Too Many Clasicos? How Can You Have Too Much Of This?

By Shane Thomas

When Real Madrid and Barcelona were set to play in the quarter-finals of the Copa Del Rey, the howls of lament could be heard from fans and pundits; "Too many clasicos!", "I'm sick of seeing Real & Barca all the time!", "What's next, are they going to play each other every week!?"

A Lukewarm Australian Open Is Ready To Turn Up The Heat

By Shane Thomas

The men's tournament at the Australian Open has been a touch lukewarm thus far, not fitting of what is a golden age for men's tennis. But that should soon change as we've now reached the semi-final stage.

Despite the portents of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Juan Martin Del Potro, not to mention the coming names of Milos Raonic, Bernard Tomic and Alex Dolgopolov, the sport remains the domain of the big four, and it's those men who will slug it out amongst themselves in the first Grand Slam of the year.

Iron Man Rafa Flattened By The Wall

By Shane Thomas


Flushing Meadows was the scene of 2011's sporting moment of the year as Novak Djokovic won his third Grand Slam of the season, defeating the defending champion Rafael Nadal in four gruelling sets (6-2,6-4,6-7,6-1).

This has been Nole's year. He marmalised Andy Murray to win the Australian Open in January and hasn't looked back. His remarkable win/loss record continues, only two defeats in 2011 bringing him 10 titles, despite being pushed to the brink of physical exhaustion. While Nadal came into the final on the back of a straight sets win against Murray, Djokovic had to overcome a marathon five-set encounter to despatch Roger Federer in the other semi-final. The Serb was two sets to love behind, and like 12 months ago, had to save match-points before triumphing in dramatic style.

While the final was only four sets, they bordered on tennis's apotheosis. The standard of shot-making, defence, recovery and athleticism left the fans and commentators searching for the superlatives. In both the first and second sets, Rafa took first blood to race into a 2-0 lead. Both times, Djokovic wrestled the momentum back. He was managing to muscle the Spaniard around the court and bend him to his will. It looked to be a repeat of the superiority he showed in this year's Wimbledon final.

At 4-4 in the third, Djokovic broke Nadal again. Serving for the title, it looked all over bar the shouting. But there is no spirit more willing than Rafa's. He broke straight back, took the set to a tie-break, and won it convincingly. The crowd - now fully on his side - roared their approval; not because of a dislike for Djokovic, but because they wanted to see more of this extraordinary contest. However, at times, it manifested itself in them cheering when Novak failed to get a first serve in. While I've always liked the fevered atmosphere that one gets at the US Open, sometimes the crowd allow their emotions to descend from fervour into disrespect. This was sadly one of those occasions.

Thankfully the quality of the tennis overshadowed the actions of a few thoughtless dingwads. And it's just as well that tennis balls aren't sentient as both players would have been charged with assault; they hit their shots with such savage ferocity that you worried for the safety of the ballboys & ballgirls. It mattered little as any time one man looked to have won the point, the opponent would find a way to lay their racket on the ball to continue the rally. 10 shot rallies became 15. 15 became 20. 20 became 30. It looked as if it would be a late night for every spectator, especially those in the UK.

This was compounded by Djokovic calling the trainer onto court after losing the third set. Clearly suffering with his back, he periodically received treatment to nurse him through the match. With Rafa winning the third set, and Nole looking to be out of gas, many wise pundits expected Nadal to win in five.

And a year ago, that might have been true. But "The Wall" is now a different animal. He has reached a level of dominance where he simply doesn't know how to lose at present. Two sets down to Federer, he'll find a way to win. An injured back and the sport's "Iron Man" in the ascendency, he'll find a way to win. It's what all great champions do. And Djokovic is truly a great champion now. He broke Nadal's serve at the first attempt, and with the Majorcan's resistance finally yielding, he went on to win the set 6-1, winning the match and securing his fourth Grand Slam title.

Nadal admitted that he has struggled with his mental focus against Djokovic in the clutch moments this year. He hasn't been the only one, but it has been a chastening time for the Spaniard. It was not that long ago that some felt that he may be the greatest player to ever swing a racket, and despite winning the French Open, it's been a disappointing 2011.

Djokovic meanwhile, has reigned supreme. He may not go on to equal the achievements of Federer and Nadal, but last night proved that he's no flash in the pan. You can hit a good run of form for a few weeks. But you don't fluke a whole year of competition. We've been in a golden age of men's tennis for a while now and Nole's achievements are making this era glisten ever more brightly.

ALSO AT THE US OPEN...

My focus is on the men's final is simply because it was one of the greatest tennis matches I have ever seen. But that doesn't make the women's final any less significant. And it's a pity that Serena Williams' conduct has been the main story of the women's section of the draw. If you really want to know what happened, read elsewhere or do some Googling as I'd rather focus on the victor, Sam Stosur.

Once a leading force in the tennis world, there has been a relative paucity of quality to come from Australia in recent years, which is unbecoming for a nation that gave us Rod Laver, Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, John Newcombe and Pat Cash. With Lleyton Hewitt gone from the business end of Grand Slam tournaments and Bernard Tomic still green, the focus of Australian tennis attention has been placed firmly on the shoulders of Stosur. And it's attention that she has struggled to deal with.

After reaching the French Open final in 2010 as the favourite, she choked against the Italian, Francesca Schivaone. The press correctly focused on Schiavone grabbing her one shot of glory, but it left Stotur's confidence in tatters, as she took months to cope with defeat; her game deteriorating into an inconsistent mess since that summer's day in Paris.

So we should all delight in her regaining her form to not only win the US Open, but to win with a dominant display of superb hitting. Even Williams, who is not often the most gracious of losers, admitted that any questionable umpiring decisions were a minor factor in the match, and that Stosur was the better woman on the day.

Williams is a great champion and is a safer bet to win Grand Slams in the future than the Australian. But Stosur's win was one to relish. It should resonate with anyone who's fallen short in achieving their dreams, but refused to allow it to define them. Failure isn't always the endgame, sometimes it's a pit-stop to a much more fulfilling destination.


Don't forget to download 'The Greatest Events in Sporting History' from www.simplysyndicated.com/shows/sportinghistory/, e-mail us at sportshistoryshow@googlemail.com and you can follow us on Twitter @TGEISH

Murray Knocks A Brick Out Of The Wall

By Shane Thomas

With the final tennis major of the year taking place in four days time, Andy Murray had an ideal lead-in for the US Open by winning the Cincinnati Masters last weekend. The last time he won in Cincinnati, he reached the final at Flushing Meadows. But what is more encouraging is that he defeated World No. 1, Novak Djokovic to walk off with what is one of the most unusual trophies I've ever seen in sport (look at the picture at the top of this post to see what I mean).

In an era that contains both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, many have overlooked the fact that in 2011, Djokovic has been the man. This has been his year, and then some.

After last year's US Open, I wrote about how Djokovic had shown discernible signs of maturity after losing in the final to Nadal. Leading Serbia to win their first ever Davis Cup at the tail-end of the season was a springboard to usurp the Spaniard at the top of the men's game. He won the first Grand Slam of the year at the Australian Open, battering & bullying Murray into submission, and hasn't looked back.

He went on one of the most astonishing unbeaten streaks in the history of the sport. He won his next 43 matches in succession, a record that was only one match short of Ivan Lendl's 44 match streak in 1981/82 and three short of Guillermo Vilas's 46 matches in 1977. From November 2010 to June 2011, Djokovic did not lose a single match.

As children, many future tennis players practice by repeatedly hitting a tennis ball against a wall. The repetition of this exercise aids concentration and technique. However, you never want to hit the ball too hard when doing this, as the harder you hit a ball off a wall, the faster it will come back to you.

Well, playing Djokovic is like playing against a wall. No matter how well you're playing, no matter what type of shot you hit, be it power, slice or spin, when you're up against Nole, that ball keeps on coming back. While Federer and Nadal have been at the top of the tree in men's tennis for the better part of a decade, if you were constructing a tennis player, he'd be like Djokovic. The Serb ticks every box; speed, endurance, athleticism, shot power and accuracy, and in the past year, he's added the intangible but pivotal qualities of belief, and a winning mentality to his armoury. The way he defeated Nadal in this year's Wimbledon final showed how the balance of power in the game has shifted towards Djokovic. At the time of writing his win/loss record is 57/2.

However, his achievements this year have been something of a double-edged sword. While the high standard of Nole's physical conditioning is without question, he has already played more matches than most players have in a season. He has repeatedly played less than 100% fit, but kept playing because he kept winning. He joked that he wouldn't mind losing a few matches to give him a chance to rest his ailing limbs.

Well last Sunday, the decision was made for him. He walked into the final against Murray with an injured shoulder, and Britain's No. 1 took full advantage, taking the first set 6-4, and taking Djokovic's game apart in the process. By the time Murray was 3-0 up in the second set, Djokovic made the pragmatic call to retire hurt. While it would have affronted his professional pride, it would have been folly to exacerbate an injury in a match that was as good as lost, especially with the US Open fast approaching. There are bigger, and more important battles to be fought.

Murray knows this as much as anyone. Winning Masters series events are nice, but tennis is all about the four Grand Slams. Any pundit worth their salt knows that Murray has the game to win in New York - indeed John McEnroe predicted at the start of 2010 that this year's US Open would be when Murray breaks his Grand Slam duck. There's no doubt that he likes the environs of Flushing Meadows, winning the boys' title as a 17 year old, and reaching the men's final back in 2008. Murray's game is best suited to hard courts, and while he will not be favourite to triumph next week, everyone knows that he is a genuine contender to lift the title in a little over two weeks time.

As for Djokovic, he remains to man to beat, but the first cracks have shown in a wall that had looked hitherto indestructible. There's no doubt that the exertions of this year are taking their toll, and how he fares will be dependent on him holding the foundations together for just a little longer.


Don't forget to download 'The Greatest Events in Sporting History' from www.simplysyndicated.com/shows/sportinghistory/, e-mail us at sportshistoryshow@googlemail.com and you can follow us on Twitter @TGEISH

Haye Runs Out Of Time Playing The Waiting Game

By Shane Thomas

There's no doubt that the broken toe suffered by David Haye during his defeat to Wladimir Klitschko over the weekend goes some towards explaining the pretty feeble display we saw from the former WBA heavyweight champion, but history won't excuse it.

Women's Tennis & The Equality Charade

By Shane Thomas

As this year's US Open women's final became one of the most one-sided Grand Slam tennis finals for years, the narrative thread drawn up by the press was both inevitable and disheartening. Since 2007, when Wimbledon finally came into line with the rest of the Grand Slam tournaments, women now receive the same amount of prize money as their male counterparts. Well that's good isn't it? Equality and all that jazz. What possible qualm could anyone have with this?

Blood On The Centre Court As God Made To All Too Human

By Shane Thomas

While not neccessarily a changing of the guard, yesterday felt like a key sporting day of 2010, at least in the tennis world. The sport was in shock after Roger Federer's elimination in the Wimbledon quarter-finals to the Czezh, Tomas Berdych. Not only was the defeat itself a surprise, but the manner of it rendered the Centre Court crowd agape with shock. Like all great sportspeople, the accepted wisdom is that to beat Federer, you have to play at your very best, maybe the best you'll ever play. Well that wasn't the case yesterday. Make no mistake, Berdych played very well, but he's played better. Anyone who saw him reach the semi-finals of the French Open last month will attest to that.