graham.pigott's blog

Although Nadal played well yesterday in beating Murray in 3 sets, Murrays recent slam results have shown that he is vulnerable to any guy playing very well. There will always be someone playing consistent hard hitting tennis in a slam and you have to be able to deal with it.
 
Murray needs about 10mph more on all his groundstrokes otherwise i think he may never win one. Nadal was not put under a great deal of pressure in the rallies and it was really Murrays good serving which kept him in it.
 

The decision to deny 23 year old Englishman James Ward a wildcard entry into Wimbledon is nothing short of a disgrace in my view. It means that for the first time in the 133 year history of the tournament there will be no Englishman in the main draw.
 
 
Now if no Englishman were good enough then thats fair enough. But Ward is good enough. His performances at Queens and in Eastbourne have been head and shoulders above any other British player in contention for a wildcard.
 
 

After Murrays latest defeat in a slam to a big hitter theres been the usual talk of how he needs to be more aggressive on court.
They say in tennis you should play to your personality. Well i think Murray just naturally likes to go on court and be cautious. Its ingrained in him. If he goes for a winner and misses you can almost see the pain it causes him. He hates missing. Hes probably thinking " Why did i miss that shot when i could have stayed in the rally and gave my opponent a chance to miss?"
 

Five years on from their first meeting on the clay in Paris in 2005 its still very much Nadal and Federer who dominate the betting market for the mens event.
 
Nadal is a top priced 4/9 with Federer available at around 11/2. 3rd favourite is Novak Djokovic at 33/1. The likes of Gulbis, Ferrer, Verdasco, Murray and Soderling are all about 50/1.
 

We're seeing more and more of these joint events these days where the womens and mens tournaments take place simultaneously. The current Madrid event is one of these and from 2011 the Rome event - which this year saw the ATP and WTA events held separately - will also be a joint tournament.
 
 

It appears Ernests Gulbis has finally broken through after a few years of unfulfilled promise.
 
I remember watching him play Carlos Moya at the US Open in 2007. His groundstrokes were pretty much a danger to aviation. His forehand appeared to go in on about one occasion in 10 but when it did go in it was invariably a screaming winner.
 

I guess we cant blame him. When you have won virtually everything there is to win in Tennis there must be the odd occasion when you wonder what you have to get out of bed for.

It’s a real shame though. The days when Federer and Nadal were fighting it out at the end of  these clay court masters events were so good for the game. They played so regularly in the final of Monte Carlo that it almost became an annual fixture the crowd came to expect year after year. Now after meeting 16 times between 2006 and 2009 they have gone a year without playing each other.

Theres no doubting Murray is in a slump at the moment. Various excuses are always put forward by the British pundits as to why this might be. I suppose its easier to give an excuse than offer up the suggestion that maybe he isnt quite as good as the media would like to have us believe. 

So far ive heard: lack of motivation after Oz Open, Davis cup distractions, break up of relationship. None of these i think are particularly close to the mark. 

Has there ever been a slower hard court than the one we're seeing this week? Its pretty much blue clay. Playing into the hands of Rafa who has a great record here.
 
No surprise to see Federer fall early. Hes now something like 4 wins from 28 TMS events since the start of 2007 when he seemed to start taking things a bit easy in them.  Who can blame the great man for this attitude though now hes got 2 kids to entertain. I expect a better showing in Miami although not necessarily a win.
 

Let the inquest begin. Great Britain have just lost to lowly Lithuania in the Davis Cup.
 
How we cannot produce a player good enough to beat 521st ranked Grigelis beggars belief. Didnt we hear years ago from LTA head man Roger Draper that we would soon have 5 players ranked in the top 100? Well we cant even produce 2 players who can beat someone ranked outside the worlds top 500.