Tag: williams

Sports Round-up

Happy Independence Day, sports fans (and everyone else for that matter). Today’s post contains updates for both the World Cup and Wimbledon.

First up, the semifinals for World Cup will be July 6th & 7th. First will be Uruguay v Netherlands at 2:30 on the 6th. Germany v Spain will follow the next day. My predictions: Netherlands v Germany for the Final. More like I really hope that is the case, but it has a good chance at becoming a reality. Netherlands’ upset against Brazil blew the soccer world away (much like Germany blew Argentina away in their Quarterfinal match). I believe these are the two teams to watch out for.

Next, tennis – the Wimbledon finals were this weekend, and here are the results:
For the Ladies Final, Serena blew away Zvonareva on Saturday by a score of 6-3, 6-2. As for the Men’s Final, Nadal beat Berdych earlier today 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. I predicted both outcomes, but hoped for a better showing from Berdych. Even still, congrats to him for making it as far as he did, and congrats to all the players for their own achievements.

Thus concludes the sports round-up for today. Here is a little inspirational something to say Happy Birthday to my fellow Americans. It is a clip from the movie Independence Day.

Wimbledon Gentlemen’s & Ladies’ Finals

Well, folks, we’re finally here. The Wimbledon Finals are this weekend. For the Ladies, we get Zvonareva vs Serena Williams. I predict Serena should win this, but I wouldn’t be opposed to finally seeing someone new win for a change. As for the Gentlemen, their final match will be Berdych vs Nadal. I was really disappointed to see Murray go down in straight sets, especially since he looked strong throughout most of the match. He played his heart out though, so kudos to him anyway. Unfortunately his loss means British fans will have to wait even longer now to see one of their own make it to the Finals at Wimbledon.

Predictions: I think this is going to be Nadal’s year, but I also wouldn’t count Berdych out before the match has even started. After all, this is the guy who knocked Federer out in the Quarters, so he definitely is a force to be reckoned with.

Ladies Finals will be tomorrow, and Men’s Finals will be Sunday. Enjoy your weekend, tennis fans.

Wimbledon Gentlemen’s & Ladies’ Semifinals

The Men’s Quarterfinals were today, and boy were there some surprises. Shock of the day came when Roger Federer lost to Tomas Berdych in 4 sets. We almost had another shocker with Nadal, but he was able to bounce back and win his match against Soderling. The draw for the Semis stands as thus:

Berdych vs Djokovic
Murray vs. Nadal

Predictions: I would love to see a Djokovic-Murray Final match, but I also realize Murray will have a real fight if he wants to beat Nadal. For that matter, anyone who beats Roger Federer is someone to watch out for, so Djokovic better be careful if he doesn’t want to be eliminated.

The Ladies Semifinals are tomorrow, and unfortunately do not include my favorite player that from the Quarters – Kim Clijsters. Instead we can look forward to Serena Williams vs Kvitova and Zvonareva vs Pironkova. The only player I even know anything about here is Serena, and I’ll be shocked if she doesn’t at the very least make it to the Finals. Then again, none of my predictions from the Quarters proved to be right (except Serena winning her match) so I guess I’m not one to judge the Ladies side of this tournament. Like I said in a previous post though, I am much more familiar with the Men’s draw. That’s probably why the only one I got wrong on that side was Federer losing (and let’s be honest – no one saw that coming).

Who do you think will make it to the finals this year at Wimbledon? Is it the person you are routing for or someone else? Sound off in the comments section below.

Wimbledon Gentlemen’s & Ladies’ Quarterfinals

Wimbledon is in week 2, which means we are getting down to the wire here. Tomorrow will be the Ladies Quarterfinals. Matches are as follows:

On Centre Court – first match is Clijsters vs. Zvonareva followed by Serena Williams vs. La Ni of China.

On Court 1 – first up is Pironkova vs. Venus Williams followed by Kvitova vs. Kanepi

Predictions: Clijsters, both Williams sisters, and… I’m not sure. That last match features two people I am not familiar with, as I tend to follow Men’s Singles much more closely than the Ladies, as of late.

Wednesday will be the Men’s Quarterfinals, which looks like it will be much more interesting (in my opinion). The draw stands as thus:

Federer vs. Berdych
Djokovic vs. Lu (who beat Andy Roddick for a spot in the Quarters)
Tsonga vs. Murray
Soderling vs. Nadal

Predictions – Federer, Djokovic, Murray, and… I’m not sure. I want to say Nadal but I know he is having knee problems, so that makes this tricky. He might make it past the Quarters, but if he plays Murray in the Semifinals then I think it will at least be a pretty decent battle to the Finals. I’d personally love to see Murray vs. either Federer or Djokovic in the Final match. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though. After all, in this tournament anything is possible.

Wimbledon Men’s & Women’s Draw Announced

The draw for Men’s and Women’s Wimbledon singles matches has been announced. Here are the notables from each section.

Men:
Section 1 features Roger Federer, who looks to have a clear path to the Quarterfinals. Section 2 has a few potentials, including Novak Djokovic, Lleyton Hewitt, and Andy Roddick. I also wouldn’t mind seeing Taylor Dent or Mardy Fish make it through, although that is more of a long shot. Andy Murray should have a clear path in Section 3, although I will be routing for Robert Kendrick to surprise us all. As for Section 4, Nadal will probably take this section, but I will be cheering on James Blake and Robby Ginepri. Blake especially though, because he is my favorite of the American players. Not only is he a good player on the court, he has showed heart and strength off the court as well. His story is an inspiring one that I’ll probably do a feature on at a later date.

Women:
I honestly care less about the Ladies singles, but that is mostly because most of the players I used to route for either no longer play or have a very slim chance of actually winning. Usually the Championship goes to one of the Williams sisters, and I’m sorry but this is starting to get old for me. I will still predict winners based on likelihood rather than personal preference though. For Section 1, it will probably either be Serena or Sharapova (more likely Serena though, as Sharapova has dropped considerably in the rankings as of late). Section 2 doesn’t really have anyone worth noting that I can see, so I’ll go with the rankings and say Wozniacki of Denmark takes this section. Section 3 will hopefully go to Clijsters, although Petrova and Jankovic have a decent chance too. Section 4 will likely go to Venus Williams, but I will be routing for Sania Mirza of India. I have loved her since her first year appearing in the majors where she surprised everyone by making it all the way to the 4th round in the US Open. I said then that she had potential for greatness, and I’m really hoping this is the year we see that.

Those are all my notables for this year’s Wimbledon. The complete draw is available on the Wimbledon website. 1st round starts June 21st. Keep it tuned to News on Shuffle for all the latest in tennis news and highlights.