French Open tennis predictions
May 24, 2008
I have written an article where I give my 2008 French Open predictions. After the draw was completed I still feel confident with what I have predicted for Roland Garros. Other people making predictions about the result at the French Open are saying that the draw has been kind to Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic and Nadal are the form players in the 2008 ATP season to date. Djokovic of course won the Australian Open and has also added the Master Series Indian Wells and Masters Series Rome titles. Nadal has been good on clay and will once again be favorite to win at Roland Garros. If he does he will collect his fourth consecutive French Open crown.
Roger Federer will be hungry for his first title at the French Open. He hired a claycourt specialist as a coach to help with this goal. Having been to the final for the past two French Open tournaments he has shown he has what it takes to win the title. It is just that one Spaniard he has not been able to overcome.
In the women’s French Open there has been a huge hole left by the retirement of Justine Henin. The new world no. 1 Maria Sharapova will be looking to win her first French Open crown now that the most dominant player on clay in recent times has stepped aside.
Last year’s finalist and world no. 2 Ana Ivanovic would be keen to take the next step. If she does win the title at Roland Garros she could also be looking at taking the no. 1 sport from Sharapova.
Jelena Jankovic will also been keen to collect her first grand slam title. She has shown she can win big titles however has not yet stepped up to the grand slam level. Her recent title win in Rome will give her the confidence she needs to claim the crown.
Other players to consider are the former champion, Serena Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
My predictions for the 2008 French Open tennis are Novak Djokovic to take the men’s crown and Jelena Jankovic to win the women’s title.
Lakers crush Spurs to go up 2-0 in Western Conference Final
May 24, 2008
The Los Angeles Lakers have cruised to a 30 point win over the defending NBA champions, San Antonio. The final score was 101-71.
The Lakers scored first in the match and were never behind. The Spurs could only manage to pull level at one stage before the Lakers surged away. The scores were level with 2:14 left in the second quarter.
The Lakers did a good job sharing the scoring. Kobe Bryant was top scorer with 22, closely followed by Odom on 20. The best someone could do for the Spurs was 13 from Tony Parker.
Is it time to write off the defending champions? Look at their series against New Orleans they did manage to come back after losing the first two games, and in that series the first two games were comprehensive defeats.
History is against the champs but there is still a long way to go before you can count them out.
The Spurs get the chance to open their account with a home game on Sunday.
St George win ugly over Manly
May 24, 2008
Watching the game between St George and Manly you would have thought the dragons did not want to win. They just kept turning over the ball. Amazingly for them with all the turnovers they were still in the match against last years losing grand final team.
Playing at Brookvale Oval most expected the Sea Eagles to claim the points however the Dragons managed to rob Manly late in the match. Brett Morris crashed over with 5 minutes left to play to give Jamie Soward a chance to kick the winning conversion. After dancing around the ball in his pre-kick routine the Dragons halfback slotted the ball between the uprights to give his team a 20-18 win.
The win sees the Dragons sitting just outside the top 8 with 10 points. The Wests Tigers hold down 8th spot with 12 points.
Pistons win game 2 to level series against Boston
May 24, 2008
The Pistons grabbed home court advantage from the Boston Celtics. Should Boston fans now be worried? You have to consider that the Celtics have not won a game away from home in the NBA playoffs.
Richard Hamilton lead the way for the Pistons as he scored 25 points to help his team to a 103-97 win over the top seeded Boston Celtics. The home team have struggled in the playoff series to date and were taken to 7 games by Atlanta in the first round and Cleveland in the second.
It is now crucial for the Celtics to win away from home for the first time. If they don’t they could be eliminated on May 30 in game six in Detroit.
Playing at home the Celtics had not previously found themselves behind going into the fourth quarter. Against the Pistons that is how it was with the score at 78-69 in favor of the visitors. Boston fought back to trail by just two points with 5:09 left on the clock after a three pointer from Ray Allen.
Boston were still hanging in the match and with two minutes left in the match they were just down by four. From here Detroit slowly pulled away with a basket by Hamilton and a layup by Billups.
A 3pt shot by Allen with 10 seconds on the clock game the Celtics a sniff as the score was 100-97 in favor of the Pistons. The Celtics were now forced to foul and hope for some misses, however the Pistons managed to sink a few free throws and the match was gone.
Game 3 is in Detroit on Saturday followed by another game at home for the Pistons on Monday.
Lakers storm home to take game one against Spurs
May 22, 2008
The Los Angeles Lakers rallied in the fourth quarter of their match against the defending NBA champions to defeat the San Antonio Spurs 89-85 in game one of the Western Conference finals.
NBA superstars Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan lead the way for their teams. Bryant knocked in 27 points for the Lakers while Duncan bettered that with 30 points for the Spurs.
It was a 24-13 final quarter that saw the Lakers take out game one at home. Bryant stepped up for the Lakers down the clutch with 14 fourth quarter points. Duncan could only manage 8 points for his team.
The win is a good boost for the Lakers who overcame a 20 point deficit to win the game. After it looked like Bryant was going to be shut out of the game after only 2 first half points he lifted to claim the match.
Game 2 of the series will be played in Los Angeles on Friday.
Heartbreak for Chelsea as they go down to Manchester United in penalty shootout
May 22, 2008
In the UEFA Champions League final in Moscow it was Manchester United who took the lead in the 26th minute following yet another goal to Cristiano Ronaldo. It was goal number 42 in all competitions this season. Ronaldo’s goal came from a header following a Paul Scholes floating cross to the back-post where it was met by Ronaldo.
Chelsea hit back just before halftime when in the 45th minute Frank Lampard scored. The goal came following a Michael Essien shot that took two deflections before falling nicely at the feet of Frank Lampard who shot into the net.
The second half was a tight arm wrestle however Chelsea came close to snatching the lead when in the 78th minute Chelsea’s Didier Drogba curled a shot that crashed into the right-hand post. This was the best chance of the half. No further goals saw the match go into extra time.
Just before the end of regular time Ryan Giggs was sent on to replace Paul Scholes. Giggs made history by becoming the record appearance holder for Manchester United, surpassing Sir Bobby Charlton’s record of 758 matches for the Red Devils.
Early in the first period of extra time it was once again the woodwork that denied Chelsea. This time Frank Lampard fired a shot that struck the crossbar.
On the 11th minute Ryan Giggs almost became the hero for Manchester United when his shot looked to be going in only to be denied by a John Terry header.
A few more chances came and went. With just minutes left to play in extra time Chelsea were reduced to 10 men when Drogba was sent off for slapping Nermanja Vidic.
As time wound down the managers were thinking of the penalty shootout and several substitutions were made.
The season had started with a penalty shootout between Manchester United and Chelsea in the FA Community Shield, this is how it was going to end.
Manchester were first to lineup in the shootout and it was Tévez who knocked in the first penalty. Ballack responded for Chelsea.
It was 2-2 when Ronaldo stepped up to the spot. He would have wanted a place to hide as he saw his shot saved the the keeper. Lampard followed up the Manchester miss with a goal to edge Chelsea closer to the title.
Several shots later Chelsea captain John Terry stood at the spot with the chance to seal the win for Chelsea. The pressure was on as he moved in to take the Championship winning penalty. He approached the ball and unfortunately slipped as he struck the ball. Chelsea’s fans heads fell as the shot struck the upright. Manchester lived on…
3 more penalties were converted before Anelka stepped up to take his shot. The result was a save by van der Sar and Manchester United were rejoicing.
Manchester United are Champions of Europe for the third time after wins in 1968 and 1999. The 2008 Champions League crown goes along with the English Premier League title they won recently, once again denying Chelsea.
NSW take upper hand in State of Origin series
May 22, 2008
A dream debut which included two tries for winger Anthony Quinn has helped the NSW State of Origin team to a 18-10 victory in game one of the series.
Queensland came into the series looking to make it three series wins in a row. NSW clearly do not want this to happen and they played with skill and enthusiam to ensure they head up the Suncorp Stadium with a chance to close out the series.
NSW got off to a dream start when in the fourth minute Anthony Quinn crossed over out wide to score the first points of the match. The try came following some nice ball movement down the left side. The key moment was an offload by Ryan Hoffman that was pulled in by Brent Stewart. A second laster Quinn was over. Craig Fitzgibbon put icing on the cake with a conversion from wide out.
Blues fans did not have to wait long to see their team go over again. The second try was scored on 18 minutes when Quinn was on the end of a nice kick by Peter Wallace. Fitzgibbon missed the conversion to leave the score at 10-0.
Another Blues try came on 35 minutes when Manly fullback Brett Stewart went over following a good offload by Anthony Laffranchi. It looked like NSW would be taking a commanding 14-0 lead into the halftime break.
An error by Wallace where he kicked out on the full allowed Queensland to have one last shot at the NSW line and seconds before the halftime whistle was blown Brent Tate got on the end of a Johnathan Thurston grubber to give his side a sniff. 14-4 was the halftime score.
In the second half the scoreboard attendant had little work to do. It was not until the 68 minute when Laffranchi scored a try that the score changed.
The Blues were now looking good for a 1-0 series lead. A late converted try by Queensland’s Israel Folau made the score looked respectable however it was not a true indication of how NSW dominated the game to take the match 18-10.
The NSW new boys such as Peter Wallace and Anthony Quinn had come into the side and played a starring role on debut to help NSW to a well deserved win.
NBA conference finals teams decided
May 21, 2008
Two of the conference semifinals went down to the wire. San Antonio defied history and came back from 2-0 down to knockout New Orleans in game 7, and Boston were pushed to the edge in game 7 by Cleveland.
After the first two games of the San Antonio-New Orleans the champs were not looking good. Both games were won by New Orleans by convincing margins. The Spurs came back to level the series with wins in games 3 and 4. In the end it came down to game 7 and it was the Spurs who emerged as 91-82 winners.
In the other series that went to game 7 with eight seconds on the clock Cleveland were within 3 points of Boston after a three pointer by Pavlovic. The match was a two man contest with LeBron James scoring 45 as he tried to get past the Celtics, while for the men in green it was Paul Pierce with 41 points that saw the top ranked team get home.
In the other two semifinals Los Angeles overcame Utah in six games and Detroit moved past Orlando in 5.
The conference finals now see the Lakers take on the Spurs in the West and the Boston Celtics play the Detroit Pistons in the East.
Harry Kewell hits out at English press
May 21, 2008
Australian player Harry Kewell spoke out against his recent treatment in the English press when speaking to local reporters following his return to Australia to prepare for Friday’s friendly against Ghana.
The English press were savage in their critism of Kewell and his time at Liverpool. Some even made fun of him being called a professional football player. I believe the critisism was way over the top as no player enjoys being sidelined by injury as was the case for Kewell.
Kewell said “It’s a shame because I have done nothing wrong.” The press in England seem to make a living ripping the guts out of people just to sell newspapers.
Kewell said he is hoping to play the full match against Ghana. He said he is feeling fit however his match fitness is of course somewhat lacking.
The Ghana match is a good warmup for the four crucial 2010 World Cup qualifying matches to be played in June.
It all starts with a home match against Iraq in Brisbane on 1 June. The Socceroos then have to play in the heat of the Middle East against Iraq in Dubai on 7 June. This is followed by a match in Doha against Qatar on 14 June. The final match is to be played in Sydney against the Chinese on 22 June.
The top two teams in the group will advance to the next qualification stage in the Asian zone.
Nadal consolidates no. 2 ranking with Hamburg Masters win
May 19, 2008
With Novak Djokovic breathing down his neck for the number 2 ranking in men’s tennis, Rafael Nadal has moved away from his Serbian challenger on the ATP rankings. Last week Djokovic had closed to withing 310 points of Nadal.
Following victory over number 1 ranked Roger Federer in the Hamburg Masters, Nadal has eased out to a 360 point advantage of Djokovic. In a repeat of last years final Nadal was able to turn around the result from last year.
Last year in Hamburg Federer ended Nadal’s 81-match winning streak on clay. This time around Nadal was able to claim victory 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-3.
The title win meant Nadal became the first player since 1990 to win three ATP Masters Series titles on clay in his career. He is also only the third player in history to achieve this feat. The other two are former world no. 1’s Gustavo Kuerten and Marcelo Rios.
The win for Nadal over Federer is an important boost for Nadal as he heads towards Roland Garros later this month. It also gives him a slight edge over Djokovic who he defeated in the semifinal.
I am looking forward to the French Open. Federer has shown he is in good form so who knows if he can finally claim the title that has eluded him so far.
What do you think? Leave a comment below.
