Andy Murray stunned Roger Federer to win the Olympic gold medal at Wimbledon yesterday just 28 days after a gut-wrenching defeat saw the Brit in tears on centre court.

Murray did not drop a set, beating the world number one 6-2, 6-1, 6-4, in a one-sided encounter which showed the world Murray is capable of beating the big guns on the big occasions.

It was revenge for the Scot who lost the Wimbledon final to the Swiss just a month earlier on the same court.

“It’s number one for me – the biggest win of my life,” said Murray., who took inspiration from team GB’s performance on the athletics field on Saturday night.

“I have had a lot of tough losses in my career and this is the best way to come back from the Wimbledon final.”

Murray had  beaten world number two Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the semi-final and looks to be in imperious form entering the American hard-court season.

Many believe this could be the boost the Brit needs to win his first grand slam.

He will now prepare for the final major of the year – the US Open – and will enter with renewed confidence.

“I hope this will give me the confidence to go there and believe in myself a bit more than I have in the past,” said Murray, whose straight sets victory on Sunday was his first in five sets over Federer.

“Hopefully I can have a good run and give myself a shot at winning.

“I’ve had a lot of questions asked about me many times. I’m just glad I managed to put on a performance I’ve been waiting for.

“It was a huge match for me. It was a big match for Roger as well. I’m sure he would have wanted to win the gold – it’s one of the few things he hasn’t done in his singles career.

“To win today, in the way I did, makes those losses a little bit easier to take. It will help with the way I go into the [Grand Slam] matches and I hope it will make me a better player.”

Murray went on to claim a silver medal in the mixed doubles with Laura Robson. They lost in the championship tiebreak to number one seeds Victoria Azerenka and Max Mirnyi.

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Serena Williams demolished Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1 en route to winning the Olympic gold medal and securing a career golden slam.

Williams stamped her authority on the competition from the outset and lost just 17 games through the course of the competition. The impressive gold medal match victory leaves her on a 17 match-winning streak since her shocking first round exit at the French Open.

The 63 minute final saw the American drop just one game against Sharapova, and was the most comprehensive Olympic women’s single win.

She joins Germany’s Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi of the United States and Spain’s Rafael Nadal as the only players to have won all four Grand Slams and Olympic gold in singles.

“Oh my gosh, I got the gold. I’ve never played better. Playing against someone like Maria you have to be at your best. I knew that, so it was like I had nothing to lose,” said Williams.

“I never expected gold in singles. I was so happy with my doubles golds [in Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008].

“I thought, ‘If my career’s over I have my gold medal and now I have everything.’

“I have singles, doubles, actually everything there is to win in tennis. Where do I go from here?”

Silver medal winner, Sharapova said: ”Serena played some incredible tennis, with the form she was in during Wimbledon and afterwards.

“With every match she has played she has played great, she has improved and become better, and that showed today.”

Williams teamed up with sister Venus to win the doubles gold medal in a similar fashion, with the pair not dropping a set in the concurrent competition.

She hopes to continue her form into the final part of the season as she attempts to win her 15^th grand slam singles title at the US Open in a few weeks time.

In the bronze medal match, Victoria Azerenka beat Maria Kirilenko to secure her first Olympic medal.

Azerenka went on to win the mixed gold with partner Max Mirnyi leaving her and Williams with two medals each.

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Armonk, U.S.A. — IBM has announced new software that helps CMOs and CIOs transform the digital experience for employees, customers and fans across a broad range of mobile devices.

The new software brings together the power of social networking, analytics and mobile computing to front office operations and externally to clients, allowing companies to create exceptional Web experiences. As a result, organizations can gain faster insight on customer buying patterns and consumer sentiment allowing them to more quickly reach and engage their audiences.

As part of the news, IBM is also announcing the completion of a digital transformation project with the All England Lawn Tennis Club. By visiting the new www.wimbledon.com from a variety of devices including the iPhone, iPad, Android and other tablets, fans can share information, interact with and connect to The Championships as if they were actually there seeing the plays in real-time.

The website also integrates with a new online TV channel, Live @ Wimbledon, alongside IBM’s real time match analysis tool, SlamTracker, bringing the most comprehensive digital experience to consumers.

“Working with IBM, we’ve created a new digital experience that aims to showcase the beauty of Wimbledon to our millions of fans around the world. It allows them to truly engage with the Wimbledon experience as never before,” said Mick Desmond, Commercial Director at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.  “Visitors can follow the progress of their favorite players, view clips of live matches, view highlights of the day’s action and get scores and results delivered in real-time.  It is an increasingly interactive and engaging online experience that draws fans, players and the media in ever-greater numbers.”

With the growing number of mobile devices, social networks and social media tools on the rise, CMOs struggle to reach their audiences. At the same time, CIOs are struggling to provide access to company data on every type of device for a geographically distributed workforce. Given the business realignment between marketing and technology, the CMO and CIO can no longer afford to operate on separate stages. To succeed, they’ll have to forge a shared agenda to deliver business results through innovation and efficiency, working together to streamline their technology needs. The convergence of social and mobile is prompting organizations to revisit decades-old website to create exceptional web experiences to reach and engage with their audiences.

Building on these increased demands, IBM is delivering a new Customer Experience Suite giving millions of marketing professionals the power to manage and integrate all types of data on their web sites and then analyze it for deeper insight into customer buying patterns and sentiment. Also delivered today, the new IBM Intranet Experience Suite pulls together company information and data, personalized content and news, and social media and analytics, enabling employees to connect, collaborate and access information at anytime, from anywhere.

At European industrial automation technology manufacturer Omron, employees are connecting knowledge and technical know-how through the organization’s Intranet, helping to meet the specific needs of their customers. Omron delivers an exceptional Web experience to its 1,700 European employees through a single communication platform that embeds relevant social data into the daily workflow.  Omron has sped knowledge sharing across boundaries and between departments, enabling employees to support customers better and faster.

“The world is changing and is becoming increasingly connected and social,” said Michel Min, Head of Strategic Communication & eMarketing, Omron Europe B.V. “Because of this, we know our clients are changing as well, which is why it’s increasingly important to ensure our sales teams have the right information at the right time.”

Analytics to Help Marketers Engage Audiences

From digital marketing and mobile commerce, to websites and social media, marketers are inundated — often paralyzed — by data amassed from consumers via searches, purchase histories, Facebook “likes” and comments on Twitter. Combine that with data about in-store traffic, conversations with call centers and updates from suppliers, today’s marketers confront a daily deluge of data waiting to be sifted for nuggets of intelligence they can act upon to boost their business.

By 2017, the CMO will have greater control of the IT budget than the CIO, according to Gartner(1). Marketing budgets will grow 7-8 percent over the next 12 months, which is 2-3 times that of IT budgets. However, despite their growing reliance on technology and their soaring budgets, CMOs readily admit they lack the skills that IT requires.  According to the IBM CMO Study, while 79 percent of CMOs expect high levels of complexity in their job over the next five years, only 48 percent feel prepared to deal with it.

Because of this, it’s critical for CMOs to not only be aware of and monitor the social conversation, but to truly understand the sentiment and interact one-on-one with that customer. Taking it one step further would be to integrate these conversations directly into the organization’s web site, providing one place to both network and shop.

The new IBM Customer Experience Suite provides CMOs with the power to manage and integrate all types of data on their web sites and then analyze it for deeper insight into customer buying patterns and sentiment. Web data has evolved today to include social media, videos, and web-based forms, as well as traditional enterprise data such as financial, customer and order data, and transactions.  The software suite pulls together IBM’s market-leading enterprise portal, web content management, forms, andenterprise social networking software into a single view.

CIOs Creating Exceptional Intranets To Help Employees Gain Insight from Data Deluge

The new IBM software also helps business leaders extend their corporate intranet to a broad range of mobile devices in an effort to deepen employee collaboration and information sharing.

According to IDC, employees typically see up to a 30 percent increase in productivity using social tools internally to complete their work(2). With unlimited access to any type of information, consumers expect this same level of information availability in their professional lives, in order to work efficiently and reach business goals quickly.

The new IBM Intranet Experience software brings the power of social and analytics capabilities to CIOs and lines of business employees helping organizations innovate and evolve their internal operations and communications. The solution pulls together company information and data, personalized content and news, and social media and analytics, enabling employees to connect, collaborate and access information at anytime, from anywhere.

For example, IBM’s new intranet platform provides HR executives and business leaders with software to help employees better engage across networks and business units, and access information from a variety of sources including external and internal news feeds.

Working with IBM and its partner Portico, Omron created an award-winning business intranet, called Ozone internally, helping to create a single-source communication and collaboration platform for all 1,700 European employees. The IBM Intranet Experience Suite integrates with external social media, including Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, allowing employees to pick and choose which applications they want in their Intranet view. For example, a sales manager can leverage the Cognos software integration to ensure a clear view into monthly sales reports by region, as well as competitive background on new product updates and forecasts.

“It’s essential to offer relevant social information in the right business context embedded in employee’s daily workflow,” continued Min. “By measuring, analyzing and filtering social information, and then injecting those insights to the right people at the right time, real business value can be generated by bringing technical know-how directly to the customer.”

Omron has the ambition to connect employees worldwide, with its Ozone intranet being expanded intoAsia today. Omron Europe is also testing mobile access for all popular devices including the iPad.

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Roger Federer played some of the best tennis of his life to beat Britain’s Andy Murray in the Wimbledon final yesterday.

Federer came back from a set and a break down to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4, claim his seventh Wimbledon title and 17^th career grandslam.

It was his first major victory since January 2010, and the king of the grass was relieved to be back at the top after a couple of years absent from the Wimbledon final with people doubting him.

“I think the belief got me to victory today, and almost two other ones in the last couple of years as well,” he said.

“When it all happened I was just so happy that it was all over and that the pressure was gone, basically.

“I guess that came due to the tough loss I had here last year. There were a couple of tough moments for me over the last couple years.

“But I think I’m playing some of the best tennis of my life right now.”

An emotional Murray was reduced to tears in front of his home crowd, showing how much the Wimbledon title meant to him.

He has now lost all four of his grand-slam finals – a feat that only his coach, Ivan Lendl, and Kim Clijsters have ever done before – the future looks bright if history is anything to go by.

This was by far his best effort; however, and while he will take some time to recover from this loss, he will be proud of the improvements he has made, particularly in his mental game.

“I am getting closer,” a tearful Murray said to the BBC immediately after the match.

“Everybody always talks about the pressure of playing at Wimbledon, but it’s not the people watching – they make it incredible.

“I felt like I was playing for the nation and I couldn’t quite do it.

“We’re talking about one of the greatest athletes of all time. You’ve got to put it in context a little bit.”

Murray got off to a flying start and made the Swiss superstar look distinctly average for a set and half. But after Federer clinched the second set the rain came down, meaning the remainder of the match was played under the roof of centre court.

Federer was able to hit his precise shots without the elements affecting him and showed the world why he has such an immaculate indoor record.

Murray never gave up fighting however, and pushed Federer until the final point.

A twenty minute game in the third set on the Scot’s serve in which he saved six break points before surrendering to the relentless pressure of Federer was the turning point of the match.

The 30-year-old continued to elevate his game, and played two of the best sets of his life to complete the turnaround.

He now regains the number one spot and will match Sampras’ record of 286 weeks at the top of the rankings.

Murray many have lost the final, but he won the hearts of a nation, and showed the world how close he is getting to that elusive grand slam he deserves.

He will join Federer and the other top players back at SW19 in a few weeks to compete for the Olympic title before the American hard court season and the US Open at the end of next month.

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Serena Williams overcame a fight back from Agnieszka Radwanska to claim her fifth Wimbledon singles title in three sets with scores of 6-1, 5-7, and 6-2.

Williams dominated the first set in a little over 30 minutes before the third seed from Poland managed to find her feet. But Radwanska, who has been suffering from a virus for the last few days, made the most of the rain break after the first set and came out fighting to sneak the second. Williams managed to regroup in the third and won her 14^th Grand Slam title just two years after a life-threatening illness.

“I can’t even describe it. I almost didn’t make it a few years ago,” an emotional Williams told the BBC, referring to her health problems. “I was in hospital but now I’m here again and it was so worth it. I’m so happy. Aggie played so well. That’s why she’s had such a great career, and she’s so young.”

A three setter never looked on the cards after Williams came out all guns blazing. Radwanska even went a break down 2-1 in the second before she found her form. She clawed back the break and hit some magical winners to show how she had made the final for the first time.

The American looked to have no answer at the end of the second set and her serve, which was so impressive throughout the tournament, failed to fire. But Williams showed her champion mentality and regrouped in the final set, completing one game in just 49 seconds by hitting four aces.

She served 17 aces in the final, bringing her total to 103, the highest of any man or woman at this year’s Wimbledon.

Her victory is the first by a lady over 30 since Martina Navratilova in 1990 and it looks like there will be more to come.

Radwanska will take confidence from this tournament though– her best grand slam to date – and she will be ranked number two in the world on Monday. Her consistent hitting, anticipation and finesse touch is a refreshing change reminiscent of Martina Hingis; and shows there is still a place in the game for those who can’t simply rely on big hitting from the baseline.

But it is Williams who has confirmed her position as one of the greatest – if not the greatest female ever to play the game with such an impressive victory.

Image Courtesy of  Kat Shann

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London, UK – London & Partners launches new SMG Insight / YouGov research which shows London fever has spread around the world.

London is set to inspire the world over the next 4 months in the run up to London 2012 according to new research launched by London & Partners which shows the extent of international excitement about the Olympics and the host city, London.

In central London, outside the Olympic Park, a celebration of cultures will be hitting the streets, with National Olympic Committees creating a festival atmosphere by offering opportunities for fans from around the world to show their support for their athletes. Over 40 nations will be represented through official NOC Houses situated around London. The NOC houses will offer fans an opportunity to experience the national entertainment and culture, watch sports on big screens and join in celebrations during athlete appearances.

London 2012 is also creating a lasting global sporting legacy with over one-in-four people from sampled nations inspired to take up swimming and one-in-five considering taking up cycling this year. To capitalise on this interest plans are already in place to launch a new world-class cycling event in the city following the Games – cycling’s equivalent of the London Marathon.

Such is the excitement about the Games in China that two-thirds of the Chinese population, the hosts of the 2008 Olympics, are inspired to participate in Badminton during 2012 and over half intend to take up table tennis.

Music, culture and outdoor spaces are also important for international visitors to London. London’s river, squares and parks are an important attraction for visitors with almost 6-in-10 stating that they intend to visit London’s famous outdoor spaces. In these spaces, BT will be hosting BT London Live sites where medal events will be shown on the big screen and a daily schedule of cultural and arts showcases from around the world will be shown.

Retail will also experience a significant boost with over 40% of visitors planning to go to world famous shopping locations such as Harrods, Selfridges and Oxford Street.

Iain Edmondson, Head of the Major Events team at London & Partners, said: “During the Games, there will be a festival atmosphere filling the streets of London with numerous opportunities for the public to experience the spirit of the Games even if they don’t have tickets. After 2012 people will be able to turn the inspiration of the Games into participation, by entering London’s world-class mass-participation events such as the London Marathon, London Triathlon and new road cycling event.”

Key results from the London Sport Global Inspiration Survey show that:

•   28% of adults are inspired to take up swimming during 2012. 20% inspired to take up cycling.
•   Both modern and historic sporting locations are the most inspiring Olympic venues. 23% want to see the Olympic Stadium, 18% Olympic Aquatic Centre and 18% Wimbledon
•  23% of those surveyed favour watching Rafael Nadal and Michael Phelps. Rising stars such as basketball player Jeremy Lin (20%) and cyclist Mark Cavendish (13%) also feature as inspirational figures around the world. Usain Bolt is the most popular athletes for UK residents, with 28% stating that they are inspired to watch him.
• 69% of the Chinese population are inspired to watch basketball during 2012. Nearly a third (30%) of the international survey is inspired to watch athletics/running.
• Half of visitors to London are inspired to visit a museum or historic building. Slightly more (53%) will visit a tourist attraction such as Madame Tussauds and 57% will visit a park, river or public space.

The full report can be viewed and downloaded from here:

http://vlstatic.com/l-and-p/assets/events/london-sport-global-inspiration-survey-report.pdf 

For the full list of NOC houses available to the public and what’s going on in London throughout 2012 go to http://www.visitlondon.com/2012 

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Novak Djokovic secured the No. 1 ranking in the world Sunday by defeating Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-1 ,1-6, 6-3 in the finals at Wimbledon.

Djokovic controlled the first two sets, seemingly having the match under control the whole way until Nadal tried to spark a fierce comeback in the third. Nadal provied why he and nor Djokovic came into this match with the number one ranking, but Djokovic ultimately proved why he took it.

The 24 year old Serbian pro got his first tournament win on grass and is now beginning what may be a long reign as tops in the world.

Djokovic improved to 48-1 with the win, including five wins against Nadal, and the only loss being to Roger Federer.

With Federer’s time in the spotlight dwindling, the tennis world will soon come down to many more battles between Djokovic and Nadal. No longer does one of them dominate a certain surface of play, making tournaments much tougher to predict. Grand Slams will start to become a real possibility for both of them, the only thing standing in their way being each other.

American born players have all but dropped out of relevance in the men’s game. Names like Fish and Roddick are not quite matching the stardom that fans were used to from guys like Agassi, Sampras and McEnroe.

Following a similar path of professional golf in the post-Tiger era, American fans are crying for a few face in tennis, and until that happens the sport will unfortunately suffer in popularity.

Of course this is no matter to the champions as only one of the four yearly majors is played in the United States.

Nadal is indeed a great player, but with the short windows that dominant tennis players have, expect it to be Djokovic’s time at the top for a while, it’s his turn.

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The last American Wimbledon Champion was Pete Sampris in 2000 against Aussie, Patrick Rafner.  The last American to reach a final is Andy Roddick…of course losing to all time great Roger Federer.

It is said that American champions come in cycles and a great champion will surface… but that is not likely to happen, considering the trends of popularity in the sport which is sturdily decreasing in America and increasing dramatically in Europe.  Let’s not forget tennis has always been a niche sport that will not necessarily improve in fan fare.

The chances of an American outside of the Williams sisters winning this Wimbledon is miniscule given the state of tennis on both sides of the ball; but miracles do happen.  As much as I may want to see that happen, there are stories outside of the winless Americans.

Do we want another final with Nadal and Federer? Sure why not…we know the star factor and entertainment factor will be present…or maybe a final with Novak Djokovic, ranked number 2 and also has played very well this year.  At one point this season, Djokovic had a 41 match winning streak, which came to an end on June 3^rd at the hands of Federer.

So far at Wimbledon, we are witnessing the return of the William sisters after their battles with injury and age; the downfall of all tennis players.  The first upset thus far has been former number one ranked player, Jankovic losing to Martinez in 3 sets.  The number one ranked female in the world is a 20 year old from Denmark named Caroline Wozniacki, her path to the final will not be easy in a wide open field, but let’s be honest it all depends on the health of the William sisters and their ability to recover quickly.   As of day 2, all of these women have been playing well…even the old (by tennis standards) Venus Williams.

Wozniacki looked the most impressive dismissing her opponent Parra Santonja (if you can call her that) in 2 sets without hardly breaking a sweat.

I don’t know about you guys, but I had been waiting for Isner versus Mahut …two warriors who gave us a great match last year which didn’t seem to want to end.  It was obvious the pain and fatigue both men faced but they endured none the less, making history.

And now here we go again…the most unlikely matchup happened again and to be honest with you, it didn’t really live up to the expectations…although, it may have been too much to ask from these two men to deliver the same kind of match they did last time.  After taking a 2 set lead, Isner the lengthy American  finished a tough 3^rd set and ended a match which people expected a lot more from; Mahut was no match for the bigger Isner on this day and he will move on to tougher competition at the same time trying to keep America alive at Wimbledon.

Quarter Finals

Let us fast forward to the quarter finals where the action has picked up a bit and the few faces of past winners have begun to drop like flies.

We started the week of the final 16 with major upsets of the William sisters…even through all their struggles, I kind of expected one of the two to win; mainly Serena.  She has the sort of will and talent that I figured would carry here trough… given the fact that she may not be 100% after the year she has had- but it is over now, after  losing in straight sets.

At this point, I wonder if Venus will win; consistently challenging and competing as she has done in the past…I know or at least I think Serena will be back in better shape than she played in Wimbledon 2011.

On the Men’s side of things, Federer surprisingly lost to Tsonga in 5 sets, only after winning the first 2 sets which has never happened in his illustrious career; Tsonga on the other hand, the 12^th ranked tennis player in the world has beaten Federer twice after losing the first set.

Once again, the four best players have failed to reach the semifinals of any tournament since 1985…No Federer/Nadal final; maybe we will have the next best thing with Nadal versus Djokovic.  Nadal on the other hand defeated the highest ranked American player left in the tournament, beating 10^th ranked Mardy Fish in relatively uneventful fashion.

Sharapova is playing great tennis at this point, now she becomes the favorite to win on the women’s side after the undeserving number one ranked player laid an egg.  But all the air has been taken out by the lack of big names and a true number one in the rankings. Nadal remains the guy in the men’s side but I can’t help think about the future and the role of an aging Federer in it.

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So far, this year’s Wimbledon doesn’t come with much surprise. There were only a few upsets in the first week of tournament: Robin Soderling’s loss to a young Australian, Bernard Tomic, and the 2011 French Open Champion, Na Li being defeated by Sabine Lisicki.

PS: I don’t consider Roddick’s loss an upset because he has not done so well lately in the Grand Slams.

I have to admit that the women’s game is gaining quality. Looking at the draw, I see possibility of a new champion being crowned. True, as I said before, you cannot count the Williams Sisters out. Instead, what I’m positive about is even if both of them go through to the final round, they would face tough challenges on the way. On the top draw, not only I see Caroline Wozniacki and Maria Sharapova, there is also Sabine Lisicki – who according to my dad, is a “dark horse” and can pose thread to Serena’s run. Why? She consistently serves extremely fast, at about 123 mph, possesses good movement, and is now packed with confidence. If Sharapova meets Wozniacki in the quarterfinals, I see Wozniacki coming off with a slight edge, though should be a close game. Can Sharapova win that matchup? Sure, if she brings her A game, play good defense, and of course, serving well. As for Serena’s section, I would really love to see her play against Liciski in the quarterfinals. With this many good players, it’s simply hard to predict who will come out as a finalist from the top draw.

Now, in the bottom draw, there are Venus Williams, Victoria Azarenka, and Petra Kvitova who are the main contenders. Though I have not seen Kvitova plays that many times, from what I see she is able to hit the ball hard and flat. If both Venus and Kvitova win in the round of 16, they will meet in the quarterfinals. From what I heard from a few tennis experts, they all said that Venus looks the best so far. We’ll see.

On the Men’s side, the great Roger Federer should go all the way to at least the Semi where he could potentially meet Novak Djokovic. Personally, it feels as if this is a guaranteed since both players are playing great and should be able to knock off their opponents in the next two rounds. Rafael Nadal, on the other hand, will face Juan Martin del Potro in the round of 16 which certainly, isn’t an easy task. Whoever this one goes to, I don’t see the match being won in 3 sets. It should be a close match. If Nadal can go through del Potro, the rest shouldn’t be too hard for him, not until he gets to the final.

This second week should be packed with good quality actions. I do hope for a new winner, for both Men’s and Women’s, even though I am a big fan of Nadal and Sharapova. The truth is, it’s a little harder on the Men’s side where you got Federer. If you ask me, I don’t think there’s going to be a rematch of Serena and Venus in the final. But how about one sister? Maybe.

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For years, Wimbledon has been well dominated by the previous Champions. It has been only a few times during the past ten years that a new player would break in to win it all. Look at the Williams Sisters, together they won nine out of the eleven women’s single titles since the year 2000, five from Venus and four from the younger sibling, Serena. On the men’s side, the story plays out similarly: Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal together won eight consecutive titles since 2003.

Wimbledon, being a grass court tournament, gives Federer a huge advantage. He plays so well on this surface that some even nicknamed Wimbledon “Federer’s Backyard” as a result of winning the total of six titles in the last 8 years.

Coming back to this year’s Men Draw, the top guns include Federer, Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. Many have been talking about how Andy Murray would finally clinch the prestigious Wimbledon title this year, as he was talked about last year and the year before. Personally, I’m not quite sure if he will do it simply because he hasn’t done so well in the deep round against the top three players in the Grand Slams. True, there are days when he plays unbelievably well but in the end, I feel that he still lacks consistency and the readiness to fight in the highest stages. The truth is it’s not easy to take the trophy away from the main men. For the last 18 Grand Slams, the only players aside from Nadal and Federer able to win the titles include just Marat Safin (Australian Open 2005), Juan Martin del Potro (US Open 2009), and Novak Djokovic ( Australian Open 2008, 2011)

On the women’s side, things are up in the air. The Williams Sisters who have not played for months as a result of their injuries, just can’t be counted out. The veteran players have never stopped wanting it and their ability to find a way to come back in any matches making them dangerous contenders, especially in the Grand Slam stage. Meanwhile Maria Sharapova, Caroline Wozniacki, Vera Zvonerava, and Li Na are among this year’s women contenders.

Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon Champion, have been playing pretty well. The great thing about Sharapova is she always goes for it, hitting every shot as if she has nothing to lose. If she can get rid of her double fault problems, she will surely be dangerous in the field. Wozniacki, on the other hand, has been doing great in the past year with multiple wins in smaller tournaments. In my opinion, the only factor preventing her from winning a Grand Slam is her mental toughness, because no doubt, she has a great game, defensively and offensively. She needs to bring what makes her so successful in these tournament to the more important tournament like Wimbledon. As for Li Na, she has been to the deep round of Wimbledon before and coming off with a win from Roland Garros might give her an extra motivation to win another title. Lastly Zvonerava, who also played very well on grass, should advance to at least a quarterfinal since she is in the bottom draw, which is less competitive than the top section containing Serena, Sharapova, Woznizcki, and Li.

At this point, I’m really excited to see which female player will be crowned this year’s Champion. As much as I praise and root for Serena to win, coming back from a serious illness, I would also like to see the title being won by the new face.

My father always says “In tennis, clinching a grand slam title is not just about having an incredible game, it also has a lot to do with how tough you can stay throughout the match physically and mentally”. He has his point.

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