Search This Blog

Showing posts with label Wimbledon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wimbledon. Show all posts

Monday, 13 July 2015

Indian Tennis Golden Moments Sania and Leander Are Champs

#Wimbledon 2015

India witnessed glory on 12th and 13th July 2015 at Wimbledon.

Women's Doubles - Amazing Fightback
Tennis star #Sania #Mirza teamed up with Swiss legend #Martina #Hingis to become the first Indian woman to win a tennis Grand Slam on Saturday, 11th Jul 2015. What a feeling!!

In a three set edge-of-the-seat thriller, the duo beat Elena Vesnina-Ekaterina Makarova 5-7, 7-6, 7-5. What made the victory more sensational was that these two came back remarkably from 2-5 down in the third set to drawl level and eventually win the contest under the covered roof. Absolutely sensational! Sania dedicated her win to India's women and urged them to dream and pursue it. Wonderful feeling.
 
Mixed Doubles - Walk in the Park
On 12th evening, just after the men's singles final, India's tennis legend #Leander #Paes teamed up with #Martina #Hingis, yet again to win the mixed doubles crown.

The pair drubbed a hapless combination of Peya/Bohosh 6-1, 6-1 in under 40 minutes. Just amazing tennis from the two superstars to provide a master-class to newbies on tour. Lee is 42 and Hingis 34, both veterans (and old by tennis standards) but their skill and overall ability showed on Centre Court.

Leander has now won the mixed doubles crown 4 times, each time with a different partner
1999 - with Lisa Raymond
2003 - with Martina Navratilova
2010 - with Cara Black
2015 - with Martina Hingis

#ProudOfYou - Lee and Sania.
Well done Martina!!

Powered by
http://www.whowillwinthecup.com

 

Sunday, 12 July 2015

Its SerenaSlam! Watch out CalendarSlam

#Serena #Williams completed #SerenaSlam by winning Wimbledon 2015 yesterday.
This was her 21st Grand Slam crown, just one shy of #Steffi  #Graf's 22, to become holder of the record in #tennis   #open #era. This was also her 8th Grand slam crown after age of 30, another record. Whats next for Serena? The #CalendarSlam is next with US open in a few weeks time! Way to go Serena....


Here's how she completed the #SerenaSlam
US Open 2014 bt. Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 6-3
Aus Open 2015 bt. Maria Sharapova 6-3, 7-6
French Open 2015 bt. Lucie Safarova 6-3, 6-7, 6-2
Wimbledon 2015 bt. Garbine Muguruza 6-4, 6-4

Apart from the French Open final last month where she was really challenged by Lucie Safarova in a three setter, she seems to win these finals pretty easily. Just that champion instinct probably. She ups the game couple of notches in finals of tournaments to down her hapless opponents.

Her Grand Slam record now reads 21 - 4 (25 finals played, 21 victories, 4 losses) which is phenomenal. Her only final losses include

US Open 2001 lost to Venus Williams 2-6, 4-6
Wimbledon 2004 lost to Maria Sharapova 1-6, 4-6
Wimbledon 2008 lost to Venus Williams 5-7, 4-6
US Open 2011 lost to Samantha Stosur 2-6, 3-6 

Interestingly all her final losses have been straight-set losses as well. Twice to her elder sister Venus and more recently to the unfancied Samantha Stosur in US Open 2011. Since then she has won all US Open titles and the 2015 title will give her the CalendarSlam! You wouldn't bet against her to complete it with that kind of a record.

Overall titles of Serena in Grand Slams
Australian Open - 6
French Open - 3
Wimbledon - 6
US Open - 6

At 33, she has a couple of years definitely to push that record beyond everyone's reach you'd say?

Powered by:
http://www.whowillwinthecup.com



Friday, 3 July 2015

With Rafa Out And Seeds Falling It Gets Interesting

#WimbledonUnderway

If Day 1 belonged to the top players cruising through their first round matches, Day 2 saw some upsets in the women's draw to make things interesting. Top seeds #Serena and #Kvitova recorded easy wins though.

The upsets came in for 3rd Seed #Simona #Halep. Last year's semi finalist and seeded very high this year, Simona was expected to challenge the bigger seeds. What turned out was drab affair where she lost in straight sets.

Similar fate awaited last year's finalist Eugenie Bouchard losing again in straight sets.

In the men's draw, things were moving according to script with some casualties here and there until Dustin Brown decided to pull out something special against Rafael Nadal. Rafa is certainly not in his elements and with injuries he's moving a touch slow. Dustin took this opportunity to howcase his power and agility to outrun Nadal in four sets to cause the biggest upset of the Championships so far. 

Other casualties included Raonic going down to upcoming star Nick Kyrgios, Goffin beating Baghdatis, Krunic beating 19th ranked Errani from Italy, Matek-Sands beating Ana Ivanovic, 11th seed Pliskova going down to Vandeweghe.

Its all becoming very interesting as we approach Week 2 at the Championships!

Powered by:
http://www.whowillwinthecup.com


Wednesday, 24 June 2015

World Number 1 Who Never Won At Wimbledon

#WimbledonAwaits

There have been great Wimbledon champions over the years and some glorious matches too. But how many have made headlines for not winning #Wimbledon?

#Ivan #Lendl​ - will forever remain etched in the annals of Wimbledon​ history as the greatest #tennis player never to win #TheChampionships.

He dominated the men's scene through the mid and late eighties, winning every tournament and #grand #slam along the way, except this one.
 
He still holds record for being ranked #1 for a stupendous 157 weeks!

During this same period he reached the Wimbledon finals twice, 1986 and 1987 losing to teen sensation #Boris #Becker​ and unseeded and unfancied #Pat #Cash​ respectively (both matches in straight sets).

Every top player dreaded playing Ivan because he was "robot" like on the court - precise, composed and never tired. Never a crowd favourite due to his almost emotionless demeanour on court and outside it but once he walked in to play, he just churned win after win.

The crowd started loving him once his die-hard ambition to win the Wimbledon crown became public. He even offered to exchange all his grand slams for that one elusive title he so cherished.
1987 was his best chance and he floundered against Cash. After that, he came and tried year after year but the gen next had taken tennis to next level of powerplay. He couldn't handle that and retired Wimbledon trophy-less!

He seeked redemption when his protégé, #Andy #Murray​ won the Wimbledon title in 2013. He partly lived his dream of being the champion here and the crowd saluted the hero of yesteryears who came so near, yet so far from the greatest triumph in tennis!

Powered by: http://www.whowillwinthecup.com


 

Tuesday, 9 June 2015

After French Open History Its Wimbledon Glory


#Wimbledon #2015

From Red hot Clay the Green Soothing Grass!
From vibrancy in colors (did you see Stan Wawrinka's color shorts?? they were talk of the town all through the tournament) to all WHITES
From casuals to ultra formals and etiquette

Yes, we off to #Centre #Court at the legendary #Wimbledon know as "The Championships". The oldest and arguably the best of all #Grand #Slam tournaments (with all due respect to Australian Open, French Open and US Open) gets underway from 29th June 2015.

Its all about history, tradition and glory at the #AELTC Club in #Wimbledon.
The #Championships began way back in 1877 where 22 amateurs (all men, women's tennis was introduced 7 years later in 1884) participated with an entrance fee and had to get their own playing kit (racquets, shoes)! The AELTC only provided green balls as sponsorship. Wow...

Fast forward to 2015 where BBC will be covering the entire event like never before.
Its already being talked as the biggest, costliest and most watched sport event ever!!

The 138 year old tournament has seen it all.
Amateurs turning in legends. Canvas shoes to Nike and Reebok, Wooden racquets to Fiber ones, long maxis to mini skirts, one thing has not changed is the TRADITION and that is why this tournament is loved by everyone.

The rituals, discipline at the venue with time precision make it a treat to watch alongside tennis greats cracking serves and volleys. The Duchess and Duke of Kent don't seem to be old for years as they stride to give away the awards and trophies. the ball boy parades and drills, the only whites on all players, organizing committee member meetups, the rain songs, the covers being pulled to the court, the bow to the royal box and so on.... Its all there for everyone to see, witness and wonder how they do it with precision year on year?

Wimbledon has produced some of the most breathtaking sports moments in history. Magaret Court and her legendary wins, Rod Laver's great rivalry against Newcombe, Smith and Rosewall, McEnroe's outbursts of anger and equally brilliant strokeplay against his great rivals, Bjorn Borgs 5 consecutive titles, Martina Navratilova with 9 titles and her amazing rivalry with Chris Evert, German teen sensations turned all time greats, Steffi Graf and Boris Becker, Pistol Pete Sampras and the every lovable Andre Agassi, the Williams sisters, Yana Novotna's tradition breaking crying on the shoulder of her highness the Duchess of Kent, the epic battles between Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal, emerging talents in Djokovic, Murray, Sharapova and the list goes on... 

So what do we have in store for this year?  
A piece of history ... one more time!

Powered by:
http://www.whowillwinthecup.com