Wimbledon - Day 1 OOP

First topic message reminder :

Centre Court Matches (1pm start): 
Victor Hanescu v Roger Federer [3] 
Kristina Mladenovic v Maria Sharapova [3] 
Benjamin Becker v Andy Murray [2] 

Court 1 Matches (1pm start): 
Maria Joao Koehler v Victoria Azarenka [2] 
Rafael Nadal [5] v Steve Darcis 
Lleyton Hewitt v Stanislas Wawrinka [11] 


Full schedule:
http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scores/schedule/index.html

Match of the day: Hewitt v Wawrinka
Both players come in with grass court form; Hewitt after reaching the semi final at Queens, Wawrinka after reaching the final in 's-Hertogenbosch.
Hewitt's run at Queens included some wins against quality players. The fact that Hewitt has had a week in Wimbledon already while Wawrinka will only just arrive may work in Hewitt's favour, however Wawrinka has played well at both slams this year, and I don't expect Hewitt to stop him here.
Prediction: Wawrinka in 4.       

Other matches of note:
Baghdatis v Cillic, Verdasco v Malisse
James Ward plays Yen-Hsun Lu for a chance to play (probably) Murray in R2. Would like to see the local guy win that and get a chance to play on Centre in his career.

Sharapova's in quite a tight game on centre court. My poor ears can't take much more and yet we're only in the first set!

No, it's his lack of grass practice, I'd say, and Darcis is doing what any intelligent opponent does against Nadal since Soderling 2009 and going on the attack

gonna get a break

Rafa saves one BP with a drop shot at the net

and another with a volley

the third with an Ace

Some pretty good tennis in this game actually

This Darcy guy is exactly the kind of player that has no chance against Nadal.

Short, SHBH, no power.

He's gonna get hammered once Rafa wipes away the cobwebs.

that hasn't happened yet though, Nadal looking rusty until he upped his game 3 BPs down

Goffin and Tsonga looking pretty good right now

shivfan wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:The crowd are really pro-Mladenovic today.  I can't believe it.

I find it stunning that Sharapova doesn't understand the laws of tennis as they relate to hawkeye challenges....

That was a major moment.

Darcis 0/8 break points

Darcis won't last the pace sadly. As Boris says he is sweating big style and breathing heavy. He is playing a great match but not taking those chances are going to be costly. Rafa looking very rusty or is it tentative?

How can he be dead on his feet after 7 games!!?

How can the guy be so out of puff after just 40 mins?

Well he is covering a lot of the ground to stay in points and already approaching 45 minutes played at 4-4.

To be fair to Darcis, Nadal's break points saved in Grand Slams column must be a terrifying read.

Seriously poor conditioning.

emancipator wrote:How can the guy be so out of puff after just 40 mins?

Boris has spotted the signs and I have noticed he is sweating profusely and breathing heavily. Rafa on the other hand is not.

I expect Rafa will break in the next two games.

No I agree Craig - he looks winded already. Just poor conditioning and probably some nerves too.

Konta gone too, 6-2 7-5 to Jankovic. Seems a decent player, but at 5-5 in the second she rather crumbled, an awful game to get broken and then threw in a few errors to let Jankovic serve it out too. Shame as she played some really good stuff in that second set...

Well perhaps his poor conditioning just explains why he is not higher in the rankings. In any case will this not be ideal for Rafa? He needs as much court time as possible to get in practice etc. No doubt he looks a bit tentative.

CaledonianCraig wrote:Well perhaps his poor conditioning just explains why he is not higher in the rankings. In any case will this not be ideal for Rafa? He needs as much court time as possible to get in practice etc. No doubt he looks a bit tentative.

Yup Rafa needs some court time. Along three or four setter wil be ideal.

CC, you might remember Cilic v Murray at the USO where Cilic was sweating buckets before he was even playing. Maybe it's a combination of nerves + poor stamina.

If Darcis doesnt take the first set, you get the feeling that he will be cleaned up.

The fact that he has BP 9 and 10 and no breaks is telling...

but there's one!

I don't want to be shot down in flames here by anyone as this is a genuine comment but......

How nervous is Rafa about his knee off of clay? How is his confidence? In an interview earlier today Nadal had the look of a nervous man as he used words like he was hoping the knee would be okay and such-like. Darcis breaks to lead 6-5.

He won in IW. I'm sure he's fine and is probably taking his time to adjust to grass. As if Darcis is going to beat him anyway.

Can Darcis deal with the pressure? Nadal will not give up the set

Troicki leads Tipsarevic 6-3 6-4.

But the crowd like him

The Special Juan wrote:He won in IW.  I'm sure he's fine and is probably taking his time to adjust to grass.  As if Darcis is going to beat him anyway.

Yes but listening to his uncertainty in that interview does inspire confidence. I am sure he will win but if he wanted to be putting down a marker - he isn't really doing that.

Nadal breaks back 6-6. Tie-break.

CaledonianCraig wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:He won in IW.  I'm sure he's fine and is probably taking his time to adjust to grass.  As if Darcis is going to beat him anyway.

Yes but listening to his uncertainty in that interview does inspire confidence. I am sure he will win but if he wanted to be putting down a marker - he isn't really doing that.

He isn't chasing the really hard ones yet, but it'll come, makes sense that he is tentative on grass

Ah what a defensive lob... tb

There's the Nadal trademark crosscourt pass

Right, here we go. Ward v Lu is underway! I'll be delighted whoever wins.

Should Nadal take this set I expect him to win the next two far more comfortably as it will surely break Darcis spirit.

Had a look at the Break points saved column among the top ten. Predictably the player with the highest percentage of break points saved in the top ten this year, is uhmm... Jo Tsonga...

No idea why Nadal went for the slice there!!!

Gutsy from Darcis

Dismissive from Rafa

Well done Darcis

And Darcis wraps up the first set with some great play. Rafa needs to up his level now.

One game away from seeing the reigning men's US Open champion!!

Darcis takes a well-deserved first set

I agree with CC, looks like a slight confidence issue for Rafa, you can usually tell when he's below par because he tries to hit so many forehands, whereas when he's in form he'll trust his backhand more (prime example being at 3-5 in the TB).

Tsonga bludgeons his way to a two-set lead. Goffin playing some lovely stuff at times but Tsonga has just too much power.

Ward has made an excellent start against Lu, breaking his opponent in the first game and holding comfortably for 2-0.

That was a very good first set.

Rafa didn't play too bad, Darcis played very well.

Wonder how much he has left though.

CaledonianCraig wrote:Should Nadal take this set I expect him to win the next two far more comfortably as it will surely break Darcis spirit.

Luckily thats not the case and Darcis takes the first set.

kingraf wrote:Had a look at the Break points saved column among the top ten. Predictably the player with the highest percentage of break points saved in the top ten this year, is uhmm... Jo Tsonga...

I'm not that surprised, he has the biggest serve in the top ten, and more often than not comes up with huge first serves on BP down. Rafa is a fantastic clutch players, but his serve isn't the best, so quite often you'll get yourself into the point on return at least.