I know to some I seem repetitive when complaining about tennis draws at the professional level but once again those that cobbled together something that resembles a draw but is anything but fair to many of the entered players for the third Grand Slam tournament of 2011 have motivated me to write a few lines of disappointment.
The example will centre on the ladies draw. Once again, and this is so not just at Wimbledon, the seedings are not set properly through the 128 players, if weighting is to be given first to the the number one seed then progressively down to the number 32 seed. The way the seeded players are treated by juggling their positions in such a huge tournament where much is at stake including points to defend, prize money from round to round and of course prestige, is abhorrent.
In an equitable system, the third round match ups, should seeded players win their respective matches, would include number 1 Wozniacki playing 32 Pironkova. No, instead she has the troubling prospect of meeting 27 seed and a player that made the fourth round here last year Gajdosova.
16 seed Goerges should play 17 but who does she get? 24 seed Cibulkova. Meanwhile 14 seed Pavlyuchenkova, ranked higher than Goerges is expected to play the 17 seed Kanepi. One may ask what did she do to deserve that apart from be the wrong seed drawn out out of the hat.
Then we come to the round of sixteen and hopefully things have corrected themselves but no not a chance - it's the lucky number 8 seed Kvitova who should be in the battle of her life with 9 seed Bartoli but is drawn to play 12 seed Kuznetsova, who also must be smiling to think that the number 5 seed she should be playing is former champion and favorite Maria Sharapova.
The quarters is where it should be easy - the top seed has earned the right to play the lowest seed at that point and so on - 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 and 4 v 5
Instead we have 1 v 5 (not much reward for the top seed there) 2 v 8, 3 v 7 and 4 v 6.
And naturally the semis are not 1 v 4 and 2 v 3 either but by then all the damage caused by draw inequity with seeding placement would have been done.
Whether you are with me or not on the seedings placement issue, the placement of the other 96 players is a worry and I will mention the following as an example.
Francesca Schiavone is the current French Open runner-up and seeded 6 at Wimbledon but has been drawn to play Jelena Dokic in the first round - Dokic could very well come into the tournament on the back of a win - OK luck of the draw. However on the same side of the draw we have two instances of qualifiers playing each other in first round matches and these players don't even know who they are yet. At least 2 of them are into the second round at Wimbledon and we don't know whether they are yet in the draw.
Quality players like Schiavone and Dokic have earned direct entry and are only guaranteed first round loser prize money. Why on earth should we guarantee that one qualifier, let alone two, be assured of featuring in round two of the main draw, simply by letting them play against each other. That is what the idea of managing the placement of additional entries to those already directly accepted, is all about. Not making a mess of it. Daniela Hantuchova is potentially a winner. Her first two opponents, yet unknown, we do know will be qualifiers.
Saturday, 18 June 2011
Friday, 17 June 2011
Eastbourne semis set up while Clijsters out of Wimbledon
Sad to see Aussie Kim succumb to an ankle injury and unable to compete at the Championships next week. Interesting that the powers that be have given Serena Williams the number 7 seeding although her ranking is in the twenties. Her sister also has been bumped up into a seeded position, not so prominent, but at least protected for a few rounds from the "name" players.
In Eastbourne Thursday morning, I was ready to receive the promised precipitation from above as I took my morning walk. It failed to arrive for about an hour but when it did, I was thankful that I had never unpacked an umbrella purchased for a 2008 trip still in the suitcase wherever I had travelled since, and still unopened.
The rain never actually delivered with any conviction - more it was of nuisance value to windscreen wipers and tennis tournament organisers. The delay to starting time extended to around 45 minutes before Venus Williams and Daniela Hantuchova took to Centre Court in variable conditions. The one constant - it was blustery. As with the rain Venus delivered with little conviction in the first set while Hantuchova continued her vein of top form by not trying to defeat the wind but to respect it and play her style of game within the environmental parameters given both players.
Whereas Venus would try to hit too powerfully, Hantuchova could often use the speed off the Williams racquet to her advantage. Before early damage could be repaired Williams found herself down too far to be able to capture the first set, instead attempt to steady, better react to the conditions and control her big weapons. 6-2 to a very impressive Hantuchova, who was just a week ago finalist at Birmingham.
Despite the match improving, while the weather remained windy, Venus could not make initial headway in the second set, and the ground strokes and thinking about each point from Daniela made it hard to see where a breakthrough could come for the American. Almost down another double break the fight came and Venus shone to storm through the remainder of the set and level the match 2-6 7-5.
However, this was a chance for Hantuchova to beat Williams for the first time in a million attempts and after a careful start to the final set, she exploded, dominating the final four games and winning a spectacle marred by the wind but still featuring fine tennis 6-2 5-7 6-2
The other quarter final on Centre Court featured top seed Vera Zvonareva against 7th seed Samantha Stosur. The wind was still a factor, and Vera was running late, running out for the toss and warm up in something somewhere between a pair of pajamas and a ski suit. Fortunately this attire did not rate number one choice for the match proper.
Sam served first and formidably, and then wasted a few minor chances to perhaps threaten the Russian's serve. The only service break for the set was in the next game when a combination of poor racquet work at the net by Stosur and more consistent ground strokes and better placement by Zvonareva resulted in a 2-1 lead to the latter.
Despite tricky tosses with the wind, each girl managed to hold serve for the remainder of the set, and 6-4 was the score in favour of Vera.
Sam served first in the second and needing to make a statement straight away, played a shocker. Now behind a set and a break, she had to summon something if anything was to be taken away from the match.
Apart from that game, once again the tennis was of quality standard given the wind, and games were on serve until Zvonareva served at 4-3. Stosur's obvious tactic of attacking the net more to take a volley may have worked a treat against a young improver such as Jovanovski, but not against Vera who can pass on both sides if the approach shot is the slightest bit inadequate.
Game 8 Stosur did finally break the Russian serve - the first time in 9 attempts. Serves were held for 5-5, with Zvonareva saving one set point, and then the longest game of the match on Stosur's serve. 11 deuces I counted during this epic game, during which the tide at Eastbourne had time to go out and then come back in again.
Eventually Stosur held serve, as did Zvonareva in reply, and a tiebreaker was required. Down 4-2, it seemed that the match was Vera's for the keeping, but the resolve of the Queenslander showed tough and Samantha won the key points and subsequently the tiebreak 7-6.
Vera fell apart in the decider, losing her opening two service games. At 5-2 Stosur could serve it out. Wait, no she could not!
Now Vera had to serve to stay in the match. That task complete, back to Sam at our end to try once more to serve for the semis. No worries this time with a couple of aces thrown in for good measure.
Stosur to play Bartoli
Hantuchova to play Kvitova
According to the locals that's a moot point because it will be rained out on Friday!
In Eastbourne Thursday morning, I was ready to receive the promised precipitation from above as I took my morning walk. It failed to arrive for about an hour but when it did, I was thankful that I had never unpacked an umbrella purchased for a 2008 trip still in the suitcase wherever I had travelled since, and still unopened.
The rain never actually delivered with any conviction - more it was of nuisance value to windscreen wipers and tennis tournament organisers. The delay to starting time extended to around 45 minutes before Venus Williams and Daniela Hantuchova took to Centre Court in variable conditions. The one constant - it was blustery. As with the rain Venus delivered with little conviction in the first set while Hantuchova continued her vein of top form by not trying to defeat the wind but to respect it and play her style of game within the environmental parameters given both players.
Whereas Venus would try to hit too powerfully, Hantuchova could often use the speed off the Williams racquet to her advantage. Before early damage could be repaired Williams found herself down too far to be able to capture the first set, instead attempt to steady, better react to the conditions and control her big weapons. 6-2 to a very impressive Hantuchova, who was just a week ago finalist at Birmingham.
Despite the match improving, while the weather remained windy, Venus could not make initial headway in the second set, and the ground strokes and thinking about each point from Daniela made it hard to see where a breakthrough could come for the American. Almost down another double break the fight came and Venus shone to storm through the remainder of the set and level the match 2-6 7-5.
However, this was a chance for Hantuchova to beat Williams for the first time in a million attempts and after a careful start to the final set, she exploded, dominating the final four games and winning a spectacle marred by the wind but still featuring fine tennis 6-2 5-7 6-2
The other quarter final on Centre Court featured top seed Vera Zvonareva against 7th seed Samantha Stosur. The wind was still a factor, and Vera was running late, running out for the toss and warm up in something somewhere between a pair of pajamas and a ski suit. Fortunately this attire did not rate number one choice for the match proper.
Sam served first and formidably, and then wasted a few minor chances to perhaps threaten the Russian's serve. The only service break for the set was in the next game when a combination of poor racquet work at the net by Stosur and more consistent ground strokes and better placement by Zvonareva resulted in a 2-1 lead to the latter.
Despite tricky tosses with the wind, each girl managed to hold serve for the remainder of the set, and 6-4 was the score in favour of Vera.
Sam served first in the second and needing to make a statement straight away, played a shocker. Now behind a set and a break, she had to summon something if anything was to be taken away from the match.
Apart from that game, once again the tennis was of quality standard given the wind, and games were on serve until Zvonareva served at 4-3. Stosur's obvious tactic of attacking the net more to take a volley may have worked a treat against a young improver such as Jovanovski, but not against Vera who can pass on both sides if the approach shot is the slightest bit inadequate.
Game 8 Stosur did finally break the Russian serve - the first time in 9 attempts. Serves were held for 5-5, with Zvonareva saving one set point, and then the longest game of the match on Stosur's serve. 11 deuces I counted during this epic game, during which the tide at Eastbourne had time to go out and then come back in again.
Eventually Stosur held serve, as did Zvonareva in reply, and a tiebreaker was required. Down 4-2, it seemed that the match was Vera's for the keeping, but the resolve of the Queenslander showed tough and Samantha won the key points and subsequently the tiebreak 7-6.
Vera fell apart in the decider, losing her opening two service games. At 5-2 Stosur could serve it out. Wait, no she could not!
Now Vera had to serve to stay in the match. That task complete, back to Sam at our end to try once more to serve for the semis. No worries this time with a couple of aces thrown in for good measure.
Stosur to play Bartoli
Hantuchova to play Kvitova
According to the locals that's a moot point because it will be rained out on Friday!
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Climate Change affects Eastbourne Tournament
It had to happen. Sport to this point somehow had remained immune from the evil clutches of climate change. However, in the seaside town of Eastbourne around 6.15pm Wednesday 15 June 2011, it rained whereas previously it had not, and a tennis match was interrupted. Now finally the climate change sceptics will sit up and take notice. Certainly Rainer Schuettler from Germany and Kei Nishikori from Japan will. They have to come back tomorrow and have another crack at battling through their second round match, and the winner will be required to play a quarter final later the same day.
All the fun and games await, and that depends on whether the rain clears for Thursday - perhaps Mr Schuettler should have chosen a more suitable first name.
What did we establish today? One Williams sister is still in Eastbourne while the other packed her bags and the last I saw of Serena was waving goodbye from the taxi after I shouted her 4 pounds for her fare to the station. Venus impressed (apparently, because I didn't see the match) by defeating Ana Ivanovic who was yesterday's impresser. The reason I wasn't taking watch over that match? I was guarding a seat court side at court 3, prime position for Sam Stosur's round two match, and to do that I needed to be there for the preceding men's match.
That started out to be a fizzer, with Russia's Igor Kunitsyn simply outclassing unhappy qualifier Illya Marchenko from the Ukraine. Illya must have had a bad night and seemed to want to be anywhere but England or at least this part of it. Then remarkably after a healthy tantrum, racquet toss or two, the first set domination was turned on its head in the second with the still miserable Marchenko barrelling through to tie things up with a third and final set to play. Both Europeans were playing clay court shots to perfection, oblivious that under their footwear was carpet smooth lawn.
Although Marchenko achieved the early break in the final set, it wasn't decisive and the more accomplished Kunitsyn proved the steadier, winning the last several games and the match.
An Aussie to watch an Aussie - maybe the Hewitt curse would not extend to Stosur. Early signs appeared to relay that hope clearly. Sam raced to 5-0 against young Serbian Bojana Jovanovski, who with Viktor Troicki belies the myth that all Serb tennis players should have surnames ending with "vic". It must be the rebel in her, but today she was a rebel without much of a cause - Stosur's serving was right on the money, her forehand sharper than in recent times and she found opportunities to move to the net and shorten points, a tactic that must be employed if Wimbledon is to be enjoyed more than one round as last year.
Apart from one dreadful service game, the first set was prim and proper 6-3 and the second pristine. Sam was through to a quarter final against Serena Williams or Vera Zvonareva, which match I was to see the conclusion of next.
Serena was a set and a break to the good, so I thought this mere preparation for the next men's match, then out of the blue serving for the match the best serve in women's tennis failed. 5-5 progressed to a tie-break which the Russian won and with the momentum also ran out a 5-2 third set lead. Twice Vera could not serve for the match, but after aching hard work and wonderful shot making to twice break back, Serena Williams let it all slide in a dog of a service game. A third chance would not slip the grasp of top seed Zvonareva 3-6 7-6 7-5
Her record against Sam Stosur recently is not good but on grass she is the 2010 Wimbledon runner-up.
Radek Stepanek from the Czech Republic is like a hibernating animal - hides away during the cold seasons then comes out around grass court season to cause trouble. His record over the years is pretty good, a former top ten player who this time last year was top twenty or thirty. Although he is now around the fifties in the rankings it is not a true measure of his competence, and today Jo-Wilfried Tsonga felt the full brunt of it. The top seeded French player was completely shut out, losing his opening serve, and not improving any from there. Stepanek played perfect grass court tennis, moving naturally forward and volleying making Tsonga look all at sea.
The match was over quicker than we expected had we expected a Tsonga loss, but he will bounce back from the straight sets defeat better than some of those balls that were hit today. Stepanek could well be a nuisance in the first week at Wimbledon.
While Centre Court devoted much time and effort to taking care of the Williams siblings, other craziness occurred on outside courts - Li Na, this year's winner at Roland Garros, lost to Daniela Hantuchova and the conquered French Open finalist, Francesca Schiavone, also bowed out, her problems caused by Agnieszka Radwanska. Top seeds moving through included Azarenka and Kvitova.
All the fun and games await, and that depends on whether the rain clears for Thursday - perhaps Mr Schuettler should have chosen a more suitable first name.
What did we establish today? One Williams sister is still in Eastbourne while the other packed her bags and the last I saw of Serena was waving goodbye from the taxi after I shouted her 4 pounds for her fare to the station. Venus impressed (apparently, because I didn't see the match) by defeating Ana Ivanovic who was yesterday's impresser. The reason I wasn't taking watch over that match? I was guarding a seat court side at court 3, prime position for Sam Stosur's round two match, and to do that I needed to be there for the preceding men's match.
That started out to be a fizzer, with Russia's Igor Kunitsyn simply outclassing unhappy qualifier Illya Marchenko from the Ukraine. Illya must have had a bad night and seemed to want to be anywhere but England or at least this part of it. Then remarkably after a healthy tantrum, racquet toss or two, the first set domination was turned on its head in the second with the still miserable Marchenko barrelling through to tie things up with a third and final set to play. Both Europeans were playing clay court shots to perfection, oblivious that under their footwear was carpet smooth lawn.
Although Marchenko achieved the early break in the final set, it wasn't decisive and the more accomplished Kunitsyn proved the steadier, winning the last several games and the match.
An Aussie to watch an Aussie - maybe the Hewitt curse would not extend to Stosur. Early signs appeared to relay that hope clearly. Sam raced to 5-0 against young Serbian Bojana Jovanovski, who with Viktor Troicki belies the myth that all Serb tennis players should have surnames ending with "vic". It must be the rebel in her, but today she was a rebel without much of a cause - Stosur's serving was right on the money, her forehand sharper than in recent times and she found opportunities to move to the net and shorten points, a tactic that must be employed if Wimbledon is to be enjoyed more than one round as last year.
Apart from one dreadful service game, the first set was prim and proper 6-3 and the second pristine. Sam was through to a quarter final against Serena Williams or Vera Zvonareva, which match I was to see the conclusion of next.
Serena was a set and a break to the good, so I thought this mere preparation for the next men's match, then out of the blue serving for the match the best serve in women's tennis failed. 5-5 progressed to a tie-break which the Russian won and with the momentum also ran out a 5-2 third set lead. Twice Vera could not serve for the match, but after aching hard work and wonderful shot making to twice break back, Serena Williams let it all slide in a dog of a service game. A third chance would not slip the grasp of top seed Zvonareva 3-6 7-6 7-5
Her record against Sam Stosur recently is not good but on grass she is the 2010 Wimbledon runner-up.
Radek Stepanek from the Czech Republic is like a hibernating animal - hides away during the cold seasons then comes out around grass court season to cause trouble. His record over the years is pretty good, a former top ten player who this time last year was top twenty or thirty. Although he is now around the fifties in the rankings it is not a true measure of his competence, and today Jo-Wilfried Tsonga felt the full brunt of it. The top seeded French player was completely shut out, losing his opening serve, and not improving any from there. Stepanek played perfect grass court tennis, moving naturally forward and volleying making Tsonga look all at sea.
The match was over quicker than we expected had we expected a Tsonga loss, but he will bounce back from the straight sets defeat better than some of those balls that were hit today. Stepanek could well be a nuisance in the first week at Wimbledon.
While Centre Court devoted much time and effort to taking care of the Williams siblings, other craziness occurred on outside courts - Li Na, this year's winner at Roland Garros, lost to Daniela Hantuchova and the conquered French Open finalist, Francesca Schiavone, also bowed out, her problems caused by Agnieszka Radwanska. Top seeds moving through included Azarenka and Kvitova.
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
International tennis up close
When you apologise for almost bumping into someone at the tennis and you immediately realise that it is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga heading to the same Centre Court that you are moving to in a bid to watch him play, then it is clear that Eastbourne is putting on a special pre-Wimbledon show for it's fortunate spectators, counting me among it's numbers.
I wished Tsonga all the best, and of course he responded "sure thanks Tony see you for drinks afterwards" but not before I'd witnessed two women's matches on Centre Court. Now my seasons ticket included seats in Centre Court for all days, which also allowed access to the other courts should my presence at any one of them be demanded for a particular reason.
Today and tomorrow my seat is in row G, and for the final 3 days row AA, BB and AA. Now I am used to single letter rows meaning lower deck closer to action and double letter rows upper deck farther away so I was a little disappointed until I found out the truth in this neck of the woods. AA through to DD are the very front rows and instead of plastic seats include cushioned back and bottoms. Thank you very much - now we only need the weather to stay fine. It did today so we are off to a great start.
So is Ana Ivanovic who showed just how much talent she can wield with that racquet as she dispensed in straight sets with German top twenty star of the very near future Julia Goerges. Ana was at her brilliant best returning the dangerous Goerges serve with immaculate passing shots and placement that reduced the follow up shots to sometimes farcical. Julia tried valiantly to compete and become part of the match but this was not her day - there will be plenty of others though and Wimbledon will be yet another step in the learning process. Grass is a surface foreign to most.
Next the moment we had waited for - the return of the best female player in the game for the past decade, and Serena after the expectedly warm welcome delivered in return a first set that was as rusty as an old bucket. Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova played some wonderful shots all over the court and Serena just struggled to put her game back together. The pieces were there but only occasionally. Five games to none and finally the proud younger Williams sister held serve ultimately surrendering the first set 6-1. The match really began to ignite in the second set as Serena exerted her will to dominate, despite the continued fine efforts from Pironkova. A third set was required, and it could have gone either way but a champion finds the way through and almost 12 months down the track from her last tournament, Serena won - just!
Andy Murray had given Jo-Wilfried Tsonga a disappointment with the defeat in the Queens final so it took some guts to front up at Eastbourne the following day to play Denis Istomin in the first round. We received our usual dose from the French talent - booming serve, pace around the court, passion in all his endeavor and many classy tennis shots - the first set over very quickly but to Istomin's credit 7-5 in the second a much fairer reflection of the difference in standard between the two. Still no problem for Tsonga.
Then the only downer for the day - Lleyton Hewitt, in his first outing at Eastbourne, was being thrashed by Belgian Olivier Rochus 6-2 and more of the same, before he called it quits citing an injury. We hadn't noticed anything but he certainly was not playing to the level that one would expect against a clay courter like Rochus. Hope he is OK for Wimbledon, because he already missed Roland Garros.
Lastly, I saw the final stanza of recently crowned French Open champion Li Na winning her match against Austria's Tamira Paszek before England's own James Ward shared sets with Serbian Janko Tipsarevic. Everyone agreed it was a little too dark to continue so we all went back to our homes hotels or wherever, some to come back again tomorrow.
I wished Tsonga all the best, and of course he responded "sure thanks Tony see you for drinks afterwards" but not before I'd witnessed two women's matches on Centre Court. Now my seasons ticket included seats in Centre Court for all days, which also allowed access to the other courts should my presence at any one of them be demanded for a particular reason.
Today and tomorrow my seat is in row G, and for the final 3 days row AA, BB and AA. Now I am used to single letter rows meaning lower deck closer to action and double letter rows upper deck farther away so I was a little disappointed until I found out the truth in this neck of the woods. AA through to DD are the very front rows and instead of plastic seats include cushioned back and bottoms. Thank you very much - now we only need the weather to stay fine. It did today so we are off to a great start.
So is Ana Ivanovic who showed just how much talent she can wield with that racquet as she dispensed in straight sets with German top twenty star of the very near future Julia Goerges. Ana was at her brilliant best returning the dangerous Goerges serve with immaculate passing shots and placement that reduced the follow up shots to sometimes farcical. Julia tried valiantly to compete and become part of the match but this was not her day - there will be plenty of others though and Wimbledon will be yet another step in the learning process. Grass is a surface foreign to most.
Next the moment we had waited for - the return of the best female player in the game for the past decade, and Serena after the expectedly warm welcome delivered in return a first set that was as rusty as an old bucket. Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova played some wonderful shots all over the court and Serena just struggled to put her game back together. The pieces were there but only occasionally. Five games to none and finally the proud younger Williams sister held serve ultimately surrendering the first set 6-1. The match really began to ignite in the second set as Serena exerted her will to dominate, despite the continued fine efforts from Pironkova. A third set was required, and it could have gone either way but a champion finds the way through and almost 12 months down the track from her last tournament, Serena won - just!
Andy Murray had given Jo-Wilfried Tsonga a disappointment with the defeat in the Queens final so it took some guts to front up at Eastbourne the following day to play Denis Istomin in the first round. We received our usual dose from the French talent - booming serve, pace around the court, passion in all his endeavor and many classy tennis shots - the first set over very quickly but to Istomin's credit 7-5 in the second a much fairer reflection of the difference in standard between the two. Still no problem for Tsonga.
Then the only downer for the day - Lleyton Hewitt, in his first outing at Eastbourne, was being thrashed by Belgian Olivier Rochus 6-2 and more of the same, before he called it quits citing an injury. We hadn't noticed anything but he certainly was not playing to the level that one would expect against a clay courter like Rochus. Hope he is OK for Wimbledon, because he already missed Roland Garros.
Lastly, I saw the final stanza of recently crowned French Open champion Li Na winning her match against Austria's Tamira Paszek before England's own James Ward shared sets with Serbian Janko Tipsarevic. Everyone agreed it was a little too dark to continue so we all went back to our homes hotels or wherever, some to come back again tomorrow.
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
From Southern France to Southern England
That was a trek and a half - this morning started in Marseille, by train to Paris, Eurostar to London, then another train to Eastbourne, with a few connecting rides included for good measure. Good news is I am here and have caught up with all the results of the tennis.
Sam Stosur won her opening match against Nadia Petrova and Venus Williams was successful in her comeback disposing of 8th seed Andrea Petkovic in three sets. Little sister is on Centre Court tomorrow having waited for my arrival in town before serving up her storm.
Accommodation is fairly average - overlooking the water - but a seaside walk in the morning will have to do I guess. And the 5 minutes to Devonshire Park to watch the stars compete will also strain me no doubt but I will go the extra kilometre if it means seeing the likes of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga hitting tennis balls the way he is at the moment. Runner-up to Andy Murray at Queens is no mean feat, given Murray's excellent form.
Kim Clijsters is anxious to gather up some easy points so she is playing where most of the top girls are not - in 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. No that is unfair - it is good to see these tournaments supported by the best players. Caroline Wozniacki played in Copenhagen, her home tournament last week just as Novak Djokovic did in Belgrade before the French Open.
Hoping for good weather tomorrow and good tennis - Centre Court begins with a great match first up between Ana Ivanovic and Julia Goerges and then other matches feature Serena Williams, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Lleyton Hewitt. Beats being frozen in Melbourne!
Sam Stosur won her opening match against Nadia Petrova and Venus Williams was successful in her comeback disposing of 8th seed Andrea Petkovic in three sets. Little sister is on Centre Court tomorrow having waited for my arrival in town before serving up her storm.
Accommodation is fairly average - overlooking the water - but a seaside walk in the morning will have to do I guess. And the 5 minutes to Devonshire Park to watch the stars compete will also strain me no doubt but I will go the extra kilometre if it means seeing the likes of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga hitting tennis balls the way he is at the moment. Runner-up to Andy Murray at Queens is no mean feat, given Murray's excellent form.
Kim Clijsters is anxious to gather up some easy points so she is playing where most of the top girls are not - in 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. No that is unfair - it is good to see these tournaments supported by the best players. Caroline Wozniacki played in Copenhagen, her home tournament last week just as Novak Djokovic did in Belgrade before the French Open.
Hoping for good weather tomorrow and good tennis - Centre Court begins with a great match first up between Ana Ivanovic and Julia Goerges and then other matches feature Serena Williams, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Lleyton Hewitt. Beats being frozen in Melbourne!
Sunday, 12 June 2011
Fine art in Aix-en-Provence as Murray thrashes Roddick
While some of the elite tennis players applied themselves on various courts across Europe in either their last or second to last tournaments leading into Wimbledon, I visited another French provincial town and became an instant art fan. After struggling (eventually successfully) to convince security that the bag containing my passport, wallet, camera, IPad, travel documents and other assorted important things was not leaving me for some locker while I wandered through a museum - despite it having already passed the bag check at entry - I enjoyed a surprisingly fruitful few hours spent inside protected from the woeful sunny weather being offered by the town of Aix-en-Provence.
The Musée Granet is not the first recommended spot for tourists so belligerent me went there initially, and the Jean Planque Collection just happened to be in town. Planque was not a big name painter - made a living post WW2 marketing a concentrate for pig feed that he had invented - but he knew all the biggies and established excellent rapport with them - Auberjonois, Berger, Dubuffet, Picasso among others.
Fortunately in his death, the legacy of his collection lives on and the works of Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, etc can be seen at various art museums around Europe.
Externally, Aix-en-Provence is everything that you should expect a French town in this region to be with only one negative that I could find - directions for strangers in town are Aix-bysmal.
Andy Roddick has been in London, attempting to find some form on grass, because he certainly had lost it all on clay. Today it was semi final time against Andy Murray who had regained his form on clay making it to the semis in Paris losing to eventual champ Nadal. The latter Andy obliterated the former losing just four games, and it may be that the Scot has some claims for this Wimbledon title. Could be true were a Swiss guy not fit and firing.
The Musée Granet is not the first recommended spot for tourists so belligerent me went there initially, and the Jean Planque Collection just happened to be in town. Planque was not a big name painter - made a living post WW2 marketing a concentrate for pig feed that he had invented - but he knew all the biggies and established excellent rapport with them - Auberjonois, Berger, Dubuffet, Picasso among others.
Fortunately in his death, the legacy of his collection lives on and the works of Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, etc can be seen at various art museums around Europe.
Externally, Aix-en-Provence is everything that you should expect a French town in this region to be with only one negative that I could find - directions for strangers in town are Aix-bysmal.
Andy Roddick has been in London, attempting to find some form on grass, because he certainly had lost it all on clay. Today it was semi final time against Andy Murray who had regained his form on clay making it to the semis in Paris losing to eventual champ Nadal. The latter Andy obliterated the former losing just four games, and it may be that the Scot has some claims for this Wimbledon title. Could be true were a Swiss guy not fit and firing.
Saturday, 11 June 2011
Rafa's winning streak ends - me still stuck in Marseille
In spite of the obvious stress that this is placing on me, I am yet again beside the water in Marseille drinking cold liquid after another searching day. My plans fell into place for once and I did catch the train to Arles - about an hour away - and it satisfied somewhat the Italian void in my trip. Yes those ruins of the Roman kind can take you back centuries and remove all sense that in fact you may be straddling the Rhone in France.
The river was in fine form, as were the buildings, looking just as old as they ever did, in fact more so. Hopefully the significant restoration underway will ultimately demand an even greater level of care available from the increased tourist dollar.
Van Gogh was said to have spent some time in Arles, but that fact bears little consequence when stacked up against the news that the Gipsy Kings are natives of this town. Who'd have thought it? And to add to the flavour, my IPod shuffle randomly selected one of their hits as I was leaving the train station to head home to Marseille. Oops, I said home a bit too easily didn't I?
While I am doing little of value here, some of the world's tennis players are doing even less. Only kidding, they do try hard. All the Australians are now beaten in current singles tournaments - Lleyton Hewitt the last to go a short time ago at Halle. It was the right thing for Hewitt to lose to the local player Kohlschreiber - doesn't help his ranking but won't lose him friends.
Meanwhile my latest find is a brasserie with 4 large screens all tuned to Eurosport and showing quarter finals from Queens, London. Nadal and Tsonga were trading service games until the Spaniard took the tie break. A turn of events saw both drop their opening serves in the second set before steady as you go and 4-4 was achieved.
Funny watching the game played on grass - better become used to it I suppose. Nadal then cracked, the Frenchman broke and held to take the set 6-4 and from there never looked back. That would be silly anyway playing tennis - you would lose most points with that attitude.
Of course all the while I was eating my honeyed duck breast extremely slowly in order to catch the final result which was 6-7 6-4 6-1 on all 4 screens for Tsonga who I will be seeing at full confidence at Eastbourne next week maybe as winner of Queens.
Have to go now - time to spend a few precious more euros on hydrating myself.
The river was in fine form, as were the buildings, looking just as old as they ever did, in fact more so. Hopefully the significant restoration underway will ultimately demand an even greater level of care available from the increased tourist dollar.
Van Gogh was said to have spent some time in Arles, but that fact bears little consequence when stacked up against the news that the Gipsy Kings are natives of this town. Who'd have thought it? And to add to the flavour, my IPod shuffle randomly selected one of their hits as I was leaving the train station to head home to Marseille. Oops, I said home a bit too easily didn't I?
While I am doing little of value here, some of the world's tennis players are doing even less. Only kidding, they do try hard. All the Australians are now beaten in current singles tournaments - Lleyton Hewitt the last to go a short time ago at Halle. It was the right thing for Hewitt to lose to the local player Kohlschreiber - doesn't help his ranking but won't lose him friends.
Meanwhile my latest find is a brasserie with 4 large screens all tuned to Eurosport and showing quarter finals from Queens, London. Nadal and Tsonga were trading service games until the Spaniard took the tie break. A turn of events saw both drop their opening serves in the second set before steady as you go and 4-4 was achieved.
Funny watching the game played on grass - better become used to it I suppose. Nadal then cracked, the Frenchman broke and held to take the set 6-4 and from there never looked back. That would be silly anyway playing tennis - you would lose most points with that attitude.
Of course all the while I was eating my honeyed duck breast extremely slowly in order to catch the final result which was 6-7 6-4 6-1 on all 4 screens for Tsonga who I will be seeing at full confidence at Eastbourne next week maybe as winner of Queens.
Have to go now - time to spend a few precious more euros on hydrating myself.
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