oops that should be women’s doubles final
Mediocre finale. I wondered out loud what was up with Novak in the 2nd set. I commented to my husband that he seemed like he was having either breathing issues or he was nauseated. He just wasn’t playing like himself. Still have no idea if his vomiting was caused by a bug or his own nerves.
Shame that the men’s final was so dull. The women poured it on.
As far as fashion goes, I loved Nadal’s outfit. In fact, I’m going to order it for my husband for Father’s Day because he looks fine in powder blue.
I also liked Muguruzka’s outfit on her, less so on Errani. Sharapova’s was fine, but I dislike when the material gets darker when it’s wet with sweat. It tends to outline that which we don’t want to necessarily outline.
Nadal just lost to the 85th ranked Dustin Brown (who I quite like - he is such a magnifcent looking dude) at a grass court tournament in Germany.
And Murray lost at Queens to Radek Stepanek. I saw most of the match - Murray looked a bit tired after a couple of tough five-setters in Paris, and was unable to close out the first set despite having 8 set points in the tiebreak. Stepanek then produced two more great points to snatch it, before running away with the second. A good performance by him - he certainly didn’t look like one of the oldest players on tour (at 35) the way he chased down several of Murray’s best shots.
Murray claims it’s no bad thing that he lost and I tend to agree - it will give him more time to rest ahead of defending his Wimbledon title, and to work on the areas of his game that are not quite firing at the moment (his serve, particularly the second serve, is not where it should be).
This is my favourite part of the season - no doubt I’m biased as a Brit, but grass court tennis is by far the best to watch in my opinion. If only we had a few more serve and volley players. One of the commentators the other day (I think it was John Lloyd) mentioned that some of the top players are trying to get the time between points/games extended, as they can’t keep up rallies of 20-30 strokes with only minimal gaps in between. He made the very good point that in that case, they should look for ways to shorten the rallies sometimes (which often leads to more interesting points) rather than spend even more time adjusting their sweatbands/fiddling with their racquets/scratching their behinds.
Not surprising. Nadal and Djokovic were both toast at the end of the French Open. The question is whether he was really trying to win, or did Brown beat him in an honest match.
Federer lost track of the score and failed to realize he had just won the match.
I’m guessing coverage in the rest of the world may be limited to non-existent, but is anyone following the Aegon Championships at Eastbourne (one of the main warm-ups for Wimbledon for the women)? Just caught the first set of the quarter-final between Giorgi and Wozniacki. I have never heard of the former but she is a young Italian who seems to have all the shots. Great first set, with Giorgi putting in lots of winners but also many more unforced errors than Wozniacki. Strange ending to the tiebreak whereby the umpire overruled a non-existent call (yes, really!) and so had to stop a point that Wozniacki had all but won - which was a set point to Giorgi. On the next point Giorgi made an error and then drove the ball into the crowd at the far end, hitting a spectator - for which she received a warning, the commentators were suggesting it could have been an automatic default but I suspect the umpire felt guilty for interrupting the previous point. Anyway, Giorgi promptly won the next two points to take the set, and it’s 2-2 in the second. Unfortunately I have to go out now but Giorgi is looking good to win at the moment.
And, most importantly - no grunting/shrieking from either play - joy!
I just saw some highlights, and loved how Brown was serving and volleying and putting pressure on Nadal. I love to see someone s&v like my beloved Pat Rafter!
Bagdatis beat Brown in the first round. Would have loved to have seen it - but it was on one of the outer courts so wouldn’t have been on TV anyway.
& kiwi Erakovic out in the first round, beaten by the up & coming Konjuh. Hope doubles goes better for her. She & her partner just one the doubles in The Netherlands.
I’m not sure how much I’m going to see dammit! TVNZ decided they would rather concentrate on the soccer & Sky Sport also didn’t bid. There will be some shown on our single ESPN channel.
There were no huge upsets today, but a few teen seeds went down: Verdasco, Sam Stosur, and Sloane Stephens, who has been pretty consistent at majors but is struggling overall. They didn’t get all the way through the scheduled before the rains came.
Here’s an upset for you: David Ferrer loses to 2009 Wimbledon juniors’ champ Alex Kuznetsov in five sets.
And down goes Azarenka, at the hands of Bojana Jovanovski. In her defense she’s hardly played since Australia because of a foot injury.
I would have liked to have seen that. I did see it on a result montage & Kuznetsov looks quite ridiculously young! 
Erakovic out of the doubles as well. That just leaves the (American educated) Michael Venus in the men’s doubles.
Saw the tail end of the Novak/Stepanek match - what a thriller. I’m normally a Novak fan, but I was pulling for the old guy in this one - he tried so hard!
I’m still getting used to the ESPN coverage style - it does seem to flit around a bit. Is it like that in the States or is it because we have just the one ESPN channel?
Given the fashion disasters at the FO, I’m loving the whites, with Novak & Tsonga looking particularly handsome!
Venus & his American partner lost in four sets. Kiwis aren’t out of Wimbledon yet as Erakovic has elected to play mixed. She has very little experience in mixed at top level though, so I’m not holding my breath.
I saw the start of the Nadal/Rozol match - so exciting. Nadal looked like he didn’t know what hit him! I had to go to bed after the second set & was disappointed that Rozol han’t pulled it off.
Bringing down a top seed in a 5-set match is very, very difficult because it gives them too long to adjust. I mean, they can use the entire first set just to collect data.
More than that, it’s just difficult to outplay a really great player over a long match - the longer the contest is, the more likely it is that the better player is going to win. And the top players also have a lot more experience playing five set matches. Rosol has played 20 of them in his career, and Nadal often plays more than that in one season.
I guess that makes Kyrgios’s win over Gasquet all the more remarkable then. I saw part of the first two sets (I was dozing in front of the TV) & even when down Kyrgios still looked quite cheerful.
Kyrgios saved, what, nine match points? That’s remarkable no matter where and when it happens.
Very busy day today: Kvitova edged past Venus, 7-5 in the third, while Li Na and Tomas Berdych lost. Dolgopolov pushed Dmitrov to five sets and Lleyton Hewitt almost pulled off a 0-2 comeback against Jerzy Janowicz. Murray won easily, and so did Djokovic despite a hard fall late in the third set.
I’m quite fond of old Leyton. He always looks like he believes he can win another Grand Slam.
I was (reluctantly) listening to the morning sport radio & since NZ hasn’t had a top level singles player since Brett Stevens retired in 1999, there is a lot of interest in this young man.
Oops in the 2nd paragraph I was talking about Kyrgios.