A quick round up of tennis at the start of 2012.
BBC ruin everything for everyone, ever
Something the BBC attempted to keep very quiet (and haven't actually announced, merely listed what they will be showing), is that they have for intents and purposes abandoned the Australian Open. This year they are showing one semi final, and the final. They will be showing nothing else. This is the same Australian Open that is equally as important as Wimbledon and which a British player has reached the final of the last two years. I imagine they also found room in the budget to show the Queens 250 event. Meanwhile they will continue to pay £500k a year for Alan Shearer to 'say what he can see' on MOTD and suggest that people 'will be disappointed' with missing an open goal in the last minute which could have seen their team win the title.
In addition if Murray was to make the final, then Sue Barker will no doubt be dragged from the Question of Sport studio and Tim Henman from the golf course, to offer opinions on a tournament the vast majority of people will now have been unable to see. Here is an idea BBC. Why not cut down on the amount of ridiculous pundits in all sports and concentrate on actually showing sport?
England has a man at a Grand Slam
In one of the all time great sport stories, England, a tiny country of only 50 million and with only £55m a year to spend on tennis, has had a man qualify for a Grand Slam of his own accord for the first time in four years. James Ward has had an excellent run through qualifying and has been rewarded with a fairly winnable first round match too. He faces Blaz Kavcic, WR 106, and could go on to have his winners challenged far, far, far, far, far, far too late by Juan Martin Del Potro in round 2. I did not think we would ever be hearing from Ward again after his Queens run but fair play to the guy. His aim is to reach the top 100 and if he continues his early form then he might just make it.
Australian Open Predictions
There has been some mixed form from the top 4 so far this season as we enter the first Slam.
Novak Djokovic won the rather grandly titled 'World Tennis Championship' in Abu Dhabi, but you never know what to take from exhibition events. He has to start the season as favourite but his form will be almost impossible to repeat this year. He has been drawn in Murrays half and a semi final showdown could be on the cards and you would have to fancy Djokovic in that match up. You would have to fancy him against Nadal in the final, but he has had close matches with Federer recently and would be less confident facing him in the final.
Roger Federer began the season as he finished last season, by demonstrating he is quite happy to do something he has previously heavily criticised Andy Murray for. Having essentially stated that he has never been injured and to pull out of an event is the worst thing since Hitler, he then pulled out of an event, injured. Dick.
Rafael Nadal, who has already planned to take February off, lost to Monfils in his first event and has been struggling to shake off concerns about his fitness. He has also failed to be given his traditional semi final bye against Murray and will actually have to work hard for two matches in a row at the end of the tournament. Given his recent struggles in Australia there have to be doubts over whether he can go all the way.
Andy Murray started the season on form, winning his 22nd career tournament. Though Federer probably doesn't count it as it didn't involve beating anybody good. He now has a new coach and has had two fantastic tournaments here recently. His first round match is quite tough, as he faces youngster Ryan Harrison, but he then has a simple run to the Quarters. However as he is likely to face Tsonga, Djokovic then Federer in a row, he will once again fall short. There is also the fear that he hasn't thrown in an horrific early defeat in a Slam for a while (despite his best efforts against Haase) and that one is due.
Amongst the rest, there is talk that Tsonga could go all the way and there is that fear that this is the tournament where Del Potro will return to his unbeatable US Open 09 form. However those two aside, there isn't really any depth and it is almost a certainty the winner will be one of the top 3.
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