimbledon, she faces an onslauught of young names before reaching a possible match up with Hantuchova. Bartoli will also be in this draw (sadly) and she will face equally unimpressive Anna Chakvetadze (sorry to her fans). Shahar Peer lurks beneath here. Anyway this draw should be for Serena's taking.
In Indianapolis James Blake will headline the seeds, he should feel more comfortable on hard and in America. I will be cheering for Dmitry Tursunov, hopefully he'll do fine as his draw isn't too strong. The usual spread of Americans inhabit the bottom half of the draw but Tommy Haas will be my favourite here. So in Indianapolis I'll be cheering for Tursunov and Haas.
The draw in Amersfoot doesn't seem so interesting to be honest.
Serena will be headlining in Stanford. She should be fine with her early draw but I would love to see Gisela Dulko do some damage. Lindsay Davenport could be a possible threat to get to the quaterfinals but should be not too much of a problem for Serena. Then we have Petrova just off from a good run in Wimbledon, she faces an onslauught of young names before reaching a possible match up with Hantuchova. Bartoli will also be in this draw (sadly) and she will face equally unimpressive Anna Chakvetadze (sorry to her fans). Shahar Peer lurks beneath here. Anyway this draw should be for Serena's taking.
Friday 11 July 2008
Catella Swedish Open
Just quite amazed that the four top seeds in the Catella Swedish Open have gone through to the semifinals, haven't seen that in a while but I guess there wasn't anyone to challenge the top 4 there.
Monday 7 July 2008
Next Week
I am so tired from Wimbledon that I don't have much energy to analyse the draws for this week, but I'll look at them anyway. Wawrinka leads the seeds in Gstaad on Red Clay. Personally without much analyse on many of the top players I don't know who will succeed but I will be cheering for the third seed; Youzhny. In Newport, USA Mardy Fish leads the seeds with expectedly quite a few Americans. I don't really have a favourite here so I will skip this draw until the final. In Bastad, Sweden Ferrer - the newly crowned No.4 in the world leads the seeds on Clay. Robredo, Nieminen, Mota, Safin, Berdych, Monfils and Verdasco look also to be title contenders. Hopefully Safin will play well here and continue his good run. This draw is interesting though so I'll be following it for the whole week. In Stuttgart Germany the newly crowned Wimbledon champion will go back to his favourite surface; Clay. He will surely be the favourite; but one question does lurk into mind - will he be too tired to play? Anyway besides Nadal it looks like Gasquet will also try to get back into the Top 10. But this draw doesn't ineterest me until possibly the Quaterfinals.
On the womens side it looks like the Top players are licking their wounds from Wimbledon as no Top 10 player will be active; you could argue that it is just a Tier III and IV tournament but I think it is somewhat to do with their early loss. In Budapest Szavay and Cornet lead a draw of blow Top 40 players. This draw doesn't really interest me. In Palermo it will be one of my favourites; Flavia Pennetta leading the draw. Her biggest adversary here is Medina Garrigues; who recently beat her. Alla Kudryavtseva will however want to say differently. Besides those three I don't see many other possible winners, unless Wickmayer can make a shock comeback.
On the womens side it looks like the Top players are licking their wounds from Wimbledon as no Top 10 player will be active; you could argue that it is just a Tier III and IV tournament but I think it is somewhat to do with their early loss. In Budapest Szavay and Cornet lead a draw of blow Top 40 players. This draw doesn't really interest me. In Palermo it will be one of my favourites; Flavia Pennetta leading the draw. Her biggest adversary here is Medina Garrigues; who recently beat her. Alla Kudryavtseva will however want to say differently. Besides those three I don't see many other possible winners, unless Wickmayer can make a shock comeback.
...and here we end Wimbledon
Well what a final it was for both the men's and the womens events. For the womens my knowledge told me to go with Venus as the winner though in my heart I was routing for Serena so it was always difficult to predict a winner their. But in the end I did feel Venus was going to have the upper hand and to be honest Serena blew herself out of contention; she started off so strong but couldn't keep it up as Venus surpassed her.
For the mens it was a rollercoaster and exhausting to watch. However from the start I believed Nadal was looking on top form I just overestimated the motivation Federer had (don't get me wrong he was definitely motivated). I think however with this blow to Federer it will be even more difficult for him to sustain the No.1 title. Some may disagree saying that the match could have gone either way but we need to understand that Federer was playing on his best surface! Now the only place he can find comfort is on Hard Courts but Djokovic is catching up on those as well! I do think next year we would see a No.2 or even No.3 Federer. At the start of the year I did say it was possible for Federer to lose the No.1 spot at least once and it is actually very possible with only 545 points seperating the two. I have to say though Federer's run to 14 Grand Slams looks to be in threat. Yes he will go to the US as the favourite but I'm sure Djokovic will be hot on his heels after the 2nd round defeat in Wimbledon. I do think he'll be back for a vengeance and though Nadal hasn't be too great here it looks like he could at least get to the Semis. I think once Federer starts dropping we'll see a split dominance. Nadal will be dominant in the French and Wimbledon whilst Djokovic will be dominant in Australia and the US Open. This is just my opinion though, however I do believe by 2010 we''ll probably be waving goodbye to Federer as No.1 (meaning by that time I don't think he'll get back to No.1 unless he has kept the No.1 spot until then).
Anyway the rankings are also interesting. For how long has the Top 4 been Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Davydenko; I don't even know but now No.4 is David Ferrer. I wonder how long that will last. Murray has successful enetered the Top 10 which is great. Hopefully he'll find something in him to reach the Top 8 so he'll get an easier draw at the US. Gasquet sadly dropped 5 ranks though which is a shame whilst fellow frenchmen Tsonga also suffered a similar fate.
Feliciano Lopez (who has probably risen to my Top 20 in the past few months) has reached No.22 after his success in Wimbledon. Mario Ancic's efforts also got him to No.24. However the biggest jumpers must be Rainer Schuttler (+55 to 39) Marat Safin (+35 to 40 Yeah) and Arnaud Clement (+73 to 72). Though the tournament saw many upsets Marat Safin reaching the Semis was a huge payback for me! However with Tommy Haas' valiant effort he still had to drop 7 ranks.
Now lets go to the womens rankings. Sadly Ivanovic still hangs on to No.1 because of a weak effort from all 4 top seeds. Jelena Jankovic also sadly goes to No.2 putting Sharapova to third. But what most interests me is that the ranking points make it look ever closer to being a six way tie for No.1! Has that ever happened before! All the Top 6 are in the 3000 mark meaning another good effort from Serena and Elena will see them in the race for No.1. Marion Bartoli sadly only dropped 5 places - I was hoping for a 10 plus drop! It's also sad that Nicole keeps her ranking of 22 but as long as she can sustain a good run she'll easily get back to the top. One thing that really interests me is that now 4 chinese players are in the Top 50. I don't think it has ever happened. Anne Keothavong also makes it into the Top 80, hopefully she continue her rise.
For the mens it was a rollercoaster and exhausting to watch. However from the start I believed Nadal was looking on top form I just overestimated the motivation Federer had (don't get me wrong he was definitely motivated). I think however with this blow to Federer it will be even more difficult for him to sustain the No.1 title. Some may disagree saying that the match could have gone either way but we need to understand that Federer was playing on his best surface! Now the only place he can find comfort is on Hard Courts but Djokovic is catching up on those as well! I do think next year we would see a No.2 or even No.3 Federer. At the start of the year I did say it was possible for Federer to lose the No.1 spot at least once and it is actually very possible with only 545 points seperating the two. I have to say though Federer's run to 14 Grand Slams looks to be in threat. Yes he will go to the US as the favourite but I'm sure Djokovic will be hot on his heels after the 2nd round defeat in Wimbledon. I do think he'll be back for a vengeance and though Nadal hasn't be too great here it looks like he could at least get to the Semis. I think once Federer starts dropping we'll see a split dominance. Nadal will be dominant in the French and Wimbledon whilst Djokovic will be dominant in Australia and the US Open. This is just my opinion though, however I do believe by 2010 we''ll probably be waving goodbye to Federer as No.1 (meaning by that time I don't think he'll get back to No.1 unless he has kept the No.1 spot until then).
Anyway the rankings are also interesting. For how long has the Top 4 been Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Davydenko; I don't even know but now No.4 is David Ferrer. I wonder how long that will last. Murray has successful enetered the Top 10 which is great. Hopefully he'll find something in him to reach the Top 8 so he'll get an easier draw at the US. Gasquet sadly dropped 5 ranks though which is a shame whilst fellow frenchmen Tsonga also suffered a similar fate.
Feliciano Lopez (who has probably risen to my Top 20 in the past few months) has reached No.22 after his success in Wimbledon. Mario Ancic's efforts also got him to No.24. However the biggest jumpers must be Rainer Schuttler (+55 to 39) Marat Safin (+35 to 40 Yeah) and Arnaud Clement (+73 to 72). Though the tournament saw many upsets Marat Safin reaching the Semis was a huge payback for me! However with Tommy Haas' valiant effort he still had to drop 7 ranks.
Now lets go to the womens rankings. Sadly Ivanovic still hangs on to No.1 because of a weak effort from all 4 top seeds. Jelena Jankovic also sadly goes to No.2 putting Sharapova to third. But what most interests me is that the ranking points make it look ever closer to being a six way tie for No.1! Has that ever happened before! All the Top 6 are in the 3000 mark meaning another good effort from Serena and Elena will see them in the race for No.1. Marion Bartoli sadly only dropped 5 places - I was hoping for a 10 plus drop! It's also sad that Nicole keeps her ranking of 22 but as long as she can sustain a good run she'll easily get back to the top. One thing that really interests me is that now 4 chinese players are in the Top 50. I don't think it has ever happened. Anne Keothavong also makes it into the Top 80, hopefully she continue her rise.
Thursday 3 July 2008
Womens Final
Well it's the women's final and as I said from the very beginning it will be a Williams affair. Anyway I congratulate Dementieva and Zheng for trying to upset the stalwarts but to be honest they never had a chance. Anyway congrats also to Vaidisova - she is back (though not to her best). Lets see what happens on Saturday because this should be a classic - unlike last year! I have to say though, wouldn't it be interesting when even the Williams sisters retire! The time is looming over their shoulders and honestly when that happens how wide open would Wimbledon be!
Monday 30 June 2008
Happiness: Overload (review of events)
Well isn't Wimbledon such an exciting event. Today has probably been my favourite day in Wimbledon for a long time! I have to say the positives far outweight the negatives. To be very honest there are only possibly two players who I would have liked to see the back of, but as long as my favourites are still intact it makes me all the happier.
Unfortunately I was unable to watch the matches until about 3pm which meant I just had enough time to see one of my favourite players beat Anna Chakvetadze (this being Nicole Vaidisova by the way). I sadly missed all the drama that supposedly went on court and was only able to see about one and a half games of the match. So it means Channel 301 (freeview) for me tonight! Anyway besides Nicole's fantastic win which lifts my spirits up from a very boring and tiring day, Jie Zheng also made it through. I never could have believed that Zheng would make it to the Quaters, could she pull of another upset - I hope not! As she will play Nicole Vaidisova next and I am praying for a Nicole/Serena semifinal!
Both Serena and Venus seemed to swat their opponents. Kleybanova having previously beaten Hantuchova and Mattek having beaten Bartoli.
Petrova (an unlikely quaterfinalist) also made it through after defeating the Sharapovaslayer Alla Kudrysvtseva. If only Sharapova was in this Quaterfinal section, it would be much more interesting. Instead we have a sure fire finalist from section 4 (most probably Venus Williams, but Tanasugarn could cause a huge huge upset!). If only I hadn't started to like Sharapova this year I would have had one of my favourite draws of the decade, but sadly I had to also jump on the Sharapova bandwagon and become a slight fan! It also saddens me that Henin wasn't here either.
At the time of this post there are still two matches being played to fill the Quaterfinal draw. One is between the highest seed left (amazingly) Kuznetsova and Radwanska (they'll be beaten by Serena anyway) and the other between Dementieva and the unlikely Peer (and I thought Peer was supposedly out of it this year). Either way the winner of that match against Petrova would be my least favourite match of the 4 - as the other three include my 3 favourite players of the tour.
As I am typing Ancic has won the match against Verdasco, but he'll need much more to beat Federer, who though I think is losing his game I have to admit he is still looking dominant on grass.
Also looking at the draws, on both sides the third section looks unexpected. What should have been easy taking for Sharapova and Roddick, now sees Dementieva or Peer pitted against Petrova and four unseeded players in the mens draw hoping to get a semifinal spot.
I just hope Safin will continue to play well and defeat possibly Baghdatis - who I think will be a Quaterfinalist.
Well now that the Doubles look like they are reaching a climax (as I never like looking at the draws of Doubles in the early stage; as there are so many I don't know) I will post about it.
I have never really understood how the seeds in the doubles game sometimes don't even matter. Of course the top 3 or 4 seeds look in shape but after that it seems to be all for the taking. Well anyway my favourite doubles team - the Bryan brothers (I am all for Americans!) are through to the Quaters, against a team I have never known of their existance. Then another team who I never heard of will play the winner of Lopez/Verdasco against Bjorkman/Ullyett. I just hope it is the Bryan brothers who get to the finals!
I recognize the teams in the second half, being the 3rd and 9th seed. Hopefully Mirnyi/Murray will give the second seeds a run for their money.
In the Womens doubles Black/Huber are going strong. Safina/Szavay Vs. Azarenka/Peer will be their opponents. I am clueless about rankings in the womens doubles and I am still in the day where I thought Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur were in the top 10, but amazingly they are the 16th seeds.
Be nice to see Yan/Zheng get far also aswell of course the Williams duo.
One little thing to add. By the time I finished the post (as I was swept off to meet my cousin) Radwanska had beaten the 4th seed - will Ivanovic therefore keep her No.1? If Dementieva can get to the semis could she get higher than No.5? If the Williams win who will lose their rankings to them? Anyway the tournament is definitely getting exciting.
Unfortunately I was unable to watch the matches until about 3pm which meant I just had enough time to see one of my favourite players beat Anna Chakvetadze (this being Nicole Vaidisova by the way). I sadly missed all the drama that supposedly went on court and was only able to see about one and a half games of the match. So it means Channel 301 (freeview) for me tonight! Anyway besides Nicole's fantastic win which lifts my spirits up from a very boring and tiring day, Jie Zheng also made it through. I never could have believed that Zheng would make it to the Quaters, could she pull of another upset - I hope not! As she will play Nicole Vaidisova next and I am praying for a Nicole/Serena semifinal!
Both Serena and Venus seemed to swat their opponents. Kleybanova having previously beaten Hantuchova and Mattek having beaten Bartoli.
Petrova (an unlikely quaterfinalist) also made it through after defeating the Sharapovaslayer Alla Kudrysvtseva. If only Sharapova was in this Quaterfinal section, it would be much more interesting. Instead we have a sure fire finalist from section 4 (most probably Venus Williams, but Tanasugarn could cause a huge huge upset!). If only I hadn't started to like Sharapova this year I would have had one of my favourite draws of the decade, but sadly I had to also jump on the Sharapova bandwagon and become a slight fan! It also saddens me that Henin wasn't here either.
At the time of this post there are still two matches being played to fill the Quaterfinal draw. One is between the highest seed left (amazingly) Kuznetsova and Radwanska (they'll be beaten by Serena anyway) and the other between Dementieva and the unlikely Peer (and I thought Peer was supposedly out of it this year). Either way the winner of that match against Petrova would be my least favourite match of the 4 - as the other three include my 3 favourite players of the tour.
As I am typing Ancic has won the match against Verdasco, but he'll need much more to beat Federer, who though I think is losing his game I have to admit he is still looking dominant on grass.
Also looking at the draws, on both sides the third section looks unexpected. What should have been easy taking for Sharapova and Roddick, now sees Dementieva or Peer pitted against Petrova and four unseeded players in the mens draw hoping to get a semifinal spot.
I just hope Safin will continue to play well and defeat possibly Baghdatis - who I think will be a Quaterfinalist.
Well now that the Doubles look like they are reaching a climax (as I never like looking at the draws of Doubles in the early stage; as there are so many I don't know) I will post about it.
I have never really understood how the seeds in the doubles game sometimes don't even matter. Of course the top 3 or 4 seeds look in shape but after that it seems to be all for the taking. Well anyway my favourite doubles team - the Bryan brothers (I am all for Americans!) are through to the Quaters, against a team I have never known of their existance. Then another team who I never heard of will play the winner of Lopez/Verdasco against Bjorkman/Ullyett. I just hope it is the Bryan brothers who get to the finals!
I recognize the teams in the second half, being the 3rd and 9th seed. Hopefully Mirnyi/Murray will give the second seeds a run for their money.
In the Womens doubles Black/Huber are going strong. Safina/Szavay Vs. Azarenka/Peer will be their opponents. I am clueless about rankings in the womens doubles and I am still in the day where I thought Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur were in the top 10, but amazingly they are the 16th seeds.
Be nice to see Yan/Zheng get far also aswell of course the Williams duo.
One little thing to add. By the time I finished the post (as I was swept off to meet my cousin) Radwanska had beaten the 4th seed - will Ivanovic therefore keep her No.1? If Dementieva can get to the semis could she get higher than No.5? If the Williams win who will lose their rankings to them? Anyway the tournament is definitely getting exciting.
Friday 27 June 2008
Quick Update
I was just so excited today after watching Jie Zheng thrash Ivanovic that I decided to post on the top half of the womens draw. Jie Zheng beat Ivanovic 6-1,6-4. To other people this may be a shock but I expected it and I knew it was a very likely outcome. She will play Szavay next, if Jie Zheng continues to play well I don't see why she can't make this win and get to the QF's. Szavay's best record here is the 2nd round and she hasn't been doing well this year either. But the game I'm really hoping for is Nicole Vaidisova Vs. Serena Williams (which would be in the Semis). I think Nicole has a shot against Anna Chakvetadze but I do think Chakvetadze looks to have the edge here. I really do hope Nicole can find something in her because if she was at her best I am sure this match would be an easy taking. The icing on top of the cake was that Bethanie Mattek beat Marion Bartoli. Though I knew Marion Bartoli wasn't going to get anywhere near the final with Serena as her 4th round opponent, but knowing that Bethanie Mattek beat Bartoli is better than anything. I really do think that Serena is going to get to the final along with Venus. It would be great to see them in the final! But what I am praying for is the good form of Nicole Vaidisova.
Thursday 26 June 2008
Wimbledon Day 1-4
Just thought I'd post on the controversial occurrences of Wimbledon 2008 (to the person who commented on my use of controversial, I'm very happy you said something bu please don't do that again!)
So in 4 days already a score of seeded players have dropped out. In total 13 mens seeds and 15 womens seeds have lost out and all before R3. What is the most shocking is that 5 of the top 10 mens seeds have fallen before R3!
Anyway let me talk about the draw.
Federer has played two rather easy matches. Robin Soderling did cause a slight threat in the third set but other than that all is going to plan for the Wimbledon champion. His third round opponent Marc Giquel would probably be swept off his feet. Giquel had a retirement in his first round and then played Lucky Loser Bozolijac which took him to 5 sets. Gicquel played only in 2007 in Wimbledon but lost in the 1st round. Hewitt had a difficult first round and I was very nervous for him but luckily his second round was less difficult. Sadly Bogdanovic lost out early (I don't particularly like him but I cheer for any British player - unless they go against my favourites!). Anyway Bolelli (who is quickly becoming a player I like) took Gonzalez out. So Hewitt faces Bolelli who has previously been to the 2nd round. I still think my 4th round prediction of Federer against Hewitt is likely though.
Berdych Vs. Ancic looks to be possible as well. Berdych hasn't had an easy way into the 3rd round, having to defeat Korolev in 3 sets and Hanescu in 4. Verdasco could be a strong opponent but it all depends on the day. Ancic had a difficult second round whilst Ferrer has had a much easier passage. With these two matches I think it is equally likely it will be Berdych/Ancic or Verdasco/Ferrer so currently I'll have to wait and see.
I did say Ferrero was one who I was unsure about so retiring counts as well. But what shocked me most (and probably all would have guessed by now) is the loss of Novak Djokovic. WHAT A SHOCK! But at least the winner was Marat Safin who should be able to get to the QF's now as neither Seppi nor Wawrinka look like QF's.
Baghdatis looks like the Quaterfinalist opponent of Safin in my opinion -though I would love it if Feliciano Lopez was. I just hope Safin has the strength to get to the semis or the semifinal line up would look very dissapointing for me.
Roddick against Blake is also one which is no longer existant. I was totally shocked when I knew that Roddick lost, I was in utter shock. Well I guess this gives Tursunov a chance which is good. I think the QF's should come from the Tipsaveric/ Tursunov match because Garcia Lopez isn't really experienced here and Schuettler is slightly too experienced!
Again my predictions went down the drain in Section 6 (I'm so dissapointed!) Anyway Paul Henri Mathieu was an alternative! I think Arnaud Clement is the possible Round 4 opponent of Mathieu because Melzer has played two 5 set matches already. That would mean another unexpected Quaterfinalist.
Well at least Gasquet/Murray is looking likely, and it's great that Haas is in R3. This years Wimbledon is like the return of my old favourites! (and the fall of my new ones!) I will be sitting closely to the TV for these two matches because they will likely save my grace!
Youzhny Vs Nadal is still very possible. Both Stepanek and Youzhny have looked to be on equal levels througout this tournament. It would be nice if Youzhny could shocked Nadal a bit (if he gets through) or even Kiefer, as Nadal looks slightly vulnerable (now that I have seen 4 days of tennis I actually think Federer is by far most likely). But if the shocks continue I think Nadal, Murray and Ferrer are the most likely Top 12 or seeds to be out next! Anyway looking at my predictions already 7 players in my top 16 are out!
I have to say though Federer should be the finalist (unless Hewitt or Safin have anything to say about that or even Baghdatis). Whilst his opponent is likely from Section 7 or 8, (Murray has a huge chance here to cause a shock you know! I actually don't think Nadal is as dominant in the bottom half as people may think - though Federer/Nadal is still the most likely final).
Well its sad that Djokovic and Roddick (my favourite two players) have fallen early, but lets hope they come back strong in the US.
The womens draw hasn't been as planned either, and definitely a few shocks have occured.
Firstly the Ivanovic/Dechy game was amazing! It was so tense, I actually thought Dechy could win it. Anyway that gives Jie Zheng (the wildcard) confidence to beat Ivanovic. I think with some wit Jie Zheng could cause a shock in this tournament and make it to the QF's. I think Garrigues/Szavay will blow each other out so the Quaterfinalist will be between Ivanovic/Zheng. I have to congratulate Baltacha though. I am so excited for Section 2 as Nicole has a chance here. If Nicole can defeat Dellacqua who has already played in two three setters she will most likely meet Chakvetadze who is definitely the weakest of the top 8. If Nicole reaches the QF's it would definitely make my tournament (even though Djokovic, Roddick and Sharapova are out). It's scary though because the thought of Nicole losing to Dellacqua lingers in my mind!
Well I think Kuznetsova should be safely through to the 4th round whilst Pavlyuchekova has done unexpectedly well in my opinion. Sadly it was to the cost of Na Li. Bethanie Mattek is doing well though, sadly Kirilenko lost out in R1. Serena Williams should be fine even though she is playing Amelie Mauresmo. I don't think Bartoli will be a threat to be honest.
Davenport sadly withdrew but that makes three of the 4 players in section 5 part of my liked list! Anyway it is all to play for in these two matches, to be honest they all seem to have had about the same performances.
Section 6 saw the biggest shock, meaning an unexpected semifinalist is on its way. Sharapova was shocked by Kudryavtseva. Though I think now that Sharapova's gone it is Azarenka who looks the strongest. Just look at her previous two matches - she has only lost 6 games and Petrova shouldn't cause too much of a threat. I hope Shuai Peng does well though. Amazing to think that out of the three Chinese tennis players it was Na Li who lost out first!
Venus Williams should have a safe journey to the Quaters, as her draw is decimating itself in front of her eyes. Sadly Pennetta lost to Sugiyama, but at least it was Sugiyama. Hantuchova also lost. But therefore we have a good draw for Venus. Jankovic is also looking strong, but Wozniacki is too. I think the Quaterfinalist will be between Wozniacki/Jankovic rather than the other r3 match. Well anyway I hope one of the Williams sisters win the title as I hate to think that either of the Serbians would win. But the second finalist should be between Jankovic/V.Williams. If shocks continue Ivanovic, Serena, Safina and Jankovic look the most vulnerable.
So in 4 days already a score of seeded players have dropped out. In total 13 mens seeds and 15 womens seeds have lost out and all before R3. What is the most shocking is that 5 of the top 10 mens seeds have fallen before R3!
Anyway let me talk about the draw.
Federer has played two rather easy matches. Robin Soderling did cause a slight threat in the third set but other than that all is going to plan for the Wimbledon champion. His third round opponent Marc Giquel would probably be swept off his feet. Giquel had a retirement in his first round and then played Lucky Loser Bozolijac which took him to 5 sets. Gicquel played only in 2007 in Wimbledon but lost in the 1st round. Hewitt had a difficult first round and I was very nervous for him but luckily his second round was less difficult. Sadly Bogdanovic lost out early (I don't particularly like him but I cheer for any British player - unless they go against my favourites!). Anyway Bolelli (who is quickly becoming a player I like) took Gonzalez out. So Hewitt faces Bolelli who has previously been to the 2nd round. I still think my 4th round prediction of Federer against Hewitt is likely though.
Berdych Vs. Ancic looks to be possible as well. Berdych hasn't had an easy way into the 3rd round, having to defeat Korolev in 3 sets and Hanescu in 4. Verdasco could be a strong opponent but it all depends on the day. Ancic had a difficult second round whilst Ferrer has had a much easier passage. With these two matches I think it is equally likely it will be Berdych/Ancic or Verdasco/Ferrer so currently I'll have to wait and see.
I did say Ferrero was one who I was unsure about so retiring counts as well. But what shocked me most (and probably all would have guessed by now) is the loss of Novak Djokovic. WHAT A SHOCK! But at least the winner was Marat Safin who should be able to get to the QF's now as neither Seppi nor Wawrinka look like QF's.
Baghdatis looks like the Quaterfinalist opponent of Safin in my opinion -though I would love it if Feliciano Lopez was. I just hope Safin has the strength to get to the semis or the semifinal line up would look very dissapointing for me.
Roddick against Blake is also one which is no longer existant. I was totally shocked when I knew that Roddick lost, I was in utter shock. Well I guess this gives Tursunov a chance which is good. I think the QF's should come from the Tipsaveric/ Tursunov match because Garcia Lopez isn't really experienced here and Schuettler is slightly too experienced!
Again my predictions went down the drain in Section 6 (I'm so dissapointed!) Anyway Paul Henri Mathieu was an alternative! I think Arnaud Clement is the possible Round 4 opponent of Mathieu because Melzer has played two 5 set matches already. That would mean another unexpected Quaterfinalist.
Well at least Gasquet/Murray is looking likely, and it's great that Haas is in R3. This years Wimbledon is like the return of my old favourites! (and the fall of my new ones!) I will be sitting closely to the TV for these two matches because they will likely save my grace!
Youzhny Vs Nadal is still very possible. Both Stepanek and Youzhny have looked to be on equal levels througout this tournament. It would be nice if Youzhny could shocked Nadal a bit (if he gets through) or even Kiefer, as Nadal looks slightly vulnerable (now that I have seen 4 days of tennis I actually think Federer is by far most likely). But if the shocks continue I think Nadal, Murray and Ferrer are the most likely Top 12 or seeds to be out next! Anyway looking at my predictions already 7 players in my top 16 are out!
I have to say though Federer should be the finalist (unless Hewitt or Safin have anything to say about that or even Baghdatis). Whilst his opponent is likely from Section 7 or 8, (Murray has a huge chance here to cause a shock you know! I actually don't think Nadal is as dominant in the bottom half as people may think - though Federer/Nadal is still the most likely final).
Well its sad that Djokovic and Roddick (my favourite two players) have fallen early, but lets hope they come back strong in the US.
The womens draw hasn't been as planned either, and definitely a few shocks have occured.
Firstly the Ivanovic/Dechy game was amazing! It was so tense, I actually thought Dechy could win it. Anyway that gives Jie Zheng (the wildcard) confidence to beat Ivanovic. I think with some wit Jie Zheng could cause a shock in this tournament and make it to the QF's. I think Garrigues/Szavay will blow each other out so the Quaterfinalist will be between Ivanovic/Zheng. I have to congratulate Baltacha though. I am so excited for Section 2 as Nicole has a chance here. If Nicole can defeat Dellacqua who has already played in two three setters she will most likely meet Chakvetadze who is definitely the weakest of the top 8. If Nicole reaches the QF's it would definitely make my tournament (even though Djokovic, Roddick and Sharapova are out). It's scary though because the thought of Nicole losing to Dellacqua lingers in my mind!
Well I think Kuznetsova should be safely through to the 4th round whilst Pavlyuchekova has done unexpectedly well in my opinion. Sadly it was to the cost of Na Li. Bethanie Mattek is doing well though, sadly Kirilenko lost out in R1. Serena Williams should be fine even though she is playing Amelie Mauresmo. I don't think Bartoli will be a threat to be honest.
Davenport sadly withdrew but that makes three of the 4 players in section 5 part of my liked list! Anyway it is all to play for in these two matches, to be honest they all seem to have had about the same performances.
Section 6 saw the biggest shock, meaning an unexpected semifinalist is on its way. Sharapova was shocked by Kudryavtseva. Though I think now that Sharapova's gone it is Azarenka who looks the strongest. Just look at her previous two matches - she has only lost 6 games and Petrova shouldn't cause too much of a threat. I hope Shuai Peng does well though. Amazing to think that out of the three Chinese tennis players it was Na Li who lost out first!
Venus Williams should have a safe journey to the Quaters, as her draw is decimating itself in front of her eyes. Sadly Pennetta lost to Sugiyama, but at least it was Sugiyama. Hantuchova also lost. But therefore we have a good draw for Venus. Jankovic is also looking strong, but Wozniacki is too. I think the Quaterfinalist will be between Wozniacki/Jankovic rather than the other r3 match. Well anyway I hope one of the Williams sisters win the title as I hate to think that either of the Serbians would win. But the second finalist should be between Jankovic/V.Williams. If shocks continue Ivanovic, Serena, Safina and Jankovic look the most vulnerable.
SHOCK!
Just needed to post about my shock of Maria Sharapova loosing. Can't believe it at all. Yesterday Djokovic lost but in a way I sort of was Ok about ti because Safin beat him but for Sharapova to loose to a ranked 150 below I was utterly SHOCKED!
Friday 20 June 2008
Wimbledon
Ok it is this time of the year again and this years Wimbledon is looking like a great Slam to watch, who will win - for once in a long time we can actually say the mens draw looks closer than ever whilst the womens is still looking for the illusive dominant player to take the lead where Henin has left it. Lets talk about the Mens draw first.
Federer has an easy draw in my opinion for his run up to the quaters. Monfils the possible first seed he will face is not a grass court specialist by any means. For the first three rounds he can simply relax. Hewitt will be a possible 4th Round match for Federer seeing that Gonzalez the 15th seed doesn't seem to have a great record on Grass.
Tomas Berdych on the next section has an easy draw and with his ok history here he should be fine but this year he seems to be out of sorts and I really haven't heard much about him. Ancic drops in on the last part of this section and with an easy draw he could be a possible quaterfinalist, it all depends on the day really but I can't see too many other people coming out of this section. My choice for a quaterfinalist match against Federer would be either Berdych or Ancic even though Berdych hasn't been on great form.
Novak Djokovic leads the next section which is great because this year I think the one to beat is actually Nadal so we'll see if Djokovic can be a threat. Sadly Safin is a possible second round opponent which means he will lose out early (i hope he can at least be Fognini). Seppi isn't a threat at all so overall like Federer, Djokovic should have an easy first three rounds. Ferrero though not a great grass court player is probably one of the likely candidates for a 4th round match up with Djokovic which should go well for Djokovic as I think he knows he has a chance here.
Well Baghdatis is on the next part and his highest seeded opponent for the early stages is Ivo karlovic. Karlovic should technically be a threat on grass but his performance here has said otherwise, though saying that I don't think there are any players to test them really. Lopez should not be taken lightly of because he has been generally consistent in Wimbledon but Nalbandian will be a big question mark, would his shocking defeat by Djokovic hurt him! I think though he will be able to get to a match against Baghdatis but I hate to say it; on paper it looks like Djokovic's quaterfinal match will probably be against Baghdatis.
Andy Roddick should fancy his chances to get to the semis seeing himself match up against Davydenko. However he will have to defeat Tipsaveric beforehand, Tipsaveric could be a venom against top players but recently he hasn't been to good so we will have to wait and see. I will be interested to see how Chris Eaton does but I will support Tursunov to play against Roddick in the third round. Blake has an easy early draw, probably one of the easiest but Blake himself isn't fabulous on Wimbledon so could he break through, all in all I think Roddick should land safely to the Quaters here as he has a weak draw.
If there is one section of the draw I have the least opinion about it is the Mathieu/Davydenko draw. Personally I think it is quite open and I can see a list of people becoming the Quaterfinal match up against Roddick. I think Nieminen and Mathieu will both be strong opponents for Davydenko; maybe too strong, Roger-Vasselin I think could also provide a shock. Bjorkman is also a strong grass player but for some reason I doubt he will be able to shock. I still think if he matched against Davydenko that Davydenko would win but in my honest opinion I think the Roddick quaterfinal is wide open for an opponent.
Gasquet leads the 7th section with Murray being his highest seeded opponent. If Gasquet can play like last year I am sure he has a strong chance for the quaterfinals but it would be a lot to bet on seeing his unpredictable form this year. It's nice to see Haas back but I don't think he will pose much of a threat. To be honest I think this is one of the draws in which I think the top two seeds are the strongest and most likely to play each other in the 4th Round, well we'll have to wait and see.
Finally the Nadal draw. Anyway is it me or is Youzhny drawn near Nadal a lot of the time! Anyway Stepanek is unpredictable in my opinion which gives Youzhny a chance to breakthrough. I think Nadal has an easy draw in my opinion so he should be fine for the semifinals unless Gasquet or Murray have anything to say about that.
My 4th Round predictions:
Federer (quite obviously) Vs. Hewitt
Berdych Vs. Ancic
Djokovic Vs. Ferrero (one which I am unsure about)
Baghdatis Vs. Nalbandian
Roddick Vs. Blake (if he is motivated enough)
Nieminen Vs. Davydenko (the one which I have little clue)
Gasquet Vs. Murray (if that happens it would be my favourite)
Youzhny Vs. Nadal
of course these are only predictions and I believe at least 6 players will differ seeing that I am unsure about some of the possible line ups but anyway it is never an all seed draw.
Well lets go onto the womans draw.
Ivanovic leads the seeds ugh; don't get me wrong I don't hate her I just don't think she should be No.1. Her draw is a real question mark to me because the strongest player here (Cibulkova) I have little knowledge about her Grass court game, but because of that I think Ivanovic will have a comfortable start. No player on the opposite side strikes me as a possible 4th round opponent for Ana Ivanovic, therefore Ivanovic will have an easy stroll towards the quaterfinals. Tamira Paszek has the best history out of the Schiavone/Szavay draw but she has been weak as of late.
In my opinion Ivanovic has the easiest draw I have ever seen (yet again!) this would normally be a plus point for me seeing that Vaidisova is in this draw but the sad thing is that with Vaidisoavs current form I would be happy to see her make the third round! I personally think any draw with Chakvetdaze in it is weak especially when it is on Grass. This basically gives Ivanovic a semifinal spot! I actually don't have any opinion on who will possibly fill this 4th round gap because it is wide open for the taking, lets just hope Vaidisova finds the form she needs.
Well the weak top half should possibly give Serena the advantage she needs to get to the finals. I don't think Kuznetsova is a threat for the semis but I think she is likely to reach the quarters, if Na Li is on form (which I hope she is) then she may be a threat though she has only played here once. I think thought the safe bet to place on would be Radwanska who is a consistent player on Wimbledon so I think she would be the one to choose to play Kuznetsova.
Though some people may think Bartoli would be a difficult match for Williams I find this a perfect scenario. Serena has generally an easy draw with Mauresmo (the falling star) as her possible 3rd round match. Not only would playing Bartoli in the 4th Round match bar Bartoli of further progress but it would also show that last year was an utter fluke. I'm sad to say how ever much I think Bartoli is not a great grass player she should find herself in the 4th round because Kirilenko isn't exactly the best Grass player.
I think with this draw I am about 60% sure that Ivanovic will play Serena in the semis; this may sound low to you when I have been basically preaching this semifinal line up but added with all the possible outcomes I need to be safe (though I would be quite shocked if the line up doesn't include either one of these two players).
Though both Dementieva and Safina are having a great year I doubt they would be much of a threat on grass. Therefore it would be very interesting to see if Davenport could make the Quaters; I hasten to add she hasn't failed to do so in the past 7 attempts at Wimbledon!
Therefore I find Sharapova a very likely semifinalist here. To be honest with this draw I don't think it is "will Sharapova get to the Semis" but "how she will get to the Semis". I think there is probably only one or two threats who maybe able to stop her from reaching the semifinals but other than that I think I am about 90% sure this is will be dominated by Sharapova.
I think Venus has an easy first three rounds here so it will work well for her, I'm actually praying that Pennetta does well because she has had a good year overall. In the end I don't hope it is Wickmayer who takes Pennetta out! Hantuchova has been absent for a while so I don't know what to say but overall I think Venus has a quaterfinal place in the bag.
I do hope Krajicek is back to form as her draw is a good one, if she can play like last year I don' think this draw will cause too much of a problem. Whilst for Jankovic's early rounds I have to say a lot of the players I didn't even think had played on Wimbledon before!
I don't want to predict the 4th Round matches because I think it would be way too hard so lets look at the quaterfinals.
A.Ivanovic Vs. ????? (this is the biggest question mark, who could take it!)
? Vs. S. Williams (I don't know I would say Kuznetsova but then I think their are strong possibilities of an upset.)
? Vs. M.Sharapova (Yet Again, I really don't know but Davenport is leading my choice here)
V.Williams Vs J.Jankovic
So you see I am quite puzzled here as I have 3 blank spots, but honestly who looks capable of taking the Quaters in section 2! Vaidisova could have but she is not in great shape.
Then their is the question of section 3, there are a lot of possibilites but I do think Kuznetsova is favourite there.
Finally Section 5 which leaves me clueless, how could I pick from them! I don't know but lets say this...
Vaidisova, Kuznetsova and Davenport
there you go now the top 8 are filled!
But honestly the favourites are clear. The Williams sisters and Sharapova are by far the favourites to capture the title but then the Serbians lead the second pack of players trying to shock an unwary Williams or Sharapova. However I think Serena should find herself in the final and to be honest a William's final isn't too far fetch'd.
With the doubles and that I don't want to predict because I know very little about it but anyway I will support the Bryan Brothers!
Federer has an easy draw in my opinion for his run up to the quaters. Monfils the possible first seed he will face is not a grass court specialist by any means. For the first three rounds he can simply relax. Hewitt will be a possible 4th Round match for Federer seeing that Gonzalez the 15th seed doesn't seem to have a great record on Grass.
Tomas Berdych on the next section has an easy draw and with his ok history here he should be fine but this year he seems to be out of sorts and I really haven't heard much about him. Ancic drops in on the last part of this section and with an easy draw he could be a possible quaterfinalist, it all depends on the day really but I can't see too many other people coming out of this section. My choice for a quaterfinalist match against Federer would be either Berdych or Ancic even though Berdych hasn't been on great form.
Novak Djokovic leads the next section which is great because this year I think the one to beat is actually Nadal so we'll see if Djokovic can be a threat. Sadly Safin is a possible second round opponent which means he will lose out early (i hope he can at least be Fognini). Seppi isn't a threat at all so overall like Federer, Djokovic should have an easy first three rounds. Ferrero though not a great grass court player is probably one of the likely candidates for a 4th round match up with Djokovic which should go well for Djokovic as I think he knows he has a chance here.
Well Baghdatis is on the next part and his highest seeded opponent for the early stages is Ivo karlovic. Karlovic should technically be a threat on grass but his performance here has said otherwise, though saying that I don't think there are any players to test them really. Lopez should not be taken lightly of because he has been generally consistent in Wimbledon but Nalbandian will be a big question mark, would his shocking defeat by Djokovic hurt him! I think though he will be able to get to a match against Baghdatis but I hate to say it; on paper it looks like Djokovic's quaterfinal match will probably be against Baghdatis.
Andy Roddick should fancy his chances to get to the semis seeing himself match up against Davydenko. However he will have to defeat Tipsaveric beforehand, Tipsaveric could be a venom against top players but recently he hasn't been to good so we will have to wait and see. I will be interested to see how Chris Eaton does but I will support Tursunov to play against Roddick in the third round. Blake has an easy early draw, probably one of the easiest but Blake himself isn't fabulous on Wimbledon so could he break through, all in all I think Roddick should land safely to the Quaters here as he has a weak draw.
If there is one section of the draw I have the least opinion about it is the Mathieu/Davydenko draw. Personally I think it is quite open and I can see a list of people becoming the Quaterfinal match up against Roddick. I think Nieminen and Mathieu will both be strong opponents for Davydenko; maybe too strong, Roger-Vasselin I think could also provide a shock. Bjorkman is also a strong grass player but for some reason I doubt he will be able to shock. I still think if he matched against Davydenko that Davydenko would win but in my honest opinion I think the Roddick quaterfinal is wide open for an opponent.
Gasquet leads the 7th section with Murray being his highest seeded opponent. If Gasquet can play like last year I am sure he has a strong chance for the quaterfinals but it would be a lot to bet on seeing his unpredictable form this year. It's nice to see Haas back but I don't think he will pose much of a threat. To be honest I think this is one of the draws in which I think the top two seeds are the strongest and most likely to play each other in the 4th Round, well we'll have to wait and see.
Finally the Nadal draw. Anyway is it me or is Youzhny drawn near Nadal a lot of the time! Anyway Stepanek is unpredictable in my opinion which gives Youzhny a chance to breakthrough. I think Nadal has an easy draw in my opinion so he should be fine for the semifinals unless Gasquet or Murray have anything to say about that.
My 4th Round predictions:
Federer (quite obviously) Vs. Hewitt
Berdych Vs. Ancic
Djokovic Vs. Ferrero (one which I am unsure about)
Baghdatis Vs. Nalbandian
Roddick Vs. Blake (if he is motivated enough)
Nieminen Vs. Davydenko (the one which I have little clue)
Gasquet Vs. Murray (if that happens it would be my favourite)
Youzhny Vs. Nadal
of course these are only predictions and I believe at least 6 players will differ seeing that I am unsure about some of the possible line ups but anyway it is never an all seed draw.
Well lets go onto the womans draw.
Ivanovic leads the seeds ugh; don't get me wrong I don't hate her I just don't think she should be No.1. Her draw is a real question mark to me because the strongest player here (Cibulkova) I have little knowledge about her Grass court game, but because of that I think Ivanovic will have a comfortable start. No player on the opposite side strikes me as a possible 4th round opponent for Ana Ivanovic, therefore Ivanovic will have an easy stroll towards the quaterfinals. Tamira Paszek has the best history out of the Schiavone/Szavay draw but she has been weak as of late.
In my opinion Ivanovic has the easiest draw I have ever seen (yet again!) this would normally be a plus point for me seeing that Vaidisova is in this draw but the sad thing is that with Vaidisoavs current form I would be happy to see her make the third round! I personally think any draw with Chakvetdaze in it is weak especially when it is on Grass. This basically gives Ivanovic a semifinal spot! I actually don't have any opinion on who will possibly fill this 4th round gap because it is wide open for the taking, lets just hope Vaidisova finds the form she needs.
Well the weak top half should possibly give Serena the advantage she needs to get to the finals. I don't think Kuznetsova is a threat for the semis but I think she is likely to reach the quarters, if Na Li is on form (which I hope she is) then she may be a threat though she has only played here once. I think thought the safe bet to place on would be Radwanska who is a consistent player on Wimbledon so I think she would be the one to choose to play Kuznetsova.
Though some people may think Bartoli would be a difficult match for Williams I find this a perfect scenario. Serena has generally an easy draw with Mauresmo (the falling star) as her possible 3rd round match. Not only would playing Bartoli in the 4th Round match bar Bartoli of further progress but it would also show that last year was an utter fluke. I'm sad to say how ever much I think Bartoli is not a great grass player she should find herself in the 4th round because Kirilenko isn't exactly the best Grass player.
I think with this draw I am about 60% sure that Ivanovic will play Serena in the semis; this may sound low to you when I have been basically preaching this semifinal line up but added with all the possible outcomes I need to be safe (though I would be quite shocked if the line up doesn't include either one of these two players).
Though both Dementieva and Safina are having a great year I doubt they would be much of a threat on grass. Therefore it would be very interesting to see if Davenport could make the Quaters; I hasten to add she hasn't failed to do so in the past 7 attempts at Wimbledon!
Therefore I find Sharapova a very likely semifinalist here. To be honest with this draw I don't think it is "will Sharapova get to the Semis" but "how she will get to the Semis". I think there is probably only one or two threats who maybe able to stop her from reaching the semifinals but other than that I think I am about 90% sure this is will be dominated by Sharapova.
I think Venus has an easy first three rounds here so it will work well for her, I'm actually praying that Pennetta does well because she has had a good year overall. In the end I don't hope it is Wickmayer who takes Pennetta out! Hantuchova has been absent for a while so I don't know what to say but overall I think Venus has a quaterfinal place in the bag.
I do hope Krajicek is back to form as her draw is a good one, if she can play like last year I don' think this draw will cause too much of a problem. Whilst for Jankovic's early rounds I have to say a lot of the players I didn't even think had played on Wimbledon before!
I don't want to predict the 4th Round matches because I think it would be way too hard so lets look at the quaterfinals.
A.Ivanovic Vs. ????? (this is the biggest question mark, who could take it!)
? Vs. S. Williams (I don't know I would say Kuznetsova but then I think their are strong possibilities of an upset.)
? Vs. M.Sharapova (Yet Again, I really don't know but Davenport is leading my choice here)
V.Williams Vs J.Jankovic
So you see I am quite puzzled here as I have 3 blank spots, but honestly who looks capable of taking the Quaters in section 2! Vaidisova could have but she is not in great shape.
Then their is the question of section 3, there are a lot of possibilites but I do think Kuznetsova is favourite there.
Finally Section 5 which leaves me clueless, how could I pick from them! I don't know but lets say this...
Vaidisova, Kuznetsova and Davenport
there you go now the top 8 are filled!
But honestly the favourites are clear. The Williams sisters and Sharapova are by far the favourites to capture the title but then the Serbians lead the second pack of players trying to shock an unwary Williams or Sharapova. However I think Serena should find herself in the final and to be honest a William's final isn't too far fetch'd.
With the doubles and that I don't want to predict because I know very little about it but anyway I will support the Bryan Brothers!
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