MrHolland420
KRA! KRA!
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Szlia
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Strange final. Djokovic started well, showing early and often why he won the last four matches against Nadal. Blocking the spaniard on his backhand side and then attacking his forehand with vicious backhand cross court or with very acute inside out forehands. To prevent Nadal from anticipating too much on his forehand side, he fired some of his attacks down the line also, wrong-footing Nadal for devastating effect. 6-3 Djokovic.
Having the right gameplan and having the tools to implement this gameplan are two steps in the right direction, but having the mental and physical fortitude to keep implementing it over and over in a best of 5 match is a crutial third step and Djokovic tripped. During the second set, his intensity level dropped a little. Not by much, but enough for shots that used to forced Nadal to play backhand suddenly allowed him to run around his backhand and play forehands. Not by much, but enough for his attack cross court to not put Nadal under enough pressure (not hard enough, not deep enough or not angled enough) allowing him to counter with his forehand down the line (we saw dozens of winners that that way!). Not by much, but enough to lose sight of the gameplan at times and go to the forehand of Nadal too soon or too much. It seemed that Djokovic would be able to still force a breaker in a match suddenly tipping toward Nadal, but the spaniard denied Djokovic this slender opportunity and leveled the game. 7-5 Nadal.
Obviously that was a major shot in the arm of Nadal that boosted his confidence. On top of that, Djokovic showed signs of weariness a bit similar to those he displayed in his semi against Gulbis. The third set was all Nadal as a forlorn Djokovic still tried to battle, but was simply unable to string enough good points to get any reward out of the set. 6-2 Nadal.
At the beginning of the fourth, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Nadal would cruise to the finish line. Even more so after taking an early break. Two things happened to mess with this scenario: the clouds arrived, cooling the conditions a bit and providing Djokovic with a much needed second wind and Nadal hurt himslef. It's not clear what caused it and when it happened, but time and time again we saw him hunched over after points, hands on knees, grimacing. Suddenly serving became a chore and smashing too as it was painfully obvious in a totally failed attempt in a game that allowed a suddenly energized Djokovic to break back. As the serbian held to bring the score to 4-4, the outcome of the match was suddenly a lot less obvious in what had become the battle of the ill and the injured. Nadal fully realized the danger that would be a fifth set with a fubared back and Djokovic fully realized the opportunity that it would be to force a decider that suddenly did not feel impossible to win with the poor form of the day. Both tried to elevate their game and Nadal prevailed, holding and then breaking. 6-4 Nadal.
9th French Open crown for the ultimate king of clay who denied Djokovic a career Grand Slam... again!
A strange 2014 edition with a lot of sick and injured among the seeds, but still, the revolution that was hinted at at the AO did not happen: three of the four members of The Club reached the semis, only Raonic and Gulbis managed to go deep as far as 'new' faces go. With Wimbledon right around the corner, it will be interesting to see in what shape all this merry bunch will be at SW19.
Having the right gameplan and having the tools to implement this gameplan are two steps in the right direction, but having the mental and physical fortitude to keep implementing it over and over in a best of 5 match is a crutial third step and Djokovic tripped. During the second set, his intensity level dropped a little. Not by much, but enough for shots that used to forced Nadal to play backhand suddenly allowed him to run around his backhand and play forehands. Not by much, but enough for his attack cross court to not put Nadal under enough pressure (not hard enough, not deep enough or not angled enough) allowing him to counter with his forehand down the line (we saw dozens of winners that that way!). Not by much, but enough to lose sight of the gameplan at times and go to the forehand of Nadal too soon or too much. It seemed that Djokovic would be able to still force a breaker in a match suddenly tipping toward Nadal, but the spaniard denied Djokovic this slender opportunity and leveled the game. 7-5 Nadal.
Obviously that was a major shot in the arm of Nadal that boosted his confidence. On top of that, Djokovic showed signs of weariness a bit similar to those he displayed in his semi against Gulbis. The third set was all Nadal as a forlorn Djokovic still tried to battle, but was simply unable to string enough good points to get any reward out of the set. 6-2 Nadal.
At the beginning of the fourth, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Nadal would cruise to the finish line. Even more so after taking an early break. Two things happened to mess with this scenario: the clouds arrived, cooling the conditions a bit and providing Djokovic with a much needed second wind and Nadal hurt himslef. It's not clear what caused it and when it happened, but time and time again we saw him hunched over after points, hands on knees, grimacing. Suddenly serving became a chore and smashing too as it was painfully obvious in a totally failed attempt in a game that allowed a suddenly energized Djokovic to break back. As the serbian held to bring the score to 4-4, the outcome of the match was suddenly a lot less obvious in what had become the battle of the ill and the injured. Nadal fully realized the danger that would be a fifth set with a fubared back and Djokovic fully realized the opportunity that it would be to force a decider that suddenly did not feel impossible to win with the poor form of the day. Both tried to elevate their game and Nadal prevailed, holding and then breaking. 6-4 Nadal.
9th French Open crown for the ultimate king of clay who denied Djokovic a career Grand Slam... again!
A strange 2014 edition with a lot of sick and injured among the seeds, but still, the revolution that was hinted at at the AO did not happen: three of the four members of The Club reached the semis, only Raonic and Gulbis managed to go deep as far as 'new' faces go. With Wimbledon right around the corner, it will be interesting to see in what shape all this merry bunch will be at SW19.
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It was an odd final somewhat, I agree. Not one of their better matches, to be sure, but it still mostly played out the way it should. If Novack can't be at nearly %100 with his backhand and his serve returns (particularly second serve returns) then he simply cannot hang with Nadal in the more traditional shots. Those are Nadal's weaknesses and Novack seems almost custom built to exploit them but, in the end, Nadal often has that sharp edge to him that forces his opponents to play damn near perfectly to stand a chance. If they do, and stick with the good defense, they can win. If not, then not. Today was not Novack's day. We know he can beat Nadal and we know he can do it on clay but in the end, Rafa is the master and you are in the master's house. You either bring your A game or you're just there for the photo op.
Battle of the injured and the ill as it may have ended up being, I will never tire of watching Rafa hit down-the-line forehands. That shot is a thing of beauty. Congrats to the tennis ninja, but I think it is his success at RG that often limits him at Wimbledon. That tournament should see a a serb or a scot with the trophy.
Battle of the injured and the ill as it may have ended up being, I will never tire of watching Rafa hit down-the-line forehands. That shot is a thing of beauty. Congrats to the tennis ninja, but I think it is his success at RG that often limits him at Wimbledon. That tournament should see a a serb or a scot with the trophy.
Szlia
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Dustin Brown, the 80ish in the world jamaican turned german player, grass lover, serve and volley adept who keeps standing up during change of ends to keep his energy level high, well... he just beat Nadal in straight sets in Halle. When I first heard that I thought:'the guy has a great serve, if he is on a good day, winning in two breakers on grass could happen.' But no: he won 6-4 6-1! I'll watch the match to know wtf happened.
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Szlia
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Almost! I just watched the match and that was entertaining. I talked at length in previous posts about the anti-Nadal game plan, but it requires a skill set that Brown simply does not possess. So Brown and his coach came up with an anti-Nadal plan that works with his own abilities.
On serve: On first serve, serve and volley, always. If you can volley above the net, be aggressive. If you can't volley above the net, you play a drop volley to take advantage of the fact Nadal is pretty far back when returning. On second serve... there is no such thing as a second serve: you serve a first serve. There will be doubles, but better have some double than Nadal firing passing shots or forcing you into rallies.
On return: An average return will mean at worst a one-two punch by Nadal, or at best the start of a rally. We do not want that to happen. An unforced error on return is preferable to that. So you go for the returns, you go flat, you go big, you follow to the net. Alternatively, you slice and go to the net to apply pressure.
In the first set, Brown served well enough to hold and face only a single break point. He ate some passing shots, hit some doubles, got outplayed several time at the net after his drop volleys, but all of this not often enough and never in a cluster that allowed Nadal to get more than a lonely break point. At 5-4, Brown hit three winning returns in a row and damn near hit a fourth for a break to love, but Nadal pulled the most insane half-volley from the back of the court at full stretch to save it. Two good serves later we were at deuce and it felt like Brown missed his opportunity. Wrong: he hit another winning return (most of those being executed by moving into the court on the return and play weird but flat backhands near the body). On his fourth break point, he hit a nothing blocked return down the line that allowed Nadal to dance around his backhand while moving up the court to fire one of his trade mark forehand. The problem though is that executing such an aggressive shot on a ball that is not so high, while in the court, requires a lot of top spin. It's not an easy shot. Playing it at 4-5 down set point for Nadal would not be a big issue in most of his matches, because in most of his matches he would have fired dozens of similar shots in the nine previous games. But not today. Today that was maybe his third conventional rally shot of the set, so he put too much top spin on it and it died in the net.
In the second set, Brown did the same thing, but faster, not allowing Nadal to set himself back into the match. Overflowing with confidence and serving very well, he took maybe 5 seconds between points! Nadal made some minor adjustments too, trying to go to the net before Brown could. A better adjustement would have been to avoid the Brown backhand on serve, because the german continued to make an alarming number of return in spite of being insanely aggressive. To add insult to injury, the few times Nadal found himself at the net, Brown fired the deadliest of top spin lobs!
Nadal did not play a bad match. He just hardly got to play! Brown's very high risk game plan paid off, only because he managed to serve extremely well and get in the zone on return from the end of the first set on. Maybe it's because he actually sat at the change of ends??
PS: The drop volleys looked a bit like Tsonga's circa Australian Open 2008. The speeding up in the 2nd set, looked a bit like Rosol's circa Wimbledon 2013!
PPS: Murray also lost today, but to Stepanek. Also an upset of of a lesser magnitude.
On serve: On first serve, serve and volley, always. If you can volley above the net, be aggressive. If you can't volley above the net, you play a drop volley to take advantage of the fact Nadal is pretty far back when returning. On second serve... there is no such thing as a second serve: you serve a first serve. There will be doubles, but better have some double than Nadal firing passing shots or forcing you into rallies.
On return: An average return will mean at worst a one-two punch by Nadal, or at best the start of a rally. We do not want that to happen. An unforced error on return is preferable to that. So you go for the returns, you go flat, you go big, you follow to the net. Alternatively, you slice and go to the net to apply pressure.
In the first set, Brown served well enough to hold and face only a single break point. He ate some passing shots, hit some doubles, got outplayed several time at the net after his drop volleys, but all of this not often enough and never in a cluster that allowed Nadal to get more than a lonely break point. At 5-4, Brown hit three winning returns in a row and damn near hit a fourth for a break to love, but Nadal pulled the most insane half-volley from the back of the court at full stretch to save it. Two good serves later we were at deuce and it felt like Brown missed his opportunity. Wrong: he hit another winning return (most of those being executed by moving into the court on the return and play weird but flat backhands near the body). On his fourth break point, he hit a nothing blocked return down the line that allowed Nadal to dance around his backhand while moving up the court to fire one of his trade mark forehand. The problem though is that executing such an aggressive shot on a ball that is not so high, while in the court, requires a lot of top spin. It's not an easy shot. Playing it at 4-5 down set point for Nadal would not be a big issue in most of his matches, because in most of his matches he would have fired dozens of similar shots in the nine previous games. But not today. Today that was maybe his third conventional rally shot of the set, so he put too much top spin on it and it died in the net.
In the second set, Brown did the same thing, but faster, not allowing Nadal to set himself back into the match. Overflowing with confidence and serving very well, he took maybe 5 seconds between points! Nadal made some minor adjustments too, trying to go to the net before Brown could. A better adjustement would have been to avoid the Brown backhand on serve, because the german continued to make an alarming number of return in spite of being insanely aggressive. To add insult to injury, the few times Nadal found himself at the net, Brown fired the deadliest of top spin lobs!
Nadal did not play a bad match. He just hardly got to play! Brown's very high risk game plan paid off, only because he managed to serve extremely well and get in the zone on return from the end of the first set on. Maybe it's because he actually sat at the change of ends??
PS: The drop volleys looked a bit like Tsonga's circa Australian Open 2008. The speeding up in the 2nd set, looked a bit like Rosol's circa Wimbledon 2013!
PPS: Murray also lost today, but to Stepanek. Also an upset of of a lesser magnitude.
Szlia
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Federer won Halle, Dimitrov won the Queen's and now, it is time!
DJOKOVIC[1] Grass seeding privilege for last year's runner up who has not played since the French Open.
R128: Golubev: a talented but inconstant player. Could cause problem on a good day.
R64: Stepanek: always tricky on grass with his slices and his attacking style, he just beat Murray at the Queen's.
R32: The seed is Pospisil, the one playing well at the moment is Simon, but I expect big serving grass lover Haase to come through.
R16: Tsonga is the likely candidate, but he will have to face Melzer, Querrey and possibly Youzhny on the way.
Not a great draw as it stats with two dangerous unseeded players and ends with a guy who had good successes at Wimbledon, reaching the semi final twice.
BERDYCH[6] a former finalist here at Wimbledon.
R128: Hanescu: more of a slow surfaces player.
R64: Tomic or Donskoy: Tomic is playing a little batter these days, but still very far from what was expected of him. Grass lover though. Donskoy I have never seen play, but is relatively young and still sits between the pro tour and the challenger tour.
R32: Cilic: grass lover, can play and has played at top 10 level, but still a little something is missing from his game at the moment. Just a little belief maybe.
R16: Gulbis is the top seed and I suspect Berdych is in no hurry to play him again. Even if it's not much his style these days, he might fall before that to giant slaying Stakhovsky or to Verdasco (the other seed, a former quarter finalist).
Reaching the R16 should be ok for Berdych unless Tomic or Cilic find their long missing form just for him. Getting past the R16 though might be a question of who will be on the other side of the net.
MURRAY[3] wears a heavy crown (that comes with nicer seeding) and still carries a bag of question mark since his operation.
R128: Goffin: The talk of the town for a week a few years back, is playing decently at the moment. The big stage might transcend him?
R64: Andujar or Rola: a journeyman and a tall guy I have never seen play. 24 like Donskoy. The new age to burst onto the scene?
R32: Bautista Agut: the no-non-sense spaniard just won in s'Hertogenboch, but I don't see him having the weapons to beat Murray.
R16: Fognini is the top seed, but not much of a grass player. Anderson is the other seed, but the slippery grass exposes his moment. My guess is that in form french grass lover Roger-Vasselin will go through.
For a 100% fit 100% ready Murray, this draw is a formality. I suspect he is neither, so reaching the quarter final might end being trickier than it should.
FERRER[7] does not like grass and it's without a doubt his worst surface. Still, he reached the quarter finals in 2012 and 2013!
R128: Carreno Busta: no chance.
R64: Kuznetsov or Evans: no chance.
R32: Seppi is the seed, but there is also Baghdatis (former semi-finalist) and giant slayer Brown (who after beating Nadal lost in a 18-16 third set breaker against Kohlschreiber!). Seppi has no chance, but the other two maybe.
R16: Dimitrov is the likely candidate, but he will first have to survive a cluster of other youngsters in Harrison, Thiem and Saville (junior champion in 2011 and runner-up in 2012) and Dolgopolov is also roaming these parts.
It should be smooth sailing for Ferrer to the R16, but if the young guns are able to put a good and consistent match together, they certainly have a shot.
WAWRINKA[5] not much a grass player, but has an 'all surface' type of game. Won a couple matches in Queen's and played poorly against Dimitrov. He was also bed ridden for a couple days with a fever between then a now.
R128: Sousa: on the rise and playing with confidence at the moment, but should not be a huge threat.
R64: Lu who is a bit injured at the moment or big server Nedovyesov (who won a Davis Cup double against Wawrinka).
R32: Tursunov or Istomin: two guys who play a flat ball.
R16: Isner and Lopez are the two seeds with the second being in form (runner-up in Queen's, winner in Eastbourne). A wild card is Falla, who plays very well on grass with his flat counter-punching style (finalist in Halle).
If he does not a repeat performance of the French Open debacle, Wawrinka should reach the round of 16 unscathed, but no mater who emerges to play against him, a tough match awaits.
FEDERER[4] won in Halle, without playing stellar tennis it must be said. He also very narrowly lost the double's final playing with Chiudinelli. He is in good shape and the up side of his relatively early loss at the French is that it spared the machinery.
R128: Lorenzi: clay court journeyman.
R64: Benneteau or Muller: two good servers and grass lovers. Tricky.
R32: The seed is Granollers, but I like grass royalty Mahut even if he had so so results on grass this year.
R16: Top seed is Janowicz who is not playing so well at the moment. The other seed is Robredo who never reached the round of 16 in 12 participations. A surprise guest is a possibility, like veteran grass lover Hewitt or the french wild gun Mannarino.
It has the potential to be a very tricky draw for Federer, playing three great servers in a row. Even if he goes through them, he would have reached the quarter final having played 10 rallies top, which is not ideal to face a Wawrinka or potentially a Nadal.
RAONIC[8] never reached past the 2nd round in three participation. I suspect the low bounce does not help to execute the big forehands he is looking for after his serves and the the slippery grass exposes his movement.
R128: Ebden: unheralded australian, but let's assume that, like most australian, he enjoys playing on grass.
R64: Herbert or Sock: ok...
R32: Garcia-Lopez is the seed and will probably reach this stage, but it should be noted that Kubot, last year's quarter finalist is in this part of the draw, but he has a 3W-10L record on tour this year so... yeah (plays well in double though).
R16: Top seed is Nishikori that should be here unless he is injured or get surprised by De Shepper, the french tower. The other seed is Kohlschreiber who played well in Halle.
Many seeds would like Raonic's draw, but still I suspect he will not take the full benefit of it.
NADAL[2] last year's early exit costs Nadal the first seed. The difference is only symbolic though. Exhausted after the french open, chastised in Halle by Brown, it's tough to know where he is at in this strange season of his.
R128: Klizan: no shortage of talent here, so it could be a tricky opener.
R64: Rosol or Paire: We know what Rosol can do against Nadal (though the odds of him making it twice are less than slim!) and Paire certainly has the weapons to hurt Nadal (but probably not the head and the health).
R32: The seed is Karlovic. Yep. Someone has to deal with Mr. Aces.
R16: Gasquet, grass lover, is the top seed. He was not playing so well lately, but he just reached the final in Eastbourne. A couple australians (Duckworth, a Hewitt clone, and Kyrgios, a tall server) and Monfils also are in this part of the draw.
A somewhat shitty draw as it begins with two rounds of players that have weapons and can go on fire, followed by one of the very best server on tour. The up side is that the round of 16 should be a little less tricky.
DJOKOVIC[1] Grass seeding privilege for last year's runner up who has not played since the French Open.
R128: Golubev: a talented but inconstant player. Could cause problem on a good day.
R64: Stepanek: always tricky on grass with his slices and his attacking style, he just beat Murray at the Queen's.
R32: The seed is Pospisil, the one playing well at the moment is Simon, but I expect big serving grass lover Haase to come through.
R16: Tsonga is the likely candidate, but he will have to face Melzer, Querrey and possibly Youzhny on the way.
Not a great draw as it stats with two dangerous unseeded players and ends with a guy who had good successes at Wimbledon, reaching the semi final twice.
BERDYCH[6] a former finalist here at Wimbledon.
R128: Hanescu: more of a slow surfaces player.
R64: Tomic or Donskoy: Tomic is playing a little batter these days, but still very far from what was expected of him. Grass lover though. Donskoy I have never seen play, but is relatively young and still sits between the pro tour and the challenger tour.
R32: Cilic: grass lover, can play and has played at top 10 level, but still a little something is missing from his game at the moment. Just a little belief maybe.
R16: Gulbis is the top seed and I suspect Berdych is in no hurry to play him again. Even if it's not much his style these days, he might fall before that to giant slaying Stakhovsky or to Verdasco (the other seed, a former quarter finalist).
Reaching the R16 should be ok for Berdych unless Tomic or Cilic find their long missing form just for him. Getting past the R16 though might be a question of who will be on the other side of the net.
MURRAY[3] wears a heavy crown (that comes with nicer seeding) and still carries a bag of question mark since his operation.
R128: Goffin: The talk of the town for a week a few years back, is playing decently at the moment. The big stage might transcend him?
R64: Andujar or Rola: a journeyman and a tall guy I have never seen play. 24 like Donskoy. The new age to burst onto the scene?
R32: Bautista Agut: the no-non-sense spaniard just won in s'Hertogenboch, but I don't see him having the weapons to beat Murray.
R16: Fognini is the top seed, but not much of a grass player. Anderson is the other seed, but the slippery grass exposes his moment. My guess is that in form french grass lover Roger-Vasselin will go through.
For a 100% fit 100% ready Murray, this draw is a formality. I suspect he is neither, so reaching the quarter final might end being trickier than it should.
FERRER[7] does not like grass and it's without a doubt his worst surface. Still, he reached the quarter finals in 2012 and 2013!
R128: Carreno Busta: no chance.
R64: Kuznetsov or Evans: no chance.
R32: Seppi is the seed, but there is also Baghdatis (former semi-finalist) and giant slayer Brown (who after beating Nadal lost in a 18-16 third set breaker against Kohlschreiber!). Seppi has no chance, but the other two maybe.
R16: Dimitrov is the likely candidate, but he will first have to survive a cluster of other youngsters in Harrison, Thiem and Saville (junior champion in 2011 and runner-up in 2012) and Dolgopolov is also roaming these parts.
It should be smooth sailing for Ferrer to the R16, but if the young guns are able to put a good and consistent match together, they certainly have a shot.
WAWRINKA[5] not much a grass player, but has an 'all surface' type of game. Won a couple matches in Queen's and played poorly against Dimitrov. He was also bed ridden for a couple days with a fever between then a now.
R128: Sousa: on the rise and playing with confidence at the moment, but should not be a huge threat.
R64: Lu who is a bit injured at the moment or big server Nedovyesov (who won a Davis Cup double against Wawrinka).
R32: Tursunov or Istomin: two guys who play a flat ball.
R16: Isner and Lopez are the two seeds with the second being in form (runner-up in Queen's, winner in Eastbourne). A wild card is Falla, who plays very well on grass with his flat counter-punching style (finalist in Halle).
If he does not a repeat performance of the French Open debacle, Wawrinka should reach the round of 16 unscathed, but no mater who emerges to play against him, a tough match awaits.
FEDERER[4] won in Halle, without playing stellar tennis it must be said. He also very narrowly lost the double's final playing with Chiudinelli. He is in good shape and the up side of his relatively early loss at the French is that it spared the machinery.
R128: Lorenzi: clay court journeyman.
R64: Benneteau or Muller: two good servers and grass lovers. Tricky.
R32: The seed is Granollers, but I like grass royalty Mahut even if he had so so results on grass this year.
R16: Top seed is Janowicz who is not playing so well at the moment. The other seed is Robredo who never reached the round of 16 in 12 participations. A surprise guest is a possibility, like veteran grass lover Hewitt or the french wild gun Mannarino.
It has the potential to be a very tricky draw for Federer, playing three great servers in a row. Even if he goes through them, he would have reached the quarter final having played 10 rallies top, which is not ideal to face a Wawrinka or potentially a Nadal.
RAONIC[8] never reached past the 2nd round in three participation. I suspect the low bounce does not help to execute the big forehands he is looking for after his serves and the the slippery grass exposes his movement.
R128: Ebden: unheralded australian, but let's assume that, like most australian, he enjoys playing on grass.
R64: Herbert or Sock: ok...
R32: Garcia-Lopez is the seed and will probably reach this stage, but it should be noted that Kubot, last year's quarter finalist is in this part of the draw, but he has a 3W-10L record on tour this year so... yeah (plays well in double though).
R16: Top seed is Nishikori that should be here unless he is injured or get surprised by De Shepper, the french tower. The other seed is Kohlschreiber who played well in Halle.
Many seeds would like Raonic's draw, but still I suspect he will not take the full benefit of it.
NADAL[2] last year's early exit costs Nadal the first seed. The difference is only symbolic though. Exhausted after the french open, chastised in Halle by Brown, it's tough to know where he is at in this strange season of his.
R128: Klizan: no shortage of talent here, so it could be a tricky opener.
R64: Rosol or Paire: We know what Rosol can do against Nadal (though the odds of him making it twice are less than slim!) and Paire certainly has the weapons to hurt Nadal (but probably not the head and the health).
R32: The seed is Karlovic. Yep. Someone has to deal with Mr. Aces.
R16: Gasquet, grass lover, is the top seed. He was not playing so well lately, but he just reached the final in Eastbourne. A couple australians (Duckworth, a Hewitt clone, and Kyrgios, a tall server) and Monfils also are in this part of the draw.
A somewhat shitty draw as it begins with two rounds of players that have weapons and can go on fire, followed by one of the very best server on tour. The up side is that the round of 16 should be a little less tricky.
Szlia
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Round 1 is completed! The top dog survived. Verdasco fell to Matosevic (who played some good tennis at the Queen's) and Karlovic lost to journeyman Canadian Dancevic.
DJOKOVIC[1] Made light work of Golubev (I have not seen the match so maybe Golubev helped him!)
R64: Stepanek, as predicted. Never a dull match with Stepanek around.
R32: Simon or Haase, as expected.
R16: Tsonga took five sets and two days to beat Melzer. He'll face Querrey while Youzhny will face taiwanese player Wang.
Things are going according to plan.
BERDYCH[6] lost the first set in a tie-break against Hanescu, but rolled from there.
R64: Tomic won convincingly. If he is playing well, his strange game and changes of pace could bother Berdych.
R32: Cilic just dropped a tie-break set, is the favorite against Haider-Maurer.
R16: Gulbis vs Stakhovsky is a mouth watering 2nd round match, with Chardy and Matosevic also batteling in this section of the draw, Berdych will necessarily face a quality opponent.
The highest seed to drop, Verdasco, was in this part of the draw, but in the end it's of little help for Berdych.
MURRAY[3] played a good match and managed to close it in three sets, which is a good thing because Goffin was playing better and better.
R64: Tall guy Rola.
R32: Bautista Agut... or why not tall veteran Hernych who, two weeks away from 35, beat two seeds in qualies and then the decent Kamke in the main draw?
R16: Fognini vs german qualifier Puetz (?). Anderson vs Roger-Vasselin for this spot.
The good news for Murray is that Rola fired only 4 aces. The bad news is that he won 22 out of the 24 points he played at the net, so he probably does not try to ace with the first serve, but 'just' try to get a weak reply to get an easy volley or a one-two punch. We'll see...
FERRER[7] left 8 games in his first round... but six in the same set subsequently won by his opponent in a breaker. So yeah... 0-1-1 in the other three.
R64: Kuznetsov or Evans: no chance.
R32: Seppi is out and Baghdatis ousted Brown and should oust argentinian Mayer.
R16: Dimitrov passed the Harrison test. The Saville test awaits. Dolgopolov vs german Becker in the other match of this section.
All is going according to plan.
WAWRINKA[5] played a very clean match against Sousa who certainly gave a good account of himself.
R64: Lu took five set to get rid of Nedovyesov.
R32: Istomin should beat german Restner who is out of the top 100 at 28.
R16: Isner and Lopez still on track. Lopez was especially cruel with japanese player Sugita has he won in three tie-breaker 8-6 8-6 and 9-7!
Encouraging start for the swiss, but on grass you need to play well all the matches all the time, because you blink three time and maybe you lost the match.
FEDERER[4] smooth sailing against a Lorenzi that did not have the weapons to hurt the septuple champion.
R64: Muller convincingly beat Benneteau (straight sets, two breakers!), winning 97% of his first serve points!
R32: Mahut lost to Granollers in four tight sets. The spaniard will face dirt-baller Giraldo. Note Granollers is a double specialist.
R16: Janowicz vs Hewitt, Mannarino vs Robredo... I like the veterans in these.
For me if there is one domain where Federer is a lot worse than he used to be, it's break point created and converted. Against Muller, that could mean a lot of tie-breakers. If he happen to lose the first set, that can also mean nerves, potentially giving Muller opportunities.
RAONIC[8] cleanly through.
R64: Sock. USA! USA!
R32: Garcia-Lopez did not reach this stage, opening the door for Kubot.
R16: Clean wins for Nishikori and Kholschreiber.
Kubot might be a more formidable opponent on grass than Garcia-Lopez (who serves well, but stay in the back), so losing the seed might not be that good of a deal.
NADAL[2] started with a scare as Klizan, playing very well with some heavy, deep, loopy lefty forehands and flattened backhands. The spaniard managed to raise his game and break first in the second, fend off some break points and bag the second set, allowing smoother sailing from there.
R64: Rosol is here, and I am sure he wants to repeat his performance. Even more so because no one think it's possible!
R32: Karlovic lost to Dancevic! So it will be the canadian or Kukushkin.
R16: Gasquet was lead two sets to one by Duckworth, but then the australian only scored a single game! His buddy Kyrgios will try to avenge him. Monfils and promising tall youngster Vesely are the other two in this part of the draw.
With the loss of Karlovic and how unlikely it is for Rosol to catch fire again, Nadal ends up with a pretty nice draw.
Fun WB fact of the day: In 1991, Michael Stich won Wimbledon. Just before that, he played a season of interclubs in Germany (mostly amateur team competition) and had 2 wins for 4 losses.
DJOKOVIC[1] Made light work of Golubev (I have not seen the match so maybe Golubev helped him!)
R64: Stepanek, as predicted. Never a dull match with Stepanek around.
R32: Simon or Haase, as expected.
R16: Tsonga took five sets and two days to beat Melzer. He'll face Querrey while Youzhny will face taiwanese player Wang.
Things are going according to plan.
BERDYCH[6] lost the first set in a tie-break against Hanescu, but rolled from there.
R64: Tomic won convincingly. If he is playing well, his strange game and changes of pace could bother Berdych.
R32: Cilic just dropped a tie-break set, is the favorite against Haider-Maurer.
R16: Gulbis vs Stakhovsky is a mouth watering 2nd round match, with Chardy and Matosevic also batteling in this section of the draw, Berdych will necessarily face a quality opponent.
The highest seed to drop, Verdasco, was in this part of the draw, but in the end it's of little help for Berdych.
MURRAY[3] played a good match and managed to close it in three sets, which is a good thing because Goffin was playing better and better.
R64: Tall guy Rola.
R32: Bautista Agut... or why not tall veteran Hernych who, two weeks away from 35, beat two seeds in qualies and then the decent Kamke in the main draw?
R16: Fognini vs german qualifier Puetz (?). Anderson vs Roger-Vasselin for this spot.
The good news for Murray is that Rola fired only 4 aces. The bad news is that he won 22 out of the 24 points he played at the net, so he probably does not try to ace with the first serve, but 'just' try to get a weak reply to get an easy volley or a one-two punch. We'll see...
FERRER[7] left 8 games in his first round... but six in the same set subsequently won by his opponent in a breaker. So yeah... 0-1-1 in the other three.
R64: Kuznetsov or Evans: no chance.
R32: Seppi is out and Baghdatis ousted Brown and should oust argentinian Mayer.
R16: Dimitrov passed the Harrison test. The Saville test awaits. Dolgopolov vs german Becker in the other match of this section.
All is going according to plan.
WAWRINKA[5] played a very clean match against Sousa who certainly gave a good account of himself.
R64: Lu took five set to get rid of Nedovyesov.
R32: Istomin should beat german Restner who is out of the top 100 at 28.
R16: Isner and Lopez still on track. Lopez was especially cruel with japanese player Sugita has he won in three tie-breaker 8-6 8-6 and 9-7!
Encouraging start for the swiss, but on grass you need to play well all the matches all the time, because you blink three time and maybe you lost the match.
FEDERER[4] smooth sailing against a Lorenzi that did not have the weapons to hurt the septuple champion.
R64: Muller convincingly beat Benneteau (straight sets, two breakers!), winning 97% of his first serve points!
R32: Mahut lost to Granollers in four tight sets. The spaniard will face dirt-baller Giraldo. Note Granollers is a double specialist.
R16: Janowicz vs Hewitt, Mannarino vs Robredo... I like the veterans in these.
For me if there is one domain where Federer is a lot worse than he used to be, it's break point created and converted. Against Muller, that could mean a lot of tie-breakers. If he happen to lose the first set, that can also mean nerves, potentially giving Muller opportunities.
RAONIC[8] cleanly through.
R64: Sock. USA! USA!
R32: Garcia-Lopez did not reach this stage, opening the door for Kubot.
R16: Clean wins for Nishikori and Kholschreiber.
Kubot might be a more formidable opponent on grass than Garcia-Lopez (who serves well, but stay in the back), so losing the seed might not be that good of a deal.
NADAL[2] started with a scare as Klizan, playing very well with some heavy, deep, loopy lefty forehands and flattened backhands. The spaniard managed to raise his game and break first in the second, fend off some break points and bag the second set, allowing smoother sailing from there.
R64: Rosol is here, and I am sure he wants to repeat his performance. Even more so because no one think it's possible!
R32: Karlovic lost to Dancevic! So it will be the canadian or Kukushkin.
R16: Gasquet was lead two sets to one by Duckworth, but then the australian only scored a single game! His buddy Kyrgios will try to avenge him. Monfils and promising tall youngster Vesely are the other two in this part of the draw.
With the loss of Karlovic and how unlikely it is for Rosol to catch fire again, Nadal ends up with a pretty nice draw.
Fun WB fact of the day: In 1991, Michael Stich won Wimbledon. Just before that, he played a season of interclubs in Germany (mostly amateur team competition) and had 2 wins for 4 losses.
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Round 2 is (almost) completed! Some top dogs got shaken and some fell: Ferrer! Gasquet! Gulbis! Kohlschreiber! Youzhny!
DJOKOVIC[1] dodged a bullet as Stepanek won the third set in a breaker and forced another breaker in the fourth... but lost it.
R32: Simon beat Haase. I expect Djokovic to out-Simon the frenchman.
R16: Tsonga played once again over two days to beat Querrey 14-12 in the fifth. He'll face 29 year old Wang from Taiwan, a grass loving journeyman (140ish atm, 85 at his best) who prevailed in four tight sets over Youzhny.. Wang had to qualify, so he won 5 matches in a row, which, in most other circumstances, would have won him a tournament!
Djokovic must not be too worried about Simon on grass, but they strangely did not play each other in four years. Tsonga having to play everyday must also bring a smile to his face.
BERDYCH[6] got sternly tested by Tomic during three sets, losing the first and having to play breakers in the other two, but he closed on a convincing 6-1.
R32: Cilic won in four against Haider-Maurer.
R16: Gulbis did not play so well, unable to do much against the Stakhovsky serve and having little joy on his own second delivery. It got close in the third set, but the serve & volleying ukrainian denied the latvian a fourth set. Chardy edged past Matosevic in five tight sets.
Berdych might be happy to see Gulbis go, but he still has a lot of work ahead of him with dangerous grass players.
MURRAY[3] hardly broke a sweat against Rolla, who served well enough, but was too often content to stay in the rallies after that. Not a winning formula against Murray.
R32: Bautista Agut will not beat himself, that's his main quality. To beat him, playing well is required.
R16: Fognini or Anderson, as the two seeds did not get upset.
Murray did not have to force his talent this round, but some serious tennis will be required for the next two.
DIMITROV[11] becomes the top seed in this part of the draw. He cleanly beat australian hope Saville.
R32: Dolgopolov seems to be in a rich vein of form. That's a match that should be full of spectacular tennis.
R16: Not only Kuznetsov (a russian youngster more used to challenger level) managed to beat Ferrer in five sets, but dirt-baller Mayer beat grass-lover Baghdatis!
The test is Dolgopolov. Both of them know the draw opened up nicely for the round of sixteen. Unless Kuznetsov is just on fire these weeks.
WAWRINKA[5] was a bit so-so against Lu. He also possibly hurt himself a little taking a tumble on the slippery grass.
R32: Istomin will try to rush Wawrinka from the baseline. It could be some high octane stuff.
R16: Isner beat Nieminen in straight sets, including a behemoth breaker in the first set: 19-17! There are several 20-18 on record at ATP level, but in January of last year, in a Future event (one step bellow Challenger, so people ranked 200ish) saw a 36-34 breaker! Lopez vs Pavic has not yet been plaid because of the rain.
We'll see how the body react to that tumble. It happened early in the match and he won it nonetheless, but, once cold, you never know...
FEDERER[4] opened a serving clinic and did not even allow big serving Muller to reach a breaker. Clean stuff.
R32:Granollers and Giraldo got interrupted in the beginning of their 5th set by the rain.
R16: Robredo tamed Mannarino and Janowicz won the first set against Hewitt before the rain.
Things are looking good for Federer, but his next match should be a total change of pace from today's. Still very winnable. Robredo beat him at the US Open, so it could be interesting to see if that really was the anomaly we thought it was.
RAONIC[8] cleanly through (again).
R32: Kubot is alive, kicking and serving well!
R16: Clean wins for Nishikori (again) and Kholschreiber surprisingly tripped on Bolelli in five sets.
The real Wimbledon starts here for Raonic with a Kubot confident in these parts and a Nishikori who has yet to be injured!
NADAL[2] hoped the lightning could not strike twice at the same place and for a long while it really seemed it could. Rosol was simply unplayable on serve. Game plan: hit hard, if that does not work, hit harder. A string of good returns and a couple loose shots by Nadal resulted in a break at 4-4 in the first that Rosol confirmed by fireing four unreturnable serves! When the underdog broke early in the second, things seriously smelled rotten for the World N?1. Luckily for him, Rosol's hand cooled down a little. The first serve percentage dropped a little, more unforced errors crept in, opening the door just enough for Nadal to fight his way back into the set. At this stage I thought: 'that's it, Rosol is back on earth so it will be 6-4 6-2 6-1 for Nadal.' Not so. While not as good as in the first set and a half, Rosol did not imploded and continued with focus and determination to apply his trade. He got rewarded by breaker, an early lead in it and even a couple set points (could have been more if Nadal did not pull a miraculous defensive slice down 5-4).
At one set all, everything was easier for Nadal even if Rosol kept on fighting. The spaniard broke early in the third, surfed this lead to bag the set and broke early in the fourth for the same result even if some rear guard action from Rosol brought him some break points to level the fourth at 5-5. But it was not to be. Needless to say, Nadal celebrated the win like he won the tournament, which is the kind of things you do when you are World N?1 and just beat a guy outside the Top 50 in a second round
R32: Kukushkin awaits and should not offer such stern a challenge.
R16: Gasquet lead two sets to love against Kyrgios, but ended losing 10-8 in the fifth, but not without having 9 match points first! An open era record for best of five match apparently (tie with two other matches, but that's no big consolation for Gasquet). The youngest man in the draw at 19 will face the almost 21 Vesely who blasted his way past Monfils in 5 sets.
Nadal should not have much trouble with Kukushkin, but a youngster on fire can always be dangerous because they can't properly weight the magnitude of what they are doing and those two have weapons.
Fun Wimbledon Fact of the day: When he won in 1989 McEnroe's average first serve speed was 101 mph (163 km/h)!
DJOKOVIC[1] dodged a bullet as Stepanek won the third set in a breaker and forced another breaker in the fourth... but lost it.
R32: Simon beat Haase. I expect Djokovic to out-Simon the frenchman.
R16: Tsonga played once again over two days to beat Querrey 14-12 in the fifth. He'll face 29 year old Wang from Taiwan, a grass loving journeyman (140ish atm, 85 at his best) who prevailed in four tight sets over Youzhny.. Wang had to qualify, so he won 5 matches in a row, which, in most other circumstances, would have won him a tournament!
Djokovic must not be too worried about Simon on grass, but they strangely did not play each other in four years. Tsonga having to play everyday must also bring a smile to his face.
BERDYCH[6] got sternly tested by Tomic during three sets, losing the first and having to play breakers in the other two, but he closed on a convincing 6-1.
R32: Cilic won in four against Haider-Maurer.
R16: Gulbis did not play so well, unable to do much against the Stakhovsky serve and having little joy on his own second delivery. It got close in the third set, but the serve & volleying ukrainian denied the latvian a fourth set. Chardy edged past Matosevic in five tight sets.
Berdych might be happy to see Gulbis go, but he still has a lot of work ahead of him with dangerous grass players.
MURRAY[3] hardly broke a sweat against Rolla, who served well enough, but was too often content to stay in the rallies after that. Not a winning formula against Murray.
R32: Bautista Agut will not beat himself, that's his main quality. To beat him, playing well is required.
R16: Fognini or Anderson, as the two seeds did not get upset.
Murray did not have to force his talent this round, but some serious tennis will be required for the next two.
DIMITROV[11] becomes the top seed in this part of the draw. He cleanly beat australian hope Saville.
R32: Dolgopolov seems to be in a rich vein of form. That's a match that should be full of spectacular tennis.
R16: Not only Kuznetsov (a russian youngster more used to challenger level) managed to beat Ferrer in five sets, but dirt-baller Mayer beat grass-lover Baghdatis!
The test is Dolgopolov. Both of them know the draw opened up nicely for the round of sixteen. Unless Kuznetsov is just on fire these weeks.
WAWRINKA[5] was a bit so-so against Lu. He also possibly hurt himself a little taking a tumble on the slippery grass.
R32: Istomin will try to rush Wawrinka from the baseline. It could be some high octane stuff.
R16: Isner beat Nieminen in straight sets, including a behemoth breaker in the first set: 19-17! There are several 20-18 on record at ATP level, but in January of last year, in a Future event (one step bellow Challenger, so people ranked 200ish) saw a 36-34 breaker! Lopez vs Pavic has not yet been plaid because of the rain.
We'll see how the body react to that tumble. It happened early in the match and he won it nonetheless, but, once cold, you never know...
FEDERER[4] opened a serving clinic and did not even allow big serving Muller to reach a breaker. Clean stuff.
R32:Granollers and Giraldo got interrupted in the beginning of their 5th set by the rain.
R16: Robredo tamed Mannarino and Janowicz won the first set against Hewitt before the rain.
Things are looking good for Federer, but his next match should be a total change of pace from today's. Still very winnable. Robredo beat him at the US Open, so it could be interesting to see if that really was the anomaly we thought it was.
RAONIC[8] cleanly through (again).
R32: Kubot is alive, kicking and serving well!
R16: Clean wins for Nishikori (again) and Kholschreiber surprisingly tripped on Bolelli in five sets.
The real Wimbledon starts here for Raonic with a Kubot confident in these parts and a Nishikori who has yet to be injured!
NADAL[2] hoped the lightning could not strike twice at the same place and for a long while it really seemed it could. Rosol was simply unplayable on serve. Game plan: hit hard, if that does not work, hit harder. A string of good returns and a couple loose shots by Nadal resulted in a break at 4-4 in the first that Rosol confirmed by fireing four unreturnable serves! When the underdog broke early in the second, things seriously smelled rotten for the World N?1. Luckily for him, Rosol's hand cooled down a little. The first serve percentage dropped a little, more unforced errors crept in, opening the door just enough for Nadal to fight his way back into the set. At this stage I thought: 'that's it, Rosol is back on earth so it will be 6-4 6-2 6-1 for Nadal.' Not so. While not as good as in the first set and a half, Rosol did not imploded and continued with focus and determination to apply his trade. He got rewarded by breaker, an early lead in it and even a couple set points (could have been more if Nadal did not pull a miraculous defensive slice down 5-4).
At one set all, everything was easier for Nadal even if Rosol kept on fighting. The spaniard broke early in the third, surfed this lead to bag the set and broke early in the fourth for the same result even if some rear guard action from Rosol brought him some break points to level the fourth at 5-5. But it was not to be. Needless to say, Nadal celebrated the win like he won the tournament, which is the kind of things you do when you are World N?1 and just beat a guy outside the Top 50 in a second round
R32: Kukushkin awaits and should not offer such stern a challenge.
R16: Gasquet lead two sets to love against Kyrgios, but ended losing 10-8 in the fifth, but not without having 9 match points first! An open era record for best of five match apparently (tie with two other matches, but that's no big consolation for Gasquet). The youngest man in the draw at 19 will face the almost 21 Vesely who blasted his way past Monfils in 5 sets.
Nadal should not have much trouble with Kukushkin, but a youngster on fire can always be dangerous because they can't properly weight the magnitude of what they are doing and those two have weapons.
Fun Wimbledon Fact of the day: When he won in 1989 McEnroe's average first serve speed was 101 mph (163 km/h)!
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In theory round 3 should be done, but rain decided otherwise, so some round 3 matches have not even started yet. And of course today was People's Sunday, another of these WB idiosyncrasies: no tennis is played on the middle Sunday... We can still check what happened so far.
DJOKOVIC[1] at time could not out-Simon Simon, but he certainly out-Djokovic'ed him, finding great serves or great shots at all the key moments, allowing him to win in straight sets.
R16: Tsonga had his first quiet match of the tournament against the modest Wang.
A good Tsonga is a tough nut to crack on grass. How good of a Tsonga will we get though?
CILIC[26] played it tighter than a taxman purse and beat Berdych 7-6 6-4 7-6!
R16: Chardy is really in good form as he only dropped a tie-break set to Stakhovsky.
Both guys are very tough to play against when in form, but i'll give an edge to Cilic who had a number of past successes on grass.
MURRAY[3] dominated Bautista-Agut cleanly
R16: Anderson battled during five sets to upset Fognini, leaving only three games behind in the last two sets!
Unless Anderson is serving unbelievably well, I don't see how he can match favorably to the depth of Murray's game. The scott has just too many more weapons.
DIMITROV[11], like Anderson, rallied from two sets to one down to win in five against Dolgopolov.
R16:Mayer emerged from this section. That's a major surprise.
Unless Dimitrov takes Mayer lightly and plays a terrible match as a result, I don't see how he could lose.
WAWRINKA[5] could not sing in the rain.
R32: Istomin is waiting on the rain to stop.
R16: Isner vs Lopez will also be played on Monday.
On the up side, the rain gave Wawrinka 4 days instead of 2 to try and fix any little injury he may have sustained in his round 2 tumble.
FEDERER[4] made very light work of Giraldo. He has yet to be broken in three rounds and has never been dragged into a breaker.
R16: I thought Hewitt would beat Janowicz, but the pole prevailed in five sets. Well... Robredo finished the job started by his fellow veteran: he won in five sets against Janowicz.
No one was giving Robredo a shot when they met at the US Open last year and the spaniard won. Once bitten, twice shy: I'll conceed that if Robredo plays a very clean match like we know he can AND Federer plays poorly (like we know he can!), then Robredo has a shot!
RAONIC[8] had to wait until the third set to finally break Kubot. No harm no foul though as he did not face a break point himself and won the two tie-breakers.
R16: Bolelli is hitting the ball very cleanly this week. Not only did it reward him with a qualification and a third round showing (only his 4th at a major in his career and he never went further), but also a fifth set against Nishikori nicely poised at 3-3 and scheduled to be completed on Monday.
Raonic must be loving this. It's tough to sleep well when a match is interrupted, but thanks to People's Sunday, Bolelli and Nishikori will get two terrible nights of sleep before deciding on a winner and playing Raonic the next day....
NADAL[2] continued his 2014 tradition of losing the first set which was no small surprise when the opponent is Kukushkin. It was 6-1 6-1 6-1 after that tough.
R16: Kyrgios confirmed his good win over Gasquet with a four sets win over Vesely.
Will Kyrgios wake from his dream or will he sleep-play through his round of 16 match, dreaming of a major upset on a huge stage?
WB Fun Fact of the day: In 1964, french tennis legend Jean Borotra played in Wimbledon for the last time and reached the second round in mixed double. He was almost 66 years old. It was his 35th championship, missing only the 46 and 47 editions. He won twice in singles, three times in double and once in mixed.
DJOKOVIC[1] at time could not out-Simon Simon, but he certainly out-Djokovic'ed him, finding great serves or great shots at all the key moments, allowing him to win in straight sets.
R16: Tsonga had his first quiet match of the tournament against the modest Wang.
A good Tsonga is a tough nut to crack on grass. How good of a Tsonga will we get though?
CILIC[26] played it tighter than a taxman purse and beat Berdych 7-6 6-4 7-6!
R16: Chardy is really in good form as he only dropped a tie-break set to Stakhovsky.
Both guys are very tough to play against when in form, but i'll give an edge to Cilic who had a number of past successes on grass.
MURRAY[3] dominated Bautista-Agut cleanly
R16: Anderson battled during five sets to upset Fognini, leaving only three games behind in the last two sets!
Unless Anderson is serving unbelievably well, I don't see how he can match favorably to the depth of Murray's game. The scott has just too many more weapons.
DIMITROV[11], like Anderson, rallied from two sets to one down to win in five against Dolgopolov.
R16:Mayer emerged from this section. That's a major surprise.
Unless Dimitrov takes Mayer lightly and plays a terrible match as a result, I don't see how he could lose.
WAWRINKA[5] could not sing in the rain.
R32: Istomin is waiting on the rain to stop.
R16: Isner vs Lopez will also be played on Monday.
On the up side, the rain gave Wawrinka 4 days instead of 2 to try and fix any little injury he may have sustained in his round 2 tumble.
FEDERER[4] made very light work of Giraldo. He has yet to be broken in three rounds and has never been dragged into a breaker.
R16: I thought Hewitt would beat Janowicz, but the pole prevailed in five sets. Well... Robredo finished the job started by his fellow veteran: he won in five sets against Janowicz.
No one was giving Robredo a shot when they met at the US Open last year and the spaniard won. Once bitten, twice shy: I'll conceed that if Robredo plays a very clean match like we know he can AND Federer plays poorly (like we know he can!), then Robredo has a shot!
RAONIC[8] had to wait until the third set to finally break Kubot. No harm no foul though as he did not face a break point himself and won the two tie-breakers.
R16: Bolelli is hitting the ball very cleanly this week. Not only did it reward him with a qualification and a third round showing (only his 4th at a major in his career and he never went further), but also a fifth set against Nishikori nicely poised at 3-3 and scheduled to be completed on Monday.
Raonic must be loving this. It's tough to sleep well when a match is interrupted, but thanks to People's Sunday, Bolelli and Nishikori will get two terrible nights of sleep before deciding on a winner and playing Raonic the next day....
NADAL[2] continued his 2014 tradition of losing the first set which was no small surprise when the opponent is Kukushkin. It was 6-1 6-1 6-1 after that tough.
R16: Kyrgios confirmed his good win over Gasquet with a four sets win over Vesely.
Will Kyrgios wake from his dream or will he sleep-play through his round of 16 match, dreaming of a major upset on a huge stage?
WB Fun Fact of the day: In 1964, french tennis legend Jean Borotra played in Wimbledon for the last time and reached the second round in mixed double. He was almost 66 years old. It was his 35th championship, missing only the 46 and 47 editions. He won twice in singles, three times in double and once in mixed.
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We have our quarter finals!
DJOKOVIC[1] played a very serious game against Tsonga, making the most of any little gap left by his opponent. Not many of those in the third round though when, much to Djokovic's chagrin, the whole crowd pushed behind the explosive frenchman. More than chagrined, Djokovic even became rattled, almost antagonizing the crowd with his post-winners celebrations, brandishing an angry fist at a public that dared to not support him. In a very tight third set breaker, the serb pulled out of his hat one of his US Open special on his first match point: Tsonga fired a brilliant kicked 2nd serve, stretching Djokovic way wide, and followed it to the net, but the N?1 seed closed his eyes and swung as hard as he could for a blistering cross court winner.
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CILIC[26] clinched a highly contested first set breaker and a break in set two and three did the rest against Chardy.
A confident Cilic could play a great match and trouble Djokovic.
MURRAY[3] won the two first sets confortably against Anderson, but the south-african played a very solid third set that Murray bagged by the smallest of margin.
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DIMITROV[11]faced a stern challenge for two sets. He had the good idea to win both, making it a lot easier in the third against Mayer.
Dimitrov, on paper, had a pretty easy draw and the one seed he had to play forced him to go the distance, but still, matches won are matches won and between the Queen's Club victory and these four rounds that a pretty nice grass court winning streak. And we know he has the weapons to challenge Murray, even if the scott has been impressive so far.
WAWRINKA[5] made light work of a somewhat ill Istomin on monday and played a very very focused match against Lopez today. Both served brilliantly, but the swiss played an almost perfect breaker in the first set and managed to fight back from 6-3 down in the second set tie-break. A break late in the third sealed the deal. NB: Lopez beat Isner in four sets in the round prior, despite the american's barrage of 52 aces! (6th most on record)
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FEDERER[4] continued his serving clinic against Robredo. After two sets, the spaniard had won a grand total of three return points. He made better in-roads in the third, but still could not do more than getting a break point. The swiss spent a huge portion of the match at the net, much to the delight of the english public. He obviously ate some passing shots, but he also pulled outrageous stuff like an insane half-volley drop shot winner at full stretch on a brilliant Robredo return.
Federer has yet to be broken and has yet to be pushed into a breaker, that's two very positive indicators for the current Swiss N?2. Wawrinka won their last meeting though and his on a positive dynamic this grass court season after the disillusion that was his early exit at the french. You have to favor Federer on the grass though, even if Wawrinka made a pretty impressive display of his net skills against Lopez.
RAONIC[8] dropped the opening set against Nishikori but then closed in four sets as the japanese was struggling with blisters bellow his feet.
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KYRGIOSdid not wake up. Serving brilliantly, trying to take his chances on the returns, he surfed the early lead that Nadal gave him in the first set breaker, blinked at the very end of the second set, forced and won another breaker in the third and clinched a precious break in the fourth that he defended until the end an ace after the other (37 in total!).
If I was Raonic, I would not count too much on Kygrios being hung over or getting nervous, but I could take comfort in the fact my serve is a much bigger weapon than Nadal's and that, come tie-break time, I won't have the pressure of the former champion facing the young gun. If that reaches a fifth set, it could last for a while.
Fun WB fact of the day: It's the first Wimbledon quarter final for 5 out of the 8 players remaining in the draw (but 7th for Djokovic and Murray and 12th for Federer).
DJOKOVIC[1] played a very serious game against Tsonga, making the most of any little gap left by his opponent. Not many of those in the third round though when, much to Djokovic's chagrin, the whole crowd pushed behind the explosive frenchman. More than chagrined, Djokovic even became rattled, almost antagonizing the crowd with his post-winners celebrations, brandishing an angry fist at a public that dared to not support him. In a very tight third set breaker, the serb pulled out of his hat one of his US Open special on his first match point: Tsonga fired a brilliant kicked 2nd serve, stretching Djokovic way wide, and followed it to the net, but the N?1 seed closed his eyes and swung as hard as he could for a blistering cross court winner.
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CILIC[26] clinched a highly contested first set breaker and a break in set two and three did the rest against Chardy.
A confident Cilic could play a great match and trouble Djokovic.
MURRAY[3] won the two first sets confortably against Anderson, but the south-african played a very solid third set that Murray bagged by the smallest of margin.
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DIMITROV[11]faced a stern challenge for two sets. He had the good idea to win both, making it a lot easier in the third against Mayer.
Dimitrov, on paper, had a pretty easy draw and the one seed he had to play forced him to go the distance, but still, matches won are matches won and between the Queen's Club victory and these four rounds that a pretty nice grass court winning streak. And we know he has the weapons to challenge Murray, even if the scott has been impressive so far.
WAWRINKA[5] made light work of a somewhat ill Istomin on monday and played a very very focused match against Lopez today. Both served brilliantly, but the swiss played an almost perfect breaker in the first set and managed to fight back from 6-3 down in the second set tie-break. A break late in the third sealed the deal. NB: Lopez beat Isner in four sets in the round prior, despite the american's barrage of 52 aces! (6th most on record)
vs
FEDERER[4] continued his serving clinic against Robredo. After two sets, the spaniard had won a grand total of three return points. He made better in-roads in the third, but still could not do more than getting a break point. The swiss spent a huge portion of the match at the net, much to the delight of the english public. He obviously ate some passing shots, but he also pulled outrageous stuff like an insane half-volley drop shot winner at full stretch on a brilliant Robredo return.
Federer has yet to be broken and has yet to be pushed into a breaker, that's two very positive indicators for the current Swiss N?2. Wawrinka won their last meeting though and his on a positive dynamic this grass court season after the disillusion that was his early exit at the french. You have to favor Federer on the grass though, even if Wawrinka made a pretty impressive display of his net skills against Lopez.
RAONIC[8] dropped the opening set against Nishikori but then closed in four sets as the japanese was struggling with blisters bellow his feet.
vs
KYRGIOSdid not wake up. Serving brilliantly, trying to take his chances on the returns, he surfed the early lead that Nadal gave him in the first set breaker, blinked at the very end of the second set, forced and won another breaker in the third and clinched a precious break in the fourth that he defended until the end an ace after the other (37 in total!).
If I was Raonic, I would not count too much on Kygrios being hung over or getting nervous, but I could take comfort in the fact my serve is a much bigger weapon than Nadal's and that, come tie-break time, I won't have the pressure of the former champion facing the young gun. If that reaches a fifth set, it could last for a while.
Fun WB fact of the day: It's the first Wimbledon quarter final for 5 out of the 8 players remaining in the draw (but 7th for Djokovic and Murray and 12th for Federer).
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You're a life saver Szlia. Most years I am able to set aside time to watch the Majors but not this year. I am following it mostly through this thread.
Serena was apparently drunk or something today?
Serena was apparently drunk or something today?
Szlia
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I think she had to withdraw from her double match as she had trouble with coordination and dizziness or something and she went straight to the hospital. It's supposed to be a viral illness of some kind and nothing too serious and she tried to play through it and could not. /shrug
Talking about the WTA, tough to know who will win on the women's side as both Sharapova and Williams got upset. Former champion Kvitova is in semi where she will face compatriot Safarova (who played a good match against a very nervous Makarova). In the top half of the draw it's ever impressive Bouchard (aiming for a third grand slam semi final of the year for only her 6th grand slam main draw appearance!) against Kerber (semi finalist in 2012 who ousted Sharapova), and the extremely consistent Halep (her ranking skyrocketed to 3 this year) against another german, Lisicki (her big serve made her the runner up last year).
Of the bunch, Safarova probably has the most Wimbledonesque play style, unafraid to move forward behind her leftie forehand to close points at the net. So I'll be rooting for her!
Talking about the WTA, tough to know who will win on the women's side as both Sharapova and Williams got upset. Former champion Kvitova is in semi where she will face compatriot Safarova (who played a good match against a very nervous Makarova). In the top half of the draw it's ever impressive Bouchard (aiming for a third grand slam semi final of the year for only her 6th grand slam main draw appearance!) against Kerber (semi finalist in 2012 who ousted Sharapova), and the extremely consistent Halep (her ranking skyrocketed to 3 this year) against another german, Lisicki (her big serve made her the runner up last year).
Of the bunch, Safarova probably has the most Wimbledonesque play style, unafraid to move forward behind her leftie forehand to close points at the net. So I'll be rooting for her!