Spotify

Bit behind the times, but i have just registered with spotify, and its frickin' awesome!

This is one smart snake...

Found this on the beeb yesterday...I now love this snake for befriending the hammy...I cannot believe zoo's use hamsters as food though, its so cruel :(

Time for tennis' forgotten man to come in from the cold

Men's final day at Wimbledon has dawned, drawing to an end a glorious fortnight of top-class tennis and for once sunshine. Today sees former world number one, US Open champ and 2-time finalist at Wimbledon Andy Roddick take on 5-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer.

Federer is aiming to break Pete Sampras' all time grand slam record by winning the final today, but in his way stands the forgotten man of the tennis world.

While Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray have been battling it out for all the recent major titles, Roddick stands as an outsider, a one time grand slam champion, but one whose name was no longer mentioned in the band of favourites for majors.

Roddick has vastly improved his game since his last appearances in the Wimbledon finals, but the game has also moved on, and he has struggled to find his place in the new elite order of mens tennis.

Linking up with Larry Stefanki seems to have paid off for the American, he's dropped a stone in weight and looks fitter than ever before. His tactics against Murray in the semi-final were spot on. Roddick has never looked better at the net than he did in Fridays encounter, he will have to play that well again though to have a chance today.

Federer has seemingly sailed through the tournament with little trouble, clearly on a high after his recent Roland Garros victory, and buoyed by the fact that defending champion Rafael Nadal could not defend his title due to a knee injury.

Federer has dominated the head-to-head over Roddick, though their recent encounters have been close and Roddick will have to draw strength from this.

Though all the headlines may have been written by Murray over this fortnight, Roddick has quietly crept through the draw seemingly unnoticed or ignored as a viable title contender, but here he stands today, the one man in the way of Federer creating history.

The forgotten man of the tennis world has come in from the wilderness, now its time for one last effort-and it will make no mistake about it, have to be a mammoth one-to cement his place right back at the top of the tennis elite.

Is the all Williams final inevitable?

It's women's semi-final day at wimbledon today and the question on everyone's lips is what are the chances of anything other than an all Williams final for the second year running.

Well to be honest they seem pretty slim. Serena has looked at her absolute peak during this tournament, she has improved round on round, and has hitting the ball and moving around the court better than ever. Across the net from her today is serial underachiever and always the bridesmaid Elena Dementieva, twice a grand slam runner up in 2004 at the French and US Open. Dementieva has quietly and efficently crept through the draw, but the surprising fact is, is that she has yet to face a seeded player in the whole tournament. With Dementieva's record for faltering on the big occassion, combined with lack of matches against quality opposition it is difficult to see anything other than a serena victory.

In the second of the two semi-finals, two-time defending champion and queen of Wimbledon with 5 titles to her name, Venus Williams takes on world number 1 Dinara Safina. Venus has had a consistent yet unspectacular year, yet here on the grass she looks more at home than ever. Slight concerns have been raised over a knee injury she has been carrying, so her opponent Dinara Safina will have to test that to the full today. Venus like Serena has been hitting the ball better than ever, and has sailed through the draw, unlike her opponent. Dinara Safina has struggled to her first ever Wimbledon semi-final, looking down and out in the tournament more than once. She has a point to prove after dissapointing showings in the last two grand slam finals, and questions raised over whether a player should really hold the number one ranking if they have never won a grandslam. Again here, it is difficult to see anything other than a W next to the name of a Williams.

Let's hope for the sake of the women's game that we get two quality semi-finals, and if the inevitable Williams final does happen come Saturday, we are in for some cracker. With both sisters playing better than ever, it would be incredibly hard to split them, which signals a mouth-watering final showdown.