WTA Wednesday

With the next Fed Cup round coming up and the Olympics being on home turf this year I thought I would take a look at the prominent British WTA players!

Elena Baltacha

 Anne Keothavong

Heather Watson

 

Laura Robson

Naomi Broady

Although the Fed Cup team consists of only Baltacha, Keothavong, Watson and Robson I felt it was only fair to include all players in the top 200, Naomi Broady is the sister to Liam Broady who last year was runner up in the junior women's title. 

Robson is most famous for her Junior Wimbledon win and Watson is famous for advancing to the second round of the French Open. They have teamed up for doubles and they appear to be the rising stars of British women's tennis, no doubt as they get older they will be able to hold their own and creep up the rankings.

Elena Baltacha has reached a career high of World No. 49 and has consistently been the British number 1, she has beaten players in the top 10 (e.g. Li Na). Anne Keothavong has also been British number 1 and has reached the third round in the 2008 US Open, and the second round of Wimbledon on three occasions.

These women have provided Britain with a steady place in the world of women's tennis, although there has been no Grand Slam winner to come out of this generation (yet!) they have each achieved relative success and I look forward to seeing the development of women's tennis in Britain, in particular if the appointment of Judy Murray as Fed Cup Captain!

Murray Watch Monday

After his defeat in Miami to Novak Djokovic Andy Murray must have felt something needed to change, and this something appears to be his hair!
 

As you can see he is sporting a much shorter look, perhaps he has been taking style tips from his coach Ivan Lendl?!

He has been interviewed by Sir David Frost, both before and after the haircut, what do you think? Do you prefer this Murray or the massive Afro Andy of years ago?

Some past hairstyles!

Murray also managed to get his hands on a Blue Peter Badge pre-haircut!

Watch some of the interview here.

Sony Ericsson Open

The end of the hard court season was played out with another Murray V Djokovic final (A future rivalry?) although Murray triumphed last time they played this time Djokovic eased to victory with a 6-1, 7-6(4) win.

I'm loving the bubbles!

Djokovic has successfully defended an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown for the first time, capturing his 30th tour-level title and second in 2012, following his victory at the Australian Open.

The doubles was won by  Leander Paes (who has won the doubles title twice before) and partner Radek Stepanek.

The Clay court season has now begun so expect fireworks!

Murray Watch Monday

In my last Murray Watch Monday I mentioned how Andy Murray had been chosen to carry the Olympic flame and this time around we get to see him modelling the Olympic kit, designed by Stella McCartney the kit is effortlessly chic but I'm sure Adidas has ensured it is practical as well!

 

As tickets for the ATP World Tour Finals have now gone on general sale I'm sure those of you with tickets to the London O2 event in November will be very excited and it seems Andy Murray is adjusting his tournament schedule in order to give himself the best advantage:

“The end of last year was a bit unlucky,” Murray told Standard Sport. “I got a freak injury so I look forward to performing well there this year, if I qualify. I need to make sure I structure my year and plan it well and not make any mistakes with that. Last year I probably made a couple of mistakes. I probably shouldn’t have played in Rotterdam (in February) — I should have taken a little more time off and then trained hard. Then at the end of the year, I probably shouldn’t have gone to Basle (where he suffered a bizarre injury, eventually diagnosed as a sciatic nerve problem). But to be fair, I got really unlucky at the end of the year with the kind of freak stuff that happened.”

Andy also spoke about how important it is to have the home advantage:

“Every time I play at home I get great support so I look forward to playing in London every time, It helps to be at home for sure, especially because now I am spending a bit more time training abroad, I am not really at home that much.”

Mr Murray also touched on the lack of tournaments in Britain, particularly in comparison to the other Grand Slam hosts, Australia, France and the US:

“It’s about time, really,” the 24-year-old said. “Australia has a few tournaments there before the Grand Slam and the French guys have so many tournaments — Metz, Montpellier, Marseille, Paris Bercy, French Open, Lyon, Nice. They’ve got loads and obviously the US has the most tournaments on the Tour. It’s nice we are starting to get a few more events. The more tournaments at home, the better.”

Have you got tickets for the ATP WTF yet?