Murray making progress despite defeat

If you've been reading this blog then the chance are you watched Murray's match yesterday.

It may be deflating to see our No.1 hope cut down at the semi-final stage again, but you wouldn't begrudge Nadal the victory, such is his quality. And Murray's reaction in defeat is a reason for encouragement.

Murray said that he's worked on his attitude played a more aggressive gameplan, but still couldn't unsettle the world No.1. Most notably, he said he needs to improve by 10-15 per cent to close the gap on Nadal.

This is a statement of intent. It's clear that Murray is not happy to grab a blanket and bed in as world No.4. He wants more and he's willing to work for it.

Murray won't be at his wits' end after this defeat, as the step up is within sight. All the hard work on his attitude this time round has made a huge difference and saw him come into the semi-final on the back of two straight-sets victories.

Gone were the draining five-set battles we're used to, where in the past Murray has struggled to overcome lesser opponents. This time he was ruthless, despatching of Gasquet and scything down Lopez without a thought for their hardships and without losing his cool.

That in itself is progress and, if he can work as hard on the finer points of his game as he has on his mentailty in the rest of the season, then a grand slam title won't be far off.

Our Brit hopes aren't totally dead in the water for this wimbledom yet, though. Stockport's Liam Broady is currently tied one set all in the junior final. Watch this space.

Tsonga may be out, but is he Tset for Tstardom?

A little bird in the Wimble Womble house was speculating yesterday, saying, "Wouldn't it be great if Murray played Tsonga in the final!"

Based on Tsonga's performance as Queens, where he couldn't deal with Murray's game, then yes, it would have been. But based on his form at Wimbledon this last week, he'd have been a completely different prospect.

Having come back from two sets down to Roger Federer on Wednesday, he threatened to do the same against Djokovic today.
At times, the Muhammad Ali-alike looks totally devoid of technique and leaves you questioning his merit to be in the semi-finals of such a competition. Then suddenly, with giant side-steps and deft flicks of the wrist he proves that h can not only float like a butterfly, but also sting like a Mexican killer bee.

It wasn't to be today, as in the fourth set, Djokovic stood strong and stuck to his game, bullying the new boy off the court. But not without a smile. On two occasions at least, the Serb couldn't help but raise his hands and applaud the Frenchman's tenacity; once diving across court to reach one ball before leaping back up to deflect Djokovic's return back across court and win the point. Another point in the fourth set, saw Tsonga visibly measure up a lob before executing it to perfection, with Djokovic caught in no-man's land.

Tsonga may not have made the final, but if he keeps improving at this rate, he'll be a huge force in world tennis before too long.

Sharapova surges into final

It might be a second Wimbledon final for Maria Sharapova, but she's had a long, hard road back having last made it in 2004 when she won her first Grandslam title aged just 17. Shoulder troubles saw the Russian slip to No.126 in the world rankings and it wasn't clear after surgery in late 2008 whether she'd ever compete at the top level again.

Early in yesterday's tie with Sabine Lisicki, things didn't look so rosy as the wildcard raced into a 3-0 lead in the first set, the German's powerful serve proving the potent weapon it had throughout the tournament. As Sharapova settled, however, her form returned and her huge forehand started to hit the spot, she eventually came through to win 6-4, 6-3.

Fans of peace and quiet will be happy that seed No.4 Victoria Azarenka was knocked out at the hands of Petra Kvitova, meaning we'll only have the one shrieking violet in the final. The 21-year-old Czech won 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 and will be contesting her first Grandslam final on Saturday.