Category: Uncategorized

Djokovic Never Went Back On Form
Liam
August 7, 2014

Novak Djokovic had taken the tennis world by surprise by winning three Grand Slams during the year 2011. Except at the Roland Garros, he had been absolutely destructive at the other three slam venues that year. He had made legends like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal look ordinary and people all of a sudden started backing him to dominate the men’s category for at least the next 3-4 years, but, it wasn’t to be.

The Serbian didn’t have a year like 2011 again. He won a couple of slams in 2012 too and one slam in 2013. He is still the no. 2 player in the world, but, the way he had dominated in 2011, people haven’t seen that kind of domination again from him.

Djokovic’s biggest problem in the last couple of years has been his tendency of not rising to the occasion. He makes it to the final or semi final round of almost all the majors and then on the big day, he fails to lift his game. Out of the last 6 Grand Slam finals that he has played, he has just managed to win one. This is really concerning for a player of his potential.

Djokovic needs to realize that he must make the opportunities count if he has to include himself in the list of legends. If he doesn’t do that, he would just be remembered as a good player, not great.

The no. of Grand Slam singles title won by Djokovic so far in his career is 6. That number could easily have been 10 if Djokovic had won most of his finals in the recent past.

The Serbian is 27 years of age at the moment which means he is going through the peak time of his career. This is the time when he can win titles regularly and dominate the world. This is the time for him to convert himself from a good player to a great player.

HEWITT vs EBDEN
admin
March 28, 2014

Lleyton Hewitt would face his countryman Matthew Ebden in his first match in the upcoming tournament at Indian Wells.

These two players have played against each other only once in the past and it was Hewitt who had ended up on the winning side in that encounter. He would be eager to make it 2-0 against his lower ranked partner.

Hewitt had come into the ongoing season firing on all cylinders. He surprised everybody by winning the title in Brisbane. It was Roger Federer who was considered as the top favourite to lift the trophy there, but, Hewitt got better of him in the final and that too in some style.

That title victory helped the Australian superstar climb up the World rankings, but, as has been the case with him over the years, he failed in taking that momentum into the next tournaments.

As far as Ebden is concerned, he would have been very disappointed with the shots that he has played in his last few matches. He has been completely out of nick.

The 26 years old South Africa born player has had 8 matches under his belt this season out of which he has lost 6 and that tells what kind of form he has been in.

He would like his losing streak to end in the match against Hewitt, but, for that, he would have to play way better than how he has played in the recent times.

If the singles world rankings of the two players are compared, there is not a big difference. Hewitt is just about 20 positions higher than Ebden, but, he is certainly more skilled and capable than the latter and if he is even close to his best, he should win the match.

MURRAY OUT
admin
January 2, 2014

Andy Murray has been knocked out from the ongoing Qatar Open tennis tournament. He lost his pre quarter final match against Florian Mayer of Germany yesterday.

It was Murray’s second defeat in 4 matches this season. He had earlier been defeated by the Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Abu Dhabi.

It’s not something which would have surprised too many tennis fans. A bit of rustiness from Murray at the start of the ongoing season was expected as he hadn’t had too many matches under his belt in the recent past. He hadn’t played even a single competitive game in the last quarter of the last season.

Murray had actually got off to a decent start against Mayer. He had won the opening set and then, he had gone ahead by 3-0 in the second set, but, thereafter, he lost his grip on the match and found himself on the losing side at the end.

It was a terrible day for Murray all round. He lost his doubles match as well later on in the day.

Talking to the reporters, the Scottish superstar said, “I am feeling a bit weary at the moment, but, that happens when you play after a while. It will take my body some time to get adapted to playing back to back matches at the top level.”

“Honestly speaking, I hadn’t come here with a lot of expectations and that’s because I hadn’t had enough match practice. As far as this match is concerned, I began well, but, couldn’t keep myself going till the end.”

“Although I have lost a couple of matches of late, but, the most important thing for me is that I have managed to get through all the matches without having any injury problems.”

The next tournament for Murray is the Australian Open which is going to start from the 13th of this month.

NADAL HAS EDGE
admin
October 9, 2013

At the start of 2013, Rafael Nadal trained with his compatriot Tommy Robredo for a few days. Both the players were coming back from long injury setbacks and both were looking to regain their old form.

The weeks have passed. Both the players have featured in a lot of matches since then. Nadal managed to set the world on fire as he hit top form straightaway after his comeback, but, one cannot say the same thing for Robredo. He seemed to be struggling big time in the first few tournaments that he played after the comeback, but, the Spaniard has slowly started to get into his groove now. He got better of the Swiss maestro Roger Federer in the 4th round of the US Open the other day and made it to the final 8 where he will be facing none other than Nadal.

Talking to the reporters ahead of that match, Nadal said, “I had trained with him for a few days back home in Barcelona. We both were making comebacks and I saw hunger in the eyes of Tommy. He was quite serious and passionate.”

“He didn’t start the season as well as he would have liked, but, I was pretty sure that he would start winning at some point of time in the season and he is doing that now. He is a fine player and he has worked very hard in the last few months.”

“If you are prepared to put in the hard work and battle your way through the tough periods, you are going to taste success at some point of time. Tommy has done that and he is having a great time now.”

Nadal has so far played 6 matches against Robredo and has won all of them.

FEDERER PULLS OUT
admin
August 28, 2013

Roger Federer has made it clear that he will not participate in the upcoming Rogers Cup which is going to be played in Montreal. The reason behind Federer’s withdrawal isn’t clear yet.

Federer is going through a tough phase at the moment. He has suffered defeats against some low ranked players off late.

After the Wimbledon championships, the Swiss superstar was supposed to have a bit of break before the start of the hard court season. But, Federer decided to take part in a couple of low profile clay court tournaments much to the surprise of his fans.

Federer’s outing in those two tournaments wasn’t impressive. Although in the German Open, he managed to move into final 4 but, he didn’t look at his best. In the semi final, he lost to an Argentinean player Federico Delbonis who is currently at no. 114 in the world rankings.

The next tournament in which Federer participated was Credit Agricole Suisse Open which was played at Gstaad. He got knocked out from the very first round there. He lost in the straight sets to the German player Daniel Brands.

While playing in those two tournaments, Federer had suffered back pain and it’s been speculated that because of that back trouble, he has decided to withdraw his name from Rogers Cup.

However, Federer himself didn’t specify why he was pulling out of the tournament. The Swiss superstar said, “I will not be able to take part in Rogers Cup and I am really gutted about it. It’s a wonderful tournament and I would love to participate in it next year.”

Federer has won the Rogers Cup a couple of times in his career i.e. in 2004 and 2006. He has also been the runner up once.

ISNER MAKES QUARTERS
admin
July 22, 2013

Venus Williams’ countryman, John Isner, has made his way into the quarter final of the ongoing Newport ATP 2013 by defeating Adrian Mannarino of France. Isner won the match in the straight sets by 6-0, 7-6(7).

It was a comfortable victory for the 28 years old American. He bossed the entire contest.

This was the 4th match between these two players and Isner defeated Mannarino for the first time.

The last time that these two players had taken on each other was in the recently played Wimbledon Championships. Isner had to leave that match in the middle because of an injury.

Isner made a rollicking start to the match. He was on fire in the opening set. He just took his opponent apart with some high quality strokes and won the first 6 games in a row to clinch the set in absolutely no time.

In the next set, Mannarino lifted the standard of his game. He didn’t let Isner get away with easy points.

There were no breakthroughs in the first 12 games in the second set and the scores were tied at 6-6 when the 12th game finished. The set went into the tie breaker.

Mannarino kept matching Isner shot for shot in the tie breaker as well, but, towards the end, he got just a little bit nervous and committed a couple of unforced errors to lose the tie breaker and the match as well.

Talking to the reporters in the post match interview, Isner said, “Adrian pulled things back really well in the second set. It could have gone either way at the end. It was important for me to stay focussed and fortunately, I managed to do that.”

In the quarter final round, Isner will take on Ivo Karlovic of Croatia.