Sensational Sport for Sunday

The world of tennis and American Football were definitely on display this Sunday with some exciting matches and results.

Tennis- Davis Cup

In the Davis Cup Semi-Finals, we saw Spain finish off France while Argentina defeated last year's champions after Djockovic retired against Del Potro.
After Spain's dismal display against France in the doubles, we can see why Lopez and Verdasco rely on their compatriot's clay court experience. Rafael Nadal destroyed Jo Wilfred Tsonga 6-0, 6-2, 6-4 to secure Spain's spot in the final
It is believed that French Captain, Guy Forget, was hoping that a fresh Tsonga could capitalize on Nadal's issues. Rumours around the camp made the French believe that Nadal was in trouble physically and mentally still wounded after the U.S. Open defeat a week ago. However, Nadal showed no signs of weakness as he dominated. To be fair Tsonga is not a clay court expert, however I do not believe that it matter who Nadal was going to play. Nadal was determined to win and win comfortably.

In the other semi-final, Argentina carried on their exceptional start by beating defending champions Serbia in Serbia. However, it was not quite the way the Argies would have wanted to do it.
Juan Martin Del Potro was up a set and a break when World No. 1, Novak Djockovic, had to retire. After Del Potro pushed Djockovic with a big forehand, the Serb missed the pass and went down screaming. He was in tears as he shook the Argentinian's hand. He complained of a rib and lower back injury.
Djockovic said that, "I was only 60 percent fit." He did take full responsibility for the decision to himself over compatriot Viktor Triocki. "We believed that even so I would have a better chance against Del Potro than my teammate," he said.
More comments can be found on the ATP page of this blog.

NFL- Week 2- Bills, Redskins and Detroit surprise 2-0 starts


Week 2 in the NFL has nearly ended with the Bills, Redskins and Lions looking good at 2-0
It was the play of the Buffalo, Washington and Detroit that have stunned people to have started 2-0 after defeats against the Oakland, Arizona and Kansas City respectively.
Ryan Fitzpatrick and his Buffalo Offence did a great job of coming back and edging the Raiders in the second half having gone in down 21-3. Fitzpatrick only threw for 264 yards, however add another 100+ yard game for Fred Jackson allowed the Bills to win the fourth quarter shoot out. Fitzpatrick threw a TD to wide receiver David Nelson with 14 seconds left. Jason Campbell could not respond with such heroics. His last drive was 11 yards shy of Janikowski's world record field goal range.

Rex Grossman continued to silence his critics as he managed to led the Redskins to a 22-21 win over Arizona.
Grossman failed for the two point conversion after throwing a touchdown to Santana Moss, meaning Grossman has to lead the team down the field again for the game winning field goal. Arizona quarterback, Kevin Kolb, had an opportunity to lead his team, but the Redskins defence managed to keep it contained.
Redskins have not faced the toughest teams so far, but Grossman looks like a much better game manager than his days at Chicago. His lack of arm strength could be a problem, however his relationship with Fred Davis and Jabbar Gaffney are definitely big reasons why the Redskins' offence is succeeding.

Detroit looked the real deal. Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson dominated in the red zone, while other weapons in Jahvid Best and Nate Burleson racked up great number in a demoralising slaughter against Kansas City.
Kansas City lost star running back Jamal Charles to injury in the first quarter; but they looked completely out of sync as Matt Cassel threw 3 interceptions. Thomas Jones lacked the big pace to back up Charles while Dexter McCluster led the Chiefs in rushing. The loss of Eric Berry seem to hurt the Chief's defence as they were trounced and unable to stop Detroit from embarrassing them.
Detroit, without first round draft pick Nick Fairley, looked exceptional. Stafford looked great, Suh dominated and the defence looked strong. It was a clear example of why the Lions were given so much hype pre-season. If they can get Fairley healthy and keep Stafford and Best healthy then they could definitely be
looking for a playoff run even in a strong NFC North conference.

More about every game can be found on the NFL page very soon.

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After having 5 years in American, having travelled around the world playing tennis, and now back in London I felt like it was time to use some of the skills I learned in college.
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Ward digs deep to help GB to 2-0 lead against Hungary

Great Britain took a commanding 2-0 lead after day one singles play in their David Cup Europe/Africa Group II against Hungary. Braehead Arena, Glasgow, saw Andy Murray impressively win in three sets while James Ward fought off illness, cramp and injuries to win in four.

James Ward beat Attila Balazs 6-4,6-4,4-6,6-4 but was constantly plagued throughout the match with sickness problems. At 5-4 up in the second, Ward had to leave the court to throw up. Having held to take the set, he started the third set disastrously by hurting his ankle and going 3-0 down. But Ward, playing in his fourth David Cup match, showed real spirit to fight off his health issues to win.

I think that it was amazing to see the effort and dedication that Ward showed. He showed courage to fight through so many health issues and win. Baring in mind that this event has nothing to do with his ranking. He showed a lot of pride to be representing his country.

Murray comfortably beat Sebo Kiss, 6-2, 6-0, 7-6 although he did squander a 5-2 leader in the third. Kiss, only a part time player now, fought hard in the third set to get it to a tie-break but Murray, world number four, managed to finish him off at the end.

The two things that were so amazing about today's match was the fight from Ward and the crowd's involvement. It sounded like a football game where chanting and banter was flying around. They really help Ward struggle through the last set to win. It also shows that tennis isn't all about drinking Pimms and eating strawberries. There was a real sense of grit and pride which invited the crowd to help as much as possible.

The tie will continue tomorrow as Ross Hutchins and Colin Fleming hope to capture victory and promotion to Europe/Africa Zone Group I, just one level off the elite nations of David Cup. Play starts at 1400 BST.