Wimbledon seeding for 2008 leads Andy Murray to moan again

Ah, I was woken up early this morning. Normally, I don't get up until 9am but my flatmate has a "gentleman caller" staying over and he keeps getting up, banging doors and generally making noise. So annoying. Aren't they supposed to skulk out and 3am or something? It's called manners.

Anyway, I'm wide awake now and having a browse on teh internetz. I just noticed that the Wimbledon seeding has been announced and, of course, our own Andy Murray is not happy and is having and good old bitch and moan about it. You see, Andy's been seeded a whole ONE place below his current world ranking. That's right, one place. He's world number eleven and he's been seeded number twelve:

"I feel like I am one of the top grass-court players in the world, but because I missed Wimbledon (last year) I am going to lose out because of it, which I think is a little bit tough. I personally think it should just be done on the rankings, which is much easier."

Oh, Andy does enjoy a good moan doesn't he. I don't think he's happy unless he's got something to bitch about and he could really do with lightening up a bit. Look at his brother Jamie, who won the mixed doubles with Jelena Janvovic last year, he seems so much happier. Wasn't li'l Andy on a PR charm offensive recently? I guess that's over.

So, who's your favourite this year? I like the look of Rafa Nadal, but then I always do, but I'd be happy with a Djokovic win too. With the women it's pretty much a wide open field, with Ivanovic, and Sharapova looking good for it and, of course, either one of the Williams sisters is always going to be a contender. Here's the full list:

Men's seeds:
1. Roger Federer (Switzerland)
2. Rafael Nadal (Spain)
3. Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
4. Nikolay Davydenko (Russian)
5. David Ferrer (Spain)
6. Andy Roddick (United States)
7. David Nalbandian (Argentina)
8. Richard Gasquet (France)
9. James Blake (United States)
10. Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus)
11. Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic)
12. Andy Murray (Britain)
13. Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland)
14. Paul-Henri Mathieu (France)
15. Fernando Gonzalez (Chile)
16. Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic)
17. Mikhail Youzhny (Russia)
18. Ivo Karlovic (Croatia)
19. Nicolas Almagro (Spain)
20. Lleyton Hewitt (Australia)
21. Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain)
22. Fernando Verdasco (Spain)
23. Tommy Robredo (Spain)
24. Jarkko Nieminen (Finland)
25. Dmitry Tursunov (Russia)
26. Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia)
27. Nicolas Kiefer (Germany)
28. Gilles Simon (France)
29. Andreas Seppi (Italy)
30. Gael Monfils (France)
31. Feliciano Lopez (Spain)
32. Michael Llodra (France)
Women's seeds:
1. Ana Ivanovic (Serbia)
2. Jelena Jankovic (Serbia)
3. Maria Sharapova (Russian)
4. Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia)
5. Elena Dementieva (Russia)
6. Serena Williams (United States)
7. Venus Williams (United States)
8. Anna Chakvetadze (Russia)
9. Dinara Safina (Russia)
10. Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia)
11. Marion Bartoli (France)
12. Patty Schnyder (Switzerland)
13. Vera Zvonareva (Russia)
14. Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland)
15. Agnes Szavay (Hungary)
16. Victoria Azarenka (Belarus)
17. Alize Cornet (France)
18. Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic)
19. Maria Kirilenko (Russia)
20. Francesca Schiavone (Italy)
21. Nadia Petrova (Russia)
22. Flavia Pennetta (Italy)
23. Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia)
24. Shahar Peer (Israel)
25. Lindsay Davenport (United States)
26. Sybille Bammer (Austria)
27. Virginie Razzano (France)
28. Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine)
29. Amelie Mauresmo (France)
30. Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia)
31. Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark)
32. Sania Mirza (India)

Rafael Nadal beats Novak Djokovic at the Queens Club Stella Artois Championship

My man won his first grasscourt tennis tournament, vamos Rafa! World number two and French Open champion Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic 7-6 (8-6) 7-5 in an absolutely fabulous final, full of drama and power. Sometimes in tennis, it's the quarter or semi finals which offer the best tennis and the final is often a bit of a let down, such as the French Open final last week. It can be a bit of an anti-climax due to nerves and it's not unusual for one player to be below their usual standard, but this match today was superb.

I like both players so I would've been happy for either of them to win, but I have to admit that Rafa (and his biceps!) has captured my heart. I haven't been as smitten with a player since the dreamy Goran Ivanisevic. Anyway, what was so great about this match was the competitiveness of both players. Neither of them have ever won a grasscourt tournament, each has won one of the Grand Slams so far this year and they're the world number two and three so it all added up to a match where both players were hungry to win and playing at their best.

It's been a wonderful season for tennis so far, let's hope these two keep up their current top level and give Roger Federer a serious challenge for the title at Wimbledon!

Novak Djokovic beats Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Australian Open 2008 final to win his first Slam

Novak Djokovic beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 4-6 6-4 6-3 7-6 (7-2) in the Australian Open 2008 final to win his first Slam. Even though I got to bed late last night, I dutifully set my alarm for 8.30am as that was the time it was here in England when the match was transmitted live. See how dedicated I am to my tennis viewing?

Djokovic said: ""I feel kind of relieved. I've played at least the semi-finals in every Grand Slam in the last year.. I was pretty close in the US Open, so probably today I was a bit nervous at the start."

If you think about it, he's been the world number three for a while now so it's about time he won a Grand Slam final. Federer and Nadal have had it their own way for too long so it's great to see a new face winning. Plus, what I like a Djokovic is that he has a big personality. He even joked about the Australian crowd's obvious support for his opponent, the chocolate-nippled Frenchman Tsonga: "I know the crowd wanted him to win more. That's OK, it's alright. I still love you guys, don't worry."

Aw, and he even managed a bit of shirtless celebrating in the locker room. What a lad!

Novak Djokovic plays unseeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Australian Open final 2008

Have you been watching the Australian Open this year? Serbian Novak Djokovic and Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are in the Australian Open final 2008. I've been watching the matches at night as although the BBC has been showing them, they start at 8.30 in the morning so I've only got the chance to catch the first half hour or so before having to drag myself off to work. Anyway, they get repeated in the evening on the BBC Interactive channel so I have to avoid looking at any sports news during the day to avoid finding out who wins.

You know, although I'm disappointed that my favourite big butted Rafa Nadal lost his semi final to Tsonga, it's good to see some new faces in a final. The commenters all seem surprised that Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer in his semi final but he is world number three now so it's not really an upset. Oh, I do like these two. They have something that the world number one is missing: a personality.

Plus, both Djokovic and Tsonga have the charming habit of ripping off their shirts after they win a match to help them celebrate and they seem to love parading around half naked. This kind of behaviour should only be encouraged, don't you think? Djokovic is a bit on the skinny side for my liking, but he's still young. However, the chocolate-nippled Tsonga has just the right amount of meat on him. I'd volunteer be his ball-boy, wouldn't you?