US OPEN DAY 8

I must be still suffering from the earthquake as I had some disastrous selections yesterday. I promise not to be away with the fairies for Day 8.!


Svetlana Kutnetsova Vs Dominika Cibulkova - Kutnetsova is showing much improvement by her improved fitness.


Mardy Fish Vs Novak Djokovic - Novak will get there at the end of the day hits too many balls back for Fish.


Caroline Wozniacki Vs Maria Sharapova - This should be the best of the round! I think Maria will take out the top seed.


Andrea Petkovik Vs Vera Zvonareva - Vera your on a roll!


Jurgen Melzer Vs Roger Federer - Fed always cleans this type of player up at exactly this time of the tournament.


Richard Gasquet Vs Gail Monfils - Battle of the Frenchman ! Will be close Monfils will defend better Gasquet more attacking. Ok Richard I have the money on you !


Kaia Kanepi Vs Yanina Wickmayer - Kanepi is promising Yanina is gritty.


Robert Soderling Vs Albert Montanes - Robert a little more fire power .


FINAL 4TH ROUND SELECTIONS FOR COMPETITION SHOULD BE MADE IN THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS POST.


I really want to like Andy Murray but why do I always go for his opposition! I guess I find Andy very much in the Hewitt mould. He is always complaining , looking and yelling at his box ...punching his racquet strings .Andy I think if you are too win a grandslam you must block out your support box stop using senseless energy in whining and focus on your job at hand no matter what your  situation is! When you do this I reckon you will win a Slam.

Finally Tennis Australia must be disappointed with the Aussies in general at the US Open.I bet their web site wont be telling the real story. The Men's results are pathetic .The qualifying was a disaster with some of the so called stars of the future not progressing.Carsten Ball was the only Male that won a match in the Main draw.Thank Goodness for Sam Stosur! Sally Peers did come through qualies and won her first round match but Clijsters cleaned her up easily in a lacklustre match 2 nd round. Now Australia did not have one junior girl competing in the Junior Girls draw not even the qualifying!In the boys section Jason Kubler the 6th seed exited to Evan King of the USA who was unseeded.To make matters even worse James Duckworth the 9th seed was also beaten by an unseeded player.Ben Wagland also exited on the first day to completely decimate the Aussie contingent! Now don't you think Tennis Australia you start telling the real story on your player development program and although their have been questions asked ....they need to be answered don't you think? These players have to harden up and so does Tennis Australia!

The Roland Garros Diaries

Just a post with a few behind the scenes goings on at the French Open. I have too much time on my hands lately with the wet weather in South Canterbury and hence the above picture is a spoof on the American Hit TV Series the Vampire Diaries.Can you guess the above tennis players all no doubt will be playing a major role in the Finale of Roland Garros( Rafa,Fed ,Justine).

Serena when asked about Fed Cup and her country

Q. And your thinking on Fed Cup? Is that a matter of scheduling? Do you feel that you have any responsibility to the country in terms of getting into the championships? What are your thoughts on that?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, my only responsibility is my two dogs. So I have to make sure they're okay and that I can afford to take care of them. That's the only real responsibility I have.

Interesting response but not surprising.

What is Andy Murray's Favorite Surface

Q. Although you've said consistently that you think the French is the Grand Slam where you've got the least chance of winning, are you sort of actually quietly enjoying this championship and the ups and downs of how you've got this far and relishing the prospect of the second week here?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, I enjoy it as a tournament. I always loved to play on clay when I was younger. I've said it many times it's my favorite surface to play on, even though my results haven't been as good.
You know, I feel like I can play well on clay, play very well on clay. It just takes me a bit more time to get used to the surface again. You know, I love the tournament. It's probably the hardest physically to win, you know, because obviously a lot of long rallies, long points, and long matches.
Yeah, I enjoy coming here, and it's very different to me than at the other Slams where, you know, I'm a lot more sure of myself there just because I know how to move well and how to play properly on those courts.

Early in the week talk was that the Roland Garros courts where playing as fast as they have for 20 years.John Isner and then Todd Woodbridge telling the Tennis Channel yesterday that this was the fastest the surface has played in 20 years of his experience.Didn't help Isner!

Federer makes an appearance in the Nike football world cup commercial.Here is the commercial.



You may have picked up Nadal is wearing a watch for the first time whilst playing. Its a Richard Mille watch designed specifically for Nadal, with materials used in space exploration. Mille says there are 50 for sale—at a price of about $425,000.Nadal never before has worn a watch while competing.Wonder what the sponsorship deal is ,,,,,I will order 4 :)

The French Open Tennis

The premier Clay court event starts next week,The men's winner will come from the below list which makes up the top 20 clay courters for the past year.
1 2 Rafael Nadal (ESP) ...My tip for the title
2 1 Roger Federer (SUI) ........will be hard to beat
3 11 David Ferrer (ESP) .......a threat except for the top 2 seeds
4 7 Robin Soderling (SWE) ......last years finalist and I think has had his moment in the sun
5 9 Fernando Verdasco (ESP) ....flashy and cant go all the way in a grandslam
6 18 Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP) ...past winner no threat to the top seeds
7 6 Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) out with injury
8 14 Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) hasnt has the best year so far
9 30 Juan Monaco (ARG) ....a pretender
10 37 Victor Hanescu (ROU) ....a pretender
11 22 Nicolas Almagro (ESP) ....good recent form
12 28 Thomaz Bellucci (BRA) ....a pretender
13 24 Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) ....wont win it
14 27 Ernests Gulbis (LAT) ....a wild card and has great form ...may have discovered how to win.
15 5 Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) injured
16 38 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) ..... pretender
17 3 Novak Djokovic (SRB) ...... average form hasnt done much since his service action changed
18 4 Andy Murray (GBR) ....setting for wimbledon no doubt ...a little beyond him here in Paris
19 34 Albert Montanes (ESP) ..... pretender
20 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) ......contender but will struggle with tough matches and longer rally's

The first number is Clay court ranking and the second is ATP ranking.I havnt even rated Andy Roddick , in fact where is Andy Roddick?I think he will be good for a couple of rounds at best and then re-group for Wimbledon.Here is a couple of names to watch out for with major rises in ATP rankings, Thiemo de Bakker (NED) from 76 to 50 and a player thats been around for a while Juan Ignacio Chela 82 to 48 and Santiago Giraldo (COL) 83 to 55.

The Long Road Home is Near the End, Federer Vs Murray Australian Open Men's Final 2010

The battle grounds are drawn ,The hopes of the British rest on the shoulders of a young Scot Andy Murray ,its been written countless times Murray will be a Grandslam Champion, the moment is near.........and the British Amarda( the press) has arrived in Melbourne to record this momentous event.But hold on a sec ,in his way is a legend perhaps the best player ever to pick up a tennis racket and Roger Federer will not just let the Murray destiny just happen.If it does we know to well Murray has truly arrived and he can conquer the highest mountain winning a Slam title. Murray had this to say when asked if he could win,"Have to wait and see, you know. I think, you know, if I play my best, I think I got a good chance against anyone. And then, you know, at the top of any sport, it can come down to, you know, a few points here or there, sometimes a little bit of luck. You have to wait and see. But if I play my best, I think I got a chance against anyone."

And Federer speaks about the pressure for both players

"look, he's in his second Grand Slam final now. I think the first one's always a bit tougher than the second one. But now that he didn't win the first one, I think doesn't help, you know, for the second one around.

Plus he's playing, you know, me, who's won many Grand Slams prior to that, been able to win here three times so I know what it takes and how to do it, which is definitely an advantage.

I don't feel like the pressure's really on me having to do it again, because I did it before. I think he really needs it more than I do, you know. So I think the pressure's big on him.

But we'll see how he's gonna handle it. It's not going to be easy for him, that's for sure."

Murray knows to well defeat will mean he has to read the British tabloids the next day and that provides also extra pressure.My thoughts on the match ,it will be tough Federer will have to be at his very best to win and if he is his game will be too good for the Murray game at his best.Also in one corner we have the very Animated support Box of Murray led by "Punch n Judy" Murray's Mum......and the more conservative support crew of Federer with his wife Mirka at the helm.

And a change of tack this from the Sunday News reports Tennis New Zealand is heading into deeper crisis with the prospect of a vote of no confidence in the board looming.

Sunday News understands a number of clubs and regions are so sick of the way the sport it being run that they're using Tennis NZ's proposal for a dramatic increase in membership affiliation fees as a way to vent their anger.Read the full story here

Talk about Ostrich and head in the sand syndrome,every body knows Tennis in this country is on the ropes Onny Parun has been telling us for the past few years.Sadly this generation of young tennis players will be lost because of ........running the game ,actually I'm at a lost for words and it would be inappropriate to use the word Idiots, if anyone else has a better word please leave it in the comments section.