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.

Yes Darcey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nadal can't handle him!!!!

Oh dear a break to start the third... Please find some form Rafa

I was worried about his groundies first game back on grass. Because he hits with a straight elbow, the forehand can adapt quickly without losing any power, but the backhand is a different story. I dont think the knees are a problem, the problem is that he hasnt played on grass for a year.

emancipator wrote: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.

Well you know that Emanci, Nadal can't lose when he is fit, but we are still not sure whether he is fit or unfit, we have to wait till the match is over to confirm his fitness, its too early to say now.

Darcis has to not think about where he is, thinking will not help him here

What a forehand that was by Darcis

this match is 50/50 from here according to Betfair. Even with 2 sets, a break and a possible injury!

kingraf wrote:I was worried about his groundies first game back on grass. Because he hits with a straight elbow, the forehand can adapt quickly without losing any power, but the backhand is a different story. I dont think the knees are a problem, the problem is that he hasnt played on grass for a year.

So you still believe Socal's dreams that Nadal's backhand is at its best and this is the best Nadal , I am not even a Nadal fan and I know this is not the best Nadal, no idea how you fans get fooled by such belief coming from a Nole fan.

Darcis deserves this but Nadal is NOT moving as well as usual, I think it isn't injury but doubt from Nadal though

Henman Bill wrote:this match is 50/50 from here according to Betfair. Even with 2 sets, a break and a possible injury!

Oh I thought it should be 90-10 to Rafa, and the 10% Darcis got coz of Rafa's injury.

I did say in that pre-tournament interview Rafa didn't sound at all confident in the knee and now we can see why. Very tentative and almost petrified of putting any stress on that knee. Astounding how this is panning out. If this is his knee problem where exactly does it leave him in the future?

I'm more scared for Rafa than I am for my exam on Thursday. Why is that?

I can't believe I'm saying this, but Rafa really needs this service game. He can't let Darcis off in terms of scoreboard pressure, has to hang in there - there'll be opportunities to break back yet. Darcis looks a little tired, and the first serve is misfiring.

Why doesn't stop going on about the knees. Jeesus. Nadal's getting totally outplayed and that idiot is giving no credit to his opponent.

Meanwhile, full credit to Darcis as he is playing beautifully and keeping his head very well. Just playing the right shots at the right time.

What does that have to do with anything? Put a peak player on a surface they havent played on for a year (and only 4 matches last year), there will be adaptation issues. Five matches on grass in thirteen months.

Darcis didn't need to go for that shot

But as I said when he looked shaky in RG- Rafa knows how to win and he doesn't know how to give up

I don't believe Nadal's injured for a second. He can't be, he was moving fine during the FO and unless he's slipped in the shower, he's not injured. I think today's just shown he doesn't have much confidence in his **** off of clay. The decision not to play a warm-up tournament has come back to haunt him here.

Darcis is starting to choke. Even if he loses though, he has done his reputation no harm what so ever. Ill be honest, i have never heard of him till today.

Just looked at the scoreboard - can hardly believe my eyes.  It's never over till it's over with Nadal, but could lightening really strike twice?

ChequeredJersey, I remember staying up till 1 am in the morning listening to the US Open (golf) in 2006. Due to the conclusion I was almost too disappointed to concentrate the following morning.

The Special Juan wrote:I don't believe Nadal's injured for a second.  He can't be, he was moving fine during the FO and unless he's slipped in the shower, he's not injured.  I think today's just shown he doesn't have much confidence in his **** off of clay.  The decision not to play a warm-up tournament has come back to haunt him here.

I agree, Rafa said he was feeling 100% fit for this

Drama, this is why I love sport.

The Special Juan wrote:I don't believe Nadal's injured for a second.  He can't be, he was moving fine during the FO and unless he's slipped in the shower, he's not injured.  I think today's just shown he doesn't have much confidence in his **** off of clay.  The decision not to play a warm-up tournament has come back to haunt him here.

Sorry it is crystal clear that something is awry. He hasn't got any spring in his service action and his movement is sluggish and unforced error count is huge by his standards. Now it is fair to say that it has been reported that clay and the knee problem is managable but perhaps grass is even a step too far or perhaps grass extrenuates it even more than hard as you need quick direction changes and pace. If that is the case then where does it leave Rafa for the future?

We already made that joke, and we did it better, Castle...

The Special Juan wrote:I don't believe Nadal's injured for a second.  He can't be, he was moving fine during the FO and unless he's slipped in the shower, he's not injured.  I think today's just shown he doesn't have much confidence in his **** off of clay.  The decision not to play a warm-up tournament has come back to haunt him here.

His movements rubbish. And there is the occassional subtle (blink and you miss it) hobble. The answers simple, he put everything into his French Open win and the knee could easily have stiffened up

Crikey! Could you imagine the big boys against Rafa is his movement remains this poor

He can win with reduced movement, he can't win if he can only hit off one hand!

Maybe we should do a shot every time the word knee is said

I don't think that's Andrew Castle.

This is a good point, there is no chase at all for a lot of balls that the old Nadal would always have gone for

Yeah I'm with you Craig. Something isn't right. Whether its the knee or fatigue or something else... This is not the movement of the usual Nadal. 

He's not committing physically on every shot and not chasing things down like he normally does.

CaledonianCraig wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:I don't believe Nadal's injured for a second.  He can't be, he was moving fine during the FO and unless he's slipped in the shower, he's not injured.  I think today's just shown he doesn't have much confidence in his **** off of clay.  The decision not to play a warm-up tournament has come back to haunt him here.

Sorry it is crystal clear that something is awry. He hasn't got any spring in his service action and his movement is sluggish and unforced error count is huge by his standards. Now it is fair to say that it has been reported that clay and the knee problem is managable but perhaps grass is even a step too far or perhaps grass extrenuates it even more than hard as you need quick direction changes and pace. If that is the case then where does it leave Rafa for the future?

Maybe CC, but my thought is he's just got no confidence in it at all. How can he go from running about like mad at the FO to struggling today? I'll wait until his press conference before I say anything else though. Maybe I'm wrong, but I can't believe he has an injury.

Yes it is tiresome to hear about the knee constantly but it is such a huge story it is hard to not mention it.

This is why Tennis is my 2nd favorite sport.

Rafa's career, realistically wants to be from around February to June on the dirt and grass and then the back end of the hard court season

I shudder to think how he'll cope during the american hard court summer swing

I actually don't like this. Rafa's great for the game and I hope it's just a one-off

First good Backhand since set 1

Actually, on saying that, I appreciate the difficulty in having a joint injury. Like arthritis, some days it's fine and other days it's incredibly painful.

Rafa is going for winners, not for defence. His backhand looks heavy at best. Even if he wins, this looks bad

ChequeredJersey wrote:I'm more scared for Rafa than I am for my exam on Thursday. Why is that?

Coz that much you love him , fans always care more about their stars than themselves.

The Special Juan wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:I don't believe Nadal's injured for a second.  He can't be, he was moving fine during the FO and unless he's slipped in the shower, he's not injured.  I think today's just shown he doesn't have much confidence in his **** off of clay.  The decision not to play a warm-up tournament has come back to haunt him here.

Sorry it is crystal clear that something is awry. He hasn't got any spring in his service action and his movement is sluggish and unforced error count is huge by his standards. Now it is fair to say that it has been reported that clay and the knee problem is managable but perhaps grass is even a step too far or perhaps grass extrenuates it even more than hard as you need quick direction changes and pace. If that is the case then where does it leave Rafa for the future?

Maybe CC, but my thought is he's just got no confidence in it at all.  How can he go from running about like mad at the FO to struggling today?  I'll wait until his press conference before I say anything else though.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I can't believe he has an injury.

Yes but chasing balls down - not there, his service action lacks spring and his movement is slow. That only adds up to one thing. It is weird that the injury hit at Wimbledon last year and perhaps movement on grass puts more (too much) pressure on the knee. A bit like how Murray's back injury happened on clay last year and flared up again on clay this year.

The Special Juan wrote:I don't believe Nadal's injured for a second.  He can't be, he was moving fine during the FO and unless he's slipped in the shower, he's not injured.  I think today's just shown he doesn't have much confidence in his **** off of clay.  The decision not to play a warm-up tournament has come back to haunt him here.

Absolutely agree.

Why is there always an assumption that his knees are the cause of any defeat? He hasn't called the trainer and he's not exactly shy in doing that.

Dustin Brown beats Garcia Lopez at three, three and three....

It might not so much be injury issues as lack of match practise on grass. But then again, he missed those tune-up events due to his management of the injury, so it still comes back to his injury issues. I think his career may just be winding down, tbh.

Can't believe Nadal put that into the net...

That was an amazing get by Darcis, wow!

How on earth did he get that point there Darcey!!!! Fantastic foot work from him, very key in any long rally.

It was

Lets not do a sho everytime we hear knees... i dont want to be in A and E for alcohol poisoning at 6pm

That is a costly overhit...