It's Been A Terrific Wimbledon!

Megan Smith — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:13:44 -0500

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for the link love! I appreciate it.

My DVR was been running overtime trying to keep up with the Wimbledon matches and when I'm not watching at home, I'm watching live streaming video on my laptop---oh, the glories of modern technology!

No sooner was I writing about Ana Ivanovic squeaking by that match with Dechy than she up and loses today!

Commentator Brad Gilbert had a point when he said on ESPN2's coverage that upsets can be contagious. All the lower level ranked players start to think, "so and so upset the No. 1 player in the world, why can't I knock off my top ten opponent?

I'm exhausted from the first week, but I can't wait to see what happens next.

Megan
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube
Megan's Minute
Video Runway

Wimbledon:

Sarah — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:25:28 -0500

It has been a very busy week for me. I am trying to get things together for my trip to The BlogHer Conference next month and so I haven't been paying as much attention to sports as I normally do. Well, that and the fact that my four year old twins have learned how to work my DVR and it is seriously cutting into my SportsCenter time. I thought I would check some blogs and see how Wimbledon was going and who was winning.

The first thing I ran across was this. (Apryl is always a great source for women's sports news.)

The matches have been quite exciting as there has already been more
than one upset. The ever-popular Maria Sharapova, ranked #3 in the
world, was knocked out
by Alla Kudryavtseva, ranked 154th. Sharapova had a multitude of
unforced errors ...

Lindsay Davenport also left competition, but not because of a loss. An old knee injury is apparently inhibiting her play.

Speaking of leaving, Andy Roddick and James Blake are also gone from the tournament. Venus Williams was able to advance even though she committed 26 unforced errors.

- Women Like Sports

Woah. Sharapova,Davenport and Roddick are ALL out already? And how does somebody win anything at Wimbledon with 26 unforced errors?
And Maria Sharapova was knocked out in the second round!

Megan (who also has great pictures from Wimbledon posted) from Megan's Minute cannot believe her eyes:

the loss of seeded players just kept coming: Saniz Mirza, Daniela
Hantuchova, and Vera Zvonareva all lost. Meanwhile Lindsay Davenport had to pull out with a knee injury.

And the less said about James Blake's loss to Rainer Schuettler, the better.

But wait! It got even crazier today when Ana Ivanovic (the number one seeded women's tennis player in the world) was upset 6-1, 6-4 to Zheng Jie. Zheng Jie was ranked 133.

Aaress Lawless from On the Baseline writes:

Zheng, often known as a doubles specialist, played near perfect
tennis and posted only ten unforced errors during the match. It was the
biggest singles win of her career, having never before beaten a Top 10
player.

Four players–Ivanovic, Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic, and
Svetlana Kuznetsova–entered the tournament with an opportunity to
finish as the number one player in the world. After five days of
competition, only two of the top four seeds are still alive in the
women’s draw.

My head is spinning.

This is the most exciting Wimbledon that I can remember. Myabe I am going to have to turn it on and hide the remote from my kids.

Contributing Editor Sarah also blogs at Sarah and the Goon Squad and Draft Day Suit.

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It's Been A Terrific Wimbledon!

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