7 Things We Learnt From the First Week of Wimbledon

As we take a well-earned breather after an eventful opening week of Wimbledon there is just enough time to reflect on the goings-on at SW19.

Men's tennis has it's entertainers.

With big servers prominent at the top of the game, it was great to see the showmen take centre stage in the opening week. There was constant one-upmanship between Nick Kyrgios, Gael Monfils and Dustin Brown as the three sought to produce shots of increasingly unique flair and originality.

Whilst only Kyrgios remains in the draw, both Monfils and Brown created first week fireworks before their departure. Brown made himself a household name with a sensational four set victory over Rafael Nadal as well as claiming the unofficial title of best locks in tennis. Similarly Gael Monfils' athletic shot selection reduced his opponent and friend Gilles Simon to laughter with a ridiculous forehand [below] in their third round encounter.

There are Brits other than Murray.

Okay, so as is usual, Andy Murray is the only Brit to make it to the second week in the singles draw. But for the first time in recent memory there were signs that he may not be alone for much longer. Both Heather Watson and James Ward came within a matter of points of making it through to the fourth round, the former almost defeating world number one Serena Williams after a hugely valiant effort. Local lad, Ward, also came close in the third round, eventually falling to Canadian Vasek Pospisil in five sets.

They were not the only success stories though, as Liam Broady kick-started the week with an epic five set victory over Marinko Matosevic before recently converted Brit, Aliaz Bedene, followed suit into the second round where both their journey's ended. It was the most successful Wimbledon in years for British wildcards and gives hope that it is not long until Murray has a friend in the top 30.

Wimbledon's All-White Policy has gone mad.

Kyrgios sporting his controversial headband.

There is tradition, and then there is madness. One of the more controversial talking points from the opening week is the extreme nature of the All England Club's all-white dress code. Both Eugenie Bouchard and Nick Kyrgios found themselves with rapped knuckles after falling foul of the extensive rules.

Bouchard found herself in trouble after a black bra strap emerged during her first round defeat whilst, more bizarrely, Kyrgios was told to turn the official Wimbledon headband, inside out for violating colour rules. So just to emphasise, Kyrgios was not allowed to wear the official Wimbledon headband during an official Wimbledon match. Brilliant.

Anyone is beatable in the WTA... Except Serena.

The first week saw the disappearance of a number of the biggest names in women's tennis as the grass claimed its early victims. One of the biggest shocks was Simona Halep's first round loss to Jana Cepelova. This year's form player, Carla Suarez Navarro swiftly followed whilst she was joined by Ana Ivanovic and Ekaterina Makarova who both exited in round two.

The third round saw the most notable upset as defending champion Petra Kvitova, so comfortable in her opening two rounds, left the court in tears after a tough three-set defeat to Jelena Jankovic.

Serena though. Well, she keeps just being Serena. Not only did she have to battle an inspired Heather Watson but she had to battle a packed-out Centre Court crowd in her gritty third round victory over the British number one. Can anyone actually stop her collecting her third grand slam of the year? I don't think so.

Nick Kyrgios is the Real Deal.

Since exploding onto the tennis scene in last year's Wimbledon through his defeat of Rafa, few have questioned the talents of the tenacious Aussie. One of the pitfalls though, of having a grand slam run as a teenager, is backing it up and injuries during the year have seen question marks as to whether he can last at the top level.

Not only is Kyrgios backing it up, but he is bringing character and interest to a sport with too many robotic personalities. His on-court personal rows and inventive style have made him a fan favourite, but more importantly, a real danger to the big guns in this draw. He has already dismantled big serving Milos Raonic and Richard Gasquet is next in his line of fire. John Newcombe may be right about not writing Kyrgios off too early.

Bouchard isn't having a blip, she's having a crisis.

Bouchard suffered her 12th defeat in 14 matches.

In contrast to Kyrgios' success, Eugenie Bouchard has had a year to completely forget exacerbated by her terrible first round loss to unknown 117th ranked Duan Ying-Ying. Bouchard has been desperately seeking a tournament to turn around a turgid year but the grass of SW19, where she reached the final last year, has not been it.

Bouchard has now lost 12 of her past 14 matches and seems to be suffering from what is commonly referred to in football as a case of second-season-syndrome after her outstanding breakthrough year in 2014. The Canadian looks a shadow of the player she was 12 months ago and some serious self-evaluation needs to occur before the return to the hard court.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Why, oh why did the BBC opt to revamp their highlights coverage into the terrible 'Wimbledon 2day'? When I came in from work on Monday I wanted to sit down and enjoy the highlights of the day. Instead I was treated to amateurish conversation between the out-of-her-depth Clare Balding and an awkward member of an awkward crowd among a couple of legends and a smattering of actual tennis.

The BBC have done their best to evolve the show as the week has gone on but the lack of actual tennis on show is the particular disappointment for what was formerly an excellent highlights show. I believe Balding is an excellent presenter but I am not sure she is the right person for this job and wonder whether, much like Leyton Hewitt, she won't be back at Wimbledon next year.

Sports Ladder (21st-28th April)

UP - Greg Rutherford - Greg Rutherford is unfortunately always likely to go down as the forgotten man after the Super Saturday of London 2012 after collecting a gold medal alongside the poster boy and girl Mo Farah and Jess Ennis. As well as sharing his gold medal success he also, until this week, shared the British long jump record with Chris Tomlinson. However, this week he leapt a huge 8.51m to claim the British crown for himself during an event at the Olympic Training Centre.

UP - Couch and Barrow - All the talk during this weeks World Series diving event was about Tom Daley and which medal he would win. Well it turns out the answer is none as he finished fifth. Instead it was the women's pair of Tonia Couch and Sarah Barrow who led the way for Britain, picking up a superb silver medal with 321.24. They weren't the only pair who leapt to success as Rebecca Gallantry and Hannah Starling narrowly took the bronze medal with a 302.88.

UP - Paddy Power - Paddy Power have become the ultimate trolls of the sporting world this year with a spat of hilarious and controversial publicity stunts and television adverts. After condemning David Moyes to unemployment last weekend with their Grim Reaper stunt they capitalised on the sacking, erecting a statue of Moyes outside of Anfield thanking him 'For Services to Liverpool Football Club'. They may be making enemies but at least they're doing it in humourous style.

UP - Rajiv Ouseph - It isn't often that the loose-wristed sport of badminton makes the sports ladder but this week Rajiv Ouseph collected Britain's first singles medal for four years when he last won a bronze medal. This time Ouseph was able to go one better, collecting a silver medal to go alongside his European Team Championship medal of the same colour from February. Perhaps in four years time he can go one better and get the gold.

UP - Broady Siblings - It's a rare occurrence that we get to applaud British tennis success but this week we got to congratulate not one, not two, but four British Champions for the first time since 2008. Whilst Eleanor Dean won in Antalya and Alexander Ward won in Heraklion it was the two Broady siblings that led the way. With Liam winning in Bournemouth and Naomi winning in Namangan it was a fantastic weekend for them and British tennis. Success clearly runs in the family.

DOWN - Giro d'Italia - For many casual fans the Giro d'Italia is considered the second largest annual cycling event behind the Tour de France. Yet British interest will be decidedly short for this years event after a number of key withdrawals this week. Both Chris Froome and Sir Bradley Wiggins have joined Mark Cavendish in skipping this event in order to prepare for the Tour. At least it leaves us guessing between Wiggins and Froome for the Tour.

DOWN - Emile Heskey - Don't you just hate it when the public start a petition to get you knighted and the government throw those plans back in your face? The problems of the common man ey? Well that's what happened this week to Emile Heskey as a petition set up by Daniel McCarthy to get the England legend knighted was turned down by the government. Come on Mr Cameron, I know its a knighthood and everything but where's your sense of humour!

DOWN - Wirral Cricket Club - As a cricket club, you know you're having a bad day at the office when you have more ducks than a Chinese restaurant. Wirral's week was absolute quackers as they bowed out of a Cheshire League Division Three fixture with just three runs. It gets even worse if only one of those comes from your batsman and the other two are from extras. At least they saw the funny side, tweeting some old legends for some coaching advice.

DOWN - Jose Mourinho - He used to be the man who just oozed charm. The man we all loved for his quirky but brilliant nature. Since his return though he has just become increasingly dislikable. Whether it was his permanent delusion that they weren't in the title race, or the way he accused West Ham of '19th Century football', before playing in an identical way on multiple occasions. His multiple touchline runs and celebrations have lacked class and, to me at least, he is no longer the 'Special One'.

DOWN - Rafael Nadal - Well, well, well. Mr Nadal seems to be tumbling down the ladder in recent weeks doesn't he? Another huge loss on clay to further dent the world number ones confidence as he fell this week to Nicolas Almagro in Barcelona for the first time since 2003, ending a 41 match unbeaten run. This was also the first time he has lost to his fellow Spaniard. With the French Open approaching rapidly Rafa needs something to change, and fast.

Nadal Shock as Win Streak Ended

The crowd at this week's Barcelona Open were treated to a shock on Friday as eight time Champion, Rafael Nadal, crashed out of tournament for the first time in eleven years.

The 'King of Clay' had won each of his last 41 matches in Barcelona, only previously losing to Alex Corretja in his debut tournament of 2003. As well as that, the Spaniard had previously lost just two sets in all 41 of those victories.

But his three set loss to fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro doubled this tally as he was defeated 2-6 7-6 6-4 in the quarter-finals. This was also the first time that Almagro had ever managed to beat Nadal in ten previous meetings.

The match started in routine fashion as Nadal broke his fellow countryman twice to claim the first set 6-2/ However, from there the tide began to turn as Almagro made less sloppy errors, finding much more epth in the court than Nadal.

A tight second set was decided by a tie-break and it was Almagro who emerged victorious, taking only his second set off the 13 time Grand Slam Champion to force a decider.

With momentum firmly behind him, Almagro pushed on, capitalising on some wayward serving from his opponent to get the vital break and eventually serve out the match to book a place in the semi-finals against the Columbian Santiago Giraldo.

This is by no means the first shock of the year for Nadal who, after enduring a phenomenal 2013, has suffered a number of uncharacteristic losses already. His third round loss to Alexandr Dolgopolov in Indian Wells and his defeat last week in Monte Carlo to David Ferrer suggest he is not as his best as he prepares for the French Open.

And with significant ranking points to defend in recent weeks, Nadal will have to look much sharper on the clay courts of Madrid in two weeks time if he is to fend off the challenge of Novak Djokovic for his world number one position.

Sports Ladder (14th-20th April)

UP - Gareth Bale - How do you prove to an unconvinced fan base that you are good enough for your team? Well scoring an outstanding winner in a cup final will certainly go some way towards proving it. That is precisely what the Welsh wizard did this week, as he slaughtered Marc Bartra for pace, running from the half-way line to the goal in seven seconds before tucking underneath the Barcelona keeper to secure the Copa Del Rey for Real Madrid. Success for the Brit abroad.

UP - Jazz Carlin - An excellent week for Welsh swimmer Jazz Carlin who smashed her welsh record with a time of eight minutes 18.36 seconds in the 800 meters freestyle. As well as setting a new national record, Carlin also set the fastest time in the World this year in her discipline as she heads towards the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. With two medals already under her belt, the youngster will be looking to make it three this year.
 
UP - Crystal Palace - Go on then. Who honestly predicted that Palace would avoid relegation this year? Who thought they would be thirteen points clear of relegation with three games to go? Oh you did did you? Well then you're a liar. What an incredible job Tony Pulis has done since arriving at Selhurst Park. Not only has he steadied the ship but he has created a team that can get the ball down and play. With five victories on the bounce can they finish in the top half?
 
UP - Charlotte Dujardin - What a fantastic weekend the double Olympic champion has had. The equestrian star opened up with a record breaking Grand Prix victory on Saturday, beating her own previous record of 85.942% with a 87.129% riding on her horse Valegro. The Brit then followed this up with another victory in the World Cup freestyle with an exceptional 92.179% to claim her second gold medal of the weekend. Now that's a productive bank holiday.

UP - Liam Phillips - Another marvellous double victory but this time on a BMX instead of a horse, with Britain Liam Phillips sweeping up both the Supercross and the time trial at the season's first BMX World Series. Phillips continued from where he left off last year when he was crowned World Champion in New Zealand. It was a strong week for British riders in general as both Kyle Evans and Charlotte Green finished inside the top five as well.

DOWN - Pablo Larrazabal - I've seen some bizarre stories in my short lifetime but this really is up there. Poor Pablo Larrazabal had to leap into a lake in the second round of this weeks Malaysian Open after being attacked by a storm of hornets. The Spaniard described it as "the scariest moment of his career" and was only able to continue after injections and medical examinations which said he was in a fit state to carry on. Never has a golfer been so happy to be in the water hazard.

DOWN - Chelsea - Is that Mourinho's title challenge done? Not for definite, but this week could prove to be a major blow over the next few weeks. A 2-1 loss to Sunderland could be the final nail in the coffin for Chelsea's title challenge as Liverpool's eleven game winning run shows no signs of ending. And with an important mid week Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid, could the season get even worse for the Special One?

DOWN - Daniel Ricciardo - A mixed week for Daniel Ricciardo. Disappointingly for him the appeal against his second place disqualification in Australia was declined so he will lose his maiden podium at his home Grand Prix. However, he did once again out-qualify his team mate Sebastien Vettel and also beat him in this weekends Chinese GP. This left the current world champion notably rattled. Has Ricciardo made a foolish enemy of his team mate?

DOWN - David Moyes - Is the Chosen One about to become the Fired One? Sunday's 2-0 defeat to Moyes' former club Everton at the weekend may well be the final straw as strong rumours circulated on Monday that the end is nigh for the Scotsman. With suggestions that dressing room confidence is low after reports of Danny Welbeck wanting out it looks like there is no way back now. Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement wish looks to be falling flat.

DOWN - Rafael Nadal - It was last year we began to talk about Roger Federer's possible retirement. Andy Murray decline has set in since his Wimbledon victory and now Rafael Nadal looks to be struggling. The dominance of the top four is well and truly splintered. Nadal failed to reach the Monte Carlo Masters final for the first time since 2004 and alongside his Australian Open final loss and also his Indian Wells defeat this year, could it be that another is about to fall in this tennis shake-up?

Williams Beats Li For Miami Title

Serena Williams retained her Sony Open title with a 7-5 6-1 victory over world number two Li Na.

Williams recovered from a double break in the first set at 5-2 to win eleven of the next twelve games on her way to her second title of 2014 after victory at Brisbane in January.

The victory ensured Williams moves ahead of Agassi in titles won in Miami after claiming her seventh title, twelve years after her first in 2002.

After her slow start, Williams was quick to praise her opponent, telling BBC Sport, "It was a really important victory, especially against Li Na. She started so well and if it hadn't been for the fans I don't think I could have pulled through."

"At 5-2 down in the first set, I felt I had nothing to lose. I started to relax and, when I relax, I play my best tennis."

Williams was unusually sluggish in the opening stages of the final, being broken in the first game by a fearless looking Li. However, the Chinese second seed was not done there, breaking again to find herself 5-2 up.

At this point Williams relaxed, swinging freely and taking the next five consecutive games to claim the opening set 7-5.

In the second set Williams raised her game significantly, completely shutting out Li and racing to a 5-1 lead. It was representative of her second set display that it took the world number one just one match point to claim victory.

This continued her run of fifteen consecutive victories against top-10 ranked opponents as she now turns her attention to the Family Circle Cup in Charleston this week.

As with the women's final the world one and two will contest the men's final later today after both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic received walkovers in their semi-finals.

Published on SEaT Capital.

Djokovic, Nadal Into Miami Semi's

Rafael Nadal's hard-fought three set victory over big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic completed Friday's semi-final line-up at the 2014 Sony Open in Miami.

Victory for the world number one means he will face seventh seed Tomas Berdych whilst the other semi-final sees Novak Djokovic do battle with rising star Kei Nishikori.

Nadal advanced to the semi-final with a narrow 4-6 6-2 6-4 victory over Milos Raonic as he seeks to claim his first Miami Masters title. The Spaniard has reached the final three times but is yet to win the title.

His opponent Berdych is also a beaten finalist in Miami, succumbing to the now-retired Andy Roddick in 2010. The Czech has not beaten Nadal in any of his last seventeen attempts but will take solace knowing that the man he beat in the quarter-finals, Alexandr Dolgopolov, beat Nadal in Indian Wells earlier this month.

On the other side of the draw Kei Nishikori provided the upset of the quarter-finals, toppling a resurgent Roger Federer 3-6 7-5 6-4. The tenacious twentieth seed won his second consecutive match over Federer after also beating him last year in Madrid.

Nishikori will face Novak Djokovic after the Serb controversially defeated defending Miami champion Andy Murray. The two former champions were battling toe-to-toe until a controversial net infringement was missed by the umpire, causing a slip in concentration from Murray and ultimately a 7-5 6-3 loss.

Elsewhere in the women's side of the draw, the tournament final will conform with seedings as the top two seeds Serena Williams and Li Na will meet for the first time this year.

Serena Williams continued her decade-long unbeaten run against Maria Sharapova in the semi-finals, toppling her 6-4 6-3 for her fifteenth consecutive victory against the Russian.

Li Na met with Dominika Cibulkova for the third time already this year as she reached her first ever final in Miami after claiming a 7-5 2-6 6-3 victory, extending her unbeaten run over the veteran.

The pair will meet in Saturday's final as Na seeks to claim her first victory over the dominant American since her walkover in Rome 2012, whilst Williams will be looking to win her seventh Miami title.

Published on SEaT Capital.

Murray Falls in Rankings Shake-Up

As the curtain falls on this years Australian Open we have been treated to the first winner since Juan Martin Del Potro's US Open in 2009 who isn't one of the so-called 'Big Four'; Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.

Perhaps more interestingly though, Stanislas Wawrinka's maiden Grand Slam title has well and truly splintered the dominance held between these four over the last five or six years as the updated rankings were released today. His victory moves him up to a career-high ranking of third and he becomes the highest seeded Swiss player, a feat previously held by Roger Federer since 2001. Meanwhile, Federer tumbles to eighth, his lowest ranking in twelve years.

Nadal and Djokovic maintain their place occupying the top two spots but Nadal's runner-up spot has meant a gap of nearly 4,000 points has opened up between the pair. Despite a disappointing second-round defeat, Del Potro moves up to fourth whilst David Ferrer drops two places to fifth.

However, it was a hugely unsuccessful tournament for the British trio of Andy Murray, Laura Robson and Heather Watson. Murray's quarter-final loss to Roger Federer means he falls to sixth, his lowest ranking since 2008. With no Grand Slam's or Masters tournaments until March, it seems unlikely that he will begin climbing again for a number of months.

In the women's rankings, first-round losses for Robson and Watson meant neither were able to defend significant ranking points earned the year before. Robson slips ten places from 48th to 58th whilst Watson, who missed a large section of last season through glandular fever, tumbles to 161st, her worst ranking in a number of years.

Elsewhere in the women's draw, Australian Open victor Li Na moves up to third in the rankings, only eleven points away from number two seed Victoria Azarenka. Serena Williams holds onto top spot whilst Maria Sharapova falls to fifth.

The big mover was beaten finalist Dominika Cibulkova, who leaps eleven places to thirteenth. Canadian teenager Eugenie Bouchard continues her ascendancy, breaking into the top twenty for the first time after reaching the semi-finals in Melbourne. Sloane Stevens falls five places to eighteenth whilst Venus Williams tumbles to 49th.

Published on SEaT Capital.