Feat of Clay

French Open Tennis


Dinara Safina has been the surprise of the tournament, backing up her win in Berlin by reaching the final. Her run has included two great comebacks against Sharapova (from a set & 5-3 down) & Dementieva (set & 5-2 down) saving a match point both times. Ivanovic has been undone by nerves in finals before & Safina can add another Slam to the family trophy cabinet. It looks like only the Williams sisters can prevent Serbo-Russian domination at Wimbledon & the US Open.
Federer looks to have his work cut out against Nadal in Sunday's mens' final. Rafa was awesome in beating Djokovic in straight sets in the semi yesterday. Nadal in 4 sets.


Euro2008


Euro 2008 looks quite an open tournament, the leading contenders seem to be closely matched. I've commented on the lopsided draw in my post of 15/12/07. Italy & France both have ageing squads. Italy don't appear to be as formidable defensively as they once were. Cannavaro will miss the tournament due to injury, & Nesta has retired from the national team (as has Totti). France are also getting long in the tooth through the spine of the team (Makelele, Viera, Henry) but Ribery has been in superb form. Portugal have man of the moment Mr C Ronaldo, but should suffer from lack of quality strikers. Spain are unbeaten in 15 matches & have beaten both France & Italy in that run, albeit in friendlies; & have in Torres arguably the best striker in Europe. Germany are in the easy half of the draw, and should be back to their traditional status as favourites, having performed miserably at both Euro 2000 & 2004. Croatia are my pick as dark horses. A Spain Germany final then, Miroslav Klose to finish top scorer.