Vamos !

Rafa Nadal enhanced his credentials as the greatest ever on the red dirt with an eighth Roland Garros title. Even the most die-hard fans of Bjorn Borg would find it hard to disagree now. Nadal was seriously troubled in the first two rounds but produced his best when it mattered, & the epic semi-final v Djokovic was my sporting highlight of the year so far. 

Serena Williams is on ominous form, on her weakest surface was taken to three sets only once, by Kuznetsova. 

It’s difficult to choose for performance of the month between Rafa & Serena. Rafa edges it for the epic semi-final win over Djokovic. Since I drafted this Rafa blotted his copybook with the loss to Darcis in the first round of Wimbledon, but still… 

At Wimbledon, with all the top seeds falling, it seemed to be the end of an era. It was the first Slam with both Federer & Nadal in the draw that neither made the third round.

The Confederations Cup saw another great run brought to an end. An inspired Brazil took energy & inspiration from the Rio roar to thump the mighty Spain three-nil and again upset the form book. 

After Justin Rose won the US Open, it surprised me to realise that it was so long since an Englishman (Faldo)  last won a major. With Scots, Ulster, & Irish winners having been celebrated in recent years, it didn’t register that there was a barren spell for the English. I remember Rose’s stunning debut at the Open as an amateur. Famously he struggled with the burden of expectation after turning pro, missing 21 straight cuts.  

Performance of the Month 

 

Nadal. 
 

Honourable Mentions:

Rose.

Brazil.

End of an Era

The Nadal-Federer Wimbledon final was one of the all-time classics, ranking right up there with Borg-McEnroe 1980 (the 18-16 tie break match). The quality of tennis right up to the end was phenomenal. Federer on his favourite surface, threw everything he had at Nadal & still lost. I wonder whether he will win another major title. It seems the younger generation of Nadal, Djokovic, even Murray, will now thwart Federer's attempts to win another Slam. He will still have a great chance at the US Open, where Nadal's previous best is 'only' a QF. Nadal plays with both knees strapped & hard courts put the most strain on the joints. Nadal's coach & uncle, Toni Nadal, has expressed his concern at the possible long-term damage of playing on hard courts.

There are parallels between Borg & Federer. Borg beat Mac in 5 sets in Wimbledon 1980, but lost to him in the 1981 final. Now Federer has lost his title having prevailed over Nadal the year before, again in five sets. Borg never won another major after losing to Mac in the 1981 final & retired the next year. However he never won the US Open, whereas Fed has won it four times. Tennis fans need not worry that Federer will follow Borg by retiring in his prime. He promised after the Wimbledon final that he would return next year, & has even spoken about trying to emulate Agassi & Connors by playing on for another ten years, well into his thirties.

At the start of the the year I tipped Roger to finish the year as world no. 1, that now looks unlikely. Federer would probably have to win at Flushing Meadows & match Nadal's results at the other hard court events.

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.