Tag: Tennis

Indian Wells Tennis Tournament

A look at the Indian Wells tennis tournament which concluded yesterday, and a photo gallery.

Yesterday saw the men’s and women’s finals of the Indian Wells Tournament. This tournament is a ‘Masters 1,000’ tournament, making it only one level below the grand slams. The 1,000 part of the title refers to the number of ranking points that the winner of this tournament and others of similar status receive. Before I get to the finals, a small sidelight from the women’s side…

ACCEPTING A SLICE OF LUCK

Tennis has what is called ‘a lucky loser system, whereby if someone pulls out of a tournament very late a s0-called ‘lucky loser’ – someone who just missed out on being in the main draw as of right – is drafted in to fill the gap. In the case of the women’s event at Indian Wells the beneficiary of this system was Sonay Kartal, a 23 year old British woman of Turkish ancestry, who had originally checked out of her hotel after losing in the final qualifying round. She took advantage of her good fortune splendidly, going on to reach the last 16 where her run was ended by world number one Aryna Sabalenka, which segues neatly on to…

THE WOMEN’S FINAL

This was a contest between an established star (world number one Sabalenka) and a youngster, 17 year old Mirra Andreeva. When Sabalenka took the first set 6-2 it could have been a brief and brutal affair. Andreeva fought back however and ensured that this would not be the case. First she took the second set 6-4. Then, remarkably, she quickly took control of the third and deciding set as well. In the end she won 2-6 6-4 6-3, becoming the youngest ever winner of a WTA 1,000 level event.

THE MEN’S FINAL

The men’s final featured Jack Draper of Great Britain, who had overcome a horrible period mid-match (being ‘bageled’ in the second set no less) to beat Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-final, and Holger Rune of Denmark. In the final there were no wobbles at any stage from the 23 year old Brit, as he quickly took control of proceedings and never relinquished it, winning 6-2 6-2 to secure the biggest tournament win of his career to date. Draper is now ranked number seven in the world.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The Australian Open Men’s Singles Final

A look back at the men’s singles final at the Australian Open and a large photo gallery.

I have not been able to follow very much of this year’s Australian Open tennis due to conflicts with my first sporting love, cricket, but this morning UK time I was able to tune in to the very last match of the tournament, the final of the men’s singles.

A POOR MATCH

The last two contestants to take to the Rod Laver arena at this year’s Australian Open were Jannik Sinner, world number one, but facing a substantial drugs ban, and Alexander Zverev, world number two. Zverev was in his third grand slam final, having lost both the previous two, while Sinner is a multiple grand slam winner, and came into the match as defending champion of this tournament. Yesterday in the women’s singles Madison Keys at the age of 29, and seven and a half years after a horror loss to Sloane Stephens in that year’s US Open final won the title, beating Aryna Sabalenka, world number one and winner of the previous two titles in Melbourne. The match was close early on but the decisive momentum shift happened in games eight and nine. The eighth game of the match, with Zverev serving at 3-4 down and no one yet having broken, was a very long one, finally ending when Zverev misjudged an attempt to get into the net, opening himself up to a passing shot which Sinner duly made. Game nine thus saw Sinner serving for the first set, and he was clinically efficient, getting through it very fast and completely mercilessly.

The second set went to a tie break, and although Zverev secured the first mini-break he gave it right back, and in the end Sinner was an easy winner, seven points to four.

The third set was short, the closest Sinner coming to a worrying moment at any stage thereof being when serving for the title at 5-3, 30-30. The last two points were confidently played by Sinner. The final scoreline was 6-3, 7-6, 6-3, a straight sets win for the Italian world number one. It was in truth even more one-sided than the score suggests – not only did Zverev not break the Sinner serve all match, he never even had a break point. Sinner was hardly at the top of his form, which tells you just how bad Zverev was in this match.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Three shots of this bird, which my bird suggests is a great crested grebe, a new sighting for me if true, appear in this gallery.

THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN PENULTIMATE DAY

An account of the penultimate day at the Australian Open accompanied by some pictures and some links.

INTRODUCTION

As well as my thoughts on the Australian Open I have some links and pictures to share. 

THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN

There is one day remaining of the Australian Open. Tomorrow morning our time Andrew Murray takes to the court to play Novak Djokovic in the final of the men’s singles. If he wins, it will be the first time in the open era that a pair of brothers have won the singles and doubles titles at the same grand slam event, since today’s amazing action concluded with Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares beating the uber-veterans (combined aged 80) Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek to claim the men’s doubles. Gordon Reid having already won the wheelchair singles finally ran out of steam in the closing stages of a very long wheelchair doubles final.

However, the main event of the day was the women’s singles final. Serena Williams started as a red hot favourite against Angeliqe Kerber of Germany who had ended the run of Johanna Konta in the semi-finals (in reaching that stage of the tournament Konta had done enough to guarantee that she will be seeded at the French Open, as it took her ranking into the top 30 and she will be playing tournaments that she was not in last year between now and Roland Garros).

However, in the event, Angelique Kerber did the highly improbable and beat Serena Williams in three sets. This was a truly superb match (I heard every shot of it on five live sports extra) and I end this section by stating something in bold capitals:
ANGELIQUE KERBER WON THIS MATCH – SERENA DID NOT LOSE IT

PICTURES FROM AROUND KINGS LYNN

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The front of the Duke’s Head Hotel where the Positive Autism Awareness Conference will be happening on April 15th.

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The rear of the Duke’s Head

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St Anne’s House

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Below this Tudor frontage is a hairdressers.

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LINKS

To open this section I mention a new find, dreambigdreamoften to whom I was introduced by Anna. My second encounter with DBDO came courtesy of Maria who signposted me towards this Meet and Greet post.

I also wish to share this from Ambitious About Autism.

My other links all relate to my London transport themed website, www.londontu.be:

Map

 

Some Sporting Stories

A couple of sporting stories, news of a bold new plan for London City Airport and an important petition.

INTRODUCTION

This is going to be a blog post of many parts. As well as the sporting stories in the title I will be sharing some other stuff that I have come across recently. I will cover the sporting stories first…

CRICKET

Two different stories from South Africa. First…

HAVING LOST THE WAR SOUTH AFRICA
LOOK LIKE WINNING THE FINAL BATTLE

England’s victory in the third test match gave them an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four match series, so the fact that they took two sessions (SA 220-1 in 1st innings) to wake up in this match and have never been on terms is less of a worry than it might be. Going into the final day, extended to make up for time lost to the weather, England have 98 overs to bat and with seven wickets in hand need what would appear to be a purely nominal 330 more to win.

Kagiso Rabada who took seven wickets in the first innings already has another two, and one more would make him the youngest ever bowler to take 10 in a test match. Hashim Amla was one good blow short of completing twin centuries in the match and two South African debutants made centuries in the first innings, Cook (like his English namesake an opening batsman) and De Kock (wicketkeeper and middle order batsman).

Barring cataclysmic weather the final outcome of this series will be a 2-1 win to England.

My second cricket story concerns a rather graver matter…

MATCH FIXING

Gulam Bodi has been banned from any cricket related activity except attending anti-corruption programs for a period of 20 years for contriving or attempting to fix matches in the 2015 Ram Slam T20 series. A full account, by Cricinfo’s South African correspondent Firdose Moonda, can viewed here.

While I am pleased to see that a severe punishment has been dished out I can only concur with the thoughts voiced by Michael Vaughan on Test Match Special today – this is not tough enough. Anyone caught engaging in this kind of behaviour should be banned outright for life.

TENNIS

We are deep into the second week of a grand slam tournament (the Australian Open), and Andy Murray is not the sole remaining Brit in the main singles draws (he is of course still there). He has been joined in reaching the last eight by 24 year old Johanna Konta, the first British woman since 1984 to make a grand slam quarter-final.

SOME OTHER BITS AND BOBS

I have a few other items to share, starting with…

FAREWELL TO LONDON CITY AIRPORT (HERE’S HOPING)

I have already given this some coverage on my London transport themed website. Sian Berry (Green party candidate for London mayor) and her team have come up with an excellent alternative usage proposal for the site of London City Airport. Full details can be read here, while the original of the picture I  reproduce below can be viewed here.

LCY

DON’T CUT BENEFITS FOR PEOPLE
LIVING WITH DISABILITIES

First, a petition which I introduce by way of a piece of text designed for use in emails:

I just signed the petition “Don’t cut benefits for people living with disabilities” and wanted to ask if you could add your name too. 

This campaign means a lot to me and the more support we can get behind it, the better chance we have of succeeding. You can read more and sign the petition here: 

http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/don-t-punish-the-sick-and-disabled-with-benefit-cuts 

Can you also take a moment to share the petition with others? It’s really easy – all you need to do is forward this email or click these links: 

Share on Facebook 

Share on Twitter 

Thank you! 

For more detail please view this post from disabilitybenefitsconsortium.

 

 

Special Post: Barons Court

INTRODUCTION

This is the latest post in a series I have been running giving a station by station guide to London. Today’s post will feature a measure of London Underground history, a bit of tennis and some music…

BARONS COURT – A MEETING OF TUBE AND SURFACE

HISTORY

Barons Court opened in 1906, as part of the original Piccadilly line section from Finsbury Park to Hammersmith. District line trains had been travelling the route since 1874 but there was no station at Barons Court before the Piccadilly line opened. The Piccadilly when it opened was either a compromise involving elements of three different plans or if you prefer a bodge job trying to combine elements of three different plans. Desmond F Croome’s “The Piccadilly Line: An Illustrated History” gives full details. Of relevance to our post, one of the roles that was subsumed into the making of the Piccadilly line was that of ‘deep level district’, easing congestion on the older subsurface level route. Thus, from South Kensington to Earls Court the Piccadilly follows the district, and from Barons Court, where the Piccadilly surfaces, it shares a set of four tracks with the district as far as Acton Town, and on the Heathrow branch as far as Hounslow West and the whole of the Uxbridge branch the platforms are at the compromise height used for platforms shared by ‘tube’ and ‘surface’ stock, as the district used to run these routes as well. A couple of pics between subsections…

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QUEENS

Barons Court is the home of the Queens Club, host of the best known of all the Wimbledon warm up tournaments. For most of the year tennis is played on a variety of surface other than grass, and Queens gives men (it has no women’s section) a chance to get to used to both grass and London before the big one,

THE MUSICAL CONNECTION

Barons Court’s musical connection comes by way of St Pauls Girls School, just across the A4 from the station. For some years the Director of Music at that establishment was Gustav Holst, famous both as a composer and for collecting folk stories to serve as an inspiration for his composition. His best known work today is The Planets, which focuses on the attributes of the gods whose names the planets bear (yes I would wish for the focus to be astronomical rather than astrological/ mythological – but it is still excellent music).

CONCLUDING REMARKS AND PICTURE

I hope you have enjoyed this post and that you will be encouraged to share it. My final picture is of a Piccadilly line promotional poster…

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