The Chalkdust Chronicles

ATP World Tour Finals 2011 Day 3: Federer v Nadal

2011-11-23T22:07:00.002Z

I’ve seen both Federer and Nadal at varying stages of the slams, but never together, so this was a cracking way to see out my 2011 season. The atmosphere was the best I have seen for any WTF match and we both agreed that was probably the closest balanced crowd.

Nadal initially came out with his trademark sprint to the back of the court and certainly the start was spirited enough – went comfortably with serve and from the off we were treated to some great rallies, with great pace.

A couple of uncharacteristic missed backhands from Federer but such errors were to prove to be very few and far between.
It was as if that was a turning point in Federer’s focus as Nadal was broken to love serving at 2-3.
We were treated to an amazing rally and about half way through, something just dialed in to Fed’s game and you got a sense that something remarkable was going to happen. It was as if he was just toying with Nadal, yanking him this way and that before finishing the point off.

With Federer serving for the first set, he took it decisively with stunning cross-court forehand.

My friend commented (as a joke, I hasten to add) that Fed would bagel Nadal in the next although in reality, after such a quick set, the crowd were willing Nadal to rally to give us a deciding set.
So you can imagine what the reaction was when he was broken in the first game of the second set!

Nadal’s serving was very tentative and he just seemed so step-slow at times – his racquet head going in the right direction, but his feet were woefully behind. And there just seemed to be no weapons in his armory – it was really as if he had run out of ideas.

In all the Nadal matches I have watched, I don’t think I have ever seen him play so defensively. He was doing his best to get stuff back, but would find himself out of position and was getting progressively ground down in the rallies. His confidence was looking shot, by now.

He was broken again in the third game, and take nothing away from Federer here – he was seeing the ball like a football and could hardly put a foot wrong.

That is not to say that Nadal didn’t entirely lose his fighting spirit and forced rallies, but you just had to favour Federer in them, as the longer the rally got, the more defensive Nadal got.

The unthinkable happened – in the final game it really looked as though he was resigned to his fate as balls whistled past him.
In fact, my friend pointed out that the speed of his exit from the court was possibly the fastest he’d moved that evening. It was quite simply a thorough dismantling, at the hands of Federer.
A bagel and in around an hour, Federer delivered a message to the WTF that he has every intention of ending the year with that title.

Given that at the moment the lineup is representing the cast of Casualty, the rest of the tournament will be interesting viewing, especially given that even the most enthusiastic of alternates in Tipsarevic limped off court.

And thus endeth the Chalkdust Chronicles for 2011.
Roland Garros, Queens, Wimbledon, Davis Cup and ATP World Tour Finals – not bad.

Next year, Journo school is going to hammer my time at the courts – no RG this year for a start.
Mind you - I have tickets to the 3rd round of the Olympic Tennis because, let’s face it, none of the insane people I love to follow can be trusted not to be packing their bags early!

Roll on 2012!
Chalkdust… signing off…

ATP World Tour Finals 2011 Day 3: Mirnyi/Nestor v Fyrstenberg/Matkowski

2011-11-23T21:37:00.004Z

My last tennis of the 2011 season came courtesy of Barclays Premier and an opportunity to get complimentary tickets. I thought I’d missed my chance having been away when the nicer VIP offer came in, while I was away working, so I was chuffed when they re-offered more tickets!

So, armed with a mate from Journo school – off we toddled for the evening session and my first Fedal match!

We got there as the doubles was just underway and joined at the end of the 5th game, with the always great MoLay umpiring!
Pretty tight playing from both sides and Matkowski was showing none of the tetchiness of his opening match, when heckling was getting to him.

It took a single break to give Mirnyi and Nestor the first set.

That momentum stayed with them taking an early break at the start of the second set and from that point, Mirnyi and Nestor never really looked threatened, taking the second 6-3.

They finished with about 20 minutes to spare before the singles was due to start and the crowd was filling up.

A forum's demise...

2011-08-19T06:59:00.004+01:00

Yesterday - without any warning to members or mods alike, the forums on Andy and Jamie Murray's sites were sadly taken down, permanently.

My daily routine generally involved using the iPad before getting myself out of bed to whizz through my email, Facebook, Twitter, and then a quick look at the night's chatter on Women's Tennis Forum, Jamie's, then Andy's forum, the Eve Online forums,Digital Spy... and lastly a quick flick through the Mortgage-Free Wannabe threads on moneysavingexpert.com.

This morning, I was done and dusted in a mere 15 minutes... luckily I still have JJ to provide pages and pages of drama!

In recent months - I have not spent much time on any of the forums, due to pressures of work, and real life; but also because ANY internet media forum gives rise to forceful personalities, shielded behind their online persona.

I have been fortunate to make some good friends in the 5 or so years I have been on the various tennis forums, but for some, this media was their only way to keep in touch.

But I feel the most sadness for those that shared their memories of seeing Andy and Jamie (in particular) in action, whose blogs have all been lost. Not everyone had set them up on external sites and so all those recorded memories seem to be lost forever. Of course people will have their own memories of watching their heroes - but half the fun, and one of the nicer elements of the forums was that people appreciated seeing photos from wherever people were all over the world at tourneys as well as the Slams.

We may never really find out why the management have taken this decision ... and perhaps it's best not to.

It looks as though those people that have formed a good solid bond are looking to set up a new forum, and I truly wish it well - and may even just dabble, keeping a morning and evening eye on the chatter ... and add that 15 or so minutes to my interweb routine...

Murraytennisforums.com - RIP!

Davis Cup II E/A Rnd 2 - GB v Luxembourg Rubber #5: Ward/Vermeer

2011-07-16T17:46:00.003+01:00

Leon Smith had asked the crowd to get behind Ward and stay to cheer him on. If the final rubber in a tie is a dead one, they shorten it to a best of 3, which was a relief to me and another am.com friend as we had flights within minutes of each other, and we’d agreed to get a cab back to the airport.

This did not start well, as the Milky Bar kid (yes, Stirling were doing their bit again with “We stole your Milky bars” holding up Milky Bar wrappers!) broke Ward in the opening game! But this time Ward broke straight back and held his next serve, to put things back on serve. By now I’d legged it across (well half way through Andy’s match, actually) over to where am.com were as there was an empty seat.

Ward seemed much more in control with a couple of breaks and taking the first set.

That’s not to say that Vermeer wasn’t a little dashing ball of energy – a bit too much legs, arms and paws at the minute, but some very nifty gets, returns and mid air spins… once his limbs catch up with him, he’ll be quite a dynamic little player.

In fact his sheer determination to run everything down actually started to win over the Stirling University mob, with a couple of chants just for him (instead of at him) including offering to take him for his first pint!

Alas for him, Ward maintained his control in the second set breaking early and finishing with a break to take it 6-3.

GB won the tie 4-1 and earned a home tie with Hungary in September.

Thus endeth almost a month of tennis – a well earned break now until the US Open!

Davis Cup II E/A Rnd 2 - GB v Luxembourg Rubber #4: Murray v Muller

2011-07-16T17:25:00.003+01:00

The final day, and really the expectation was that Andy would do the business against Muller, although Gilles is a tricky character, and at one stage, he and Andy had shared the same coach whilst juniors.

I’d met up with the am.com crew for a quick bite of lunch, and alas we seemed to attract another bunch of jobsworths to add to our Wetherspoons collection, including interesting debates as to which tables we could eat at, drink at or a combination thereof. I knew we should have gone to Unlucky Fried Kitten!!!

Because I’d bought my tickets pretty much at the last minute on a whim, I headed up and sadly caught the pre-match “entertainment” – a couple of violinists with spangly violins and a jazzed up backing track. They weren’t that great, it had to be said!

It was very important for Andy to take the early advantage, and he duly obliged with a break in the 3rd game. Muller did settle into his game and Andy wasn’t able to take a double break buffer in the some of the following games, but he took the set with that single break.

The second set saw a dubious line call leaving Andy kicking his bag in frustration at the first change of ends, and both Leon and Andy arguing strenuously with the umpire in the break.

Despite the fractious start, Andy was handed a break by Muller with a DF and he ended the second set breaking Muller again 6-3

Murray wasn’t hanging about now, breaking Muller in the second game of the third set. In fact Muller was only able to grab one game in the third set.

Andy’s reaction to leap in the air fistpumping after being congratulating the team was certainly a departure from his norm but when, during his interview with Rob Curling, he suddenly was so overcome with emotion, he couldn’t continue, we had a sense of what it had meant to him to return to the GB team, added with playing in front of most of his family.

He did recover well and came back to join his team for Ward’s match, even obliging the Stirling mob with a dance!

Davis Cup II E/A Rnd 2 - GB v Luxembourg Rubber #3: Murray/Murray v Bram/Vermeer

2011-07-16T17:06:00.003+01:00

Meh – Lorne sausage at the hotel hadn’t been as nice as the one I’d had for breakfast the day before (and that had been my first), so felt diddled out of my Full Scottish this morning as I headed off to the arena.

This time I had seats closer to the court, and close to the Stirling University cheering mob (and was opposite the am.com crew).
This was going to be a bit of a treat as the brothers don’t play together very often, mainly main tour events for Andy to help Jamie’s ranking up a little bit, as with their (first) title together at Valencia (and of course their outings at the Olympics in Beijing).

The support from Stirling University can be best described as consistently raucous with all manner of chants and songs at any available opportunity. Young Mike Vermeer is 18, but honestly (especially standing next to Laurent Bram) he looked about 12!

So when the Stirling guys started singing “school on Monday…. You’re going to school on Monday” everyone was cracking up. Even more so when they started chanting “who stole your Milky Bars”, although it’s debatable whether Vermeer would have even known what a Milky Bar was!!! Someone from am.com afterwards also commented on a chant of “Where’s Your Yoghurt gone…” Initially I thought that yoghurt was some kind of Luxembourgish breakfast staple but it was, of course, a reference to Muller… duh!

Anyway – the tennis!
Things went with serve as the Luxembourg partnership were working well together. Jamie did have some sticky holds and the guys had some chances, especially later in the first set to get a break but just couldn’t seal the deal, until with Vermeer serving at 5-6, they got the breakthrough to take the first set 7-5.

In the second set, we got glimpses of Jamie at his “Stretch” best – really finding his form at the net and they got a break early on and held. A second break with Luxembourg serving at 2-5 gave the second set to the brothers.

Another Stirling gem was “Leave it to Jamie” when an over enthusiastic Andy yelled “I’ve got it” for a shot that was way closer to Jamie…

The brothers were hitting their stride well, although Jamie did have the longer holds against his serve, they romped away with it in the third set after taking an early break. Luxembourg got themselves on the board in the final two games, but went down 1-6 in the third set.

Back to Wetherspoons for a swift half before meeting up with my cousins, my aunt and some of my extended family.

Davis Cup II E/A Rnd 2 - GB v Luxembourg Rubber #2: Murray v Bram

2011-07-16T16:48:00.003+01:00

Where Ward was hoping to punch above his weight, much as he’d done at Queens, Andy’s opponent was a former pro who’d quit the game and was now coaching. His singles ranking had dropped off the map, but in a team of 18 year olds (and Muller, of course) he was put forward for the second rubber.

Predictably Andy was in complete control, breaking Bram in the 2nd game.
The first set went on an unfortunate DF from Bram and a bagel to boot.

This is not to say that Bram didn’t put up some effort, every now and again trying to rip a passing shot, but the lack of match practice and general consistency showed, and another DF handed Andy the second set, with another bagel.

It would be wrong to say that the crowd wished Bram ill-will, but the scent of a third bready-product was in the air, and Andy delivered – a thorough beat-down in three bagel sets to level the tie.

This began the weekend of Wetherspoons – although we were subject to some antagonistic behavior from the bouncer who (fair enough – through licensing laws) couldn’t let a friend’s young daughter on the premises, but nor could we buy her a soft drink from the place either. I got her a chair to sit on, which he came and took away. Thank god he hadn’t see us feeding her from the plates of chips we ordered – I dread to think what he would have done then!

Davis Cup II E/A Rnd 2 - GB v Luxembourg Rubber #1: Ward v Muller

2011-07-16T16:07:00.004+01:00

After a week of being Enterprise Architected (on a course) to within an inch of my life, coupled with successive nights out, I was a little shocked (and not a little irritated) to find that Expedia hadn’t confirmed my flight, and 2 of the 3 tickets hadn’t arrived from Ticketmaster. Add to that the stress of trying to get registered online for my new job and complete some of the background verification stuff when not actually home until late most evenings, I was soooo not ready for a 4:30 wakeup and 5:30 cab to the airport.

What WAS nice was that I used the cab firm that I had always used when I was with my previous company, and they were so sweet, giving me the corporate rate and stating they’d continue to do so if I use them for forthcoming travel for my new company.

Anyway – early flight notwithstanding, I had allowed plenty of time for brekkie, but as always, total eejits who never read the security/liquids guidelines made for long queues while they argued the toss over their significantly larger than 100ml products! So subsequently there wasn’t enough time to grab anything before getting on the plane, although we did get fed “breakfast” which was not appetising in the least!!!

I took a cab to the Travelodge, Braehead where I was hoping to meet up with a handful of folks from am.com and we went off in search of proper breakfast!!! Thus started the MANY conversations with cab drivers along the lines of:
“are you the only person in England who supports Murray” to which I invariably replied that actually I was on my way to meet a whole bunch of folks who had travelled up to support the team. Then they’d ask whether I thought he’d ever win a slam, so I’d reply that I thought (and indeed wanted) his first success to come on the hard courts.
I met up with a couple of friends from my first ever DC at Wimbledon and left some of my stuff in the … ummm… furniture-less Travelodge rooms! I was a little tired from the week of education and the flight so it took me a while to realise that they didn’t actually have wardrobes/chests of drawers!

Breakfast and a wander around the shopping centre done, I had to meander to Ticketmaster to get duplicate tickets for the ones that annoyingly arrived the day after I had phoned Ticketmaster to get them voided!!! I headed to my hotel, the other side of town to check in, drop my stuff and then headed back for the main event.

The venue itself was quite compact and made for a good atmosphere. I chatted a lot to the young guys either side of me and spotted the am.com crowd opposite me…

It was quite a stark difference to see the depth of the GB entourage versus the Luxumbourg contingent, but there was good support for Muller from his team nonetheless.

Sadly it was a slow start for Ward with an early break for Muller. Ward settled down in the next next run of games, with some big serving when it counted in his games. Muller was a little bit tight serving out for the set but took it.

A bit of a troublesome hold for Ward in the 3rd game of the 2nd set but managed to hold and British hopes picked up a lot when Ward broke Muller to take the lead 5-3. However, he wasn’t able to consolidate, taken to 0-40 on his serve and dishing out a couple of costly double-faults to put things back on serve.

Perhaps not being able to take the advantage was weighing a bit of Wardy’s mind as his next hold was decidedly long and ultimately the second set went to a tiebreak. Too many inconsistencies from Ward saw Muller take the second set.

The third set pretty much started in the same vein as the first with an early break against GB; I took myself off for some grub and a quick comfort break before Andy and pretty much Ward collapsed from that point on – only able to get a game on the board.

Perhaps if he’d been able to get that second set, he might have kicked up a gear, but also – Muller was coming off the back of a position in the top 100 and also a decent run in Wimbledon and a good matchup against Nadal there so maybe was more in the ascendency.

Wimbledon 2011: Day 13 Men's Final: Djokovic v Nadal

2011-07-15T15:23:00.002+01:00

Great atmosphere on Finals Day – great to soak it up and it was a hot and humid day.
I met up with La Froglet in Wimbledon and we had a leisurely lunch in Wimbledon Village before heading off. Final Program bought, and the Pimms, of course, and it was time to head up.
We had seats right at the back, but lengthways on to the court.

Quite often (due to Corporate “Hostility” there are often empty seats all around the place as the Debenture holders enjoy free food and drink – but the atmosphere when the court is completely full is amazing.

The guys came out and did the usual preliminaries, and at the start everything went with serve, although maybe Nole had a little more nerves in his service game than Rafa.

Strong holds for the next few games, and it is amazing to see how many “unget-able” balls come back from Rafa. Against most other players, a lot of Nole’s shots would have been winners, but Rafa always finds a way somehow to get a ball back in play that had no right to be! Nole was going to have to keep up the aggressive play he’d started with, just to stay with him.

As the games progressed, they still remained on serve, and the rallies were a mix of brutal slugging from the baseline, or moving all around the court. Nole was making good use of his inside-out forehand early on.

Rafa was relying on some big serving to hold comfortably and as the first set was progressing, Nole was beginning to show some signs of annoyance that he couldn’t break through. He matched Rafa was some big serving in the middle of the set but there were also some careless UEs creeping in; and around the middle of the set, it was going to be a case of who flinched first.

Surprisingly it was Rafa as he faltered, serving at 4-5. Nole stepped up the aggression in the rally to force a BP. A weak second serve and a wayward forehand into the tramlines handed Nole the first set, 6-4.

That same aggression saw Nole break Rafa in the second game of the second set. Rafa was simply leaking errors on his forehand side, almost as if he’d lost his range. Nole consolidated the break to lead 3-0.

Rafa again fell back on some big serves to get a game on he board, along with the combination of a missed overhead from Novak and a fortunate netcord for Rafa which sprung the ball up past Nole’s head. Nole matched Rafa’s serving, strike for strike.

With Nadal serving at 1-4, Nole delivered another blow by taking another break. He backed this up with a hold to love and took the second set 6-1.
Let’s be clear here, the scoreline belied the quality of play – Nole was seeing the ball huge today. Rafa was not playing badly (leaky forehand notwithstanding) and was getting all around the court, getting all kinds of balls back but for the first two sets, Nole was playing amazingly.
The question was – could he maintain his level of play?
The third set bought an inevitable dip in Nole’s form and all manner of errors that he’d previously been making. Rafa broke him in the 2nd game, and consolidated with a hold to love.

Nole did manage some great touches at the net to at least get a game on the board, but certainly at the start of this set, Rafa was in control. Nole just looked listless and Rafa’s ability to get balls back into play was just astounding. Nole saved some breakpoints and got himself to deuce and looked like he was beginning to pick his game up., but handed Rafa another break, leaving him to serve out for the set.

I had to nip out for a much needed break and missed the first three games, but there had been a couple of breaks in there. Things were back on serve, but Nole was beginning to regain some of that earlier sharpness and aggression.
He was much more able to threaten Rafa’s serve but there seemed still a way to go to reach the levels of intensity in the first two sets.

Nerves were beginning to set in Rafa’s game and he started the eighth game, serving at 3-4, with an uncharacteristic double fault, and was broken. Nole was to serve it out for the match, and there were very tight moments from both of them, but Nole hung in to claim his first Wimbledon title!

Nadal was exceptionally classy in defeat, defeat some issues with the on-court mics which meant that while he could be heard on TV, nothing could be heard in the court.

We finished up with the Mixed Dubs which saw the pairing of Melzer and Benesova take out Bhupathi and Vesnina – Bhupathi seemed to be the weakest on the day and you had to feel for Vesnina who had to try and gee up Bepa last year in the Ladies Dubs final after it all became too much for her, having been clobbered by Serena and then losing the first set.
(Pictures in Gallery)

We finished up standing at the top of Court 18 overlooking the Gentlemen’s Invitation Doubles (Pictures in Gallery) – there was, by then, a forlorn sense in the air as first Centre, then Court 1 tipped out and people were racing round to catch as much of the last dying thwacks of tennis balls as they could!

This year’s round up:
7 Days
2 Defending champions' opening matches
3 Andy Murray matches
1 Jamie Mixed Dubs (just as well as J&J'11 got bounced in the next round)
Men's Quarters
Women's Semis
Men's Final (My First ever)
2 new champions, and perhaps a new age of ATP/WTA names at the top?

So long Wimbledon 2011...

Wimbledon 2011 Day 10: Lisicki v Sharapova

2011-07-02T18:49:00.002+01:00

After all her trials and tribulations, and her smiling all the way through, Lisicki had won a lot of fans on her way to the semi-final – could she go one better?
She opened proceedings very comfortably, by holding her serve, and causing a buzz around the court by breaking Sharapova very early, and holding again to have a 3-0 lead at the first change of ends.

Sharapova got herself onto the board but more by luck than judgement, given her liberal spraying of DFs and UEs all around.
Not that Lisicki had it easy – missing a lot of first serves, which is dangerous where Sharapova is concerned and the result was a break for Sharapova

Nerves seemed to be getting in the way for both as there were DFs all around, but both managed to hold their serves.

Sharapova began to exert some pressure now with a hold and another break on the Lisicki serve. Sabine was looking pretty agitated and seemed to have an issue with her racquet, actually swapping it mid-game and gesticulating a lot to her box - as if they had been string to the wrong tension. Of course she hadn’t been so animated when she was 3-0 ahead, so not really sure if that was the issue.

Despite DFs galore, Maria came out to serve for the set and took it.

Sabine started the next set very badly – broken in the first game on a Double-Fault, and (somewhat unfairly) not able to capitalise on a lot of DFs from Maria, who managed to hold.
With Lisicki broken again in the third, she started to complain about the spitting rain but was told to play on, so had to just put a top on instead (like a lot of the spectators!). At the stage she certainly needed a rain break, if only to go find her game, which was presumably somewhere ion the locker room!

Sabine steadied the ship a bit with a break on the Sharapova serve, and we all thought that this was the start of a turnaround, because we’d already been treated to a competitive match previously – we wanted more of the same!
Alas no. Sabine got broken on her next game.

What we were seeing was some great rallies now and Sabine had some good chances to break again with Maria throwing in DFs all over the place, but somehow she held.
Sabine also wobbled on her serve and it looks as through Maria would break to win, but Sabine also squeaked a hold.

Maria, serving at 5-2 continued with the skay play, giving Sabine a late ray of hope and a break.
But sadly Sabine was the victim of that awful “lose on a DF” that seemed to be the order of the day, taking Maria the Wimbledon final in a disappointing end to what had promised to be a thrilling match up.
However, take nothing away from Lisicki’s comeback – it just seemed to be a match too far and certainly in the second set, Maria’s returning had just been superb.

Wimbledon 2011 Day 10: Azarenka v Kvitova

2011-07-02T18:26:00.002+01:00

As the matches get further down the line, I appear to be getting to the grounds later and later. This time I was meeting another tennis watching bud, of extremely high esteem, La Froglet! So named because last year we ambled around M&S in Wimbledon, equipping ourselves with 2 La Froglet foil-capped plastic goblets and and a bottle of poppable fizz.

This time we opted for Starbucks Frappucinos, and keepin’ it real getting a REAL bus up to Wimbledon Village and walking down to the grounds!

We had a bit of time for lunch, and then headed up to our seats.

Predicatably people started chuckling at Azarenka’s prolonged howl of a grunt, but in all honesty, she gave Kvitova a tough job for the first five minutes of the match. Vika’s first hold was relatively comfortable but by the third game, Petra had settled down a bit and as finding her range a bit better.

Things took a turn when Kvitova broke Vika at the start of the next set of games. She was hitting her range well and slugging hard from the baseline, outpowering Azarenka from early on. She managed to hold her serve to consolidate the break.

Surprisingly, Vika got broken again and Kvitova held to take the first set 6-1.
People were looking a bit surprised around us – but Kvitova was playing a good power game.
Mind you – between Vika and Petra with their howls and barks, it was like being at the Battersea Dogs Home. But with tennis racquets!

Onto the second – Vika opened the set with much more aggressively play and now Petra seemed to become unglued at the hands of a relentless power game. Lack of range and broken for the gain of just one point, it was truly roles reversed. The next game was a less straightforward hold for Azarenka but nonetheless she led into the first change of ends, 3-0.

For the next few games, both girls held, and Kvitova was beginning to step up her game, painting the lines and generating a lot more pace with it. Azarenka was coming forward well and mixing up her play.

Azarenka was a little tight closing out the second set but did so, taking it into a decider.

First blood went to Petra with an early break but then had some yips on her serve, but hung on to a 3-0 lead.
Azarenka got herself onto the scoreboard, and better yet had some break point chances against Kvitova but couldn’t convert when it counted.
She was taken to deuce on her serve in the next couple of games but managed to hold; Kvitova seemed to have the momentum with a stronger hold on her serve.

With only one game on the board, Azarenka was struggling again to hold serve, but prevailed, but by now Kvitova was just storming through, holding very comfortably again.
Vika was serving at 2-5 to stay in the match, and sadly lost on a Double Fault.
She had made it further than she’d ever done before in a slam, but Kvitova was going to advance one better; semi-finalist last year, and now first time Slam finalist.

Wimbledon 2011 Day 9: Murray v Lopez

2011-07-02T17:25:00.003+01:00

They got the guys out really early, and after a thrilling 5-setter, a lot of people were out of the court so the atmosphere was a little muted to begin.

Everything started solidly enough with serves held all round until Lopez was serving at 2-3. He was defending break points and came unstuck with a failed drop shot. Andy went on to consolidate the break (much to people’s relief!).
Lopez had to defend break points again, and Andy wasted some chances to get the set here, leaving him to have to serve it out. First set Murray 6-3.

I was sat next to a lovely mother/son combo and it was her first time an Wimbledon, so for her to see Federer put out was amazing. She was really hoping this would be a thriller too, but perhaps the 5-setter previously had taken it out of Lopez.
He started the next set well, and in fact Andy wasted some good chances to break him in the third game.
The atmosphere can sometimes feel deflated in a second set, and it was eerily quiet. I had expected Lopez to be a lot more challenging, and that’s not to say we weren’t seeing some good rallies and variations of shots at all. But Andy was playing measured tennis, at times coming forward and being aggressive, and at times building up and constructing his shots. He also seemed a lot calmer in himself; not as much McMuttering to himself.
With that came a break of the Lopez serve.

Although Lopez was holding, Andy had more BP opportunities in the next few games and duly served out to take the second set comfortably.
At the first change of ends in the next set – Lopez had the trainer oit (who had made a brief appearance at the end of the previous set) – again he had presented Andy with chances, having been taken to deuce, but not able to push through.

In the next round, it was Andy taken to deuce and the first sign of some nerves. But not for long as he broke Lopez.
This third set saw a lot of games at deuce, on both service games, and we were wondering if this was the danger zone where Lopez is concerned, as he was actually beginning to look a bit more threatening but Andy stayed that crucial break ahead to take the match in straight sets, setting up a repeat Semi-Final with Rafa Nadal!

Next up – Women’s Semis!

Wimbledon 2011 Day 9: Federer v Tsonga

2011-07-02T15:59:00.002+01:00

I thought I’d afford myself a bit of a later start and so arrived to find the food village a little more crowded than usual! One of my other regular tennis-going pals “La Froglet” was around and about today with tickets to Court one, so we met up so she could grab a quick Pimms, and then I headed off to get to my seat.

Not bad seats at all today, but the weather was nowhere near as hot as Monday, which was a blessed relief as I’d been nattering to La Froglet and ended up running up 5 flights of stairs to get to my seat on time. Well, I say ran. I ran up a couple of flights and then staggered the rest of the way!

The guys came out, and above all I just wanted Jo to give a good account of himself.
Federer started the match off with a comfortable hold, and followed it up by breaking Tsonga. He consolidated the break in the next game. Pfft – Jo’s good start was non-existent!

Tsonga started better in his next service game, finding his range and with much better movement. He also had some opportunities on Federer’s serve but didn’t take them.

In the next round of games, Tsonga was beginning to blast out those blistering forehands and coming up with some big serving, but was still taken to deuce. Federer produced some masterful play to hold his service game too.
Although Tsonga had stopped the rot and held again, Federer held to love, and took the first set 6-3.

At the start of the second set, Federer was really profiting from some lucky netcords. Jo… not so much. Jo, by now, wasn’t playing badly; he was playing a little more aggressively now, and things went with serve for the first three games.

As the games progressed, Jo was stepping up the aggression and the quality of the rallies was amazing, including one in the tenth game where Jo ended up throwing himself on the ground and chucking the racquet at the call for the last shot.

Everything continued on serve to a Tiebreak, but Jo was on the back foot, and Federer took it 7/3. This was going to be a long way back.

I left for a break at this point, and came back (to my surprise) with Jo a break up in the third set, serving at 3-2. Federer held his serve to love, so was still looking in impressive form, despite whatever lapse had got him broken!

By now Jo was able to fire off big serves, and Roger was still holding to love, until Jo was serving out for the set. He seemed a little tight, and had a bit of a battle, but took the third set.

Having missed the first break, I was pretty pleased to see Jo break Federer in the third game – he seemed to have maintained that aggressive play and seemed to capitalise on a brief drop in concentration from Roger. By now he was thundering passing shots and we were treated to more great rallies.
As the set wore on, Jo was getting a bit edgy on his serve, but still able to to hold and stay that crucial break ahead. However that tightness disappeared this time, when he emphatically held to take the fourth set.

The crowd was now buzzing. Having been there when Falla took Federer to 5 sets in last year’s first round match – but all the folks around me were sure that Jo was going to cave.
Until he broke Federer’s serve again, in the first game of the fifth! Then the sense was of nervous anticipation.
Jo was really going for his shots and seemingly couldn’t miss, holding after the break.
Not that Roger had given up at all and again we were treated to some amazing rallies.

As the set progressed, Roger was looking a little less comfortable on his serve and beginning to show a little annoyance that Jo wasn’t caving in like a soufflé in a draft! His holds were getting sticky and with Jo serving out, he did so commandingly and just sank to his knees as the whole crowd got to their feet!

Federer was courteous enough to wait for Jo to get his stuff together, and even offered up a bit of a wave to the crowd.

I have to confess I was a touch emotional – it was truly an amazing comeback from Jo.

Wimbledon 2011 Day 7: Del Potro v Nadal

2011-06-29T08:21:00.003+01:00

They wasted no time in getting the guys out – so one assumes the organisers thought this might have the potential to go the distance.

They started on serve, and Nadal was serving like he meant business, keeping the points short.
In fact neither of them were giving anything away at all, although at 4-4, Nadal was given a time violation, and had a bit of a rant at Carlos Ramos. He went on to win that game, but the trainer was called to his chair (there only very briefly).

Del Potro held onto his serve to level things 5-5, and Nadal delivered a breathtaking hold after having to defend breakpoints.
Del Potro leveled again to take things for a TB, but at that point, Nadal took a medical time out and the trainer (who had been waiting in the wings) was straight out to examine his foot.
Del Potro was stood about for a moment incredulously before taking his seat and having a good old moan about it.

He was still obviously quite annoyed after the MTO when they started the TB as he was gesticulating to Carlos Ramos with his racquet as he walked to the back of the court.
Nadal came back from behind to take the TB after a Del Potro DF. He was really not best pleased, slamming his racquet into his bag in annoyance.
While the MTO was going on, predictably the crowd decided to amuse itself by starting a wave around the court – and got a couple of Royal participants!

The second set started with holds all round. Del Potro seemed to throw in some cute-play drops but that almost was the undoing of him, and we were starting to see some really good rallies now, with Del Potro moving a bit better and he seemed to have calmed down a bit.

In fact he took the initiative when Nadal seemed to have a bit of a lapse of intensity, and subsequently held to love to take the second set.

The third set started promisingly, the guys going with serve. Then (at 2-2) after an amazing rally between them, Del Potro slipped on the dusty area behind the baseline and went down on his hip, hard. And stayed down. Carlos Ramos was out of the chair and Rafa was up at the net, and the on-court trainer was out to him pretty quickly. He limped over to the chair, and the supervisor was on hand, and pretty soon he limped off, actually looking qite distressed for an off-court assessment and treatment. He came back onto court, and managed to play a couple of points before Rafa took that game and headed back to the chairs.

Coming out to serve at 2-3, Del Potro seemed to be moving ok and held his service game, as did Nadal, to love.
Things continued with serve, but Nadal was looking the stronger of the two, as it went to another TB. Nadal stayed ahead and took the third set.
At the start of the fourth, Del Potro was moving OK and again we were treated to some amazing rallies back and forth, with great shot variation from them both.
Nadal broke to lead 3-2 and consolidated that break, despite a spirited start against his serve by Del Potro. The light was beginning to fade quite a lot now and Del Potro was having some animated conversations at the change of ends.

Comfortable holds followed to put Nadal in the position of coming out at 5-4 to serve for the match, which he did. Del Potro got a massive ovation as he waited patiently for Nadal (man that boy does EVERYTHING in his own sweet time)… and I headed back.

Got a single ticket for the Men’s Quarters – will be seeing Fed/Tsonga and Murray/”Deliciano”…

Wimbledon 2011 Day 7: Pironkova v Williams

2011-06-29T08:07:00.002+01:00

What we DIDN’T expect was that Venus was going to be dominated in her match against last year’s semi-finalist Tsvetana Pironkova – who actually beat her last year in the quarter-finals.
Venus had lost the set 2-6 and we rejoined the match with Venus serving at 2-3.

She was broken in that service game, and Pironkova held, albeit with a bit of a sticky game there.
Venus held on in the next game (at 2-5) and we noted that Richard Williams had actually already left. Premonition, perhaps? Pironkova came out and served for the match with surprisingly few nerves taking out the former five-times Wimbledon Champion was joining l’il sis in exiting Wimbledon in the Fourth round.

Wimbledon 2011 Day 7: J Murray/Gajdosova v Andreev/Kirilenko

2011-06-29T07:49:00.002+01:00

During Andy’s match (when the near useless iPhone app decided to work) we noted that Andreev/Kirilenko had been leading Jamie and Jarka 4-1. We thought we might try and head out to court 14 to see if we could at least catch them, and to my surprise my friend noted they’d made it to a tiebreak (although when we got there they were 2-5 behind in that too). However, they fought back and eventually took the TB 8-6.

We managed to get ourselves to the front of the main area for a few games

There seems to be a good chemistry between J&J 2011 edition! Maybe not quite as flirty for obvious reasons, but they were smiling and laughing and very easy going on the court together.
Jarka is not afraid to come in and mix it up with her shots and there were some good rallies between all of them, and those first three games went with serve.

We headed off after that and found out soon after that they won the match, taking the second set 6-3.

Wimbledon 2011 Day 7: Gasquet v Murray

2011-06-29T07:20:00.003+01:00

Murray was looking sensible in a cap as the breezes were pretty few and far between today and it would be like an oven out there on the court.

Gasquet elected to serve and from the outset he was dictating pace well – this guy is the anti-Nadal!
Andy had a comfortable service game and was still finding range.

In the next round of games, Andy was settling down and his serve was firing nicely, finishing his service game off with a huge serve out wide. We were treated to the start of some amazing rallies on Gasquet’s service game and that balletic backhand of his ripped across the court.

Although things were continuing strongly with serve, there were perhaps chances for Andy to take advantage when he took Gasquet to deuce on his serve.

Neither of the guys were giving anything away, both were very solid behind their service games until Andy was serving at 5-6. This was maybe a bit more of a nervy hold but got things to a tiebreak. He was able to edge ahead and took the TB 7-3.

Andy opened the second set with a DF but managed to settle (everyone’s nerves) by holding! In fact he had some chances again to push Gasquet for an early break, but things continued with serve quite comfortably. Again, the standard of tennis was very high and Andy was getting good and pumped with lots of positive energy coming from him.

With Gasquet serving at 3-4, a costly DF from him gave Andy break point chancesm and this time he took them to go ahead 5-3. Reechar was very trudgy and looked pretty dispirited in the final game as Andy took the second set.

Gasquet came out firing at the start of the third and it looked briefly like we might have a competition on our hands but Andy matched him swing for swing and it really was looking like the momentum was with him. He broke Gasquet twice in the next few games, and that seemed to be the downward spiral point for Gasquet. He became pretty unraveled and was throwing in DFs here and there, and UEs a-plenty.

Andy quickly found himself serving it out at 5-2 and won his game so convincingly. He topped it off with a cheeky little bow to the Royal Box – but his game play was good, some attacking play, good pick-ups and mixing up – he’s coming rightly into some form now and needs a solid performance in the quarters now.

Wimbledon 2011 Day 7: Practice Courts & Royalty!

2011-06-29T06:53:00.002+01:00

Another day, another Wimbledon visit; managed to get the tickets on Sunday before an afternoon of liquid refreshment with visiting friends in Covent Garden before joining regular tennis-watching mate for our planned trip to Glee at the O2. It was our original intention to join the queue – although browsing the forums saw some misinformation about the fact that people were being turned away. Turns out that people were not being able to join the queue for show court tickets (if that’s what they wanted) but the queue was ok-ish for groundpasses, although that 2nd Monday is always mental because of 4th rounders all over the place.

The weather was hot. And I mean HOT! Those who know me well know that I get cold in a sauna. It will no doubt be a total shock to them that I managed to survive a full 12 hours in tshirt and cropped trews ALL day – even being sat under the roof until after 9pm! Makes a complete change from the Wednesday when I ran off to the Ladies to don a thermal running/skiing top!!!

We trotted off to the Practice Courts spotting a few good names along the way:

Berdych

Aga

Jo (hearts!)

Petko/Ivanovic

And the icing on the cake…
Wills and Kate! (ok – Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!)

Wimbledon 2011 Day 3: Hanescu v Roddick

2011-06-24T21:22:00.002+01:00

Prior to the guys coming out there was a strange sound in the air - it was the sound of the roof being opened and the change in temperature was marked… which is where my addition to the slam kit of a thermal top came in handy!!

Andy was on speedy serving form, and relatively nifty returning form too, taking an early break off Hanescu. But Victor did settle down in the third game, finishing off with an ace.

Things kept to a single break and both were dishing out some big serving.

In the mean time, we hoped that they might put Petkovic on if this match finished quickly – but I saw on the iPhone App (when it was working… pfft) that she was already on another court so we saw Roddick take the first with a single break, and left at the first change of ends.

Day off tomorrow and as always will try for a few more tickets.
Otherwise the next main blog will be from the Women’s Semis on Second Thursday.
Armchair/Roving Slammer report coming at the end of the week…

Wimbledon 2011 Day 3: Nadal v Sweeting

2011-06-24T21:13:00.002+01:00

We headed off for a break, along with most of Centre Court, and got back in timem for the start of the 2nd set, having loaned my ticket to a friend who had tix for a rainy Court 3.
Nadal had taken the first set 6-3 and was already leading 3-0 in the second.

Sweeting got himself on the board and was geeing the crowd along to support him. He wasn’t doing a lot wrong out there – but was being moved all around the Court and wherever he sent the ball, Rafa was there to send it back with interest!

The quality of tennis was great from both guys, fantastic rallies from both and really engaging play. Rafa was just too good, and took the second set 6-2.

Some yippish-like serving from Sweeting cost him a break in the third game and most people felt it would be a foregone conclusion, but Nadal seemingly had a lapse in concentration himself and Sweeting broke back, following it up with that all important hold.

Daydream over – Rafa delivered a string hold and Sweeting again had issues on his serve slapping his racquet about in frustration. Nadal gets the break and this time it had an air of finality about it.
Even though Sweeting had his strongest service game in the next couple of games, Rafa served it out to win in straight sets.

Wimbledon 2011 Day 3: Date-Krumm v Williams

2011-06-24T20:27:00.002+01:00

Despite a cheery Met Office app prediction of dryness, the day started with rain thundering off my conservatory roof! Mac on as we left for the car park and I actually packed a couple of Helly Hansen thermal running/skiing tops as it can be extremely cold in the top tiers on centre. In fact the people we sat next to yesterday said that the tickets now say that it can get extremely cold in the rooftop seats!

As we arrived it started to rain a little more heavily, so we headed for the food court and sat under cover chomping noodles; today was not going to be a day of mooching around the grounds.

We went to find the lifts and headed up.
It's strange to see the court without seeing the roof itself -especially knowing that it's raining.

Beforehand, as we were walking about we saw Julien Benneteau practicing on a court where Rodina/Scheepers were due to be playing. Cue hilarity when some guys behind were speculating as to whether he was either Rodina or Scheepers!!!

Announcement that play was going to be delayed on the outside courts, and at 12:45 people were still coming in with soggy brollies.
Scheduling Murray on 1 on a day when rain was going to be forecast did seem a little strange now.

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall took her seat but when people started applauding (including herself) everyone where we were sat thought that either the Duchess of Cambridge or Pippa Middleton had arrived. Turned out it was Bruce Forsyth. Pfft

Venus and KDK out warming up - no sign of the net curtains yet. And once we did see them – well that outfit is all kinds of… I don’t know what! Think pillowcases with cutouts. It actually does NOTHING for her figure and made her look actually quite dumpy. Not a word I’d associate AT ALL with Venus.

And to add insult to sartorial injury… Venus got herself broken in the very first game, Kimiko ripping shots past her. Venus looked quite step-slow out there initially.

Venus broke in the next game, but was broken straight back. Games settled down a bit, with tricky holds for both, but Kimiko was looking certainly the more pumped of the two. Venus looked in danger of being broken again, but steadied the ship with some big thumping serves to hold.

Kimiko again had a few points taken off her in her next service game and scrapped herself back into the gamem but two DFs gave Venus another break. The rallies and netplay from both women was just amazing - great reflexes from both of them. Venus holds on, despite having had BPs against her.

Coming out to serve for the set again, Kimiko endured a long service game. Lots of wasted chances and UEs gave Venus another break, which she consolidated with a hold, putting in her in the lead for the first time in the match, after winning four games on the bounce.

Kimiko fought through her next service game to force a tiebreak and actually started out the stronger of the two, but in typical Williams style clawed her way back from having been 2-6 down. There were a couple of just-wide calls and we saw a rare challenge from Venus at 6-7, but the ball was just in.
Kimiko took the set on her serve and the buzz around the centre court was electric.

Long service games for both women at the start of the second set, and a break for Venus in the third game.
Things settled a bit in the following games with both holding their serves and again, Venus was making heavy weather of holding her serves. It seemed for a time that the intensity of both women had dipped a little bit but Venus managed to break to take the set, but Kimiko seemed to be getting a bit more lively again in time for the deciding set.

Venus took an early break, but handed it straight back at the start of the third set, with a DF.
Kimiko struggled with a very long service game, and Venus wasted some chances to break again.
As the set wore on, Venus was returning a lot better and her energy levels seemed to be on the up. In fact both of them started to pick up the pace, and Venus’s shrieking was getting more and more primal! Someone called out in the middle of a point, but she was able to regain her composure and in fact smacked down an ace to hold.

The rallies we were being treated to were simply amazing and the service games were getting increasingly more nervy – it really would be a case of who would blink first.

Venus finally takes it 8-6 – this was easily the best match we’d seen over the three days, and possibly the best I’d seen this year, besting Hantuchova taking out Wozniacki at RG.

Wimbledon 2011 Day 2: Chakvetadze v Sharapova

2011-06-24T20:01:00.002+01:00

This match got moved to Centre where it was getting decidedly nippy!

Lots of baseline slugging in the first two games, which went with serve. The early break went to Sharapova after Chakky slipped on the grass.

Eventually Anna got herself a hold, and began to move Sharapova around the court a bit more. However, she was also magnetically drawn to hitting the net a lot, so another break went Maria’s way.
Sharapova came out to serve for the first set and took it.

By now the wind was picking up quite a bit and was pretty swirly. Anna got broken in the first game, but broke Sharapova straight back thanks to a costly DF from Sharapova.
There was a lengthy discussion between Chakvetadze and the umpire when he announced a game and she wanted to challenge, and apparently wasn’t allowed to.
This may have been the rutning point, as Sharapova broke to take the lead.

Anna wasn’t really adding much power to her groundstokes by now, and every now and again would dart forward and be able to play a little more aggressively and take a point off Sharapova here and there but not able to string anything together consistently. Leaking too many errors, Sharapova was able to come out and take the match with a hold and a break.

Much to our relief as it was truly freezing by now!

Wimbledon 2011 Day 2: Chardy v Djokovic

2011-06-24T17:35:00.006+01:00

I took the opportunity to stretch my legs a bit and wandered off to chat to the Navy Warrant Officer and the younger RAF guy that were manning the gangway. We chatted a bit about the recent MoD cuts and how it was affecting the services, and of course having come from a seemingly never ending set of cuts in the corporate world, it was good (but a little weird) to hear the same from a world so far removed from what I do.

They wasted no time in getting the guys out – and I was checking twitter which had cancelled a lot of the final matches of the day but still had no word about Sharapova, who had been a “To be scheduled”… so we thought that if Nole could dispatch Chardy quickly, then we had a good chance of seeing her as an extra match.

The match started promisingly enough - going with serve, and neither player was giving away much at this point
Nole took a decisive break in the 9th game, and went on to take the set 6-4.

Chardy got himself broken early in the second set, and although he managed to get a game on the board, Nole was beginning to make this look like a routine hitting session, taking the second set 6-1, after an unfortunate DF for Chardy.

In a repeat of the second set, Nole broke Chardy early again to lead 3-0 at the start of the third. There was just no real consistency from Chardy; maybe some brief moments of fight and then an error-fest. As before, Chardy got a game but Nole steamrollered him to another 6-1 scoreline.

A solid display from Novak, quietly progressing while the hype now spins around Rafa, Federer and Murray.

Wimbledon 2011 Day 2: Federer v Kukushkin

2011-06-24T14:52:00.002+01:00

We decided to leave for a bit of a break, and it was very much more pleasant outside the court than in! Still quite a breezy day though, a gust of wind buzzed through Café Pergola at one stage.

We rejoined the match at the end of the first set with Federer leading 6-5 and Kukushkin to serve.

It’s always nice to see him pushed toe to toe – and Kukushkin had a socking serve and seemed to be doing quite well – taking things to a TB.
However, Federer took the tiebreak very comfortably.

In the second set, despite starting with a hold, Federer broke him a couple of times and his service games were now held with ease. Mind you, he had some costly errors which prevented him from taking another break off Kukushkin.

Federer took the second set with that single break and broke very quickly in the third. He followed with a cruel little drop shot that broke Kukushkin again and this was slipping away rapidly now.

Federer wasted some chances to break Kukushkin for a third time but came out to serve for the match and 5-2 and served it out with no issues… no repeat of the 5 set first round thriller this time!

Wimbledon 2011 Day 2: Rezai v Williams

2011-06-24T14:13:00.002+01:00

Today's challenge was to try and get a lanyard and a plastic sleeve for my mum to have her ticket in, as I am paranoid that she is going to lose it!!! So we popped into the shop after we got the tickets (Row M today, opposite the ump's chair) and got the lanyard ok but no plastic sleevy things.

Quick stop for the hotdog/Dutchee nonsense and we strolled into the larger Wimbledon shop where a lovely person ran off to the security gates and came back with two sleeves. Once we got up to the court, I constructed something for her to have the ticket in – if she loses it from there, then I despair!

Quite cloudy and breezy in the court today – had to hit the fleece before play even got started!

Using the iPad got me the attention of a friendly RAF officer who wants to buy one for his daughter, but he was saying they're clamping down a lot on phones this year because of match betting. So remains to be seen how we get on tomorrow, up in the gods where there are more of the Honorary Stewards of bumptiousness!

Alison Lang in the chair and the court beginning to fill up which was nice to see.
Warm applause for Serena who was looking pretty focused as she came out.

From the start (serving) Serena seemed to be struggling to find her range, and Rezai wasn’t wasting time, sending down some good passing shots. Early in the game, some random alarm seemed to be echoing around the court – they looked to be able to hear it on the court, because we could see Alison Lang looking around and getting on the phone to the supervisor. But none of the stewards (honorary or otherwise) seemed at all bothered, so we had to assume that it was nothing serious. It went on for a good few minutes, and when it finally stopped there was a ripple of applause!

Serena was back to her foot-faulting ways – 2 in one game, and both of them were producing some good rallies – a good test of Serena’s lung capacity early on.
Rezai broke with a cheeky drop shot, and held her own serve with no real isses.
Serena steadied the ship, at least, on her second service game to keep things to a single break.

This good start by Rezai didn’t last long as she was broken to love, Serena’s trademark serving returning to form.
Things went from bad to worse in the next games for Rezai who had an attack of the yips on her serve, with constant Lets and the odd DF thrown in, and Serena broke (disturbingly throwing in a spinning Ana-like fistpump, and held in the next game to really turn things around.

Rezai was able to get a game back, and Serena went on to squander a 40-0 lead with faults all over the place, before finally clinching the first set 6-3.

Rezai had a bit of a battle to hold her serve in the opening game of the second set, but settled in the third with some big serving to keep things on serve.
Things were much closer in this set, and there was some real meat behind Rezai’s serving, pinning Serena back. In other news – it was absolutely FREEZING… so while struggling to put on a fleece, I attracted the observations of the Navy steward. I mouthed to him that I was freezing so he offered to give me a hug! More on him later!

Serena handed Rezai a break with a nervy DF and we were seeing some good running play from Rezai – swinging for the fences, and finding herself leading Serena 5-2. Although Serena managed a hold in her next game, a wayward shot gave Rezai the second set.

Things progressed with serve in the third, with Rezai stepping up the aggression and looking really pumped.
She did, however, get broken and in the next game they had an astounding rally which had Serena at full stretch returning a smash with a desparate lob that left Serena prone on the court and Rezai stranded midcourt as she’d left it and it dropped in, behind her.

Rezai began to unravel a bit by then, and some of that intensity that she’d shown to take the second set just evaporated. The rest of the third set became a tutorial in Serena’s serving and she won the match very convincingly.

It was very touching to see her so overcome with emotion at the end… after everything that she’d been though for the last year, she was still quite tearful at the BBC interview. But she is on her way.

Wimbledon 2011 Day 1: Gimeno-Traver v Murray

2011-06-24T13:28:00.002+01:00

There was a pretty good atmosphere for this – the crowd was back (especially given that it was raining pretty heavily and there had been an announcement that for health and safety, the big TV on the hill was not going to be used… it did seem a shame although as the match progressed and as all the Pimmsy debenture holders toddled home) people were coming in with resale tickets.

Things started strongly with both players holding their serves, While Daniel (because I am NOT writing that out surname every time!) had a couple of long service games, it was clear he was going to be no pushover. Andy had his chanced to break Daniel, but was held off.
Andy came out swinging very well, and looked very confident in his shots in the early stages, and with solid holds on his serve.

However, trouble was just around the corner and what seemed to be a lapse of concentration saw Daniel take the initiative and the break! A lob that went long gave Daniel the first set.
Cue lots of twitter angst!

Again, Andy had his chances to break in the second game of the set but didn’t take them. Things continued with serve, and it looked to me like Andy was beginning to play a little more aggressively and he FINALLY converted BPs to lead 5-3, serving out to take the second set.

Nerves settling around the court, who knew that what would follow next was a complete unraveling of Daniel’s game, after a long and tortuous game in the third game. Andy managed to break with a passing shot, although he still seemed to be relying more on wearing Daniel down and waiting for the mistakes.
Thanks to a FF/DF combo, Andy led 3-0. That seemed to be the turning point in the match, because Daniel just seemed to have no answers anymore with Andy taking the third set with an ace and a bagel, to boot!

The fourth set started with a repeat of the third – Andy breaking Daniel right at the start and from that point on, it really was just returning practice for Andy.
A second bagel, a 4-setter to start his campaign and it had to be said, in that last game, Daniel just had given up completely and looked like he wanted off the court!

Walked back to the bus followed by the match umpire, Pascal Maria, who autographed my programme for me!

Home at 10pm – 12 hour stint at the tennis… and more for Day 2!

Wimbledon 2011 Day 1: Dokic v Schiavone

2011-06-24T11:45:00.003+01:00

We arrived at the start of the warm up and predictably the court was pretty empty for the start of the match.

Dokic started the stronger of the two, with holds to love. As when we saw her at RG, Schiavone was making heavy weather of her service games. Today was no different. Although going with servce in the next couple of games, Schiavone looked to be struggling to find her range. Dokic, on the other hand, was dishing out a display of the perfect serve out-wide!

Dokic was really making excellent use of the court, pulling Schiavone left and right but Schiavone was now beginning to settle down, getting a break to take the lead 5-4. She held to take the first set after Dokic started giving way to some careless errors.

Dokic broke in the second set – and I hadn’t really noticed this at RG, but it looked as though at times Schiavone was over reaching/stepping over to chase her ball-toss. Dokic held again to lead 3-0.

Schiavone managed to get herself on the board, and some wayward UEs from Dokic almost gave Fran a break back, but Dokic managed to hold to keep things to a single break lead.

Schiavone serving at 1-4 got broken again, leaving Dokic to serve out for the set – this was going to go the distance.
The trainer was on for Dokic, bathroom break for Schiavone and tweets were mourning the imminent arrival of rain!

The first two games went with serve in the third set, but at 1/1, 40/40 the crowd in the lower tiers were stirring… coats were going on, brollies started going up and the groundsmen appeared. Umpire Lynn Welch was stranded in the chair as the groundsmen covered the courts and pushed the chair to the side!
Some spectators were getting impatient and expected the roof to just close while the players were on!
We decided now would be a good time to nip out to the facilities, and during that time an announcement was made that the Met Office felt that the rain would be sustained and heavy; as such the roof would be coming over.

Schiavone was out of the blocks the faster of the two, holding her serve at the resumption, and then breaking Dokic as again she started spraying one too many UEs about.
Then Fran promptly got herself broken to love!

Things were back on serve and Dokic seemed to be mouting a comeback with some messy holding from Schiavione, and some amazing rallying and fighting by Dokic, who was not going to go without a fight.
That being said – she double faulted at a BP down to hand Schiavone a break to lead 5-3, and to serve out for the match.

Deuce/Ad galore, but finally one over-egged swing to send the ball away and Schiavone won.

Wimbledon 2011 Day1: Nadal v Russell

2011-06-24T11:24:00.002+01:00

Things I wish I'd done before leaving
1) Verified that the park and ride was indeed in the same place it has been for the last few years!!! Cue driving around with my mother bleating that she couldn't see the helpful signs ... Until of course we suddenly could!!!
2) Installing the iPhone App at hone instead of choosing to do it on a bouncing bus!!! Where did that 3G signal go... I mean come, this is London people!!!
3) Instead of going on my instinct, I asked the stewards of supreme bumptiousness where the Returns tickets gate was ... Next time go with your gut instinct of Gate 4!!!

Next stop lunch and, joy and rapture - the luxury of Scampi and chips! Mind you at a luxury price too!!!

Quick stop off to grab a proggy and visit the throne room and off to the tickets!!!

Very nice seats indeed and after a weekend of angst on the am.com, I decided to ask at the box office what was the deal:
1) returns are set seats - no need to queue.
2) e-tickets are set seats - no need to queue
Only benefit if queueing early is if you are joining the main queue, or if you have tickets but want to snaffle a seat on an undeserved court before play starts in the bigger courts. It really just confirmed what a lot of us who have done things regularly knew… but hey ho!

MoLay out to a round of applause, which he took with his beaming smile.

After the obligatory clapping for the ballboys and ballgirls and the linesjudges, there was warm applause from the rapidly filling court for the defending champion. I’d felt slightly cheated to see Federer the year when Rafa had issues with his knees, so this felt like it put that right!

However, that’s about all that went right, at the beginning – Rafa had a sticky hold on his service game. Russell was fighting very hard from the outset, moving all about the court and some very good play at the net. This could prove to be quite a test for him today.

Things continued with serve, in particular some big serving from Russell. Nadal was beginning to settle down a little.

Russell was impressing everyone (except maybe the Rafa fans behind us) with his movement over the court, and a DF from Rafa gave the break to Russell, who found himself serving at 4-2.
Nadal dug in deep and broke back, as the wind started to pick up on Centre court.

As often befalls courageous fighters in first round matches, drawn against the top tier, Russell found himself with yips on his serve allowing Nadal to take the lead. A hold to love secured the first set for the defending champion.

Russell’s woes continued in the second set with some lacklustre play to get broken at the start of the first game. Nadal stayed a break ahead, and we were treated to some amazing rallies, including a couple of full stretch dives, first to the right and then to the left by Russell, leaving him prone on the deck both times, and leaping up to try and get the ball back; it was almost too cruel that he netted the ball on game point.

There was some hope for Russell as he managed to get the better of Nadal at 1-4 and got a break, but the second set was a bit of a foregone conclusion.

Again Russell found himself broken at the start of the third set and this was now beginning to look like a routine march for Nadal. We decided to leave at that point to get something to eat.
It was strange but it didn’t really seem as busy this year. And then of course Centre Court tipped out after Rafa won!

Wimbledon 2011 Day 1: Preview - Bring on... THE ROOF!

2011-06-21T08:17:00.002+01:00

Day 1 of Wimbledon 2011 and I am off and running with tickets..
This year's target - beat 9 days!
This year's challenge - NOT get beaten by the weather

How does your intrepid Armchair Slammer prepare for this?
Returns/in-the-gods tix on Centre!!!

So far...
Day 1: Returns
Day 2: Returns
Day 10: Women's Semis
Day 13: Court 1 (Men's Final day)...

So almost half way there.

Now.. my next challenge is to persuade the credit card company that it is ME going for the tix and not some nefarious card-filcher. Somehow... that DOESN'T seem to be so easy...

Queens 2011 Final: Murray v Tsonga

2011-06-17T20:38:00.002+01:00

And so it came to pass that the great clouds of the tennis gods hovered grumpily over Baron’s Court on the Sunday, raining the Queen’s Final off completely. I’d been idly following chat on Twitter and seen that someone I knew had managed to get a ticket online for the final, to be held on the Monday, for £10. I umm-ed and ahh-ed a bit until finally a friend and my mum persuaded me; after all when were the stars ever going to align to have Murray in a Queen’s Final on a Monday, when I could get a ticket and stroll down.
I managed to get it and sorted my stuff out.

In the morning there seemed to be a bit of confusion coming from the Twitterverse as to whether people who had online tickets had to join the same queue as the people waiting to get the remaining 1000 tickets that were going to be on sale at the gate. Having experienced the whole “nice-but-dim-ness” of the stewarding staff, I could see how confusion would be reigning…!
However, I got through without any issues – by the time I strolled down there they seem to have sorted themselves out.
I caught up briefly with a couple of the andymurray.com stalwarts and we mooched around for bit, managing to catch a few words with Mohamed Lahyani – legendary ump and in the seat for today’s final. He reckoned it might rain and when we howled in horror, he reckoned that it’d be fine for the final!
Then Andy loped by – I wished him luck and he thanked me – bless him!

We decided to go in and this time I was sat a little further down from the pretty, but pretty ineffectual stewards of days 2 & 3 who were on duty again today.

The trophy was brought out but kinda unceremoniously left on the grass …

… before Andrew castle [/stifles sigh] picked it up and brought it over to the other side in preparation for an interview with Sue Barker; fooling around and lapping it up.
Sue Barker gave the watching spectators a quick run down of what she was going to say as the live link from BBC2 would come to her, and ran through a quick interview with Castle and John Lloyd.

They brought the guys out – Jo all smiley – Andy very… focused!

Warm up over, the first two games went with serve, but there was some sign of initial nerves – Jo struggling from 40-0 up, Andy DFing on his service game.
Some badly misjudged dropshots gave Jo a sticky hold at the end of the first three games.

Another Df from Andy, serving behing but he managed to hold. Jo was striking the ball with some blistering pace. Serving at 2-3 Andy seemed dissatisfied with his racquet and looking bothered, changed it hard way through the game, and was promptly broken to love.
Jo was profiting a lot from a netcord, obviously made in France. He consolidated the break to lead 5-2. Andy mounted a spirited comeback and had a commanding hold in the next game and Jo, conversely, seemed to find his first serves deserting him. Andy had breakpoints here but Jo squeaked a hold to take the first set.

At the start of the second set, Andy started with a hold, but Jo was continuing his commanding play, especially at the net, also holding. The guys were treating the crowd to some amazing rallies and Andy was beginning to get pumped up now, finally.
Neither player was letting up on their levels of intensity which was great for the crowd.
Jo was turning out big serves to save break points and again Andy wasted some chances to make that decisive break.
Giving up those chances had him coming out a bit flat but he still managed to keep things on serve.

By now everyone has been talking about that amazing “tweener” shot that Andy pulled off in the final set… but before we got to that – there was another rather misjudged attempt that took us to a tiebreak. The quality of the rallies was just amazing.

Andy had, and then lost an early advantage in the tiebreak and missed shots from Jo resulted in an anguished “ahh non!” on a few occasions. Andy, serving at 5-2 ahead, won both his serves, to take us into a decider, and by now he was really fired up.

Although the momentum was with him, Andy wasted a number of chances against Jo’s opening service game, but managed to hold his own. By now he was chattering away to himself a lot.
In fact, he started to get the yips a bit coming out to serve after the forst change of ends, although he did manage to hold.
What struck me (and I’ve seen Jo play a few times now) was his movement and coverage at the net. Against a lot of other players, Andy’s passing shots would have ripped past them at the net, but Jo was all over them like a rash.
Finally he managed to convert breakpoints to take the advantage and, more importantly, held his own.
Jo kept things to a single break, and we had that tweener that made it onto all the news bulletins!
Andy came out to serve for the match, and hit those big serves we all know he’s capable off when it really counted, with an appreciative crowd to road it home.

I watched Andy come back from two sets and a break down against Gasquet, and I thought that was one of the best matches I had ever seen. But to watch him win a title was a pretty amazing thing. And it was a GREAT final – I loved that it went to three sets and that it was so competitive – Jo was incredible, and we have this phenomenon about the French actually seemingly to be more at home on the grass than on the Roland Garros clay sometimes! I really hope I get to see him in thart competitive and athletic a match again.

And with that – here I sit writing this up as the heavens are repeatedly opening. I suspect the roof at Wimbledon is going to be getting some use this year.

I have two confirmed days – 2nd Thursday (women’s semis) and Court 1 on Men’s final day. The rest is down to Ticketmaster and clickety-click luck.

Queens 2011 Day 3: Ebden v Nadal

2011-06-12T21:48:00.004+01:00

Nadal took an early break but Ebden settled down quite quickly to hold his own thereafter, losing the first set with a respectable single break.

To repeat the pattern, Nadal broke Ebden again in the first game and it was a pretty routine outing for him, despite the occasional slip on court from time to time.

As we had two rain delays, we noticed that the final match (Del Potro) had been moved to Court 10, so we suspected that this would be the last match on Centre tonight.

Ebden steadied the ship to keep Rafa pegged back to a single break and Rafa won with straight sets.

And thus ended my first real outing to Queens. Fairly cold.

Confirmed tickets for the Women’s Semis day at Wimbledon, and the rest is down to the ticketmaster/resale gods.
My friend (La Froglette, so named for our habit of M&S Poppable vino and Le Froglet plastic wine glasses) got tickets for Court 1 on Mens Final day – which we have decided to take.
If nothing else we can maybe sit out on the hill, or just enjoy the dubs etc on Court 1.

And of course… the Armchair/Roving Slammer will be back to recap the weeks events.

Edit: as I was typing these up today… the final at Queens was completely rained out, and I got a ticket for a tenner on the interwebz! So Bonus Bloggy y’all…

Queens 2011 Day 3: Malisse v Murray

2011-06-12T21:34:00.004+01:00

The weather looked like it would turn during the match and so it did, with a quick shower that had the crowd leaving before the players or before the play was officially suspended!

Andy was quicker out of the blocks breaking Malisse in the second game, and consolidating to go 3-0 up. Malisse began to settle a bit but Murray took the first set comfortably with just the loss of 3 games.

It stayed comfortably with serve in the second, and the guys were getting some good rallies going. Malisse, in particular, was getting wise to Murray’s tactics and Andy found himself caught out after trying to outlob Malisse one too many times

In the eleventh game, Andy just wasted break points against Malisse and got broken, for Malisse to take the second set 7-5.

It was a better start by Murray at the start of the deciding set, breaking early again
Murray wasted some chances to break and Malisse had a spell of much more solid play, keeping things to a single break.

Murray finally broke through to take the match, and confessed in the post match interview that it had been tricky and that the courts were playing slow.

Queens 2011 Day 3: Cilic v Clement

2011-06-12T21:16:00.002+01:00

Riddle me this… how can I leave earlier and arrive later at the club? Still, there were no worries in getting through queues today; they seemed far more organized. I found myself next to the railings in a corner, and with the stewards of hopelessness again!

It was a good start by Cilic and he appeared to be getting down to the ball well, for a big guy. Clement was not finding any range at all and Cilic was soon leading 3-0.
That being said, he gave the advantage away in the next game; Clement was beginning to settle down and consolidated with a hold.
Alison Lang was the umpire today, and she was not tolerating the tardy seating.

Cilic’s confidence was returning and he broke again to take the lead 5-2, but promptly failed to serve it out, Clement breaking and holding again to close the gap.
Cilic took the set for the second time of asking

It was progressing with service in the second but the court was pretty slippery and was about to get more so with the first spots of rain. Sure enough, play was suspended but quite a few of us stoic folks sat there until the spitting gave way to its bigger more aggressive brothers, and eventually most of the people where I was sitting gave up and headed to the Food Village (such as it is!)

At the resumption (2/2, 30/30), Clement was broken, and Cilic was the faster of the two to settle in after the rain delay, going on to take the match.

Queens 2011 Day 2: M Lopez/Nadal v Bellucci/Sa

2011-06-12T16:05:00.002+01:00

By now it was dark and cold when they brought out the doubles players – but it was going to be Nadal’s first trot on the grass so was worth hanging around for. There was an amusing moment when the announcer described Lopez as a doubles specialist while listing his achievements, and when he got to Rafa, drily described him as a “singles” specialist. That being said – Nadal and Lopez had good runs as a partnership.

Rafa’s intensity doesn’t drop much in doubles, and he seemed quite relaxed, at one stage flinging his racquet at a ball out of reach (and almost knocking some dude’s Pimms out of his hands at the front of the court!). Like Andy Murray, though, he can sometimes overcook his shots, but is capable of some amazing poaching moves at the net.

Sa was moving about well… and Bellucci – just reminded me of a character from Trumpton! He just had that "Hugh! Pew! Barney McGrew! Cuthbert! Dibble and Grubb” look about him!

Thankfully this was a straight sets victory as it really was getting very cold by now… but thankfully we’d had no rain. However, Day 3 was going to be another story…!

Queens 2011 Day 2: Berrer v Tsonga

2011-06-12T15:50:00.002+01:00

Berrer will have come to people’s minds as the guy who coulnd’t get past a one-legged Murray at RG. After Murray had rolled his ankle, he was forced to revert to uber-aggressive play and Berrer just seemed to implode.
It was, therefore, going to be interesting to see if he was going to try and banish this view from people’s minds from the outset. Tsonga was having none of that. A super quick start from the Frenchman saw him go 3-0. Tsonga was masterful, moving Berrer all around the court at will. Berrer was trying to up his game, but to no avail, and was bagelled.

Berrer started the second set with a little more spirit but again was quickly broken for Tsonga to lead 3-1, even after a slip as Berrer was positioning for a putaway. Tsonga was just too good, and won the match for the loss of just one game.

Queens 2011 Day 2: Mahut v Verdasco

2011-06-12T15:43:00.002+01:00

I had to take a break at this point. It was not warm out in the stands, and because the venue is so cold, and having seen the issues in terms of people being able to get back into the court thanks to the utter chaos with the stewards, I was expecting to miss a whole load of this match!

I was surprised to actually get back there for 3-2 in Verdasco’s favour; he was a break ahead and went on to take the first set 6-2.

Verdasco got himself broken in the first game of the second set, but broke straight back, before managing to break Mahut to lead 3-1. Mahut was seemingly coming unstuck now – he had no answers, except to hand points to Verdasco on the back of unforced errors. His lackluster approach ultimately cost him the match.

Queens 2011 Day 2: F Lopez v Roddick

2011-06-12T15:15:00.002+01:00

The immediate thing to notice about Roddick was the loss of weight and… the socks. Ankle socks and skinny. A la Mardy Fish. And so not a good look!

Aesthetics aside, a good start though, by both guys with Roddick-Lit(h)e moving about quite quickly, although his trademark big-serving was still evident.

Lopez and Roddick were pretty evenly matched with some great passing shots from both and some great mixing up of play.

The grass was still pretty slippery and Feliciano took a slip. At 5-5, Roddick had a DF stren game, his saving grace being Lopez’s lack of range.

Into a Tiebreak and Roddick took command early, Lopez again just not settling into range at all. There were some excellent passing shots from Andy and this was just running away from Lopez. First set to Roddick.

As with the first, it was going quite comfortably with serve in the second set, although at 3-3, Feliciano’s level really started to dip. He dug in to hold, but the sharpness from the first set had gone. That being said – it spread to Roddick in the next game saving break points as Lopez found the netcord again. Roddick scrambled to a hold more from Lopez’s unforced errors than anything else.

Lopez was trying to be more aggressive at tomes, and coming in a lot more, but Roddick was playing relentless tennis and now almost always hitting the target with passing shots.

Tiebreak again, and this time Lopez took control and was looking the more dominant, to go ahead 3-1. Again, though, Roddick was sending down some great passing shots and came back well to level at 3-3. The surface was still causing a few issues, with a slip at the net as Roddick was running to reach a drop shot. Some effective serving was employed by Roddick to get to within a mini-break of Lopez. Despite a challenge from Roddick, the momentum swung Lopez’s way.

All the while the stewards were totally clueless about letting people in and out. There were two groups of school kids, and one group in particular were unbelievably irritating with the kids constantly going in and out of the court, and not at Change of Ends. Worse still, the stewards actually let one of the teachers/supervisors out in the second game of the deciding set.

It really makes you appreciate the organization and discipline at the slams.

Lopez was really trying to pump himself up – he’d been a bit lackadaisical until the end of the second set and took an early break to lead 2-1. Then handed that right back to Roddick! Chances were slipping away for him – had a great chance for a backhand cross-court winner that slapped into the net and it was really slipping away from him.

More slipping for Roddick as a perfect lob from Lopez left Roddick on the floor, but he got up and was fine.

Roddick took the win.

Queens 2011 Day 2: Istomin v Del Potro

2011-06-12T14:50:00.003+01:00

Last time I came here – I lost a pair of Oakleys, inexplicably, somewhere between the station and the queue. It was to watch Jamie Murray in his Singles Qualies, and it was still the days (final days I think) of the the Stella Artois Championships!

Now everything is all shiny and Aegon Blue!

Despite the cheerful predictions of my Met Office iPhone App, it was decidedly cool and breezy when I got there, and pretty soon I was resorting to my fleece!

It was a slow start by Istomin with Del Potro getting an early break. This, accompanied with a lot of hilarious commentary from the two old dears sat next to me who were convinced that Istomin was actually Gulbis!

Istomin got himself a break back after what looked to be a bit of a dubious line call. In these early stages Del Potro was slipping a bit and not really getting down to balls. As a result – Istomin was keeping the balls to Del Potro quite low, and managed to keep the deficit to a single break.

One of the features of Queen’s Club is that the stands are quite intimate in relation to the court, and I think it’s fair to say that perhaps not all of the tennis-goers are die hard fans (judging from the large amounts of takeaway Pimms). As such people tended to just get up and wander about and down to exit whenever they wanted. It wasn’t helped by a total lac k of understanding abour games, and non-movement by the stewards. The two guys were pretty, but also pretty ineffective, and they had to endure some very uppity complaining from people who had been queuing to get in for most of the first set. Discussions were continuing apace, and one of the pretty stewards, a foppy haired guy called Ludo, was getting it in the neck from someone who looked a lot like Nigel Havers! Then again, if you are going to be named after a board game, I guess you would be used to some stick! (I know – it’s short for Ludowig… work with me here, people!)

Del Potro came out and served for the set and the momentum stayed with him as again, he took an early break and actually seemed to be finding his grass legs. Then a slide really seemed to tweak his hamstring while 3-1 up. Istomin again kept things to a single break and Del Potro was moving gingerly back to his chair and had the trainer out.

It obviously helped, as he was moving a lot better and managed to break to go up 5-2, and subsequently served out for the set – so a good start but initial worries with that hamstring.

Queens 2011 Day 2: Istomin v Del Potro

2011-06-12T14:50:00.002+01:00

Now everything is all shiny and Aegon Blue!

Despite the cheerful predictions of my Met Office iPhone App, it was decidedly cool and breezy when I got there, and pretty soon I was resorting to my fleece!

It obviously helped, as he was moving a lot better and managed to break to go up 5-2, and subsequently served out for the set – so a good start but initial worries with that hamstring.

The Armchair Slammer Round Up - Roland Garros 2011 (Week 2)

2011-06-12T14:38:00.000+01:00

Armchair Slammer – French Open, Week 2

Day 9 – Round 4

The last of the Round 4 matches saw Maria Sharapova eventually hit through Radwanska in a hard fought straight sets victory. In places she showed her champion’s mentality, but at other times, she seemed to struggle to find the court with a pair of binoculars! A match that swung from one player to the other, but Maria set herself up to meet Andrea Petkovic, who also had a few challenges to overcome in her match against Maria Kirilenko.

Whilst MaSha and Petko wanted to do it the hard way, Victoria Azarenka comparatively strolled through her round for the loss of just five games.

Na Li had a rougher ride in her encounter with Petra Kvitova. Having seen Kvitova in the Wimbledon Semi-finals last year, this girl is fearless… and she was the faster out of the blocks, taking the first set 6-2. Li started to gain her advantage as Kvitova lost some of that opening firepower, taking the second set, and yet was down 0-3 in the decider. It is a measure of Li’s experience and maturity that she then reeled off 6 straight games to book herself into the quarterfinals.

Day 10 – Quarter Finals

The story of the day was Bartoli enjoying the love of the crowd against former French Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova. A day of complicated weather, and (over) enthusiastic crowd, with the first set going to a tie-break, in Bartoli’s favour.

It took her a couple of attempts to serve out the second set, eventually taking it 6-4 and making it to the semis for the first time.

However, the story so very nearly was the downing of the defending champion – Schiavone seemingly asleep on her feet in the first set with pavlyuchenkova dishing out a breadstick. A tighter set in the second, but still with Schiavonne looking out of sorts and finding herself down 1-4 and in danger of exiting, and being asked to leave the trophy at the door on her way out. Schiavone dug deep and started to round out her games, eventually taking the second set 7-5.

In the ascendency, Schiavone continued on a roll, but Pavlyuchenkova refused to go quietly, and Schiavone fought through to eventually take the decider 7-5.

Day 11 – Quarter finals

After almost coming unstuck at the hands of Kvitova, Na Li overcame a tricky first set against Azarenka and secured a more comfortable straight set victory. Azarenka didn’t play badly but somehow failed to capitalise on her chances, and yet again waits to advance past the Quarterfinal stage in a Slam.

Imperious doesn’t even begin to describe Sharapova’s start in the Quarter Final – bagelling Andrfea Petkovic who hardly seemed to be on the court in the first set. In fact she was absent from the coirt for a fair while before the start of the second set, but seemed to come out with a bit more verve about her in the second set. However, to no avail, as Sharapova took Petkorazzi out for the loss of just three games.

Day 12 – Semis

What a difference a day makes. The confident, forceful nd dominant Sharapova who simply steamrollered Petkovic into submission was nowhere to be seen in the first semi-final. Struggling with conditions, and error counts alike allowing Li to expose Sharapova’s self proclaimed lack of movement and she manoeuvered Maria like a chess piece!

Sharapova seemed to settle a bit in the second set, but Li played a patient game and eventually ground her down to seal her place in her second Slam final of the year.

The match-up of the day had to be the defending champion against the last French woman standing. Bartoli’s crazy use of angles, idiosyncratic jumps, leaps, bounces and shadow swings… against a superlative clay court practitioner.

The momentum just couldn’t quite take Marion through, and Schiavone’s style of play, and her ability to mix up her shots began to create holes in Marion’s game – breaking and taking the first set comfortably 6-3. Although maybe encouraged with an early break in the second set, at 3-3 Schiavone steadied the ship and closed down Bartoli’s options, again taking the set 6-3. But Marion gave the French crowd something to really get behind in the closing stages of the tournament, and having been a Wimbledon finalist, it will be interesting to see what she will do on the grass.

Day 14: The Final

More potential history to be made – Schiavone to claim a back to back defence of her championship – the first since Henin achieved the same in 2006 (herself, emulating Graf’s achievement in 1996); Li would be the first woman to win a Grand Slam if she could win here.

Both started toe to toe – giving as good as they got, until Li took a break to go up 3-2. Things settled with serve until Li was serving for the set at 5-4 pushing Schiavone back and closing down her ability to move around the court.

Li capitalised on her momentum and broke Schiavone in the first game of the second set and consolidated immediately with a hold.

Schiavone dug in deep and literally clawed her way back to a position of 4-4. Her serving started to work for her, and she was able to move about the court a little more freely, establishing a bit more control.

Controversy struck at 6-5 in Schiavone’s favour, where a possible long strike from Li landed on or close to the line. Schiavone indicated it was out with her racquet, but the umpire (having come down from the chair) disagreed, taking the second set into a tiebreak.

Schiavone was obviously distracted, but take nothing away from Li – her execution in the tiebreak resulted in 7 straight points and the title.

Schiavione was gracious in defeat and Li is undoubtedly a popular winner, especially after her charming speech at theAustralian Open.

And now – onto the grass!

The Armchair Slammer Round Up - Roland Garros 2011 (Week 1)

2011-05-30T14:45:00.003+01:00

The return of the Armchair Slammer – but this time en France! So I guess that would make it… La Slammeuse de Fauteil!!!

Previously hosted and posted on www.tennis-update.com, this is a round up of the Women’s Singles Draw at the French Open!

Round 1: Day 1

Stosur started very comfortably, as did Jankovic and her doubles partner Pavlyuchenkova. Julia Goerges also started well, backing up her recent successes on Clay.

Peer (seeded 19^th) went out in R1, but the ever colourful Bethanie Mattek-Sands (the top seeded American in the absence of Les Soeurs Williams had a bit of a battle to get through to the next round.

It was at the end of the first day that the biggest upset came about; Flavia Pennetta was taken out by Lepchenko in a tense match where nothing seemed to go right for the Australian Open 2011 Women’s Doubles champion.

Day 2:

World #1 and recent clay court title winner (Brussels), Caroline Wozniacki opened her account with little trouble against (and I mean absolutely no disrespect here) tour veteran Date Krumm, for the loss of only two games.

Kvitova and Agnieszka Radwanska also advanced with little issue.

Today’s biggest casualty, seedwise, was Nadia Petrova, who’s campaign came to an end at the hands of her Doubles partner Rodionova! It doesn’t seem to have affected their partnership as they are progressing through the Women’s Doubles draw, and she also is also still in the Mixed, with Jamie Murray.

Other successes were Vera Zvonareva, Daniela Hantuchova and Sania Mirza

Day 3… and the last few R1 matches to go saw Maria Sharapova put paid to her own comment of feeling like a “cow on ice” by storming through her first round match in straight sets, with much improved movement and confidence on the slippy dirt.

Kim Clijsters came into the French Open with little match practice after a dancing accident at a family wedding (yes, really) but had a pretty comfortable straight sets win.

No issues either for Azarenka, Na Li and Wickmayer. Perhaps one of the most poignant wins was that of Jarmila Gajdasova over Virginie Razzano who recently lost her coach and fiancé to a brain tumour. This was always going to be a very emotional situation for both players

The upsets for today were American Vania King defeating Cibulkova in a tight three-setter, and former French Open Champion Ana Ivanovic, who fell to Johanna Larsson after a long run of injuries has hampered her progress.

Day 4 – Round 2

No dramas for defending Champion Schiavone, last year’s runner-up Stosur, former champion Kuznetsova , and former #1 Jankovic in the round 2 stakes. Slightly tougher match though for Vera Zvonareva who battled against an eventually cramped and injured Sabine Lisicki, who had to be taken off on a stretcher.

Current #1 Wozniacki also was tested (against almost namesake Wozniack) and took a couple of hours to book her place in the third round.

Also through in a tough match was Marion Bartoli, keeping French hopes flying.

Day 5 – Round 2

The big news of the day was the victory of Dutch unseeded Arantxa Rus taking out Kim Clijsters as both players had to contend with cold and blustery conditions out on court.

Maria Sharapova also found herself tested in three sets today, before delivering her opponent a bagel in the third set to secure her place in the third round.

Azarenka lost just one game in the last match on Lenglen court, defeating France’s Pauline Parmentier in the gloom and cold of the evening

Not a great day for the Brits with Vania King and Kaia Kanepi taking out Elena Baltacha and Heathe Watson out respectively.

Day 6 – Round 3

I was there for two of the biggest upsets of the day!

Firstly, Sam Stosur, who seemed very much out of sorts and focus, as Gisela Dulko out-manoeuvred her to oust last year’s runner up.

I sensed that this might be the prelude to an even bigger upset, and I wasn’t wrong as an extremely focussed Daniela Hantuchova executed the perfect game plan against Caroline Wozniacki.

Marion Bartoli had herself a tough challenge to confront, and ultimately conquer an in-form Julia Goerges.

Jankovic sent Bethanie Mattek-Sands packing, and her doubles partner Pavlyuchenkova set herself up for a fourth round matchup against Zvonareva.

Defending champion Schiavone advanced after Peng had to retire in the second set.

Svetlana Kuznetsova also progressed comfortably.

Day 7 – Round 3

Easy progressions for Sharapova, Azarenka, A Radwanska and Na Li – all through in straight sets.

Less easily, Andrea Petkovic ended Jarmila Gajdasova’s run on the clay, and Maria Kirilenko defeated Rus.

Day 8 – Round 4

Getting towards the business end of the tournament, and Pavlyuchenkova (a name that seemed to cause Greg Rusedski all kinds of issues in pronoounciation) put out Vera Zvonareva .

Dulko had to retire against Marion Bartoli, and Schiavone faced a stern test from Jankovic, and finally prevailed in the decider. In another great match, Kuznetsova came through against Hantuchova in a tight three-setter

The top three seeds on the women’s side out, the stage is set for a pretty wide open path to the title.

Roland Garros 2011: Technobabble

2011-05-29T19:47:00.004+01:00

This slam saw me road-testing the use of my iPad for making notes. The iPhone had been pretty convenient in some respects during last year, except where Hawkeye Steward in Wimbledon had been concerned.

To the untutored eye, it would look like someone was texting in between play, hence the curt warnings of "turn that phone off". I would have been completely stuck if I'd left the camera at home on a Wimbledon day, as it had to double as a camera and again would no doubt earn a reprimand!

The biggest issue with the iPad is that the sunlight - which can prevent you actually seeing anything! And the typing on larger keys is indeed more useful, but you are still subject to the vagaries of the iPhone/iPad spell checker dictionary.

The trip to France saw me also take the wireless keyboard with me to help write up the notes in the evening, and on our way home. However, combined with the Office application, it's not exactly foolproof and there was a lot of saving going on as I translated notes and random dictionary words into more sensible prose.

The most useful thing was the ability to write up the notes and synchronise files to DropBox - it has made writing up the notes this evening a much easier task, as well as being a subject of conversation from the family sat across from us on the Eurostar who were fascinated by the keyboard stand combo as I was working on the notes on the journey home.

I suspect (if I get to Wimbledon) that it may be commented on by stewards, as the most likely tickets will be the ones up in the gods the night before play.

But no-one can be mistaken for thinking that I am texting on a phone when using the iPad!!

I have yet to see what the bill will be for Data roaming and having twitter updates available which proved invaluable at RG. Obviously in the UK this is going to be all inclusive, but again falls under the risk of "turn that phone off"!

And what of the iPhone (3GS) camera? Well the pictures weren't bad but they weren't great either; my own fault and not a mistake I will make again! Whilst my online photo-storage of choice makes it very easy to email photos directly into my photostream, the faff of emailing 49 photos from the first day was nothing short of pain!

Thus, the Wimbledon technical kit will comprise of my phone, a charger (as there is something that is just eating the battery with the 3GS at the moment), and the iPad. It's battery life was pretty good for a whole day because I only have the wireless option on it.

Camera and spare battery is a must as the sports mode can run the battery down quite considerably after a full day
.

Keyboard will probably not be coming with me as I am only likely to sort out the notes in the morning and would most likely just dump the files into Dropbox and edit on the PC in one go.

I would like to go next year and am already planning to put aside some days holiday and some savings for maybe a few more days. I was following the tweets of Forty Deuce, who was plagued by intermittent wi-fi at the hostel she was staying at. Although quite pricey, there is a lot to be said for free wi-fi in the room!

I would be more inclined to take the laptop of heaviness with me to a hotel, if I went to the Australian Open and US Open, just for ease of editing and posting, if only placeholders until photos could be uploaded.

The only thing I didn't get to try was the camera card connector for the iPad.

All in all, it wasn't a bad test of technology for the tennis blogger...

Roland Garros 2011 Day 6: Tsonga v Wawrinka

2011-05-29T19:45:00.002+01:00

I came in at the start of the third set and JWT was pumped and really playing good aggressive tennis. He was really going for his shots, and the crowd just adore him. He (and Monfils) get them going, I think more so than Gasquet (although I saw in the TV coverage that he did whip them up a bit after he had lost the third).

Stan earned himself a lot of boos after getting broken and dishing out the same to his racquet, smiling wryly at the reaction of the crowd, as he went get a new one.

The French guy sat next to me was curious as to why I was occasionally tapping away on the iPad so I explained (in my best Franglais) that I was writing about the matches, and making notes - mainly at the Change of Ends, but occasionally mid-game). He wanted me to write "Tsonga is the best" so I duly obliged. Having done my but for Anglo-French relations, I turned my attention back to the match!

At this stage, JWT was looking very much in charge and soaking up the atmosphere. The wave was going round the grounds and it looked like we'd get to see a little of Djokovic/Del Potro in short order, especially a Gasquet was taking a bit of a walk off the map in the third.

Tsonga was whipping out blistering passing shots, and it really wasn't that Stan was playing badly; JWT was just really going for it.

Until... with a break point against him and a thundering rally from the baselines, Stan got a break as Jo went sprawling awkwardly on the clay.

That seemed to turn the tide for Stan and Jo was having to work hard to stay on terms, and Stan was definitely looking the fresher of the two.

The crowd started getting excited at a Wawrinka double fault, and at one stage JWT motioned them to be quiet during play. The set went to a close tiebreak.

Between wasted chances for passing shots for a mini-break and failing to capitalise on a long rally with an unforced error, the scoreline was nip-and-tuck, although an unfortunate netcord for Wawrinka gave JWT two holds on his serve.

Stan was really getting into his stride with some incredible ripping passing shots, and by now was looking the more motivated of the two.

Grabbing a mini-break on JWT’s serve, Wawrinka took the initiative, and with it the third set!

Jo started with an early break and the crowd were willing him to get this finished, but Stan broke back.

Tsonga seemed to have lost his impetus completely, and Wawrinka was the one to capitalise on the drop in Jo’s level of play – enough to carry him through to take the fourth set.

I got a text from my mother at this point that Gasquet had won in the fourth on Lenglen (as is the roar from the crowd had not been clue enough); I needed to head over so we could go home, and she had been struggling with the steps and the intense cold of the conditions. She wanted/needed to get back to the hotel, but as I was on my way over, the announcement went out that the organizers were going to switch the Djokovic/Del Potro match to Lenglen. As we had an early train back to London, I reluctantly had to concur that heading back made more sense, so I handed my Lenglen ticket to my friend (who texted that it was indeed perishingly cold in the stands).

Maybe I could have seen the warmup and the first three games, but it is about an hour on the bus to get back so we decided to head home and got in to see the second set unfolding.

Not surprisingly, the consensus on twitter and the commentary was that if they split sets (which they did), they’d call it a night. Sure enough you saw them quickly chatting to each other before they declared a suspension due to bad light.

And so ended RG 2011 for us… some good tennis and at least relatively safe from the elements, although both of us ended up with colds after this trip!

I think my plan of action next year will be to maybe save for 3 days, and do a mix of Chatrier and Lenglen tickets. There weren’t seats together at Bercy for me and my friend to do the package as a combined force. I believe she went for the Bercy and Chatrier package and I decided not to bother with Bercy. As it is, I have bought her spare tickets for Queens this year so that (and possibly WTF) will be my ATP events for this year.

I have had no luck in either of the Wimbledon ballots so I will be trusting to Ticketmaster luck this year to see if I can get there – or just stroll down and queue for returns.

Next up will be some Technobabble and my Armchair Slammer round up of Week One of RG 2011…

Roland Garros 2011 Day 6: Guccione/Murray v Bryans-Squared

2011-05-29T19:44:00.001+01:00

On my way back I happened to pass Court 7 where Jamie Murray and Chris Guccione were tackling the Bryans in their second round Men’s Doubles match. Judy Murray had tweeted that Court 7 was packed, and she wasn’t kidding.

I tried standing on my tippy toes at a change of ends to see if I could grab a photo (which looked a little “Prisonbreak” for my liking) and so I decided to head up the Chatrier staircase anyway and see if I could get a better shot from on high.

Turns out this was the last game of the match as the guys had lost the first set in a TB and were to go down in the second 5-7 (score was 5-6 as I was taking the photos) so I was extremely lucky to see Jamie in action at all this year. I’d missed his mixed as we were heading home on the first day by that time.

Roland Garros 2011 Day 6: Gasquet v Bellucci

2011-05-29T19:42:00.001+01:00

Time for another break (ice-cream and more nifty cups) and we came back to Lenglen just in time to see Gasquet take the first set with a confortable scoreline of 6-2.

The crowd were well behind him, and he seemed to playing with confidence and well within himself.

Gasquet was to be the last match on Lenglen, with Djokovic and Del Potro to follow Tsonga/Wawrinka on Chatrier, so I headed back to Chatrier to catch both these matches, leaving a cold and shivery parent up in the gods on Lenglen, and we agreed that she'd wait in the covered stand and I'd come back to get her at whatever stage the Djokovic match was at.

Ha!

Roland Garros 2011 Day 6: Hantuchova v Wozniacki

2011-05-29T19:39:00.004+01:00

I can't explain why, but I just had a sense that the Stosur defeat was the start of a day of potential upsets; ok maybe more wishful thinking on my part!

The match started confidently enough from both of them with holds. Dani was mixing up her play a lot and was using drop shots to leave Wozniacki stuck in the court. It was pretty clear from her pattern of play that she had a game plan today, and was doing her best to stick to it. Dani was holding comfortably and moving Wozniacki all around the court, often leaving her struggling to get back into position.

Caro was making more of an effort to get to some of Dani's drop shots and shot of the day had to be a passing backhand volley after Caro flipped up a drop shot she managed to get to.

There was no faulting Dani's range today - she was really painting the lines and testing Wozniacki's movement to the limit today.

First blood went to Hantuchova with a break to lead 3-1. Caro resorted to some moonballing, which was punished with more drop shots and a consolidated break

Hantuchova was just imperious today, and it seemed as though Wozniacki was just a step-slow and couldn't get moving. There was no real answer from her and at 5-1 Hantuchova was serving for the first set.

Maybe there was the first sign of nerves as Dani dumped an easy smash into the base of the net and the wind was visibly picking up the ball at times.

Wozniacki was tending to leave the court wide open, and any time she would venture to the net, Dani was just exploiting that. It took Hantchova just 27 minutes to seal the first set 6-1. Just over twice the time it took Schiavone to hold her first service game!!

A dreadful cross court miss from Wozniacki and some signs of frustration from her at the start of the second; her range seemed to be totally off coming into the start of this set.

Hantuchova broke at the start of the second, and nothing seemed to be working consistently for the world number one, coupled with the aggressive play coming at her from the other side of the net from Hantuchova.

Wozniacki seemed to be settling down a little in the third game but even then, I spoke to soon and another wild swing and spectacularly miss came our way.

The only way she was going to be able to get back into this game was if Dani had a trademark.... lapse of concentration! I hesitate to use the word meltdown, as I think Hantuchova is a very talented player, and has been working pretty hard on both singles and doubles; she undoubtedly deserves more than she has achieved, but tends to perhaps lose focus in the crunch moments. Certainly with Caro seemingly floundering around with her feet stuck in the clay, the match was there for the taking.

A break from Hantuchova to go up 3-0 and a hold for 4-0. Wozniacki was looking very lost out there. Often, Papa Piotr is out on the tour events to give her a pep talk (that she largely ignores, from what I've seen), but one has to ask - is this the downside to the effect of online coaching?

When Hantuchova starts mixing up her game, from baseline to net, and corner to corner, Wozniacki is almost always left stranded in the court. It was like any court-smarts had just deserted her today.

Wozniacki finally got a game up on the board as Dani sent a forehand away (and around this time I got the feeling that the people sat next to me were Danish, as they went very quiet and weren't that impressed with my enthusiastic applause for Dani's persistence!)

Caro started to show a little more fight, and tried to play Dani at her own game, throwing in a couple of dropshots and ripping a few cross-court winners herself.

She managed to get herself to 3-4 and it looked like this might be the turnaround she was waiting for.

Hantuchova seemed to wake up a bit at this point to ease ahead 5-3.

She then picked up the aggression on the Wozniacki service game, but promptly skied a ball mid-rally for no apparent reason whatsoever... I mean she wasn't even aiming at a pigeon, or anything!

Wozniacki was unlucky to give away the match at the end because she actually had Dani out of position, but her UE gave Dani a major result and the 2nd upset of the day.

Roland Garros 2011 Day 6: Federer v Tipsarevic

2011-05-29T19:37:00.002+01:00

A quick scamper back to Lenglen where Federer had already taken the first set from Janko Tipsarevic 6-1.

There seemed to be a spirited revival from Janko in the sixth game, at 3-2, but Federer held to extend his lead to 4-2. Tipsarevic managed to keep the deficit to a single break.

The conditions were strange today, ranging from warm sunlight to sudden cold, stiff breeze and dark clouds.

Tipsarevic held well to make Federer serve it out for the second set.

Tipsarevic always seemed to be playing catch up in the two sets I saw. Down an early break again, and despite some flashed of great passing shots, he just wasn't able to keep up, although again he managed to hold crucially, to make Federer serve out for the set, and a subsequent straight sets win.

It was hard to ignore the ease and speed of Federer's win (a little over an hour and a half) compared to the mammoth struggle the day before for Nadal.

Roland Garros 2011 Day 6: Dulko v Stosur

2011-05-29T19:35:00.001+01:00

Having seen Schiavone get back on terms, it was time for a quick gallop over to Chatrier given that Stosur had been 0-4 down, at last check. By the time I got to Chatrier she had come back a bit but still managed to lose the first set.

That being said she started quite comfortably in the 2nd building up a 3-0 lead while I languished outside having just missed the change of ends.

Some great play up at the net by Dulko but equally a shocking smash straight into the net to take Stosur to 4-1. Sam had seemed to stop spraying balls all about the place, and seemed to have steadied the ship, taking the second set 6-1.

Despite taking the early advantage, Dulko got things back on serve. Both girls seemed to go through a spell of inconsistency in the middle of the decider, and break points against Stosur gave Dulko a lead of 4-2. She consolidated with a comfortable hold and the stage was set at 5-2.

Stosur went from 40-0 up on her serve to more wild shots and shanks, although she was assisted to a hold by another wayward volley.

Dulko to serve out for the match and the first potential upset of the day was gifted by some wild swinging from Stosur.

Dulko looked genuinely emotional as a shot away from Stosur gave her the match, and saw last year's runner-up exit.

Roland Garros 2011 Day 6: Schiavone v Peng

2011-05-29T19:25:00.002+01:00

Day 6 and the weather was looking fine as we set off. That being said, as we got off the bus to walk to the stadium it started to rain on us, even though over the grounds itself, there was bright sunlight. I made sure I'd remembered to pack the camera this time as there were two courts to cover!

Not the most convincing of starts for Schiavone but some good variation of play from the two of them. Peng hits flat and hard and Schiavone mixed up her shots and there was a lot of use of all of the court.

However - I think 13 minutes to close out that first service game after Peng hooked at a forehand was perhaps longer than she's hoped for. Not the most auspicious opening for the defending champion.

The standard of play from both in the first six games was good and aggressive; Schiavone coming into the net to close down Peng's options only for her to rip a passing shot alongside her. A good hold for Peng and both players seemed to be warming up a bit now.

Schiavone kept being magnetically drawn to the net, giving Peng an early break.

Meanwhile a quick check on twitter and Stosur was 0-4 down against Dulko so the chances of seeing her in the next set were diminishing!! Especially if every Schiavone service game was going to drag on and on!!

After a slightly more convincing hold by Schiavone to keep things to a single break, inexplicably after so much aggressive play, Peng was 0-40 down. She salvaged this with a beautiful cross-court volley that left Schiavone stranded. A beautiful well timed, well placed smash from a Peng moonball gave Schiavone the break back.

Sadly Peng was to retire in the second set in some distress.

Roland Garros 2011 Day 5: Azarenka v Parmentier

2011-05-29T19:24:00.003+01:00

By now it was freezing in the stands, and most of the crowd had emptied out as it was getting late. We decided to ask if we could sit closer to the exit as my mother was struggling with the steep steps, although it did seem colder further down!

As Vika walked out plugged into her iPod I had to stifle a chuckle that she might be psyching herself up with the patriotic Belarusian Eurovision entry (I Love Belarus)...

From the outset the crowd that were left were chuckling at Vika's prolonged howl and imitating it. I noticed there was a wry tweet after the match where she acknowledged the crowd who'd stayed behind for the match, "even if they were not for me".

Parmentier was no doubt trying hard but was slow getting into her stride in the first game, being broken immediately.

She found her range a bit in the second and put Azarenka under a little pressure on her serve, but some errant shots gave Azarenka the hold, to consolidate the break.

Pigeons (wood pigeons, to be precise, as I was reliably informed by my friend) seemed to be circling around Lenglen, which led to a totally random conversation about their cooing, and whether they were circling, because they had found a kindred spirit in Vika's howling!

We left as Vika took the 3rd game - by now it was extremely cold and we still had a good hour or so before we were back at the hotel.

Mind you, by the time we got back to the hotel we saw that Vika had won for the loss of just one game.

For the Friday I had a single ticket to Chatrier from the Bercy package, and tickets to Lenglen for two.

There was a lot of tennis on offer, if the weather was likely to hold.

Roland Garros 2011 Day 5: Nadal v Andujar

2011-05-29T19:22:00.001+01:00

Like many, I had watched Rafa struggle in his first round against Isner, and was left wondering if (a) the effects of an early five setter would take its toll, and (b) was there actually something deeper troubling him, as the last two tournaments, he seems to be preoccupied with other matters.

It certainly felt like a slow start for Rafa - a lot baseline slugging; this was going to be a gruelling match for players and spectators alike, if they carried on like this.

An early break to Rafa was almost lost on the next game. There was not much momentum either at all, and if it hadn't been for musical seats going on all around us, I would be having a siesta.

Anujar broke to being the score back to serve and there just didn't seem to be much fire in the bull.

However, Pablo got himself broken again; this match was beginning to exhibit all the finest qualities of a WTA baselining breakfest. In fact to prove my point, Andujar broke Rafa's serve again to get things back on serve.

Unfortunately he couldn't stop Rafa from getting the decisive break to take the first set 7-5 but this had been hard going.

Meanwhile all the health and safety issues seem to have abated with people finally seating in seats instead of stairs.

After putting up a good fight in the first set, Pablo beginning to unravel a bit - lots of UEs. There was a sense it could be much more plain sailing for Nadal if he took the initiative now.

And promptly on typing that in my notes, Rafa was broken. There was hardly any consistency coming from him, and in light of a tweeted article (from Cheryl Murray) regarding the sometimes unsportsmanlike behaviour of the French crowd, it was clear they were really rooting for the underdog.

Conditions really beginning to worsen out there - swirling wind really playing havoc wih the players' preparations for serve, and when coupled with Rafa's lack of time keeping, this was dragging out. A lot.

Really had to leave after the 2nd for some sustenance (Risotto in the much reduced queues) ... But you could hear from the roars of the crowd that Andujar was making a comeback.

By the time we'd ambled back slowly all over the place to our entrance Nadal was clinging on by his fingernails in the 3rd set buts it appears his lack of consistency hadn't deserted him, leaving Andujar to serve out for the 3rd set for a 2nd time.

Thumping baseline rallies and lasso forehands a-plenty, and a questionable call gave Rafa the advantage, and the crowd started up with the booing again. Despite someone in the crown hollering during the point, Rafa broke back and Adujar's spirit dropped at that point. A golden putaway chance was slammed into the net - he'll be having nightmares about that one! Nadal had drawn level (Andujar had been leading 4-1 when we were out of the stadium). For the third time of asking, Andujar finally held his serve and we were heading into a TieBreak.

After losing mini break, we were treated to an amazing rally for Andujar to get it back. Well deserved sustained applause from the crowd. However, he squandered his chances by dumping into the net.

Andujar fought back from a 1-4 deficit but at 4-5, he had too much time to think about a drop shot that he guided skillfully into the net giving Nadal match point.

3 hours and 14 minutes for a straight sets win; even allowing for the fact that clay court play is slower than the other surfaces, this was another long round for Nadal, while his immediate competition have come through with comparative ease. I would say at this point that the signs for Djokovic (should he pass Del Potro) and Federer are looking so much the better.

Uneasy lies the the crown on the head of the clay court king.

Roland Garros 2011 Day 5: Na Li v Soler-Espinosa

2011-05-29T19:20:00.001+01:00

The torment that is the queuing system for the toilets, and then food, meant we missed the first set and the start of the 2nd for this match. But I did nab two of the hot chocolate reusable cups that will be coming home with me! The Nespresso ones aren't as nice this year but I may well nab a couple of those too!!

Waiting at the foot of the stairs FOR AN AGE and bumping into my friend who had by now left our lofty perch up in the gods in the corner of Lenglen ... She told us that the match had been a touch soporific and we were waiting for what felt like an eternity to come up.

Then I had to chivvy my poor mother up the flight of steps as quickly as possible! I fear this might be her last trip out here as it's really getting tough with all the walking (if not running) that has to be done to get from place to place.

There was a lot of slugging rallies, long - which would explain why we were waiting for ever at the stairs.

The Spanish player was giving as good as she got; at one stage there was a shot of Li's face after a ripped winner which was priceless - all "she hit THAT?"

The pace seemed to pick up a bit for the third, but a decisive break by Na early gave her a lead that was just out of reach for the Spaniard.

Roland Garros 2011 Day 5: Soderling v Ramos

2011-05-29T19:19:00.002+01:00

Soderling started fairly solidly without encountering too much trouble on his serve and indeed took an early break and was making it all look very routine. Ramos did start to look a little perkier as the set neared its close, and Robin had a few longer service games, but served it out safely to take the first set.

Ramos started a little brighter and looked to be finding his range and going for his shots, but to no avail as he got broken early in the 2nd set.

In fact "soporific" was to be the word of the day as Soderling settled down and actually took the 2nd set with a single break

Both guys picked up their pace in the 3rd set. An unlucky break against Ramos and it turned out to be a fairly routine finish for Soderling.

Roland Garros 2011 Day 5: Camera-gate!

2011-05-29T19:15:00.004+01:00

This time last year, we woke to grey clouds and queued in the spitting rain, and then proceeded to get completely drenched all day. Tennis in the rain in ANY country is a pretty demoralising experience, but we had chatted on and off to a number of people, which whiled away the day.

We awoke to clear blue skies but sporadic cloudiness chased us around all day - and when they did the place was f-f-f-f-freezing!!! Next time, extra fleece! That being said, when the sun broke through the clouds it was glorious! Tickets to Lenglen in hand, and by now old hands to the whole scan and voucher malarky, off we went.

But today's trek was already not without incident. Half way round the free-for-all, which passes for the roundabout around L'Arc de Triomphe, I realised that I'd left my camera in the suitcase back at the hotel! Cue a burst of earthy Anglo-Saxon and a realisation that I would have to make do with a combination of the iPhone and/or Blackberry cameras for today.

We were treated to more incidents when some random old biddy kicked the bus to stop it in the middle of a road and then proceeded to have a go at the driver. He had a go back and then decided to stop the bus before its end destination - luckily for us he decided to terminate the service at Porte d'Auteil ... The stop for RG.

A quick familiarisation session in how to take photos using the iPhone and we'd just arrived as the guys were warming up ...

The Clay & The Grass

2011-05-10T07:06:00.001+01:00

It's that time of year - the sun starts to shine, the US Clay and then European Clay season starts and we are in to the run up to the next two Grand Slams - The French Open (Roland Garros) and The Championships (Wimbledon).

Clay events start appearing in the calendar after the Australian Open, but are typically mixed with hard court events for the first swing of the year, that finishes with the combined ATP/WTA Tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.

Once we get into April, however, we hit the dirt!

There are two types of clay used: In the US it is the green (Har-Tru) clay, that plays a little more like hard court surfaces. Red Clay is more predominant in Latin America and Europe. Although known as clay, the top surface is typically made up on crushed stone or (for the red) brick. No wonder that players end up such a mess if they take a tumble.

Looking at the ATP and WTA Main tour, players typically start their clay preparations in the US - the men playing in Houston and the women in Charleston.

Then in the run up to Roland Garros, the top players start the European Clay Court swing playing on red clay courts, and effectively culminating in the French Open, towards the end of May.

Clay court play is generally considered slower, balls bouncing higher and points tend to be longer, and suit baseline grinders. From a spectator's point of view - the longer rallies make for more interesting matches and test player's mental and physical stamina.

Clay court movement differs greatly from movement on other surfaces. Maria Sharapova is famously quoted as describing herself as a "cow on ice" when playing on clay, and although the slower movement can help taller players, counterpunchers can have the edge in moving them all around the court.

Speed, agility, topspin are all characteristics of good clay courters and when you look at the success of Justine Henin and Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, you see clay court play at its best.

Which brings us to... the grass!

The grass season typically runs through June and culminates to all intents and purposes with The Championships, held on the "hallowed turf of SW19 - Wimbledon.

Grass differs again from all the other surfaces - it's slippery stuff and the ball bounces low and can suffer from spurious bad bounces. In recent years, Wimbledon has come under criticism for slowing the courts down, but again - based on my experiences of watching Serve/Volley matches were the points are excessively short, I think that we would have been denied some of the amazing finals we have seen in recent years without those measures being taken.

Grass favours players who are quick to get to low bouncing balls and obviously serve and volley experts. Speed of footwork in particular can catch out players - it's not possible (or even advisable) to slide as if on clay/hard courts. Although in times of exceptionally hot summers in the UK (rare, I know), it is not uncommon to see people sliding at the baseline where the ground has hardened and the grass has worn away.

Players who have been acclaimed as grass court experts would include Federer, Graf, Sampras, Navratilova and both the Williams' sisters. Although they have also enjoyed successes in their illustrious careers on other surfaces, they made grass their own. Their ability to adapt their game to this surface in particular has made them very popular champions in Wimbledon lore.

Bring on the summer... bring on the Clay and the Grass.

Australian Open Weeks 1 & 2 - Recaps on www.tennis-update.com

2011-02-01T20:11:00.002Z

Week 1 recap here

Week 2 recap here

ATP World Tour Finals 2010 Day 2: Berdych v Djokovic

2010-11-26T22:25:00.003Z

Berdych started off with a resounding... DF! An error strewn game and Nole breaks. Mind you – Novak had a string of errors in his game but he managed to hold. More DF misery for Berdy and a long struggle just to manage to hold. This was gonna be a loooong match if they were going to this every game!

Berdych seemed to steady the ship a little bit and kept Nole pegged back to a single break but alas more errors cost him the first set 6-3.

Like Soderling – he looked a little tired, little off his timing...
Things didn’t get better for Berdych – broken in the 2nd game of the 2nd set – This was going to be a long way back for Tomas if he didn’t get his act together smartly.

He got himself on the scoreboard finally but a very lucky net cord sealed the game for Nole at 5-2. Berdy managed to at least serve to stay in the match – but Nole served it out without any problem for a comfortable first round!

And THAT was the end of my 2010 tennis season – a season which saw me free the blogs from their spiritual home on Tennis Forum as part of JJ’s Sub-forum, and released to fly on their ownsome! Saw a few articles published courtesy of Ashley Fisher at www.tennis-update.com and the start of hopefully a few more regular outings from the ramblings of a humble tennis fan

Thanks y’all for reading – See ya in 2011!

ATP World Tour Finals 2010 Day 2: Bhupathi/Mirnyi v Kubot/Marach

2010-11-26T22:19:00.003Z

Winter Pimms and the requirement for a hot dog meant getting in just after the start of the match and we’d missed an early break. Bhupathi had a tight hold to stay within reach and they managed to break back on Marach’s serve.

Having watched Max since the Jamie days – he was impressive at the net with an amazing reflex volley and bit by bit they got more into the game.

Into a TB and Bhupathi/Mirnyi just got stronger as the TB went on and took the first set.

The trainer was on briefly for Kubot and the momentum stayed with Bhupathi/Mirnyi and after what had seemed to be a shaky start for them when we first came in, they commanded the match and came away with a strong win.

ATP World Tour Finals 2010 Day 1: Farewell to Carlos Moya

2010-11-26T22:14:00.002Z

Whilst I would have given my right arm to have been there for the WTA Tour farewell to Elema Dementieva – we were there to witness a farewell instead a farewell to Carlos Moya – as it typical for these things they brought out players past and present (well ok – the players at the WTFs and some oldies!)... but Rafa was the designated speaker and the crowd were very appreciative of the highlights of Moya’s career.

ATP World Tour Finals 2010 Day 1: Murray v Soderling

2010-11-26T22:07:00.002Z

Soderling started really slow and an early break for Andy who was looking very sharp. He was moving well, where Soderling just seemed sluggish, although it came out later that he was suffering a stomach upset.

Great change up from andy to get another break and a superb angled drop shot, on 1 knee to take the first set...

Robin was still moving sluggishly – his timing totally off and a Df gave Andy a break to lead 4-3. Andy finished the set in commanding form and a good start for the WTF campaign.

ATP World Tour Finals 2010 Day 1: Bryans Squared v Petzschner/Melzer

2010-11-26T21:58:00.003Z

One week off and back to the courts!

Last time I went to the WTFs (hee!) we booked our tix mega early and ended up in the Nosebleeds (with Nole’s elderly fanboy in front of us!! WOOHOO!) ... I got this ticket a bit later when they released new tickets and was meeting other friends there. We got waylaid by the Barclays offer of a free Winter Pimms. Several times, over the two days we were there!
OK – where was I... oh yeah – tennis and stuff.
First up was the Bryans Squared v Petzschner/Melzer

This was a nice match up – the teams were even stevens – maybe Mike Bryan’s serve had been a bit shakier of the two but the first chink in the armour came on Petzschner’s serve with the first break, and the Bryans consolidating the break. Melzer was able to keep the deficit to a single break but the first set went to the Bryans.

Petzscher was a bit more confortable at the start of the 2nd set and they seemed to settle a bit – but again the break happened on Petzschner’s serve in the 11th game leaving the Bryans’ to serve it out for the win.

ATP Masters 1000, Paris 2010 Day 5: Monfils v Murray

2010-11-26T21:38:00.003Z

More bond theme and the atmosphere was amazing... even more so when the first blood went le Monf with an early break. Murray was able to keep to a single break and wakes up a bit. But not much! Gael started to over-reach a bit with UEs spraying around the place. Muzz had chances to break back but Monfils managed to stay a break ahead. Things got worse when Monfils got himself a double break and a love game gave Gael the first set!

A look at the stats and Andy’s first serve percentage had been woeful and he would have to improve.
He certainly had a comfortable love game to stay ahead on serve, and his persistence and Monfil’s UEs gave Andy the break 4-2. Oh and for an added bonus we had MoLay as the ump – and he just rocks wherever he roams! Had the crowd in stitches as he raised his hand to stop a challenge – all godlike!

Break points on Andy’s serve and a lot of muttering going on but he finally held to consolidate the break. Andy broke Monfils for the set – but it felt pretty lacklustre; more like hit and hope.

The crowd came to life to give Gael a lift and he finally broke Andy in the fifth game. A very costly DF for Andy (already down 2-4) pretty much gave Monfils virtual match point and to be in a French crowd for two French wins was pretty amazing.

And thus ended Rozzie en France for the 2nd time this year... next stop... London!

ATP Masters 1000, Paris 2010 Day 5: Federer v Melzer

2010-11-26T21:32:00.004Z

We wandered out again for a break and got back to see Federer leading Melzer 4-0 – Melzer finally scraped onto the board for a breadstick... or should that be a baguette?

Melzer started better in the 2nd and stayed with Federer – holding off break points and helped a bit by Fed going walkabaout a bit with UEs all over the place, and heading towards a TB.

Federer had a shaky start – losing a minibreak advantage and came through to take the match in straight sets, with Melzer killing his racquet in disgust!