Wimbledon 2016 - Day 7

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

Live Scores - http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scores/index.html

Good to see new faces - Johnson, Vesley, Pouille, Mahut.

MoTD - Kyrgios v Murray (IMVHO).

No.

It would be nice if Willis got 10 games. If he gets to a tb or even nicks a set. That will be serious alarm bells for the Swiss chocolate

laverfan wrote:Will 2016 be a repeat of 2001?

Didn't realise that Goran was playing and I have severe doubts about Venus

Given the weather, other than the CC matches, I think we'll be lucky to get a handful of results. There could still be a few first round matches to complete tomorrow.

Anyway, so far Mannarino showing some good stuff but simply finding Novak a bit too consistent, and so lost serve at 5-4 in the first and then early in the second.

Mannarino totally looks like Mark Cavendish

Who is this Nalbandianesque fatbody they put up in front of Federer. Roger must of thought it was 2006 or something.

Mannarino as flat as he hits and being a lefty is a bit of tricky player to play on grass. That being said I still feel that Novak is working off some rust. I think by the 4th round and quarters he should be dialed back in.

What a truly amazing journey it's been for Marcus Willis

Storybook stuff.

Ranked in the 700's. Coming through pre-qualis, then qualis, then winning his R1 match, all having never played a Slam match before (other than juniors of course). He then takes a hugely respectable SEVEN games off the Fed. Fantastic effort ..... little wonder the friends & family looked so incredibly proud

As for Federer ..... so rusty, so many UE's .... such poor first serve stats. I'm glad it ended quickly .... wouldn't have wanted to see much more of him on today's showing. Massive step-up needed if he is to make it anywhere near the business end here.

Interesting match, and first one I've watched in full since the French Open.

Willis did well but he really did look his ranking, though. I mean, even a 100 or 200 ranked player looks notably better. It was like watching a really good standard club player go and play Roger Federer.

I am not sure about all that slicing and funny shots. I think that may work for him at a lower level but against Federer I would have used it more sparingly as a change up. Conversely, he had some mis-hits himself and I wonder if he isn't used to the amount of type of spin/work a really top player puts on the ball.

He seemed a bit unsure of himself in the arena in the first set, but he certainly enjoyed himself out there. Will be interesting to see what he says in the press conference.

I also thought Federer didn't look great but he didn't need to be and he didn't want to embarrass his opponent. Next round will give us a better idea.

Not a fan of this plucky lower story, that our media just eat up. Certainly didn't like Willis celebrating every point he won

Glad this circus is over, people should make the most of their ability not be lauded for occasionally doing so

Thank goodness for Murray, for a minute I thought it was 1988 and Eddie the Eagle

banbrotam wrote:Not a fan of this plucky lower story, that our media just eat up. Certainly didn't like Willis celebrating every point he won

Glad this circus is over

Yeah, completely agree. He was pretty shocking, the majority of his shots, particularly his backhand were truly awful. Fair play to him for reaching that stage, but he was more interested in the crowd reactions, than he was his actual game. That's what I hate about the media, they do the hype job & go massively over-board, then we have the unsurprising story of his hot girlfriend on the front & back pages everywhere, trying to make out she's the new 'Kim Sears' or something ridiculous. They've had their five-minutes of fame, but can see that relationship ending pretty sharpish, now she's had the taste of being a Z-lister & her face plastered all over 'Mail Online'. Wouldn't surprise me to see Grigor all over that in a few months.

LiamB wrote:

banbrotam wrote:Not a fan of this plucky lower story, that our media just eat up. Certainly didn't like Willis celebrating every point he won

Glad this circus is over

Yeah, completely agree. He was pretty shocking, the majority of his shots, particularly his backhand were truly awful. Fair play to him for reaching that stage, but he was more interested in the crowd reactions, than he was his actual game. That's what I hate about the media, they do the hype job & go massively over-board, then we have the unsurprising story of his hot girlfriend on the front & back pages everywhere, trying to make out she's the new 'Kim Sears' or something ridiculous. They've had their five-minutes of fame, but can see that relationship ending pretty sharpish, now she's had the taste of being a Z-lister & her face plastered all over 'Mail Online'. Wouldn't surprise me to see Grigor all over that in a few months.

I have to concur. The desperate attempts by the BBC to make it into some sort of fairy tale (with no doubt a lot of poetic license with regards to the role that his GF played in his career) was cringeworthy.

TBF Federer was very gracious about the whole thing. He must know hundreds of similar journey men who occasionally go on a run and it can't have been fun being asked about it at every interview.

Federer looks way off pace. Not moving well at well. Very tentative with his shots. Don't think he's physically fit, not injured, just not at the fitness level to compete with the top guys. Wimbledon has come too early for him. If he can stay and gain some form he may have a shot at the USO.

Hes ranked in the 700's.  Of course his shots look janky, Hes basically a glorified club player and he gave his best. Im shocked he got more than 3 games, or even out of PRE qualifying

its about the biggest over achievement in quite some considerable time, quite a feat, might as well let people milk it whilst nothing else is going on

emancipator wrote:Federer looks way off pace. Not moving well at well. Very tentative with his shots.

While I agree that Fed has not looked that good this summer, I think it is hard to judge by this specific match.  Fed won the first set 6:0 while clearly barely trying at all, so he may have just found it difficult - and unnecessary - to focus.

It is nice that roof prevents wash-outs on final Sunday, and TV must like knowing that they will have something to show even if it is raining, but it can also give an extra advantage to top players.  Nole and Fed are now through the second round, while some other guys will still be playing their first matches tomorrow.  Without a roof such imbalance would be less likely.

I do like this aspect of tennis that you can literally play your way from no where on to the biggest stage of the game in a few matches. I would of loved this story more if at the end of the day the guy was a true qualifier who maybe even made it out of pre-qualification, at the end of the day he is a federation wildcard despite winning matches to earn the wildcard. He got a win, which in itself was highly unlikely so that is great for him and got to play center court. To me its a great part of the sport that all of sudden somebody who was playing in some non-event last week can all of sudden be playing the GOAT on center court wimbeldon.

But I do feel like the media get carried away with it and the crowd cheering every time the guy wins a point like he accomplished something is a bit pathetic. I don't begrudge any of the journeyman their payday or their minute in the sun, as long as he lives he will be able to say he played Federer center court Wimbeldon and has a win there. Some of the coverage of it can be a little overboard and cringe inducing though.

What do you mean wildcard? He came through the qualies (beat Rublev there I believe) and I thought may have gone through pre-qualies too.

summerblues wrote:What do you mean wildcard?  He came through the qualies (beat Rublev there I believe) and I thought may have gone through pre-qualies too.

What they reported on ESPN is that he went through pre-qualification but the pre-qualification was a group of British lower ranked pros who either then got a seat in qualification. What I would have preferred is if he came through a true open format not just limited to British lower leveled players. Its still amazing he got this far at 700 something, although one Boris Becker at 17 was 600 something I think when he won it.

socal1976 wrote:I do like this aspect of tennis that you can literally play your way from no where on to the biggest stage of the game in a few matches. I would of loved this story more if at the end of the day the guy was a true qualifier who maybe even made it out of pre-qualification, at the end of the day he is a federation wildcard despite winning matches to earn the wildcard. He got a win, which in itself was highly unlikely so that is great for him and got to play center court. To me its a great part of the sport that all of sudden somebody who was playing in some non-event last week can all of sudden be playing the GOAT on center court wimbeldon.

But I do feel like the media get carried away with it and the crowd cheering every time the guy wins a point like he accomplished something is a bit pathetic. I don't begrudge any of the journeyman their payday or their minute in the sun, as long as he lives he will be able to say he played Federer center court Wimbeldon and has a win there. Some of the coverage of it can be a little overboard and cringe inducing though.

He won 7 matches all against higher ranked players to get to Fed - he only got into pre-qualifying because another player didn't make it back to the UK from another tournament. He beat 4 players ranked at least 500 places higher (all non UK), having only played one Futures event this year. He couldn't have done any more to earn his place.

Whilst I agree the media coverage of events like this can be a little OTT, this is as close as you can get to a fairytale run by a complete journeyman. Becker, by the way, was ranked 20 when he won.

Yeah the memory is getting shady, I remember now that Becker made a push but had been ranked in the hundreds a short time before, my bad. Yes, I agree it was a complete fairytale run, the reporting is a little nauseating.

By the way I am all for the glory of the journeyman. I wonder how many wins on tour qualifies to no longer be a journeyman. My gut feeling says that if you get more than 200 wins you can no longer be called a journeyman. Although frankly having any wins at a slam level is a great accomplishment in ones life.

emancipator wrote:Federer looks way off pace. Not moving well at well. Very tentative with his shots. Don't think he's physically fit, not injured, just not at the fitness level to compete with the top guys. Wimbledon has come too early for him. If he can stay and gain some form he may have a shot at the USO.

Yes, I would go with this.

All said & done, there are only two serious contenders for this year's Wimbledon ; and I don't see Fed threatening either of them.

Other than Novak and Andy, maybe, just maybe, Kyrgios could make something happen.

On the OTT coverage for yesterday's 'fairytale' story, I guess there were just too many ingredients for the media to pass up the opportunity :

- totally unknown plucky Brit ranked 700+ comes through qualifying
- earns the right to play against the darling of the Wimbledon crowd, and on hallowed Centre
- says I'm going to enjoy it all - and then appears to do so
- cameras can pan to smiling photogenic girlfriend whenever he wins a point

In fairness to the guy, I think he was far less affected by nerves than many first-timers we have seen on CC over the years, and who are ranked much higher. He did okay, and can dine out on those seven games - and that lob - for the rest of his days. But I was amused by one media piece I read somewhere, when in the first set he was described as having all the appearance of someone who won top prize in a 'Play Roger' competition.

Evans has made a cracking start against Dolgopolov today. Starting at 6-6 in the first, he took a tight TB 8-6 thanks to a couple of Dolgopolov DFs, and has now moved up 4-1 with the double break in the second.

Wow. Evans wins 7-6 6-4 6-1, spectacular performance from him

Who was the last British man other than Murray to make the third round at Wimbledon? Henman?

Meanwhile, Watson and Beck locked in a long third set at 9-9.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:Wow. Evans wins 7-6 6-4 6-1, spectacular performance from him

Who was the last British man other than Murray to make the third round at Wimbledon? Henman?

Didn't Ward get into R3 last year?

EDIT: yes he did. I would expect Henman was the last one before that

Ward will go crashing down the rankings after his 1R exit this year.

Federer v Evans in the next round. Should be fun!

Up until Wimbledon 2016 Dan Evans had played 7 singles matches in Grand Slam tournaments and won 2 of them.  He is 26 years old, so there is still time for him to push his level of tennis to the next level.  Getting to the third round here at Wimbledon 2016 should see him rise from 91 in the world to 73.

With Heather Watson dropping 120 points in losing in the first round her ranking will drop from 55 to about 69 so not a disaster.

James Ward will drop 80 points (90 - 10) and his ranking will fall from 177 to about 232.

Nore Staat wrote:Up until Wimbledon 2016 Dan Evans had played 7 singles matches in Grand Slam tournaments and won 2 of them.  He is 26 years old, so there is still time for him to push his level of tennis to the next level.  Getting to the third round here at Wimbledon 2016 should see him rise from 91 in the world to 73.

With Heather Watson dropping 120 points in losing in the first round her ranking will drop from 55 to about 69 so not a disaster.

James Ward will drop 80 points (90 - 10) and his ranking will fall from 177 to about 232.

Evans only really started playing properly around this time last year - he should have space to pick up some more points before he starts having to defend them.

I think he can be top 50.

Great result for Evans.

But quiet around here. I thought everyone was on board after the relaxing moderating announcement.

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How about that? Mahut has demolished Ferrer 6-1 6-4 6-3. Wonderful performance from him.

Also, Benneteau has nicked the first set against Nishikori.

Elsewhere, Stakhovsky has nicked the second set against Cilic on a TB to level at one set all. Karlovic is in a spot of bother at two sets to one down against Lacko. Simon and Dimitrov reaching the business end of set 2, Dimitrov having won the first.

Man, that was annoying. Cocked up the post above and then the second I pressed send I realized my error and then instantly a power cut before I could fix it. Typical. Very much reminded me of the old 606 when you would make an embarrassing mistake which you would realize the very instant you press send on your post, and then you would be forbidden from fixing it for 3 minutes by some annoying rule, by which time people have already pointed out your error, which you already knew about and was hoping no-one would notice for 3 minutes.

I make that Mahut's first time into round 3 since his 2006 debut, when he lost to Roger Federer. Amazing really, I was musing on another thread before this tournament how on earth that could be the case given his strong record at other grass events.

Ferrer seems to be on the downward trend finally this last year or more.

Guest82 wrote:Ward will go crashing down the rankings after his 1R exit this year.

Federer v Evans in the next round.  Should be fun!

Should be fun indeed !!

And hopefully Dan can mount a worthy challenge (especially if Fed is as unconvincing as he was v Marcus Willis)

The crazed media have barely recovered from their state of frenzy after yesterday afternoon - and now they have another Brit v King of Wimbledon match to get worked up about.

Go Dan ..... !!!

Nishikori levels at one set all against Benneteau. Seems to have settled a bit now.

An awful TB from Simon saw him concede a two sets lead to Dimitrov, but he's broken early in the third to have at least a glimmer of hope.

Watching Murray-Lu and it's not exactly setting the world alight. Meanwhile, Muguruza looks set to make an early exit. Currently MP down to somebody I'd never heard of.

Great win for Dan. He's proved himself a big match player in the Davis Cup and, given Fed's questionable form, it could be an interesting match. Even if one-sided, there should be some entertaining points. Both could be described as flashy, although probably fair to say Roger has a bit more substance to back it up.

The coverage of the Willis story was, of course, overblown, but the romance of a club player going on a run that ends on CC against Fed is hard to deny. Very unorthodox game, but entertaining to watch. Not sure I'd want him coaching my backhand though. His double-hander looked seriously ropey at times.

Good riddance Troicki. Showing his true colours with an ugly tirade directed at the umpire. Probably overdoing the steroids again. If I was that umpire, I'd have threatened to jab a needle in his arm.

Aut0Gr4ph wrote:Watching Murray-Lu and it's not exactly setting the world alight. Meanwhile, Muguruza looks set to make an early exit. Currently MP down to somebody I'd never heard of.

I thik the Murray match is a very good watch, as it's nice to see tow players who can actually play all the shots, vary the pace etc. Impressive last hour or so from Andy 14 games out of 16

Maybe my hearts just not in it today. Lu has a nice game, but too lightweight to pose a real threat.

Murray's looked OK, but not much you can really learn from this match.

Murray camp all seem to be getting on famously. Is it just me, or is Lendl a lot less stone faced in the player's box these days? I'm pretty sure he didn't crack a smile for months during his first stint as coach.

Perfectionist Murray won't like that. Had a real chance of a bagel set at 0-4 0-30, but blew it with some careless play. Has definitely warmed into the match though.

Let me know if you'd rather go back to the tumbleweed MfC.

Purring now. A big hug from Lendl awaits in the locker room no doubt.

Aut0Gr4ph wrote:The coverage of the Willis story was, of course, overblown, but the romance of a club player going on a run that ends on CC against Fed is hard to deny. Very unorthodox game, but entertaining to watch. Not sure I'd want him coaching my backhand though. His double-hander looked seriously ropey at times.

I think once he made it past R1 (and huge credit to him for that .....many thousands have tried and fallen at the first hurdle) the media were going to be all over him whoever he faced in R2. But when it turned out to be a guy named Federer, interest levels were suddenly ratcheted up x 10.

Yes, good riddance to Troicki with such behaviour. Umpires may not be perfect or infallible, but nothing warrants that sort of abuse. Shameful.

Murray looking very smooth, even if the competition today wasn't exactly top quality.

Wow, commentators getting a bit carried away now. A good performance from Murray, but surely nothing more than expected. I don't think these early rounds count for very much for the very top players, particularly on grass, where recovery time and general wear and tear are less likely to be a factor. I still remember 2014, where Murray looked in imperious form for the first 4 rounds and then crashed out against Grigor.

Wow, I actually looked up a picture of tumbleweed on the internet. Wow, a tumbleweed emoticon! I feel really sorry for the person that went the extra mile so that we can have a tumbleweed emoticon, only to see me posting a link to a tumbleweed online.