I'm afraid I have cruelly neglected the fair sport of Tennis in the last few weeks - and so much has happened! The French Open took place a few weeks ago, with some fairly shocking moments and upsets. Defending Champ and World No.1 Rafael Nadal was knocked out in the early stages by Swede Robin Soderling - ranked somewhere in the mid-20's at the time. Shame for Nadal, but amazing for Soderling who made it all the way to the final where he was defeated by Roger Federer (more on that in a tick). Our man Murray also put on his best performance ever at the French managing to hang on to the Quarter Finals - that might not sound like a particularly great place for the World No.3 and 3rd seed to finish up, but due to the way the ATP ranking system works Murray will in fact gain over 200 ranking points from the performance over last years result (3rd round).
Roger Federer came out Champ this year making him only the sixth ever man to pick up the "Career Slam" - winning all four grand slams at least once in his career. This win also puts Federer on equal footing with Pete Sampras for most grand slam championship wins at 14. Federer is only 27 though and still has several years ahead of him in which to beat that record. Federers current record already places him as the best player of all time for many people (and it'd be pretty hard for anyone to argue against it), so it'll be interesting to see how much more success he can heap on top of what he already has and to see if anyone will ever be able to beat it.
In other news Andy Murray one the Aegon Championship at Queens Club on Sunday for the first time. It isn't a particularly big tournament - in the grand scheme of things it's on the 5th from top tier of tournaments - worth 250 ranking points to the winner. If Murray manages five Finals or better from the 500 series tournaments then the victory at Queens Club won't even contribute to his ranking, but it is none-the-less a significant title for Murray for a couple of reasons. 1) it's his first title on grass - stands him in good stead for Wimbledon when it kicks off on Monday, 2) it's his first title on home soil - ok that isn't that significant but it's pretty cool, 3) it was his 1st No.1 seeding and he won it and 4) he's the first British man to take the title since the 1930's.
Wimbledon is the next big thing on the Tennis calendar, the only grass court slam on the tour. This could be an interesting year, the top seeds Nadal and Federer have both been fairly inactive since the French, Nadal is working in rehabilitating his knees which are a bit fucked while Federer pulled out of a grass court tournament he was due to play in Halle citing exhaustion post-French as the reason. There's still a question mark over whether Nadal will be fit to play at all, so it's fairly evident he won't have had much grass court practice. As for Federer he may not have been competing, but I'm sure he's been practising. Grass is notorious for the settling in period players usually require to get re-accustomed to the nuances of grass court play - Federer and Nadal having not competed in their respective pre-Wimbledon grass court tournaments may find themselves at a disadvantage, despite both their statuses as former and defending champions. This may place Murray and Djokovic who have played (and won) their pre-Wimbledon tournaments at a disadvantage. The BBC reports Murray is seeded 3rd after Nadal and Federer, no mention of Djokovic but I imagine he'll have taken 4th seed.
Wimbledon starts Monday, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that Murray will at least equal his QF result from last year. It'd be awesome if he could go all the way, and he's totally capable, but the competition is stiff. We'll have to wait and see...
I myself have taken up the sport recently. My girlfriend Helen has been playing for years and now she's teaching me to play. I'm getting there, and I'm committed to getting better. I've spent a significant amount of cash on appropriate gear so I'm pretty keen to make sure that cash hasn't been wasted. It's quite a complex game, more complex than I thought, there are all sorts of ways to hold and angle the racket for different shots, and ways to stand and move. It's quite hard to coordinate it all in my head - strike the ball at arms length, swing through the ball, stand side on, angle the head downwards, hold the grip with the flat against your palm - so much stuff. I suppose the trick is to get it all so it's more or less automatic. Sometimes it does feel quite automatic, other times not. My biggest problem appears to be my feet, I've a bad habit of trying to hit the ball too close to my body, which gives you no power or accuracy and Helen yells "Move your feet!" at me from across the court :p. My serve is pretty abysmal, but we only really worked on it on Sunday there. I'm starting to get them in, but they lack power. I'm not too worried abut serving right now anyway, it'll come with practice.
Oh yeah, and I've yet to win a game against her :s
freedoms_stain, losing Love-40 against a girl a foot shorter than him, out.
Roger Federer came out Champ this year making him only the sixth ever man to pick up the "Career Slam" - winning all four grand slams at least once in his career. This win also puts Federer on equal footing with Pete Sampras for most grand slam championship wins at 14. Federer is only 27 though and still has several years ahead of him in which to beat that record. Federers current record already places him as the best player of all time for many people (and it'd be pretty hard for anyone to argue against it), so it'll be interesting to see how much more success he can heap on top of what he already has and to see if anyone will ever be able to beat it.
In other news Andy Murray one the Aegon Championship at Queens Club on Sunday for the first time. It isn't a particularly big tournament - in the grand scheme of things it's on the 5th from top tier of tournaments - worth 250 ranking points to the winner. If Murray manages five Finals or better from the 500 series tournaments then the victory at Queens Club won't even contribute to his ranking, but it is none-the-less a significant title for Murray for a couple of reasons. 1) it's his first title on grass - stands him in good stead for Wimbledon when it kicks off on Monday, 2) it's his first title on home soil - ok that isn't that significant but it's pretty cool, 3) it was his 1st No.1 seeding and he won it and 4) he's the first British man to take the title since the 1930's.
Wimbledon is the next big thing on the Tennis calendar, the only grass court slam on the tour. This could be an interesting year, the top seeds Nadal and Federer have both been fairly inactive since the French, Nadal is working in rehabilitating his knees which are a bit fucked while Federer pulled out of a grass court tournament he was due to play in Halle citing exhaustion post-French as the reason. There's still a question mark over whether Nadal will be fit to play at all, so it's fairly evident he won't have had much grass court practice. As for Federer he may not have been competing, but I'm sure he's been practising. Grass is notorious for the settling in period players usually require to get re-accustomed to the nuances of grass court play - Federer and Nadal having not competed in their respective pre-Wimbledon grass court tournaments may find themselves at a disadvantage, despite both their statuses as former and defending champions. This may place Murray and Djokovic who have played (and won) their pre-Wimbledon tournaments at a disadvantage. The BBC reports Murray is seeded 3rd after Nadal and Federer, no mention of Djokovic but I imagine he'll have taken 4th seed.
Wimbledon starts Monday, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that Murray will at least equal his QF result from last year. It'd be awesome if he could go all the way, and he's totally capable, but the competition is stiff. We'll have to wait and see...
I myself have taken up the sport recently. My girlfriend Helen has been playing for years and now she's teaching me to play. I'm getting there, and I'm committed to getting better. I've spent a significant amount of cash on appropriate gear so I'm pretty keen to make sure that cash hasn't been wasted. It's quite a complex game, more complex than I thought, there are all sorts of ways to hold and angle the racket for different shots, and ways to stand and move. It's quite hard to coordinate it all in my head - strike the ball at arms length, swing through the ball, stand side on, angle the head downwards, hold the grip with the flat against your palm - so much stuff. I suppose the trick is to get it all so it's more or less automatic. Sometimes it does feel quite automatic, other times not. My biggest problem appears to be my feet, I've a bad habit of trying to hit the ball too close to my body, which gives you no power or accuracy and Helen yells "Move your feet!" at me from across the court :p. My serve is pretty abysmal, but we only really worked on it on Sunday there. I'm starting to get them in, but they lack power. I'm not too worried abut serving right now anyway, it'll come with practice.
Oh yeah, and I've yet to win a game against her :s
freedoms_stain, losing Love-40 against a girl a foot shorter than him, out.
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