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.

Fabio Fognini (No.30 seed) on his way out against Jurgen Melzer.

Meanwhile Federer is making Hansecu look like a WWE jobber, and he's ranked 48 in the world......

Meh. Hanescu is a pretty awful grass court player to be fair, Federer's looked good, but for me some of the praise is OTT...

CaledonianCraig wrote:Fabio Fognini (No.30 seed) on his way out against Jurgen Melzer.

No big surprise.

Hard to believe now, but Melzer was top ten in 2010. Another golden oldie.

He has good game for grass.

that lob was beautiful

Mad for Chelsea wrote:Meh. Hanescu is a pretty awful grass court player to be fair, Federer's looked good, but for me some of the praise is OTT...

What's your thoughts after that shot?

Federer looked a little special again there.  He will take some stopping if he plays like that through out the rest of the championships.

The early rounds are always about self-preservation - survive and get through with the minimum of fuss and Roger did that today. Mission accomplished and he will know the real challenges lie further ahead.

Good... but cn he do it with Nadals iron will bearing down on him? Hopefully well see

When the grass is fast and skiddy with a low bounce (as it's supposed to be) Federer is still by far the best player in the world.

Unfortunately the courts will play more like clay in the second week, with a much higher bounce and slower on the exposed dirt.

Koehler doesn't appear to have a tennis brain, she's just hitting everything up the middle of the court as if to say "Your injured, so I won't make you run"

The Special Juan wrote:

Mad for Chelsea wrote:Meh. Hanescu is a pretty awful grass court player to be fair, Federer's looked good, but for me some of the praise is OTT...

What's your thoughts after that shot?  

 that Hanescu was glued to the net, the lob landed about midway between the baseline and the service line and really is a shot I'd expect any top player to pull off TBH. I can't remember who it was but there was a tennis player who a few years ago said something along the lines of: "he [Fed] hits the line, and because it's Federer, everyone is amazed, but many players could hit the same shot".

I think it applies to some of the commentary of Federer's match today, a prime example being when he put away that short forehand in the last game "the match has been littered with shots like that". Yes it was a nice one-two punch, but nothing out of the ordinary, and something which would I think barely have invited comment beyond a "well-played" from other players.

Having said that, Federer looked very good today, movement especially. However, he was playing a player with limited weapons, who didn't try to mix things up at all, and looked beaten well before he stepped on court, so let's get some perspective please...

Foggy out then. Gets £23,500 Compo though. Loves his summer wine I hear.

Got the Foggy prediction right, Should have Djokered it.

for all that I'm not sure Edmunds has the game yet to be a top player (the BH is a huge weakness to my eyes), you can't question his character; Staves off triple MP, then saves another, and forces Janowicz to serve it out, good effort

Where's Ginny?

Rosol fights off a match point to get to a 5th , its tight he must be feeling pressure...
To be honest im just commenting soo that the Nadal hate thread isnt the top topic in the first day of the biggest tournamentin tennis...

Cilic serving for a ss win over baggy... pretty good

Kyle Edmund loses in straight sets. A shame he got such a tough draw as Janowicz was just too good. Edmund has improving to do but he has time on his side. Hopefully, in the right hands he can make big strides in the coming months and years.

He did alright, the massive serve of Jany was always gonna be too much

the colonels doing well hes 2 sets up on the haase

Mlad v Sharapova could get interesting by the looks of it.

Fairly good win for Cilic, who arguably looks to be on the best form of all those outside the Top 5

falzy21 wrote:Cilic serving for a ss win over baggy... pretty good

 not surprised, Cilic is a very good grass court player, particularly on fast grass (good record at Queens for instance)

He's burning down the Haase!

Maybe he should "Do the haa-se" ...............................

Murrays in trouble 3-6   1-3 down...

falzy21 wrote:Murrays in trouble 3-6   1-3 down...

I had a very large scare there, just for a second.

Baghdatis hasn't won a match on the main tour since February. That's a real shame.

The Special Juan wrote:Baghdatis hasn't won a match on the main tour since February.  That's a real shame.

Rackets I feel sorry for.

Sorry Juan, but id dint know Baggy was that out of form...

not really been a great day for the Brits has it? I know they've been pretty heavy underdogs in all matches so far, but still not a huge amount to cheer about.

It's all about Tips vs Troicki right now

Reister a break up on Rosol now.

Rosols date with destiny in trouble, hes 4-3 and a break down in the 5th

3-4 that is

Mad for Chelsea wrote:not really been a great day for the Brits has it? I know they've been pretty heavy underdogs in all matches so far, but still not a huge amount to cheer about.

The Italians aren't doing us too many favours. Baltacha only played well for 3 games in her match, Edmund was never going to win and Murray and JoKo are out of their depths. Whose left to come today? Wardy only?

Ginny!!! She's commentating on the JoKo match. Meanwhile on Centre, Mladenovic and Sharapova are looking good (and the tennis isn't bad either).

emancipator wrote:When the grass is fast and skiddy with a low bounce (as it's supposed to be) Federer is still by far the best player in the world.

Unfortunately the courts will play more like clay in the second week, with a much higher bounce and slower on the exposed dirt.

You say that but look at these courts from 1981...


This was a common scene in the 70s and 80s by the end of the 2nd week. The courts were much more clay-like then than now...its one of the reasons I think Borg did so well. Remember he used to struggle early on as the courts were lush then got into his stride as the courts went brown and dusty.

Its only these past 10 years with climate change that we see more and more rain and courts staying pretty green for the duration of the fortnight - the court conditions may be slower but I'll wager by the end of 2 weeks there's not as much in it as you'd think vs 70s/80s.

Here's a pic from the final last year...compare that to 1981 above!

Rosol bites the dust and Troicki an early break up over Tipsarevic.

rosols gone...

falzy21 wrote:rosols gone...

Hilarious stuff. Let's see how the daft Nadal fans spin this one

The Special Juan wrote:

Mad for Chelsea wrote:not really been a great day for the Brits has it? I know they've been pretty heavy underdogs in all matches so far, but still not a huge amount to cheer about.

The Italians aren't doing us too many favours.  Baltacha only played well for 3 games in her match, Edmund was never going to win and Murray and JoKo are out of their depths.  Whose left to come today?  Wardy only?

 to be fair Murray put up a pretty decent fight, only one break of serve in each set, but just couldn't get into the return games. Konta putting up a decent fight in this second set too, she looks a decent player to me, staving off a BP to hold for 2-1.

@lydian, could the court wear in that first picture also be down to players coming into volley much more, therefore much more wear nearer the net? I also think grass-care techniques have improved greatly too.

Nadal struggling a tad

The Special Juan wrote:Where's Ginny?

Doing the Jankovic Konta match!

The crowd are really pro-Mladenovic today. I can't believe it.

ChequeredJersey wrote:Nadal struggling a tad

Is it his legs?

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....

a couple of lovely volleys from Darcis