intosport.com – the blog

It’s difficult to know what to think to be honest! On the one hand it was could to see Murray’s losing streak end when he beat Andreas Seppi in the first round of the Rome Masters with a fine performance. On the other hand however, the loss just a few days later to David Ferrer extinguished the possibility of any momentum and served a reminded as to how difficult this clay season could be for Andy.

It was a great performance in the 1^st round, one that was very much needed. It seemed as if Murray had rediscovered some of his weaponry, in particular his backhand, and he used it to great affect as clinical winners were hit all around the court. It was a performance that said as much about Andy’s mental strength and determination as it did his ability and it’s this mental strength that will be needed to pull him out of this dip and back up to the top of his game.

That win delivered a much needed boost to Murray’s camp but unfortunately the high didn’t last long as in the next round David Ferrer, clay court specialist, was waiting. Even on his best form it was a match that Andy may always have difficulty in winning due to his preference for other playing surfaces so there’s no need for further despair. It just seems that Andy may need to struggle through this clay court season and get to Wimbledon with as much confidence intact as possible.

Filed under: General, Tennis by tomt
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Intosport.com would like to extend its congratulations to all those who this weekend took part in the London Marathon 2010. Everyone from the winning elite athletes to those in all kinds of strange fancy dress outfits should feel extremely proud of themselves and their achievements.

It was an incredible turn out on Sunday as approximately 36,000 people took their starting orders and set off from their respective start point. The race itself was won by Ethiopia’s Tsegaye Kebede finishing over a minute clear of Kenya’s Emmanuel Mutai as world champion Abel Kirui was fifth. The 27-year-old clocked an impressive two hours 13 minutes and 40 seconds and became only the third Ethiopian to win the London Marathon, speaking in a humble tone he said “I was a bit disappointed with the run actually, it is OK, it is a good start and hopefully I will go into the next one with a lot more confidence”.

In the women’s race it was Russia’s glory as Liliya Shobukhova and Inga Abitova came in 1^st and 2^nd respectively, with Shobukhova’s winning time clocked at two hours 21 minutes and 59 seconds. Unfortunately Britain’s Mara Yamauchi faded from contention around the half way mark and couldn’t better her previous year’s performance of 2^nd, eventually finishing in 10^th.

There was also heart brake for another of our British athletes as David Weir was denied a fifth successive London Marathon win when a succession of punctures prevented him from turning his dominance of the race into a victory. It was left to Canadian Josh Cassidy to take the title and win his first London Marathon.

As always it wasn’t just the elite athletes that were achieving greatness as people from all different walks of life participated in the days events. Princess Beatrice became the first Royal to compete in the race after running in a group of 34 who set a new record for the highest number of interlinked runners to finish. Virgin boss Richard Branson completed the course dressed as a butterfly, whilst Emmerdale actor Tony Audenshaw was the fastest celebrity.

Other records set this year included account manager David Ross, 42, from Sutton becoming the fastest-ever cartoon character when he finished dressed as Fred Flintstone. Police officer Jill Christie wore a Superwoman outfit and took the record for quickest female superhero and financial analyst Ben Afforselles from Kent, was the fastest leprechaun.

The Icelandic ash cloud had threatened to disrupt the race and many of the elite athletes only arrived after boarding a specially chartered flight from Madrid on Thursday. However the event ended up going ahead without any problems and ended on a good note when a competitor named Luke proposed to his girlfriend Yvette live on the BBC during his post race interview, congratulations to the happy couple!

We’ll be posting our intosport.com London Marathon video soon, so stay tuned for more!

Filed under: General by tomt
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A couple of things to round up from recent goings on, Rafael Nadal produced some blistering form to blow all the competition away in Monte Carlo and claim his sixth consecutive title in the principality. Unbelievably though the stand out fact from his crushing defeat of Fernando Verdasco was that this was Nadal’s first title in 11 months! After being bombarded with injury and poor form it has taken almost a year for the Spaniard to rediscover the formula for winning. That’s something that puts Andy Murray’s recent slump into perspective, although tennis in this country could cease to exist if it takes that long for the Scot to return to his best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TyvTSyVAis

The All England Club has announced that this year the winners of both the Men’s and Women’s titles at Wimbledon will receive £1m each. This apparently is due to the decreased strength of the pound and the rise in tennis’s global marketing value. Now I’m all for equality etc etc etc and I think it’s a good thing that the Women’s champion gets as much as the Men’s champion, however I think it is worth pointing out that now in terms of how much they get paid per game or per hour on court, the Women’s champion actually gets paid a lot more than the Men’s, just pointing it out that’s all.

Also we found this video on youtube of tennis player lookalikes….some really good ones, only meant in jest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXLqDrCW2fw

Filed under: Tennis by tomt
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The last few weeks were supposed to be full of opportunity to blog about Andy Murray’s ventures towards titles in both Miami and Monte Carlo however what actually transpired was a suggestion that Murray maybe facing the first crisis in his career. Admittedly he has had dips in form before now, as have all pro tennis players, but the manner in which he was dumped out of the first round of the Miami Masters (a title he was defending having won it last year) and the absolute mauling he received in Monte Carlo a few days ago seem to be indicating problems that run deeper than just a rough patch.

In both cases it seemed that Murray was simply unable to pull himself out of an abyss of self doubt and error and what’s more worrying he seemed to give up with out much a fight. The crowd in Monaco certainly sensed his lack of effort and the boos and jeers rang out around the stadium, voicing their displeasure at seeing a player renowned for his fight and spirit, displaying as much back bone as infantile jelly fish.

Two terrible performances without doubt, but should the panic sirens be sounding just yet? Well not really but they’re on stand by, Murray was awful in both matches but it doesn’t really constitute a serious slump, remembering also that one of the matches was his first of the clay court season, a surface that Murray finds notoriously difficult, and was against a player who specialises playing on the red stuff. It’s also very easy with all the hoopla going on about the Davis Cup defeat and the LTA etc etc etc to over react and jump to extreme conclusions.

However this is where Team Murray needs to earn their money! For a while now Murray has bettered pessimistic British expectations but with that first Grand Slam victory still alluding him he might just be starting to doubt himself so it may take some external help and encouragement to get him back on his feet and in winning ways again!

Lastly good luck to Leon Smith, the new GB Davis Cup captain, hopefully he’ll bring a fresh approach to the team and start producing some positive results for us all!

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Well it’s been a week or so since our last blog and there’s been a lots to keep up with.

It was very disappointing to see John Lloyd resign from his position as Captain of Great Britain’s David Cup team following the embarrassing loss to Lithuania. The general theme of the post event press coverage was that change would be inevitable, but it wasn’t just Lloyd’s head being called for. Plenty of well known and respected voices from the tennis world, including Lloyd’s brother David and several former Davis Cup players, cried for a change at the very top of the LTA, rather than the resignation of the Davis Cup Captain. It’s a tough situation and clearly something has to change – but without knowing the inner workings, politics and personalities inside the LTA it’s impossible to know who should be held accountable. However, it does make you wonder what more Lloyd could have done, and what difference a fresh face can make? If you don’t have the quality of players, with the ability to perform at the required level, then there really isn’t a lot you can do.

One thing that shouldn’t be overlooked is the young crop of LTA supported players that are showing signs of real potential. Maybe we’re expecting too much of the LTA too soon – maybe we just have to accept that there isn’t a quick fix, that it’s going to take time, and even then we may not produce a grand slam winner, especially if another Roger Federer comes along. Anyway, it’ll be an interesting story to follow. Defeat to Turkey in the next Davis Cup match would be, well, unthinkable. But then I’m sure I read something similar a few weeks ago before the Lithuania tie. I’m certainly not going to be sitting comfortably until that match is in the bag.

Huge congratulations must go to Ivan Ljubicic (nice sounding name that) who became the oldest ever first time winner of a Masters Series event when he over came Andy Roddick in the final of BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. The shockingly ancient Ljubicic ,31, defeated those pesky kids Nadal and Djokovic on his way to boosting his retirement fund.

Speaking of old men, when viewing the BBC sport pages this morning whilst enjoying a bowl of youthful coco pops, I almost covered my computer screen in chocolaty milk when I read a breaking news headline proclaiming that Tim Henman, 35, was returning to competitive tennis! It was only when I read the attached article that it became apparent that he was going to take part in the Aegeon Masters event at the Royal Albert Hall with the likes of John McEnroe and Pat Cash (I have sub consciously replaced the word ‘competing’ with the phrase ‘taking part’ that is a bit ageist, apologies). In all seriousness it will be great to see Tiger Tim back on court ‘competing’ again. The event starts on the 30^th Nov so look out for tickets!

So from one man we’ve missed to a team missing some key players. Last week saw Netball Superleague’s new superstar franchise, Surrey Storm, suffer their first defeat at the hands of Northern Thunder. It seems that the Guildford based side are missing the England defensive duo Mkloma and Mentor, who have now departed the UK for the ANZ Championships down under. Special mention has to go to Thunder’s shooter Karen Greig who produced an almost faultless performance, and to Bayman and Clarke who ran riot in the thirds.

Lastly a big well done to everyone and anyone who donated or took part in raising money for SportRelief last weekend or indeed over the past few months. The final total came in at over £29m so the amount of people who’ll really see the benefit of that is fantastic! Also if you haven’t had the chance yet make sure you see James Corden’s sketch at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards. It was absolutely hilarious and at times really hit the nail on the head about British sport, and coming from someone who was not a fan of Gavin and Stacey that is saying something!

Anyways the Miami Masters starts tomorrow so I’ll post some thoughts on that once it’s underway, have a good week!

Filed under: General, Tennis, netball by tomt
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