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I'll try not to be :-)
Amy was unlucky-lucky in England. She needed to play qualifiers to get her eye in, but was bumped up to MD (joining 2 former sparring partners) and just was not at the races.
Jenny is looking for cash - crowd funding like Amy i think. But I don't know. I know players mature later now, but she never struck me as someone who had the tools for the game and she's not going to start juicing up!
Sinead's a good kid and there are other good juniors, so I'll be more positive!
James had a handy enough win today, conditions looked pretty difficult, ball bouncing super low, and the wind was really strong, didn't watch the whole match as honestly it was bog standard stuff. All the same, to make a semi in a challenger is never easy, Ebden up next in that said semi, I'd expect James to bow out here, but if he's ever to win a challenger, all 3 others left in the draw are very beatable.
McGee well beaten 6-2 6-3 up to WR153 provisional. Disappointing today.
His ranking is now 155 .....
McGee took another top 100 scalp this evening beating Blaz Rola WR95 75 75 at the Challenger in Ilkley, Yorkshire. He plays (WC) Joshua Milton WR306 in the Quarter Finals.
McGee beat Joshua Milton for the 2nd time in 7 days today 63 63 - sets up a semi Final with Denis Kudla - the American was beaten in an epic final by Ebden last week, so its a big ask again for James this week - hopefully he can step up.
Still 3 Wimbledon Wildcards available / not announced yet. Kudla / Ebden / McGee all in the running for one - all 3 performing consistently well on Grass the last two weeks - all three appeared in both Grass Challenger Semi Finals.
If McGee does not get a WC - Qualifying starts on Monday.
McGee Beaten by Kudla - but it was more competitive this time around - lost in the end 62 76(5). Probably a touch disappointed the way it ended but he saved a few match points at 26 45
Edben plays Kudla in the Final for 2nd week in a row. - Ebden has been rewarded with a wildcard - still 1 wildcard to be announced.
Now provisionally ranked at #147 is Mr Mcgee. Done really well this grass court swing, his best set of results on grass in his career by far, good prep for Wimbledon.
If James got a WC that would be amazing for him, but Kudla would rightly feel very hard done by if he didn't get it.
Mcgee is continuing to improve his results which is really encouraging, still don't think he has the game to get very much higher, maybe 120 at a push, but I'm very happy for him that he's finally bearing fruit.
McGee gets Tobias Kamke (Ger) WR153 in first round of Wimbledon Qualifying - on at some stage tomorrow morning.
Kamke is in an amazingly bad run of form, ( one win in last 15 matches) James has a chance to take him, won't be easy.
Falla the likely opponent in round 2. I really don't see him beating a beast like that on grass.
Andre Kuznetsov or Andreas Beck in round 3.
No McGee in Wimbledon main draw this year I'm afraid.
Lost in 3 sets today to Kamke today .....
Former Irish based players in the ladies main draw. The increasingly muscular Vitalia Diatchenko and Margarita Gasparyan. Rita is in deep against favourite Serena Williams. She should take 4-5 games over the 2 sets and if she gets her power game going, it could be a shock!
Halep goes down in the 1st round. Ridiculous.
Brown v. Nadal. The Magik of Wimpleton!
Potter woman defends Serena's manhood.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/ar...000-times.html
Rowling has lost the run of herself a wee bit, what with interfering in a foreign country (Scotland) and her various other odd rants, but this will come back to haunt her.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crosby87
Serena is without doubt a powerful and tough tennis player, she has little competition and while she is heavily built, she used to look well. However she has substantially muscled up in the last 2-3 years and question marks remain.
Her missed test (when she refused to open the door to the testers) at home, 1 after the 2012 Olympics and testers being shut out of her French training base on more than one occasion, plus her boyfriend/coach and his links to known doping doctors in France/Spain. That is one issue.
Her personal life has been very well managed by her agency, anyone else would have been destroyed. When Sharapova (not the nicest of people herself) lost her temper and told the truth about Williams and her holier than thou attitude, the media rounded on Sharapova.
Serena's, at times, thuggish on court behaviour has been excused over and over (even when she has been disqualified) and her attitude towards officials off court has for years been horrendous.
She escapes sanction and exposure very often by pulling out the race card, yet she is very reticent to contribute to real coloured female groundbreakers.
All said, she's a nice enough person when she wants to be, but very unstable. Most female tennis players are, it's the nature of the business.
She gets unfair protection from the media and now when celebrities like JK Rowling jump in with both feet it eliminates any hard questions being asked.
One thing I find interesting is she claims she does no upper body work, that her arms are naturally toned....is that possible?
Her jaw line is much less chisled than a few years back....the dead give away for females in the wwf who used steroids was the jaw line. Chyna admits to using steroids for years and her jaw line was chisled. Serena reminded me of that a few years back. Just sayin.
Didn't post at all during the comp, but it was really enjoyable. Stan and Gasquet getting so far and their 1/4 final match were plus points for me, Federer was amazing v Murray, but couldn't keep anything near the same level of perfection against Djokovic, great final all the same, but that really had to have been Fed's last chance at a major, no other GS has a court as fast that favours his new style of play. I really can't see him being quite as good next year as he was this.
Nice to see James Ward finally get through some rounds, he'd been living a tough auld existence outside the top 100 as a nearly man previously, Murray/Peers making the doubles final also another good story for those lads. Pity Brown didn't really show up Vs Troicki after beating Rafa for the 2nd year in a row, the lad has skills and flair, shame he never puts runs together. That quarter of the draw was a massive opportunity with Nadal and Ferer going out so early, Pospisl will be delighted he took advantage.
Didn't watch quite so much of the womens, sickened for Radwanska that she just never has enough in the tank, or the power to win deep in a GS. She's doomed never to win one you'd think. Herself and Jerzy Janowicz should have some sort of super Polish mutant tennis baby, with her brain and his power.
Muguruza keeps looking better every year, she'll win a few GS's no doubt, dosen't seem afraid to take anyone on, nice to see glimmers of Azarenka returning to her old self. On an aside, Sharapova plays the most boring brand of tennis imaginable.
Would have been brilliant and hilarious if Heather Watson took Serena out, she gave it a real go, but didn't have the cojones to finish the job or win the big points on her serve.
Regarding Serena and doping, anyone who manages to dodge a drug test is as good as guilty of at least some minor wrong doings imo, why else would they be hiding. All the same they're a family of naturally very big strong people. She is very bulky, and must have a pretty low body fat % even as female athletes go, and would still be massive with or without doping. I don't see the chiseled jaw myself these days thou, she's about as feminine looking as a lady that strong can look, I guess.
Whatever she says about not exercising her arms is stupid, sure isn't playing tennis a massive arm workout in itself!
That backhand from Federer v Murray. Still. Wow.
Good points Acorn. Sharapova's grunting is out of control. The guy from Maroon Five went on Howard Stern a few years back and said she was one cold fish in the sack, telling him not to make any noise...I guess she saves it for Wimby?
Master of the obv but the girls need a real rivalry or someone new to at least be consistent. We hear about all of the next generation and it never seems to pan out here. Melanie Oudin had that one run and dissapeared. Christina Mchale got mono and fell off the map. Even Sloan....i doubt she will ever win a major. Why did Li Na retire?
One other thing....this trend in sports broadcasting where the announcers refuse to shut up the entire time....i like Chrissy Evert and Mcenroe but the entire match...they have like 3 people in one booth analyzing, and they all must feel like they have to earn their money....they never shut up the entire time. It happened in baseball on espn's sunday night telecast. Curt Schilling used to be a great announcer, he was such a gamer as a pitcher....and now he literally analyzes every single pitch....it's brutal. I can't believe these networks think people want to watch that way.