Tennis

Serena lost but so did Anna .

It was a bit of an anticlimax today. Serena played terrible by her standards and I heard that Maria really upped her level today to beat Anna.

In the post-match interview Anna looks very tired and unhappy. A reporter asked her some stupid question :

Q. Then, would you say you are suffering from an inferiority complex faced to Maria Sharapova?

ANNA CHAKVETADZE: Sorry?

Q. An inferiority complex, do you understand that?

ANNA CHAKVETADZE: Complex?

Q. Yes.

ANNA CHAKVETADZE: I don't have complexes, sorry.

Jankovic-Henin should be a good contest. I'm hoping for a Justine vs Ana final now. And I'm off work on Thursday and Friday so I can watch the semis.

About Andreev, when I saw Igor with Andy I didn't think he was that good. To me he's like a player maybe ranked 20 or 30 spots lower than his current ranking. Roddick could've won that much despite his terrible form on clay if he had put something on his ball instead of just hitting every return flat to the guy's forehand. Djokovic should take care of him. It will be a Djokovic-Nadal semi and a Federer-Davydenko one.

Andreev has an injury protected ranking. He's on his way back up on his comeback. He looked dangerous against Baghdatis. If the QF isn't a step too far for him he will give Novak trouble. But I want the same semi as you: Djokovic vs Nadal.

Again I've only caught a bit of the highlights of today's matches.

I think this match was a step too far for Andreev. He wasn't mentally ready. But most importantly Novak played an excellent match. He served well, picked the right shots, didn't let Igor unleash his forehand too much. Very impressive.

I wonder what Andy Murray thinks of this. Novak and Andy have a sort of rivalry going on. Almost the same age, they both shot up the rankings at about the same time. But Novak has beaten Andy at each major hurdle. First into Top 10, first Masters title, first into Slam SF. Murray is currently suffering with injured wrist tendons. Novak said last week:

"You've got to take care of your body and I think he's learned the lesson now. Obviously he was not taking care of his body and he's got the injury which brought him a lot of negative things."

Is that a bit of a taunt? Andy needs to play catch-up.

The Nadal-Moya result was not surprising. Having seen some of Nadal today I'm not so sure that Roger could beat him in a final. He's playing out of this world. The dry weather in the last few days means Rafa's heavy top-spun shots are really kicking up high off the clay which is just what Roger doesn't want.

What is it about Serbia that has suddenly made all these great players emerge right now?

There's Novak into the SFs, Ana and Jelena in the Ladies SFs, and Nenad Zimonjic in the Men's Doubles semis and Mixed final. For such a small country with a small tennis infrastructure it's amazing! Compare it to Britain which spends many times more money on facilities but has had relatively little success to show for it. Possibly part of this is that Novak, Ana and Jelena all went abroad to escape the conflict and trained in other countries. Jelena went to Florida, Ana to Switzerland and Novak to Germany. I think that these hard situations create more of a drive in people to work hard and get themselves into a better situation. There isn't the same motivation in Britain. In tennis terms Serbia is the new Russia. Can they keep this run going on the grass?

Wow, I never knew Jelena had such a nice body.

About Andreev, when I saw Igor with Andy I didn't think he was that good. To me he's like a player maybe ranked 20 or 30 spots lower than his current ranking. Roddick could've won that much despite his terrible form on clay if he had put something on his ball instead of just hitting every return flat to the guy's forehand. Djokovic should take care of him. It will be a Djokovic-Nadal semi and a Federer-Davydenko one.

Andreev has an injury protected ranking. He's on his way back up on his comeback. He looked dangerous against Baghdatis. If the QF isn't a step too far for him he will give Novak trouble. But I want the same semi as you: Djokovic vs Nadal.

I just heard about is knee injury. He's def. a top 40 player on clay but on other surfaces I dunno...

I watched Sharapova kick some ass yesterday when is her next match?

Serbia rules! :hell yea!:

Yesterday, when I was going to school, one old man, somewhere around 60, heard that I speak about tennis with my friend and he asked me for the results. He was so happy when I told him that Jelena and Ana won. Whole Serbia is with them and they are the biggest stars now. They deserved it!

I watched Sharapova kick some ass yesterday when is her next match?

Schedule for Thursday:

Court Philippe Chatrier - 14.00 Start

Ana Ivanovic [7] vs Maria Sharapova [2]

followed by

Justine Henin [1] vs Jelena Jankovic [4]

So I guess that's 8am on the US east coast. I hope Maria loses! :evil:

Jelena and Ana together? So glad to see that!

Jelena and Ana together? So glad to see that!

It doesn't mean they're friends though, does it?

Ana crushed Maria 6-2 6-1!

A superb performance. Ana was so composed in her first Slam SF and executed very well. Maria played horrible. (Why couldn't she do that against Anna C last round?)

Justine won 6-2 6-2 but she only played as well as she needed to. Jelena was very disappointing considering how she has been playing in the tournament plus all the hype. Actually Ana Ivanovic has played the best tennis today. It remains to be seen whether she can bring that to the final or if nerves will get to her. Ana has in the past collapsed under high pressure moments while Justine knows what it takes to win here. Hopefully it will be a better match than we saw today.

Go Ana!!! Poor Jelena .

An Ana-Anna semifinal would've been hot. Do you play tennis Dajana?

Roger's into the final!

It was almost Roger The Escape Artist today. Davydenko was playing as well as Federer, possibly better, for large portions of that match. But when it came to the really important points Nikolay didn't have that extra edge. He must be kicking himself for not winning at least one set.

But this was good for helping Roger peak for the final. He is apparently the first player to make 8 consecutive Slam finals.

Djokovic is down 4-0 in the 3rd.

Novak lost!

Even though I've been looking forward to a Rafa v Roger final I was kinda rooting for Novak today. The first two sets of this match were brilliant, probably some of the best tennis I've seen in this tournament. And I like that Novak's personality comes through on court.

But Nadal is just brutal! I was getting tired just watching them - the amount of energy they expend is incredible. It's a shame Novak couldn't keep up his level into the third set. I think he was gone by then.

Roger is in for a very tough time as Rafa is looking unstoppable right now.

What rank will Ana be if she wins and if she loses? She has to be top 5 def. But can she make it to 2?