Tennis Weekend
Well there were few surprises this weekend. I have to say that I enjoyed having John McEnroe as the commentator on NBC, but I can't say that I enjoy any of the commentators on the tennis channel (except when John McEnroe is a guest commentator). The tennis channel has about a three hour feed a day and then they replay that same three hours over and over. That was not good, since I had to wait for the dvr to see the matches and the dvr only saves five shows at a time. All five were the same, knocking out the previous days coverage. Oh well.
So I didn't get to see Cilic play, but I noticed that his haircut was the same as Adam--then the next time I saw Adam, he had shaved his head. But I digress. I also did not get to see Federer, but he seems to be through his matches without too much trouble. Next he faces Del Potro. Del Potro has been challenged so far, so Federer should be able to win, but oh, it would be nice to see Del Potro hit his stride again. I did see Djokovic play a little against Seppi. I've never seen Seppi before, but I've seen his name in the draws for years. Djokovic looks good (he looks skinny actually--maybe he's taking a page from Fish's book). He faces Tsonga next. I've seen a lot of Tsonga (Tennis Channel must love him or something). His match against Wawrinka and Wawrinka's match against Simon--all nailbiters, but Tsonga's not impressing me like he has in the past. He looks kind of laid back and not taking it all too seriously. I don't think Djokovic will have any trouble getting past Tsonga.
On the other side of the draw, I saw the Mathieu/Isner match--wow. Mathieu is definitely getting a second wind to his career. He's been around a while and he played really well--finally running out of gas after the Isner match. I hope that I have the Murray /Gasquet match on dvr, but it looks like after the first set, Murray came through easily. I would like to catch the Almagro/Nadal match, but I have no worries for Nadal. Murray on the other hand faces Ferrer. That guy is tough. Murray has been complaining about a back injury. If he's not 100%, he may have trouble getting past David Ferrer. And Ferrer is a better match against Nadal--that would be his first real challenge in the slam.
On the women's side, I was sorry to see that Li Na is out. She's looked pretty great so far, but all of the women are so unpredicable. The number one seed Azarenka is out to the number 15 seed that I never heard of. Sam Stosur took out the nineteen year old American Sloan Stephens--too much experience on Sam's side. But look for Sloan Stephens in the future--she plays really well. Italian Sara Errani is playing particularly tough, beating former champions, Ivanovic and Kuznetsova. She remindes me of Schivone and Bartoli--so determined. Kvitova and Kanepi are also playing well, so Sharapova will need to keep up her A game for the next couple of rounds. I really like Kvitova--she always looks so happy after the match. But look for Sharapova to get through them all. I have liked Sharapova this slam and I think she has a very good chance to win this. That would be really good, because she has been working so hard to get back after her injury several years back. She won on clay in Rome, so that bodes well for her chances here, but Errani or Stosur will not go quietly into that good night, so we shall see.
The commentators have been talking about the olympics and how player's qualify. Each country can send it's top four players. Only four. They automatically qualify if they are seeded in the top 56 in the world. Spain has six men that are in the top 56, but they can only send their top four. USA has the Williams sisters who are NOT in the top 56 and a bunch of very young players. It will be very interesting to see the rankings after the french. Lepchenko has recently become a US citizen. She and Stephens went the farthest for American Women, so they are going to get a bump in their rankings. I cannot imagine Serena or Venus not making it on the Olympic team, but it could happen.
I also heard an interview with Bob Bryan. He was discussing why Marty Fish is not in the French. Apparently he has heart trouble and that his doctors are not sure when he will be cleared for play. Just awful after his stunningly wonderful showing last year.
So I am hoping that Sharapova and Nadal win the French, but I am really hoping that Serena can pull it all together and make the Olympic team. I think gold looks really good on her.
So I didn't get to see Cilic play, but I noticed that his haircut was the same as Adam--then the next time I saw Adam, he had shaved his head. But I digress. I also did not get to see Federer, but he seems to be through his matches without too much trouble. Next he faces Del Potro. Del Potro has been challenged so far, so Federer should be able to win, but oh, it would be nice to see Del Potro hit his stride again. I did see Djokovic play a little against Seppi. I've never seen Seppi before, but I've seen his name in the draws for years. Djokovic looks good (he looks skinny actually--maybe he's taking a page from Fish's book). He faces Tsonga next. I've seen a lot of Tsonga (Tennis Channel must love him or something). His match against Wawrinka and Wawrinka's match against Simon--all nailbiters, but Tsonga's not impressing me like he has in the past. He looks kind of laid back and not taking it all too seriously. I don't think Djokovic will have any trouble getting past Tsonga.
On the other side of the draw, I saw the Mathieu/Isner match--wow. Mathieu is definitely getting a second wind to his career. He's been around a while and he played really well--finally running out of gas after the Isner match. I hope that I have the Murray /Gasquet match on dvr, but it looks like after the first set, Murray came through easily. I would like to catch the Almagro/Nadal match, but I have no worries for Nadal. Murray on the other hand faces Ferrer. That guy is tough. Murray has been complaining about a back injury. If he's not 100%, he may have trouble getting past David Ferrer. And Ferrer is a better match against Nadal--that would be his first real challenge in the slam.
On the women's side, I was sorry to see that Li Na is out. She's looked pretty great so far, but all of the women are so unpredicable. The number one seed Azarenka is out to the number 15 seed that I never heard of. Sam Stosur took out the nineteen year old American Sloan Stephens--too much experience on Sam's side. But look for Sloan Stephens in the future--she plays really well. Italian Sara Errani is playing particularly tough, beating former champions, Ivanovic and Kuznetsova. She remindes me of Schivone and Bartoli--so determined. Kvitova and Kanepi are also playing well, so Sharapova will need to keep up her A game for the next couple of rounds. I really like Kvitova--she always looks so happy after the match. But look for Sharapova to get through them all. I have liked Sharapova this slam and I think she has a very good chance to win this. That would be really good, because she has been working so hard to get back after her injury several years back. She won on clay in Rome, so that bodes well for her chances here, but Errani or Stosur will not go quietly into that good night, so we shall see.
The commentators have been talking about the olympics and how player's qualify. Each country can send it's top four players. Only four. They automatically qualify if they are seeded in the top 56 in the world. Spain has six men that are in the top 56, but they can only send their top four. USA has the Williams sisters who are NOT in the top 56 and a bunch of very young players. It will be very interesting to see the rankings after the french. Lepchenko has recently become a US citizen. She and Stephens went the farthest for American Women, so they are going to get a bump in their rankings. I cannot imagine Serena or Venus not making it on the Olympic team, but it could happen.
I also heard an interview with Bob Bryan. He was discussing why Marty Fish is not in the French. Apparently he has heart trouble and that his doctors are not sure when he will be cleared for play. Just awful after his stunningly wonderful showing last year.
So I am hoping that Sharapova and Nadal win the French, but I am really hoping that Serena can pull it all together and make the Olympic team. I think gold looks really good on her.
posted by KathrynVH @ 5:29 PM
1 Comments:
At June 6, 2012 at 8:18 AM,
Marcel said…
I have watched a few matches and now I wonder why I bother. You give such good reporting and insight to the matches it is almost just as good as watching.
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