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from Left field:

“What a Wimbledon” – Rusedski

This year’s Wimbledon Championships had a lot of interesting stories. On the men's side it was all about the top 4 players in the world. On the ladies it was about Sharapova, the Williams sisters, and whether or not any of the young pretenders could win the Championships.

All of the top 4 cruised into the men’s quarter-finals. Only Rafael Nadal was a bit of a worry hurting his foot against Juan Del Potro in the first set. After the match he said he would have to take painkillers for the rest of the tournament and possibly miss the next 6 weeks after Wimbledon finished. This brought hope that possibly Andy Murray could beat Nadal if they both reached the semi-finals which they both did easily. Expectations were reaching fever pitch now with a real belief Murray could make the finals.

In the other quarter-finals Djokovic was playing the 18-year-old qualifier Bernard Tomic. Tomic was the third youngest player in the history of Wimbledon to make the quarter-finals with only Becker and McEnroe being younger. Djokovic won in 4 tight sets, but Tomic proved he was world class and will be one to look out for in the future.

The match of the quarter-finals everyone was looking forward to was Roger Federer versus Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the Queens Club finalist. Federer played a sublime first two sets and had never ever lost a grand slam match from two sets to love up, but on this occasion Tsonga lifted his game and won the next 3 sets to win in 5.

from Left field:

Djokovic and Kvitova lead European charge

Few things in sport can be sweeter than lifting the Wimbledon trophy, as Novak Djokovic and Petra Kvitova found out on Saturday and Sunday.

Djokovic even took a shining to the hallowed Wimbledon turf, describing his post-win snack as "well kept", but in all seriousness the Serb is winning fans left right and centre and on Monday will be confirmed as world number one for the first time.

New era? His Mum thought so, but the battler that is Rafa Nadal won't give up without a fight, and whereas Roger Federer is approaching 30 and is towards the end of his career, the likeable Spaniard is only just 25 and has some of his best moments ahead no doubt.

As for Kvitova, the shy Czech girl did her country proud at a fruitful championships for her nation in which the eastern Europeans did well. The Czechs had three winners to be precise, to Serbia's one and the United States all-action men's doubles duo of Bob and Mike Bryan landed the other title.

Just one more major of the year left now. In two months the US Open will be at the business end. Any betting against Nadal and Djokovic slugging it out for top spot?

Picture: Novak Djokovic of Serbia kisses the winners trophy after defeating Rafael Nadal of Spain in the men's singles final at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London July 3, 2011. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

from Photographers Blog:

Wimbledon, William and a Mexican Wave

Rafael Nadal is hurt. A physio and a doctor have arrived on court to inspect his left foot. I scramble to position myself directly across the court from his chair to capture what could be a crucial moment in the match. It is towards the end of a tense first set. Temperatures have only cooled slightly from a sweltering 33 degrees C (91F).

In my haste to capture Nadal's injury I had left my original position with just a 300mm lens and Canon Mark 4 body, knowing I had to be agile as I joined a crush of photographers.

As I shot a few frames, I noticed out of the corner of my non-shooting eye his opponent Juan Martin Del Potro complaining that Nadal is wasting time. Engrossed in this unfolding tennis story, I try to ignore the crowd who are restless and trying to get a Mexican Wave going.

Then something clicks in my brain. A Mexican wave isn't normally a big deal -- but it is when British royal Prince William and his new wife Kate are in the audience.

Sure enough, as I swivel my camera to the royal box, the wave is sweeping towards them. I reach for the lenses that aren't there because I left them at my original position and mutter a very un-regal curse. Thankfully, I still manage to capture William and the Duchess of Cambridge joining the fun, in their own awkward and out-of-sync style.

from Left field:

Mercury rises on Wimbledon’s ‘Manic Monday’

A record crowd for a Wimbledon second Monday witnessed some breathtaking tennis while finding the time to take onboard plenty of liquids as temperatures soared in London.

The Williams sisters found the going tough and their so far impressive comebacks hit the buffers, while women's number one Caroline Wozniacki's route to a first grand slam title also came unstuck, but in the men's draw there were no real dramas as the top four all hit their straps and made the quarters.

All eyes will be on team Nadal on Tuesday, after the world number one injured his foot during his epic win over Juan Martin Del Potro, especially British ones as the Spaniard could face home hope Andy Murray in the last four.

First up on Tuesday however are the women's quarter-finals, and 2004 winner Maria Sharapova is the favourite to clinch her fourth grand slam crown, though among the other seven women in contention lurks German Sabine Lisicki, seeking to become the first wildcard to win the women's title.

Finally a word on Bernard Tomic, the story so far of the men's draw, who at 18 became the youngest man to reach the last eight since a certain former winner Boris Becker in 1986. Good omens if you like that sort of thing. The young Aussie already has plenty of fans and with his all-round play he's set to win many more. He next faces Novak Djokovic.

Picture: The shadows of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France (L) and a ball boy are reflected onto a wall-covering on the court during the match against David Ferrer of Spain at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London June 27, 2011. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

from Left field:

Rusedski’s picks for Wimbledon

With Wimbledon starting on Monday, all eyes turned to the event in Eastbourne. It became very interesting because of Serena and Venus Williams participation. Serena has not played since winning Wimbledon last year because of a freak accident in Munich, were she stepped on broken glass while walking to her hotel room after a night out. She was walking bare foot and cut ligaments in her feet as well as cutting her feet up badly. It took her nearly a full year to recover.

On the other hand her sister Venus hasn't played much due to a hip injury this year. I believe this is only her third event of the year. Serena played really well considering her lay off and beat Pirokova in the first round in 3 sets after starting very poorly. Pirokova was a tough match because she has made the semi-finals at Wimbledon and plays well on grass. Due to the long layoff Serena was not seeded at Eastbourne, because she has lost all her ranking points from last year. The ranking works on a 52 week calendar and if you don't defend your points, your ranking disappears.

In the next round Serena lost to the top seed and world number 3 Vera Zvonerava. Serena actually served for the match in the 2nd set, but unfortunately did not come through. She is not that far off in her game considering she has been away for so long. Expect a good Wimbledon run from Serena and if the All England Club seeds her, she could be very dangerous. Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam that is allowed to seed players however they like because they say grass is a specialist surface. It is also based on your last 3 years’ performances at Wimbledon. I totally disagree with this and believe the seeds should be based on official rankings. Grass courts are not a specialist surface anymore because they have slowed down the courts by getting rid of the thistle in the grass, and changing it to rye grass a few years ago. They have also slowed down the balls through ball pressure and the cover on the ball. Grass plays more like a medium hard court and is slower than the French Open.

Venus looks very good at the moment even though she lost in the quarter-finals at Eastbourne. She will be a threat at Wimbledon. A lot of people’s favorite is Sharapova after her great run to the semi-finals at the French Open and also because she has won Wimbledon before. It is wide open on the women’s side again with other threats; Li Na, who became the first Chinese player to win a singles grand slam at the French Open two weeks ago, Petra Kvitova, the talented left handed Czech player, Victoria Azarenka from Belarus, and last year’s finalist Vera Zvonerava all contenders.

from Left field:

“Bring on Wimbledon!” – Rusedski

The grass court season is finally underway. I love this time of year. We finally get to see some attacking tennis, but still not as much as during my era because the courts and balls are a lot slower.

The Queen's Club Championships started with one of its best fields in the tournaments history with 15 of the top 20 in the world entered. The only big withdrawal was that of Novak Djokovic, sighting a knee problem, but I am sure he will be fine for Wimbledon. Nadal, the six time French open champion, arrived Monday evening after all his sponsor commitments at Disneyland Paris. He is such a professional; he had a 1 hour 45min intense practice session and entered the doubles event as well to get match practice before his first round match in singles on Wednesday.

Just to be at the event after his exertion at the French Open is a credit to Nadal. Federer on the other hand was so shattered he pulled out of the event in Halle to rest before Wimbledon. There needs to be a week off in between the French Open and the grass court season. Common sense needs to prevail one day.

The second seed for the event was Andy Murray who was full of confidence because of his run at the French Open. He played really well this past week and looked like the favorite for the tournament from day one. He was serving well, being more aggressive, and was more consistent with his body language. You can really see the influence of Darren Cahill in all these areas. Even the press are getting a better vibe and energy from Andy. The only two areas I would like to see improve on court are: hitting through the forehand up the line more because at times it is too predictable and crosscourt too often. Also, using the serve out wide on the deuce side more.

Murray got through to the semi-finals where he faced Andy Roddick. Most people thought this was going to be a tough match. I did not, because Roddick was playing unusual tennis hitting a lot of slice backhands and not hitting his two handed backhand on the rise up the line at all. This tactic played straight into Murray’s hands and let him restart the point whenever he was in trouble. In addition, his serve was still not back to its best after being out for a month with shoulder problems. Murray, on the other hand, played like a dream and won 6-3 6-1. The best performance from Murray on grass that I have ever seen.

Best of Britain: Living with history

Each of this week’s Best of Britain photos touches on how events from the past continue to make their effects felt.  Whether it’s people remembering the victims of the 7/7 London Bombings, tennis fans hoping for a Brit to once again win Wimbledon, or actors breaking a centuries-old Shakespearean taboo, each photo is a small example of living with history.

Also included are photos of anti-war protesters, an unprecedented treasure find, an art exhibit featuring the Queen and a wall-building competition, done the old fashioned way.

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from Left field:

Holding court with Greg Rusedski

Wimbledon 2010 has been a great Championships, the weather for the two weeks has been absolutely perfect. Sun and more sun, not a drop of rain, the first time since 1995. They should have built that 40 million pound roof sooner! There were a lot of question marks going into this Wimbledon Championships for Andy Murray but fortunately for him he had a dream draw and took advantage in the first week to play himself into form.

For me though, the match of the tournament and the first week was John Isner versus Nicolas Mahut. I asked the BBC to schedule me on a short match so I could watch the all important England vs Slovenia qualifying match for the knockout stage of the Football World Cup. They said “No problem, we’ll put you on the Isner/Mahut match, they only have one set to finish”. So off I went with a rookie tennis commentator by the name off Ronald MacIntosh to finish the match he had started the day before. I joked that the outcome would be 27/25 in the final set to Isner, 8 hours 30 minutes later, over two days; I had been part of tennis history. We broke all records; longest match, longest set, most games ever played, most aces, longest match ever commentated on etc etc. It finished 70/68 in the 5th set for John Isner. This is a record which will never be broken. So much for watching the football, England did go on to win 1-0 though.

The other story of the first week was how much Federer and Nadal were struggling, especially Federer but by the end of the week, they both seemed back to their best. On the women’s side, it was normal service pretty much, except for French Open Champion Francesca Schiavone losing in the first round. The second week and especially on the Monday, is when the real tournament started in the men’s and women’s draws. On the women’s side, Serena Williams played Maria Sharapova which to me, was the women’s match of the tournament. It was an epic first set, with both players having set points with Serena narrowly winning it 11-9 in the tie breaker. The quality and power hitting was exceptional. Serena went on to win the match 7-6, 6-4. It’s great to see two Wimbledon champions playing at their best; Sharapova will be back in the women’s top 5 playing on this form. The other interesting women’s encounter was Henin vs Clijsters which went 3 sets with neither playing their best tennis at the same time. Clijsters ended up winning in 3 sets.

On the men’s side, it was normal service for Federer, Nadal, Murray, Soderling and Djokovic. The major surprise of the day was Andy Roddick loosing to Yen-Hsun Lu from Taiwan. This is the first time that a Taiwanese player has been to a Grand Slam quarter-final, what an effort. He only created one break point in the match which ended up being match point; he went on to win 9-7 in the 5th set. Unfortunately for Andy Roddick I think that this year’s Wimbledon finals will have been his last chance to win the title. I hope I am wrong though because I know there are a lot of Roddick fans out there.

The big shock of the tournament came on Wednesday when Tomas Berdych beat Roger Federer. Tomas Berdych was my outside pick of the tournament even though I picked another Federer / Nadal final with Nadal going onto win it. Berdych played great and over powered Federer. Federer was too defensive and a bit slow but after the match we found out that he was struggling with a back and leg problem. Federer has dropped out of the Top 2 in the world for the first time in 8 years. These are worrying times for Federer but not entirely unexpected. Life changes when you are happily married with two children and have achieved everything in tennis. He is already the greatest tennis player in the history of the game. He has dominated the game in the last 5 years and we will never see the likes of him again. He is 28 years old and in tennis terms that is already getting on! What he has accomplished is super human and it is amazing that he has kept up his motivation and drive this long. I do not believe he will get back to number one again but I still believe that he has a few more majors left in him. With Nadal back to his best and Berdych, Soderling and Murray all playing well, it will only get tougher for him. We will know more about Roger when he gets to the US Open in a few months. Don’t write him off just yet but it will only get harder for him because players are really starting to believe they can beat him.

For the women, upsets kept happening and the semi-finals line up was Serena Williams vs Petra Kvitova and Vera Zvonareva vs Tsvetana Pironkova. Once this semi-final line up happened there was only going to be one winner and that was Serena Williams. Her serve and power were the key to her Wimbledon success; she served a record 89 aces which has never happened before at Wimbledon in the women’s game. There is no-one in the world who can stay with her when she is motivated, hungry and serves like this on hard court and grass. She will rule women’s tennis for a long time if she stays healthy.

The match of the tournament we were all waiting for was Murray vs Nadal in the semi-finals. A lot of people had picked Murray but you can never count out the world’s number one and 7 time Grand Slam champion. Nadal played his best tennis of the tournament and Murray was totally outplayed in the match. Murray will have to improve his serve and forehand, he will need to be more aggressive like when he reached the final of the Australian Open. I also believe he needs some extra advice from team Adidas (one of his sponsors.) Being part of the Adidas team should allow Andy access to Andre Agassi, Andy Murray’s idol growing up as a kid and also to Darren Cahill, he is considered the best coach in men’s tennis. In 2009 Federer was trying to employ Darren Cahill as his coach but Darren decided to stay with Team Adidas instead. Andy Murray is good enough to be the world’s number one and win majors but he needs extra help with the finer details to help him to win his first Grand Slam title.

Best of Britain: Competitions and celebrations

This week’s Best of Britain photos highlight a week of competitions and celebrations.

The first couple of photos are from sporting events high on the minds of Britons: Wimbledon and the World Cup. Also included is a photo of John Isner’s final victory at the end of an epic record-setting 11 hour 5 minute match against Nicolas Mahut.

Between them are summer solstice celebrations and revellers marking the 40th anniversary of the Glastonbury festival, as well as a race of Sumo-suited runners and the winner of the Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.

from Left field:

Roddick gatecrashes Murray’s Wimbledon party

The build-up to Friday's second Wimbledon semi-final was all about Briton Andy Murray but the man of the hour was the fearless American Andy Roddick.

Sat on a packed and sunny Centre Court, the prospect of Murray's party being gate-crashed did not take long to dawn on a crowd who did not seem sure who they should be cheering for.

Roddick never stopped playing like a man on a mission, contesting every point while Murray's more subtle, patient approach was not coming to fruition as many had predicted.

Murray produced glimpses of magic and he stood up bravely to return many of Roddick's meteoric serves, which hit a staggering speed of 143MPH, but his own first serve let him down too often and the passing shots he regularly makes went amiss.

On paper, this was a match Murray was meant to win, but in reality the world number three was outplayed by sixth seed Roddick whose recent good form has coincided with a much fitter physique.

At 22-years-old, a grand slam semi-final still represents progress for Murray and the defeat will by no means damage his confidence or reputation -- British fans will just have to wait a little longer for a homegrown Wimbledon finalist. After all it has been 71 years already.

However, tennis fans will not begrudge Roddick, a former world number one and the 2003 U.S. Open champion, another chance to renew his rivalry with defending champion and overwhelming favourite Roger Federer in Sunday's final.