Wimbledon Predictions

Firstly my thoughts on the male contenders.

Andy Murray might have been my tip for the men’s title, but had a shocker at Queens and how is his hip ? Nick Krygios has the same ailment.

Raonic has the power, but does he have the subtlety? He also has an exceptionally tough draw, if he makes quarters he’s seeded to face three of the Big Four.

Grass is by some distance Wawrinka’s worst surface, & he faces a tough opener with the rising Russian, Daniil Medvedev.

Alexander Zverev has won three titles this season but lost in the 1^st round Roland Garros, and was smashed in the Halle final by Federer. They could meet again in the quarters if the German can get past Raonic.

Nadal looks to have a good draw, but has often suffered with his knees on the grass.

Djokovic has not been his best lately, until winning Eastbourne yesterday. The Serb has a tough draw however with Del Potro & Lopez in his section.

Which brings us to Federer. He faces a potentially tough opener with the mercurial Dolgopolov.  Raonic & the talented Dimitrov are also in the same section as the Swiss maestro. His 24-2 record for the season & his grass pedigree makes him the favourite.  

Moving on to the women, let’s start with the Eastbourne finalists.

Karolina Pliskova has the power game to profit on the grass & she has the silverware from the seaside to prove it.

Wozniacki by contrast is a retriever, who after 2 lean years is back in the top ten. They’re seeded to meet in the quarters.

Another counter-attacker, Halep, has been the form player on clay by some distance, but I can’t see her defensive game winning here.  

Muguruza has been in patchy form, won only one game at Eastbourne.

Jo Konta appears to suffer at SW19 with the pressure of home expectation, & can she can recover from her back injury in time?

Kerber is still clinging onto the no.1 ranking, but like Murray seems to be struggling with the burden of defending the no.1 position form the chasing pack. Her form is unimpressive-currently only at 15^th in the YTD rankings.

Petra Kvitova won in Birmingham despite a long lay-off, but she herself has doubted if she has the stamina for a two week tournament.

Ostapenko is similar to Kvitova in game style but takes even more risks in going for the lines. She went all in & took the title at Roland Garros, but I can’t see her taking the jackpot in SW19

Aga Radwanska has had her best results here, but has a tough opener v Jankovic. Possibly Bacsinsky will win that section.

The big-serving Pliskova is my tip to take her maiden Slam title.

French Open predictions

The top men’s seeds, Murray & Djokovic, have not been in top form this season. Neither has Wawrinka-until this week, with the Swiss is in today’s Geneva final. However Stan is a big game player, & in his last two majors made semis at Aus & was the champion in US. So I fancy Stan the Man from the top half of the draw. In the bottom half, I can see Thiem getting past the Djoker in the quarters before falling to the eventual winner & current captain of my fantasy league team, Mallorca’s finest, Mr Rafa Nadal.

The women’s draw has been described as wide open by many, including your humble blogger. World no. 1 Kerber has been off the boil this season, Serena is off on maternity leave. Simona Halep won in Madrid, but may not have recovered from rolling her ankle in last week’s Rome final. The Russian veteran Kuznetsova has had her best results in the majors here, & can make another good run this year. No. 4 seed Garbi Muguruza is another lover of the red dirt, & despite her patchy form, she’s my pick to retain her title.   

Tennis Season Predictions

Who can capture the major titles in 2017?

On the men’s side, this blogger feels there are 3 categories of players who can be ruled out: GOATs, youngsters & spoilers.

It looks unlikely that Federer & Nadal can add to their major haul. Both GOAT contenders have lost their aura & have suffered with injury lay-offs, six months in the Fed's case.

One of Nadal’s strengths used to be coming through tough 5 setters. Over the last 16 months he’s been on the wrong end of the score, with notable losses to Fognini & Pouille (both US Open) and Verdasco (Aus Open).

Alexander Zverev is perhaps the most promising of the younger generation (Thiem, Krygios, Edmund, Fritz etc.) The German may need a couple more years before he can challenge in the Slams, but should make top 15 in the rankings this year.

Then there are the spoilers, who can do damage to other contenders, but who may fall short of lifting the trophies.

Nishikori must surely improve his serve to have a chance of winning a major

Krygios is up to career high rank of 13 but has yet to go past a major QF and question marks remain over his temperament.

Finally then, the select group of possible Slam winners, who I would rank in this order: Djokovic, Murray, Wawrinka, Del Potro and Raonic.

On the women’s tour, who can challenge Kerber at the top?

Kvitova is now out with hand injury, Azarenka is on maternity leave.

Will age catch up with Serena Williams? To date she has seemed largely immune to the ravages of time, & has that unmatched serve to get her out of trouble.

Radwanska is perhaps the best tactician on the WTA tour but ‘The Professor’ lacks the power game to capture the top honours.

Halep has finished the last three years in the top four of the rankings & the Romanian can again push for no. 1

Muguruza lifted the French crown last year, but then bombed out in round two at both the US Open & SW19. I expect her to be more consistent this season & be the closest challenger to Kerber.

Tennis Title Picks

My predictions for Roland Garros:

Dominic Thiem has one of the best clay records over the past year, but has yet to prove his pedigree at the very highest level. He's won a 500 & four 250 level tournaments, but has made just one Masters quarter-final. Nadal looks to have a very tough draw. He is in Djokovic's half & could face Fognini & Thiem in the 3rd & 4th rounds.

Murray's improvement on the red dirt is such that he has the best win percentage on clay  for the past 52 weeks. The Scot may have to get past reigning champ Wawrinka in the semis, & after that the Serb may be an obstacle too far in the final.

Who can stop Serena as she takes another crack at equalling Graf's record of 22 Slams ? Vika Azarenka was tipped by Henman. Her record on hard courts is stellar, but her clay court resume is far less impressive, & she is in Serena's half.

From the lower half, Halep & Garbine Muguruza would be my picks for the semi-finals. I have a feeling Muguruza can frustrate Williams and claim her maiden Slam.

Risk & Reward

It was one of the all-time great underdog victories. Japan’s previous world cup record read P22, W1 D1 L 22. The opposition, South Africa, are two-time world cup winners.

The lead changed hands four times in the first half, but according to the usual script Japan would succumb and the Springboks would come though after being given an almighty scare. On 44 minutes, South Africa had a six point lead, & by the 63^rd it was seven, but Japan refused to yield. On 79 minutes, trailing by 3, surely they would go for the penalty & take the draw? No, they had the guts to risk going for the win & were rewarded with a sensational victory.   

 

Novak Djokovic is on course to have one of the standout seasons of recent years. It ranks with McEnroe in 1984 (W82 L3), Federer 2006 (92-5), Nadal 2010 & his own stellar season of 2011.

Worryingly for his rivals in the indoor season , the Serb hasn’t lost on indoor (hard) court for 31 matches. Among his contemporaries only Wawrinka , Murray & Nishikori  look capable of beating him in a best-of five match. Of the younger guns, Coric is not yet at his level, Dimitrov has had an off year, & Krygios is too flaky.

At the US Open Murray ran into Kevin Anderson in the best form of his career, but still has a massive prize to play for. GB will play Belgium in the Davis Cup final after Murray won three rubbers for the second tie in succession.

 

Great credit is due to Wayne Rooney for breaking Charlton’s England goal record. He’s also closing in on the Man U club record.

Serb & Volley

Djokovic won his fifth Aussie Open.   As in their previous recent major matches, it was closely contested at the start with numerous breaks of serve. At 0-2 in the third set, the Serb looked shattered, but found his second wind & it was Murray who finished limply. Of course reaching the final was no mean feat, but the finish to the match will cause the Scot considerable angst.

Perhaps his most wounding recent defeat prior to today was the drubbing inflicted on him by Federer at the 02 in November. The Swiss became only the third man to pass 1000 victories when he won the Brisbane title. In Melbourne though he lost to Seppi for the 1^st time in 11 meetings. This seems to be  a recurring theme in the latter part of Federer’s career –his sole loss to Robredo was at the 2013 US Open.

Another sporting landmark was made by the cue genius Ronnie O’Sullivan, passing Hendry’s mark for century breaks. He won the UK title in December, & made the semis of the Masters  in the process of breaking the record.

Seattle and New England contest the Superbowl tonight. In the championship games, Green Bay blew it, while Denver didn’t blow up the balls (allegedly). The Packers fumbled an onside kick to blow their lead. The Broncos were accused of deflating their (offensive) set of balls to make catching passes easier.

Amir Khan surprised me in December by totally outboxing Devon Alexander with impressive discipline & skill. He would love a megafight, but Pacquiao & Mayweather will most likely look for more lucrative fights elsewhere.

Manning & The Vets

Andy Murray had intended to have more rest after the US Open. When qualification for the O2 season-ending tournament looked in doubt, he changed his schedule to chase ranking points.  It worked out brilliantly. After 14 months without a title, he won three tournaments in five weeks (Shenzhen, Vienna & Valencia).

The resurgence of Roger Federer continues, he won two Masters titles & Basel. He matched Djokovic by reaching the SFs in NY and looks certain to finish at least as world no. 2.

Results last year had suggested the Swiss great was in decline. Similar questions had been posed of Serena Williams with her Major record in 2014. Australia 4^th round, 2^nd round in Paris & round 3 Wimbledon.  Her finish to the season, with US & WTA Championship titles which confirmed her no. 1 ranking, was an emphatic answer.

Bradley Wiggins benefitted from fresh legs-no Grand Tours this year, finally getting the better of Tony Martin in the world time trial championship.

Peyton Manning broke yet another NFL record, this time for touchdown passes. Once again the Broncos & the Patriots are leading the AFC standings, and the Manning Brady rivalry will resume tomorrow in Foxborough.

2013 Review

To call this a review makes it sound too authoritative.

Instead here’s a highly personal, selective, subjective Hornby-style list of my favourite sporting events I saw live this year, in chronological order:

1. Man U 1 Real Madrid  2, Uefa Champions League round of 16. Modric.

2. Barcelona 4 Milan 0, UCL round of 16. Messi.

3. Wales v England, 6 Nations rugby. A close contest was expected, but Wales ran away with it in the end

4. Uefa Champions League final (Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund) Robben wins a big final

5. Froch v Kessler super-middle world title. A ring war.

6. Djokovic v Nadal, French Open semi-final. If Nole hadn’t fouled the net…

7. Murray v Verdasco, Wimbledon QF. Comeback

8. Sabine Lisicki v Agnieska Radwanska, Wimbledon SF. Great variety with net play, lobs, drop shots & 9-7 in the final set.

9. Djokovic v del Potro, Wimbledon SF. Best match of the tournament.

10. Wimbledon Final, Murray v Djokovic. The final game alone, the tension was nearly unbearable.

11. Mo Farah’s last lap sprint, 10k final, World Championships

12. San Francisco 49ers 42 Jacksonville Jaguars 10

13. Nadal v Federer, SF, ATP World Tour Finals. I was courtside for the two GOAT contenders.

14. Man City 6 Arsenal 3. My team got whopped, but in a cracking game

Rule Britannia

2012 was a high point for widespread British sporting success. 2013 is not shaping up too shabbily either. The Lions, Murray, Froome, the Ashes, Justin Rose. Hamilton got in on the act on Sunday at the Hungaroring.

Andy Murray has not been doing too badly lately. 2012 Wimbledon runner-up. Olympics singles gold, & mixed doubles silver. US Open champ. Runner-up Australian Open 2013, & now Wimbledon champ. Famously the gap since Perry won was 77 years. There aren’t many title droughts in sports to beat that. Two of the longest are in baseball: the Chicago Cubs haven’t won the world series since 1908, & it took the Red Sox 86 years to lift the so-called ‘curse of the Bambino’.

It pains me to say it, but with recent results Federer  looks finished as force as the top level. He has lost to players ranked outside the top 50 in three straight events. It’s even possible, if his current poor from continues, that  he may not qualify for the year-end top eight finals.

Chris Froome dominated the Tour de France. Only on the last Alpine stage did he concede time to his major rivals. His Sky team slowed up behind the peloton on the Champs Elysees to cross the line together, losing 40 seconds, otherwise his margin of victory would have exceeded five minutes. Froome showed his class both in the time trials and the mountains.

After  three  rounds at the Open an Englishman topped the leaderboard, but a certain Californian lefty claimed the claret jug. Mickelson has never been ranked world no. 1, but that’s due to playing in the same era as Tiger Woods, having been in the year-end 2^nd spot four times.

Performance of the Month

Harsh not to give it to Murray for ending that long wait, but Froome shades it.

Honourable mention:
The Lions for that rare series win.

The Germans

The Germans. I’d written off Bayern for the UCL in the last blog. How wrong can you be ? Barcelona, widely considered one of the all-time great club sides, were handed an incredible 7-0 hiding on aggregate in the semi-final. Dortmund were equally impressive in seeing off Madrid. I would still rate the Spanish national side over their German counterparts though. With hindsight, Man City finishing third in their UCL group behind Madrid & Dortmund doesn’t look like such a bad result now.

Bayern are 20 points clear in the Bundesliga. Unlike the Bavarians, Man United have not won the plaudits but despite not having an outstanding season, performance-wise, won the league at a canter.

When Lukas Rosol famously knocked Nadal out of Wimbledon last year, many people, including me, thought it would be the highlight of his career. Instead, since then he has climbed the rankings (from 100)  to world no. 35 and the best may be yet to come for the Czech.  There was a pleasing symmetry last Sunday with both Rafa & Rosol winning clay-court tournaments in Barcelona & Bucharest. An emotional Rosol dedicated the win to his late father who’d died only two weeks before.

The GB Davis Cup team had a great result at the start of April, beating a top nation despite being without Andy Murray. Youzhny, Russia’s top-ranked player, wasn’t in the Russia team but still the Russians, Donskoy(80) & Tursunov (67) were ranked far higher than the Brits, Ward (214) & Evans (325).

Novak Djokovic ended Rafa Nadal’s  incredible eight year win streak on the Monte Carlo clay. Andy Murray lost in the second round to Wawrinka. I  feel Murray can never get to world no. 1 with his inconsistent clay court results, he’s yet to make a final on clay.  

Performance of the Month

Robert Lewandowski’s four-goal haul in the first leg against Madrid.

Honourable mention:

Chris Gayle hit the fastest ever first class century, off 30 balls, for RCB in an IPL match. No cutting edge sports nutrition for Gayle either, he did it on an old school sports breakfast of omelette, pancakes & hot chocolate.

Hymns & Errors

March was for me the best month of sport since the Olympics: Man U-Madrid, Barca-Milan, Man U- Chelsea, both legs of Spurs-Inter, Wales-England. Spectacular matches & all on terrestrial TV.

Barca responded to two Classico defeats & losing the first leg of their round of 16 match to Milan in emphatic style. It’s hard to look beyond them or Madrid as winners now, especially as Bayern only scraped past Arsenal. Perhaps Dortmund could spring a surprise.

Wales lost seven on the bounce in the autumn, & at half time in their first  6 Nations game were down 30-3 to Ireland. The turnaround was completed in the title decider in Cardiff, as England and Owen Farrell were shown to be fallible, Wales in the end winning by an emphatic scoreline.

Andy Murray is up to world no. 2 after winning Miami. In this BBC interview (link below) Lendl made a refreshing point about a more favourable draw made possible by a higher seeding. Normally players give the standard line that they don’t look at the draw, all matches are tough, you have to beat the best to win, etc. Lendl instead was saying it would be preferable for the big four players to play each other, hopefully in gruelling matches before facing Murray. A dream scenario for the French Open, with Ferrer 4^th seed & Rafa 5^th; would be Djokovic(1), Nadal(5) and Federer(3) drawn in the same half.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/scotland/21967941

Performance of the Month

Wales.

Honourable mentions:

Rafa Nadal, won a record 22^nd Masters title in Indian Wells

Tiger Woods, back at world no. 1 after a three year hiatus

Djoker Top of the World Down Under

Novak Djokovic was just too good for Murray in the Australian Open final. This ES article

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/other-sports/andy-murrays-real-pain-is-playing-in-such-a-golden-era-8469326.html

had a rather negative statistic about Murray losing five out of six Grand Slam finals. However, losing to Fed three times & twice to Djokovic is hardly a poor showing. You could say that in fact winning even one final is a great achievement, in this golden age of excellence where tennis is being taken to new levels of athleticism.

The same article did point out , that in their first Slam finals, Nadal & Federer faced easier opposition on paper, against lower ranked opponents. Whereas it used to be rare, nowadays it's unusual for the Big Four, or the top four seeds in the absence of Nadal, not to make it through to the semis of every Slam.

At the moment, it's hard to look beyond Murray & Djokovic contesting more Slam finals. Federer might be able to upset one of them at Roland Garros or maybe both at Wimbledon. The other big intangible is the state of Rafa Nadal's knees. He's due to make his tournament comeback next week in Vina del Mar, Chile. Will he be able to get back to his former level, & can his knee joints withstand the pounding of seven consecutive best -of five set matches ?

Performance of the Month

Djokovic.

Honourable Mentions:

Phil Taylor, still got it at 52, & now owner of 16 world titles.

Mark Selby, Masters snooker champ. ‘The Jester’ is as sharp on the green baize as he is in the sartorial stakes.

It Was a Very Good Year

Year in Review

2012 was a brilliant year for British sport with Wiggo winning Le Tour, Team GB’s sensational performance in the Olympics & Chelsea upsetting the odds to win the Champions League.

Bolt & Phelps underlined their legendary status with standout performances in the summer. Rudisha’s 800 metre win was even better.

In football, Spain showed they’re still a class above the rest, winning Euro 2012 with style. Aguero’s injury time winner for Man City capped the most exciting finish to a top flight title race since 1989. Leo Messi broke Gerd Muller’s record for goals in a calendar year, with an astonishing 91, helping Barcelona to a nine point lead in La Liga.

Europe pulled off one of the great comebacks in the Ryder Cup.

It was another vintage year in tennis.  The marathon Aussie Open final, record-breaking  wins for Nadal at the French & Federer at Wimbledon. Murray breaking his grand slam duck & the winning the Olympic title. Serena, when fit & focused, proved to be a class apart from the rest, but it seems Azarenka may be getting closer.

Alistair Cook scored 562 runs & broke the English record for most Test centuries, captaining the side to a rare Test series win in India. He will surely break many more batting records.

Uefa Champions League round of 16

A tough draw for the Britsih clubs. Both Man U & Celtic are favoured to go out by the bookies. (Arsenal’s chances are rated 50-50) Madrid v United should be closer than the odds suggest, but I think all the British sides will go out.

Performance of the Month

England’s great upset win over the All Blacks, ending their 20 match unbeaten streak.

Honourable mention: Juan Manuel Marquez getting his revenge for being on the wrong side of some questionable points decisions with a brutal one-punch knockout of Manny Pacquiao.

Landmarks & Comebacks

Just like his coach Lendl, Andy Murray won a Slam final at his fifth attempt. When Djokovic pulled it back to two sets all, was there a tiny part of the Scot that thought 'there's no way i want to become the first man to lose five major finals in a row' ?

It was Djokovic though, the marathon man who beat Nadal in Melbourne in just under six hours, who faded in the fifth set.

Many commentators are predicting start of a new era of dominance by the two finalists. Two massive assumptions are behind this. Firstly that Nadal will not be able return to his former level before the injury lay-off. Second that Federer is on the decline now at the age of 31. I'm not so sure.

Some have even suggested Murray can reach the world no. 1 ranking. Possibly at some point in a season he will, but in the past he hasn't been able to match the consistency of the rest of the 'Big Four' on clay courts, so i can't see him finishing as a year-end no. 1.

Fred Perry will probably still be mentioned until Murray wins Wimbledon.

Performance of the Month

Murray, breaker of a 76 year hoodoo.

Honourable Mentions:
Europe Ryder Cup team. They produced one of the great sporting comebacks and overturned a four point deficit on the final day, despite the traditional strength of the USA in singles.

Laura Robson, who continued her rise up the rankings by reaching the Guangzhou final-the 1st Brit to play in a WTA final since Jo Durie.

As Good As It Gets

Olympics Review

Team GB had done exceptionally well in Beijing, London 2012 was even better.

Some Brits underperformed, but mostly they overperformed. The home crowd roar inspired them to ignore burning lungs, tired legs, aches & pains.

What a turnaround from Atlanta 96 where GB won just one gold (plus eight silver & six bronze). I expect GB to struggle to match that medal haul in the future, & finish around 5-6^th in the medal table in Rio.

A highly personal idiosyncratic choice of fave moments:

The first Saturday night athletics, natch.

Gemma Gibbons, who belied her lowly world ranking (42) to win silver in the judo. She mouthed ‘I love you mum’ to the skies, in memory of her late mother, after her exhausting, golden score victory in the semi-final over the world champion.

David Rudisha, who had declared before the 800 metres final he intended to break the world record, & did exactly that, leading from gun to tape with a blistering run.

The women’s triathlon ending in a sprint finish.

The exuberant, joyful celebrations of Jade Jones when she won taekwondo goal.

Andy Murray finally winning a best of five sets final, & doing it against Federer. In the gold medal match his level of play & focus was exceptional, and made the great man look ordinary.

Performance of the Games

So many exceptional performances to choose from, including the usual suspects such as Bolt & Phelps. I’ll go for Mo Farah in the 5000 metres. Most of the opposition were fresh, not having done the 10k. In the home straight it seemed the Kenyan was catching, but Farah found another gear, then it seemed the Ethiopian Gebremeskel was gaining on him, again he found the strength to kick clear.

Premier League Predictions

Man City to regain title, but by a more comfortable margin this time-5 points. United to be the closest challengers, pushed closely by Chelsea.

The Wonder of Wiggo

Wimbledon

When Djokovic & Nadal were hoovering up all the major titles, I & many experts, thought Federer might not win another Slam. However, since losing in the US Open his form has been unmatched, winning eight titles. In the semi he overturned a three-match losing streak against Djokovic, & in the final showed touches of genius to thwart Murray. He regained the world no. 1 ranking from the young bucks to boot, at the age of 30.

Serena Williams is of similar vintage to Federer, but was even more dominant, proving to be a class apart on the SW19 grass. Her serve in particular was awesome over the fortnight with 90 aces.

Wiggins

Five years ago, the prospects of a Brit winning Le Tour looked remote. A British one-two GC finish, let alone a Brit winner, is totally staggering. Wiggins went in as the favourite having done the unique treble of the Dauphine, Paris-Nice & the Tour of Romandie. When he took an early lead, I feared the commentators were giving him the kiss of death by anointing him as the champion-elect, but the strength in depth of team Sky was a major factor in allowing him to keep control. On two of the mountain stages it appeared that Chris Froome could have taken some serious time out of his team-mate, but Froome responded to team orders to wait for his team leader. Wiggins, though, was the clearly the best time time triallist by some distance.

July Performance of the Month

I decided on this before the Olympics.

It’s not often that Federer is relegated to second place, but I have to give it Wiggins as he sustained his excellence over three gruelling weeks.

Next month

Tune in for the next enthralling instalment- Olympic review.

Marathon Man

January review

Novak Djokovic, after a semi v Murray lasting nearly five hours , had the iron will to overcome fatigue and take the Australian Open title in the longest Slam final in history (5 hr 53 min). That it was against Nadal, by common consent the fittest player on the Tour, made it even more of a feat . Rafa had also had the luxury of an extra day's rest & a shorter four set semi v Federer.
Djokovic's mental strength was typified for me by the ninth game of the final set. He lost an exhausting 31-shot rally, but went on to win the game.
Some experts have been quick to put the match up there with the all-time great finals, like Wimbledon 2008 (Federer-Nadal) & 1980 (Borg-McEnroe). it was definitely a great match, but the lack of net play is a slight negative. Time will tell whether it deserves to be ranked that highly.

Murray can take heart from coming back from 2-5 down in the fifth set of the semi before eventually succumbing to defeat (7-5). He pushed Djokovic much closer than the straight sets reverse of last year's final.

The womens final was a let down by comparison, turning out to be disappointingly one-sided, as Sharapova won only three games. Azarenka won her first major, & in stark contrast to the men, where the top three players have monopolised the Slams, the last four majors have had first time winners (Stosur, Li Na, Kvitova, Azarenka). I think the latter two will vie for the no.1 ranking over the next few years.

Performance of the Month

There can only be one-Djokovic.

Six Nations Rugby

Before an oval ball was kicked I tipped Wales. They have pace, power & youth in the backs. The Welsh can win the key fixture, home to France, & do the Grand Slam.

Long White Cloud Lifted

Rugby Word Cup

The RWC semis were compelling viewing, especially the first. Wales, despite playing a man down for 60 minutes, scored the only try and were inches away from beating France (Halfpenny's penalty attempt crept agonisingly under the bar).
The emotion of the haka seemed even stronger in this tournament than normal. The electrifying new version featured the players dropping to one knee at dramatic intervals, and a final gesture of hanging the opponent. It was great theatre. The stadium would fall silent for the performance, only punctuating the gaps in the chanting with cheers.
The NZ win the final put an end to 24 years of hurt. The losses of past tournaments were sometimes due to choking under the pressure of expectation as the favourites, on one occasion(1995) an infamous case of alleged food poisoning was blamed.
The All Blacks winning feels like the natural order of things has been restored, like Brazil winning the (football) world cup. In both countries it is a viewed as a total disaster if they don't win the respective quadrennial competition. They don’t get any plaudits back home for a gallant loss in the semis.

Perfomance of the Month-October

It has to be NZ, for getting the monkey off their back after 24 years.

Honourable mention: Andy Murray who won in Shanghai, his 3rd title in a row (including Tokyo where he beat Nadal), to overtake Federer as world no. 3.

Homage To Espana

The famous Bobby Jones quote about Jack Nicklaus 'he plays a game with which I am not familiar' -meaning he had taken the sport to another level-comes to mind after seeing Spain outclass Scotland with a 3-1 win on Tuesday. Scotland needed a win to qualify for Euro 2012, but Spain made it look like an exhibition. Like Barcelona, the Spanish team have great skill combined with superb fitness. They monopolise possession with their passing game & when they do lose it, can often quickly win the ball back with their pressing. Spain finished with a 100 % record-the only other nation to match that is our old chums Germany. Holland lost their perfect streak in a 3-2 loss to Sweden. Spain are in a class of their own at the moment, & can be the the first nation to retain the Euro title. The Germans & the Dutch will be the main challengers, with England another notch below.

US Open Tennis

Djokovic's win at the US Open means he joins a select list of men in the Open era to have won three slams in a calendar year (Federer, Nadal, Laver, Connors, Wilander are the others). He is nailed-on for me as the sportsperson of the year. Currently out with a back injury, his win-loss record for the year is a staggering 64-3.
Andy Murray's run was ended in the semis by Nadal, but it meant he became only the 7th man in the Open era to reach the semis or better of all four Slams in a calendar year.
Oliver Golding is the 1st Brit since Murray to win the boys title-in fact GB provided 3 of the 4 semi-finalists (Kyle Edmund & George Morgan the others). Add in that Liam Broady was the RU in the boys at Wimbledon & the future for the GB men is very bright; not forgetting the promise of Robson & Watson on the womens side.

Performance of the month-September

When originally drafting this, I was going to give it to Ireland for their first ever RWC victory over Australia, but they were knocked out by Wales in the quarters last Saturday.
The honours go instead to Mark Cavendish. Cav topped an incredible year by becoming the world road race champion, his honours list already boasting the Tour de France green jersey, 5 Tour stage wins & 2 Giro stages.

Djoker Tops the Pack

Although not at his very best today, Murray was outclassed by Djokovic. Murray has not won a set in his three Slam final appearances, a big worry for his fans. His talent is unquestioned, but as I blogged in my July post, he seems to have no answer when he’s being outhit. Djokovic did play an incredible match (and tournament), his retrieving was in the same class as Rafa at his best, & he was able to hit winners while doing the splits from way behind the baseline.

In my September blog I worried that the Fed may not win another Slam. He has now lost two Slam SFs in a row to Djokovic. Notwithstanding his victory at the Tour Finals, last week's results just reinforce my view that another major will elude him. Arguably Djokovic was fortunate to win in five sets in the Flushing SF, but here he won in straight sets. Federer wasn’t hitting his spots on serve, which has often got him out of trouble in the past. Rog will still have a great chance at Wimbledon, where only a select few of the top players are comfortable.

Nadal lost in the QFs, as he did last year. If Rafa can stay largely injury-free, he will still be the man on clay , & I’m still tipping him to be the year-end no. 1.

The hoary old argument that women don’t deserve equal money was blown out of the water here. The second longest match of the tournament, 4 hr 44 min, was Kuznetsova-Schiavone (4th round, 16-14 in the 5th) a new record for a womens Slam match.
Is it the end of an era in the womens game? Venus Williams retired from a Slam with injury for the first time, & there’s still no sign of Serena making a comeback. Sadly Henin has taken doctors’ advice to retire due to her elbow injury, as I’ve said before, my favourite woman player with her volleying ability & sublime backhand. Like Murray, Wozniacki’s wait for a Major title continues, but this despite her being world no. 1. Before winning the final, Clijsters had announced this would her last full-time year on Tour, perhaps Wozniacki won’t be too pleased to hear she’ll be back to defend the title next year.