Going Out at the Top

So much for my skills as a tipster. In my last post, I predicted a Liverpool-Barcelona Champions League final. I also tipped Mark Selby to win the snooker world championship. Selby was knocked out in the first round. I picked the eventual champion, Ronnie O'Sullivan from the bottom half, but mentioned his 'fragile temperament'. No sign of that as the Rocket won all his matches by considerable margins(5, 6, 6, 11 & 10 frames). Moving on...



Henin

Justine Henin shocked the tennis world by announcing her retirement at the age of 25. Henin is the first woman player to retire while still ranked no. 1 in the world, and would surely have been the betting favourite for the French Open (starts May 25). As I've mentioned in previous posts, Henin was arguably the most technically gifted player on the WTA tour, and had the best backhand in the game. Henin won seven Grand Slams in her career. She will now devote her time to her tennis academy & her charitable Foundation. The only comparable tennis retirement is Borg, who also retired at 25, having recently lost his no. 1 spot to McEnroe.

Rafael Nadal has said this week he expects to lose his no. 2 ranking to Djokovic. On current form, it seems a only a question of when, rather than if, the Serbian becomes world no. 1. However, unless it was kidology by Nadal, it was unexpected for him to be pessimistic, but he does have a mass of ranking points to defend over the coming months. Nadal plays Carlos Moya in the Hamburg Masters later today, & the winner will play Djokovic in the semis tomorrow (Saturday).

FAC & UCL



Viewing figures for the cup finals this week will be interesting. Will an FA Cup Final without the Big Four, or any other of the other traditional glamour clubs (Spurs, Everton, Villa etc) pull in the viewers ? It does make a refreshing change that none of the Big Four have made the final this year. You would expect ITV to get a high audience share for the all-English European Cup/Champions League final. Pompey should have just too much class & experience for Cardiff, 2-1 Pompey win. I'm expecting a tense, tight game Wednesday, which Chelsea can nick by one goal.