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.   

Federer Rewrites the Rule Book

Federer re-wrote the manual on shots that are possible on the tennis court. Nadal was on the receiving end yesterday of a half-volleyed winner from the baseline.

The conventional wisdom was that Federer not supposed to be able to win 5-setters against the younger guys, let alone the three he won in Melbourne to pick up the title. 

Improvements in sports science have allowed players to extend their careers, & winning titles in their 30’s may become more common, as Wawrinka did at the US & French Opens. However Federer’s Aussie Open win at 35 is clearly an exceptional feat. 

He was supposed to have of a chance of winning another Slam only at Wimbledon, as he’s still considered one of the best movers on a grass court and has a formidable career win percentage on the green stuff. He had already disproved this theory by reaching the 2015 US Open final.

The conventional wisdom was that you don’t win a tournament, let alone a Slam, after a six month lay-off. Roger had other ideas.

Serena Williams continues to extend her own formidable haul of majors and GOAT status. It was a disappointment she didn’t face tougher competition. Some possible rivals are out of the picture, with Azarenka on maternity leave & Kvitova’s hand injury. Other rivals in Melbourne underperformed- Kerber & Muguruza, or were injured (Halep).

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.

Try & Try Again

The Six Nations final day try fest was the exhilarating highlight of the past two months. The staggered kick-offs & points difference favoured the running game as the title contenders tried to rack up the score. Will we see a repeat In November ? The fear factor may induce a return to the attritional style of power rugby.

In the Davis Cup two stand-out gruelling 5 setters stood out, and to describe them as marathons seems inadequate. James Ward’s gritty five hour comeback win over Isner was incredibly surpassed by Mayer v Souza. The 6 hr 43 match was the longest in Davis Cup history, beating Wilander-McEnroe. Although a great spectacle for the fans, such long matches are perhaps too tough for the players. Neither Mayer nor Souza have played since their epic rubber.

Nadal lost a match on clay-to Fognini in the Rio semis. Last year he recovered to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires at Roland Garros. I wonder if one of the young guns like Coric could thwart a 10th title this time.

The Premier league may have the richest TV rights deal in Europe, but not the playing quality to match. No English teams reached the Quarter-Finals of European competition for the first time in 22 years. Arsenal blew a great chance v Monaco & Chelsea couldn’t make an extra man count against PSG.

Two ex-Soviet  boxers  excelled. Golovkin has the reputation as the most fearsome puncher in the world, and Martin Murray was the latest knockout victim of the Kazak. Kovalev followed up beating Hopkins with a dominant stoppage of Jean Pascal.

Hala Madrid

It looked like Liverpool had built up an unstoppable momentum. Chelsea, the arch-pragmatists, had other ideas and upset them & the romantics who thought the Reds deserved it this year, ensuring the title race will go right down to the wire.  

Other things that have caught my eye these past two months

Real will go for La Decima in an all-Madrid final, while their biggest rivals, Barca, failed to make the semis for the first time in seven years.

Bayern won the Bundesliga with seven games to spare, but have since lost focus & were humiliated by Real in the UCL semi-final.

Man City picked up the first piece of major silverware, the League Cup.

BOD retired in style as Ireland won the 6 Nations.

Djokovic did the Indian Wells/ Miami double for the 2^nd time. Rafa has proved to be fallible on clay, losing twice to fellow Spaniards. The resurgence of Federer continues, reaching the finals of Monaco & Indian Wells. Wawrinka, the surprise package of the year, won again in Monaco & he tops the YTD rankings.

British hopes in the Davis Cup were ended by Italy in the QFs.

The ageless Bernard Hopkins who won another title belt at the age of 49.

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

The Winning Habit

No Rugby Union team in the professional era had gone through an entire season unbeaten, until the All Blacks denied Ireland with the final play of their game in Dublin. It seemed to me that their final try was inevitable. They had the composure and  technique  to keep going through the phases and  popping the passes until they breached the line.

Seb Vettel shares the winning habit, & he matched Ascari’s record of nine wins on the spin after comfortably winning at Interlagos . Vettel’s total domination is probably the reason the FIA has proposed the last race of next season should carry double points, a suggestion which has attracted widespread derision.

Rafa Nadal has been the man of the year in tennis. He has made an astonishing comeback from a seven month layoff, winning the French & US Opens and finishing with a 75-7 win-loss record. Djokovic was not far behind though, with a 74-9 tally. The Serb had the last word, beating Rafa in the final at the O2.

Comeback of the month :  the New England Patriots, down 24-0 at half-time to Super Bowl  favourites Denver Broncos, but squeaked through 34-31 in overtime.

Performance of the Month

The All Blacks.

Maturing with Age

Modern advances in conditioning, diet, and training methods mean some athletes can now compete at the top level well into their thirties & beyond.

I’ve posted on this before, thought it was quite recently, but a trawl of the archive shows it was a 2008 vintage.

http://ronstersramblings.blogspot.co.uk/2008/04/no-country-for-old-men.html

Anyway, that post used boxers as an example of athletes disproving  the ‘over 30’ rule. This month  Floyd Mayweather put on another exhibition, schooling  Canelo Alvarez. Mayweather,  36, conceded 13 years to his previous unbeaten opponent, plus 15 pounds on fight night, but was far too slick for the Mexican.

Chris Horner, 41, was the oldest starter of the Vuelta but became the oldest man ever to win a cycling Grand Tour. The previous record for oldest tour winner was 36.

There were thrilling sprint finishes in two endurance events, the Great North Run (Bekele v Farah) & the deciding event of the men’s Triathlon world series (Gomez v J Brownlee).

Rafa Nadal continued his brilliant, unbeaten hard court form this year, winning his second US Open title.

Performance of the Month

Horner.

Honourable mention:

Wilson Kipsang set a new world best today for the marathon, he completed Berlin in 2:03:23

Mo at the Double

There were several stand-out performances at the World Athletics championships. There was Bolt, of course, who did the sprint treble (100, 200m, 4x1 relay) again. Tirunesh Dibaba continued her record of having never lost a competitive 10k race, & is now 11 for 11. The devastating kick finish is now a Mo Farah trademark, and he used it twice as he had to dig deep  to complete the 5 & 10k double. Bekele is the only other man to have done the ‘double double’ at both the Olympics & worlds.

Rafa Nadal’s awesome form continues. He won two Masters titles on hard courts in August, including on the fast courts of Cincinnati, which is supposed to be his weakest surface. His only blip has been Wimbledon, with a staggering 11 finals & nine titles this year.

Performance of the Month

Mo Farah.

Honourable mentions:
Nadal.
Katie Ledecky , successor to Becky Adlington as the long-distance swimming queen. She set 2 world records and won 4 golds at the worlds.

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.

Champions and Underdogs

Quite an eventful sporting month. The Champions League final, the retirement of  Fergie, Beckham, Scholes, & Carragher and Wigan’s rare underdog win in the FA Cup in football alone.

To succeed in top level sport, you need talent and athleticism. If you excel in these you have a contender. Champions have these plus the mental toughness, the ability to deliver in moments of intense pressure, and unremitting focus.

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s talent has never been in question, the mental side less so. Fans will hope he again reconsiders retirement after he shrugged off his long break from the game, cruising to his 5^th world title . Most commentators agree if he can go on to match Hendry’s seven world titles it would be difficult not to rate him as the all-time best.

Rafa Nadal can never be accused of not being focused or a fierce competitor, and has also enjoyed great success after a long lay-off, reaching the final in all eight tourneys played & wining six. Rome was his 24th Masters title, to put that in perspective, Lendl won 22 in his entire career, Federer has 21. Rafa has looked vulnerable so far at Roland Garros though, dropping two sets in his first two matches.

With the financial disparity between the big teams & the rest bigger than ever due to petrodollars & TV prize money, it was quite a feat for Wigan to win the cup against Man City, the biggest spenders of recent years. It was the biggest underdog win since the Wimbledon ‘Crazy Gang’ in 1988.

Floyd Mayweather had looked a bit rusty in his last bout, but looked back to his best as he comfortably outpointed Guerrero in Vegas.

Another world-class match was at the O2. Carl Froch has a chance of a rematch with Andre Ward after coming through a fantastic battle with Mikkel Kessler with a deserved points victory. Ward is behind only Mayweather in the pound-for–pound ratings and should be too slick again for the Cobra.

Performance of the Month

Wigan, for winning the Cup, even though they were relegated.

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

Going The Distance

The packed tournament calendar is a continual complaint from the top tennis pros, and to avoid injuries & burn-out their schedules have to be carefully managed. While some of the top players, most notably Federer & Murray, skip Davis Cup duty , others give their all. The Davis Cup doubles rubber Czech Republic  v Switzerland was proof of this. Berdych & Rosol beat Wawrinka & Chiudinelli after a gruelling 7 hours 2 minutes, 24-22 in the fifth set. It was the longest  ATP match ever, bar Isner-Mahut.  Incredibly Wawrinka and Berdych still had the energy to play their singles rubber the next day.

Rafa Nadal made a successful return to action after his injury long lay-off,  with a runner-up spot in Vina del Mar & winning in Sao Paulo. He plays Ferrer in the Acapulco final today, the toughest opponent he’s faced since his comeback, should be a tough test.

Performance of the Month

The Czech/Swiss doubles foursome.

Honourable mention:

Gareth Bale. His recent scoring record (seven in Feb) speaks for itself.

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.

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.

The History Boys

Spain put on a masterclass against Italy to retain the European championship. Portugal had taken them to penalties in the semi & I thought a repeat could be on the cards in the final, but Spain were irresistible. Not only are they setting new standards of technical play, but Del Bosque has also used revolutionary tactics. The Spanish starting formation was six passing midfielders with no conventional centre-forward, though you would expect David Villa to come back into the team when fit. Italy can be proud of surpassing all expectations with an excellent win over Germany in the semi.

June has been quite the month for record breaking, with Nadal breaking Borg’s record by winning his seventh title at Roland Garros. Overall the French Open had enough epic matches (Mathieu-Isner, 18-16 in the 5^{th set}) & upsets to be one of the best editions of recent years. Judging by the first week though, Wimbledon has trumped it. There was the biggest underdog win in a slam for many years with Rosol over Nadal, & the Cilic Querrey 5hr 30 marathon (17-15 in the 5^th).

Nadal’s loss to Rosol was just one of those freak results where the Czech played the game of his life, hitting the lines with fearsome power: 65 winners, including a 99 mph backhand & numerous aces. Nadal’s performance in the French final typified his mental strength for me. At the start of the 4th set he lost a 44 shot rally & dropped serve. Other players would have been discouraged, but Nadal held his next service game. The rain break that followed didn’t help Djokovic's momentum (he had won 8 of the last 9 games) & he was broken when they resumed the next day, but Nadal was the deserved winner.

It’s often said we are lucky to be in a golden age of tennis, with Federer, Nadal & Djokovic all playing to such a high level & continually setting new records. The same could now be said with Spain now having very strong claims to be the best national team ever. Brazil, Germany, Holland, Argentina & Hungary have produced sides with exceptional talent in the past, but it’s tough to argue with Spain’s run of trophies.

Performance of the Month

The history makers, Spain.

Honourable mentions:
Rafa Nadal.
Yohan Blake, who clocked a 9.75 100 m to beat Bolt at the Jamaican Olympic trials & then repeated it in the 200 final.