WIMBLEDON 2018

Draw being done now. Fed has Lajovic in first round, Murray plays Benoit Paire. Cilic in Fed's half and Djoko in Rafa's half. Delpo is in Rafa's quarter, while Kyle Edmund plays Aussie qualifier Alex Bolt in first round.

Interesting draw for Murray. He beat Paire in straight sets at last 16 stage last year when not fully fit. A year on and still not fully up to speed. Will Paire get his revenge. Either way it is a good test for him.

Wawrinka pays Dimitrov in first round. Cameron Norrie has Bedene while GB's Naomi Broady has...defending champ Muguruza. Edmund could meet Djoko in third round.

Interesting matches all in all. For Andy it is all about getting match fit and shaking off the rust and wins are bonuses.

Barring some last-minute hitch, Murray expects to play. Bottom half of the draw looks tougher than the top in the men's. Fed is clearly favourite, but I have a feeling that he'll be derailed somewhere along the way this year.
Surely Rafa will do better, but then I think that each year at Wimbledon, only for him to go out unexpectedly.
Saw some of Caroline W's terrific semi-final win at Eastbourne yesterday and she is a possible winner at SW19. Mug has off days and I feel she won't retain her title. Konta is set to take a big points drop as I can't see her reaching the semis this year. Alas, decibel levels will rise this year with the return of Shriekapova. Some women's matches can only be watched with the sound down.

Grass court tennis generally puts more pressure on the knees as players need to reach lower for more skiddy low bouncing balls plus greater unpredictability in bounce height.  I believe these are the main reasons why Nadal, as his body has aged (especially the knees) has been less effective on the grass compared to his halcyon days of his youth - where he rose and rose, challenging a peak / slightly over the peak Federer eventually beating him.  Over a period of 6 years 2006 - 2011 Nadal finished runner up 3 times and winner 2 times.  2009 he was absent after suffering his first major injury to his knees.  

In 2012 he was beaten in five sets in the second round to Lukas Rosol, who played the match of his life.  However, the Nadal camp indicated that Nadal was suffering physical issues.  I think that was Nadal's last competitive match for some time after it was reported Nadal was suffering from tendinitis in his knees.  This was Nadal's second major injury to his knees and he was absent from Olympics 2012, US Open 2012, Australian Open 2013.   He returned for the clay season and won the French Open 2013, was knocked out in the first round of Wimbledon 2013,  and won the US Open 2013.  Since then he has yet to reach the quarter final stage of Wimbledon.

Murray has come through practice at Wimbledon OK today, so should be fine to play on Tuesday.
  Caroline W has seen off the dangerous if inconsistent Sabalenka to take the Eastbourne crown. Not quite sure what the fine, dry weather will mean at Wimbledon. Will the courts be faster, bouncier...or what?

With regard to the hot sunny weather conditions I think they favour the baseliners, so I am expecting to see Nadal do better this year than he has done for a while, and maybe the likes of A Zverev and Coric may do better than we would normally expect too.

Andy Murray has pulled out of Wimbledon

Hopefully, it is just Andy taking No Name Bertie's advice and not want to push it too much too soon and nothing more sinister.

Got to think that Murray might be too damaged to returned. He tried it out of Queens and Eastbourne and maybe it's not there over the course of a sustained period

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:Got to think that Murray might be too damaged to returned. He tried it out of Queens and Eastbourne and maybe it's not there over the course of a sustained period

Think he will keep trying to get back to being able to play over a sustained spell until the end of the year. Then if it doesn't appear that he is getting there will retire.

I just think he has been advised to show caution and don't try to run before he can walk. No big deal at all that he misses Wimbledon as he was never going to win it anyway this year. Just now it is all about regaining full health and fitness and confidence in his fitness will allow him to push himself a little bit harder each match.

^ Wise words, Craig.
Hope Andy can continue to make steady progress on the hard courts.

Disappointing about Murray. Only way he's going to get match fit is by playing matches, so why pull out?

sirfredperry wrote:Disappointing about Murray. Only way he's going to get match fit is by playing matches, so why pull out?
   
   

He maybe feels or has been advised that it is too soon for the rigours of best of five matches especially when you consider they look certain to be played in extreme heat.

Interesting first-round match between Dimi and Stan today. Unsurprisingly, they've put it on centre court. Will Fed have trouble in the opening match ? He seemed to struggle a bit in Halle although that could have been due to a heavy grass-court workload given that he'd gone all the way in Stuttgart the week before.

A couple of seeds out - 32 seed Mayer lost to Struff, 28 seed Krajinovic lost to Jarry and in the biggest upset so far, Halle winner Coric lost in straight sets to Medvedev.

Stan Wawrinka fighting back to lead 2-1 in sets

Wawrinka beats world number 6 Dimitrov 1-6 7-6 7-6 6-4

Whilst I'm glad to see the 'Stanimal' back in business and winning matches, this is (yet another) poor result for Dimitrov who does actually have more grass-court pedigree than Stan and ought to be winning these matches, but this year it has been a case of same old Grigor, and he will deservedly fall down the rankings shortly.

Meanwhile, Norrie is up a set on Bedene, though its now gone into a 2nd set tie-break.

Dimitrov I have never bought into the hype with. All this Baby Fed stuff never washed with me. The proof is in results and titles and he has failed to live up to them.

Same here Craig, though I did actually think after winning the year end ATP Masters title last year that we would start to see him appearing in the latter stages of the bigger tournaments more regularly and Dimitrov does actually have a good game for grass (he's reached semis there and beaten Murray back in 2014).

Elsewhere, Norrie lost out to Bedene who was that bit stronger on the big points, but over in the womens', the up and coming Katie Swan upset Begu - 1st I've seen of her and was quite impressed - moves well, decent serve and nice temperament.

MrInvisible wrote:Same here Craig, though I did actually think after winning the year end ATP Masters title last year that we would start to see him appearing in the latter stages of the bigger tournaments more regularly and Dimitrov does actually have a good game for grass (he's reached semis there and beaten Murray back in 2014).

Elsewhere, Norrie lost out to Bedene who was that bit stronger on the big points, but over in the womens', the up and coming Katie Swan upset Begu - 1st I've seen of her and was quite impressed - moves well, decent serve and nice temperament.

Those moments you refer to though I see as flashes in the pan. I want to see consistency over long spells and at slam level before I sit up and take notice. To me it was the use of the term Baby Fed allied to him (of course not his fault) that seemed to win people over when they should of been using their own judgement instead of believing in lazy journalism.

Grass is supposed to be a strong surface of his and he is young and in his prime yet he loses in four sets to Stan who is still returning from a long lay-off struggling to find form and his level of old. Nowhere near good enough Dimi.

The Stan match was another of Dimi's dismal losses over the last couple of years. He had a point for a double break in that third set and still managed to lose it. Some think he will eventually win a slam but I doubt it. He's got plenty of talent but seems to lack the drive necessary to land the big titles.
One particular game that proved just a tad dramatic was the 10th in the final set of the Radwanska match in which she saved SIX match points before going on to win 7-5.

Had the luxury of pair of Centre Court tickets today. Nadal (against an admittedly low ranked opponent in Sela) put in an assured performance. Will the hot dry conditions play into Nadal's hands this year? Was also impressed with Schwartzman who plays some great all-court tennis and is a pleasure to watch on grass, saw the well-honed grasscourt skills of Lopez, big-hitting in the Dzumhur v Marterer contest and the closing stages of Del Potro's match on Court 3 (tip: if you want to watch a match on this court you need to queue, though generally not too long for a court 3 pass).

Couple of matches I would have liked to have seen but didn't get chance to do so to watch up-and-coming players were Tiafoe vs Verdasco, Kyrgios v Istomin and Shapovalov v Chardy - still you can't have everything and we saw plenty of tennis on yet another gorgeous sunny day.

A few shocks today elsewhere - Kvitova and Sharapova out in the womens, and Goffin losing in straight sets to Ebden. Also does it count as a shock when Tomic wins a 1st round match these days?

Good news for the Noise Abatament Society - Sharapova is out after a three-hour battle. Now, if Azashrieker can just lose today.... Mind you, there's still plenty of noisy players left.
Fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh ranked players already out in the women's. Kvitova ended up being completely outplayed. Don't know what everyone thinks, but the standard in women's play has improved. There was a time when the top players absolutely steamrollered their way through the early rounds of a GS. Not any more. Some thoughts please.

Gone a bit quiet on here. Appreciate the World Cup is on, Murray is injured and that Wimbledon has got off to a bit of a slow start, but its still Wimbledon. Having finally seen where the draw is on the new-look Wimbledon website I've had a look at who's likely to emerge through the draw.

Federer has a v straightforward draw for next couple of rounds in theory, after Lacko in 2nd round, he'll play Karlovic or Struff followed by Mannarino, Garcia-Lopez or Medvedev, and I don't think he'll be unduly tested in 3rd or 4th round (Medvedev may be the more potentially dangerous opponent though he's not forced to get through).

The next section, which will provide quarter-final opponent for Federer, looks pretty open, with Querrey, Muller, Monfils, Seppi and Anderson all with a shout - I'll go for Querrey to come through. Federer ought to get more stiff test in this match, but looks set to reach the semis in my opinion.

Next we have Cilic's section, and I don't see any danger for him in Rounds 2 or 3, though Raonic could be his 4th round opponent. Not sure that Raonic is playing at a high enough level
at moment to beat Cilic, but I suppose its possible if he keeps up a high 1st serve percentage.

The final section in top half of draw is where you would expect to see Isner to come through (though his record at Wimbledon isn't as good as you may think) - potential opportunity for Tsitsipas or recovering Wawrinka to come through - don't see either player unduly troubling Cilic, so I think the Federer v Cilic semi-final looks highly likely in top half.

Into the bottom half, Edmund and Djokovic are due to play in the 3rd round in one section- difficult to call that one - you'd probably have to give Djoko the nod due to his greater experience on grass, but Edmund definitely has a decent chance here and is playing well. Whoever wins that match ought to be favourite to reach the quarter-finals.

The next section it looks like Kyrgios and Zverev should come through, to play each other in the 4th round. Kyrgios served unbelievably well against Istomin yesterday, and you'd have to tip the Aussie to come through for potential quarter against Djokovic/Edmund.

In the next section Del Potro has a tricky sequence of matches coming up - first up Lopez in 2nd round, then potentially Shapovalov in 3rd round. Whoever wins that ought to reach the quarters. I'll go for Del Potro *if* he can get past Lopez - if not, will go for Shapovalov.

Finally, in Nadal's section he ought to be OK to get past Kukushkin and De Minaur/Herbert (the latter could test him though), and in theory we should get a Schwartzman v Nadal 4th round encounter. Schwartzman is playing very well and could push Nadal even more than he did at Roland Garros, though I would still give Nadal the nod on that one.

Still, plenty of tennis to be played, and plenty of time for me to be proven dramatically wrong on the above!

Cilic looking imperious but Stan the Man needs all three sets still to be played after the rain halted play last night.
The Man was two sets down and a break down in the third before getting back on serve and had two set points before the rain.
Caroline W after saving numerous MPs went out to Makarova who was fantastic -and awful - at times. CW was fairly ungracious about her opponent afterwards, saying she doubted she'd get much further.
Karlovic served 61 aces before succumbing 13-11 in the fifth to Struff.

Shame to see Karlovic out - the guy is a legend, but well played Struff for his perseverance in eventually getting a break in 5th set.

Today, Nadal is facing a sterner test against Kukushkin but has taken the 1st set, whilst Cilic now finds himself going into a 5th set against Pella. Katie Boulter lost to Osaka earlier and Edmund is due on later against Klahm.

Isner through, Wawrinka out. Kukushkin is happily producing UEs.

Kerber through edgily and now faces Osaka who could give her a great deal of trouble. Almost like watching two different matches observing Cilic today compared with yesterday. 3-1 up in the fourth set and a mini-break up in the tiebreak and now he is deep into a 5th.

And Pella goes on to beat Cilic from 2 sets down - definitely the shock of the tournament so far. Presumably Raonic will be the most obvious beneficiary of the Croat's loss in this section of the draw and in theory ought to go through from that quarter. Further along the line, if Federer is still in the tournament then, he'll much prefer Raonic as a semi-finalist than Cilic, as the former doesn't have the sustained groundstroke artillery to damage Federer. Lots of tennis to be played before then, and more shocks may happen...

Cilic: Well, what a surprise, particularly after being so dominant last night and being in a winning position in the fourth set today.
But we've seen Cilic lose from winning positions before. If I recall correctly he once managed to lose all his matches at the O2 after being a break up in the deciding set in each of them.
He was one of my tips for the title this year and everyone in the top half of the draw will be delighted to see him out.
Djoko and Nadal both two sets up. Rafa looking OK-ish but sure he can play better than this. Marathon man Isner saved two MPs to come thru in five.

Mug out and A Zverev two sets to one down. Edmund sets up a Djoko clash. Interesting to see when they'll schedule that one on Saturday to avoid the football. My guess is that it will be third on.
Konta looked quite dreadful in the bits I saw - constantly failing to make returns and whacking the ball over the baseline when in good positions.
The women's seeds have been scattered. Is this down to a rise in the overall standard of the women's game or is it down to undominant top players? Serena may not have much to do to reach the final.

@SFP: Thanks for keeping this thread going - plenty of talking points at Wimbledon so far this year despite the absence of posters on here.

There have been a few surprising losses this tournament so far and this carried on yesterday. Muller has been a dangerous grasscourter over the years but he lost in straight sets (all tie-breaks of course!) to Kohlschreiber, Shapovalov lost to the talented but under-achieving Paire whilst the in-form Schwartzman lost to Vesely, a big server, but a player who is not renowned for his grasscourt prowess. I think Zverev will repeat his 5 set heroics from Roland Garros by coming back to beat Fritz, but if he comes through that I can see further danger ahead for him in Gulbis.

With the upsets so far, my predictions have gone a bit awry, so at the risk of further embarrassment, I am expecting quarters between Federer and Querrey, Raonic and Isner (or Tsitsipas), Djokovic v Kyrgios, Del Potro v Nadal (or Fognini). I think Nadal has a couple of tough matches coming up - rising Aussie star De Minaur and then potentially Fognini. Whilst I think he'll go onto the quarters and lose to Del Potro, there is a chance of a defeat to Fognini with his shotmaking.

Muguruza is a big loss in the womens draw - she was arguably the favourite going into this tournament, and with her, Kvitova, Stephens and Wozniacki out a few big names have left early. From what I've seen of Serena she still looks a bit below her best - not quite as sharp on the big points as previously. In the top half of draw you'd think Halep and Kerber would meet in the semi (outside chance for Bencic though perhaps?), whilst in the lower half we may have an all Williams semi-final or Pliskova vs Serena.

In answer to your question about upsets in the womens' game and standard, I do actually think the strength in depth in the womens' game has improved, and there are far more competitive matches in the 1st week now (Van Uytvanck was brilliant against Muguruza yesterday). Whilst there can still be some one-sided matches between big names, the recent WTA slam finals have been entertaining and competitive and I am hopeful this trend can continue next Saturday.

I think overall it’s turning into a great tourney.

The (many !) upsets are down to some genuinely impressive performances by the lesser lights - even if aided & abetted by the defeated seeds.

Meanwhile .... not sure just how much more I can take of Sue Barker’s repetitive, meaningless - and simply tiresome - babble. Do wish the Beeb would give her a (very long) break ; but sadly it seems like they have decided she’s indispensable. Oh dear.

I don’t imagine there have been too many matches when Struff would have played much better than he has done over these last two sets. But sadly he lost both of them.

Edmund's not losing this one.

Amidst the excitement of the World Cup, today has been a day of further upsets, the biggest being Halep's loss to Hsieh. Hsieh is clearly a dangerous player on her day but given her confidence from Roland Garros I would have expected Halep to go through. Kerber the obvious candidate in top half to go through to final, but given how this tournament has panned out so far, we can't be too certain!

Elsewhere, as I predicted, Gulbis proved a handful for Zverev and beat him in 5 sets (bagel in the 5th!). Gulbis came through qualifying and is in great form now though yet again a loss for Zverev in a slam against an opponent who was able to raise their game an extra notch. Bit of a surprise that Vesely beat Fognini, and next up for the big-serving Czech is Nadal, who had another solid performance beating Di Minaur today. Del Potro won in straights though lost his serve a few times to the sometimes brilliant bearded hipster Frenchman Paire and as I write this, Djokovic is about to serve for the match against Edmund to win in 4 sets.

Did anyone see that point earlier in 4th set where Edmund won the point despite the racket falling out of his hands? Looked like a double-bounce and Djokovic was furious - was one of those moments they will probably put on the 'What Happened Next' bit on Question of Sport 1 day.

Nishikori now 2 sets up on Kyrgios - organisers probably praying that Kei finishes it off in this set - otherwise the match won't get completed til Monday, disrupting the schedule somewhat - if so, they'll feel a bit silly for not moving this match to another court earlier this evening to ensure it gets completed.

Manic Monday today when all players left take to the court. Looks like Rafa may well have to get past both delpo and Djokovic to make the final. There were signs of the old Djoko in his win over Edmund. This could be a big tournament for him.

Monfils v Anderson looks an interesting one ..... two very different styles.

Monfils - IF he can stay fit, composed and in the zone - would also represent a threat to Federer, with four wins over him to date.

Rather surprised to see the odds for Rafa and Djokovic : they are both still being offered at what consider a generous 5/1 for the title. Decided to put a little something on each of them ; and also on Delpo, who is at 8/1.

Don’t see much of a future for the tennis forum now, sadly.

If even ‘manic Monday’ at Wimbledon can’t generate interest, then I’m really not sure there’s any value in posting. Shame ..... it used to be so active at Slam time

I suppose it's too late for Struff puns?

I also meant to come on here a week or two ago and predict Nadal to reach at least the quarter final and maybe the final but I think I forgot. I've always felt it was never clear cut how much of an issue the knees are or are not on grass for him, and I think he's had more than his fair share of early exits here.

Unfortunately too busy to watch it, although I admit I do find time for world cup knockout matches, I mean the world cup is every 4 years and slams are 4 times a year...16 times more often. So if you like football and tennis equally it isn't much of a contest...unless there is a Federer v Nadal/other big opponent final, then some difficult decisions may be made, and something is going to have to get recorded.

I"m not buying this "Manic" labelling, that's just some media attempt to make themselves look clever isn't it. Unfortunately, the exciting Monday in recent years always seems to coincide with a busy day when I have to be at work and I can't do more than look at the scores.

average age of quaterfinalists says it all


but talking tennis:

nadal is playing nice, so I expect him to beat delpo in quarters
we are close to a nadal nole semifinal, and that would be nice

Federer through with minimum of fuss - hardly been tested (won 1st set in 16 minutes!), but could he bit undercooked if he reaches the final. Next up against Anderson - Fed tends to eat slow moving big servers for breakfast and I'm struggling to see Anderson being the 1st to break Fed's serve.

Good win for Isner over the v talented and watchable Tsitsipas (check out the diving volleys a la Becker from the young Greek player), who's up against Raonic next - surely there'll be a tie-break or 2 in that one.

Del Potro has been labouring in his matches somewhat, and couldn't quite put Simon away - their match going into a 4th set due to be completed tomorrow and will play Nadal if he comes through. Normally I would give Del Potro more than a reasonable chance of beating Nadal at Wimbledon but Nadal is playing v well, looking v comfortable and Del Potro is having too many dips in play, and can't see Nadal dropping more than 1 set here.

Djkovic v Nishikori looks to be the pick of the quarters for me. Kei has been something of a surprise package during this tournament. Grass is hardly his best surface but he's managed to beat 2 potentially tricky players Kyrgios and Gulbis with a minimum of fuss. I'd still go for Djokovic in this one just, but wouldn't be surprised if this match goes the distance.

Finally, whilst its been quiet on here, I think we'll get a lot more traffic post mens' final, as whoever wins there will be quite a big story, and plenty of interest in slam totals and how it affects standing in the game.

Djokovic results suggest he's easing through? Anyone been watching him? All the big four still involved, although Murray only from the commentary box. Slightly surprised to see him there commentating on his competitors while still playing.

Apart from the big 4, plenty of exits. Federer's side of the draw looks light, but you never know, and he lost to Raonic at Wimbledon only maybe a couple of years ago.

They ought to allow resales for all tickets for the final this year*, or make it easy to sell them back to Wimbledon at least. If it's Federer-Nadal final, or as long as it's still in play as a possibility, some people will want to pay well over the odds to get in while others will want to watch the football world cup final (especially if England make it) and will be looking to shift their ticket.

In fact any Federer final is likely to be sought after, because he's so popular, and it could he his last, and if not Nadal he looks set to at least have some kind of big opponent in the final.

*Of course they won't though.

lags72 wrote:Don’t see much of a future for the tennis forum now, sadly.

If even ‘manic Monday’ at Wimbledon can’t generate interest, then I’m really not sure there’s any value in posting. Shame ..... it used to be so active at Slam time

Yes, even last year we had an average of about 50 posts a day during Wimbledon. A shame but there are still some good posts. Hopefully a few posters will also return when Murray starts his comeback in earnest.