For the next two weeks, tennis lovers will have their eyes firmly fixed on Paris and in particular the clay courts of Roland Garros. Many believe that the men's tournament already has Rafael Nadal's name written on the trophy and you would be easily forgiven for sharing that opinion.
The Spaniard has a remarkable record at the French Open, having only lost one match since making his debut in 2005. That came in 2009 against Robin Soderling, but on that day he was suffering badly with his troublesome knees whilst his parents were also going through a divorce. He won four consecutive titles before then and is currently on a run of three successive wins at Roland Garros, having secured a hard-fought win over Novak Djokovic last year.
Nadal quickly earned the title 'King of Clay' after his exploits as a 18 year old in 2005 and there is very little doubt that he is the greatest clay court player of all time. He has won 41 of his 56 career singles titles on his favoured surface and these include a record eight consecutive wins at the Monte Carlo Masters and seven victories in the Rome Masters both of which are always played in the run-up to the French Open.
Worryingly for his opponents wanting to challenge him, Nadal has been in blistering form since returning from a knee injury in February which kept him out of the second half of last years tennis season as well as this years Australian Open. He has already won six titles since February and last week he destroyed Roger Federer 6-1, 6-3 in the final of the Rome Masters.
However, Nadal can be beaten but it will take some effort. World Number One Djokovic achieved that when he beat Nadal in Monte Carlo in April this year to stop Nadal's run of never losing there since 2005. Djokovic is certainly the most likely man to beat the Spaniard at Roland Garros, but with the way the draw has worked out, it looks as though he will have to do it at the semi-final stage. The Serb did give Nadal a real scare in last years final and he has also beat him on clay in the past at the Madrid and the Rome Masters. He also has the added incentive of knowing that if he wins he will complete the set of winning all the Grand Slams at least once.
And what of Nadal's fellow Spaniard David Ferrer? With Andy Murray ruled out through a back injury, he is the number four seed and is on line to meet Roger Federer in the semi-finals. He will never get a better chance to finally reach a first grand-slam final at the age of 31. Federer may have won the French Open before and reached four other finals (losing to Nadal on all of those occasions), but Ferrer shares many of his fellow Spaniard's qualities on the clay-courts and nowadays I would predict Ferrer to have the edge over Federer. He has won ten career titles on the surface over the years and it can be argued that he is currently the best player without a slam to his name. However, his record at the French Open is rather patchy despite reaching the semi-finals last year. On his day, he is a match for everyone in the draw and he will relish the route to the semi-finals he has over the first ten days.
The real outside bet for this tournament is Stanislas Wawrinka. He has lived in the shadow of his countryman Federer for most of his career, but his clay-court form this season has been superb. He beat Ferrer in Portugal to win his first title in two years whilst he also beat Jo Wilfried Tsonga and Tomas Berdych in Madrid before succumbing to Nadal in the final. Wawrinka possesses an incredible one-handed backhand and is a real danger to all of the top players if his mind is fully focused.
Come the 9th of June, Rafael Nadal should be lifting an eighth French Open title and with the form he is in, it is very hard to see who can stop him over the next fortnight. Tennis is a curious game though and major upsets have happened before. You only need to mention Lukas Rosol to Nadal to confirm that.
Saturday 25 May 2013
Wednesday 15 May 2013
Volvo World Matchplay Championship Preview
This week sees the European Tour's golfers head to Bulgaria for the first time ever to compete in the prestigious Volvo World Matchplay Championship.
If the name sounds familiar to you, that's because it was the tournament that was played every year from 1972 until 2007 at Wentworth and saw dominant winners such as Ernie Els, Seve Ballesteros and Greg Norman. In 2009 and over the last two years, it was played in Spain, but now the tournament will be taken around Europe each year.
According to the legendary Gary Player, the course he designed; Thracian Cliffs, "Is unlike any other golf course on the planet." With that in mind, the 24 players who will tee-it up from tomorrow onwards at "The Cliffs" will face a trip largely into the unknown. The format sees eight groups of three, with the top two in each group progressing to the last 16. From then on, it will be a straight knock-out competition, before a champion is crowned on Sunday.
Here are four men I fancy to do well this week:
Graeme McDowell (8/1): The Northern Irishman only just lost out last year when he was beaten by Nicolas Colsaerts in the final, but he could well go one better this year. He is in good form, having just won the RBC Heritage in America last month and his short game is a huge asset in this matchplay format. Memories of his winning putt at the 2010 Ryder Cup for Europe always come flooding back on weeks like this and if he can channel some of that spirit, McDowell could take some beating.
Nicolas Colsaerts (9/1): The Belgian may have suffered a hiccup in his preparation when his clubs didn't arrive in Bulgaria when they were supposed to, but that hasn't deterred me from looking at generous odds for this weeks defending champion. He is a huge hitter and seems to relish the matchplay format, having proven himself superbly as a debutant in last years Ryder Cup. He does have a tough opening game against South African Branden Grace, but Colsaerts is more than capable of seeing him off to kick-start a run in his quest to keep hold of the trophy.
Brett Rumford (25/1): No-one in the field is currently in better form than the Australian who has won the last two tournaments he has played in South Korea and China. His putting has been superb in both of those tournaments and these odds are simply too high to discard for a player who is full of confidence right now. If he can get through a tough group, where he has been drawn alongside Gonzalo Fernandez Castano and Jamie Donaldson, then Rumford could be picking up his third successive winners cheque on Sunday.
Stephen Gallacher (33/1): A surprising choice perhaps, but don't rule out the Scot picking up a second victory of the season this week. He was superb in winning the Dubai Desert Classic at the start of the season and was recently tied 6th in the Ballantine's Championship in South Korea. He seems to have been dismissed because he is in a group with McDowell and Chris Wood but he is more than capable of holding his own. His putting has improved greatly and he is one of the purest ball-strikers in this weeks field. Ignore Gallacher if you wish, but it might come back to haunt you.
Matchplay is my favourite format of golf and this weeks tournament promises to be four days of thrilling golf, with a number of the European Tour's hottest players teeing up in Bulgaria. And it will be fascinating to see who handles a brand new course to emerge as the latest winner of one of the best events on the European Tour.
*All odds supplied by William Hill.
If the name sounds familiar to you, that's because it was the tournament that was played every year from 1972 until 2007 at Wentworth and saw dominant winners such as Ernie Els, Seve Ballesteros and Greg Norman. In 2009 and over the last two years, it was played in Spain, but now the tournament will be taken around Europe each year.
According to the legendary Gary Player, the course he designed; Thracian Cliffs, "Is unlike any other golf course on the planet." With that in mind, the 24 players who will tee-it up from tomorrow onwards at "The Cliffs" will face a trip largely into the unknown. The format sees eight groups of three, with the top two in each group progressing to the last 16. From then on, it will be a straight knock-out competition, before a champion is crowned on Sunday.
Here are four men I fancy to do well this week:
Graeme McDowell (8/1): The Northern Irishman only just lost out last year when he was beaten by Nicolas Colsaerts in the final, but he could well go one better this year. He is in good form, having just won the RBC Heritage in America last month and his short game is a huge asset in this matchplay format. Memories of his winning putt at the 2010 Ryder Cup for Europe always come flooding back on weeks like this and if he can channel some of that spirit, McDowell could take some beating.
Nicolas Colsaerts (9/1): The Belgian may have suffered a hiccup in his preparation when his clubs didn't arrive in Bulgaria when they were supposed to, but that hasn't deterred me from looking at generous odds for this weeks defending champion. He is a huge hitter and seems to relish the matchplay format, having proven himself superbly as a debutant in last years Ryder Cup. He does have a tough opening game against South African Branden Grace, but Colsaerts is more than capable of seeing him off to kick-start a run in his quest to keep hold of the trophy.
Brett Rumford (25/1): No-one in the field is currently in better form than the Australian who has won the last two tournaments he has played in South Korea and China. His putting has been superb in both of those tournaments and these odds are simply too high to discard for a player who is full of confidence right now. If he can get through a tough group, where he has been drawn alongside Gonzalo Fernandez Castano and Jamie Donaldson, then Rumford could be picking up his third successive winners cheque on Sunday.
Stephen Gallacher (33/1): A surprising choice perhaps, but don't rule out the Scot picking up a second victory of the season this week. He was superb in winning the Dubai Desert Classic at the start of the season and was recently tied 6th in the Ballantine's Championship in South Korea. He seems to have been dismissed because he is in a group with McDowell and Chris Wood but he is more than capable of holding his own. His putting has improved greatly and he is one of the purest ball-strikers in this weeks field. Ignore Gallacher if you wish, but it might come back to haunt you.
Matchplay is my favourite format of golf and this weeks tournament promises to be four days of thrilling golf, with a number of the European Tour's hottest players teeing up in Bulgaria. And it will be fascinating to see who handles a brand new course to emerge as the latest winner of one of the best events on the European Tour.
*All odds supplied by William Hill.
Tuesday 7 May 2013
Why I want Wigan to remain in the Premier League
At 7.45pm tonight Wigan will take on Swansea in a massive game at the DW stadium. Then again, Wigan fans have become accustomed to watching these sort of games at this stage of the season over the last few years.
Every year, Wigan Athletic almost deliberately seem to put their fans through the mire as they slip into an inevitable relegation battle, before somehow performing great escape after great escape under the management of Roberto Martinez. Should they lose to Swansea tonight though, the Championship bells would be ringing in their ears a lot louder. Currently they sit on 35 points with a game in hand on the sides above them on 38 points; Newcastle, Norwich and Sunderland. A win for Wigan tonight and suddenly Newcastle are in the bottom three on goal difference. But if Swansea manage to beat their old manager's side, then surely Wigan will be joining Reading and QPR in the Championship next season.
However, I really hope that Wigan remain in the Premier League and not just for this season. I should point out that I am not a Wigan fan and never have been. Instead, I have merely developed a liking for a club that I believe are one of the most attractive in England's top division.
One of the main reasons for this is the aforementioned Martinez. Still only 39, the Spaniard is an extremely affable man who is nothing but charming and honest in his interviews before and after matches. He has even shown himself to be a very knowledgeable pundit whilst working for the BBC and ITV among others over the last few years. Of course, there is more than one way to set up football teams and managers such as Sam Allardyce and Tony Pulis have proven that filling your team with 'big men' can work, but Martinez has always wanted to play football the 'right way'. And this has been the case since he started managing at Swansea in 2007, whom he would lead to the League One title. In many ways, he laid the foundations for the Welsh club's success that they've had since he left under Brendan Rodgers and now Michael Laudrup.
Another reason to admire Martinez and Wigan is his (and therefore the club's) ability to scout new markets for players to bring in on the cheap. And they also tend to take a chance on players others wouldn't. Just look at Martinez's record of looking at players in the SPL. Whilst Scottish fans recognised the young talents of James McCarthy and James McArthur at Hamilton whilst they were in the top division, there were more than a few eyebrows raised when they were brought to the club in consecutive seasons. However, they are now mainstays in the team and McArthur scored a goal against West Brom on Saturday that may yet prove vital to their survival.
And what about Shaun Maloney? He may be frustrating to watch as a Scotland fan, but right now he is genuinely one of the most in-form players in the Premier League. He has been the catalyst for Wigan's latest battle to survive after scoring a tremendous free-kick against QPR a few weeks ago and played out of his skin against West Brom on Saturday. Martinez took a gamble on the former Celtic man because he had failed in England before with Aston Villa but he has certainly got the best out of the little Scotsman.
Martinez has also used his contacts in Spain to brilliant effect for Wigan. Whilst it is hardly an unknown league, not many would have heard of strikers Arouna Kone and Jordi Gomez as well as defender Ivan Ramis who have all played their part this season before they came with Kone scoring an impressive 13 goals in his debut season in England.
I also love Wigan for the way they continually punch above their weight. If we were going on attendances alone,Wigan would always be in the bottom three. This season, their average attendance is currently 19,192, which is only good enough to beat fellow strugglers QPR. Last season on average, they only filled 74% of their ground for their 19 home matches. This is a team which regularly sees its attendances beaten by teams in the Championship and even League One. Many feel this shows they don't deserve to be in the Premier League. What nonsense. Wigan are a great story of a team rising through the leagues and they have rightfully earned their place to fight against the 'big boys', just as they will do when they take on Manchester City on Saturday in the FA Cup final.
And their continual survival is made all the more remarkable when you consider Wigan is historically and in many respects to this day, a rugby town. The people of Wigan love the rivalries against St Helens in Rugby League and a lot of them wouldn't dream of going to the DW Stadium for a football game. Every other club in the top league (with perhaps the exception of Swansea) plays in a place where football is king.
My final reason for my growing love affair with Wigan is the fact that everybody writes them off season after season. On Saturday night, Alan Hansen claimed on Match of the Day that "everyone had written them off". I have news for you Alan; I hadn't consigned them to relegation and I bet those words will have fired Martinez's men to avoid that fate even more now.
Every underdog has its day goes the saying but perhaps Wigan have had theirs already considering their past escapes. But I hope that they are going to play up to another animal cliche and use up another one of their nine lives and take their place in the Premier League next season.
Every year, Wigan Athletic almost deliberately seem to put their fans through the mire as they slip into an inevitable relegation battle, before somehow performing great escape after great escape under the management of Roberto Martinez. Should they lose to Swansea tonight though, the Championship bells would be ringing in their ears a lot louder. Currently they sit on 35 points with a game in hand on the sides above them on 38 points; Newcastle, Norwich and Sunderland. A win for Wigan tonight and suddenly Newcastle are in the bottom three on goal difference. But if Swansea manage to beat their old manager's side, then surely Wigan will be joining Reading and QPR in the Championship next season.
However, I really hope that Wigan remain in the Premier League and not just for this season. I should point out that I am not a Wigan fan and never have been. Instead, I have merely developed a liking for a club that I believe are one of the most attractive in England's top division.
One of the main reasons for this is the aforementioned Martinez. Still only 39, the Spaniard is an extremely affable man who is nothing but charming and honest in his interviews before and after matches. He has even shown himself to be a very knowledgeable pundit whilst working for the BBC and ITV among others over the last few years. Of course, there is more than one way to set up football teams and managers such as Sam Allardyce and Tony Pulis have proven that filling your team with 'big men' can work, but Martinez has always wanted to play football the 'right way'. And this has been the case since he started managing at Swansea in 2007, whom he would lead to the League One title. In many ways, he laid the foundations for the Welsh club's success that they've had since he left under Brendan Rodgers and now Michael Laudrup.
Another reason to admire Martinez and Wigan is his (and therefore the club's) ability to scout new markets for players to bring in on the cheap. And they also tend to take a chance on players others wouldn't. Just look at Martinez's record of looking at players in the SPL. Whilst Scottish fans recognised the young talents of James McCarthy and James McArthur at Hamilton whilst they were in the top division, there were more than a few eyebrows raised when they were brought to the club in consecutive seasons. However, they are now mainstays in the team and McArthur scored a goal against West Brom on Saturday that may yet prove vital to their survival.
And what about Shaun Maloney? He may be frustrating to watch as a Scotland fan, but right now he is genuinely one of the most in-form players in the Premier League. He has been the catalyst for Wigan's latest battle to survive after scoring a tremendous free-kick against QPR a few weeks ago and played out of his skin against West Brom on Saturday. Martinez took a gamble on the former Celtic man because he had failed in England before with Aston Villa but he has certainly got the best out of the little Scotsman.
Martinez has also used his contacts in Spain to brilliant effect for Wigan. Whilst it is hardly an unknown league, not many would have heard of strikers Arouna Kone and Jordi Gomez as well as defender Ivan Ramis who have all played their part this season before they came with Kone scoring an impressive 13 goals in his debut season in England.
I also love Wigan for the way they continually punch above their weight. If we were going on attendances alone,Wigan would always be in the bottom three. This season, their average attendance is currently 19,192, which is only good enough to beat fellow strugglers QPR. Last season on average, they only filled 74% of their ground for their 19 home matches. This is a team which regularly sees its attendances beaten by teams in the Championship and even League One. Many feel this shows they don't deserve to be in the Premier League. What nonsense. Wigan are a great story of a team rising through the leagues and they have rightfully earned their place to fight against the 'big boys', just as they will do when they take on Manchester City on Saturday in the FA Cup final.
And their continual survival is made all the more remarkable when you consider Wigan is historically and in many respects to this day, a rugby town. The people of Wigan love the rivalries against St Helens in Rugby League and a lot of them wouldn't dream of going to the DW Stadium for a football game. Every other club in the top league (with perhaps the exception of Swansea) plays in a place where football is king.
My final reason for my growing love affair with Wigan is the fact that everybody writes them off season after season. On Saturday night, Alan Hansen claimed on Match of the Day that "everyone had written them off". I have news for you Alan; I hadn't consigned them to relegation and I bet those words will have fired Martinez's men to avoid that fate even more now.
Every underdog has its day goes the saying but perhaps Wigan have had theirs already considering their past escapes. But I hope that they are going to play up to another animal cliche and use up another one of their nine lives and take their place in the Premier League next season.
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