Tennis

Day 13! Semi finals day! Only two matches! They start at 1 pm so surely they can play two matches right? Nope. They can't.

The Wawrinka vs Tsonga match played in grueling heat. The other thing red hot was Wawrinka who just trampled Tsonga during a set and a half. It felt the swiss was hitting every single ball at full power close to the lines, hardly ever missing. Mid way through the 2nd set though, the first serve went AWOL. Wawrinka is used to have a lowish first serve percentage. He goes for a lot with the first and defends his second serve well thanks to a kick serve that returners have a very hard time to return aggressively, so around 55% is not uncommon and still viable, but, here, the first serve percentage dropped bellow 30%! This made things dramatically harder for Wawrinka, who went from outrageous domination (a set and a break), to fight for survival (fending off break points to reach a breaker in the 2nd and 3rd set). The swiss stayed afloat thanks to his domination in the backhand to backhand diagonal and some timely first serves. Tsonga kept a healthy first serve percentage (he had to: on the 2nd serves, Wawrinka stepped back two or three meters to return, allowing him a full swing for deep and heavy returns that caused Tsonga a lot of headaches) and also raised his game when he needed. A stat' illustrates perfectly how clutch both servers were: 32 break points for only 3 breaks!

After winning the third set, a rattled Tsonga, who really had a hard time hitting through his opponent, faced a much more confident Wawrinka, whose serve started to fire once again. The swiss grabbed his ticket to the final after 3h30 on the court, leaving his unmistakable signature on the stat sheet: 20 more winners than his counterpart.


I caught only glimpses of the Djokovic vs Murray match. With his now usual pomp, Djokovic returned all serves and retrieved all rally shots with exquisite depth, which allowed him to completely control the match in spite of Murray's valiant but sterile efforts. Well... not so sterile, because the scot managed to bag the third set 7-5 and he even broke first in the fourth before being broken back. As the play progressed, the weather went from bright sun and painful heat to wind and cloud cover. At 3-3 in the fourth, the match had to be adjourned because of the poor luminosity and an incoming storm. Play will resume on Saturday at 1pm and all bets are off as to what will happen, because I can't imagine Djokovic being able to sleep well considering how furious he must be to not have closed the match in straight sets. I must confess though that I can really imagine Djokovic come out with super high intensity and win 12 straight points in 10 min!



Yesterday was day 12, the day of the women's single semi finals. In the first match, we got a brilliant duel between Ivanovic and Safarova, both players trying to play as many forehands as possible while at the same time hiting the opponent's backhand. It was both tactical and high octane, with two great athletes. Safarova won in two hard fought sets to reach her first Grand Slam final. In the other semi, Williams trudged on the court, seemingly unable to muster the energy to move her huge carcass around because of flu-like symptoms. She collapsed and cried and sighed, but when she found herself a set and a break down, something clicked and she won 10 straight games! The bullshit was strong in that one!

Day 14!

I feared the end of the Murray vs Djokovic match would last 12 points, but it did not. Starting at 3-3, there was zero room for observation or a slow start and both leapt out of the starting blocks. Djokovic was regal behind his serve, getting free points and taking care of any meek return in one or two strokes. Murray did not have such luxury as the World N?1 managed time and again to find deep returns no matter what was thrown at him. The scot proved extraordinarily greedy in unforced errors and remarkably generous in his efforts. This paid as in several protracted rallies he ended up being the victor. It had the added benefit of planting the seed of doubt in Djokovic's mind, who tensed up just a tiny bit, leaked a couple unforced errors and that was enough for Murray to take full advantage and win the 4th set 7-5.

At that juncture, the commentators were trying to hype the fifth set, but I must say I did not buy it. My gut feeling was that Djokovic would be able to find an additional gear and that Murray would pay sooner rather than later the price for the extraordinary physical abnegation that won him the fourth set. Cynical, I predicted a 6-0, like with Wawrinka at the Australian Open. We got a 6-1 instead. Djokovic simply refuses to lose.


DJOKOVIC vs WAWRINKA... the head to head heavily favors the World N?1 (17-3!), but, strangely, 5 or their 6 matches played in the best of five format went all the way, which includes their last 4 meetings in Grand Slam (AO 2013, UO 2013, AO 2014, AO 2015). In fact, the intense battle that took place at the Australian Open 2013 (Djokovic winning 12-10 in the fifth) is credited as the match that gave Wawrinka the belief that he could mix with the big boys, win big titles and not only reach but durably stay in the top 10. What allowed the swiss to challenge Djokovic this much is the power he is able to generate off both wings from deep behind his base line and his willingness to be the aggressor. As he imparts a healthy quantity of lift to his shots, here again with both the forehand and backhand, he is able to fire a barrage of heavy balls with enough control to consistently hit good targets. Often it takes 3, 4 or even 5 good strikes in a row to get the better of Djokovic and Wawrinka is ready and able to do that again and again and again. Unless of course the swiss is on a bad day and misses and misses and misses... We'll see tomorrow.

The same can be said for Williams who, thanks to super high quality first strike tennis found herself 6-2 4-1 40-15 up in the final against Safarova, blinked, found herself 0-2 in the third and then refused to lose, bagging the last 6 games of the match. Safarova actually played a very good match, but there was not much she could do against the hot hand streaks of Williams (who won her 20th Major).

Day 15:Stan the Man: 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4

We knew Wawrinka would try to be the aggressor, but what we did not know is how well he would play during the final. The answer: pretty damn well. The key stat of the match: 60 winners to 30. Yep. Wawrinka scored 60 winners in just four sets against the iron defense of Djokovic. When you are able to do that and at the same time limit the unforced errors to 45, you deserve to win, especially when on the other side of the net the World N?1 almost never attacks and his satisfied with "just" reading the game well, reaching every ball and playing with great depth. Maybe it is difficult to do anything else against a Wawrinka in full flow who at times summoned from some other dimension winners that were literally out of this world and maybe it is difficult to do with the tremendous pressure of a Grand Slam final that feels like it is yours to lose. The serb tried at time a couple things, like the odd serve and volley (a good idea since the swiss blocks back 99% of the first serve returns) or drop shots (with a low success rate it must be said).

After Djokovic won a close first set where he kept a break that was gifted to him by a cluster of Wawrinka errors, many thought that the serb would be able to relax a little and take matters in his own hands, but surprisingly the opposite happened. The swiss was the one with many occasions to break serve, but with some good serving from Djokovic and some poor choices by Wawrinka, the world N?1 stayed afloat... until, at 5-4 Wawrinka, the break point was a set point and the swiss made no mistake. That cost Djokovic a set, a racket and a warning and, most importantly, it cost him any hope of being able to relax.

From there, it was all Wawrinka, except a little slump at the beginning of the 4th set where a slightly more aggressive Djokovic rushed to a 3-0 lead, but that was a flash in the pan (or, as the french say: a hay fire) as Wawrinka's one man demolition crew came back to win 6 of the last 7 games of the match, concluding by his 60th winner: one of his signature backhand down the line. This put to rest Djokovic's hope to win the title this year or to make a calendar year Slam Sweep in 2015, it hopefully also puts to rest the (groundless) critics of those who feel Wawrinka was just lucky to have won the Australian Open last year.



The high point of the trophy ceremony was an almost 4 minutes long standing ovation for Djokovic who fought long and hard to not cry and barely succeeded. The french public is well aware how tough a loss that must be for the serb and they also appreciate how tremendous an athlete he is and his willingness these past couple years to give all of his on court interviews in french (something Serena Williams also started to do).


With this title, Stan The Motherfucking Man enters the very small club of the active multiple Grand Slam winners. Members: Federer (17), Nadal (14), Djokovic (8), Hewitt (2), Murray (2) and now Wawrinka (2). An incredible achievement... and, who knows, he might add more to his tally.


It will be interesting to see how both players will digest this tournament. Will it shake Djokovic enough for him to come back among the humans, or will he continue to play 2015 on the same stratospheric level? Will it boost Wawrinka who did not play so well between the AO and the French? I guess we'll know that during the grass season.

Stan is the greatest Swiss tennis player of all-time.

He is certainly the greatest swiss tennis player of these past two weeks!

Sunday was a great day for tennis, but today is even greater: TOMMY HAAS IS BACK! After a year off the tour to recover from a fourth (!) shoulder injury, the 37 (!) year old is back in action! His beautiful brand of all court attacking tennis is still a feast for the eyes. Remember it is also very efficient: in 2013 he was pretty close to a qualification for the Masters' Cup and mid way through 2014, when his injury stopped him, he was still firmly inside the Top 20.

It would be wonderful if he pulled an Ivanisevic and won Wimbledon or the US Open. I want to believe!

If that's any consolation, he never pegged himself as a multiple grand slam winner!

About Del Potro, he just had another surgery to his left wrist...

Today I learned it's a bad idea to type a long post in a browser, because when you want to type 'Quarters' and fat finger it as Ctrl+Shift+Q it kills Chrome and your lengthy essay....

Short version then

WIMBLEDON!

The draw!

DJOKOVIC, as usual, has not played since the french. His route to the semis:

Kohlschreiber
Hewitt
Tomic
Anderson/Janowicz (NB: Anderson reached the final of the Queen's)
Nishikori/Cilic/Isner.

A bit of a bitch as all rounds are tricky and you can't really work your way into form as from the word go you have to beat a Kohlschreiber who pushed Federer to a third set breaker in Halle.


WAWRINKAplayed ok at the Queen's but got bested by Anderson in two breakers. His route to the semis:

Sousa
Estralla Burgos/Becker
Thiem/Verdasco
Robredo/Goffin/Baghdatis (NB: Goffin reached the final in 's-Hertogenbosch)
and a very open quarter: Raonic/Kyrgios/Dimitrov/Gasquet/Haas.

If the French Open champion play half as well as he could and none of his opponent plays a dream match, it should be a smooth ride to the quarter finals. Who will stand there and in what shape is pretty much a mystery as Raonic is back from an injury, Kyrgios is a retard, Dimitrov can't win a match for some reason, Gasquet is sorta ok and Haas is God, but with a sore shoulder and just three matches under his belt since being back from an almost 12 months break.


MURRAY, like every two years, won the Queen's and his playing well under the guidance of a very pregnant Mauresmo. His draw:

Kukushkin
Falla/Haase
Seppi/Stakhovsky
Tsonga/Karlovic/Muller/Istomin (NB: Karlovic just served a record 45 aces in a best of three match. Istomin just won Eastbourne)
Nadal/Troicki (NB: Nadal won an ATP 250 event in Stuttgart, beating Troicki in the final)

He is without a doubt the favorite in his section, but he will have to deliver focused performances from the 2nd round on. Note that Nadal has a semi decent draw that should allow him to gain some momentum and confidence... unless he gets blasted off the court by Brown in the 2nd round that is (see Halle last year).


FEDERERhas a lifetime deal with Halle, so he went and won his 8th title. He started a bit poorly, but in the later stages played some serious grass court tennis. He had a relatively tame draw for what is now an ATP 500 event though (not his fault the top seeds lost before meeting him though).

Dzumhur
Querrey (NB: Finalist in Eastbourne)
Sock
Lopez
Berdych(/Mahut?) (NB: Mahut won 's-Hertogenbosch)

An ok draw really, but Querrey is in form, Lopez is still a tricky customer on grass and Berdych beat Federer at Wimbledon in the past and is playing well at the moment.


As much as Djokovic was the overwhelming favorite heading into the French Open, I am not sure it is still true heading into Wimbledon. We know it takes something special to beat Federer in a best of 5 match on grass. We know Murray won before and is playing well...

Ferrer has a problem with his elbow and will not play. He was in the Nadal section of the draw and could have faced Murray in quarter final. With all the respect I have for Ferrer's grit and work ethic, I don't think his absence will have much of an impact on the tournament. It does make things easier for Nadal and Troicki though.

Jesus fucking christ, it's how many years later and ESPN is still using this god awful orchestral remix of this god awful song by Jared Leto's god awful band as its intro.

The lucky loser who took Ferrer's spot is Vanni, a 30 year old italian journeyman who is a late bloomer as he is enjoying his best season ever in 2015, so I let you the judge of the freshness of his blood!

DAY1: top half of the draw, first round.

DJOKOVICplayed a so-so match, twice unable to maintain a one break lead over a decentKohlschreiber. The german though proved anti-clutch to the extreme, as, in each set, when serving at 4-5, he gift wrapped a break for Djokovic with clusters of unforced errors (including 3 double faults)...

WAWRINKAreturned very well in the first set againstSousa, not so much in the other two, but he served brilliantly throughout. His usual blocked returns and his french open strategy of returning the 2nd serves further back to start the rally with a clean massive hit will not cut it on grass. But if he goes on serving like that, he will still be very tough to beat.


SEEDICIDE WATCH: Only veteran and 19th seedRobredofell tamely in the first round. The 5th seedNishikoriwon his match against the talented italianBolelli, but, like last year, it took him 5 sets to do so and the japanese N?1, who had to retire in Halle because of a calf injury, ended the match on a single leg and with a wry smile. I don't see him getting much further in this shape.

NOTABLE FACTS: A lot of matches went the distance including a 13-11 forVerdascooverKlizan, a 10-8 for french double specialistHerbertover korean youngsterChung(not the deaf one - there is a very good korean youngster who is deaf, but he is 17 while Chung is 19) and, last but not least, an 11-9 forNieminenagainst former championHewittin their last Wimbledon. Excellent court craft by both players in this one and a highly competitive match as both players wanted, for their last campaign at the All England Club, to earn the right to challenge Djokovic on Center Court. Also notable, the big servingJanowicz, who reached the semi finals stage two years ago, lost in the first round, confirming if need be that he is having a crappy season.

ROUND OF 64jokovicwill faceNieminenwho should not be much of a threat unless he plays a stellar match. The two just met in the first round of the french with the serb winning 6-2 7-5 6-2.Wawrinkawill face dirt-ballerEstrella-Burgos. But the one match that matters isTommy Haas, god among men, who will faceRaonic. Tennis is a stake here: will the splendid all court game of the german veteran win or will the sad display of raw power of the canadian prevail?

DAY 2: bottom half of the draw, first round

FEDERER: 1h08 to beatDzumhurin straight sets, dropping just the 7 games. Fed Express indeed (probably inspired byKvitovathat just before won 6-1 6-0 in 35 minutes!). The first serve percentage was a bit on the low side though.

MURRAY:Kukushkinmade Murray work for his 6-4 7-6 6-4 victory, but the scot did what he had to do: win in straight sets.


SEEDICIDE WATCH: 29th seedGarcia Lopezlost to compatriotAndujarin 5 sets. 31st seedSockcould not deal withGroth's big serves and lost in straight sets (including two breakers).Tsongadodged a bullet as he got pushed all the way by big servingMullerandBerdychsurvived an extremely close match that finished at dusk againstChardy: 6-2 6-7 7-6 7-6!

NOTABLE FACTS: Err...Nadalwon a tennis match! Well... it was againstBellucci, so a lesser version of hismelf. More notable, the weather has been very hot and dry, which has a significant impact on the play conditions: the courts play a tad faster than usual, but they are also a lot bouncier, which should help all these clay court players and their big lift.Istomin, who won last week, had to retire. By the way, do you know what Istomin, Kukushkin and Murray have in common? They are the only three players in the ATP Top 100 who are coached by a woman. Murray is coached by french championMauresmo, Istomin is coached by his mother and Kukushkin by his wife!

ROUND OF 64:Federerwill face one of the toughest unseeded player:Querrey. With his big serve and his aggressive ground strokes, the american had a lot of success on grass over the years. Who will serve better? Who will return better? I suspect that the answers to these two questions will be more crucial than usual.Murraywill face dutchmanHaasewhose ample movements are more suited to the clay courts. Also of note, aBerdychvsMahutthat could be a tight and entertaining affair and aKarlovicvsDolgopolovthat is most intriguing.

DAY3: top half of the draw, second round.

DJOKOVIC, as expected, beatNieminenin straight sets in a match I did not see. The stats give the image of an offensive and efficient Djokovic (30 times at the net, superb winners/unforced errors ratio).

WAWRINKAwas made to work a tad harder byEstrella Burgosas the stocky dominican played a decent match, but could not keep up with the swiss when, near the end of each set, he pushed on the accelerator. Estrella Burgos plays a strange game, mixing a very clay court friendly super lifted forehand that he tries to play as much as possible and a single handed backhand that he slices 90% of the time with a mean bite on it.

SEEDICIDE WATCH: As expected,Nishikori, the N?5 seed did not even step on court today. That allowsGiraldoto reach the 3rd round where he will meetKudlafor a battle of the unseeded. The only other seed to have fallen today wasThiem. The young austrian was seeded 32 and lost in five sets toVerdasco.

NOTABLE FACTS: Tennis died today asRaonicbeatHaas. The problem is that it took the veteran german a set and a half to get his shoulder going and giving a set and break to Raonic is just too much of an advantage. From there it was a tight match. The servers prevailed even with both players returning a lot better than expected. Haas won the third in a breaker and missed a couple important points during the 4th and in the subsequent tie-break. Raonic did what he does best, try to make sure points don't last more than 3 swings of his racket, but he did not even do it that well and was regularly outmatched by Haas as soon as some sort rally started. A bit of a shame, because there were room to do something for Haas. Also notable, today was the hottest day on record at Wimbledon. And by that I mean ever recorded. That being said super hot on the english grass, is not bad compared to the australian hell and its courts that turn into frying pans.

ROUND OF 32jokovicwill faceTomic. The young australian loves playing on grass and does not shy away from a challenge or a big stage. It could be entertaining.Wawrinkawill faceVerdascowho took 10 sets to reach this stage. You have to favor the swiss in this one, but Verdasco has real weapons and is a seasoned veteran who, no so long ago, was near the top of the game and certainly (and legitimately) must feel that he can be back up there. We also get some other intriguing matches, like Cilic vs Isner, Raonic vs Kyrgios, Dimitrov vs Gasquet or Baghdatis vs Goffin.

DAY 4: bottom half of the draw, second round

FEDERERhad a tricky draw with an in form and grass proficientQuerreyin the second round. The american came out swinging. Serving well, hitting powerful ground strokes from both wings, even landing some volley winners for good measure! Federer was even challenged in his service games, facing an early break point, but once we reached the business end of the first set, Querrey played an untidy service game, Federer played a couple good shots and suddenly it was the break and soon after, the set. There was never any doubt about Querrey's abbilities as a tennis player, but, if his ranking fluctuated like it did, it's in part because he had a tough time enjoying life on tour and in part because he is not a very good competitor. And as most not very good competitors do, he carried in the 2nd set the hangover from the loss of the first, so in a dozen minutes, he went from playing well and being 4-4 in the first to being a break down in the second set. Querrey steadied the ship, but then something problematic happened. Federer relaxed and started to play very very well and started to make just about every shot he attempted and that's very very difficult to deal with that as a player. Difficult tennistically, but also difficult mentally, because Querrey played well, but got less and less for it as the guy on the other side of the net does a perfect lob played between the legs, paints the lines or improvises a drop shot winner off a potent body serve on break point... Federer turned a genuinely tricky round into an exhibition. 6-4 6-2 6-2. Pretty crazy.

MURRAYagainstHaasewas equally easy despite Haase having pushed Murray to 5 sets in the past. The problem here is that Haase did not show up. He played a terrible match, only finding the court a little more consistently in the third set, but there was no contest. A bit of shame for the crowd and for Haase, but Murray will not complain. Easy wins are always good to take.


SEEDICIDE WATCH: Some good chopping today. Canadian youngsterPospisil, after a tough first round, ousted the 30th seedFogniniin 4 sets. More surprising, the unkown qualifier from Georgia (the country, not the american state)Basilashviliprevailed in 5 sets over veteran grass lover and 15th seedLopez. All I can say is that Basilashvili sports a serious beard. But the upset of the day comes from the hands of another qualifier, though a better known one, the jamaicano-germanBrownplayed his super aggressive game style with wild abandon and proved consistent enough to beat 10th seedNadalin 4 supremely entertaining sets. I confess that I suck with this one, because I saw this match coming in the draw and did not mention it, while the Nadal vs Brown match on the grass of Halle last year (6-4 6-1 for the german) was awesome in everyway. Basically, the highlight reel is the match. Brown wacks, slices, or drop shots every balls and rushes the net where he plays the most absurd drop voleys or half-volleys for winners or to engage cat-and-mouse exchanges at the net where he proves lethal. He played a couple deceptive net shots that nearly made me fall off my chair. The key for the win though, on top of this play style that totally prevents Nadal from playing the brand of tennis he enjoys (there were 3 or 4 baseline rallies at most in the match) is good serving and Brown delivered in that department, dropping serve only twice in the match.

NOTABLE FACTS: With Ferrer a no-show and both Nadal and Fognini out, there is a quarter final spot for one ofTroicki(22nd seed),Pospisil,Bownor englishmanWard! I had Troicki in my initial predictions, but, who knows? I wonder if Brown will be able to play this kind of level on a smaller court against Troicki. Fun fact: in the last 4 years in Wimbledon, Nadal lost to Rosol, Darcis, Kyrgios and Brown... all four ranked outside the Top 100 at the time!

ROUND OF 64:Federerwill faceGrothnext. The australian serves big, huge even, but since he is not particularly tall, the angles he can reach are not as extreme as some of the tall servers. They met last year at the US Open and it ended in a 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory for the swiss. Maybe the grass will help Groth a little since he likes to serve and volley.Murraywill faceSeppiwho won the backboard duel with youngser Coric in 5 sets. Seppi's court coverage and his clean and flat ground strokes make him a tricky proposition on grass. Murray is still the favorite by a significant margin, but if he is too passive or is on an off day, this could turn into a battle. Also of note, aTsonga vs Karlovicmatch that should be very tight. Karlovic survived a 5th set thriller today against Dolgopolov (13-11 in the fifth), playing some good tennis.

Rafa needs to shave his head and reinvent himself for the 2nd phase of his career like Agassi.

A new PED regiment would help too.

It's very difficult to really understand what's up with Nadal. I think it's a combination of factors.

- He said in interviews a few years back that he enjoyed being the hunter a lot more than being the prey, so he really did not enjoy much being World N?1 and feeling like he had a target on his back. Today, with his aura of invincibility gone, lower ranked opponents face him with a lot more belief, so, in a way, he is still in the uncomfortable situation of carrying the target on his back.

- Since his knee problems and the weight he shed to alleviate the strain on them, he has been a slightly different player. The Nadal who made three unforced errors per match is long gone (it's also because he became more aggressive to limit the stain of a defensive style).

- Strategies have been devised to neutralize and beat him and people have been able to implement these strategies with good results.

- Since he does not possess the greatest of serve, it's difficult for him to protect himself from lesser players who decide to red line their game. Without pressure, as they know it's their only way to win, they swing wildly and just do not let Nadal play.

- The repeated cycles of injuries and losses eroded his confidence, making him extremely nervous on the court. Nadal's greatest weapons are his fighting spirit, his footwork and his forehand, but when he is getting nervous he stops being clutch, his feet stop moving and he can't manage the spin on his forehand, resulting in balls that are slow and short (too much spin) or just fly away (not enough spin).


Since he is supposedly fit, it feels like finding some confidence back would do most of the trick. Will he be able to, though? Will he be able to, before having another injury? In any way, watching today's match it felt like, with all of Brown's heroics, a Nadal in his pomp would have seized the little occasions he had here and there. A Nadal in his pomp would not lose the match he lead 4-2 in the third against Dolgopolov at Queen's. A Nadal in his pomp would not lose meekly to Murray and Djokovic on clay as he did this season. He is in dire need of some good wins to rebuild confidence, but it's a bit of a Gordian knot if his lack of confidence makes him lose against Top 10 player or even lose before getting the chance to face any!

A renaissance is possible, but there is no sign of it just yet. Let's wait and see.

DAY 5: Top half, 3rd round.

DjokovicbeatTomicin straight sets.

Wawrinkadid the same thanks to a very anti-clutch performance byVerdascowho played a terrible game at the end of each set. Wawrinka was very impressive on serve.


SEEDICIDE WATCH:Gasquet[21] made light work of an dejectedDimitrov[11]. I saw very little of the match, but I found Gasquet to be unusually aggressive. Maybe he wanted to preserve his imaculate record against the Bulgarian. A huge chunk of Dimitrov's ranking point came from his run last year at Wimbledon, so his ranking will take a serious nose dive.Raonic[7] kept his composure against the exuberantKyrgios[26], but he still lost in 4 sets. I guess the composure was just a facade, because the canadian really crapped the bed at the end of the 2nd set and in the breaker of the third.

NOTABLE FACTS: The americanKudla(I don't think I ever saw him play) beat his third clay court player in a row (14 sets in total!) and his run might continue, because when play was suspended after 4h30 of serving practice,CilicandIsnerwere tied at 10-10 in the fifth. Kudla is hoping for at least a 50-48 to face a zombie in the 4th round (just like De Bakker who dismissed the empty shell of Isner after his 70-68 win over Mahut).

ROUND OF 32: As planned,Djokovicwill playAnderson. I noticed that after every serve, Anderson stays a good meter inside his base line to be ready to take care of the short replies he mostly get. I suspect this strategy will be costly against a Djokovic who returns extremely consistently and extremely deep. That's a problem for everyone, but probably even more so for an Anderson who is slow and inside the court, forcing him for a fast shuffle and a half volley. I expect him to miss a number of those shots and that most of the ones that will find their way to the other half of the court will be short and turned into winners by Djokovic. The only way to prevent that is serving very very well, but.. yeah.Wawrinkawill playGoffinwho should take a beating unless the counter-punching abilities of the belgian push the swiss to go for too much, resulting in too many errors.Kudlavs???and and intriguingGasquetvsKyrgiosare the other matches.