TENNIS: Wimbledon - end of week one
Jul. 1st, 2012 07:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllFriday night I came to the Federer vs. Benneteau match at the conclusion of the second set. Could we be seeing another upset? Conventional tennis wisdom made me think that he'd find it easier to win in three sets than in four than in five. (But after Rosol, did CTW apply?) Well, just as the Beeb put them on BBC1, he flopped badly, and will probably rue the fourth set.
My Saturday was very full of tennis - I saw lots of the endings of matches, but only one in full. I saw the following get through: Ivanovic (they'll be pleased with the result, but surely not the play); Kvitova (impressive form, again); Serena Williams (hmph); Del Potro (after squeaking through the second set tiebreak); Ferrer (I thought he would be stronger than Roddick, but Roddick started off impressively and Ferrer weirdly, but the Spaniard played his way into it).
And then there was The Match That I Saw in Full, which managed to overshadow the second longest match for some very weird happenings. Baghdatis opened obviously enjoying the occasion, but Murray finally managed to pressure him and got the first set. He was a break up in the second, and why should we worry that they'd started late? Yes, it seemed as if we'd be dancing from channel to channel, but Cilic and Querry were neck and neck, exhausting each other with their big serves. Time to relax?
Ha.
Things did not go to plan. Murray was not a happy camper with Baghdatis pretty much matching him on the tennis front, the Scot slipping and sliding and then the balls falling out of his pocket. It really felt as though the break would help him more.
And as the match resumed, the 11 o'clock deadline became a real issue. Yes, Murray stepped back on the court with more intensity, giving him some of the authority you'd expect from the no. 4 seed but it took him a while to get the break though, long enough for me to think gloomily that they'd have to continue until Monday.
I shouldn't have feared, although Murray's winning did feel inevitable at the end of the fourth, Baghdatis sort of capitulated/acquiesced in the last two games and I was giggling hysterically during the last game.
I've been meaning to link to this blog Why Wimbledon is just perfect for TV by Charles Arthur since reading it. It starts off with why tennis works so well as a TV sport, making some telling points, and then going on to discuss the BBC's coverage.
My Saturday was very full of tennis - I saw lots of the endings of matches, but only one in full. I saw the following get through: Ivanovic (they'll be pleased with the result, but surely not the play); Kvitova (impressive form, again); Serena Williams (hmph); Del Potro (after squeaking through the second set tiebreak); Ferrer (I thought he would be stronger than Roddick, but Roddick started off impressively and Ferrer weirdly, but the Spaniard played his way into it).
And then there was The Match That I Saw in Full, which managed to overshadow the second longest match for some very weird happenings. Baghdatis opened obviously enjoying the occasion, but Murray finally managed to pressure him and got the first set. He was a break up in the second, and why should we worry that they'd started late? Yes, it seemed as if we'd be dancing from channel to channel, but Cilic and Querry were neck and neck, exhausting each other with their big serves. Time to relax?
Ha.
Things did not go to plan. Murray was not a happy camper with Baghdatis pretty much matching him on the tennis front, the Scot slipping and sliding and then the balls falling out of his pocket. It really felt as though the break would help him more.
And as the match resumed, the 11 o'clock deadline became a real issue. Yes, Murray stepped back on the court with more intensity, giving him some of the authority you'd expect from the no. 4 seed but it took him a while to get the break though, long enough for me to think gloomily that they'd have to continue until Monday.
I shouldn't have feared, although Murray's winning did feel inevitable at the end of the fourth, Baghdatis sort of capitulated/acquiesced in the last two games and I was giggling hysterically during the last game.
I've been meaning to link to this blog Why Wimbledon is just perfect for TV by Charles Arthur since reading it. It starts off with why tennis works so well as a TV sport, making some telling points, and then going on to discuss the BBC's coverage.
