Week 31: Olympic tennis - Wimbledon (grass ;) ) - singles

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

RE: Week 31: Olympic tennis - Wimbledon (grass ;) ) - singles

philwrig · Hall of fame

Should beat Baggy OK, then it gets tougher. Shame the final is best of 5, would really fancy Andy's chances if it was best of 3.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

I think Baggy could be tougher than the potential following match - Darcis or Almagro (on grass, not clay!)

Spectator · All-time great

Agreed. The Wimbledon match was a bit tense, and over three sets Baghdatis has the potential to go on a roll. Hope to be proved wrong with a straightforward victory for Mr Murray.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Third on Centre ( :) ), then last - 5th - on court 18 with Laura for the mixed.

Fed has been demoted to Court 1 and 18 for his men's doubles. Yes, I know 1 is a good court, but it has no roof.

Spectator · All-time great

Now here's a theory. It's often been noted on this board that, while in 1997 Greg Rusedski went briefly to number four and reached a GS final and was (fittingly) named SPOTY, Mr Murray has been around the number four mark for, oh, about four years and reached four Grand Slam finals, and still he has nary a SPOTY trophy to try to hide somewhere at the back of the trophy cupboard. (I do think they're rather, err, ugly).

This seems somewhat "unjust" -- if one can apply a serious term to something so ultimately silly. But if we wished to continue, and indeed enhance, the trend, the best would be for Mr Murray to win the Gold Medal and/or the US Open and still be denied the SPOTY award. In any other given year, such an event would be unlikely. But with Mr Wiggins' assorted triumphs, it seems highly improbable that anyone else -- whatever their accomplishments -- will be able to dislodge him from the perch of SPOTY-dom. So what better year for Mr Murray to win a gold medal?

-- Edited by Spectator on Wednesday 1st of August 2012 08:17:39 PM

RJA · Hall of fame

Madeline wrote:
I think Baggy could be tougher than the potential following match - Darcis or Almagro (on grass, not clay!)

Looking like an accurate assessment. Baghdatis fully deserved the that first set.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Well, that was stressful - except for the second set. Well done Andy for pulling through.

Andy's H2H with Almagro is 2:1 to Andy, the Spaniard winning on clay on their first meeting then Andy winning twice on hard - they have never met on grass. Andy has to be the favourite to win here, though Nico has been playing very well this year so he had better not take it too lightly - and I'm sure he won't.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Poor from Andy today to begin with, but I am still a believer.

RJA · Hall of fame

Murray first up on court 1 tomorrow, then 4th on the same court in the mixed doubles.

Spectator · All-time great

Fascinating following tweets in second set. Spanish language tweets clear that Almagro is injured, very proud that he continues playing anyway. English language tweets far less likely to mention injury ....

Actually brings up second reflection. Spanish tweets SO supportive of Almagro -- telling him that his courage means more than a victory, saying that he's their hero for preferring to fight rather than to retire, etc. They're not taking anything away from Murray, just really positive. Yet when Murray is in a losing position, English-language tweets are flooded with horrible comments. (Nor are negative comments directed only at UK players: would like, frankly, to have seen more English-language comments expressing sympathy for Almagro, too).

Hardly an incentive to UK athletes to do well, is it?

-- Edited by Spectator on Thursday 2nd of August 2012 12:17:00 PM

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Nice win, not too much energy expended. Almagro having problems with his shoulder helped, of course, but Andy's serving was at such a level that the Spaniard wouldn't have had much chance even if he had been 100% fit. I wish I could be sure Andy would take that level of serving into the semi-final

Jan · Hall of fame

Now that would be just great!

Spectator · All-time great

And the mixed doubles begin. Have to admit that half of me is hoping they do really well. And the other half is very conscious that Federer/Djokovic no longer have to focus on anything but singles. Then again, the Williams sisters seem to manage this singles/doubles thing without too much difficulty.

markvighan · Improver

He is playing well. I think he can do it but will need good luck against Djoko