Wimbledon 2012 Finals

I was meaning to continue my Wimbledon commentary post Day 7, unfortunately, was unable to. No excuses.

Wimbledon’s two week tournament ended yesterday with Roger Federer winning over Andy Murray. It was a very emotional win for Federer, having lost the past two years, and last year not even making the finals. But I think it was even more emotional for Andy Murray, who gave a very endearing and heartwarming speech after losing the match three sets to one.

I, for one, could not help myself and tears started coming out when teary Murray said “I’m gonna try this and it’s not gonna be easy”. I think a lot of people watching this would have wanted to give Murray a hug. Although I was rooting for Federer, when Murray was breaking down here, I almost hoped he won the tournament instead.

Both of them played exceptionally well. Murray was aggressive at the start of the set, even breaking Federer during the first game and eventually getting the first set. I though this would be a match similar to Federer vs Beneteau where Federer ended up digging a huge hole going down 2 sets to love. However by the second set, Federer started showing why he was a 6 time Wimbledon Grand Slam winner. His movement around the court was fantastic.

Second set went to Federer, and the rest, was history. Andy Murray couldn’t keep up with Federer’s on court finesse and he succumbed to losing his fourth grand slam final match. And Federer, winning his 7th Wimbledon title matches Pete Sampra's’ record ot 7 Wimbledon championship. Not only that, when the new rankings come out, Federer is back on top!

Ladies Championship

As for the ladies championships, it was the American Serena Williams versus the first time grand slam finalist Pole Agnieszka Radwasnka. The two couldn’t be more different in styles. Williams is the hard hitting player, hitting 24 aces on her semi final match against Azarenka (it’s almost equivalent to 6 games – one set!) while Radwanska does not have the power, but has the tactical intelligence (a lot of people are comparing her to Martina Hingis).

The first set proved to be an unworthy final with Williams overpowering Radwanska to a 6-1 set. While it looked like it would be a final to forget, the second set was a turnaround with Radwanska feeling more comfortable on the court fighting of Williams’ attack by saving the set 7-5.

While it looked like the third set was going to be pretty tight, at 2-1, with Radwanska leading, Williams set off to launch 4 straight aces to level the playing field to 2-2. Radwanska couldn’t even move to even try and attempt to return the balls. I, personally think this was the turning point of the match because it gave the momentum and confidence back to Serena Williams and she ended up winning the next 4 games to capture her 5th Wimbledon Championship. Had Radwanska won, she would have become the #1 ranked female tennis player. But nonetheless, she gave a good fight against the stronger Williams and she proved that she is definitely an up and coming force in the tennis Ladies field.

Again, congratulations to Roger Federer and Serena Williams!

Bev’s Wimbledon Commentary

We are now onto the second round and final week of Wimbledon. And day 7 of the tournament proved to be an exciting 4th round.

Current French Open champ Maria Sharapova lost to Sabine Lisicki in two sets. This was a repeat of last year’s semi finals match where Sharapova beat Lisicki. But this time around, Lisicki drew ground from her powerful serves and Sharapova just couldn’t handle it. Sharapova, having the “never say die” attitude tried to come back on the second set, but Lisicki was just too good. Lisicki’s win puts her up to a match against the winner of Kim Clijsters and Angelique Kerber match.

Clijsters and Kerber have never had a previous match before and I was surprised when I woke up this morning, that the younger Kerber put away Clijsters like a pro, winning 6-1,6-1! So sad for Clijsters, who never reached the finals of the Wimbledon Championships. Unfortunately, this will be her last as she’s bound to retire by the end of the season.

Another good match from Federer last night against Malisse. Scary first set, where Federer had to go on a medical timeout due to some back pains. Thankfully, the Gods were with him because the match was suspended a little later due to rain. Lucky him. Two great saves. Hopefully he can sustain his momentum until the finals. However, the draw shows that Federer can face Djokovic as early as the semis. I’m really hoping Fed wins this time around.

Just some thoughts…

These days, I find the women’s draw more interesting than that of the men’s simply because there’s no one (or few) person dominating the women’s draw. The past 6 grand slam events were won by different women! That’s how interesting it is. As for the men, it’s always been Djokovic, Federer or Nadal. Quite uninteresting.

For example, moving to the quarterfinals, even though we have three grand slam champs still alive – Azarenka, Kvitova and S. Williams, it’s still not guaranteed that one of them would win. Heck, we don’t even know if they’d all get to the finals!

Quarterfinals Tonight

Tonight, Williams will be squaring off against reigning Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova. and I am predicting Kvitova will take charge of the match from the beginning. Williams’ past two matches have been very very tight, going deep on to the third set. Thus, I’m not sure how she will fair against Kvitova. She has to step up her game or the reigning champ will overpower her.

Another match that is a must watch will be Lisicki versus Kerber. Both are German, up and coming tennis superstars. One has a huge serve, while the other can catch all balls that come her way. This is definitely going to be a yoyo match. But I think Lisicki is going to win this.

I have a strange feeling that the three ladies grand slam champs won’t win the championships this year. I have a feeling it’ll be Lisicki, or Radwanska (one of my favorites who is slowly but surely creeping her way on to the quarterfinals). Of course, I am biased. But then again, as long as they produce quality tennis, I’m all for it!

As for the men’s side, I’m biased. I’m going with Roger all the way!

Australian Open Week 1 Highlights

This week marks the start of the Quarterfinals (Top 8) in the Australian Open. And by the end of the week, we will know who the Australian Open champs would be!

I usually watch WTA more compared to the ATP. I find the women’s is more interesting and has a much more open field, not one dominant player. A lot of the players can take away the trophy. Unlike in the men’s field, it’s always the four of them – Nadal, Djokovic, Murray and Federer.

First few rounds was usually lopsided, except for a few nice matches and even upsets.

Round 1 proved to be a tough round for one of my favorites – Agnieszka Radwanska. She battled it off with Mattek-Sands from the USA winning on a very tight 3 set match.

Speaking of upsets on Round 1, reigning US Open champion Sam Stosur lost to Sorana Cristea on straight sets. Big upset here. I was hoping Stosur could move on a few more rounds, at least to the quarters. But things happen in these tournaments! There’ll always be upsets here and there.

Another great match during day one was Fernando Verdasco versus Tomic of Australia. 5 set match – and I felt bad for Verdasco because he was up 2 sets before Tomic made his comeback. I guess the heat was taking its toll on him because he’d wear ice packs around his neck and throw water at his face. Come to think of it, how can you survive playing top notch tennis under the blistering heat of the sun and temperatures in the near 30s? Tough conditions for sure.

Best Match So Far

Round 4 was a blockbuster round with reigning champ Kim Clijsters battling it out with our favorite Chinese tennis star, Li Na. It’s a repeat of the finals last year, and this time with Li Na, looking like she’s in way better shape, and much stronger than Clijsters.

Set 1, with 3 games a piece for each player, Clijsters rolls her left ankle during a rally point. Everyone’s heart probably stopped at that point (Clijsters is a very popular player in Australia, having even been dubbed as “Aussie Kim”, although she is Belgian). This is supposed to be her last Australian Open so she mustered enough strength to continue on with the match! She still lost the first set to Li Na who was playing superb!

Set 2 went into tie breaker with Li Na gaining ground having a 6-2 lead! That’s four match points!! And miracle of all miracles, Clijsters somehow manages to save those four match points, and score 6 straight points to win the second set!

I guess the disappointment of the second set proved to be too much for our favorite Li Na, as she eventually lost the set, and the match to the great and loved champ Kim Clijsters. Now Kim Clijsters is off a quarterfinal square off with the number one seed Caroline Wozniacki.

Highlights of Round 4

A Japanese by the name of Kei Nishikori has made history books by being the first Japanese man in the open era to move on to the quarter finals of a grand slam by beating fan favorite Tsonga of France! His powerful ground strokes proved to be too much for the big man Tsonga. That was a very entertaining match. Folks who bought tickets surely got their money’s worth.

Serena Williams goes down against Russia’s Makarova. This is the same woman who took out Kanepi and Zvonoreva! She’s definitely on a roll. Watching the game, Williams just wasn’t in it, she made a ton of unforced errors but to Makarova’s defense, she was hitting baseline forehands crazy accurate! Congratulations to Makarova. She’ll now be facing off with Maria Sharapova in the quaterfinals.

Quaterfinals

Quaterfinals is about to start and I’m waiting for two blockbuster games coming up – Azarenka (who could potentially win the grand slam) versus Radwanska (who I love watching because of her very calm demeanor) and then a little later, another blockbuster game worth watching: Clijsters versus Wozniacki! It will be a very busy day for me!

Canucks craze

Canada normally has a cold weather majority of the year which is why it's no surprise that hockey is their favorite sport here. And with the Vancouver Canucks reaching the Stanley Cup finals, everyone's just in hockey fever here.

I haven't seen this type of love and support by a whole city (or perhaps, even the whole country) to a sports team ever! A week ago, I was walking at Broadway and I see all these people, of all kinds of race, age, you name it, wearing a Canucks jersey, Canucks shirt, just about anything as long as it has the Canucks logo in it. Cars even have the Canucks flags sticking at their window. You'd even see houses setup with all Canucks related stuff!

In Manila, I'm guessing that when the Mavs won the NBA championship yesterday, everyone was talking about it. But here? We almost didn't know that NBA just finished, because basketball's just not the sport here. Everyone's just talking about the Stanley Cup!

The whole Canucks being in the finals of the Stanley Cup has proven to be good in the economy too. During a Canucks game, tons of people make their way to downtown, to different pubs and bars to watch the game. In fact, for this finals series, they even close off some areas in downtown because the fans are just everywhere! There's just this feeling of elation everywhere when the Canucks are playing. Once, I was in the skytrain, I saw these guys wearing their jerseys, had their face painted with the Canucks color, shouting around, and holding a replica of the Stanley Cup! So much fun to see these fans! I love their energy and support!

Think of it as when Manny Pacquiao has a boxing match, everyone in the Philippines is zoomed into their tv sets to watch the match. The only difference I see with the fans here is that, everyone's wearing the Canucks jersey (which by the way, will cost you 130++ dollars per jersey)! It's total madness, but it's so much fun too!

Tonight's game 6 at Boston with the Canucks leading the series 3-2. Everyone's gonna go bersek if they win! And I sure hope they win! It'll put everyone to a good mood! :)