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.

You never see Rafa miss those

Weak shot at the net

Darcis hitting the Wuthering Heights here.

I'm sure I read Youhzny is 15-1 on grass if you remove matches against Federer. I expect him to be Murray's 4R match.

What is this, Mr Murray?

Darcis looking the better player right now, frankly

Silver wrote:

invisiblecoolers wrote:

Silver wrote:Gutted that I missed the picking game today, would've got Melzer (but dropped a Djoker on Haase, so it's not all bad!).

You so far made only one selection right? so how come Djoker on Haase? and did that match finish already? coz I have my djoker on him.

I meant that I would have wasted a Djoker on him if I'd made my picks last night! It finished earlier, sadly he lost to the Colonel in straights IC

Nadal's knee is utterly dominating the BBC commentary.

What happened to my Socks? sadly I need super hero performance from somebody to raise me from Ashes in this GS so far, all picks on Day 1 seems like a loss.

very sloppy from Murray and he loses serve, just switched off a bit in the last five minutes and he pays for it.

Murray starting to do what he did at Queens. Looking a bit uncomfortable early on. 

Threw away a lot of shots in that game there.

Mac's got it right. He missed an easy shot to make it 5-1 (or something) and now it's 4-3. I've not really seen Murray's killer instinct this year, in fact I've not seen it since the USO.

Unforced errors from Nadal

Why is Nadal trying to play like a Federer, i,e relying way too much on inside out forehand? another error.

Because his BH has been poor, constantly into the net

Seems harsh on Darcis!

Its so nervous to see the Darcis-Rafa match, I am hence watching Matt Reid vs Stephanek

Nadal's backhand is not firing at all

ChequeredJersey wrote:Nadal's backhand is not firing at all

He is not playing them at all.

invisiblecoolers wrote:

ChequeredJersey wrote:Nadal's backhand is not firing at all

He is not playing them at all.

well, he's had to make a couple!

Phew... first days arent ment to be like this...

See, his backhand has been like that all set

I can barely watch - I can't imagine how Nadal fans are feeling!

5th set pt

I have stopped the pretense of trying to revise

Oh dear

I am sick to death of the guy commentating with Boris.

All he's going on about is Rafa's knees.

Mmmmm

Who took 7-1 on Federer?

OMG, if I am so nervous here watching only GOD can save Darcis.

In the words of my basketball teammates when we are about to lose: $#¡t just got real.

I think Boris is sick too

Well well well... 2 sets down... But I still fancy Nadal to come through in 5. This unforced error count must be a record (21) though

Blimey!

All Darcis has to do is target his BH, it's been dire

Silver wrote:I can barely watch - I can't imagine how Nadal fans are feeling!

Yea same here, I am watching the best match of the day Matt Reid vs Hunk Stephano, its much more relaxed with not heart attacks.

emancipator wrote:I am sick to death of the guy commentating with Boris.

All he's going on about is Rafa's knees.

I'm not watching the match but I understand what you're saying. Nadal's knee(s) will cure insomnia.

I say all. Never quite as simple as it sounds

Still fully expect Rafa to win.

What is going on out there?!

Well the backhand needs to improve if hes to win this

Has Rafa even hit one down the line FH today. Just going cc all the time. Too predictable.

Darcis is playing very well, chasing everything and missing little

Set Murray.

Good start for Murray, but he looked very uncomfortable at times. 

Time to watch Nadal now me thinks!!!

But this isnt done... Darcis has to stay exactly where he is, or itll be 2 sets all before he knows it

ChequeredJersey wrote:I think Boris is sick too

lol, I think you may be right.

It was so tempting to put the Djoker card on Darcis but least did I expect he would win a set let alone 2, good work Darcis, I still want Darcis to win in 5, very similar like Rosol did.

nice lingering shot of his knees by the cameraman there...

emancipator wrote:Has Rafa even hit one down the line FH today. Just going cc all the time. Too predictable.

lydian mentioned the possibility early in his comeback that Nadal was looking rusty with his tactics, and 'defaulting' to the basic CC forehand strategy as a result. Maybe he still isn't comfortable tactically?

Castle needs to stop babbling on about the knees, mind.

Dustin takes the second set, also at three....

Darcis is gonna win this

falzy21 wrote:Well the backhand needs to improve if hes to win this

Well Some in this forum claims his backhand is at its prime.

Darcis is completely outplaying him

What the hell is he on about - he's limping badly. Really? Didn't look like he was limping to me at all. Just couldn't get to the ball.