The Usual Suspects

There were eight aside, now we have four, and its the usual suspects that make up the semi final lineup at Wimbledon, with all four top seeds making it through on the women's side, while on the men's side, the dream final is still on, but there are a German and an American who always do well on the grass who will do whatever it takes to scupper that dream.

The women step out for the semi finals today, with Venus Williams taking on Dinara Safina, who is making her first appearance in a Wimbledon semi final, and Serena Williams taking on Elena Dementieva.

The women's side has almost had a feeling of 'whats the point' about it since the get go, with everyone presuming that the Williams sisters will make it into the final for the second year in a row, but although the sisters are in scintillating form at present, dismissing their quarter final opponents with consummate ease, this will be their toughest tests as they face the highest seeds they were ever going to face in the lead up to the final.

Dementieva is most likely to upset the apple cart in this one and has a fairly decent record against Serena, albeit a losing record. Safina, despite being world number one, has a public hatred of grass and has to be considerably pleased to have even made it this far having never progressed beyond the 3rd round here before.

I still fully expect an all Williams final, to my distaste, but there is no denying they know better than anyone on the tour how to play the grass and how to dominate like nowhere else in the world.

The men's side is now one step closer to the dream final that the British public, the British press and most of the watching world are hoping for, with Andy Murray making light work of Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Roger Federer having inhuman reactions to Ivo Karlovic's power serve game beating him, also, in straight sets.

The closer we get to the final on Sunday, the more the nerves and anxiousness creep in and unlike the women's side, where everyone sees nothing other than a Williams 1-2 on Saturday, Andy Roddick, who takes on Murray, and Tommy Haas, who takes on Federer, stand in the way of the dream and have more than enough tools to upset a few million people around the world.

Andy Roddick, two time Wimbledon finalist, is one of the usual suspects when it comes to the latter stages of Wimbledon and has the experience that Murray at present doesn't have and is learning by the day.

It was mentioned fleetingly that Murray looked a little tired in his quarter final against Ferrero, so he will more than happy coming through that one in straight sets, expending as little energy as possible as he will need his A game to beat A-Rod, who has markedly improved in recent months.

Haas has always been pretty nifty on the grass. Winner in Halle, beating Novak Djokovic who he subsequently beat in yesterday's quarter final, he can go into his match up against the history making Federer full of confidence. It wasn't much more than a month ago that Haas was two sets to love up against Federer at Roland Garros, the day after Rafael Nadal had been knocked out. How different things could have been.

On the grass, despite this being the surface of choice for both, Federer will always have the edge, you just have to look at the numbers. Five Wimbledons to Zero says it all.

Murray has never been this far at Wimbledon before, and some might think back to his annihilation at the hands of Nadal last year, off the back of another five set thriller against Richard Gasquet, in the Quarter Final.

Following that slam he went on to win back to back Masters titles, and reach the US Open final. There is no one now who can doubt his fitness. Despite Murray being blinkered and giving the usual responses of 'taking one match at a time' and not worrying about what the media are saying and the pressure they are heaping on him, it wouldn't be human if it didn't affect him a little bit, and if Murray can overcome the pressure that plagued Tim Henman in so many Wimbledon semi finals over the years, he can and will come through.

We are at the business end of the championships and the usual names are still on the draw sheet with Venus and Roger looking to make it six championships a piece, Serena hoping to make it three, and Tommy, A-Rod, Elena, Dinara and Murray all hoping to make history of their own and win the most prestigious trophy in tennis.

And then, there were Eight

The second week of Wimbledon is under way and we now know the eight men and eight women who make up the quarter final's and in both the men’s and women’s draw’s there are some intriguing, and some surprising, names in the quarter's.

In the men's draw, former number ones collide as former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt takes on former two time Wimbledon finalist, the number six seed, Andy Roddick. World number three Andy Murray, after his marathon late night match against Stanislas Wawrinka, under the lights and under the new roof, will take on another former number one Juan Carlos Ferrero, who doesn’t normally take well to the grass.

In the bottom half of the draw we see the forgotten man, Novak Djokovic, take on the consistent grass-courter Tommy Haas and, finally, Roger Federer takes on the, somewhat unnerving, task of facing the 6’10” ace machine Ivo Karlovic, who, to date, has served 136 aces and has yet to be broken.

On the women’s side we seem to be heading towards yet another all Williams final, between the sisters Venus and Serena. At the top of the draw, the most under the radar number one seed, Dinara Safina, takes on the up and coming talent of Sabine Lisicki, with the winner of that match taking on the winner of the match between defending champion, Venus Williams, and another young talent Agnieszka Radwanska. On the bottom half surprise quarter finalist Francesca Schiavone takes on Olympic gold medallist Elena Dementieva, while the last eight line up is completed by Williams sister number two, Serena, up against the princess of the grunters Victoria Azarenka.

The women’s draw has, from the get go, had an unerring inevitability about it. The Williams sisters love SW19, with seven titles between them, and with Venus looking for a hat trick of titles, and sister Serena looking for revenge for last years final defeat, it looks like we are set for another family get together come Saturday afternoon.

Out of the other six quarter finalists the person who, in my opinion, is most likely to stop this years final being a repeat of last years is Elena Dementieva. Radwanska, Lisicki and Azarenka are all great, young, talents, but I feel they do not have what it takes, yet, to make it to a grand slam final. Schiavone has more than enough experience but also has never made it this far in a slam before and may not know how to work her way out of the last eight now that she’s there.

Dementieva, however, has two grand slam finals under her belt already, and winning the Olympic Games last summer will have given her great confidence that she can win a major tournament. Her record against Serena, who Dementieva is set to meet in the semi final, is a great cause for further optimism. Despite Serena having a five to three head to head record in her favour, Dementieva has won three of the last four meetings between the two.

Dinara Safina is the world number one, and no one is really backing her to do much at Wimbledon this year at all. That may be in part due to the fact that she was quoted on her official website, in an article titled ‘I Hate Wimbledon’ as saying that “Grass makes me angry. I hope they dig up the grass and replace it with a hard court”.

Safina has shown a lot of improvement on the grass this year, but is still not being talked about at all, and it would have to be considered a major shock if she was to win here, despite being ranked as number one in the world.

So Venus vs Serena it seems on the women’s side, what about the men?

Everyone, who is everyone, wants Sunday’s showpiece to be a match between the best player ever to grace a tennis court, Roger Federer, and Britain’s Andy Murray, as he tries to make history of his own, becoming the first Brit since 1937 to win Wimbledon.

The final eight of the men’s draw however is littered with potential banana skins for both of these men on the road to their ‘destiny’.

Lleyton Hewitt has rolled back the years this week, producing some wonderful tennis, reminiscent of previous glory’s by the former world number one, and he has the experience to come through at SW19 and maybe make a surprise appearance in another Wimbledon final. Andy Roddick stands in his way in his pursuit of a second grand slam title, six years after his one and only success at the US Open. He has also experienced what it is like to be in a Wimbledon final, not once, but twice, both times, though, running into the mercurial Federer.

Murray may have queried the decision to play his 4^th round match up against Stanislas Wawrinka under the roof on Monday night, the first competitive match to be played entirely under it, but it could turn out to be a blessing in disguise. With the match finishing at 10:38pm, without the roof Murray would have had to sacrifice his day off to complete the match, and if you ever needed any proof that carrying a match over is difficult business, just watch some of Tim Henman’s old Wimbledon matches.

He will now, though, have an entire day to rest up before taking on Juan Carlos Ferrero, who he met and defeated quite convincingly on his way to the Queen’s title a fortnight ago.

Federer, despite winning in straight sets against, French Open final counterpart, Robin Soderling, was not at his best, and he has the unenviable task of taking on Ivo Karlovic, in a match where he will have to improve and be at his best when returning, as Karlovic has yet to drop his serve.

The fourth quarter final match up sees Novak Djokovic take on Tommy Haas, who always seems to produce on grass and who beat ‘Nole’ a fortnight ago in Halle, in the final of the tour event in Germany.

Much like no one has been talking about Safina on the women’s side, no one really has said much about Djokovic either, with all the attention being placed on the home favourite Murray, and Federer as he looks to surpass Sampras’ grand slam record.

This could very easily work in Djokovic’s favour as there is no pressure on him and he is free to produce his best tennis with not a lot of expectations, and we have seen in the past that Djokovic is more than capable of beating the people above him in the rankings, and there are only three of them.

There are still bound to be one or two twists and turns in the final days and hours of the 2009 Wimbledon, and who knows maybe we will all be proved wrong and not have a repeat of last years women’s final, and we may all be disappointed to not have the dream final of Murray against Federer come Sunday.

That’s the magic of tennis, that’s the magic of sport in general, you can never really know whats going to happen, but your still glued to it nonetheless. There are a few thousand people that were on Henman Hill at gone 10 in the evening, in the pitch black monday night, that can testify to that statement.

South Africa Making a Point

The Confederations Cup, FIFA's little play thing, that sees the six most recent continental tournament winners - Europe: Spain, South America: Brazil, North America: USA, Asia: Iraq, Oceania: New Zealand and Africa: Egypt - join the World Champions Italy and the host's of the next World Cup South Africa, is meant to be used as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup the following year.

The tournament has never really had much resonance among the nations that compete in it but this was more than just a tournament for the host's South Africa, who had two points to prove; One, that they could host a major footballing event, and two, that they could compete and not embarrass themselves on a world stage, which was looking more and more likely as the weeks rolled towards the summer of 2010.

In the years in the lead up to the World Cup, which is being held in Africa for the first time, the national team's results have been mediocre at best.

In their World Cup Qualifying group, which they still had to compete in because the World Cup qualifying has a direct affect on the qualifying for the African Cup of Nations, they enjoyed just two wins, both against Equatorial Guinea.

South Africa opened the tournament with an unconvincing performance against Iraq, which brought about a dire 0-0 draw, leaving all the doubters still with the view that South Africa wouldn't do themselves justice when the best 31 nations in the world verge on the most southern point in Africa.

After their unbearable opening to this, somewhat, unimportant tournament, the only way, as the saying goes, was up, and a much improved performance in their second group game, albeit against New Zealand, resulted in a 2-0 win for the hosts, which was enough to send them through to the Semi Finals.

This is where South Africa showed their worth and began to prove to the South African public, and the rest of the world, that they were no mugs and maybe aren't destined to become the first host nation to be knocked out in the group stages of a World Cup Finals.

A world class free kick from Dani Alves, three minutes from time, in the Semi Final was all that separated them from Brazil, and, on paper, it wasn't going to get any easier for them in the 3rd place play-off, after the USA shocked the FIFA No'1 ranked team, Spain, in their semi final.

Spain and South Africa played out a scintillating 3-2(AET) match, which went back and forth throughout and took a wonder free kick from Mphela to take into extra time, moments after Spain had scored twice in two minutes to come from 1-0 down, with just a minute of normal time on the clock.

In just 210 minutes of football, South Africa had proved to the world that they could compete with the best, which is the minimum requirement from the South African public who were passionate, loud and fully supportive of their team throughout, but in the back of all their minds must have worried that their worst fears could well have been realised.

The South Africans managed to prove their point. They took the best two teams in the world to the brink, they didn't win, but they came close. That will be more than enough in 12 months time, and performances like the ones against Spain and Brazil will hold the South Africans in good stead against most of the smaller nations come World Cup Finals time.

They also managed to prove that they are capable of holding their own in the hosting department, and although there were only eight nations at this event, compared to the 31 other nations that will join South Africa next year, the signs look good.

It may take some getting used to the weather however, with winter temperatures in South Africa during our 'summer' months, but that will be the least of the nations worries as they compete for the biggest prize in football. South Africa, though, are just happy to be there, happy to host, and happy that they know, and the public now knows, that they wont just be there to make up the numbers.

British Tennis under the Microscope Again

When Wimbledon comes knocking around, the same time every year, you can rest assured on a couple of things happening during the opening couple of days of the tournament.

Normally, the rain is somewhere to be found but, ironically in the first year that the roof has been in place on centre court, that so far hasn't been the case; you can also be sure that with the sun out there will be a few more people playing on local tennis courts up and down the country as tennis fever grips the nation, and the one you can always, always, bank on is Alex Bogdanovic being knocked out in the 1st round of the tournament, along with the majority of the British contingent, like he has done for the last eight years in a row.

'Bogo', as he is known in tennis circles, isn't an isolated case however, and the first two days of the 2009 version of Wimbledon was a case study which has caused much debate in the British tennis fraternity, from Paul Annacone, former coach of Tim Henman and head coach at the LTA, all the way through to the current British number one, Andy Murray, who hasn't mixed his words when talking about the lack of depth in the British game.

Over the opening Monday and Tuesday of the Championships there were only two victorious Brit's in the first round of the men's and women's singles draw; Murray beating American Robert Kendrick in four sets, and Elena Baltacha, the British number two female, beating Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko in three.

Bogdanovic was joined out the door by Dan Evans, Josh Goodall, James Ward, Anne Keothavong, Katie O'Brien, Laura Robson, Melanie South and Georgie Stoop make up the list of British losers on the opening two days of the tournament, and with the exception of Keothavong, the British number one female, and Robson, who was making her grand slam debut at the age of 15, all had been given wild cards into the event because they hadnt deserved it through their ranking or through merit.

Many in the game feel that the Lawn Tennis Association and the All England Club are too lenient and easy going when it comes to the handing out wild cards and funding to the lowly ranked British players, and this certainly isn't the first time that this topic of conversation has come up.

A couple of years ago Tim Henman was more than vocal with his views on the state of the British game and what the LTA and AELTC need to do to improve the game in this country.

Andy Murray followed in Henman's footsteps yesterday saying that, 'the depth needs to get way better' and that its 'not acceptable', but saying that, 'its not picking out any of the players in particular, because I watched some of them play and some of them played well, but they aren't at the same level as some of the guys and they don't play at this level too often because their not ranked that high'.

In fairness, the draw could not have been much worse for the British wild cards this year, especially for the likes of Georgie Stoop and Dan Evans, who were drawn against the women's and men's 7th seeds, Vera Zvonareva and Fernando Verdasco respectively, but if this was just a one off year then it would have been forgotten about, but the failings of the Brit's at the showcase event of the British tennis calender has been an annual occurrence; thank god we still have the likes of Andy Murray, and previously Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski to show that all is not lost, on the men's side at least.

There have been a few suggestions made as to what can be done to help the plight of the British wild card.

Henman has weighed in again following this years debacle saying that wild cards should be 'given to the young and up and coming players, we don't want to see them being given out to the same people again and again' and that the LTA needs to 'make it (getting a wild card) harder so that British players are earning that right, not feeling an entitlement to get that wild card if their top three or four in the country'.

One suggestion that has come from the former coach of Andy Murray, Mark Petchey, is that the LTA should act as a 'bank' that invests money in British players, with the expectation of getting it back, which Annacone said had been a suggestion that had been discussed a number of times.

In all, Annacone said to the BBC that the target is to have four British players inside the world's top 100 of the men's and women's game each by 2012. Is this too much to ask, or the least that we can expect after year after year of false dawns, that has only been saved by the few.

The noises coming out the LTA are good, ask anyone who is involved, from the people behind the scenes to the names and faces that we all know, they will tell you that the signs are good for the future, but ultimately it will be the results, not the promise that will be the deciding factor in this argument.

After this years Wimbledon the microscope is well and truly pinned on the men and women in charge of churning out more top British tennis players in the future, and hopefully the increased media coverage and discussions that have raged following this poor showing will force the LTA and AELTC's hand into seriously rethinking their wild card policy, and the way in which the try and get these players through and into the big time.

Johnson's Second Coming

Over recent weeks, during this recession that the whole world is having to face up to, the footballing world has shown once again and, arguably, more than ever before, how far away it is from reality.

Cristiano Ronaldo is poised to, finally, get his 'dream' move to Real Madrid after an £80million bid was accepted by Manchester United, just days after Madrid sealed a £56million switch for AC Milan's Brazilian play maker Kaka.

Today, being slightly overshadowed by the beginning of Wimbledon, has seen three big money signings transpire, only two of which involved actual footballers.

The other signing I'm alluring to is the purchase of Setanta's Premier League rights by American powerhouse ESPN, after the Irish network went bust, owing sums of £30million and £3million to the English Premier League and the Scottish Premier League respectively. However, this is another issue for another day.

The two signings involving players today have seen Blackburn's Roque Santa Cruz go and join his old boss Mark Hughes at Manchester City, for a reported £19million, and Glen Johnson, formerly of West Ham United, Chelsea and now Portsmouth, making the switch to Anfield for £17.5million, and its this transfer which the one of interest here.

Glen Johnson is one of a multitude of players who have successfully come out of the junior system at West Ham United and was seen as, potentially, a very good player very early on in his career.

His arrival into the first team at Upton Park coincided with the arrival of Roman Abramovichand his millions at Chelsea, and Johnson, following West Ham's relegation to the Championship, was the first purchase under the new 'lets buy everyone under the sun' philosophy that was employed by Abramovich and the then manager Claudio Ranieri.

Though Johnson had a promising start at Chelsea, which saw him make 63 first team appearances over the 2003/04 and 2004/05 seasons, the arrival of Jose Mourinho, which saw Paulo Ferreira follow him from FC Porto the following season, limited Johnson's first team chances.

A move to Portsmouth was the result, and Johnson has, in time, become a key player for Pompey, and looks to have established himself as the best choice for England at right back.

His move then to Liverpool this evening is a sign to players like Scott Parker, Michael Owen and others, that leaving a big club to ply your trade for a so called 'smaller' club, can reap benefits.

There will have been many pundits that would have considered Johnson's move to Portsmouth to be the right one for his career, but at the same time they may have also considered a club like Portsmouth to be about right for someone like Johnson after losing favour at Chelsea.

But where Scott Parker and Michael Owen have come from big clubs (Chelsea and Real Madrid respectively) after not performing at the peak of their powers and losing favour with their respected managers, gone to a smaller club - although Newcastle isn't exactly a small club, but I digress - like Johnson did, they have yet to make it back to the big leagues and play once again for a 'top 4' side or a major European team.

Johnson, thanks to his determination and forever improving performances for club and, now, country, is more than deserving of his second chance at establishing himself at one of the big four. Chelsea might even wish they still had him on their books after Ferreira and a host of potential suitors to the right back position at Chelsea have tried, and failed somewhat, to shine.

Moving to Liverpool will only increase Johnson's chances of keeping his England place and will allow him to challenge for silver wear more regularly, and he is an example to all professionals who drop down from dizzying heights, that if you work hard enough, you can make it back.

Step forward Federer, Murray....Robson?

50 weeks ago to the day the centre court was packed to the rafters, with millions more watching at home, as most of the nation watched the Williams sisters battle it out for the Wimbledon women's singles title.

My eyes however, not being a fan of the Williams sisters in the slightest, was well and truly transfixed on Court 1, and on a diminutive young Brit who was to be thrust into the limelight at the tender age of 14.

Laura Robson, while the sisters Venus and Serena were fighting each other for the big prize of the day, was winning the junior Wimbledon title, beating Noppawan Lertcheewakarn 6-3 3-6 6-1, becoming the first Brit to win the girls event since Anabel Croft won in 1984.

Nearly a year on and Wimbledon is set to begin its 2009 version, centre court roof and all, on Monday, with Robson being awarded a wild card by the All England Club into the main draw for her achievements over the previous 12 months which has seen her reach another junior grand slam final, and become the junior world number one.

The draw, which was released on Friday, was not so kind to young Robson, pitting her against the highest ranked player not to be seeded, world number 33 Daniela Hantuchova.

The match up between the veteran - despite being just 26 years of age - Slovakian and the teenage Brit could be seen as some sort of changing of the guard in some aspects, but may also remind Robson, if she needed it, that sometimes fame, pressure and prestige, can come too early in a tennis players career. All that she needs to be reminded of this is to look across the net come Monday or Tuesday.

Hantuchova broke onto the scene back in 2002, winning Indian Wells and reaching the top 5 in the world. She was seen as being potentially someone who could break the dominance of the Williams sisters, who at the time had complete control over the women's game.

Alas this wasn't to be the case, as Hantuchova's fall from grace began at the 2003 Wimbledon, where seeded 9th, she lost a tight second round encounter, 12-10 in the final set, to Shinobu Asagoe.

With heightened media speculation over her weight and figure, as well as the pressure coming from tennis circles regarding her potential greatness, Hantuchova broke down in tears, crying between points as she lost the match.

The media has always had its criticisms when it comes to hype, and naturally they hyped up Robson after her Wimbledon triumph last year. But so far, in the grand scheme of things, Robson has been well looked after in terms of media coverage, helped by opting not to take the usual leap into the professional game and sticking with the junior and smaller ITF events.

The last few months have seen Robson go through a bit of a growth spurt, which in turn has prevented her from playing much in the lead up to Wimbledon, but while the nation will be watching Roger Federer, as he begins his attempt at becoming the most successful tennis player in history, Andy Murray, in his attempt to rewrite British tennis history, and the Williams sisters, as they fight for another jolt at the Wimbledon title that they have won seven times between them, my eyes will, for the first round at least, be on Robson, as she makes her Grand Slam bow, the starting point of what, if done right, will be a great career in world tennis.

Let the Countdown Begin

It doesn't feel that long ago that the 2008/09 Premier League season had concluded, with champions Manchester United trying their best to relegate Hull with their reserve side and Newcastle United and Middlesbrough losing their fight with the trap door.

But the countdown to the 2009/10 season is now fully underway after the fixtures were released this morning for the up coming season.

The release of the fixtures is always somewhat of a formality, a season is not going to organise itself, but for promoted sides from the Premier League down to League Two it tends to be a much anticipated event, as newly promoted sides find out who they will face first in new surroundings.

It's not so much an event for those sides who have been relegated though, remembering times of old and realising times of new, as they also get used to new surroundings and more humble opponents.

Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion will have to wait a few days longer than Middlesbrough to realise what its like to be a Championship side, as they face each other on the opening day of the season, with Middlesbrough taking on Sheffield United at home, who will want to stamp their authority early, as they look to go one step further than last season.

The focus of today though is without doubt on the Premier League, and there are some intriguing matches in the opening weekends of the season.

Most of the focus lies with the new boys, Burnley, Wolves and Birmingham, and its the boys in blue who have drawn the short straw, opening their campaign with an away trip to Manchester United. I'm sure though that many Birmingham fans will be thinking that not only will it be a nice away day in the, normal, opening day sun, but it will be good to get the toughest fixture of the season out the way from the off.

Manchester United couldn't have asked for an easier start to the season, starting with Birmingham at home they then become Burnley's first home opponents in the Premier League, rounding off the opening trio of matches with the slightly tougher prospect of Wigan Athletic away.

Burnley, the surprise package of last year's Championship open with an interesting match away to Stoke, and with the adrenaline, no doubt, running high throughout their squad, Burnley and Owen Coyle would fancy getting a point, or maybe three, at the Britannia, before they entertain Manchester United three days later.

As for the champions of last year's Championship, Wolverhampton Wanderer's, Mick McCarthy and his men will be hoping that they do not reproduce their one season cameo they had in the 2003/04 season, and in theory are best placed to be more than a one season wonder, after having the longest of the three teams to prepare for the up coming Premier League campaign.

Wolves open up with a home game, the only one of the three promoted sides to do so, against West Ham United. Not the toughest of fixtures, but one that McCarthy will not be taking lightly against Gianfranco Zola's side.

59 days and counting, then, till the new Premier League season. It will have to go some way to beat last year's story book season, which saw twists and turns from top to bottom of the league throughout the nine months, and with Wolves, Birmingham and Burnley joining the party, its set to be yet another magnificent season of Premier League football.

Opening Day Fixtures:

Aston Villa vs Wigan Athletic

Blackburn Rovers vs Manchester City

Bolton Wanderers vs Sunderland

Chelsea vs Hull City

Everton vs Arsenal

Manchester United vs Birmingham City

Portsmouth vs Fulham

Stoke City vs Burnley

Tottenham Hotspur vs Liverpool

Wolverhampton Wanderers vs West Ham United

*Matches to be played the weekend of the 15th/16th/17th of August