Tennis Weekly Series- Edition 6

So, 2 weeks after the Edition 5's special features we get back to business, as the ATP tour continues to rumble on.
*Please note this edition will cover the latter stages of the Olympics and Toronto, Cincinatti will be covered next time

Player of The Week: Andy Murray
Golden boy Andy Murray won his first Singles Olympics title with a victory at SW19, and also sealed a silver medal in the mixed doubles with Laura Robson in a brilliant week for him and Great Britain.
After losing in the Wimbledon final to Roger Federer in 4 sets there were doubts whether he could bounce back strongly, but he used the home crowd to spur him on to the Gold Medal. He didn't have too much trouble early on, and with his nemesis world number 7 Tomas Berdych out before the Quarter Finals he cruised to the semi-finals with an easy victory against Nicolas Almagro. Up against him in the semi-final was former world number 1 Novak Djokovic, who was also hunting his first Olympic Gold Medal Title. However it was Murray who handled the bigger moments better, breaking each time at 6-5 to seal the match in straight sets 7-5 7-5. Djokovic made uncharacteristic errors in the crucial stages, and later lost to Del Potro to go home empty-handed. Murray meanwhile proceeded to the final where he would play Wimbledon Champion and World Number 1 Roger Federer. Federer looked mentally tired after his marathon match against Juan Martin Del Potro, while Murray was incredible, serving and returning sensationally routing Federer 6-2 6-1 6-4. Later that day he, along with Laura Robson, took Azarenka and Myrini to a final set Super-tiebreak but just missed out and had to settle for a silver medal in the Olympic mixed doubles. Overall a brilliant week for Murray which should give him great belief for the future.

Flop of The Week: Tomas Berdych
After losing in the 1st round of both Wimbledon and the Olympics, Berdych's fate did not get much better in his first match of Toronto- getting crushed by Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-4 6-2 in a humiliating showing. He got off to the worst possible start, making sloppy errors and missing easy shots to go 4-0 down. Gasquet was controlling the game with his backhand, and after sealing the 1st set 6-4 he stepped up his game in the 2nd, winning the match with the loss of only 6 games. Berdych seems to have lost all his momentum, after a fantastic clay-court season he had a torrid time in England and his bad form looks to continue over the American hard court season too. If he wants to do well at the US Open he has to pick up his game- or soon his place in the top 10 will be under threat.

Match of The Week: Roger Federer vs Juan Martin Del Potro
No surprises here as this high quality marathon takes the award. These two players eventually ended up with silver and bronze medals respectively, but it was this semi-final match which stood out. The first set was a tight affair, with both players having opportunities to break, but it was Del Potro who took the lone break, and served out the set 6-3. The second set was even closer as neither player could strike and the set went into a tie-break. Some sizzling forehands and a bit of luck went Roger's way, and he narrowly edged the breaker to take the match into a deciding set. The 3rd set was epic. With no tie-break allowed it seemed like the match would never end, with both players serving superbly. However it was at 9-9 that Roger finally got the breakthrough and his first break of the match to leave him serving for the match at 10-9. Everyone thought that was it. I was already looking down the OOP schedule, anticipating Azarenka and Serena to soon come on court. But Del Potro broke back. To Love. All the way through the 3rd set it seemed Del Potro couldn't even get Roger's serve back in play forget winning points, but with defeat looming he had pulled off a break from nowhere. However Roger was determined not to give this up. He continued to press on the return and serve well, and at 17-17 struck again to get another break. This time he made no mistake, serving out the match to win 19-17 in the longest match in Olympic history. Both players received a standing ovation when the left the court, and I can confirm that it certainly was thoroughly deserved.

Quote of The Week:
Sloane Stephens: "I love Rafa, so I love seeing him at tournaments. I get star struck when I see him. I'm like, 'Oh, my God I wish I could touch him.' It will be sad with him not there. He's on Practice Court 1 and he's always on the first court so everyone can see. I like eating my lunch and watching him. I'm kind of bummed he won't be there."
Sloane Stephens expresses her devastation at Nadal's withdrawal at the US Open.

Good as always IMBL.

Match of the week for me is Raonic v Baghdatis. There was some awesome shot making in that match

Thanks IMBL - a really good read, again! Love it.

TP, LK thank-you
Glad you liked it!

legendkillarV2 wrote:
Match of the week for me is Raonic v Baghdatis. There was some awesome shot making in that match

Yes, that was another great match.
But I think Fed-Del Potro just had the edge in terms of importance and quality.

Nice article IMBL! Who is this Sloane Stephens person though?!

She is an american female tennis player. She made a bit of splash at the French Open and Wimbledon I think (off the top of me head)

She's built like Sam Stosur too.

Oh... glad I didn't google her then!

reckoner wrote:Nice article IMBL! Who is this Sloane Stephens person though?!

Thanks Reckoner

SS is a female American tennis player who is currently ranked number 50. Her most prestigious win of her career came this week, when she won Quote of the Week.

She hasn't acheived much. Yet.

Great article as usual IMBL

Can't help but agree about Berdych. He really is struggling of late.

carrieg4 wrote:Great article as usual IMBL

Can't help but agree about Berdych. He really is struggling of late.

Thanks Carrieg

Berdych's form has really dipped. Technically if he is in ferrer's quarter he could reach the semis, but his form must improve or he won't get past R3.

Nice article IMBL.
Berdych is having a crisis right now....seems to have been since Gulbis bumped him out in R1 at Wimb. Just shows how much this sport is played between the ears despite all the talk of physicality.

Nice to hear from you Lydian. Yeah what is up with Berdych he is in an absolute tailspin the last couple of weeks.

Murray as well has to feel that he has had very poor preparation and a bad transition from the grass to hardcourts. So while he was player of the week last week he might be the berdych of this week.