Monday
Some interesting developments in the women's fourth round at Wimbledon. Laura Robson, serving at 5-4 up in the first set tie-break, hit her second serve so badly it bounced before hitting the net, something I'd never seen before. In the second set, her opponent Kaia Kanepi had match point on her serve; her ball toss on the first serve was the worst I have ever seen. So bad in fact I swear it nearly went into the opposite tramlines. No surprise that after faulting on the first serve she followed with a double, although she did enough to see off Robson.
One of the features of Grand Slams is for the winners to fall on to the floor after the final point, or if you're Novak Djokovic start eating the grass. It's a bit more unusual to do it after reaching the quarter-finals though. Maybe it was a bit different for Sabine Lisicki who knocked out odds-on favourite Serena Williams, but Belgian 20th seed Kirsten Flipkins did the same after beating Flavia Pennetta. Maybe a slight overreaction?
Andy Murray v. Mikhail Youzhny has to be the battle of the worst challengers in tennis ever since Hawk Eye was introduced. And also a battle of the wounded with Murray clutching his back and Youzhny getting treatment on his shoulder. Fortunately, Muzz saw off the racquet-destroying Russian to set up a quarter-final clash with Fernando Verdasco.
In the cricket, Graeme Swann went for an x-ray on his arm, causing the nation to hold its breath like a broken metatarsal before a World Cup. Or not. Seeing as it was just bruising. Still, he might not be needed if Joe Root keeps taking wickets.
At Lancashire in the domestic Twenty20, a classic scenario in the first opener. Both openers were caught in the middle, only for Ashwell Prince to jog through so that his partner Stephen Moore got run out. Very classy.
Tuesday
According to Sky sources, Chris Samba is going back to Anzhi Makh... Makh...Makh, whatever they're called. Another success story at QPR. I do love it when the 'Sky sources understand' tweet comes up on Twitter, especially when the story has been broken about two days earlier. It goes down alongside Jim White on transfer window day as something which was funny to begin with and is now a parody of itself.
More good news for QPR fans with Steve McClaren joining the coaching staff. Clearly they are trying to help any Dutch signings bed in quickly.
Good to see Joe Kinnear at it again. After claiming a week ago he would not do any more interviews he then decided to say he was better than every other Director of Football. Apparently he has also won every award there is to win as a player. I'm sure we can think of some new ones for him.
England's match against Essex lost its first-class status due to the Essex bowling attack going off injured. Probably from all those Jonathan Trott fireworks.
An interesting interview between Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen. Some good quotes from KP, saying Brett Lee's spell at the Oval in 2005 wasn't very good (how did he see the ball at that pace?) and he didn't find facing Glenn McGrath very difficult. Try telling Michael Atherton that. Maybe KP forgets that McGrath broke his ribs in 2006.
Wednesday
Horror in Ireland as BOD is dropped. If the ECB is the England and Wales Cricket Board, should the British and Irish Lions become the Dragons?
Busy day for me today. Had to travel to Essex overnight to help make up the numbers.
Some beastly performances in the opening quarter finals at Wimbledon, first from Juan Martin del Potro who looked like he was going to go off injured after game one but then hammered David Ferrer, a man who if you listen to the commentators would not look out of place on Street Fighter. At the same time the machine (no, not James Wade) Novak Djokovic came from two breaks down in the second set to beat Tomas Berdych in three. That could be a stunning semi... and a decent tennis match.
Frankie Boyle adequately summed up Andy Murray's first two sets against Fernando Verdasco, the man with the most coiffeured hair in sport. The clearly uncontroversial comedian tweeted: "Nothing more Scottish than watching a guy in sportswear fuck up a court appearance #wimbledon." Quite. Until he won that is. Unfortunately what followed was a painful interview by Garry Richardson. I am not a man who will kick someone after making a mistake, like Geoff Shreeves after that Barcelona-Chelsea match a couple of years ago. But I've never enjoyed Richardson's line of questioning. In fact, there are very few good post-match interviews. They normally go along like this:
Interviewer: "How do you feel after winning?"
Player: "Good."
Interviewer: "You started badly. Was it because of yourself or your opponent?"
Player: "A bit of both."
Interviewer: "How did you turn it around?
Player: "I improved, he got worse."
Interviewer: "What do you think of your next opponent?"
Player: "It will be a tough match."
Interviewer: "Thank you for your excellent responses."
Thursday
Roberto Mancini is quoted as saying he doesn't know why he got sacked by Manchester City. Does the fact that every player seemed to hate him have something to do with it?
Coventry City are set to ground-share with Northampton Town, a town which is 34 miles away. I know Coventry fans miss watching Clive Platt but this is a step too far. Maybe the ground will be more than half filled for a change.
The new Fifa rankings had Colombia in third. Have the Fifa officials been smoking something?
Friday
Amir Khan wins the award for the best dressed in the Royal Box, rocking the place with his salmon suit. Let's be honest, he could be there in a mankini and nobody is going to tell him to change.
Lots of good semi jokes flying around today from Gary Lineker, Jeremy Clarkson and even Sky News. Shame they couldn't finish them off.
Opening semi of the day was truly arousing. The longest in Wimbledon history between the machine and the limping Argentine. Djokovic is an absolute cocktease of a player, offering you the possibility that he will be beaten before taking that away with some breathtaking tennis. Even when serving for the match he gave Del Potro a break back point before dashing his hopes with some first serves. Maybe one day the crowd will stop taking the side of his opponent.
Great drama was everywhere. In this day of watching more than one sporting match at the same time, as Janowicz started imploding in the third set against Murray, Lancashire needed three off the last ball against bitter rivals Yorkshire and ended up tieing the match. Having been cruising all the way through their innings it was a good point for Yorkshire, and an even better celebration from that hero Ryan Sidebottom.
Back at the tennis, not sure why they closed the roof at 8:45. If anything that's the perfect time to start some garden cricket...
Quote of the match came from Andrew Castle: "If you can keep your girlfriend happy you're doing well."
Saturday
The start of the sporting weekend began in style. Even when the Lions were winning early in the second half I felt disappointed. I get the impression that part of the Lions' appeal is to play sexy rugby and so far they had just done it all at the scrum which nobody seems to understand. But they turned it on in the final twenty-five minutes. Watching the Aussies get stuffed in their back yard is like sending me off for a weekend of sun, beer, garden cricket and falafel... with a horny and single Megan Fox. After last Saturday's defeat and the promise shown by the cricketers in their warm-up matches, I was starting to worry that the Australians were beginning to turn a corner. Let's hope this rout is a sign of things to come.
The women's Wimbledon final lasted 1 hour and 21 minutes. How do they get equal pay when they play so much less? Shouldn't the juniors get paid the same amount then? A good suggestion I heard was to pay competitors by sets won, which would certainly be fairer.
Poor form by John Inverdale. I know I can't preach about sexism but saying Marion Bartoli isn't much of a looker is not just acceptable on TV and, to be honest, it's like me having a go at someone for having a big nose.
Notts continued their incredible limited overs form which has seen them lose just one match in the YB40 and Twenty20 competitions so far. It's a shame you just know they'll cock it up later. I love watching David Hussey play though. Let's just be glad he's not in the Ashes.
Sunday
Only one story dominating the agenda today. But apart from Mamma Mia on ITV there was the Wimbledon final.
Now, I don't know about you, but I feel a bit short changed. I mean, only three sets? That's not what we expect. If it's any consolation to Djokovic it's that he had a better day than the umpire who called out during a point in the first set only to allow play to continue. Early in the next set he then overruled a fault called on the Murray to serve only for replays to show it was actually out.
The commentary team the BBC put forward was probably not universally popular. Still, Andrew Castle provided some mild humour by identifying Tim Henman's Mum and Dad, only for the former to actually be somebody else. It may be the first Grand Slam final where a commentator was informed that he had a new parent.
The biggest losers were Wayne Rooney - whose hair transplant seems to be about as strong as his relationship with the Manchester United crowd - and Alex Salmond, who rose the Scottish flag after Murray's win only for the BBC to move somewhere else. The Lions get Daniel Craig watching, Murray gets a bunch of politicians.
Some good and bad news for Murray. The good is that Garry Richardson wasn't there to interview him at the end. The bad is that he will actually have to turn up for SPOTY this year otherwise his new found popularity might recede as much as Rooney's hairline.
I will say this though. Murray's win will do more for British tennis in the future than any amount of funding from the LTA. The problem for him is what next? I might sound a bit ridiculous (for a change) but wouldn't it be great if Murray could commit to the Davis Cup and try and help Britain win it? With lots of good doubles players it's not impossible. Golf has the Ryder Cup, team sports have the internationals, so why should we not try and achieve international success in tennis?
Meanwhile...
Tweet of the week: @ESPNcricinfo - "When Chris Rogers last played for Australia, they were coming off a 16-Test winning streak. Fair to say times have changed since."
Story of the week: Boozy Sri Lanka cricketer tries to open a plane door whilst in the air - http://www.espncricinfo.com/srilanka/content/story/646865.html
Some fans don't take relegation as well as others - http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/video/2013/jul/01/argentina-independiente-fans-attack-president-relegation-video?CMP=twt_gu
Collapse of the week: No, not the Australian scrum but Pakistan women who went from 101-2 to 116 all out against England, thus losing by 111 runs
Picture of the week: What's Murray got in his bag? https://twitter.com/_itsjustcalvin/status/353248726384517121/photo/1
Spoilsports of the week: You're Bournemouth, you get a friendly with Real Madrid, you charge... £60 for an adult?!
The Spain-Tahiti award for mismatch of the week: Adebayo Akinfenwa - well known tank - arm wrestling against Darren Gough - http://instagram.com/p/bT_LcnjSpW/
The Elle Macpherson award for the body: Football had Diego Forlan playing on with his top off having been celebrating his goal and rugby now has its own equivalent. Step forward Jean Deysel http://www.rugbydump.com/2013/07/3284/jean-deysel-plays-on-despite-getting-jersey-ripped-by-rene-ranger
Sport next week
There's the Ashes and... well who cares about the rest? Check out my preview here http://jlamy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/ashes-preview.html
No comments:
Post a Comment