Wednesday 18 January 2012

No Surprises...

Well it didn't take long but Andy Murray became the last British man standing when the other five Brits went out in the first round.  Shame for them, and for me since now we've just got Murray to focus on.  All favourites have gone through though, apart from US Open champ Sam Stosur who lost in the first round.  But apart from that, no surprises.

I went on a little trip to the David Hockney Gallery, I took a photo of one his and though I'd share it since it's a tennis match although you have to look for it a little:

Sunday 15 January 2012

A New Year

Well, it's been a while since I went to the ATP final in November, in London.  But the new tennis year is finally heating up with the first Grand Slam of the year starting in Australia on Monday.  Heather Watson, Laura Robson, Elena Baltacha, Anne Keothothong, and James Ward play for Britain on Day One, while Andy Murray starts later on.  The Brits will have a tough time getting to next round though; Watson faces third seed Azarenka (from Belarus, got to the quarter-final in 2010, and fourth last year), and Robson will play 13th seed Jankovic (from Serbia, former World number one, won Wimbledon doubles with Jamie Murray). Baltacha, Keothothong, and Ward play people I've never heard of but their people are probably saying the same about the Brits...

Murray is seeded fourth, and has started working with Ivan Lendl as his new coach and already won in Brisbane at the start of this year.  He will hoping to go one better than the final thrashing he received at the hands of Novak Djokovic last year.  Djokovic has yet to play this year but Nadal lost in the semi-final of the Qatar Open at the beginning of January to Monfils, while Federer lost in the other semi to Tsonga.  Both Gasquet and Del Potro lost in the quarter-finals of the Apia International in Sydney.

On the women's side, Serena Williams lost in the quarter-final of Brisbane and had a little injury scare, while Venus has pulled out of the Aussie Open due to illness.  Clijsters went out in the semi-final of Brisbane, and also may be playing slightly lame in Oz, and Jankovic lost in the quarters, while top seed Stosur lost in the second round.  World Number one Wozniaki went out in the quarter-finals of the Apia International, Li Na got to the final, but Stosur and Zvonareva both lost in the first round. 

We'll see what tomorrow will bring, but I haven't seen any tennis yet, and probs wont see any of the open (Murray's matches may be shown, but no other's will be on TV, and I don't have a TV anyway).