Andy Murray Wins the US Open

Posted by Jeff in Sports, Tennis

Andy Murray wins the 2012 US Open tennis championship & becomes the first British male in 76 years todo so.

Murray 7-6 (12-10) 7-5 2-6 3-6 6-2 Djokovic

In an epic contest between in form Andy Murray and Novac Djokovic that lasted almost 5 hours, Murray came out on top on the final set.

In the year that London held the Olympics and on the day British Olympians paraded through London, it somehow seems appropriate that this should be the year that Murray finally achieved his dream and lived up to his potential by winning a Grand Slam.

Andy Murray got off to a flying start when he grabbed the first two sets 7-6 & 7-5. This was followed by a resurgence by Djokovic who managed to break in the 3rd set and maintain momentum to control the 4th.

So it went to the 5th set and Andy Murray regained his composure to start playing the best tennis of the match, possibly helped by a light injury to Djokovic’s thigh. In the end he was the comfortable winner, seeing the match out 6-2.

At the end Djokovic was his usual graceful self,

“It wasn’t to be but I want to congratulate Andy for his first Grand Slam, he absolutely deserves it,” said Novak Djokovic

The new US Open Champion Andy Murray summed up the match by saying,

“They were incredibly tricky conditions. After the third and fourth sets it was tough mentally, Novak is so strong. He fights until the end of every match & I don’t know how I managed to come through in the end.

Murray also joked about the iceman that is Ivan Lendl,

“That was almost a smile [from Ivan Lendl]. He’s one of greatest players ever to play, here he made eight consecutive finals. Having him here supporting me has helped in the tough moments, but not only him, everyone else too. They’ve been there since the start. Thanks very much.”

Photo: Karlnorling

Nadal Beats Murray To Face Djokovic In Wimbledon Final

Posted by Clive in Sports, Tennis

Rafael Nadal dashed Andy Murray’s hopes of reaching his first Wimbledon final today, beating him 5-7, 6-2,6-2,6-4. Djokovic overcame Tsonga in the other semi-final setting up a mouthwatering Wimbledon final.

It all went to the form book today as the No.1 seed and defending champion, Rafael Nadal, put out the no. 4 seed Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, the no. 2 seed beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Andy Murray has now lost a semi-final at Wimbledon 3 times in succession and must be deeply disappointed that he couldn’t build on a first set lead.

Although nursing an injury that clearly bothered him at the start of the match, Murray made a flying start against the no.1 seed. Serving and returning well to clinch the first set 7-5 to great cheers from the home supporters.

The momentum stayed with Murray at the start of the second set and at 2-1 and 15-30, he had a great chance to get 2 break points on the Nadal serve, but he missed what can only be described as a ‘sitter’, bringing Nadal back to 30-30.

That point seemed to stick in Murray’s mind and incredibly lost the next 7 games in a row. For the rest of the match he never again reached the heights of  tennis he had previously been playing.

Murray’s serve, which had been so reliable suddenly wasn’t firing, the unforced errors rapidly grew while on the other side of the net, Nadal was getting better.

Fired up by Murray’s disintegrating game Nadal started pushing his serve percentage higher and kept his unforced errors remarkably low.

It all played out in four sets and it seems that if Murray wants to win a Grand Slam he will have to learn to have a Nadal like focus and iron will to win.

Technically, at the top of the mens game there is not very much in it, perhaps Federer is the most technically gifted and yet he was seeded 3rd and eventually knocked out by 12th seed Tsonga. Something else is obviously important and Nadal has it in spades.

Tsonga meanwhile played Djokovic in the earlier semi-final of the day.

It took Djokovic just over 3 hours to win the game 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 6-7 (9-11), 6-3 after he played a much more consistent game than Tsonga.

Tsonga sometimes showed flashes of brilliance but it wasn’t consistent enough and he mixed it with too many errors.

Much like Murray, Tsonga’s game deserted him at times although he showed that he could mix it with the best if he manages to get some consistency.

Mr. Consistency himself, Djokovic, managed to maintain a high standard throughout and did enough to make sure that the match didn’t go to 5 sets.

He has now only lost 1 match in 50 over a period of 7 months and will take the World number 1 ranking away from Nadal on Monday no matter what happens in the Wimbledon Final on Sunday.

It should be a cracker of a game.

Photo: Corrine06

Murray Into Wimbledon 2nd Week, Roddick Crashes Out

Posted by James in Sports, Tennis

Andy Murray is the first of the big 4 mens seeds to make it through to the second week of Wimbledon while Andy Roddick crashes out, beaten by Feliciano Lopez.

On a rainy Wimbledon day, Lopez showed a set of skills that suggest that he will reach alot higher than his current world ranking of 44.

Both players have enormous serves and both Roddick and Lopez struggled to break each other in the first two sets, forcing both to go to tie-breaks. Lopez managed to take advantage on both occasions.

In the 3rd and deciding set it was Roddicks unforced errors that proved to be the turning point in the match. Lopez running out a 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 victory.

The 4th Seed Andy Murray survived the rainy afternoon by playing under the confines of the centre court roof, against the talented and experienced Croat, Ivan Ljubicic.

Ljubicic’s huge serve asked constant questions of Murray, although one of the best returners on the mens circuit was always going to have a chance of breaking.

Ljubicic was the first to break in the first set though, Murray’s serve letting him down and handing the initiative to Ljubicic.

However, the Croat then had serving problems of his own giving away 2 double faults and allowing the instant break back. Murray then managed to keep the initiative and a huge forehand secured the first set.

Murray again had serving problems at the start of the 2nd set, double faulting on break point to give Ljubicic the advantage which he never relinquished, winning the set 6-4.

Murray then seemed to step up another gear in the 3rd set though, just as it looked like Ljubicic might push him all the way he played on a different level from his opponent.

Suddenly he was in the zone playing some great tennis and rampaged away to a 6-1 set win that belied the difficulties that were present in the first 2 sets.

The fourth set was more competitive with Ivan Ljubicic at one point hitting a 139mph service, but ultimately it was Murray who had the greater range of shot making, including an audacious shot through his legs. To the delight of the British crowd on centre court their man claimed the 3rd set 7-6.

Murray will now play the 17th seed, Richard Gasquet, bringing back memories of an epic Wimbledon 5 set battle a few years ago between the two players. As the matches get harder it will be interesting to see how Murray can react in his mission to claim his first Grand Slam title.

Previous French Open Winner Nadal Too Strong For Murray

Posted by Jeff in Sports, Tennis

The previous winner of the French Open, Rafael Nadal proved to be too strong for Andy Murray who was playing in his first French Open Semi-Final.

Nadal, the no.1 seed, has by his own admission not been playing his best tennis at this years competition but he turned the heat up when he needed too.

The story of this game was really in the break points, Murray matched alot of Nadal’s tennis but when it came to the break points Nadal was too good. Murray only converted 3 out of the 18 break points he earnt against Nadal.

Although the match was over in straight sets (6-4 7-5 6-4) it lasted well over 3 hours which tells you that it was a real contest between the two men but it always seemed that Nadal was just in control in a match where gusting wind made it difficult for both players on their serve.

Nadal was celebrating his 25th birthday and got the birthday present that he really wanted, a place in the French Open final.

Photo: y.caradec

Novak Djokovic Closing in on the Tennis Number One Ranking

Posted by James in Sports, Tennis

Novak Djokovic is closing in on the Tennis number one ranking after the best start to a tennis season since Ivan Lendl in the 1986 season.

Rafael Nadal once again suffered defeat this weekend at the Sony Ericsson Open final in Miami, at the hands of Novak Djokovic, and believes that he is in serious danger of losing his number one status this summer.

He is currently 3170 points ahead of the number two Djokovic, but that total is based on his hugely successful season last year. The chances of him repeating those results are looking slimmer and slimmer as the Djokovic run continues, he is now unbeaten in 24 games this year and has beaten Nadal in the 2 finals they have contested in 2011.

Djokovic himself plays down the prospect saying “I think it’s a bit early to talk about getting that top spot in the rankings” and the Australian Open champion went on to say that he thought that Nadal was currently the best player in the world.

Photo: mbevis

London 2012 Olympic Schedule Released

Posted by James in Olympics, Sports

The Olympic schedule of events has been released by the organisers of the London 2012 Olympic summer games ready for tickets to be released on March 15th.

Running from 25th July – 12 August 2012 the Olympics are the biggest sporting event of their type and it is getting closer everyday with 528 days to go until the Olympic schedule kicks off.

It is now only 4 weeks until tickets go on sale to the general public and the schedule allows people a chance to pick what they would like to see.

Highlights include the opening and closing ceremonies on 27th July and 12th August respectively, the 3rd August when the athletics begin including the big one, the men’s 100 metres final on 5th August.

In a country where football (soccer) is almost a religion there will be, for the first time ever, a British football team participating in competition. According to the Olympic schedule this starts on 26th July 2011 and you can expect stadiums to be full.

The first swimming medals will be won on Saturday 28th July and there is a lip smacking possibility of two of the greatest swimmers of all time competing against each other in the 200m freestyle.

Australian Graham Thorpe recently announced his comeback and the golden man, Michael Phelps, with 14 Olympic golds to his name is pretty much guaranteed to make the cut.

Other highlights on the Olympic schedule include the men’s singles Tennis final on Sunday 5th August at the famous Wimbledon centre court. Local favourite Andy Murray will hope to be there.

Sunday 12th August sees the basketball final, will the American ‘dream team’ be able to defend their Olympic title?

Visit www.london2012.com to get further details on the Olympic schedule.

Photo: ODA

Andy Murray Makes the Australian Open Final

Posted by James in Sports, Tennis

Andy Murray came through in a tight match against the number 7 seed, David Ferrer to reach his third Major final and his second Australian Open Final in a row.

The nerves were obviously showing for Murray in the first set as he hit a large number of unforced errors into the net and Ferrer took a deserved lead.

Written off by most commentators as the underdog Ferrer certainly wasn’t playing like it as he controlled the baseline and the long rallies.

After Ferrer took the first set Murray had to wait until the second set to assert himself in a tie break as both players gave away points they would normally expect to win. Neither player really taking command of the match and it was difficult to call who would triumph at this point, it could have gone either way.

In the third set Murray began to gain some momentum and started to control the tempo of the match with an early break of serve. He then made a double break in game six and everything started to flow for him as he went, and crucially made his aggressive shots. He took the set 6-1.

In the 4th set Murray continued his run of good form,, but it didn’t last long and the errors began to creep back in again as he wasted an opportunity for a double break. Ferrer made the most of the opportunities that he was presented with and forced himself back onto even terms.

The momentum had shifted constantly through out the match but Ferrer’s serve started to let him down as the 4th set went into the tie break and Murray established a 5-1 lead as his serve fired him ahead.

After 3 hours and 45 minutes Murray finally made the shot, a half volley, that took him into the Australian Open final for the second time.

Obviously tired and with stiff muscles, Murray hobbled off the court to jump into an ice bath, and get himself fit for the clash on Sunday with his practice partner Novak Djokovic.

Photo: n.hewson

Andy Murray Slams Robin Soderling in ATP Finals

Posted by Gary in Sports, Tennis

Andy Murray won in straight sets at his opening game in the ATP Finals in London. Beating the man who took his world no. 4 ranking earlier in the year when he won a masters victory in Paris last week.

Last year Robin Soderling won through to the semi final stage of this competition and has had a fantastic season this year, especially when it comes to indoor tournaments.

Murray though can never be underestimated and even though Soderling was perhaps the favourite on paper coming into this game, the Scot showed his intentions early on pulling the Swede around the court and winning the first set in style 6-2.

As often happens after a break between sets the momentum fell slightly from Murray’s game and Soderling started to force his way back into the match, making Murray play break points for the first time.

In truth though, Murray was always in control and so it proved when he finished off the match after 1 hour 20 minutes winning the second set 6-4.

He had a disappointing exit from the group stages last year so he knows that he will have to go all out to win all of his round robin matches to ensure that he progresses.

Federer will take on Ferrer later on tonight and we shall get a look at how sharp Federer is feeling in the huge O2 indoor arena.

Photo: p_c_w