Tennis: Murray no longer in the 'Big Four' 2:11 PM Thursday Jun 7, 2012
Confirmation arrived at Roland Garros that Andy Murray does not yet belong in the same grand slam company as the world's top three tennis players.
Murray will have a chance to atone on his preferred grass courts of Wimbledon later this month, but his 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-2 French Open quarter-final loss to sixth seed David Ferrer today surely must have removed the Scot from a so-called Big Four of men's tennis.
Boasting 31 grand slam titles between them - to Murray's none - Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are undoubtedly the Big Three, in a league of their own.
Instead of facing Murray in Friday's semi-finals in Paris, Nadal will meet countryman Ferrer, while Djokovic will square off with Federer in a rematch of last year's semis, as the Serb tries to complete the first non-calendar-year grand slam in 45 years of professional tennis.
For Murray, a three-times grand slam runner-up, it's back to square one as he looks to Wimbledon to finally break Britain's 76-year drought in men's majors.
"I'll need to put some good work in before Wimbledon, that's for sure," the Scot said.
"I was sort of getting a little bit out of breath after some of the longer rallies.
"I need to make sure I get a solid base in before Wimbledon."
At least he manfully accepted his place in the pecking order, on the slow surface anyway.
"I think the four best claycourt players in the world are left in and whoever plays best will win," Murray said.
"Probably have to favour Rafa slightly, but everyone is playing very, very well."
In truth, Nadal is an overwhelming favourite to stop Ferrer for the 16th time in 20 meetings with his Davis Cup teammate.
The six-time champion's 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 6-3 quarter-final win over over Nicolas Almagro was his 50th at the spiritual home of claycourt tennis since first competing in Paris as an 18-year-old in 2005.
Nadal's only defeat came in the fourth round in 2009 when his knees failed him against Swede Robin Soderling.
The claycourt king has lost just 30 games in five matches - and no sets - this campaign.
"It will be a tough match against Rafa. He's the best in history on this surface, but I hope to have a good match," Ferrer said.
Ever respectful, Nadal is expecting "nothing new" from his long-time friend and rival.
"We played each other a lot of times," he said.
"His game bothers everybody because he's one of the best players in the world in every surface, in clay especially.
"Everything, he's a complete player. It's very difficult to play against him because his movements are probably the best of the world and he's able to hit the ball very early a lot of the times.
"It will be a very tough match."
08 Jun - The best of Federer v Djokovic - A winning performance
Novak Djokovic dominates the semifinal match against Roger Federer, sending the Swiss player off in two hours and five minutes
Women's Final Preview: Errani eyes upset, Sharapova a career Slam
Sara Errani has learned to do the unexpected, which is why she has reached her first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros. But the inventive Italian is now confronting her greatest challenge in the form of Maria Sharapova, who has won 18 of her last 19 matches on clay and battered Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-3 in the semis.
The diminutive but ambitious Errani has answered every challenge put in front of her en route to the final: she ran past two former Roland Garros champs in Ana Ivanovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova, faced down 10th seed Angelique Kerber of Germany, and then showed more mental resilience than 2010 finalist Samantha Stosur in her semi.
Former titlist Martina Navratilova is more than impressed by the 25 year old. "She hits all the right shots," she said. "She plays so well within herself, doesn't go for too much. At the very end of the match [against Stosur] she hit a couple nervous shots, and maybe beginning of the third set there was a shot that she should have made that she missed. She missed a backhand crosscourt into an open court. I was like, Wow, this is really the first shot that she missed that she should've made the whole match. Good technique, great technique. She's got that grip that works okay. Because she's short, but she can hit a high ball that way. She's got a lot of confidence now."
First time
Even though they both trained in Florida as juniors and are the same age, Sharapova and Errani have never faced off. It will be a match-up between an ultra confident power baller who is a far better mover on clay than when she first came to Paris a decade ago, and a relentless retriever who plays a deceptively high level of offense when she gets a ball into her wheelhouse. Purely defensive players are not capable of making the finals of Roland Garros anymore, and the 5-feet-4 inch Errani has proved that she can take short balls and give them rides down the lines.
"The taller players have such a huge advantage," Navratilova said. "You have to be that much better, that much quicker when you're that short. She's giving away half a foot, at least, with just one step, if not more, on reach. So she's got to make up for that. Justine Henin did it, and now Errani is in the finals. Amazing stuff. It takes a lot of Chutzpah, so to speak, to think you can compete with players that are a foot taller than you are, but she's doing it. Sharapova has rarely overlooked an opponent and given that she has had trouble with scramblers in the past, there's no way that she will go into the final thinking it's a lock. But she is serving with much more accuracy and force than she did at this time last year, has been quite accurate off the ground and has been devastating in her return of serve games.
Impressive Sharapova
While she has improved her foot work and speed, she still can be had in end to end rallies, but it is not easy to get her moving when she is blasting balls into the corners from the first strike. "She's played just amazing tennis," Navratilova said. "She had that one hiccup match against [Klara] Zakopalova. She's been dominating winning 80% of the games on her opponents' serve, which is ridiculous. I think that will be the key to the final. Errani, as amazingly as she'd played and played really brave tennis, I just don't see how it can be enough for Maria's return of serve, which is her best shot, and Errani's serve is her worst shot. So that's a really bad matchup. When you talk about somebody that has a better chance of breaking their opponent's serve than holding their own, in my eyes, then it's not looking so good."
What is unknown is how Errani will react in her first Grand Slam final. Some players have been outstanding, such as Sharapova at 2004 Wimbledon, Ivanovic at 2008 Roland Garros, Francesca Schiavone at 2010 Roland Garros and Li Na at 2010 Roland Garros. Others such as former Roland Garros finalists Natasha Zvereva and Dinara Safina, froze when they got to the big stage. Sharapova is attempting to win a career grand Slam, which will certainly put some pressure on her, but while she has performed badly in a couple of Grand Slam finals, in particular earlier this year in the 2012 Australian Open final when she was bullied by Victoria Azarenka, that is usually because she is lacking confidence against a particular foe, rather than being overrun with nerves.
She will more than likely play at a fairly high level, so it will be up to 21st seed Errani to bring her best if she's going to have a sniff of a chance. "Their nerves will be there, I'm sure, for both of them, with Errani having nothing to lose, everything to gain, and Maria has a lot to gain but a lot to lose, as well," Navratilova said. "So it'll be interesting how the psyche plays out, but on paper Maria wins the match, no doubt about it. [But] anything can happen in a final. Maria is so tough and it took her so much to get to this point, I don't see her being overawed by the occasion. She's got a chance to be in the history books as one ‑‑ now she'll be I think the 11th woman to have won all the slams. More power to her."
sharapova kena ucapkan terima kasih kat serena kerana kalah awal kalu tk conform terkandas awal tahn ...
Alvida Post at 9-6-2012 22:53
qannnn...
ai lihat tennis ini, kalau ada ketinggian ( 180cm and above for a girl) mcm memberi kelebihan, more aces, reach, steps , footing and power.... tapi bila ai fikir sara errani, stosur, henin, dan bbrpa shorter figure lagi.. ai fikir, bilalah kita akan melahir juara grand slam.... dulu honestly ai tidak pernah terfikir nicol david boleh jadi champ, utk squash, hmmm mungkin dalm 10 tahun lg, negara kita akan berjaya barangkali
cuma ai lihat, fizikal pemain tennis wanita ini sgt2 maskulin.. lihatlah serena, stosur, dan ramai lagi.. dah macam body builder?
Post time 7-6-2012 12:34 AM
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