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Worthy Finalist’s But Not The Women’s Final Most Predicted
The 2013 Australian Open women’s champion will be crowned tonight on Rod Laver Arena at Melbourne Park with world No.1 Victoria Azarenka and China’s Li Na vying for the honour of holding up the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy, for most fans and pundits of the game this is not the final most of us predicted prior to the tournament, Serena Williams was the hot favourite coming in and it was widely expected that her opponent in the women’s final would be either Maria Sharapova or Agnieszka Radwanska, although none of that trio even made the big dance the two finalists in Azarenka and Li Na are worth contenders, Vika is the defending champion while Madame Li will attempt to go one better after reaching the final in 2011.
It will be an interesting match up between two players at different points in their respective careers, Azarenka is currently ranked the best women’s player in the world and at the age of 23 she is currently in her prime, Vika will be keen to repeat her victory of twelve months ago in Melbourne while Li Na is in the latter stages of her career at age 30 and will be attempting to add to her 2011 triumph at Roland Garros, it should end up being a good tussle between exuberant youth and a battle hardened and experienced campaigner, hopefully it provide’s all tennis fans with a fitting finale to the women’s singles championship at Melbourne Park in 2013.
Azarenka will probably go into the match a slight favourite but I have a feeling that Li Na will have the more »
Fantastic Finish To Week One In Melbourne
After seven days of exciting tennis action at Melbourne Park, the first week of the 2013 Australian Open couldn’t have been capped off any better than by the fantastic fourth round night match between world No.1 Novak Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka from Switzerland, both men battled each other for just over five hours which in itself is remarkable considering the first set won by Wawrinka was over in twenty five minutes, Djokovic found a way to edge Wawrinka in a classic five setter, 12-10 in the fifth, and it was clearly the match of the tournament so far and one that will have the Australian Open fans thirsting for more as the second week gets underway later today.
With the Grand Slam tournaments now allotting thirty two seeded players at the big events, we often don’t get to see too many significant upsets in the first week of a major event anymore, sure there will always be some of the top thirty two seeds in both the men’s and women’s draw who fall early and create a good storyline for the press but more often than not we see a procession of the top seeds, especially the men, making it through to the round of sixteen where the real action usually begins, Sara Errani (7th seed) and Petra Kvitova (8th seed) both fell early in the women’s draw but neither player was considered a major threat before the tournament begun, sixth seeded man Juan Martin Del Potro’s five set third round loss to Frenchman Jeremy Chardy was the biggest upset in week one of the 2013 Aussie Open more »
Novak & Serena My Players Of The Year In 2012!
The final match on the tennis calendar at the ATP World Tour Finals has concluded and world No.1 Novak Djokovic has been crowned the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Champion for the second time in his career, Novak’s feat in beating six time WTF champion Roger Federer has cemented his place at the top of the game for another year and his win over Fed has also made him my ATP Player Of The Year in 2012, on the women’s side of things it’s impossible to go past Serena Williams as my WTA Player Of The Year in 2012, Serena had a stellar season winning Wimbledon, Olympic Gold, the US Open and the season ending WTA Championships in Istanbul, although she finished the season ranked No.3, the 31 year old American was clearly the best women’s player on the tour in 2012.
Djokovic had a tremendous finish to the season winning three tournaments since the start of October, the 25 year old Serb was victorious in Beijing and the Shanghai Rolex Masters 1000 before he put some icing on his year with victory over Federer at the O2 Arena in London, Nole opened the year with that memorable five set marathon win against Rafael Nadal in Melbourne and followed that up with two Masters title runs in Miami and Toronto respectively before winning his trio of titles to end to the season, add to that his two runner-up finishes at Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows respectively and you have a season most players can only dream of.
It was always going to be difficult for Novak to repeat his more »
The Big Three Still On Course In New York!
The big three names in both the men’s and women’s singles championships are still alive and on course for an eventual showdown at the 2012 US Open, as we embark on the championship week of the tournament Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray are still favoured in the men’s draw while in the women’s draw Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams are firm favourites also.
It would be a major surprise if the champion of each individual title is not one of those six players I have listed above, in the men’s tournament Federer and Djokovic have been impressive in the early rounds and most people are probably still predicting a grand final showdown between the world’s two top ranked players, Federer has been in sublime form and will take on Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals, Murray has finally shown some form at the beginning of the second week by dispatching the dangerous Milos Raonic in straight sets and many, including me, will now be expecting a blockbuster semifinal between Andy and Roger on Super Saturday, Novak appears to have two things in his favour, he is in good form and potentially he has a more favourable looking semifinal draw against possibly David Ferrer.
In the women’s tournament Serena remains the hot favourite to win her 4th US Open crown as she faces Serb Ana Ivanovic in the quarterfinals and then either one of the Italian doubles partners Sara Errani or Roberta Vinci in the semifinals, on paper Williams looks odds on to reach her more »
A Double Celebration For The Over 30′s!!
Wimbledon 2012 is now completed and after all the drama and excitement and a number of surprise results the two singles champions left standing after seven rounds of Grand Slam action were both over the age of 30, well in their 31st year to be exact, Serena Williams turns 31 in late September and Roger Federer celebrates his 31st birthday early next month, it ended up being a celebration for two of the greatest champions that the All England Club has seen in the modern era.
Williams has finally returned to Grand Slam glory to claim her 14th major title after suffering injury and health issue’s over the past year and Federer got to lift his 17th Grand Slam Trophy two and a half years after winning his last one in Melbourne, Australia in 2010, many people thought the two champions were in decline and that neither player would feature much on Championship Sunday at the major events anymore, their respective victories however in the most famous and traditional tournament of all the majors has reminded us all that age is indeed no barrier to Grand Slam success.
I heard John McEnroe stating that in his mind Serena could now lay claim to be the greatest women’s tennis player in the history of the game, while I respect immensely McEnroe’s knowledge and opinion on tennis I can’t agree with him on that statement, I believe that Williams probably has the greatest serve that the women’s game has ever witnessed but the honour of being the greatest women’s player, in my opinion, more »
