MURRAY FALLS SHORT AGAIN

 

(Image taken from BBC)

The French Open has never been the happiest of hunting grounds for British tennis players and even with Andy Murray as number 4 seed at Roland Garros this time around that turned out not to change. Beating local favourite Richard Gasquet 4-6 6-7(5-7) 6-4 6-2 6-1 in the first round took some doing, but given the circumstances was impressive. Then came Argie Juan Ignacio Chela who he beat 6-2 6-7(5-7) 6-3 6-2. Marco Baghdatis came next in the third round and was beaten 6-2 6-3 0-6 6-2. Then came Czech Tomas Berdych in the 4th round and Andy found himself bowing out 4-6 5-7 3-6. Still, it was the first time he'd come up with back to back appearances in that stage of the French Open. Berdych went on to reach the semis before losing to Robin Soderling who then was beaten in the final by Rafael Nadal for his first French Open title since '08(fifth in total) and his first Grand Slam title of the season.

Then came Wimbledon, of course on home turf Andy was expected to do well. Slight problem, he didn't come into the third Grand Slam of the season on the best of form. He had yet to win any kind of tournament in 2010 and there were concerns about where his head might be as a result of this iffy form. Still, he was number 4 seed yet again if he could find form, well he's already proven that no one in world tennis is unbeatable as far as he is concerned. The biggest concern was the lack of other Brits in the competition, only one, Jamie Baker survived the competition and for the first time ever there were no Brits at Wimbledon. Still, Andy had to do what he does.

First up came Czech Jan Hajek in the first round. Things didn't go exactly to plan for the British number 1 early on as he had his serve broken at the second time of asking but pulled things round to scramble an opening set win. The second set was a lot more straightforward though - the home favourite showing no mercy whatsoever. He didn't really let up in the third set either, Hajek tried to slow him down late on but just brought himself a stay of execution as Murray won 7-5 6-1 6-2. He turned out to be the last Brit standing already as elsewhere, Jamie Baker lost to German Andreas Beck 6-7(4-7) 3-6 3-6 - pretty poor showing for GB overall.

Murray was still standing though and in the second round faced Finnish number 1 Jarko Niemanen. Niemanen turned out to be well past his peak and the first set was pretty straightforward for the Brit. The second set was much more of a fight but again it proved to by nothing that Andy couldn't handle. In the third set well the Finn really had run out of fuel as Andy slid through the gears on his way to a pretty smooth 6-3 6-4 6-2 win. So much for the nerves. Andy was in the 3rd round again but then again whenever he has been fit to play, he has always managed to get this far in the tournament at least. What we'd seen was just for starters.

In the third round came the Frenchman Giles Simon. Andy was in no mood to hang about and took advantage of an opponent still recovering from injury to smoothly take the first set. Murray again broke the Simon serve early on in the 2nd set but this time it took him longer to put the Frenchman away. The third set again proved to be a tricky affair but one again Andy was in no mood to hang around and pulled off another set to win the match 6-1 6-4 6-4. Well, again we've become used to Andy reaching the second week of Wimbledon but to do so without losing a set? You had to wonder whether this would finally be his time to win a Grand Slam.

Next up, came Sam Querry, one of the better young Yanks out there. Andy looked to surge ahead in the first set only for Querry to pull him back level and Andy only just avoided having to go to a tie break. The second set proved to be more straightforward for the Brit and he stood on the brink of another victory. Querry put up much more of a fight in the third set but Andy finally stepped up a gear early on to pull off another win 7-5 6-3 6-4. That garunteed not only his third Wimbledon quarter final in a row but also the first time that Andy had gotten this far without losing a set! Of course we still wondered if this was going to finally be his year.

In the quarter finals though came a step up in quality. Jo-Wilfred Tsonga was the 10th seed. Furthermore he forced Murray to a tiebreak for the first time before taking the first set. The second set also proved to be anything but straightforward for the Brit, again another tiebreak - this time around he won it though. Then Andy managed to step up a gear in the third set and Tsonga just couldn't handle it - our guy cruised into the lead of the match at long last. However there was still the fourth set to deal with but Tsonga really had run out of fuel by this point and Andy found himself in his second Wimbledon semi final in a row to the tune of 6-7(5-7) 7-6(7-5) 6-2 6-2.

However it was only going to be a matter of time before Andy found hinself in a heavyweight rumble and sure enough Rafael Nadal came along in the semis. Andy gave the Spaniard a fight in the first set but Nadal was able to step up a gear. The second set went to a tiebreak but again Nadal was able to claim that. The reality check for Andy was completed in the third set and once again Nadal came out on top and Andy crashed out of another Wimbledon to the tune of 4-6 6-7(6-8) 4-6. In the other semi final Thomas Berdych(who'd already seen off Roger Federer) beat Novak Djokovic 6-3 7-6(11-9) 6-3 to become the shock of the tournament.

In the meantime, the women's competition was also going on and the final of that was between Serena Williams and Russian 21st seed Vera Zeronareva. The early stages of the first set were even but Serena stepped up a gear to grab it. The second set turned out to be more of the same and Serna went on to win the match 6-3 6-2. That meant that Serena won her second Wimbledon title in a row and fourth overall, it's also her second Grand Slam of the year. Congratulations to her, looks like the women's game will be run by the Williams sisters one way or another for a while yet - they're surely safe bets for the US Open title as well.

Back to the men's tournament and the final saw Rafael Nadal face Thomas Berdych. Well Berdych stayed with it for the early stages of the first set but it was Nadal that proved himself the better player early on. Berdych stepped up a gear in the second set but couldn't do anything on the Nadal serve and found himself two sets down. Berdych tried to turn things round in the end was finally given a reality check as Nadal hit top gear to win the match 6-3 7-5 6-4. To be honest this wasn't really a classic Wimbledon final with the Spanish legend in the making only having to cruise his way to another title against a guy that would just have been happy to be there.

So, congratulations to Rafael Nadal who wins his second Wimbledon title, his first one having come in '08. Given that he missed last year's tournament due to injury that's not so bad. It's also his second Grand Slam in a row. Once again you have to wonder how many more Grand Slams is this guy capable of winning. Murray can beat him, Federer can beat him but when it matters and at Wimbledon in particular he's certainly learned how to step it up. People are already talking about him as one of the best players of all time so can he take the US Open title this time around? Or defend his Wimbledon title next year, you can't bet against it.

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