Wimbledon 2017 - Day 11
Unfortunately yesterday's ladies' semis didn't really live up to expectation. Also, whilst Garbine won her match (yay), sadly lost her match against Venus (sighs).
It wouldn't have been as bad if the matches had been good and competitive - as I had expected them to be (well certainly Jo & Venus's). I think the Centre Court crowd might well have been feeling a bit hard done by as the first match lasted a mere 65 minutes and the second only 73 - and tickets aren't cheap on semi finals day. They did have a couple of mixed doubles matches later, but even so they must have been hoping for more.
In the first match it was Garbine Muguruza's match to win or lose from the first ball. Unfortunately, Magdalena Rybarikova was suffering from a severe case of nerves at playing her first ever GS semi final and her first time (certainly this year) on Centre Court and it showed. In the end she only won two games. I haven't seen her play this year, but given who she had beaten she clearly had been playing far better than she played yesterday. It was painful to watch, actually.
Jo and Venus's match started really well and after six games I thought we were in for a really close, competitive match. But once again that didn't turn out to be the case. Jo had the first break points but failed to convert them and then in the following game Venus broke her and that was pretty much it. Jo's forehand started to let her down somewhat and Venus just upped her game and outplayed her and in the end Jo only won six games. She certainly played less well than I've seen her play this year. I don't know if the occasion got to her plus Britain's expectation as she was now the only Brit left in the singles or if Venus really was just too good on the day. I suspect it was a mixture of everything. But it was rather disappointing.
There were two good mixed doubles wins involving Brits as Jamie Murray & Martina Hingis and Heather Watson & Henri Kontinen both won their quarter finals. They were both great matches and they all seemed to have such fun, were nice & relaxed and were clearly very happy to be on court. The two pairs can actually meet in the final as they are in opposite halves of the draw. I do hope that's the case as that would be a wonderful match to round things off this year. They both play their semis today.
Today brings us the men's semi finals between Roger Federer (Switzerland) & Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) and Marin Cilic (Croatia) & Sam Querrey (USA).
I hate to have to say it but for the first time in as long as I can remember I have sadly lost nearly all my interest in the men's event :-( This is a huge shame as I usually prefer it to the women's. However, now that Rafa, Andy & Novak have gone out, the winner is a foregone conclusion, which does lessen the enjoyment. Roger Federer will win.
I don't dislike Federer (or any of the chaps left), he's an amazing, hugely talented player who defies all the odds. The problem is that unless he is playing Rafa or Andy or Novak or some other player who doesn't meekly play his game, then I find his style of play very boring. I know that's a strange thing to say as people wax lyrical about Roger and how skilled he is, how easy he makes the game look, how he glides and is like and artist on court and yes, he is all of those things. But I sadly I find them boring - at least when he does them all of the time, which he does unless he's playing any of the above. He is truly talented, but few can push him, hence the whole 'the winner is a foregone conclusion'.
As for the two semis themselves.
Well Cilic & Querrey are both big servers so I expect that match to be dominated by the serve and thus it could be boring in its own way and I would think we'll have quite a few tie-breaks. I rather hope Cilic wins the match. It's not because I dislike Querrey, not at all. But because Cilic has at least been in a GS final, in fact he was won one. Thus, he will be less likely to be over-awed by being in the Wimbledon final against the seven-time winner Federer and the match might be more competitive. Querrey is more likely to be over-whelmed by his first ever GS final. He might well be over-whelmed today as it's his first GS semi final on CC at Wimbledon. But I hope he doesn't suffer as much with his nerves as Magdalena Rybarikova did yesterday. The match could be over in straight sets or it could go the distance - I think a lot depends on Sam and his nerves.
As for Roger and Tomas's match. Well that shouldn't be dominated by the serve but I suspect it will be less competitive. Unless Berdych can find the game he had in 2010 that led to him beating first Federer and then Djokovic in the quarter & semi finals, then Federer will romp to victory in straight sets. The H2H is not favourable for Berdych as Federer leads him 18:6. I will be very surprised if this match goes beyond three sets.
So I am not highly excited about today, but I shall watch the matches - after all I have invested several hours per day since Wimbledon began I'm not going to bow out now *g*
It wouldn't have been as bad if the matches had been good and competitive - as I had expected them to be (well certainly Jo & Venus's). I think the Centre Court crowd might well have been feeling a bit hard done by as the first match lasted a mere 65 minutes and the second only 73 - and tickets aren't cheap on semi finals day. They did have a couple of mixed doubles matches later, but even so they must have been hoping for more.
In the first match it was Garbine Muguruza's match to win or lose from the first ball. Unfortunately, Magdalena Rybarikova was suffering from a severe case of nerves at playing her first ever GS semi final and her first time (certainly this year) on Centre Court and it showed. In the end she only won two games. I haven't seen her play this year, but given who she had beaten she clearly had been playing far better than she played yesterday. It was painful to watch, actually.
Jo and Venus's match started really well and after six games I thought we were in for a really close, competitive match. But once again that didn't turn out to be the case. Jo had the first break points but failed to convert them and then in the following game Venus broke her and that was pretty much it. Jo's forehand started to let her down somewhat and Venus just upped her game and outplayed her and in the end Jo only won six games. She certainly played less well than I've seen her play this year. I don't know if the occasion got to her plus Britain's expectation as she was now the only Brit left in the singles or if Venus really was just too good on the day. I suspect it was a mixture of everything. But it was rather disappointing.
There were two good mixed doubles wins involving Brits as Jamie Murray & Martina Hingis and Heather Watson & Henri Kontinen both won their quarter finals. They were both great matches and they all seemed to have such fun, were nice & relaxed and were clearly very happy to be on court. The two pairs can actually meet in the final as they are in opposite halves of the draw. I do hope that's the case as that would be a wonderful match to round things off this year. They both play their semis today.
Today brings us the men's semi finals between Roger Federer (Switzerland) & Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) and Marin Cilic (Croatia) & Sam Querrey (USA).
I hate to have to say it but for the first time in as long as I can remember I have sadly lost nearly all my interest in the men's event :-( This is a huge shame as I usually prefer it to the women's. However, now that Rafa, Andy & Novak have gone out, the winner is a foregone conclusion, which does lessen the enjoyment. Roger Federer will win.
I don't dislike Federer (or any of the chaps left), he's an amazing, hugely talented player who defies all the odds. The problem is that unless he is playing Rafa or Andy or Novak or some other player who doesn't meekly play his game, then I find his style of play very boring. I know that's a strange thing to say as people wax lyrical about Roger and how skilled he is, how easy he makes the game look, how he glides and is like and artist on court and yes, he is all of those things. But I sadly I find them boring - at least when he does them all of the time, which he does unless he's playing any of the above. He is truly talented, but few can push him, hence the whole 'the winner is a foregone conclusion'.
As for the two semis themselves.
Well Cilic & Querrey are both big servers so I expect that match to be dominated by the serve and thus it could be boring in its own way and I would think we'll have quite a few tie-breaks. I rather hope Cilic wins the match. It's not because I dislike Querrey, not at all. But because Cilic has at least been in a GS final, in fact he was won one. Thus, he will be less likely to be over-awed by being in the Wimbledon final against the seven-time winner Federer and the match might be more competitive. Querrey is more likely to be over-whelmed by his first ever GS final. He might well be over-whelmed today as it's his first GS semi final on CC at Wimbledon. But I hope he doesn't suffer as much with his nerves as Magdalena Rybarikova did yesterday. The match could be over in straight sets or it could go the distance - I think a lot depends on Sam and his nerves.
As for Roger and Tomas's match. Well that shouldn't be dominated by the serve but I suspect it will be less competitive. Unless Berdych can find the game he had in 2010 that led to him beating first Federer and then Djokovic in the quarter & semi finals, then Federer will romp to victory in straight sets. The H2H is not favourable for Berdych as Federer leads him 18:6. I will be very surprised if this match goes beyond three sets.
So I am not highly excited about today, but I shall watch the matches - after all I have invested several hours per day since Wimbledon began I'm not going to bow out now *g*