Not Bad….

Ward d. Wawrinka 76(3) 63

I didn’t get round to seeing this.

The unkind thing to do would be to be assume that Stan stunk the house up as much as Ward played it down.

Except he beat Feli en route to the QFs of Eastbourne last year, and took a set of Marat here the year before that, so it isn’t, in some senses, THAT strange.

Except Ward is ranked around 200 places below Stan at #216.

So yeah, it is strange. Kinda.

He plays Sam Querrey (the defending Champ) next.

w00t.

Quote of the Day

“Roland Garros plays faster than Queens….funny, but that’s how it is….”
--Ivan Ljubicic after his win over Ryan Sweeting at Queens yesterday

 

I’ve paraphrased a little and, admittedly, the comment was made in a light hearted spirit in an interview given to Eurosport, but Ivan’s not a guy prone to any type of drama or hyperbole – even in humour – and the sentiment he expressed was dead serious.

(Pic: getty)

Folie de Grandeur. Men’s Tennis I’m looking at YOU.

No I mean it.

Amelie began coaching Michael Llodra at Queens last week (yes, I know), but she may as well have been cringing over the entire ATP top ten.

Congratulations to Rusty and Querrey for making good in a week when order, reason and good old common sense seemed to fail us.

Actually, I excuse both Rafa and Roger. Their loss last week is not quite the cause for the Requiem Mass some are now undertaking. It certainly doesn’t seem to me to warrant anything more than a half-raised eyebrow.

Nadal got to the quarters, seized up with a hamstring problem against a grass court specialist playing in his own words “the best match of his career”. Hardly surprising given the season he’s just had – perhaps even a blessing in disguise. Besides, it’s a hamstring problem – not the knees – read not a Code Red. Nothing a ten day fishing stint in Majorca can’t fix.

Half Raised Eyebrows.

Federer’s loss to Hewitt, breaking as it does a 15 match winning streak against him and a winning record at Halle that dates back to 2003, is….concerning. It’s also just another instance of his less polished record outside of the Slams. Whether you think that’s because “he doesn’t care” (laughable notion), or is more prone to the unforgiving three-set format, or is simply less attuned to winning these tune-up events, the results speak for themselves. For my part, I defer exercising my right to get more “up in arms” about it for when the same thing starts happening at Slams.

Four other reasons why my arms aren’t up:

1) Federer had his worst clay court season in 6 years, even though in my mind he was playing, during parts of it, better than he was in 2008.

2) For what its worth, I do believe he found his form in Madrid in a final where both he and Nadal moved around like two-bit drunkards, performing at about 70%.

3) The loss in RG? NO ONE beats Sod in that form (see Sod’s first law).

4) Yet, despite all this, he still made the finals of the first grass court event of the season in the same week that no other top ten player even managed a semi.

Eyebrows still only half raised .

***

Not quite as ready to absolve the rest of the “top ten” from tennis purgatory.

Since Muzz lost at Oz he appears to have joined Djoko in a rut of disillusionment whose only distinguishing feature is it’s ability to produce a string of “nearly-man” results. Just about enough to maintain a ranking but not nearly enough to keep you relevant.

Both of them right now, in fact, seem to occupy a no-man’s land of the top ten: neither threatening the top, nor standing in the way of those that do.

Marin and A-Rod are more perplexing. When Roddick took off the early part of the clay season for what sounds like a second honeymoon with his Misuss, he got, what I thought at the time, was a disproportionate amount of flak for it. Sela, unfortunately for A-Rod, gave what’ll likely be a once-in-a-lifetime performance at Queens that lead to him being termed “Baby Reeshie”.

Not quite sure how that works, but it also means Roddick enters Wimbledon with the least amount of matches he’s likely ever had.

As for Marin I’m pretty sure now that at some point , he’ll come through as “this year’s Delpo” – just don’t be surprised if he takes until next year to realise it. He’s certainly taking the more torrid, torturous route.

At RG, I suspect, he was simply unlucky to run into Sod. Who promptly murdered him. Which might explain his loss here this week – hard to string two wins together if you’re not a shadow but a mere chalk outline of yourself.

(Photos: AFP/Getty)

Queens Club Trophy Ceremony...

I apologise profusely James - particularly after that strong showing.

What can I say, except that it's all in jest. And that your priceless expressions proved irresistable.

"Much as I love this post-modern lovingly sculpted artifact..."
(Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)

"I'd sooo much rather have that one..."
(Photo: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images)


"I'm only kidding of course..."

(Photo: AP)

"Except I'm not..."
(Photo: Hamish Blair/Getty Images)

More History in the Making...

You'll not be surprised to learn that last weeks rather hallucinatory tennis venture left me a little hung over.

So much so that I almost missed the week's action at Queens this year. It wasn't until Thursday that the matches began to vaguely interest me. And it took what I'm pretty sure qualifies as a once in a lifetime experience to get me fully on board: Andy Roddick hit a single handed backhand winner down the line.

I'm not even sure whom he was up against. Thinking back now I'd say it was in his match against Hewitt. But that's neither here no there. Grass makes things like that happen. The combination of the low bouncing, speedier and more slippery feel of the surface seems to connive together mischievously with the occasional imperfect bounce to yield a tennis experience that forces desperate plays like that. As well as players out of their comfort zone.

He was stretched out wide and found himself robbed of the time and court positioning he'd need to set himself up for that much improved double-hander we know (and don't always love) so well. I was expecting a desperate shot. And yes, instincts did take over, but not in the predictably unregulated way you might imagine. This was the A-Rod exuding confidence, with an almost craftsman-like air, knowingly going through the motions of the only aggressive shot possible under the circumstances. Rather like he's been all year.

Blake hit a single handed backhand slice winner down the line later that day that wasn't nearly as good - but in a split second that unique slice of Parisian history was, not forgotten, but tagged and suitably archived, to be enjoyed again another day, as I was suddenly reminded of my love affair with grass court tennis.

Sure, the rallies are considerably shortened, sometimes over in the blink of an eye - you sometimes think the authorities' intransigence to increase upon that 5-week 'season' is because it serves as a deliberate 'blink and you'll miss it' metaphor for those shortened rallies.

But like clay, grass rewards a particular style of play - to take advantage of it, you either need to be naturally gifted, or skilled enough to play to the needs of the surface.

No coincidence then that 70% of the field (hard courters, every last one of them) suddenly begins to look very ordinary out there.

And as entertaining a take on Wimbledon as it was, Lleyton's observation that "there's only a handful of players capable of winning Wimbledon each year", is unreservedly, spot on.

***

I suppose I should say something about Andy Murray, seeing as he won the Queen's Club Title today, the first Brit to do so in 71 years, when the trophy was lifted by someone calling himself 'Bunny' Austin.

(Yes alright, my sides split too the first time I heard that name. Now stop rolling around, and let's be adults please.)

"Stop pratting about with that arty shot of a clothes hanger and get a pic of this'ere piece of silverware..."
(Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images)

"Alright that's too close boys..."
(Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images)

Such a resoundingly colourful name seems to reflect all the swagger of the age, the considerably different attitudes to the game - not at all out of place in a Golden Era of British Tennis in which you could count Fred Perry amongst your contemporaries. And sure enough his equally colourful Wikipedia bio makes mention of conscientious objection, tennis matches with Charlie Chaplin and a friendship with Daphne du Maurier.

Not to mention winning the Davis Cup for Britain alongside Fred Perry four times (1933-1936) and forming one half of the celebrity couple of the age.

And Tennis-Celebs these days think they know a thing or two about living it up.

You've got a lot to live up to Andy. And with a mundane sounding name like 'Andrew Murray' you might need some help jazzing it up. Which is where I think his game (and in particular his backhand) comes into it's own.

When Nadal pulled out of Queens last week, Andy suddenly found himself the top seed. Which was great, but I also remember thinking what presumably anyone who follows the sport for the other 48 weeks of tennis we have all year might think: with the big wins Murray's had since last year, with the title's he's won and his appearance in the US Open final, he should go on to win this thing with consummate ease.

Anything less would qualify surely, as a disappointment of the severest kind.

The good news is he did exactly as I'd hoped, serving his way to the Title without dropping a set.

Under the gaze of a very discerning and annoyingly expectant media eye.

No nerves. No expletives. No facial contortions. And not too many 'Andaaaaaaieeees'.

Just big serving, a repeat of his Wimbledon showing last year where he served on average at around 132mph, and a mixture of those crunching groundstrokes and feather light touch, that gave us amongst other things, two very special contenders for 'play of the week'.

Can't find a video but if you've seen it you'll know the ones I mean.

One was a perfectly timed lob off an aggressive net rush by Mardy Fish, a rush that actually saw Murray pushed far back. A position that would have caused other players to panic, but which instead saw Murray pull off a shot we all know he's capable of, but often recently seems too inhibited to try.

The other was a repeat of one of the shots Federer used en route to his first Wimbledon Title - a shot that lead the press to gush that he was reinventing tennis - a short half volley cross court winner flicked effortlessly by a player that demands more of his tennis.

All of which got me thinking. Murray often goes to great lengths to convince us that hard courts are his 'surface of choice', and that though he'd like to win Wimbledon, it's at the US Open that he feels most comfortable of winning his first Slam.

I dunno. Anyone that can transition to grass that seamlessly and begin to pull of the outrageous winners he did after what is after all a 'minimalist' grass court practice regime, surely must be considered a contender. More so, considering the wins he's had over Federer and Nadal.

And Andy might have more than the pressure of the British Press and Public this year. As if that weren't enough, it's also the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Fred Perry. The last Englishman to win Wimbledon.

Think Federer's win in Paris was historic? Hold your horses.