The Championships, Wimbledon 2012

[Troy]

25th June - 8th July​

Only a short two week break between French Open and Wimbledon so not much time for the players to get accustomed to the different surface. Novak Djokovic and Petra Kvitova are the defending champions. Novak Djovokic is in the best form of his career having won four of the last six Grand Slams, only missing out on the Franch Open both times, and so will be very tough to beat on grass. Kvitova has been in good form this year making the semi finals of the two Grand Slams this year and grass has been her best surface. She won Wimbledon last year and the previous year made the semi finals. Both will be confident of being able to defend their titles but there will still be plenty of tough opponents ahead.

 

[Keith]

Yeah looking forward to this. I don't follow Tennis all the time, but it is one of those sports which I can enjoy watching without being totally obsessed with it. Will watch as many games as possible as I have the last few years.

I suspect it will be more difficult for Kvitova to retain her title than it will be for Djokovic. It was an upset when she won last year and there is some stiff competation for her this year, but Djokovic is very much at his peak and has great momentum, also the likes of Fredier maybe have seen better days. If anyone takes the title from him I think it will be Nedal.

 

[Troy]

Maria Sharapova will probably be the favourite to win the women's singles, she made the final last year and lost to Kvitova plus this year she was runnerup at the Australian Open and won the French so is in top form. Will be interesting to see if she can win it again eight years after her first title.

With the Australians I hope that Stosur can actually make it out of the first round. The last two years she has been bundled out in the first round even though she is a highly ranked player. She really needs to perform better especially on grass which she should do well on. Bernard Tomic will have a tough time trying to replicate last years QF performance but he does seem to handle the pressure well for a 19 year old.

 

[The New F'n Show]

As always will watch from QF's on again. With no American Male being dominant for many years and never really caring for the Williams sisters, I don't have a rooting interest. Just like watching good tennis.

 

[Troy]

Some big upsets on day one, Thomas Berdych who was runnerup two years ago was knocked out by Ernests Gulbis in straight sets. Gulbis has always been a talented player and if he actually put 100% effort into tennis he could easily become a top 20 player. Kim Clijsters also managed to defeat Jankovic in straight sets, so easy for her even though she has barely played this year.

Sam Stosur made it to the second round for the first time in three years which is a positive step forward. Tomic is playing right now and after taking the first set he dropped the second and is down a break in the third.

 

[Keith]

Did Heather Watson get through today? She could have a big tournament this year if so.

 

[Doink]

Yes she got through but she has number 3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the next round.

 

[Keith]

WOW! WHAT A UPSET!! Guess I put the jinx on Nadel:OMG: Whatever happens to Lucas now he will always remember this night.

 

[The Cork]

Just saw it on the news, insane.

 

[Prodigy]

Wow what a shocker it was. This guy played great Tennis. Heck I wonder why he's not done more. Maybe this will give him the confidence to become one of the top players. His ground stroke is immense.

 

[Keith]

Watched a couple of matches today.

Heather Watson got a good learning experience today. She was better in the second set, but still made too many errors and was easily beaten. Still she is only twenty and has had another good tournament as long as she improves every year I see her becoming a world class player one day.

The Djorkovic match was intriguing, certainly closer than many was expecting. It seemed to drag to its conclusion, but was a decent match overall.

 

[The New F'n Show]

Nadal out so early is clearly crazy. Haven't really watch any yet but will start soon.

 

[Troy]

Couldn't believe Nadal lost so early in the tournament, this is his earliest exit at a Grand Slam since Wimbledon in 2005. It means that Federer will become world number two even if he is knocked out next round. Federer was in a spot of bother himself losing the first two sets but he worked himself back into the game perfectly to win in five.

Unfortunately the Australians were all out after two rounds. Stosur is a baffling player to watch, she has beaten Serena Williams to win the US Open in straight sets yet she still has big mental issues with her game. Lost the first set after being a break up, then won the second set to love and then the third set was even crazier. Ends up 2-5 down before she is serving when it is 4-5 and she is 40-15 up, loses the next four points to lose the match. The only positive is that her opponent, Rus, is Dutch so if she was to lose to anyone I am glad it was her.

 

[Keith]

Watched a tight and tense affair between Vinci of Italy and Lucic of Croatia today, both women let the preassure get to them as the match drawn on, it was a long and hard match which Vinci made harder work of that should have, but in the end she won and played some impressive Tennis in the progress.

Really enjoyed The Ferrer VS. Roddick match and a special highlight was Roddick's amusing exchanges with the judge.

 

[Keith]

After two and a half hours of thrilling high drama between Kerber and Lisici it was finally the more experenced Kerber who advanced to the semi-finals two sets two one, 6-3, 7-6, 5-7.

For awhile it looked Kerber would win the match more easy by two striaght sets as Lisici made some sloppy errors and just lacked the composure of her german counterpart, however she showed wonderful character to fight her way back into the match and ended up by playing more confident Tennis and controlled the flow of the match for most of the reminder. It was during the later part of the second set that Kerber started to lose her head and Lisici played some dazzering tennis. The tied went back and fourth for the last couple of sets and it looked like Lisici finally had a semi's spot secured in the final set at one stage leading 5-3, but an impressive rally by her foe led to four straight games being won and an impressive and unlikely turn around. Lisici was unlucky not to win I like her a lot, but credit must go to Kerber for coming back from the dead to win maybe the match of the tournament so far.

It looks like it might be Serena's title now with both Sharapova and the defending champion going out over the last twenty four hours, but don't rule out a Kerber shock or Rawdneska taking it.