Global Chick’s Rankings Review
Rankings Review & Recap 22 June
We can hardly contain our excitement as we gallop at top speed towards the lush lawns of SW19, but Global Chick’s tour of hostelries around the outer-lying regions of this sceptred isle takes us from the Midlands to the coast. Well we do like to be beside the seaside.
This is the final week in the extended season and we can almost expect to see no action for the very big names, but there are still a few stars out on show this week in a last ditch attempt for grass court practice, as the seedings will be based on last weekend’s results.
ATP Rankings 22 June
Result of the week was Roger Federer winning his eighth title in Halle – a staple of his grass court preparation for many years. He faced Andreas Seppi in the final and won a competitive couple of sets against the Italian, who of course claimed his first win over Federer at third year’s Australian Open.
“I think that I did very well here in the tie-breaks,” said Federer. “I served well which you have to on the grass. I was able to mix it up, so I created a good pattern going into the tie-break. My opponent wouldn’t quite know where it’s going to go and if he knew where it was going to go it was going to be tough for him to defend. I think I did a really nice job this week on these situations.
“I think one big secret on grass is when to hit which shot and playing the score the right way. You might be playing perfect but then in one moment you take a bad decision and grass makes you pay for it all. So, this week has been great if I look at the whole thing. I don’t think I got broken anymore the last four matches I played. The first match was extremely close but I won all the tie-breaks this week, which gives obviously big confidence knowing that in the crucial moments my game was right there.”
Meanwhile over The Channel, we can expect the Wimbledon hype to ramp up to stratospheric levels after Andy Murray won his fourth Queen’s final, playing twice in one day as the British weather did its level best to thwart his efforts.
Murray was the top seed in action, returning early doors to tackle Viktor Troicki for their rain and injury interrupted semi-final, and then coming back a few hours later to get the job done against Kevin Anderson.
“I served extremely well,” said Murray. “I wasn’t expecting to have loads of opportunities with the way he had been serving this week and the way the courts were playing, so thankfully when the [break point] chances came, I managed to come up with some kind of instinctive shots and guess the right way on a couple of shots, and managed to get the breaks.
“I felt like once I got into the rallies I was doing really well, but it was obviously tough to do that some of the times. He served an extremely high percentage of first serves and was serving big. But it was a good performance.”
The big names will rest while ATP action closes up the race to Wimbledon with Nottingham.
1. Novak Djokovic
2. Roger Federer
3. Andy Murray
4. Stan Wawrinka
5. Kei Nishikori
6. Tomas Berdych
7. David Ferrer
8. Milos Raonic
9. Marin Cilic
10. Rafael Nadal
11. Grigor Dimitrov
12. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
13. Gilles Simon
14. Kevin Anderson (+3)
15. David Goffin
16. Feliciano Lopez (-2)
17. John Isner (+1)
18. Gael Monfils (-2)
19. Tommy Robredo (+1)
20. Richard Gasquet (-1)
WTA Rankings 22 June
Women’s tennis gets a big boost over the final two weeks leading up to Wimbledon, with two Premier tournaments and some big hitting action. None more so than the battle for the World No. 10 spot at the weekend between Angelique Kerber and WTA Rising Star Karolina Pliskova.
The fans in Birmingham deserved a decent final having endured biblical rain, thunder and smiting lightning (well at least the threat of it) but we did have some corking matches and thrills and spills.
Kerber sprung off to a quick start with an immediate break but Pliskova had a kack ot tying Kerber up in knots, as nerves kicked in after squandering four set points and the Czech got a second chance as she broke the German while she was serving for the set.
Having to come from behind in the score-line is Kerber’s forte as she fought back in the second to level the match, before clinching a deciding tie-break to pick up her first title on grass, her third this year, and a well-earned boost before both players head down to Eastbourne.
There is another stacked draw by the coast, although the tournament was rocked on Monday by terrible weather and the withdrawal of top seed Petra Kvitova on the Monday.
The World No. 2 is defending her second Wimbledon crown, but felt she had some time to get over this illness in the mean time.
“I know that a lot of players don’t play the tournament before. I’m not the only one. I practiced on it, and I still hope that I will have a few days in London, as well.
“I know I can play well on the grass. I have to still think positively, and I hope I gonna be ready for Wimbledon. I’m playing Tuesday, so it’s still time for it.”
1. Serena Williams
2. Petra Kvitova
3. Simona Halep
4. Maria Sharapova
5. Caroline Wozniacki
6. Lucie Safarova
7. Ana Ivanovic
8. Ekaterina Makarova
9. Carla Suarez Navarro
10. Angelique Kerber
11. Karolina Pliskova (+1)
12. Eugenie Bouchard (-1)
13. Agnieszka Radwanska
14. Andrea Petkovic
15. Timea Bacsinszky
16. Venus Williams
17. Elina Svitolina
18. Sabine Lisicki (+1)
19. Sara Errani (+1)
20. Garbine Muguruza (+1)
Topics: AEGON Championships, Andy Murray, Angelique Kerber, Atp, Eastbourne, Federer, Gerry Weber Open, global chick, Sw19, Tennis News, Wta
GLOBAL CHICK’S IN RAINY BUT BEAUTIFUL #EASTBOURNE, HERE’S THIS WEEKS RANKINGS REVIEW- http://t.co/DJL5lM3Qol #tennis #SW19 #WimbledonAwaits