The world number one Naomi Osaka, the world number two and Roland Garros champion Ashleigh Barty, the world number three Karolina Pliskova and just the five time Wimbledon champion making her first appearance in Birmingham Venus Williams are here. Throw in Britain's number one Johanna Konta who enjoyed an exceptional clay court season and also... Continue Reading →
Two time champion Petra Kvitova is out of Birmingham. The Czech number two who missed Roland Garros following a retirement in Rome is still not ready to return too tennis and to Birmingham to defend her title. The former Birmingham and Wimbledon champion has been suffering with an arm injury for some time now and... Continue Reading →
The grass court season is here. Over the next couple of weeks we will see something world class tennis in the lead up to Wimbledon some here at home in Britain and some abroad. Rain halted play for most of Europe today but there were some big headlines to come from it. Garbine Muguruza (leg)... Continue Reading →
Just a couple of weeks ago I watched Elina Svitolina live in Birmingham. I missed her match against Donna Vekic to begin the week but was impressed with her win against Alize Cornet in the following round. On the Thursday she came up against Mihaela Buzarnescu and despite being strong from the baseline the struggle... Continue Reading →
Tennis has a habit of producing these extra-ordinary stories. Moments of pure inspiration and one lady who has been on the rise over the last 12 months is Mihaela Buzarnescu. A year ago Mihaela was ranked outside the world’s top 250 and now at the age of 30 is playing her best tennis of her... Continue Reading →
A new instalment on the site with a weekly round-up of some of the stories from the week of tennis as Wimbledon edges closer! Coric stuns Federer in Halle Well, the question mark is now firmly next to Roger Federer's name as a Wimbledon favourite after a good but difficult week in Halle. No one... Continue Reading →
Back in September of last year I wrote a piece about Kristina Mladenovic. At this point she was on a 7 match losing streak and lost a match in Tokyo 6-0 6-0 This year she snapped a 15 match losing streak and in life we are quick to criticise but slow to praise and I... Continue Reading →
My third and final day at Birmingham was one to remember! Thankfully I bought some sun tan lotion on my way today! First all before action kicked off on centre got the chance to see Kiki, Timea, Julia and Barbora Strýcová on the practice courts Following that Rybarikova who has been impressive all week was... Continue Reading →
Day 2 of my visit to Birmingham was a very hot day! So hot that my face is now sunburnt! First up on Ladies Day was Petra Kvitová who wasted no time against a frustrated Kasatkina winning in straight sets. Next up was the top seed Garbine Muguruza who looked frustrated from the off as... Continue Reading →
So, day one of Birmingham for me is over! What a day it was! Here's some photos to recap an epic day! Of course in true British style it was raining to begin with... Once the rain disappeared on came Mladenovic and Rybarikova. Kristina was very impressive to begin with but her net play let... Continue Reading →
