An Open Letter to Chris Kermode

Dear Chris

I caught some of your interview with Jon Inverdale on ITV4 yesterday re: considering how to keep tennis popular in the future.

You suggested in an age of shorter attention spans, no-one wants to sit all the way through a six-hour tennis match. Even a hardcore fan like me would find it hard to disagree.

However, part of the beauty of tennis is the scoring system that gives you ten minute games with multiple deuces & epic long matches. People can always dip in & out of the live TV coverage for the most exciting bits eg ends of sets; or even catch the five minute highlights on YouTube. The unique scoring system is part of the appeal that sets it apart from other sports.

By all means experiment with different formats like TieBreak Tens or Superset to showcase the #NextGen, but please keep the Grand Slams as they are. Just like Test cricket co-exists with the Twenty20 IPL.

Regards,

Sam Wheeler

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.

Leicester Take the Laurels

What else is there to say about Leicester City and their phenomenal achievement? It’s indisputably one of the great underdog triumphs of all time. All the doubters- & this blogger- were expecting them to fall away but they just kept winning. Ranieri is by all accounts one of the nicest men in football, so it’s well deserved that the Roman finally got his league title laurels.

Next season the title race should be fiercely contested with Guardiola looking to work his magic on City, Klopp’s resurgent Liverpool, & Spurs have a taste for the top. The Foxes may struggle to finish in the top half. They will be a prized scalp, with the added demands of Champions League football, and will also have to deal with the changed mindset of being the hunted. Kante is a key player for their hyperactive style & may well be poached by one of the big boys.

The Cambridge crew in the Women's Boat Race gave their all in a losing cause but showed great determination & courage to finish the race. Many would have taken the easy option to abandon when they were taking on water in the choppy conditions.

“In the dust of defeat as well as the laurels of victory there is a glory to be found if one has done his best.”
― Eric Liddell

Djoker Holds All the Aces

Novak Djokovic is so dominant it’s getting boring. The unpredictability of sport is a big part of the appeal, but Djokovic is rarely on the losing side nowadays. The Serb’s haul for 2015 includes three Majors, six Masters, & the year-end championship, as he set a new record for total ranking points in a year. Arguably it was the best season in the men’s game for many years, surpassing even the peak years of the Swiss maestro.

There will be many, including this blogger, who will hope the Serb has peaked, so that others can share the spoils of victory. Next year, there’s also Olympic gold on offer, and Novak would love to upgrade his bronze from Beijing 2008. 

Before 2011, the World Cup record of the All Blacks did not match up with their winning record elsewhere. The label of them as chokers on the biggest stage has now been emphatically buried.

Sporting greats are set apart by their composure & execution under pressure. Dan Carter’s drop goal in the final was the best example I’ve seen this year. The Aussies had pulled back to within four points, 10 minutes left to play, the fly-half struck it beautifully, right through the middle of the sticks.

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.

Domination

Dominance is today’s theme.

Jordan Spieth, having already won two majors this year, finished only one shot behind the winner at the Open.  Currently he sits three shots off the lead of the US PGA.

Depressingly for her rivals, Serena Williams can win majors even with a bad case of the flu, as she did at the French. A calendar year Grand Slam is still on the cards.

Djokovic brings to mind a Skynet Terminator.  The Serb is as relentless & indestructible as the  T-1000. Arguably he is the best athlete & toughest mentally on the ATP tour. The crop of young talents such as Coric, Zverev, Thiem and the special Ks look to have a long way to go to be capable of challenging. The world no. 1 will play Chardy today in the Montreal semis.

Chris Froome looked to be totally dominant in Le Tour, but his winning margin was trimmed to just over a minute when Quintana dropped him on Alpe d’Huez, the penultimate stage. It‘s incredible that Robert Millar’s 4^th place (1984) was the best British finish until Wiggo in 2012, & now British riders have won it in three of the last four years. This must be a sickener for the French, their last winner being Hinault in 1985.

Stan The Man

Stan Wawrinka produced a thrilling display of attacking tennis to deny Djokovic the full set of Slam titles. Stan’s single-handed backhand is rated by many as the best in the game, but what was so impressive was his ability to come with up the goods under the most intense pressure. It was a welcome victory for those fans, your blogger included, who prefer ‘first strike’ attacking tennis to the counter-punching style of Djokovic.

Wawrinka has finally found the key to going deep in Majors late in his career. On the ITV commentary Courier mentioned a great stat illustrating this. In 34 attempts he had never made a Slam semi, but has now done it four times in the past seven Majors. Much credit must go to his coach Magnus Norman. As noted in a previous blog, Stan aways had the ability, now he has the mental strength, and conditioning, to back it up.

No less impressive was the 20th slam for Serena. Even when she’s suffering with the flu, Williams still had an extra gear when faced with adversity, coming from a set down four times en route to the title. She will surely surpass Steffi Graf’s haul of 22 majors.

After a nine year drought, Arsenal have two trophies in two years. They repeated their FA Cup victory and look like genuine title contenders. League success may depend on Wenger ending the hex Mourinho has over him. Jose’s team were accused of grinding out boring wins towards the end of the season, but still ended up 2^nd highest scorers.

Brief mentions for:

 Stuart Bingham, like Wawrinka, has found success late in his career

James Anderson, record English wicket-taker

Floyd Mayweather, no stranger to success & still peerless.

Bournemouth, deserved second division champions, scoring 98 goals, with Eddie Howe a candidate for manager of the season