Yesterday, the entire round of 16 was played for both men and women. Today, it was only the women playing their quarterfinal matches.
Most had predicted the Williams sisters would be plowing their way to the final. The only other names that were generally given (other than, say, Azarenka) were Dinara Safina, the number 1 seed, and Elena Dementieva. In that respect, the semifinals are mostly as many had predicted.
Despite numerous double faults, Safina won in three sets over the hard-hitting German, Sabine Lisicki. This is as far as Lisicki has ever gone in a major, so she was naturally thrilled with her progress, despite her loss. Safina felt she fought hard despite giving away so many points on double faults.
Venus Williams, not surprisingly, overpowered Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-1, 6-2. She had tape on her legs, and is apparently somewhat injured but fighting through it because it's Wimbledon. Serena has a similarly easy time against a player that has given her trouble, namely, Belarus's Victoria Azarenka. Score: 6-2, 6-3.
Elena Dementieva had an easy time beating Italy's Francesca Schiavone, 6-2, 6-2. Dementieva feels confident that she can give Serena a difficult time. She said she had been improving her game overall.
Tomorrow, all four men's quarterfinals are played. Roger Federer plays Ivo Karlovic on Centre Court, followed by Andy Murray vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero. On Court 1, Tommy Haas plays Novak Djokovic, followed by Lleyton Hewitt vs. Andy Roddick.
A preview.
Karlovic has never reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam before. You would think he would have had success on grass, up to now, but just as he beats players by getting them to tiebreaks, he can also lose to them. At age 30, he's actually the second oldest player remaining in the draw (Fabrice Santoro is in his mid 30s, and would be the oldest player left) behind Tommy Haas. Federer has to be very careful. Karlovic will likely give Federer few opportunities to break. Federer has, at least, played a hard server in Ivo Karlovic, and had success against players like Andy Roddick, but Karlovic is in a league of his own. Still, it's hard to deny Federer. He must play the tiebreaks well when they come and not play loose games on his own serve.
Andy Murray has only met Juan Carlos Ferrero once. Alas, it was only two weeks ago at Queen's where he dismissed him handily. The one advantage Ferrero has is the ease of his win in the round of 16. While Murray was pushed to five sets by hitting partner Stan Wawrinka, and appearing to suffer from fatigue, Murray has apparently been recovering, eating food, getting hydrated, and back to his routine. We'll see how quick Murray recovers. Still, given his general level of fitness, expect Murray to advance.
Djokovic has only lost one set so far, and that was the very first set he played against Frenchman, Julien Benneteau, and that, in a tiebreak, 10-8. Since then, he has won 12 consecutive sets. His toughest opponent so far has been Mardy Fish. He now faces Tommy Haas. The two just met a little over a week before Wimbledon in the finals of Halle. Haas won in three sets taking the third set, 6-1. Haas and Djokovic have always played close matches, and if there's an upset, this is probably the most likely one. However, Djokovic feels he has a lot to prove, given his poor French performance. I expect him to pull through in four sets.
Finally, Lleyton Hewitt plays Andy Roddick. These two also played recently. Roddick beat Hewitt at Queen's in two close tiebreak sets. This means Hewitt can keep even with Roddick. Like Murray, Hewitt was also pushed to five sets against Radek Stepanek. Unlike Murray, his final three sets were pretty easy. If there's an upset possible, Hewitt might be the guy to do it. Roddick should be favored slightly.
Today was the first day the roof has been used. Wimbledon, so famous for its rains, has been remarkably dry this fortnight.
After the traditional day off, everyone was on tap to play their round of 16.
While tennis is often perceived as a game for the young, especially, with players like Murray, Djokovic, Nadal, Cilic, and del Potro storming their way up the ranks, there are times when age and experience find a way.
Hewitt, now back in full force, since his recovery from hip surgery some nine months ago, looked to be on his way out. If there was one reason to favor Hewitt, it's that he's always such a dogged competitor. Intensity is his middle name. Even so, Radek Stepanek took a two sets to love lead and it looked like Hewitt might bow out. Suddenly a light clicked on, and Hewitt took the next three sets easily. Final score: 4-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.
Three other players from Hewitt's generation had easier victories. Roddick beat Berdych in straight sets. Federer also beat Soderling in straight sets. Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Gilles Simon in straight sets. What do all four winners have in common? Each has won a Grand Slam major. Each has been number 1.
Haas, who barely squeaked to this round with late fifth set heroics over Cilic, had a comfortable straight set win over Russian, Igor Andreev, 7-6, 6-4, 6-4. At 31, Haas is the oldest of the winners today. He credits his injuries, ironically enough, for his longevity, since it forced him off the tour and therefore, he hasn't had the wear and tear of other players his age.
And although you wouldn't think it, Ivo Karlovic is 30 years old. He beat the resurgent Fernando Verdasco and shows that his serve hasn't slowed down one bit as he hits his third decade around the Sun.
The other two matches (Wawrinka vs Murray, Sela vs Djokovic) involve players under 25.
Sometimes the old dog has a couple of tricks after all. This is a partial celebration of tennis champions from 6-7 years ago making their stand before the new generation takes over.
Every player that borders on greatness probably imagines this. If a certain player hadn't been playing at the same time, maybe they could have done so much more.
For Andy Roddick, his nemesis was Roger Federer who stood in his way in two Wimbledon finals. To be fair, Andy winning Wimbledon might be like Goran winning Wimbledon. Andy might not have the game of a dominant number 1, but getting to two Grand Slam titles offers a bit more legitimacy to near-greatness than one title. He's in the realm of Michael Chang who won one major, and reached the finals of 3 more.
For Ivan Lendl, he had many nemesis. Early in his career, it was the triumvirate of Borg, Connors, and McEnroe. Soon, Borg retired, and Lendl figured out how to play Connors (junkball him and hit a few winners), and eventually, he found ways to beat McEnroe. But by then, Wilander, Becker, and Edberg were on the rise. As strong a player as he was, these other players played well too, and the final legacy is that Lendl has one of the worst won-loss record of any player, putting him in the tier of nearly great players. Had he won a few more titles, he might have been like Jack Nicklaus, the golfer, who was runner up nearly as often as he was winner (of course, that being a hugely more significant accomplishment in golf).
For Federer, who is already being talked of as the best ever, that nemesis is Rafael Nadal. Without Nadal, Federer may have won the French Open 3-4 times in a row. He may have secured a double Grand Slam in 2005 and 2006. Then, there would be no question at all. No comparisions to Laver, no comparisons to Sampras. He would stand alone.
This Wimbledon, Roger gets to live that dream world for a tournament. There's no Nadal in the draw, in particular, no healthy Nadal. In 2007 and 2008, Federer struggled mightily to break Nadal and had huge problems doing so.
If you look at the draw, Federer's section looks to be the toughest. To win Wimbledon for a sixth time, he may have to go through Soderling (done), Karlovic or Verdasco, Djokovic, and Murray. That's a lot of heavy lifting.
But Federer is Federer. He has done what few men of his talent have done. No, not win a boatload of major titles. He has made himself into a mental giant. This is no small feat. Federer was considered something of an underachiever. Admittedly, Federer had to work on his fitness, his balance, his health, but just as important was his work on his mental strength.
These days, Federer's mental toughness is nearly unrivalled. He did have a mental hiccup from 2008 and parts of 2009, but it may have had to do with his physical form, i.e., his mono and his back.
Against players he should beat, Federer typically beats them. And even when he loses, it's usually a very tight match where he's in it to the end, much like his rival, Nadal. Federer said that he hasn't despaired because he rarely has lopsided losses. The only one in recent memory was against Nadal in the 2008 French Open, and he came back at Wimbledon to play a hugely entertaining five setter. Against Murray and Djokovic, two players that have had success against him lately, he almost never loses to them in straight sets, and when he loses, it's usually because his game goes awry for a few points.
Today, Federer played Robin Soderling for an 11th time. Whether Soderling won or lost, this fourth round appearance validates the progress he made in the French. So often, a player (like Fernando Verdasco) does well in a major, but it is a bit of a fluke, and they struggle to match their lofty play. To lose in the fourth round to Roger Federer, well, that ain't so bad.
Soderling for his part, played a typical match for him early on. That is, Federer made him play worse than he normally does. Soderling made a few too many errors. He tightened his play in the second and third set and forced a tiebreak in both cases. Indeed, playing Soderling is probably good practice for whoever he faces next (currently, Verdasco and Karlovic have split, surprise, surprise, two tiebreak sets). Soderling has a big serve and a big game.
If Federer gets past his next opponent, he'll face the winner of Djokovic-Haas. Djokovic has been flying so under the radar, he's practically subterranean. How rare is it for the fourth ranked player to receive less attention than Andy Roddick? And yet, Djokovic has two wins against Federer. He is not lacking for confidence to play Federer, and this could be one of the more exciting matches of the fortnight. Or it could be Tommy Haas, the guy that pushed Federer to five sets. Haas has a recent victory over Djokovic, as Djokovic has mental lapses and loses to players he shouldn't. Haas has always given Djokovic trouble, even as Djokovic has a narrow 2-1 head-to-head.
Haas had a pretty straightforward win over Russian, Igor Andreev, 7-6(8), 6-4, 6-4.
By the way, although this is the 8th day since the start of Wimbledon, it is considered Day 7 because there was no play on Sunday.
EARLY RESULTS Today was the first day the roof has been used. Tour News is doing pretty good in the prediciotn department, but Hewitt was a scare. Hewitt went down two sets to love against Stepanek, but has roared back to win the last three sets easily. Federer won as expected. Haas had an easy win.
Tour News also rolled the dice with Karlovic, who has beaten Verdasco in four sets. Again, not surprisingly, Karlovic has played three tiebreak sets, and won two. He took the fourth set 11-9 in the tiebreak. Up next for Karlovic is Roger Federer. Expect more tiebreak sets or close sets with the big serving Croat.
What a difference a few weeks make. Going into the French Open, there were many guesses who would win. Due to Nadal's dominance at Roland Garros, and his hot streak entering Paris (winning 3 of 4 clay events), it was hard to pick against Nadal.
The guy who had been giving Nadal the toughest time had seen his ranking slip from 3 to 4. In Madrid, Djokovic played outstandingly well and still lost.
Finally, Federer played well enough to get to the final and for once, beat his longtime nemesis, Rafael Nadal. People were thinking that maybe, this year, he could find a way to beat Rafael in the finals.
Everyone knew, as number 1 and 2 seeds, that Federer and Nadal couldn't meet each other until the finals. That meant, it would come down to which side of the draw Djokovic would fall on. Djokovic had beaten Federer in their last 2 meetings, one on clay, one on hard courts. He had been playing so well against Nadal that some felt he would give Federer trouble too.
Except things didn't go according to script. Djokovic lost in the 3rd round to Philipp Kohlscreiber of Germany, and Nadal lost in the following round to Robin Soderling.
Due to this early loss and to a loss in the finals at Halle to Tommy Haas, people began ignoring Novak Djokovic. Djokovic, for his part, has been happy to be ignored. But realize this was the number 3 player in the world, and still the number 4 player. When he is playing well, he is still tough to beat.
Indeed, almost no one is discussing a possibility of Djokovic winning the whole thing. Djokovic has played Federer twice this year and won twice. Admittedly, the last time they played in a Slam, namely, last year's US Open, Federer looked very solid against Djokovic. Although Federer still looked shaky playing Djokovic, which may have been Federer, or the booing Djokovic received for saying how he didn't care for Andy Roddick's comments that he was faking an injury.
In other circumstances, people may have been sympathetic to a player who felt his integrity was being questioned, but whether it was because everyone felt Roddick was just joking, or that Novak was being critical of an American, the boos rained down, and it seemed to unsettle Djokovic for many months afterwards. Indeed, he's cut back on his impersonations, only trotting it out in Italy after being begged to do one for the crowd.
Now Djokovic has to actually reach Federer (and for that matter, Federer's road to the semis isn't so easy either). However, he has a favorable record against the remaining folks in his section which include Sela, Haas, and Andreev. Haas has given him the most trouble historically, and Djokovic has owned Andreev. His section should be pretty reasonable.
Federer, meanwhile, has to face the hard hitting Swede, Robin Soderling. Admittedly, Soderling has never beaten Federer, and it's hard to imagine that he's figured anything new to try against Federer in a few weeks. However, his big game ought to be better suited to grass. The bad news? Federer's game is also better suited to grass.
After that, Federer plays the winner of Verdasco and Karlovic. Karlovic actually has a winning record against Verdasco, and if he serves big, it can be hard to beat him. Even Federer has lost to the big serving Croat. Karlovic has just enough of a game that he can occasionally get a break here or there, and that can be enough for him to win.
Djokovic had a tough opening round, but both Federer and Murray have each dropped a set. And Djokovic played a tough Mardy Fish and beat him in straight sets.
Everyone is pointing to Murray-Federer, but there's still one top notch player left that may have a lot to say about who wins this year's Wimbledon.
Wimbledon is the only one major that gives a day of rest in the middle Sunday. Most majors find Sunday a great opportunity for the public to watch top-flight tennis, but then Wimbledon has always been about tradition, hasn't it.
As Wimbledon takes this day off, let's look at the draw and how things currently stand.
When Wimbledon started, the buzz was about Nadal. Nadal's knee bothered him enough that he decided not to defend his title. Then, the talk focused on two other players: Federer and Murray. Federer, because he finally won the French Open, and was looking to his favorite surface and a chance to break Sampras's Grand Slam record of 14 majors. Murray, because he's been the Brit most likely to win Wimbledon, well, since Tim Henman. Murray doesn't look like a typical grass court player, but the last few years have shown that the typical grass court player is now an aggressive baseliner.
Let's work down the men's quarterfinals.
Hewitt vs. Stepanek. Hewitt had hip surgery last year, and was only starting to feel good about everything prior to the French Open. His big win was over top ten, Juan Martin del Potro. Perhaps, like Djokovic looked up to Safin and lost to him last year, del Potro looked up to Hewitt and lost to him this year. Stepanek is a guy who hits somewhat classically. He has a flatter style than most, so it might not be so surprising that he has made it this far. Still, I'm leaning to Hewitt to get through.
Berdych vs. Roddick. Berdych has a powerful game. If you were to look at the head to head between Berdych and Davydenko, you'll see that Davydenko has never lost to Berdych. But they've also never played on grass. Roddick played a tough lefty in Melzer, and is looking to get deep into Wimbledon. Roddick should be favored. Head-to-head is tied, and the matches have generally been close.
Wawrinka vs. Murray. Murray leads their head to head, 4-3, but two of Wawrinka's victories have been on clay. The two practice a lot, but given Murray's exemplary play, you have to favor Murray.
Ferrero vs. Simon. A bit of a surprise for both. Ferrero has just been playing better recently, even on grass. For him to come through over the hard hitting Gonzalez is a great victory. Simon has had a down year compared to his fabulous 2008, but has been doing pretty well at Wimbledon. I give a slight edge to Simon. The two have never met, and it kinda depends on whether Simon's game is getting back on track or not.
Andreev vs. Haas. Andreev, a steady and quick baseliner, has benefitted from a friendly draw. Haas is coming off a five setter. But with the day rest, I'll give the edge to Haas with better experience and a recent grass court title to his name. Andreev has a 1-0 head to head lead, but the match was played on clay.
Sela vs. Djokovic. A nice win for the Israeli. Has to be his best Wimbledon ever. But surely the end of the Wimbledon road. Djokovic is sneaking under the radar, but expect him to win. Djokovic hasn't played Sela since 2006, but beat him then.
Verdasco vs. Karlovic. Verdasco has a big serve, but not as big as Karlovic. As much trouble as Karlovic has had, I'm thinking he's due for a break. I give him the edge, in a few tiebreak sets. Karlovic leads the head to head 2-1.
Soderling vs. Federer. Soderling has done quite well at Wimbledon. Too bad his draw ended up against Federer. Gotta favor the Fed who has been playing better on grass than he was on clay. Soderling is dangerous, no doubt, but I don't think Soderling has figured out how to beat Federer.
The matches will now get tougher. Federer, in particular, has a couple of tough matches upcoming, and will need to work hard to win Wimbledon. If he beats Soderling, he may have to face the big serving Karlovic, and then possibly Djokovic, and then possibly Murray. The top half is a bit easier.
If anything, the first week favors players with "bigger" games, with the possible exception of Hewitt who beat the "bigger" del Potro.
Perhaps because Nadal isn't in the tournament, but this year's tournament doesn't quite have the same edge. Maybe the second week will have more sizzle.
Who is Robin Soderling? Sometimes you see a player that plays pretty well, and you know that it was something of a fluke, and the likelihood that is he'll not be able to repeat such an accomplishment again. That might be someone like Malivai Washington who worked his way to a finals of Wimbledon only to lose to Richard Krajicek (neither ever made it to a finals of a major afterwards).
For some reason, Robin Soderling is being given a second look. But it's not hard to see why.
Soderling beat Nadal a few weeks ago in Paris in what has to be the biggest upset at Roland Garros since, well, maybe ever. Nadal had never lost at Roland Garros. He had won 3 of 4 clay events coming into Paris. He had been winning his early rounds handily. And no one had ever heard of Robin Soderling. No one except possibly his Davis Cup teammates.
Mats Wilander, himself a former number 1, would tell folks that Soderling was a stalwart Davis Cup player, a guy who came through in the clutch. Still, Soderling doesn't fit the profile of an up-and-coming player. New players are supposed to catch fire when they are 17, make the world take notice. They aren't supposed to wait until 24 to do this.
It wasn't Nadal's victory that made people sit and take notice, although certainly, they took notice. It was his next two victories. In 2001, Federer had an auspicious start, knocking off the 7 time Wimbledon champ in the fourth round. He lost in the quarterfinals to Tim Henman, although in all honesty, that match was pretty close. But it follows the typical pattern of a big upset. You get the big upset, you're happy, you lose in the next round.
Soderling followed up his victory with a crushing of Nikolay Davydenko who had easily dispatched Fernando Verdasco. Many felt Davydenko, former world number 4, would be favored to reach his first French Open final. Who knew that, of all the players left in the draw, Soderling had a winning record against Davydenko?
More importantly, he followed up that match with a completely improbable victory over Fernando Gonzalez. Down 4-1 and a break and having lost the previous two sets after being up two sets to love, Soderling won the next 5 games, to prevent an embarassing loss and take him to his first major final.
That was a key victory for Soderling, because he played a tough opponent, and showed the steely reserve to come back. Although Soderling would go out somewhat tamely against Roger Federer, he did tighten the match forcing the second set to a tiebreak and playing the final set 6-4.
Lately, players who have had big games but have struggled on the mental part have begun to bloom at a later age. Before Soderling, Fernando Verdasco was that player. At age 25, he was a a hard-hitting player that was generally ranked between 10 and 20, perhaps much like another Fernando, Fernando Gonzalez. Verdasco's jump came during the Australian Open where he beat an ailing Andy Murray, then pushed Nadal to five gruelling sets. His work with Gil Reyes, famous for being Agassi's strength trainer, spiritual advisor, and part time mentor, lead to a better frame of mind.
Soderling has been working with former Swedish French Open finalist, Magnus Norman, to improve his game. He's always had a big serve, nice flattish groundstrokes. When he has time to set up, he can hit as hard as anyone in the game. And with the mental coolness he showed at the French, many felt he could make trouble at Wimbledon, especially considering clay isn't Soderling's best surface. It may indeed be grass.
Soderling has followed up his performance at the French by getting to the fourth round of Wimbledon. He beat Spain's Nicolas Almagro in straight sets: 7-6(7), 6-4, 6-4. He nearly gave away the first set tiebreak after going up 5-0, then watching Almagro tie it at 5-all. Soderling held tough enough to win that first set, which was key because he took the next two sets.
Remember the finals of the French Open. McEnroe had said that Soderling was not well-liked amongst players, but few others knew much about Soderling. He not only seemed like an easy-going guy, but he was very gracious to Roger Federer, calling him the best ever. He said that he had joked ("yoked" in Swedish English) that no one beats Robin Soderling 10 times in a row (popularized by Vitas Gerulaitis who said no one beats Gerulaitis 17 times in a row, when he finally won a match against Connors, who had beaten him 16 times in a row (records seem to show Connors never beat Gerulaitis 16 times in a row--13 was more like it, but perhaps Vitas wasn't keeping count).
Soderling went on to say that he and his coach were wrong then declared no one beats Soderling 11 times in a row.
Well, Soderling is about to put this theory to the test. Federer had been cruising against Philipp Kohlschreiber, who had never taken a set of Roger. He was up 6-3, 6-2. In the third set, Federer fell and appeared to twist his knee in a game where he had a chance to break Kohlschreiber. Although Federer looked fine, it seemed to rattle his game. Kohlschreiber, who had been playing better in the third, eventually took the third set in a tiebreak. Federer, seemingly disgusted with losing a set, rolled in the fourth, taking it easily, 6-1.
It's unlucky that Soderling has to play Federer in the next round. He might have made it further in the tournament. But then, Soderling was a giant killer once, beating the king of clay on clay. Does he have it in him to beat Federer? Soderling says Federer is a bad matchup for him, and makes him play suboptimal tennis. But grass is also one of Soderling's better surfaces.
Currently, Karlovic and Tsonga are in a fourth set. Karlovic took sets 1 and 3. Tsonga took the second set. Brad Gilbert predicted Dr. Ivo (a riff on Austin Powers, Dr Evil) woudl upset Tsonga. And honestly, it could happen. Karlovic has a huge serve. Grass ought to be his best surface. At some point, he has to capability to string together a few good games.
Verdasco and Montanes also in the fourth set. Montanes took the opening set. Verdasco took sets 2 and 3. Robredo and Sela have just started.
Up later, Djokovic against Fish. Fish is playing well and could upset Novak. However, Djokovic has a lot to prove to keep himself in the elite. Haas will play Cilic. Can the wily veteran defeat the up-and-comer?
Last week, Rafael Nadal put his hopes on defending his Wimbledon title on two exhibitions. He had arranged to play two exhibitions at Hurlingham Club in London. The first exhibition was against Lleyton Hewitt.
About nine months ago, Hewitt had hip surgery. It took several months of recovery including playing a small tournament in Houston, an ATP 250 event (this is a tier below ATP 500), something he would not have to do if his ranking hadn't dropped. He wanted to move it high enough to avoid qualifying for bigger tournaments down the road.
Hewitt says he hasn't been playing solid until about the French Open where he had the misfortune of meeting Rafael Nadal. While Nadal would go on to lose for the first time in the Paris clay to Robin Sodering, he had no problems disposing of the Australian. While Hewitt plays a solid baseline game, he's always been more of a hard court and grass court player. Witness his two Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon and at the US Open.
Last year, Novak Djokovic entered the second round of Wimbledon to face Marat Safin. Safin had beaten Djokovic some years earlier back when Djokovic had yet to rise in the rankings and back when Safin's game was still formidable. Since then, Safin had come back from injury and he had had spotty results. Most people lamented the underachieving Safin, feeling that this Wimbledon, a tournament Safin had historically performed poorly at, was not going to be anything different from the tournaments he had played recently.
But for two weeks, Safin managed to muster enough of his old self and play well on the surface he likes least, starting with the startling upset of Novak Djokovic.
Fast forward to this year. Safin exited tamely in the first round to Jesse Levine. Levine is known for having practiced with Roger Federer, owing to his lefty demeanor. But Levine's ranking is a lowly 133 that puts him behind a great number of other Americans including, say, John Isner.
And back up one week. There was Hewitt playing Nadal, knowing the results of this exhibition and the next might very well push Nadal out of the tournament. There was a huge incentive for Hewitt to win the match and not play it like a conventional match. If his win could convince Nadal not to play Wimbledon, that would be one less headache for Hewitt to deal with. Combined with his loss to Hewitt and Wawrinka, Nadal elected to return back to Mallorca and heal up, hopefully in time for the US Open.
When the draw came out, Hewitt would, surprisingly, be scheduled to meet Nadal early, but due to Nadal's withdrawal, the Wimbledon committee juggled the seeds to prevent a hole from where Nadal was located, a hole that might benefit his quarter of the draw. Rather than insert a lucky loser, which they would have had to do if Nadal had withdrawn after the tournament had started, they moved a few players around.
del Potro, the 5th seed, took Nadal's spot. He had been in Djokovic's quarter. This probably made both Djokovic and Federer happy. James Blake took del Potro's spot. Nicholas Kiefer took James Blake's spot and was promoted to 33rd seed. All of these players that were moved have consequently lost. Blake lost in the first round Andreas Seppi. Kiefer lost in the first round to Fabrice Santoro.
del Potro, on the other hand, the guy whose star seemed most on the rise, had an easy first round. But he had to face Hewitt.
Everyone says Hewitt is an intense guy. He's also the kind of player who doesn't want to play average all his life. Commentators speculated that if he really got clocked by del Potro, he might retire.
del Potro, for his part, had yet to prove his prowess on grass. In the past two years, he had fallen to the Olympic gold medalist in doubles. Last year, he lost in the 2nd round in straight sets to Stan Wawrinka. The year before, Roger Federer also rolled over him in straight sets in the 2nd round. However, since last year, del Potro has gone on a tear.
His ranking is firmly in the top 10. He beat Nadal back in Miami. He beat Murray in Madrid. He pushed Federer to five sets at Roland Garros. He had an easy straight set win in the first round of Wimbledon.
And unlike Safin, who many felt was as talented as Federer, most people believe Hewitt to be a workmanlike winner, perhaps in the mold of Jimmy Connors. Inspired not by the Aussies, but by Mats Wilander, Hewitt plays a baseline game, not the chip and charge that characterized many an Aussie including Patrick Rafter and Pat Cash. (Coincidentally enough, Wilander was inspired not by fellow countryman, Bjorn Borg, but by brash American, Jimmy Connors).
Hewitt's game seemed like a holdover from the 1990s. He was like Chang or Wilander. Quick player. Unlike Chang, he hit deep, and he had a visible intensity to win. But Hewitt's best results were pre-Federer.
So when del Potro was to face Hewitt, it wasn't exactly like Djokovic facing Safin. Djokovic was considered the overwhelming favorite, but only because Safin's game was a shell of its old lustrous self. On the other hand, del Potro, while a formidable player, had yet to prove he could win on grass, and Hewitt, while lacking the wild talent of Safin, had still done well to beat Nadal, and claimed he was feeling great.
And if there were those paying attention, del Potro was actually ill the week after the French. He recovered in Argentina, and then trained on the few grass courts available in Argentina. McEnroe thought this might not be enough. With all the players in London, who could del Potro play against?
The match itself was a bit surprising. Hewitt served well, moved well, and del Potro looked irritated throughout. Hewitt played a lot of shots up the middle and del Potro responded mostly in kind. Hewitt was playing so well that he only dropped serve once, and that was serving for the match. He had had 8 break points against him, but del Potro only converted once. When del Potro broke, Hewitt immediately broke back and held for the match.
This is a good time to look at players like Safin and Hewitt.
In tennis, one can point to certain "generations" of players. There is the Sampras generation which might be better titled the Agassi generation. These were perhaps the most successful group of Americans in the Open Era. When reporters wondered who would replace McEnroe and Connors, few expected the replacement to include Sampras, Agassi, Chang, Martin, Washington, and Courier.
When Sampras was on the decline, basically after 2000, he left a bit of a vacuum. Already, players from the next generation were asserting themselves. Sampras himself had lost to both Hewitt and Safin at the US Open.
Roger Federer, for his part, was a late bloomer. Although he had a huge win against Sampras in 2001, he would not begin to play his best until later in 2003. In the meanwhile, players who bloomed earlier were jockeying for number 1.
In this period, there were a plethora of number 1's: Safin, Kuerten, Hewitt, Ferrero, and Roddick. Indeed, Federer seems to have an affinity for this group of players, each of whom has won at least one Grand Slam title. When Federer looks at the new generation: Nadal, Murray, Djokovic, del Potro, he sees a group of people he doesn't yet relate to.
The Fed generation may have been dominated by Federer, but Roger is always quick to defend these players, in particular, Andy Roddick. Federer believes in consistency, and with Roddick, he sees a guy that's worked really hard to stay in the top 10.
So Federer perhaps has to smile when Lleyton Hewitt scores a victory over Juan Martin del Potro. The group of guys he played with when he came up the ranks were not a pushover bunch. They played good tennis and still have a few surprises left in them.
Sam Querrey has won one title in his career, the Tennis Channel Open. Here he is pictured accepting his trophy over runner-up Kevin Anderson (supporting the Illini, his alma mater).
Querrey is the fourth ranked American player behind Andy Roddick, James Blake, and Mardy Fish. Ranked 47th in the world, he is only one spot behind Israeli, Dudi Sela.
Querrey has occasionally pushed top players, taking the occasional set from Rafael Nadal, but not yet beating a few of the really big players.
Today was an opportunity for Sam. He faced 11th seeded, Marin Cilic. It's probably rare for the 6'6" Querrey to meet players his height, though the number of tall players are quite numerous. They include Ivo Karlovic, John Isner, Kevin Anderson, Marin Cilic, Juan Martin del Potro. Once upon a time, it was rare to see a tall player that played the baseline. If you were tall, you were considered lumbering, and needed to come to net to prevent jackrabbit players from beating you.
Perhaps Todd Martin was the first to really break that mold. Here was a guy also 6'6" that played from the baseline. Sure, he also served and volleyed, as did fellow American Pete Sampras, but he had enough game to slug it from the baseline too. Prior to that, 6'4", Yannick Noah would mix it up, coming to net as well as playing from the baseline.
On a day like today, when Querrey pushed Cilic to a fifth set, you begin to realize a lot of tennis is mental. When people look at a player like Roger Federer, they marvel at the grace of his movement, the ferocity of his forehand, the squash shots he hits to save points, the deftness of his drop shots. There's no doubt Federer has a lot of physical attributes that lead to a successful game.
But time and again, Federer has shown a mental tenacity to win points even when he is struggling. Some of that has to do with adjustments he makes in his game as he reacts to what his opponent is doing well. These are tactical changes. But sometimes, it's a matter of going for shots even when they aren't all dropping in. In the French Open, there was a key point, 30-40 in the third set. If Federer loses that point, he goes a break down, and he's already down two sets to love.
Nadal shows an incredible mental tenacity. He hits big shots when he needs to. In one of the best played matches of the year, Nadal was fighting Djokovic in the Madrid semifinals. Even match point down, he was able to dig deep and hit huge shots when it mattered.
These mental struggles don't only occur at the very top of the game. They occur in many matches. If you ever look at the age of the lesser known players playing in the Grand Slam, they are generally much older than you'd imagine. The ATP Tour is not filled with 19 year old wunderkinds. Despite the proliferation of players like Murray, Nadal, Cilic, and del Potro, more likely, you'll find players that are closer in age to Federer.
These older players, which in any real life job would be considered young, have been on the tour for many years, and they've dealt with many situations. They know how to cope. Younger players haven't had as much experience. So a player like Querrey may struggle against players that are veterans that he should beat if he expects to take the next step up.
He might take solace in players like James Blake and Mardy Fish who were late bloomers, players that didn't have fantastic junior careers, but honed their games over many years, filling holes in their games.
Even so, here was an opportunity for Querrey to make a breakthough. While Cilic isn't top ten, he's close enough, and with Mario Ancic not playing Wimbledon, Cilic has been pegged as a dark horse favorite. In the end, Querrey didn't have enough, and lost 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4. Marat Safin, another tall player, has pointed out that winning begets winning. Safin says he feels as physically fit now as he's ever been, but the victories aren't coming.
Occasionally, however, two players meet, and for some reason, one player's strengths are overwhelming, even though the two players are similar in ranking. So it was today with Dudi Sela and last year's semifinalist, Rainer Scheuttler. On paper, you might give the edge to Scheuttler. He's experienced. He's reached the Australian Open final before. But in the only two meetings they've had, Sela has won both, and often with lopsided set scores.
Last year in Beijing, Sela won 6-3, 6-3. This year at the Australian Open, he won 1-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4.
Some quick updates. Roger Federer had little problems beating Garcia-Lopez who made the semis of Eastbourne last week. He won in straight sets. Tommy Haas had an easier time when Michael Llodra retired. Djokovic, who has been flying under the radar, a place he happens to enjoy, also won in straight sets.
Djokovic will now face Mardy Fish in the third round. Fish beat a Serbian in Janko Tipsarevic, in four sets. They've only met twice, but Djokovic has prevailed both times. By the way, it's worth reading Mardy Fish's inteviews (see here). He has more interesting things to say then, say, Roger Federer, who always seems a bit catty with the press, as if he's vaguely annoyed with their questions.
A quintet of Spaniards had tough wins. Verdasco played three tiebreak sets, plus a 6-4 to win over unheralded Vliegen of Belgium. Robredo needed five sets to win over Koubek of Austria. Almagro needed five sets to beat Karol Beck, a lucky loser who beat Feliciano Lopez in the first round. The fifth set went 7-5. Gimeno-Traver also took five sets to beat American, Taylor Dent. Montanes had a four set win over Canas.
Not ever Spaniard won today (and there are many of them playing). French Open finalist, Robin Soderling, struggled a bit to a four set win over Granollers.
Kohlschreiber (who beat Djokovic at the French) needed five sets and 8-6 in the fifth to beat Czech, Ivo Minar. Andreev however won in straight sets over Spadea. Karlovic also won in straight sets; his victory was over Darcis. Tsonga got a gift. He won in a walkover over Italian Simone Bolleli.
A couple of very interesting matches on slate for tomorrow. del Potro plays Hewitt. Hewitt says he's feeling pretty good after having to deal with surgery from last year. He's been feeling good since about the French Open. Murray plays Gulbis. Gulbis, much like Murray, had been on a fitness/training regime. He felt the work he had put in to become stronger had affected the consistency of his game, but that his game is coming around, and improving a lot. In Americans sports, this is considered a "trap" match, because Gulbis hasn't been playing well but is capable of hitting very well. Murray has beaten Gulbis twice.
Is Leonardo Mayer for real? He plays fellow South American, Fernando Gonzalez.
Finally, is there more magic for the magic man? Fabrice Santoro plays former number 1, Juan Carlos Ferrero.
People look at Wimbledon and marvel at the predictability of the finals. Rarely does an unseeded player win the tournament. In recent memory, there have been two examples: Boris Becker, who won Wimbledon in his second tournament ever (he won Queen's), and Goran Ivanisevic who won as a wildcard, but clearly was capable of producing a big game on the grass. Even if the finals have produced three consecutive meetings between the game's best two players, the others who make it far are often a bit surprising.
Let's wind the clock back a year and revisit last year's quarterfinalist. The two that were expected to be there, Federer and Nadal, were there. Andy Murray was just starting to take that next step forward having won a five setter against a solid grass court player in Richard Gasquet. The other five quarterfinalists were: Feliciano Lopez, Marat Safin, Arnaud Clement, Rainer Scheuttler, and Mario Ancic.
Mario Ancic got injured, so he didn't even make Wimbledon this year. Feliciano Lopez fell in five sets to Karol Beck, a lucky loser, in the first round. Marat Safin, given a 14th seed primarily on the basis of his semifinal appearance last year, went out tamely to Federer practice partner, Jesse Levine in four sets, in the first round. Arnaud Clement lost in the first round to Juan Martin del Potro in three easy sets. Indeed, both Clement and Lopez suffered due to Nadal's withdrawal (though Clement would have faced Nadal otherwise, so he'd probably take his chances with del Potro). Rainer Scheuttler was the only one to make it to the second round, and he lost in straight sets to Dudi Sela of Israel.
What this means is a much different looking quarterfinals. Some familiar faces are hoping to make it that far including Andy Roddick and Novak Djokovic.
2007 was the year of Djokovic. As the epic battle of Federer vs Nadal raged on at the French and at Wimbledon, few noticed that a Serb, one Novak Djokovic, had made the semifinals of both events. He made a breakthrough of sorts by making the finals of the US Open, then winning the Australian Open in 2008.
2008 did not have one particular standout player. You could say it was the year of Murray, or the year of Tsonga, or the year of Simon, but as time passes, it may be the year of del Potro. del Potro came into the US Open in 2008 having won four titles in row, albeit nothing major.
Since then, he has continued to improve. Despite a weak start to his clay court season, he powered his way to the semifinals against Roger Federer, and despite never having taken a set of Federer, proceeded to push Federer to five sets, one of several matches that Federer felt was like a finals.
There were doubts whether the tall Argentine could play well on grass. The low bounce might not suit the lanky player from Tandil. However, he has two requisite weapons that every top male pro seems to have: a big serve and a big forehand.
del Potro inherited Nadal's position in the draw when Nadal (who del Potro beat for the first time earlier in the year) withdrew. Nadal's draw was expected to be tough. He would meet veteran player and last year's quarterfinalist, Arnaud Clement. In the second round, Nadal would have faced the man who beat him in an exhibition only a few days earlier, former world number 1, Lleyton Hewitt. But Nadal's problems have become del Potro's problems.
del Potro continued at Wimbledon where he left off at Paris: pummeling early round opponents. del Potro won 6-3, 6-1, 6-2. Up next is Hewitt, who is always a tough competitor, and will be a better measure of where del Potro's game is on grass.
If you look at who del Potro has lost to this year: Federer, Djokovic, Ljubicic, Murray, Nadal, Stepanek, and Fish, you see that, for the most part, del Potro loses only to better players. He's made a breakthrough of sorts, beating Andy Murray in Madrid and beating Nadal in Miami. He's yet to beat Roger Federer, however.
Other winners today. Roddick in 4 sets over Chardy. Probably means his ankle his fine. Ferrero in straight sets over Youzhny, which is normally a tough first round. Ferrero has been playing better as of late. Hewitt with a crushing win over Ginepri. Hewitt is up for del Potro next.
Santoro beat Kiefer the 33rd seed (added when Nadal withdrew) easily in straight sets. The magician still has a few tricks up his sleeve. Haas, the number 24 seed (also courtesy of Nadal's withdrawal), won in four sets. Stepanek, a player whose flatter style is better suited to the grass, won in straight sets. The new talent, Grigor Dmitrov, however retired to Russian, Kunitsyn.
Benjamin Becker, who won a grass event just before Wimbledon (and last guy to beat Agassi before he retired, won in straight sets. Alves, the lucky loser, who benefitted from the Nadal withdrawal, beat Andrei Pavel in straight sets. The other surprising Argentine, Leonardo Mayer, had an easy 6-0, 6-0, 6-3 win over Oscar Hernandez. Mayer may be one to look out for.
Wawrinka had a straight set win over Schwank. Mathieu needed four sets to beat Gil. Tursunov, who won a grass event last week but like Roddick, a victim of twisted ankles, had to retire against Zverev.
Late results: Simon in straight sets over American Bobby Reynolds. Safin looks like he may bow out in the first round against American Jesse Levine. Finally, Britain's hope, Andy Murray, needed four sets to beat big-serving American Robert Kendrick.
Djokovic and Federer are the top players playing tomorrow.
ET Tour News has mostly focused on the men's game. But today, we'll take a brief detour to talk about the women's game in a match so delightfully odd that you can hardly imagine it happening in the men's game.
Kimiko Date, once ranked as high as number 4 in the world, was Japan's number 1 player and a contemporary of Steffi Graf. Perhaps she is a poster child for why the flat style is both effective and a liability.
Possessing some of the most compact strokes in the women's game, Date Krumm (she got married since retiring) had a style that was even unusual when she was an active pro. Date Krumm takes the ball off the rise, hits flats or slices. This style allowed her to compete with harder hitting bigger opponents, taking time away from her opponents, wrong-footing them.
It's almost as if Jimmy Connors had retired at 30, came back on tour, and his style was still effective. It's the strange.
Date Krumm is, you see, 38.
Now you could imagine that her game would not keep up with the power of today's players. She received a wildcard into Wimbledon and had the misfortune of drawing a top seed in Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki who just won a grass court event at Eastbourne. Today's players hit harder than Date Krumm. Still, Date Krumm doesn't need much time to hit a ball. Her main problem is chasing down these shots. When she has time, she can hit flat sharp angles that force a tall player to stretch down. When she needs time, Date Krumm can slice deep of both wings. She is the anti-Nadal, a natural lefty that was brought up righty by a conservative culture, which allows her to go lefty if stretched on a backhand.
Date's problem, when she playing was unforced errors. She could easily make dozens of unforced errors with her style. But when she was on, Date was a site to behold.
And so here's the deal. What if Date had cleaned up her game? Got a bit mentally tougher. Learned to volley? Could her style match up? Could she beat girls that could be her daughter? Could a 1990s gal play 2009 women's tennis?
Date just took the first set from Wozniacki, broke early in the second set, got broken back, then broke again. Is she ready to create that upset that shows today's style to be too cookie cutter, too much big babe tennis, the kind of player (see Lindsay Davenport) that Date was confounding in her day.
Maybe Date won't win. Maybe Wozniacki will come back. But if so, Date will have recreated one of tennis's most singular vision of how tennis can be played, a kind of Fabrice Santoro meets Jimmy Connors meets Martina Navratilova. Her style may be the McEnroe of her day, a style so unusual that it defies mimicry. And perhaps, she'll show that this old lady might still have a few tricks up her sleeveless sleeve.
ADDENDUM: Alas, Wozniacki was too much. Although Date-Krumm had broken early several times in the second set, she couldn't hold her own serve. Date-Krumm called for a trainer in the third, but Wozniacki took the third set easily, 6-1.
Before the French Open, no one expected Rafa to relinquish number 1. He won the Australian Open. Despite the defeat at Madrid, many wondered if Roger was really ready to take on Nadal at the French Open in a best of 5 set match. Most people didn't expect Nadal to lose before the finals, and some hoped Federer had finally figured out Nadal.
Once Roger won the French Open, Nadal still had a reasonable lead over Roger, thought certainly not as big as it was prior to the French. Realize that Nadal was, prior to the French, the reigning champ at the French, Wimbledon, and the Australian Open. Federer kept it as close as he did because he was in the finals of all those events.
Now that Nadal has withdrawn from Wimbledon, most people know that Roger has a chance to become number 1. Let's see how this works out.
A player's ranking is based on the best 18 tournaments in the past 52 weeks. When a player plays a tournament that they have played before, they are said to be defending points. Thus, Rafael Nadal, coming into the French Open as reigning champ, had 2000 points to defend because he won the title last year. If he didn't win again, he would lose points relative to last year. He lost in the fourth round, and earned 180 points. That means, for his total points, he lost 1820 points. Federer, on the other hand, was a finalist last year, and earned 1400 points. Those 1400 points dropped off when he won, and was replaced by 2000 points for winning the title. Thus, Federer gained 600 points over last year.
For players ranked high enough, all Grand Slam events and all Masters 1000 events must be counted. There are 9 Masters events not including the year-end Masters which appears to count optionally to the rankings. Thus, 13 of 18 tournaments are accounted for top players. Players that are ranked very low often can't qualify for any of the Masters 1000 events, so they simply take their best 18.
Prior to Wimbledon, these were the rankings of the top 3 players:
Nadal 12,735 Federer 10,620 Murray 9,230
Because Nadal could not defend Wimbledon, and because Wimbledon must count as one of his 18, he loses the 2000 points, so regardless of what happens, Nadal will have 10,735 points. That number is still greater than Federer's 10,620 points. If Federer reaches the final of Wimbledon but doesn't win, his point total remains unchanged. His 1400 points from last year will drop off and be replaced by 1400 points from this hypothetical final.
Now suppose Federer does win Wimbledon, as many predict he will do. He will have 2000 points, to replace the 1400 points when he reached last year's final. This is a net gain of 600 points. 10,620 + 600 = 11,220. That is greater than 10,735 and Roger becomes number 1 and Nadal falls to number 2.
Here's the interesting part. Murray was a quarterfinalist last year, and earned 500 points. Let's say Roger wins and he beats Murray in the finals. Murray would get 1400 points for being in the final. He would gain 1400 - 500 = 900 points. Add that to his current total, and you get 10,130 points. That is about 500 points less than Nadal, so Murray would remain ranked 3rd.
But suppose Murray wins, and Roger is runner up. Murray's win would give him 2000 points, minus the 500 points that drops off from last year, or a net gain of 1500 points. Murray's total would be: 9,230 + 1500 = 10,730. Nadal has 10,735 and would remain number 1 by the slimmest of margins. Once another tournament drops off (Nadal is expected to miss a month), Murray could become number 1. In this scenario, Roger would remain at 10,620 and be 115 points behind Nadal, and thus, be number 3 in the world.
Let's repeat that again. If Roger loses Wimbledon to Andy Murray, then Rafael Nadal is still number 1, Andy Murray is number 2 (only 5 points behind), and Roger Federer is number 3. Now, these points are very close. Roger would only be 115 points behind Rafael Nadal. Thus, both Murray and Federer could move past Nadal and be jockeying for number 1 the rest of the year.
Let's make it more interesting. Let's say Djokovic wins. Djokovic lost in the second round last year and only earned 70 points. If he won, he'd gain 1930 points for a total of: 7860 + 1930 = 9790 points. To do this, Djokovic would have to beat Federer or Federer would have to lose early (they are in the same half). If he beats Federer in the semis, then Federer loses 500 points, and has 10,120 points.
Let's say Djokovic beats Murray in the final. Murray gains 900 points for being in the final and goes to 10,130 points. That again moves Murray to number 2. Rafa would be number 1 at 10,735, Murray at 10,130, Federer at 10,120, Djokovic at 9790 points. In other words, short of Federer or Murray losing early and Djokovic winning, he pretty much stays at 4. Now if Murray loses in the quarters (meaning has the same result as last year), Djokovic would move to number 3. He could move to number 2 if Roger lost in the quarterfinals or earlier (reaching the quarters would mean losing 900 points, and put Fed at 9,720).
In short, Roger needs to win if he is to get to number 1 after Wimbledon. He may become number 1 anyway because Nadal is expected to skip a month and thus lose his 1000 point result for winning in Canada. Federer lost very early in Canada and basically has no points to defend there, and could move ahead, if Nadal doesn't try to come back and play Canada (which seems unlikely).
So let's do the two "likely" scenarios.
Roger beats Andy. Then, Roger becomes number 1, Rafa becomes number 2, and Andy stays at 3.
Andy beats Roger. Then, Rafa barely stays at number 1, Andy M. goes to number 2, and Roger actually moves to number 3.
They could both move ahead of Rafa depending on when Rafa returns back on tour.
Novak Djokovic has been flying underneath the radar at Wimbledon. For a while, it looked like Djokovic was regaining the form that he had lost when he switched racquets from Wilson to Head. He retired in a match against Andy Roddick, and his spotty play seemed attributable to his new stick.
When the clay season rolled along, Djokovic was looking good. He lost three times to Rafael Nadal including a heartbreaking loss in a third set tiebreak to the pre-eminent clay courter of our times. Djokovic felt he had never played so well only to come second.
Djokovic then failed to make his semifinal appearance against Roger Federer, falling meekly to Philipp Kohlschreiber. He made some amends by making the finals of Halle, but still lost 6-1 in the third set to Tommy Haas.
Attention prior to the start of Wimbledon went to the top three players. Number 1 Rafael Nadal was in the "will he or won't he" play mode and finally announced last Friday that he would not defend his title. The health of his knee occupied the news cycles the week prior to Wimbledon. Number 2, Roger Federer, fresh of his Roland Garros win was considered a prohibitive favorite to win Wimbledon. With the French Open monkey finally off his back, many felt Roger would relax and start to pile on more majors to his already illustrious set of 14. Grass has always been the surface Roger excels on, and with this win and Nadal's gimpy knee, surely a rematch would favor the healthier Federer.
Ah, who could forget Andy Murray? Britain's hopes had long been pinned to the serve-and-volley skills of Tim Henman, but he lacked the ferocious serve of Pete Sampras and his formidable groundstrokes. Henman never made the finals of Wimbledon. Since Henman's retirement, British allegiance has been placed on newly anointed number 3, Andy Murray. Murray's game is not the classic grass court game. Chip and charge. Serve and volley.
But then, Wimbledon is no longer the same Wimbledon where Pete Sampras won 7 titles. The surface has been firmed up, the ball made "heavier". Roger Federer, who served and volleyed to a five set win over Sampras, has abandoned the serve-and-volley and has, like pretty much everyone else, staked his game from the baseline.
Murray's style of play could be considered eclectic. His critics have called his style passive. He doesn't have the bullish style of Nadal, nor the power and flash of Federer, nor the precision of Djokovic. Instead, Murray relies on an improved serve, a sharp return, subtle changes of pace, and an uncanny ability to find the ball. He wins as much due to his ability to reach seemingly unreachable balls and flick them for winners as he does with sheer power. It is a thinking man's game, as evidenced by the prodigious amount of video Murray keeps on his potential opponents.
Murray's stock rose when he beat American James Blake at Queen's Club. Can the man who finds a hard court more friendly to his style of play become the first Brit since Fred Perry (whose clothes he wears) to win Wimbledon? A certain Swiss player may have something to say about that.
The Brits meanwhile are on full Murray alert. His every step monitored, his eating habits scrutinized, his comments pondered over.
And that leaves Djokovic, the guy who should have made a splash at Roland Garros, the odd man out. Everyone knows Djokovic has the capability to play great tennis. He's certainly not lacking for confidence. But lately, he's been inconsistent. Retired at the Australian Open, lost in the second round last year at Wimbledon, failed to make the quarters of the French Open (where he reached the semis twice in the last two years).
Djokovic played a tough first round match against Julien Benneteau (rank: 81, age: 27). The first two sets went to tiebreaks before he won sets 3 and 4 more comfortably. Score: 6-7(8), 7-6(1), 6-2, 6-4.
The other surprise result of the day was Feliciano Lopez. Playing lucky loser, Karol Beck (rank: 143, age: 27), Lopez was the unlucky loser in this marathon: 1-6. 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 10-8. Lopez reached the quarterfinals last year.
Other results: Canas d. Junquiera 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 Karlovic d. Lacko 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 Querrey d. Udomchoke 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 Darcis d. Dancevic 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-3 Almagro d. Monaco 6-7(3), 6-7(7), 7-6(5), 6-4, 8-6 Robredo d. Gregorc 7-6(4), 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(3) Scheuttler d. Malisse 6-7(9), 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-1 Tipsarevic d. Henrych 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(4) Cilic d. Martin 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 Spadea d. Capdeville 6-0, 6-4, 7-5 Bolleli d. Kollerer 6-7(3), 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4
Monaco is becoming the king of tiebreaks. He must play more tiebreaks than anyone not named Karlovic. Querrey finally makes it out of the first round. Spadea has a nice win. Karlovic also gets out of the first round.
Andy Roddick and Andy Murray are the top seeds playing tomorrow.
James Blake is an aggravating player. In style, he vaguely resembles Federer, but lacking Federer's mental resolve, his creativity, and his ability to make amazing shots. Blake is a shotmaker, no doubt. He hits harder than most players on tour, but it comes at a price. Errors.
Although Blake showed signs of doing well on grass evidenced by his semifinal appearance at Queen's, he's up and down as a player.
Blake was given no favors by drawing the steady Italian, Andreas Seppi, in the first round. Blake appeared to be suffering from some stomach issues as he appeared to be taking antacids. Despite going down two sets, Blake had his chances to push the match to a fourth set going up 5-0 on superb hitting but yielded the next 7 points in a row. Blake becomes the first seed to fall: 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(5).
Federer's opening round looked to be fairly straight-forward. Yen-Hsun Lu, a name that gives Dick Enberg trouble (Lu also goes by Rendy, but Dick Enberg calls him Randy), is a steady player, not quite as good as Seppi. He's had good victories before winning over Nalbandian. At 64, he's the highest ranked player from Asia. For a while, Roger looked pretty solid. Chances to break, easy holds. But Lu kept coming back in his own games, and finally secured an early break. This must have been a wake up call for Roger, as he broke back and eventually broke again. Roger generally starts first sets tight. If he gets past that, he relaxes, and so he did against Lu. 7-5, 6-3, 6-2.
One thing of note. Roger seemed to be running around his backhand less in this match than he normally does. I wonder if this is a modification he is making to his game so he doesn't yield so much court.
Feliciano Lopez is struggling in a fifth set against lucky loser, Karol Beck. Lopez reached the quarterfinals last year, losing to Marat Safin. And Lopez becomes the second seed to drop.
Kohlschreiber d. Serra 7-6(3), 6-1, 6-4 Garcia-Lopez d. Callieri 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 Fish d. Roitman 6-3, 6-3, 4-1 ret. Gicquel d. Mannarino 6-2, 6-2, 6-4. K. Beck d. Lopez 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 10-8
Tipsy is up two sets to none over Hernych. Soderling lost the first set in a tiebreak to Muller. Djokovic and Verdasco up later today.
Making picks for a Grand Slam event is hard. Few of us have the time or desire to sit, looking at all the factors that go into picking a player to make it far into the tournament.
There are several ways to make the pick. For the winner, you look at the top seeds, or the recent winners. With Nadal out of the tournament, the easy favorite is Federer.
There's a lot going for picking Federer. He's remarkably consistent. Making the last 20 semfinals of Grand Slam events is evidence of that. Federer has made the last 6 Wimbledon finals, winning 5 of 6 and narrowly losing the 6th. He just came off his first French win.
So who else might do well? Historically, you'd pick someone with a big serve and a big game. In the past, that would be someone like Pete Sampras or Goran Ivanisevic. Once upon a time, Wimbledon would favor serve and volleyers, so players like Tim Henman historically did well.
These days, there are two ways to go. Find someone that has historically played well at Wimbledon. This might include players like Mario Ancic or Marcos Baghdatis. Neither are in the tournament, although one expert picked Ancic before realizing he wasn't even participating.
Another approach is to pick recent winners on grass. There are 4 grass court tournaments played prior to Wimbledon, two in the first week after the French Open (Halle and Queen's), and two smaller ones the week after (AEGON International and Ordina). If you use recent winners, then Murray, Djokovic, Haas, Blake, Tursunov, Dancevic, Becker (Benjamin), and Sluiter might be considered (except Sluiter has let his ranking slip somewhere in the 800s, and won't actually play Wimbledon).
Then, there are the hot players from the French Open. This would include Haas (who took Federer to five sets, and then won Halle), del Potro, who also took Federer to five sets, but elected not to play any of the grass events. The question mark with del Potro is the low bouncing grass. With his height (6'6"), the low bounce might bother him. But he has improved tremendously since just before the US Open including his tremendous performance at the French Open, which was a bit of a surprise since he looked more formidable on hard courts. One has to imagine del Potro might also do well on grass, especially with his improved serve game.
Robin Soderling, the surprise French Open finalist, had a pretty decent result at Wimbledon, pushing Nadal to five sets in 2007, which included a 7-5 fifth set. Soderling's flat style should be well suited to Wimbledon. Can he come through this year again? Soderling, like del Potro, elected not to play any grass court events.
There's Andy Roddick, a player that has historically performed well at Wimbledon. He's basicaly been Goran Ivanisevic to Federer's Pete Sampras. Able to reach the finals, but not able to break through and make an impression.
Some like the flashy Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He was the surprise finalist in 2008 when he lost to Novak Djokovic. Tsonga played at Halle, but lost to Haas in straight sets.
Oh yes, there's also Novak Djokovic. His recent performances in Grand Slam events were not nearly as spectacular as they were in 2007. Let's look at his performances. In the French, he lost rather tamely to Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round. In the Australian, he retired against Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals. In the US Open, his best recent, result, he lost to Roger Federer in the semifinals. In last year's Wimbledon, he lost in the second round against Marat Safin. Prior to that, he had a good French Open, getting to the semifinals, and winning the 2008 Australian Open against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He recently lost his #3 ranking to Andy Murray who is now on the verge of #2.
That leads to two other picks for Wimbledon. Marat Safin had a great Wimbledon in 2008, making it to the semifinals. His big results started in the second round where he surprisingly upset third seeded Novak Djokovic. People thought this would lead to a minor resurgence in his career, but that has failed to pan out. Still, players have traditionally played well at the same tournament. Although historically, Safin has never performed well at Wimbledon, his memories of winning last year might push him through a few rounds.
Andy Murray has now become the highest seed in the half of the draw that was Nadal's. Murray gave his British fans hope by winning Queen's, which was a bit depleted because Djokovic chose to play in Halle while Nadal didn't play at all. Murray beat Blake in straight sets in the final. Other than Rafael Nadal, Murray is the only other player that has played Roger Federer several times and has a winning record, 6-2.
Consider some of the quarterfinalists from last year: Rainer Scheuttler, Arnaud Clement, Marat Safin, Mario Ancic, and Feliciano Lopez. How many would you pick to make it back to the quarterfinals? How many would you have predicted made it to last year's quarterfinals? This goes to show you that picking quarterfinalist is tough, and most people go conservative making picks. Who wants to pick someone like Dmitry Tursunov? Or Tommy Haas? OK, some might pick Haas based on the combined feat of pushing Roger Federer and winning Halle. But Tursunov?
What this says is there's likely to be a few surprises. Players you didn't expect to be in the quarterfinals that are there. Ask yourself if you picked Tommy Robredo as the last Spaniard standing at Roland Garros. Probably not.
We make picks, and perhaps for the finals, we can do a pretty good job, but good luck trying to guess who will make the quarters.
Rafael Nadal, world number 1 and defending Wimbledon champ, has just announced a bombshell. He has withdrawn from Wimbledon. Nadal has had knee tendonitis for several months. Although he did not blame it for his French Open loss to Robin Soderling, he had been out of sorts since Madrid.
Nadal had withdrawn from Queen's Club where he was defending champion, citing his knee problems.
To prep for Wimbledon and determine if he was match-ready, Nadal played two exhibitions at Hurlingham Club in London. Yesterday, he lost to Lleyton Hewitt, 6-4, 6-3. Today, he lost to Stanislas Wawrinka, 4-6 7-6 (10-3). The two did not play a full third set, but played a champion tiebreak instead. Nadal had been expected to give his decision following that match but postponed the announcement until 7 PM London time.
Since Monday's schedule has yet to be announced, there's likely to be some shuffling of the pairings due to Nadal's withdrawal. This should hopefully clear up in the next day or so.
Murray appears to be the primary benefactor. When the draw was announced this morning, Murray was in Nadal's half of the draw. Federer also stands to benefit from the withdrawal. The truth, of course, that given the severity of his knee condition, Nadal would probably have exited earlier than the finals so Federer would have been unlikely to meet him.
Gael Monfils withdrew earlier, presumably due to knee problems as well. Tommy Haas benefitted by his withdrawal and was given the 24th seed. Haas had been unseeded, despite his win at Halle this year.
Although Federer was already considered the prohibitive favorite to win Wimbledon especially in light of Nadal's injury, this news would likely make him even more favored. Much like the French Open, this puts pressure immediately on Federer again, although the British press will focus its spotlight on local favorite, Andy Murray.
Two players that might sneak under the radar are Andy Roddick and Novak Djokovic. Roddick has historically performed well, and Djokovic has performed poorly at the Australian and French Open, by his rather lofty standards. Grass appears to be Djokovic's weakest surface, as evidenced by a loss to Tommy Haas. Still, he'll want to show that he's among the tennis elite.
Wimbledon starts Monday.
ADDENDUM. Wimbledon has updated the draw in light of Nadal's withdrawal. del Potro, who was in Djokovic's quarter, takes Nadal's slot. James Blake takes del Potro's slot. Nicolas Kiefer, who was unseeded, is now seeded 33rd, takes James Blake's spot, and Thiago Alves, a lucky loser, takes Kiefer's spot.
This is bad for del Potro because Nadal's quarter looked to be the toughest quarter. However, he doesn't have to meet a top 4 seed until the semifinals. So that's good. Blake was slated to meet Santoro, who is in the semifinals of a grass court tournament this week. Now Kiefer has to play Santoro.
Federer benefits somewhat because he can't meet del Potro until the final. However, he may still have to deal with Djokovic. Djokovic has yet to show the great form he had in 2007 or 2008, but he's beaten Federer this year. He is in Federer's half.
Also, Marcos Baghdatis, who has historically played well at Wimbledon has withdrawn, also due to a knee injury. He is replaced by Karol Beck.
Wimbledon released its draw today. I'll give early thoughts and more complete ones later, but there appears to be a lot of intrigue early on.
The biggest question, which may be answered today, is whether Nadal chooses to defend his title. After a more casual practice week than usual, Nadal played Hewitt in an exhibition and lost 6-4, 6-3. He plays Stanislas Wawrinka today, and will make his final decision whether to defend his title. Due to the nature of his loss, and the kind of comments his uncle Toni was making, Nadal doesn't seem fully himself which leads his participation in Wimbledon more uncertain than usual. Still, Wimbledon is played on a soft surface and Nadal seems very likely to lose number 1, if he doesn't play.
If he plays, Nadal starts his defense with last year's quarterfinalist, Arnaud Clement. Should he win, he might have to play the guy who just beat him at the Hurlingham exhibition, Lleyton Hewitt, in the second round. They met quite early in the French Open where Nadal had one of his easier matches.
Tursunov (who is in a semifinals this week), Acasuso, and Stepanek are in his eighth of the draw.
Roddick starts off with a tough Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy. Chardy just lost a very close match against last year's Wimbledon semifinalist, Rainer Scheuttler. After that, he'd play the winner of Dimitrov and Kunitsyn. Peter Lundgren, Federer's former coach, claimed Dimitrov is better than Federer at the age of 18. While most of the praises fail to pan in results, it does at least say that Dimitrov can hit the ball.
Britain's hope, Andy Murray, starts his Wimbledon (apparently referred to locally as SW19) against big serving, Robert Kendrick. Kendrick was one of the few Americans to make it to the second round (he and Roddick). He's lost in the first round of the two AEGON grass court events. In the following round, he might play underachieving but dangerous, Ernests Gulbis. Murray appears to have a pretty easy section of the draw.
At the bottom of the Murray quarter is Gilles Simon, who continues to struggle in 2009. In that section, a tough opener has Fabrice Santoro playing James Blake. Santoro is in the semifinals at Eastbourne this week.
Murray is in Nadal's section of the draw.
In the third quarter, del Potro meets tough Italian, Andreas Seppi in the first round. This section of the draw doesn't look so bad either. Tommy Haas is in this quarter. Apparently, in a last minute move, Wimbledon revised the seedings it posted and gave Haas a seed. He is the 24th seed. Basically, the change was due to Gael Monfils withdrawing, which opened up a slot. Haas had been the highest ranked player to be unseeded, so he benefits from Monfil's last minute withdrawal.
Djokovic is in this quarter, and he opens against Julien Benneteau.
Federer opens his Wimbledon against Yen-Hsun Lu, once the top junior in the world. Baghdatis-Lopez is an interesting first round match. Baghdatis normally plays quite well at Wimbledon, and Lopez has played well on grass too. Soderling plays hard hitting Gilles Muller who played well at the US Open last year. Steve Darcis and Frank Dancevic, both good grass court players, play each other in the first round. Federer is probably happy that Nadal and Murray are taking up most of the press, while he can work on his preparations to win a sixth Wimbledon.
Going to be an interesting Wimbledon. The word is, if Nadal drops out today, Murray would become the second seed and Federer the top seed.
The revised seedings, mostly the same as before, minus Gael Monfils, plus Tommy Haas:
Rafael Nadal was scheduled to play two exhibitions prior to Wimbledon to test his knees. On Thursday, he was scheduled to play Lleyton Hewitt. On Friday, he is scheduled to play Stanislas Wawrinka.
Nadal suffered a loss against Lleyton Hewitt, 6-4, 6-3. His coach and uncle said it's difficult for Nadal to play. Reports say Nadal looked uncomfortable and a step slow, making uncharacterisitc errors against the former world number 1. Nadal said if it were up to him, he'd be flying to Mallorca.
However, he will play against Stanislas Wawrinka tomorrow before making any final decisions.
On a side note, the British press have been praising Andy Murray. Murray recently won the Queen's Club, the first time a British player has won this since 1938. He is wearing a new line of Fred Perry clothing inspired by clothing Perry wore. Perry is the last British male to have won Wimbledon.
Finally, Rolex released this new ad with Roger Federer.
Today, Wimbledon announced the seeds for the men and women. Wimbledon has traditionally picked seeds based on its own formula, favoring players that have played well historically and tweaking based on recent performance.
They did so again. Here are the seeds:
1 Rafael Nadal (ESP)
2 Roger Federer (SUI)
3 Andy Murray (GBR)
4 Novak Djokovic (SRB)
5 Juan Martin del Potro (ARG)
6 Andy Roddick (USA)
7 Fernando Verdasco (ESP)
8 Gilles Simon (FRA)
9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)
10 Fernando Gonzalez (CHI)
11 Marin Cilic (CRO)
12 Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)
13 Robin Soderling (SWE)
14 Gael Monfils (FRA)
15 Marat Safin (RUS)
16 Tommy Robredo (ESP)
17 David Ferrer (ESP)
18 James Blake (USA)
19 Rainer Schuettler (GER)
20 Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)
21 Tomas Berdych (CZE)
22 Feliciano Lopez (ESP)
23 Ivo Karlovic (CRO)
24 Radek Stepanek (CZE)
25 Dmitry Tursunov (RUS)
26 Jurgen Melzer (AUT)
27 Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER)
28 Mardy Fish (USA)
29 Igor Andreev (RUS)
30 Viktor Troicki (SRB)
31 Victor Hanescu (ROU)
32 Albert Montanes (ESP)
Perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the seeding is Rainer Scheuttler. He made the semifinals last year. He is ranked 30, but seeded 19th. Similarly, Ivo Karlovic is ranked 31, but seeded 23. Marat Safin is ranked 23, but seeded 15th. The surprise is Tommy Haas. Although he won Halle and is ranked 35, he is unseeded at Wimbledon. Probably a guy no one wants to play in the first round. Most of the seeding changes occur in the lower half of the seeds. The top seeds are most or less the rankings, perhaps adjusted one or two spots.
Two players that have historically done reasonably well, but are not playing Wimbledon are Richard Gasquet and David Nalbandian. Gasquet is facing charges of using illegal drugs. Nalbandian recently had hip surgery and is recovering from that.
The draw will come out Friday.
Nadal is scheduled to play two exhibition matches at Hurlingham Club. He is scheduled to play Lleyton Hewitt on Thursday and Stanislas Wawrinka on Friday. This bodes well for playing at Wimbledon.
It happens in every Grand Slam. Someone makes it to the quarterfinals that you wouldn't expect. Last year at Wimbledon, the surprise semifinalist was Marat Safin. People predicted it would lead to a resurgence in his career, which it didn't.
Let's take a quick look at the past three Wimbledons and see which players made it to the quarterfinals that were unexpected.
In 2008, Feliciano Lopez, Marat Safin, Mario Ancic, Rainer Scheuttler, and Arnaud Clement were the unlikely quarterfinalists. Unusual facts came up. For example, Scheuttler and Clement played each other in the quarterfinals. Both had reached the finals of the Australian Open once. Both had lost to Andre Agassi. Mario Ancic had been the last player to beat Federer at Wimbledon.
In 2007, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Richard Gasquet, Marcos Baghdatis, and Tomáš Berdych made it to the quarterfinals. That Wimbledon fell closer to form. These four were seeded 20, 12, 10 and 7 respectively. Indeed, Gasquet generally plays pretty well at Wimbledon, but won't be there this year due to his issues with cocaine charges.
In 2006, Mario Ancic, Radek Stepanek, Jonas Bjorkman, Lleyton Hewitt, Marcos Baghdatis, and Jarkko Nieminen made the quarter finals. As you can see, Ancic played Federer in 2006 and 2008. Baghdatis did well in 2007 as well. Bjorkman was a surprise semifinalist, being unseeded in 2006.
It's pretty hard to predict the players that are likely to make it far outside the top 4 players in the world. People predict Jo-Wilfried Tsonga because he made it to the 4th round of Wimbledon one year, made it to the finals of the Australian, and is generally a pretty talented guy. For similar reasons, some have picked Monfils to do well.
Then, there are players that have gotten good, but have yet to have a breakout performance at Wimbledon. This would include Fernando Verdasco and Juan Martin del Potro.
Then, there are the players that did well at the French. In particular, Robin Soderling is given a nod at doing well at Wimbledon. His big serve, flat style strokes, recent mental toughness make him an attractive outside shot at making it through a few rounds. Similarly, Tommy Haas not only gave Federer all he could handle, but won Halle this past week beating Novak Djokovic.
Can the Americans finally do well? James Blake and Mardy Fish have big games that should translate to grass. Can they play well enough consistently? Blake made the finals of Queen's. And there's Andy Roddick, still in the top ten. Made the finals twice, but hasn't had a good Wimbledon in a while.
You can be sure there will be a few surprises this year too.
The grass court season is pretty much non-existent these days, a fallout of the US Open first changing its surface to clay, then to grass, back in the mid 70s. For most players, the grass court season consists of three tournaments: Queen's, Halle, and Wimbledon.
Since Queen's and Halle are played the same week, players can only play on one. Most of the top men elect to take the week off before Wimbledon to prepare. Since AEGON took over all the grass court events in England (both men and women), there is actually a grass court tournament this week at Eastbourne which both men and women are playing (women have played Eastbourne forever, which is their Wimbledon tuneup, while men have generally played Queen's). It's the first time I recall men playing at Eastbourne (along with the women).
Let's see how players did on form.
With Rafael Nadal not playing Queen's (he was the defending champ) citing knee injury, the favorite became Andy Murray. You wouldn't think Murray would be so well suited to grass, but ever since grass play became more about baseline play, his style works well. The key to playing modern grass is a good serve (check), handle the low bounces (check), and play aggressively (check). Murray plays more aggressive on grass, not surprisingly, than he does on clay.
His opponent in the final was James Blake. Blake used to be in the top 10, but due to a drought of tournament victories, his ranking had slipped to 16. Blake is like the poor man's Roger Federer. He plays a risky style of tennis. He knows he hits the ball pretty hard, so he goes for big shots. He lacks the Swiss legend's versatility, finesse, etc. That is, Roger does pretty much everything James can do, plus a ton of variety, plus he's great at those "how did he do it" shots.
This style serves Blake well because he can overpower his opponents, when his timing is on. It also, much like Roger Federer, leads to moments of inexplicable errors, and for Blake, often at inopportune moments.
Murray, for his part, served well, and although he was broken once, he only faced break point twice the entire match. Although the match was close, 7-5, 6-4, Murray felt in control of the match.
As you might imagine, this was a field day for the Brits who have been positively delirious for a Brit that can Wimbledon. Andy Murray not only won his first grass court title, he is the first British player to win since 1938 when men named "Bunny" could still play in polite company. Bunny Austin, by the way, beat a player from China in the finals (quite easily), probably the last time a Chinese male player has done so well on grass.
The surprise result came in Halle Germany when 31 year old Tommy Haas, who needed a wildcard, beat Novak Djokovic. Djokovic pulled a "Serena" blaming his loss on bad serving and returning (which may very well be, but gotta play good in the big ones, right?). Haas, for his part, won his first grass court tournament ever. Final score: 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-1.
So who are the potential favorites heading into Wimbledon?
Although Nadal took time off to recover, you still have to feel he'll be in good shape to play. The one key is how much he's had to rest. If he has to be off his feet for two weeks, then he'll get a week of practice in. Although Nadal looked off playing in the French, he was still moving well enough to play, and odds are, he'll play even if he's only marginally better than he was at Roland Garros. The question is whether it will adversely affect his play. Still, until he shows otherwise, gotta at least make him one of the favorites.
The other favorite also chose not to play. Federer was the defending champion at Halle and took time off citing emotional fatigue, perhaps egged on by John McEnroe who exclaimed that he wasn't possibly thinking of playing next week, was he. The idea seemed rather appealing to Federer who said he had to wait and see, and eventually withdrew from Halle.
After his emotional victory at Roland Garros, talk suddenly shifted to Roger Federer having his mojo back. Roger preps as well as anyone in the game, but recall just weeks ago when people were saying that Federer was past his prime and winning another Grand Slam major would be a feat, with players like Djokovic and Murray nipping at his heels. What a difference a few weeks make. Federer defeats Nadal on clay, then follows up with a victory in Paris.
Although Federer will be the favorite going into the grass event, the key is getting his emotions back in check. Federer was serving superbly at the French and that is important for him to do at Wimbledon and avoid the lapses he had at the French. The lower bounce should make his style of play even more formidable, especially his slice shots. Will Fed use the drop shot as much as he did in the French? The grass bounces low, but players don't stand as far back on grass as they do on clay.
Despite his surprising loss, you have to think Djokovic can still do well. Grass is his weakest surface, however. He made one semis (in 2007), but bowed out in the second round in 2008 to a (temporarily) resurgent Marat Safin. Expect Novak to try and bounce back on grass and move far into the tournament.
In the next tier of players to watch would be Andy Murray. Although Queen's lacked a particularly strong field, Murray will gain confidence winning a tournament. He looks to improve his performance at Wimbledon where he lost to Nadal in the quarters last year.
Outside of these players, you might look at a player like Robin Soderling, who didn't play last week, or Juan Martin del Potro (also didn't play). Soderling, in particular, with his big serve and flattish groundstrokes should do well on grass. He needs to keep his newfound mental calmness if he expects to go a few rounds. del Potro is the mystery. He is pretty tall and the ball bounces low, so the question is how he'll fare. Still, he's improved by leaps and bounds, and his compatriot, David Nalbandian has played well on grass (historically).
If Richard Gasquet hadn't been dealing with his own personal issues, he might be a player to watch out for. He's performed well at Wimbledon, but is presumably having to sit out of Wimbledon. There were high hopes for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, but he lost in the second round of Halle to Tommy Haas.
Andy Roddick plays his best on grass, but he has a knack of getting injured prior to big events. Last year, Roddick was hurt in Rome, skipped the French, and didn't perform that well at Wimbledon. This year, he twisted his ankle (which is taped up anyway) and retired against Blake 4-all in the first set. He should recover, and have chances to work his way through the draw.
Then, you have Tommy Haas who had a superb French Open, pushing Roger Federer to five sets. He comes off that and wins Halle. Haas has been unlucky with injuries in the past. Still, the wily veteran may make waves at Wimbledon.
Then, there are folks that hope to make a minor splash such as Ivo Karlovic with his booming serve. He keeps losing in the first round, but one would expect he could make a few rounds at Wimbledon, provided he can break serve.
Wimbledon tends to be a rather unpredictable tournament. The best players typically win the tournament, but there are surprise players each year that make it far in the tournament. Here's a list of surprises from 2008: Mario Ancic, Feliciano Lopez, Rainer Scheuttler, Arnaud Clement, and Marat Safin. One would be hard pressed to believe half of these players will make it to the quarters again.
One more week before the inaugural Wimbledon with a roof!
Yesterday, the entire round of 16 was played for both men and women. Today, it was only the women playing their quarterfinal matches.
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