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.   

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.

Up for the Cup

FA CUP


Dig out all the old cliches about the romance of the FA Cup. The Third Round saw its share of shocks. The biggest was third division (League One as its now ridiculously called) Oldham beating Everton away. Championship sides Huddersfield & Coventry also dispatched top-flight opposition. Havant & Waterlooville earned a replay against Swansea, to keep non-league representation in the competition. Incidentally, Sutton United were the last non-league side to beat top-flight opposition- Coventry in 1989 (3rd round). Coventry had been finalists the year before. The most replayed cup shock on TV is probably Motty's favourite, Hereford (Ronnie Radford et al. v Newcastle,1972).


Aus Open Tennis

Justine Henin is the hot favourite amongst the women, & is on a 28 match win streak. I think she will make the final, although Serena Williams should give her a tough match. Venus Williams is in the easier lower half of the draw, from which I would pick only Ivanovic & Kuznetsova as having realistic chances of beating Venus. So my tip is a Venus-Henin final.

In the men's, Andy Murray is in hot form after winning the title in Doha. He faces the big-hitting Frenchman, Tsonga, in the first round. Richard Gasquet is also in Murray's section though, against whom AM has a 0-2 record. I'll pick Federer to win, although some of the chasing pack (Djokovic, Nalbandian) showed last year it's not just Nadal who can beat the Swiss- Federer has lost some of his dominance. Other potential winners then, are Djokovic, Nalbandian & Gonzalez from the top half; Nadal, Gasquet, Murray, & Roddick from the lower half.