Sunday 30 June 2013

MURRAY AND ROBSON RAISE BRITISH TENNIS SPIRITS.

For the first time in 15 years, Britain has both a man and a woman through to the 4th round of Wimbledon. Back in the dim and distant days of 1998, it was Tim Henman and Sam Smith; this year it's Andy Murray and Laura Robson.
 
In 1998, Henman was our regular Wimbledon hope and often progressed to the latter stages of the competition but Sam Smith, while being our top female player of the time, made her one and only 4th round appearance in that year. Sadly, ever fulfilled their early promise.
 
Today, Andy Murray has become the 'Great White Hope' of British mens' tennis and has looked to be in imperious form in this year's tournament. If he carries on as he's played so far, he must be odds on to reach the final and he could well win that, too, adding the Wimbledon title to that of the USA which he won last year.
 
In the womens' event this year we had several starters but it is the precocious Laura Robson who has survived to round 4. After winning the junior event 5 years ago, Robson has become the darling of British tennis and has proved good enough to defeat several of the world's top players, though has also shown a depressing ability to lose matches against much lower-ranked opponents whom she should have walked all over.
 
"So far,  so good," is the story of this year's Wimbledon for Laura. A brilliant first round performance to beat the 10th seed, Kirilenko, and a workman-like showing in the second to dispose of Duque-Marino, brought her up against Erakovic in the third. For a set and a half, it looked as though this would be the end of the road for Laura as she failed completely to cope with the New Zealander's game, but then it all changed. From serving for the match, Erakovic lost 8 games in a row and, despite a blip when herself serving for the win, Laura still got home in style. If the first round was brilliant and the second workman-like, the third was full of character and determination. This girl may well go far in the next few years and her 4th round opponent, Kaia Kanepi, had better watch out.

LIONS NARROWLY BEATEN; ALL NOW RESTS ON SYDNEY.

Round 2 of the British & Irish Lions versus the Wallabies produced a dramatic match dominated by the forwards but ultimately won by one moment of freedom for the Australian backs.
 
The Lions were significantly better than in the first match and all that either side could manage in the first half was a few penalties; the Lions led 12-9 at that point and looked to be on course for a historic victory. Unfortunately for the Lions, the second half saw the Wallabies begin to take control and they forced the tourists back into their own half for much of the time. Despite this, it was the Lions who gained the first score of the half with another penalty kicked by Halfpenny, but the Wallabies kept pressing and eventually the pressure told as Adam Ashley-Cooper finally breached the Lions defences for the only try of the match. Lealiifano duly converted to give the home side the narrowest of leads with only 2 or 3 minutes remaining.
 
Last week, it was a missed kick by Beale which deprived the Wallabies of victory and this week the boot was on the other foot. With the hooter already sounded, the Lions gained a final penalty on the halfway line; up stepped Halfpenny but the distance proved a few yards too much even for his mighty ability. The Wallabies celebrated victory by 16-15 and everything now rests on the third and final match next week.
 
This was an improved performance by the Lions in some areas but they hardly managed to involve their backs in the action at all; North, O'Driscoll, Davies and Bowe simply had no service and never got going. At the same time, the forwards mainly out-scrimmaged their opponents though the line-out was a bit wobbly. Putting these things right shouldn't be impossible, as long as injuries to the likes of captain Warburton don't interfere; 2 very tight matches probably mean that the third will be tight also, but there's no reason why the Lions shouldn't be victorious in Sydney. Fingers crossed.

Thursday 27 June 2013

WIMBLEDON CARNAGE !

Following on from Rafa Nadal's Wimbledon exit on Monday, yesterday proved to be a disastrous day for the tournament as seeds departed in all directions.
 
Top of the list was 7-time champion Roger Federer who, having won the first set, promptly lost the next 3 against an unheralded Ukrainian, Serhiy Stakhovsky. At 31, Federer is already getting pretty long in the tooth to be playing at the highest level and this must surely be the end of the road for him as a genuine challenger for major titles. Indeed, we may well have seen the last of both Federer and Nadal, two of the greatest players in tennis history.
 
Federer was joined on the side-lines by Jo-Wilfred Tsonga and Marin Cilic as well as by Nadal's conqueror, Steve Darcis and John Isner who all withdrew through injury; Julian Benneteau and Lleyton Hewitt also found their campaigns ended and the bottom half of the draw now looks like a cakewalk for Andy Murray, who's the only significant name left. 
 
The Ladies' tournament was hardly any less decimated, with Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, Caroline Wozniacki, Lucie Safarova and Sorana Cirstea all beaten while number 2 seed Victoria Azarenka was forced to withdraw after injuring herself in the first round. Petra Kvitova, the 2011 champion, must now fancy her chances of at least reaching another final as there's almost no opposition left in her half of the draw.
 
Some of the players have been complaining that the playing surface is poor and has caused them to either lose or be injured, though others such as Murray, Djokovic and Serena Williams don't seem to have experienced any problems and the likes of Federer and Nadal haven't made any comments. It would seem that Wimbledon, the only real traditional tournament left, is sorting out the men and women from the boys and girls, just as it should.

Monday 24 June 2013

HAS WIMBLEDON SEEN THE LAST OF RAFA NADAL ?

What a shocker !
 
After all the fuss about Rafa Nadal being seeded only at number 5 for Wimbledon, he's gone and got himself knocked out on the first day. Apparently, he's never failed to go beyond the first round in a Grand Slam event before and this has happened just a couple of weeks after he made a bit of history by winning his eighth French Open .
 
On the day, Nadal was beaten fairly and squarely by his opponent, the Belgian Steve Darcis, who played extremely well. However, as the match progressed, it became clear that Rafa was carrying an injury and this undoubtedly contributed to his defeat. Typically, he made no excuses but one has to wonder if this may be a defining moment in his career; having spent more than 8 months on the side-lines through injury after the last Wimbledon, might it be that his exertions in France were too much for his troublesome knees and he will now consider retirement ? Might we have seen the last of this amazing player ?
 
Whatever Nadal's future holds, his departure from the tournament makes a Murray-Federer semi-final a real prospect, with the winner taking on Djokovic for the title; who will win ?
 

Saturday 22 June 2013

LUCKY, LUCKY LIONS JUST BEAT WALLABIES.

Somehow, the British and Irish Lions managed to beat the Australians in Brisbane today, but how they did it may well give the home team huge encouragement for the rest of the 3 match series.
 
At no time did the Lions look to be in control and they had clearly failed to do their research on the referee's likes and dislikes. Had the Wallabies taken the numerous kicking opportunities handed to them, they'd have been comfortable, and well-deserved, winners even though they suffered a string of injuries and ended up with several players forced to play out of position. A final piece of cruel luck when Kurtley Beale slipped as he took what could have been a winning penalty kick added insult to injury for the Wallabies as the Lions breathed a huge sigh of relief and won 23-21.
 
Although there was plenty of effort from the Lions and a few spectacular pieces of play, they spent most of the match struggling to contain the home side.  They really didn't look very coherent as a side and they have a lot of work to do before next Saturday if they're to avoid defeat. As for the Wallabies, they'll be straining at the bit for a chance to gain revenge and they must be firm favourites to achieve it.

Monday 17 June 2013

JUSTIN ROSE COMES GOOD !

In 2005, an 18 year old Andy Murray burst upon the tennis world as a somewhat skinny but obviously talented player; his early promise was finally fulfilled in 2012 when, as a much more muscular specimen, he became the first Briton for 76 years to win one of the 'Grand Slam' tournaments of tennis, the US Open.
 
Yesterday, another former teenage prodigy achieved a similar feat.
 
Justin Rose first came to notice as far back as the 1998 Open championship at Royal Birkdale when, as a not-quite 18 year-old, he tied for 4th place being beaten only by Mark, O'Meara and Brian Watts who tied for first place and Tiger Woods. On that memorable occasion, Rose beat his then fellow amateur Sergio Garcia by no less than 10 shots, but their careers followed very different courses thereafter.
 
Rose turned professional immediately after his Open performance and Garcia joined him in the following spring but while Garcia enjoyed considerable early success, Rose had a miserable time and missed the cut in all of his first 21 professional events. It seemed that his career might be over almost before it had begun but he persevered and gradually began to prosper, at least a little. Garcia, meanwhile, became one of the world's leading players and was frequently touted as a likely winner of one of the four 'Majors'. 
 
Over time, Garcia has had his ups and downs but he's still to win that elusive 'Major'. Rose, on the other hand, has kept going and slowly but surely overhauled his more illustrious rival, rising to the giddy heights of number 3 in the world. Yesterday, the boy from 1998 finally came to full manhood by becoming the first Englishman since Tony Jacklin in 1970 to win the US Open Golf Championship and the first Englishman to win any 'Major' since Nick Faldo lifted his third 'Masters' title in 1996.
 
One of the 'Sky' commentators referred to Rose as a 'plodder', a somewhat derogatory term on the face of things but probably meant rather differently. Rose actually played the best golf of any of the leading contenders in the final round, being cautious and ensuring that he avoided trouble. On a difficult course, it was the best way and, if that's 'plodding', give me a plodder every time.
 
The original 'Open Championship' will get underway at Muirfield on 14th July with the main event starting on 18th. Rose must now be considered as one of the favourites to win that event but, whoever wins, it will hard to match the tension and excitement of yesterday's last round as he, Mickelson, Mahan and Stricker fought it out to the last.
 
And finally, a word for poor old Phil Mickelson who came up one place short yet again at the US Open, the sixth time he's suffered that agony. Mickelson is one of the real gentlemen of world sport and it was very sad to see his obvious distress at the end; most unusually for him, he didn't even have a public word of congratulation for the winner when interviewed after the tournament, though I think we can forgive him that lapse given his previous immaculate record in such matters and his obvious heartbreak at yesterday's outcome. He will, of course, be back and will be a front-runner at Muirfield; perhaps he'll even 'return the favour' to Rose and win our Championship for the first time !