Left field

Greg Rusedski blog – I can’t wait for second week of Wimbledon

The first week of the Wimbledon Championships, on the men’s side, ended up being one of the most exciting of all time.

There were major upsets, epic matches, and conspiracy theories. The biggest upset in over a decade happened in the second round of the men’s singles when Rafa Nadal, many people’s pick for the championship, lost to the unheralded Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic.

Rosol played old-fashioned grass court tennis to beat Rafa in five sets. Rosol played the match of his life and everybody was getting very excited by the Czech player. In the tennis community it was considered a one-off and everyone predicted Rosol to lose in the next round which he did. This result could go down as the biggest shock ever at Wimbledon due to Rafa’s form coming into the championships and also because the top four never lose before the quarter-finals on a worst case scenario.

This loss will hurt Nadal, but I expect him to bounce back and get a medal at the Olympics at Wimbledon this summer. With Nadal going out in the second round, everyone now believes Andy Murray will make his first Wimbledon final. Murray made it through to the second week but had a lot of things go his way in week one.

Andy’s second round match against Ivo Karlovic went his way with Karlovic being called for 11 foot faults during key moments of the match. In Karlovic’s news conference he insinuated that it was a little convenient that the foot faults were called against home hope Murray since he hadn’t been called for any at Queens Club or in his first round match.

In Murray’s next match, Hawk-Eye saved him from Marcos Baghdatis serving for the first set. Had Hawk-Eye not been used to overrule that call on break point, Murray would have probably lost the first set which could have been costly in the match. Goran Ivanisevic suggested that because of the windy conditions, Hawk-Eye had gotten the call wrong.

From his view point, the ball was out when Hawk-Eye had called it in.

Greg Rusedski blog: Tough Wimbledon in store for Murray

This year’s Wimbledon draw has worked out very well for the defending champion Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, who are in the top half of the draw. They should breeze through the first week.

Djokovic will most likely face his first test in the quarter-finals against  Richard Gasquet. While Federer’s first test could be Janko Tipsarevic in the quarter-finals as well; expect Djokovic and Federer in the semi-finals this year.

On the bottom half of the draw it is much trickier for Andy Murray and Rafa Nadal. Murray has by far the hardest task of the big four to make it into the second week.  Nadal on the other hand doesn’t have as tough a section but it will be by no means easy. However, I expect Nadal to get to the semi-finals – it is going to take a big effort from Murray to make the same stage.

Ivan Lendl will have to prepare Murray mentally for all the challenges for him to arrive at that match up with Nadal

On the woman’s side it is very hard to see anyone winning the title besides Maria Sharapova or Serena Williams – they are almost always the strongest mentally.  Sharapova on the top half of the draw has the easier task. While Serena on the bottom half has the harder task with Petra Kvitova the defending ladies champion and Victoria Azarenka in her half.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate because the forecast isn’t good for the first week of the championships. Thank goodness for the roof on centre court for guaranteed live tennis.

PHOTO: Andy Murray of Britain reacts after defeating Nikolay Davydenko of Russia in their men’s singles tennis first round match at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London June 26, 2012. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Roddick leads movement for ATP change

By Martyn Herman 

Andy Roddick on Friday insisted that tennis players must adopt “one voice” to push through changes to the ATP Tour but that may not be as easy as it seems despite the general feeling of solidarity.

Pity Brad Drewett, the new chief executive of the men’s Tour, who has the job of trying to keep everyone happy, grand slam champions, journeymen, tournament organisers, sponsors and TV.

The moment he took over the reins the spectre of a player boycott has returned.

A meeting involving hundreds if players took place on the eve of the Australian Open and although talk of a walkout from Melbourne was aired it did not come to fruition.

But there is clearly dissent in the ranks, and Drewett is the man tasked with damping down what could become a firestorm in the men’s game.

Murray makes good on rankings goal with Asian hat-trick

The end of season for the top players can be a tough time because of fatigue; all their work is based around peaking for the slams. With Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer both out of action (neither have played since the last Davis cup tie) the top two seeds were Rafa Nadal and Andy Murray for the Shanghai Masters Series.

Murray has been playing really well having won in Thailand and Tokyo leading into the Shanghai event. Murray has made a concerted effort to play more aggressively, also the courts are faster and so it actually forces him to play more aggressively which is a good thing.

Nadal on the other hand looked a bit flat in Shanghai and lost to world number 23 Florian Mayer in the third round. It is a match Nadal would not have lost at the beginning of the year; it’s not unusual at this time of year to see Nadal a bit flat. I believe he needs to get some rest and try to recover to have a chance to get back to world number one next year. I am not expecting much from Nadal for the rest of the year but his competitive personality will mean that he will do his best regardless.

Murray on the other hand is looking sharp, once Nadal fell out of the draw he became the heavy favourite to win Shanghai. For the players outside of the top 10 in the world this is a good time to get their ranking up – especially if you are fresh and motivated.

The semi- finals in Shanghai proved that. You had Murray versus Japan’s Kei Nishikori and David Ferrer versus Feliciano Lopez. The first semi-final between Ferrer and Lopez went the distance and Ferrer, not surprisingly, came through 6-3 in the third. Lopez blinked at the end of the second and third to lose serve, but Ferrer is just better – it’s as simple as that.

Murray played well to destroy the Japanese number one to get to the finals. In the finals Murray dominated Ferrer like usual to win his second Master’s Series of the year and looks like he is going to finish at his highest year-end ranking of number three. This was his goal for the end of the year and it looks like it is going to happen. What a great trip for Murray in Asia. Three tournaments played, three tournaments won playing the right way. If he can keep this kind of play up it could be the catalyst for his first major in 2012.

There is only one slight aspect of his game which he needs to improve and that is his 2nd serve points won. He needs to be more aggressive with the 2nd serve and have more variety. He is a lowly 50th in that category on the tour but the forehand and first serve seem much improved.

Mercury rises on Wimbledon’s ‘Manic Monday’

A record crowd for a Wimbledon second Monday witnessed some breathtaking tennis while finding the time to take onboard plenty of liquids as temperatures soared in London.

The Williams sisters found the going tough and their so far impressive comebacks hit the buffers, while women’s number one Caroline Wozniacki’s route to a first grand slam title also came unstuck, but in the men’s draw there were no real dramas as the top four all hit their straps and made the quarters.

All eyes will be on team Nadal on Tuesday, after the world number one injured his foot during his epic win over Juan Martin Del Potro, especially British ones as the Spaniard could face home hope Andy Murray in the last four.

First up on Tuesday however are the women’s quarter-finals, and 2004 winner Maria Sharapova is the favourite to clinch her fourth grand slam crown, though among the other seven women in contention lurks German Sabine Lisicki, seeking to become the first wildcard to win the women’s title.

Finally a word on Bernard Tomic, the story so far of the men’s draw, who at 18 became the youngest man to reach the last eight since a certain former winner Boris Becker in 1986. Good omens if you like that sort of thing. The young Aussie already has plenty of fans and with his all-round play he’s set to win many more. He next faces Novak Djokovic.

Picture: The shadows of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France (L) and a ball boy are reflected onto a wall-covering on the court during the match against David Ferrer of Spain at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London June 27, 2011. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Djokovic becomes a Serb-Inator to really fear

Novak Djokovic’s 26-match hot streak dating back to the end of last year when he helped Serbia win the Davis Cup shows no sign of cooling and even Europe’s slow red dirt will hold no fears for the 23-year-old Serb this year.

Djokovic is certainly no rookie on clay, as his 2008 Rome title underlined, but whereas Rafael Nadal usually chomps his way past rival after rival, Djokovic finds the surface takes a little of the sting out of his game.

At least that has been the case in previous years but this time Djokovic will arrive in Monte Carlo as the best player in the world on current form and finally looking like a player who can be a multiple grand slam champion.

His second major at this year’s Australian Open where he dismantled Roger Federer and Andy Murray appeared to unlock Djokovic’s full potential and he has been unstoppable since.

The question is can he maintain the momentum as the surfaces slow down or will Nadal re-assert his authority, as the Spaniard did last year when he bulldozed through the claycourt swing to win all 22 matches he played.

It is an enticing prospect if the third set of the Miami final is anything to go by. Djokovic and Nadal unleashed a ferocious onslaught in a set that bordered on tennis perfection.

Whereas in the past Djokovic has occasionally allowed himself to be bullied by the Spaniard, in Indian Wells and again in Miami the Serb was the aggressor, seizing every opportunity to send Nadal scampering to the far-reaches of the court.

Are there more cons than pros for shortening ATP season?

One person you will not find moaning about the length of the tennis season is Roger Federer.

While the ATP have trumpeted their decision to reduce the men’s season by two weeks to create a seven-week off-season, the 16-times grand slam champion has shown so far at the ATP World Tour finals that, at 29, he is feeling as fresh as ever.

Straight set victories over David Ferrer, Andy Murray and Robin Soderling put the Swiss into the semi-finals seemingly without breaking sweat and his record since losing in the Wimbledon final has been hugely impressive.

In fact, despite giving the new schedule, that will not take effect until 2012, a general thumbs up, you get the feeling Federer would be happier if it was left alone.

One of the greatest athletes ever to play tennis, Federer tends to suffer less injuries than other players and a longer off-season might help other close the class gap that is still so apparent most times he steps out on court.

“I think I’ve shown a lot of grit at the end of the season throughout my career,” Federer said after his 6-4 6-2 victory over a fatigued-looking Murray.

“This is the ninth time I’m qualifying and the ninth time also playing, the ninth time I’m playing through groups. I find an extra gear at the end of the year when the season is so long.”

Holding court with Greg Rusedski

Wimbledon 2010 has been a great Championships, the weather for the two weeks has been absolutely perfect. Sun and more sun, not a drop of rain, the first time since 1995. They should have built that 40 million pound roof sooner! There were a lot of question marks going into this Wimbledon Championships for Andy Murray but fortunately for him he had a dream draw and took advantage in the first week to play himself into form.

For me though, the match of the tournament and the first week was John Isner versus Nicolas Mahut. I asked the BBC to schedule me on a short match so I could watch the all important England vs Slovenia qualifying match for the knockout stage of the Football World Cup. They said “No problem, we’ll put you on the Isner/Mahut match, they only have one set to finish”. So off I went with a rookie tennis commentator by the name off Ronald MacIntosh to finish the match he had started the day before. I joked that the outcome would be 27/25 in the final set to Isner, 8 hours 30 minutes later, over two days; I had been part of tennis history. We broke all records; longest match, longest set, most games ever played, most aces, longest match ever commentated on etc etc. It finished 70/68 in the 5th set for John Isner. This is a record which will never be broken. So much for watching the football, England did go on to win 1-0 though.

The other story of the first week was how much Federer and Nadal were struggling, especially Federer but by the end of the week, they both seemed back to their best. On the women’s side, it was normal service pretty much, except for French Open Champion Francesca Schiavone losing in the first round. The second week and especially on the Monday, is when the real tournament started in the men’s and women’s draws. On the women’s side, Serena Williams played Maria Sharapova which to me, was the women’s match of the tournament. It was an epic first set, with both players having set points with Serena narrowly winning it 11-9 in the tie breaker. The quality and power hitting was exceptional. Serena went on to win the match 7-6, 6-4. It’s great to see two Wimbledon champions playing at their best; Sharapova will be back in the women’s top 5 playing on this form. The other interesting women’s encounter was Henin vs Clijsters which went 3 sets with neither playing their best tennis at the same time. Clijsters ended up winning in 3 sets.

On the men’s side, it was normal service for Federer, Nadal, Murray, Soderling and Djokovic. The major surprise of the day was Andy Roddick loosing to Yen-Hsun Lu from Taiwan. This is the first time that a Taiwanese player has been to a Grand Slam quarter-final, what an effort. He only created one break point in the match which ended up being match point; he went on to win 9-7 in the 5th set. Unfortunately for Andy Roddick I think that this year’s Wimbledon finals will have been his last chance to win the title. I hope I am wrong though because I know there are a lot of Roddick fans out there.

The big shock of the tournament came on Wednesday when Tomas Berdych beat Roger Federer. Tomas Berdych was my outside pick of the tournament even though I picked another Federer / Nadal final with Nadal going onto win it. Berdych played great and over powered Federer. Federer was too defensive and a bit slow but after the match we found out that he was struggling with a back and leg problem. Federer has dropped out of the Top 2 in the world for the first time in 8 years. These are worrying times for Federer but not entirely unexpected. Life changes when you are happily married with two children and have achieved everything in tennis. He is already the greatest tennis player in the history of the game. He has dominated the game in the last 5 years and we will never see the likes of him again. He is 28 years old and in tennis terms that is already getting on! What he has accomplished is super human and it is amazing that he has kept up his motivation and drive this long. I do not believe he will get back to number one again but I still believe that he has a few more majors left in him. With Nadal back to his best and Berdych, Soderling and Murray all playing well, it will only get tougher for him. We will know more about Roger when he gets to the US Open in a few months. Don’t write him off just yet but it will only get harder for him because players are really starting to believe they can beat him.

For the women, upsets kept happening and the semi-finals line up was Serena Williams vs Petra Kvitova and Vera Zvonareva vs Tsvetana Pironkova. Once this semi-final line up happened there was only going to be one winner and that was Serena Williams. Her serve and power were the key to her Wimbledon success; she served a record 89 aces which has never happened before at Wimbledon in the women’s game. There is no-one in the world who can stay with her when she is motivated, hungry and serves like this on hard court and grass. She will rule women’s tennis for a long time if she stays healthy.

The match of the tournament we were all waiting for was Murray vs Nadal in the semi-finals. A lot of people had picked Murray but you can never count out the world’s number one and 7 time Grand Slam champion. Nadal played his best tennis of the tournament and Murray was totally outplayed in the match. Murray will have to improve his serve and forehand, he will need to be more aggressive like when he reached the final of the Australian Open. I also believe he needs some extra advice from team Adidas (one of his sponsors.) Being part of the Adidas team should allow Andy access to Andre Agassi, Andy Murray’s idol growing up as a kid and also to Darren Cahill, he is considered the best coach in men’s tennis. In 2009 Federer was trying to employ Darren Cahill as his coach but Darren decided to stay with Team Adidas instead. Andy Murray is good enough to be the world’s number one and win majors but he needs extra help with the finer details to help him to win his first Grand Slam title.

Federer beats Murray in Australian Open final — how it happened

Roger Federer’s stunning victory over Andy Murray … as it happened.

Australian Open: Federer v Tsonga