Roger Federer wins record 15th grand slam title at Wimbledon

Roger Federer wins record 15th grand slam title at Wimbledon

London, England—Wimbledon

Die the way you live, don’t drag it out. That’s the way to go.

—John Dillinger

Perhaps, never has a tennis match meant more than today. With a late arrival from the former King himself; Roger Federer and Andy Roddick contested one of the most memorable matches in grand slam history.

To the credit of each player, this was a tennis match by every definition of the word. There were no over done fist pumps, or unusual mannerisms, no consent glances of approval towards the players box, certainly no room for error.

When encapsulating such an event, it is first relevant to suggest the way in which each player imposed themselves on each other.

For the most part, Federer and Roddick could have mirrored two factory workers, on the same page of life, going through the motions, during a drawn out week full of nothing but headaches and smoking lunch breaks.

There was never really a time during today’s event when each player displayed any sort of connection towards one another. If anything, the two combatants could have bumped into one another and murmured, ya I know… it’s hot in here today, can’t wait for the week to end. But that is the utter beauty of what transpired on Center Court today, this cherished Sunday.

Never was there a time where Federer was playing against Roddick, or Andy was worried about a Federer forehand; it was more about trying to deal with history, and in some instances prevent it.

From the onset of the match it was vivid what Roddick’s tactics would be. Today would not be the run of the mill, ordinary Andy Roddick versus Roger Federer match-up: One full of sound shattering serves by Roddick, only to have them placed back with the effortless follow- through of the Swiss.

Today would be centered around sheer tactics, mono y mono; and it didn’t need to be pretty.

Okay, let’s admit it, there was some darn nice looking tennis out there today.

With Andy storming through the first set, on the strength of spin placed serving, Federer was surprisingly down one-set-to-love—come back mode. No more praying for 15 aces to win a set for Roddick.

The evident words of coach Stefanki were resonating through the hook forehands and compact backhands of Roddick—Andy has never hit his backhand as well.

With the second set destined for a shoot-out tie-breaker, Federer’s aura of calmness had evaporated. Credit goes to Roddick for spontaneously deciding to play with precision, rather than power.

Then the unthinkable happened. Just when it seemed like Roddick was ready to take a two-sets-to-love lead, and put his stamp on his first ever Wimbledon crown, an errant high backhand miss not only cost him the set, but perhaps many insomnia driven nights.

They always said that high backhand volley was a tough one.

At one set a piece, Federer and Roddick remained coerced in the demise of potential history—two more sets would have to be one by each.

Although the second set was a once in a lifetime for Andy, the proceedings of set three still had him holding the mental edge. Simply put, he had not lost his serve at all; with Federer looking surprising flat off of the ground.

The magnitude of a gamut of grand slam Champions in the Royal box, was beginning to pick away at the sweat-less brow of the mighty Swiss. Not only was Roddick serving smart, but Pete, Bjorn and Rod were watching. The demand was for greatness.

For one reason or another, Roger could not pick up anything off of the Roddick delivery. Was it a technical change by the American, or tactical resign? Federer was befuddled to say the least.

The key to Roddick’s success on serve today was encouraged by his commitment to staying the course. He was not concerned with out-acing Federer; if history had taught Andy anything, it was that Roger owned that department hands down. Getting Federer into a tie-breaker format would be more than welcomed by the American.

Another descriptive and enhanced addition into Roddick’s success today, which was dismal in the past, was his ability not to be reeled into the net as often as Roger would have liked. Many instances throughout the encounter saw Roger would hit his mischievous chip backhand short, in order to bring Andy into the net. To Roddick’s credit, he would often times hit an inside-out forehand and barrel back to the baseline. If this were the NBA finals, Roddick would have scored high points for the pump fake. In your face Fed.

With tumbling confusion and mistrust creeping into Federer’s return game, the Roddick window of opportunity opened ever so slightly in the third set ‘breaker—a now or never moment, was in order.

To Federers credit, his genius kicked in just in time, with the Swiss dropping his synchronized serves in every desired corner—Roddick was left to ponder: two-sets-t0-one-down, and not losing his serve once?

Shadows of Stefan Edberg losing to Michael Stich during the ‘91 Championships were ever present—could Roddick lose to Federer, without ever losing his serve?

Unlike the great Swede Edberg, Roddick would not go down without Federer having to come up with one brake of serve. Preferably a four set win would have been desired by Roddick, but an uncharacteristic flaky game by the Swiss during the 2-1 game in set four, saw Roddick poised to take Wimbledon into his third straight 5th set final.

Did we all know what we were in for, when the final set of this year fortnight began?

A show of hands for all you tarot card readers out there?

With a serving display like no other, the dynasty which was the final set alone, had begun. Aces a plenty, were to be followed by either a nod of approval, or a bewildered return to compensate. This thing was going the distance.

The first point of each service game would become the landmark for how each game would be won; each player was fully engaged in the task of service mechanics, and not ability to make inroads on the others delivery. Uncertainly, regarding how this thing was actually going to end, was not only puzzling the millions watching, but also the two generous participants.

A few break points were offered here and there, with Federer serving, yes folks, a record 50 aces to fend off any American adversity. Let it be known, that even though Federer had a record serving day, at 14-all in the fifth set, Roddick, not Federer was the man who had never conceded a single service.

With score holding Federer with a slight 15-14 edge, the bright sunlight was shining down, with only a frown from the newly designed roof. Clouds which never bled once throughout the fortnight, where on standby—the final game commenced.

A ready Swiss was willing to give the return thing another shot. The seemingly wiry American stepped up to the line to do what he had done so well for four plus hours—never lose serve.

With the first two points gone, ala a missed backhand in the net, and a shank forehand, Federer was given as good a shot as he had during the contest to break serve. Roddick’s first serve had suddenly deserted him; not a feeling one wants to have during the 30th game of the final set.

Another missed first serve, set up history—a tight and tense second serve was on the way. Federer would be content to put the ball back any which way he could, it was of course history in his way and not Roddick on his plate.

An unfortunate miss-timed forehand by Andy was all it took, one final shot which supplanted the greatness which composed the front row in the Royal box to an acknowledgment one member to be slightly higher.

Final score: 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 16-14.

When sporting events, such as the one which took place today occur, all parties involved, are left to wonder: how in the world was that even possible?

The numerical score, which indicates the winner and loser is often easily digested, but when one takes into account the sheer athleticism, and mental fortitude it took for these two great players to showcase their abilities in the grandest and perhaps most meaningful tennis match to date—no loser was left on court today.

In many ways it was really a shame that Andy Roddick did not pull this match out. Not to spoil Federer’s coronation as the GOAT in anyway—I mean that was pretty cool to see.

But when looking at tennis as a whole, it’s always nice to have as many well equip hungry soldiers as possible in the mix at the top.Roddick is certainly now floating very high in the mix, after his splendid fortnight.

It is not to say, having Federer become the highest holder of grand slam hardware is a bad thing. If more people do not become tennis fans after the Wimbledon finals of the past three seasons, then maybe sports are not their thing.

At any rate, after 171 winners in total (it doesn’t matter, who hit how many), the premonition of Wimbledon becoming the breeding ground for tennis’ grandest Champion, has finally come to fruition.

Look closely however, and you will find that Roger Federer was not the only one who left his mark on Center Court today. There was also this Gentlemen from Texas who without question gained the respect of each and everyone who had ever raised a doubt.

No matter what people tell you, don’t ever forget for a second, that two married guys played one of the greatest matches to ever grace any tennis on the planet today, period.

Dedication and focus, begins and ends, in all walks and stages of life.

Wimbledon review. Day 12 action. Federer makes seventh straight Wimbledon final, faces Roddick

London, England—Wimbledon

Records a plenty

On the cusp of tennis’ immortal throne, Roger Federer poured in another vintage Center Court performance today.

After a relatively tight first set, one in which Federer’s opponent Tommy Haas was playing out of his mind for the most part, the shot making of the Swiss was elevated to lead one set to love.

That is when, whether Haas liked it or not, the match was all but over.

You see, Federer prides himself on the many accolades and records which he holds. To be honest, he would be more than happy to share most of them with you, if ask. Perhaps one stat however, which does not warrant Roger to member, a stat which is not engraved on the “pat on the back” chalkboard in his mind— the insurmountable advantage he gains when winning set one in a major.

136-0 to be exact.

With the first set tucked away in orderly fashion, in his “man purse” no less, Federer began to open up his variety of shot, and make his German opponent feel his environment even more.

Haas did compete well today, there is no question. But when you take into account the level of tennis which he was called upon to produce on a consistent basis, the yells to his supporters box were to no avail.

At times, Tommy appeared to resemble a seal in dire need of finding some H20. Although his net attacking tactics where necessary, one could sense that the desperate and wishful nature which he came in, was premature on many occasions.

But what is a guy to do right?

With that being said, Haas was at no fault for being dismissed 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, 6-3. Federer is great under normal circumstances, but when he is floating in the angelic form which he displayed today, it is simply scary.

For the match, and there is no typo here, Federer won 89 percent for his first serve points. He also struck 11 aces, and won 81 percent of his second serve points. Added to his flawless serving prowess today, Roger broke the Haas serve on two occasions, once in the second set, and once in the third set—never allowing a single break opportunity on his own delivery.

Another interesting Federer stat which was surfaced throughout today’s contest, had the Swiss only losing serve twice in seven Wimbledon semifinal affairs. Hopefully Haas didn’t see that stat before taking the court today. Would it have really mattered?

For lack of any better or over used superlatives, Federer was simply awesome today.

With the win, the five time Wimbledon champ heads towards the gates of standing a top the totem pole of tennis greatness. A win on Sunday would distances himself from Pete Sampras’ record of 14 majors.

Fed already has one record sealed over the great Sampras; making seven straight finals in London. Will Sampras attend the final match on Sunday? There have been a few rumors going back and forth. Will Federer pick up the tab on the flight? You would like to think so.

Hopefully, Pete will not be chilling back in Cali, watching the match in HD. Shame on you Pete.

Hass, who will improve his ranking into the lower teens after his fantastic fortnight, had this to say after going down to perhaps, the GOAT.

“You know, overall pretty happy with the way I played overall. I served extremely well. So did my opponent today. You know, I only got broken there at 5?6 in the second set for the first time after having a long, long game back and forth. I think maybe I was trying to go for a little bit too much then and not following up, being aggressive, coming into the net. ”

Don’t worry Tommy you’re not the only one.

“You know, he took the first chance. The same thing happened in the third when he broke me at 3?4, you know, a long game with chances, game points for me. ”

Well my friend, the greats can capitalize on their chances.

“Overall I’m pretty happy with the way I played. Just sometimes on these little tiny points that could have made a little difference, maybe just came up short, making too easy unforced error for my liking. But overall pretty happy.”

Those “tiny chances” are what makes Federer, Federer, and not winning those “tiny chances” are what makes Haas, Haas.

When Tommy was asked if there are any potential weaknesses in the Federer game, he came up with his quaint formulation.

“There aren’t really any weaknesses. You know, I think he moves such smooth ways and has such good defensive play. The slice bites a lot. You know, when you think sometimes you might get a relatively easy volley, he kind of either dinks it in front of you, or he made two spectacular slice lobs over my head at important points.”

Those two spectacular slice will undoubtedly haunt Haas for sometime to come.

The turn around of sorts which Federer has endured in the past month or so, capturing the Madrid title, then the French, and now the finals of Wimbledon, will have the Swiss in confident mode. Appearing unbreakable, the title on Sunday is well within reach.

“Yeah, I mean, look, I’m very proud of all the records I’ve achieved, because I never thought I would be, you know, that successful as a kid. You know, I would have been happy winning a couple tournaments and maybe collecting Wimbledon, you know, sort of achieving the dream scenario, you know.

But not really all those records. But it’s quite staggering now, you know, having reached again I think it’s my sixth straight Grand Slam final I’ve achieved, as well. Having so many things going for me now again, opportunity again on Sunday, it’s fantastic.

Quite amazing to be back in the Wimbledon final already because it seems like now all of a sudden everything happened very quickly.”

One quick correction Roger (not that you need many), you have made seven straight finals in London.

After the finishing touches on the Haas encounter, Federer was left with only one minor point of concern heading into Sunday’s final.

Would his finals opponent be the Queen, and Andy Murray (all of England involved no doubt). Or Andy Roddick and Larry Stefanki, attempting once again, to solve the Swiss riddle?

Well, if there was ever a reason to question, a return to prominence after a relatively dismal 2008; good karma, and now a good draw will await the 14-time grand slam champ in Sunday’s final.

No Queen for Murray

Coming into the 2009 season, American Andy Roddick had one simple, sole objective: to win one more grand slam title.

To do so, things would have to change. The current crop of tennis stars were faster, better and younger—Roddick had fallen off a touch.

But with a commitment to improvement, perhaps like no other, Roddick was willing to do whatever was required to grab some “major” hardware.

First on the list would be to find a coach who cares, and more importantly one who knows how to improve and elevate the level of a players game—check mark to Larry Stefanki.

Second, a proposition would have to be made to combat the viral liabilities in his game. The backhand, movement, volley and return. Check mark to those improvements.

The final and last quirk, which would be the most difficult to implement would be the actual execution. Yes, Andy would actually have to employ what he learned and make a move.

Well folks, after countless years of searching for the answers to his adversities, Roddick finally has what he has yearned for since 2006, a grand slam final.

With his actions coming at the despair of all of Britain, Andy Roddick poured in his best performance, maybe ever, to defeat 3rd seed Andy Murray today, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-5).

The result was quite shocking to be honest, considering the fact that Murray owned a convincing 6-2 head-to-head lead going in. Murray had also won the pairs lone grass-court match during Wimbledon 2006— a much more competent Murray stood before us.

With all the stats, and previous losses in the forefront of Roddick’s vision, he began his semifinal with Murray the way every tennis match should be played—different day, anything can happen.

Roddick conducted himself under tone strict conviction this afternoon: belief, belief and more belief. His serve was blasting up the unmarked backstop; relentlessly on each side of the court. His return game had more clarity; not too much, and not too little. And finally his net game which has on occasion has been suspect, was employed the way it should be, as a finishing shot.

Murray by contrast was equally as competent throughout. His serve provided more aces than Roddick (25-21), his first serve percentages out weighed Roddick’s (83-77). Finally Murray’s second serve, “your only as good as your second serve”?, won a higher percentage, (53-51).

So what went wrong for Murray today? Was it more a question of Roddick playing with more rigor, or Murray just not winning the big points?

The latter seems to be fitting.

There were ample opportunities for the Scot to prosper in his contest. His five squandered break point chances, spearheaded his set point in the second set ‘breaker. Simply put, Roddick would not allow Murray to squeeze through the window.

Murray’s sand in hand chances were diminishing rapidly. A lame audible obscenity was driven his way, and the crowd for one reason or another never got their rally caps cued. Oh wait, aren’t the Brits too proper for rally cap?

Nevertheless, a few shoe string volleys and an utterly composed American become too much for the Brit’s home-country hopeful. 1936 and counting will resonate.

The serve of Roddick simply made the difference in the end.

Murray had this to say after another year of not having the Queen attend on the final Sunday.

“I thought I played well. I mean, you know, if you look at the stats, I hit more winners, less unforced errors, more aces. I’m sure the points that we won were very, very similar. It just came down to a few points here or there on his serve.

And he served really, really well. You know, very close to the lines. Hitting at that pace, at such a high percentage, I think he was high 70s for a lot of the match. You know, sometimes there’s not a whole lot you can do with that. But definitely didn’t play a bad match.”

Murray will once again head home to Miami, believe it or not, to rest, prepare and hope for a better results during the U.S. Open Series.

Roddick, on the winning hand, will head towards his third Wimbledon final, a match in which he will be the significant underdog.

For now, however, Roddick can rejoice and ponder the passing of a successful fortnight. One in which he will feverishly share with his 30 thousand plus, Twitter faithful.

Roddick had this to say after advancing to his first major final in three seasons.

“Yeah, I mean, you know, you don’t go back to a Wimbledon final by accident. It certainly is a process. And it’s probably been a longer process than I would have liked.

But, you know, I’ve enjoyed, you know, everything that has kind of gone into it.”

Hard work and dedication have certainly been the cornerstones of Roddick’s successful and decade long career.

We must however look ahead, in tennis there is always the “next” match, a prediction and analysis to follow—it’s what tennis writers live for write?

At any rate, your 2009 Wimbledon men’s final will include Roger Federer, and Andy Roddick. No need to keep an eye out for Mirka, Larry, Brooklyn or Doug—tv time will be allotted.

The primary concern for Roddick will be defy the odds and not remember his 2-18 head-t0-head against Federer.

Federer on the other hand will be checking out a print-out for the pairs head-to-head, up until they show him heading onto Center Court.

With the odds of a positive outcome being slim-to-none for Roddick, the match must be played, and the American must be given a shot. Federer would not approach it any other way.

With the Queen absent for yet another hallow year, a potential historic Sunday may still be on deck for the Brit’s to embrace. Although the attendees of Sunday’s final would never admit that they are disappointed about the contest at hand, English etiquette will be upheld.

One lushes green virtue is for certain, the two best men are standing at the end of the fortnight (regardless of what people tell you, that is the way it goes). The grace of the Swiss, and the dedication of the American will provide an abundance of aces and angles to the viewing pleasure of the cathedral of tennis.

Two married dudes, and a Wimbledon final await.

Wimbledon review. Day 10 review. Federer makes semis; Haas, Murray and Roddick complete final four

21 in a row

Going into today’s match with ace machine Ivo Karlovic, second seed Roger Federer had one primary concern to engage in the destruction of his Croatian opponent: break serve.

Although, the task of spitting back the Karlovic delivery had been a daunting project for any player during the fortnight; Roger Federer is not your mere mortal tennis player.

Through blessed hand-eye coordination, and the willingness to stalk the baseline, with no fear, the Swiss went straight to work, both by carving and smashing back the atomic speeds of Iv0’s strength.

Karlovic had not lost his serve going into today’s quarterfinal. Players such and Tsogna and Verdasco had felt the wrath of numerous aces whizzing by their deuce and ad side ambitions—neither player was able to achieve one break point in their respective encounters against the Croatian.

Then came along Federer.

With a routine 23 minute first set, which was highlight by the first crack in the Karlovic serve, thus far in the fortnight, Federer was on his way.

Even a shaded Karlovic (perhaps to shield his eyes not only from the sun, but the inclination as to where he would place his serve), would not be enough against the well adept Swiss.

You are going to have to do much better than throwing on a pair of sunglasses to defeat Roger Federer.

With the second set being a tad closer, Federer once again displayed his great return game late in set two, in order to pick up an insurmountable 2-sets-to-love-lead. Karlovic was leaning more towards 6′3″ by the end of the second set.

But what would a Karlovic match be without a tie-breaker? Could it even be possible?

Well apparently not, and Center Court and the two participants would not want it any other way.

Federer’s short chip return, became the feature play in the third set ‘breaker, which paid dividends once again against his towering opponent. The Swiss capped off a straight set victory against a man, many had struggled with.

Final score: 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3).

Karlovic had never come back from a two sets deficit (0-11 lifetime), with the irony of today’s match being: You simply can’t serve big to Roger, you must serve smart.

In order for Karlovic to have any sort of a chance against Federer going forward, he must develop more variety in his service delivery. Otherwise he will not be able to rattle Roger and improve on his lone victory against the Swiss.

The bottom line here is the following: Ivo’s game is predicated on the serve, and when playing a player of Federer’s stature one needs much more than a booming serve to advance. With Karlovic having such a weak backhand return, all the top guys relentlessly serve to that corner—awaiting their break opportunities. Federer is surely one of those players.

Federer candidly had this to say after his defeat of the best server in the business.

“I don’t play him every week, so it’s okay,” smiled Federer, after facing a player who has hit 170 aces in five matches. “Otherwise, if all the guys would be serving like that, that would be tough.”

Come on Roger, you wouldn’t mind that much?

With the win, Federer upholds a few, highly significant winning streaks. First, he has won 17 straight matches dating back to his Madrid victory. Secondly, he advances to his seventh straight Wimbledon semifinal, in as many years. Finally, the Swiss reaches a truly outstanding 21st semifinal in a major—a record which will be hard pressed to broken anytime soon.

The confident Swiss will now look forward to meeting an unheralded opponent in the final four. With all eyes pointing towards 3rd seed Novak Djokovic being the Federer’s next opponent, German Tommy Haas had different ideas.

Haas-ing some fun

With a win over Novak Djokovic in the finals of Halle, a week before entering the fortnight, Tommy Haas was confident.

The German was coming off of a resurrection of sorts, reaching the fourth round in Paris, and once again believing in his abilities.

With a shaken Djokovic, Haas jumped out to a closely won first set. His backhand was on target, and his first serve was clipping each and every line—chalk in Novak’s eyes.

The second set provided a slightly closer affair with each player have numerous chances. Haas should have closed out the set 7-5, but meekly choked his service game away. With Novak given a second life, the Serbians prospects seemed to be blossoming.

But with nerves of his own, Novak wilted away in the second set ‘breaker to the tune of a 6-3, triple set-point opportunity. In true context of the set, another momentum shift was about to take place. Haas managed to fight off the three set points, capturing the final five points of the ‘breaker to lead by two sets. A despondent and unhappy Serb, appeared to be on his way out.

With a slight resurgence in set three, Djokovic dug his heals in, and made himself appear like the 4th seed—a straight set defeat would have been embarrassing.

A healthy start to the fourth set was utterly important to Novak sticking around. But for some reason his body language did not lend any advantage to a positive outcome.

Usually a player who is full of vibrant life and self-confidence, was diminished to a introverted, contained shy 21-year-old. Odd!

With no pep in his step, Haas, willing and able, took advantage of a sluggish Djokovic, to not only send the Serb packing, but propel himself to his deepest stage of the world’s premier tournament.

Final score: 7-5, 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-3.

The stand out memory of this match will be left with the lackluster performance of the Serb. Not taking anything away from Haas, he has played superbly thus far in the fortnight, and deserves every accolade of respect.

But when looking deeper into his opponent today, Haas’ victory seems pale in comparison. What’s wrong with Novak?

First off, Djokovic has shown the exact same body language in his last five grand slam defeats. Dating back to his meltdown against Safin at years Championships, to his sup-par effort against Roger Federer in New York. Let’s not forget his withdrawal to Roddick in Australia (defending champ, no less), and his inexplicable loss to Philipp Kohlschreiber in Paris. The most recent being the obviously, relatively routine dismissal to Haas today.

If there was ever a constant to look for in a tennis player—a darn good tennis player in that—it would be Djokovic’s big time meltdowns in major events.

Alas, another bad-day on court for the abundance talent which Djokoivc possesess—a summer vacation maybe in order before a more hopeful, hard-court season commences.

With Novak out of the way, Haas will now move onto his first ever Wimbledon semifinal. The German will be in tough against Federer, a place he will gladly accept at this point.

Federer and Haas have 11 times in the career head-to-head encounters, with the Swiss owning a commanding 9-2 lead. The pair have met on twice on grass, with Roger winning both encounters.

Should be some great grass tennis for a set or so, with Federer not letting Haas stand in the way of history.

Final four for Murray

There a few helpful circumstances which can aid to the success of a tennis player in a major event. The first being good form, the second being crowd support and the last being an easy draw.

Well, with the draw Gods shining down on Andy Murray throughout this fortnight, the Scot not only entered SW19 full of confidence, but undoubtedly with a Nation behind his cause.

Putting aside the helpful circumstance which were mentioned, except of course Murray’s cup-cake draw, his form and confidence were not that prevalent today.

The dangers of wild card Juan Carlos Ferrero were not grand going in. If not for the name sakes of the actual “wild card”, Murray pretty much had every aspect of this grass-court match-up under control.

From the onset of the contest, Murray appear ultra sharp. His returns were deep, and his serve was cooking in the corners. His ability to shut down the immense pressures of playing at home, have been spectacular.

With Ferrero staying close in set one, it was of utter importance for the Spaniard to proceed with a sound lead. But with a late set break by the Scot, the day was all but over for JCF.

The second and third sets were a mere formality for Murray, doing as he pleased throughout, with Ferrero taking spectator status.

On the strength of 88 percent of first serve points won, 18 aces, and 5 breaks of serve, the Brits had what they wanted—only two more to go.

Ferrero had this to say about Murray’s chance going forward.

“Well, he has two matches to play, so we cannot say he’s the winner yet.

Of course, he’s playing very well. He’s moving well in this court. He’s serving very well. So of course he has a lot of chances to win. But he has two matches left. He will suffer, for sure.”

Wise words by a player who has been there, done that.

Murray had this to offer in regards to his performance today.

“I thought the second and third sets were very good. The first set I served very well, but made quite a lot of mistakes from the back. Hit the ball pretty short.

Yeah, obviously very happy to win in straight sets because, you know, the first set was tough. But I settled down after that.”

With his best ever Wimbledon performance to date, Murray will now await the challenge of another former world number one player, and a man who desperately wants to reach another final in England—Andy Roddick.

Overtime

You will be hard pressed to find two warriors who are more intense and dedicated towards their profession, than Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt.

There have good times, followed be many bad times for each, but in the constant eye of adversity, both players have risen to the challenge of the obstacles in front of them and persevered.

Today would be no different, with the former world number ones, and grand slams champs ready to give the crowd on Court 1, the match of the fortnight.

The intentions for each were clear—seasoned veterans have that ability.

With Roddick setting the tone early, it was evident that a serving display was on the horizon. His compact motion appeared mechanical as ever, but effective none-the-less.

Hewitt by contrast showed the ill effects of his previous five set match with Stepanek. A groin pull and a reoccurring hip strain were present. Hewitt’s movement, his greatest asset was in jeopardy.

With the first set in Roddick’s back pocket, it appeared as though Hewitt would have to live off of his 2002 trophy as his last fond memory in England.

But a tight second set, which featured a tug-of-war tie-break, one in which featured 3 set points per player, saw the Australian find life—at least four sets would be played.

With the third set mirroring the second sets scoreline, both players were going through the motions of attempting to crack each other, and move towards a two-sets-to-one lead. A lame serve and volley by Roddick, which began proceedings in the third set ‘breaker, all but sent gloom and doom for the American.

In uncharacteristic fashion, Hewitt squandered the suspect play for Roddick, malfunctioning in a big way, and letting 7 straight points race by.

Advantage Roddick.

It appeared for all the world that Andy would distance himself and run away with set four. An early break of serve to go ahead 2-0 would indicate such promise.

But Hewitt, who had never been taught the meaning of defeat, scrabbled and varied his game adequately, with the intention of bringing forth a fifth set. The fifth set is all about Hewitt.

With the scoreline dead solid even, a final set which saw almost an hour on court, had both player thriving on the crowd, as well as the years of many battles in their bodies.

Roddick’s serve was simply the deciding factor in this encounter. With 43 aces, his service games become much more routine in the latter stages of the match. By contrast, Hewiit was forced to endure many drawn out deuce games in order to stay alive.

Serving the for the match, Roddick finally experienced ecstasy when Hewitt’s final forehand volley sailed past the baseline. The old school battle was over.

Wow, what a fight.

Who says we need Nadal and Roger to light up a tennis court these days? Roddick and Hewiit would have something to say about that.

Hewitt had this to say after his disappointed defeat.

“Yeah. You know you’re going to get aced a lot. I knew that going into the match. Yeah, you’re gonna get some breakpoints and you’re going to see them go pretty quickly as well.

It was a matter of trying to hang in there as much as possible and make him play that extra shot. I was nearly able to do it.”

Even though Hewitt exits Wimbledon, you would have to think that his Wimbledon performance would elevate him for the rest of 2009.

Roddick will now look forward to the challenge of Andy Murray. The pair have contested 8 matches lifetime, with the Scot holding a commanding 6-2 lead. Murray also holds the pairs only grass-court win, which took place during the 2006 Championships.

After a day of scintillating tennis, the semifinals are set, and some great tennis is still ahead of us.

I will have a semifinal preview from Wimbledon shortly. Enjoy folks.

Wimbledon review. Day 8 action. Federer makes quarters; Murray, Djokovic and Hewitt through to final eight

London, England—Wimbledon

Same old

Coming into today’s match against Robin Soderling, there were not many pundits who fancied the Swedes chances. A) Soderling had never defeated Roger Federer, and B) the Swiss was playing on his second nature surface. All roads led to yet another loss for the Sod.

Although the encounter was close, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) to be exact, it was Federer whom displayed his unbreakable focus which history has been highlighted on the grass. Come on, the guy feels good on the lawns!

Roger has on occasion allowed for the results to be close on grass; but somehow always embodying the armor of victory.

Today was no different, with Soderling playing huge as usual, cracking his forehand, banging his serve and allowing Federer, little to no rhythm. Quite alright by Roger’s standards.

With power being the lone backing for the Swede, Federer’s chip backhand became the showcase shot of the contest. Roger has always had this uncanny ability of appearing out of a point, and recovering just in time to extend his arm (just enough) to catch the desired amount of under-spin required, creating discomfort for his opponents up-coming shot.

Along with his serve, Federer’s slice backhand are the primary reasons he has captured five out of six titles in London.

Just in case you thought Soderling did not play solid today, the Swede dropped 16 aces, and won 91 percent of his first serve points. He also lost his serve on one occasion, which was to lose the first set.

Federer by contrast pounded 23 aces, won 88 percent of his first serve points, and maxed-out at 130 mph on his biggest serve.

With the win, Federer up keeps his stellar undefeated mark in the round of sixteen at Wimbledon. He’s also on pace for his sixth title at the All England Club, which remains three wins away. Just in case you haven’t heard it in a while, a win on Sunday would put Federer as the all time grand slam leader. History is so close.

But before history can be potentially written, R-Fed will have to go through a cast of three more characters before the gold trophy can be touched.

Federer had this to say after his win over Soderling, as well as his outlook towards the remainder of the tournament.

“I stayed calm, waited for my chance, and thank God I came up with a good forehand when I had to in the breaker. It was always gonna be hard for him to keep serving those big second serves when they really mattered. That’s why I wasn’t particularly surprised he hit a double?fault at 5?All in the breaker.”

“Just being relaxed out on court. You know, no signs of panics, what I maybe had, you know, six months ago when I played. I would just feel uneasy. I wouldn’t be exactly sure what the right plays were.

Now I feel perfect. You know, so from this standpoint it was great. I think I’m moving well, serving well. My rhythm from the baseline is well. So, you know, I’m just really, really pleased from this aspect.”

The good news going forward for Federer will be that his next opponent will be very reminiscent of the one he defeated today, Ivo Karlovic.

The ace doctor ousted the second highest seeded player to be bounced thus far in the event, Fernando Verdasco.

Karlovic struck a mere 35 aces, and won 94 percent of his first serve points. Not bad for Ivo’s standards—not sure if there has ever been a higher first serve percent won in a match?

Verdasco was seen struggling just to get his racket on the velocity of Karlovic’s serves, the agony was ever present. The faux-hawk drops to 3-1.

In saying that Verdasco was close in the 7-6(7-5) 6-7(4-7) 6-3 7-6(7-9) loss (surprised to see some ‘breakers?)

But when a player is up against the biggest serve in the history of the game, if no breaks of serve have been achieved, let alone a single break point, then chances of winning become slim to none.

That is truly the most fascinating statistic about Karlovic thus far in the fortnight. We are so use to seeing him pound ace after ace, but along the way to his record setting, non-returnable numbers, a hiccup of sorts would usually occur at some stage of a match. Leaving Ivo to finish second on that day.

With no breaks of serve conceded throughout four rounds of the fortnight, Karlovic is playing the best ball of his career.

In addition, Karlovic also advances to his best ever grand slam result. He will now meet a man whom he trails 8-1 in their career head-to-head meetings.

The lone win which Karlovic obtained was during the Cincinnati event last summer, where Federer was arguably at his worst level during the past five seasons. A win is a win.

Nevertheless, Federer does own the pairs only grass-court match, which was played at Wimbledon in 2004, with the Swiss relishing the chance to elevate not only his game, but his serving prowess. Federer is one of the few, if lone players to embrace playing Karlovic. Another great asset about the Swiss—taking on all-comer.

A few more tie-breakers are on the horizon, no doubt.

Not D-joking around

Fourth seeded Serb, Novak Djokovic advanced to his second career Wimbledon quarterfinal today, with a comprehensive victory over Dudi Sela of Israel 6-2, 6-4, 6-1.

On paper, Djokovic was the highly favored in his encounter, his weight of shot as well as his weight of results, superior to his diminutive opponent. But tennis matches are never won on paper—we are well aware.

With that being said, Novak was ultra focused from the first point onwards, not allowing any sense of belief to ever formulate in his inexperienced foe. With two breaks of serve in the opening set, Djokovic was on his way an easy day on Court 3. Court 3?

The rest of the contest, mirrored the first set, featuring six more breaks of serve by Novak, with the third set being a blowout.

Sela paraded his fantastic one-hand backhand, to optimal ability, but it was evident early on that his trip at Wimbledon would be halted in round four.

Sela will be proud of his efforts, once again showing that tennis players do not necessarily have to be 6′3″ and 200 pounds. Being 5′7″ and a buck- forty- seven, will do just fine.

Djokovic had this to say after his victory.

“I have been trying to not underestimate my opponent, even though I was a favorite in that match.

But, you know, he obviously had a quality, reaching the fourth round in Wimbledon. So I knew he’s a very fast player that I need to be aggressive, attack all the time.

And I didn’t play for a long time, for two years, on the Court No. 3, so I needed some time in the start of the match to get used to it. It’s a different bounce, I guess, and it’s faster than the Centre Court.

But generally I’m quite happy that I finished in the straight sets.”

The win will take Djokovic towards a collision course rematch against Tommy Haas, who was a 7-6 (10-8), 6-4, 6-4 win over Russian Igor Andreev.

Djokovic and Haas recently engaged in an entertaining final at the grass-court warm-up in Halle, a match Haas won in three sets.

The win for the Haas also propelled him to his deepest ever Wimbledon appearance. His previous best showing was a round of sixteen withdrawal against Roger Federer.

After the epic which Haas played against Cilic in round 3, a comfortable afternoon on Court 4, was ever-so-welcomed by the German.

Haas had this to say after advancing on the best day tennis has to offer.

“I mean, you know, definitely wasn’t going to underestimate him one second. Getting to the fourth round, he’s a very tough player. He’s beat me quite handily last time we played in Davis Cup in Moscow on clay. That was definitely some motivation for me to revenge myself.

And in the first set I think I only had one break chance. Didn’t really utilize that. A little bit frustrating. But the tiebreak was very important. Luckily I was always ahead, even though I didn’t convert my first two set points at 6-4, but managed to win the set. Kind of relaxed a little bit more after that.

Served extremely well. I think I didn’t give him many opportunities on my serve. And I think that was really the key to not give him that kind of confidence to break me and then maybe even play looser himself. ”

There will be no love loss between Djokovic and Haas come Wednesday, with the Serb holding a slight edge in the pairs head-to-head with a 2-1 lead.

Old timers

In a day and age dominated by youthful, vibrant young players, Lleyton Hewitt and Radek Stepanek engaged in a true grass-court match today on the grounds of SW19.

With Stepanek gaining a commanding two-sets-to-love lead in no time, Hewitt’s Wimbledon run seemed to be in jeopardy.

But with the guile and never-say-die attitude which has embodied the Aussie for much of his career, Hewitt not only managed to storm back and take the match in five sets, he also displayed the heart and passion which had deserted him for some time.

With constant c’mon’s resonating throughout the court, Hewitt harnessed 85 percent of first serve points won to heighten his 7 breaks of serve.

If not for his consistent return today, Hewitt would have been cooked.

Stepanek on the other hand, surprisingly could not sustain his fine form throughout the first two sets. His ground-game was landing short, which Hewitt was more than happy to pounce on.

With the support of his “Fanatics” fan-base, Hewitt was able to come all the way back and score 4-6 2-6 6-1 6-2 6-2 victory. The win was also the 6th time Hewitt has come back from two-sets-to-love.

The Aussie had this to say after his victory.

“It was tough ’cause I was trying to block out my leg more than anything and focus on not looking at the big picture, trying to get back in, and yeah, winning in five sets.

I was more trying to get the third set under my belt. I really wanted to try to get up a break. Even though I lost the first two sets, in the second set quite comfortably, I felt like I had chances on his service games and I was going to have a lot of chances on his service games.

I just wasn’t quite returning the way I would have liked the first two sets. I felt like I if I could start getting into his service games, and put pressure on that, then, yeah, hopefully my whole game could pick up. That’s what started happening. I started returning a lot better and I started putting a lot more pressure on his serve.”

Hewitt will now move onto to round of eight to meet a familiar rival, with American Andy Roddick waiting in the wings.

Roddick came up with his most convincing win of fortnight with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 6-3 win over Czech Tomas Berdych.

Andy was stellar throughout this affair, picking his spots on his serve and dictating play from the baseline. His 89 percent of first serve points won, followed by 24 aces and two breaks of serve, allowed for a routine victory.

Perhaps the most impressive stat of the day achieved by the American was not allowing Berdych a single break point chance.

Similarly to Karlovic, when big servers are pounding away, they place themselves in prime position to attack their opponents deliveries at will.

Although Berdych’s serve in nothing to take lightly, after the first set was captured by Roddick, a deep breath coupled by a despondent effort by his opponent, resulted in yet another great win for the 6th seed and another lackluster effort for the underachieving Czech.

Roddick had this to say after advancing to his 5th Wimbledon quarterfinal.

“I guess. I mean, I guess I was kind of in control of it the whole way. I felt like I was getting looks more than he was.

Overall it was a pretty good performance over a guy who is, you know, definitely an in-form player coming in.”

Hewitt and Roddick have met 11 times with Hewitt holding a slight 6-5 edge. Roddick has won the pairs last four meetings, with the grass at Queen’s Club two weeks ago being the most recent.

Should be another great retro match.

Closed roof

Center Court at Wimbledon finally saw the first historic appearance of the closed roof today. For a (long) week of being idle and watching some glorious tennis, the 150 pound contraption finally went to work.

There was however a glitch in the system, and not necessarily one that has to do with the roof itself: There was no rain?

So there we had it, history had been achieved, and Wimbledon’s first ever indoor match would be contested.

But would that help the Brit’s number one catch?

With Andy Murray pouring in three convincing straight set victories (under open skies), how would the indoor conditions effect the free-flowing Scot.

Not good apparently.

With his opponent Stanislas Wawrinka coming out on fire, the indoor slower conditions seemed to favor Stan to a tee. Wawrinka had always been more of a clay-court player, and with the roof closed, the humidity would pick up, and the Swiss would have more time to load into his ground-strokes.

With a flawless first set, Stan appeared to be in the verge of causing a Britain a heart-attack—no defibrillator’s in site.

Early on, Murray appeared sluggish and not impressed with his enclosed surroundings.

However, with a stadium full of Murray-mania, the 22-year-old valiantly fought back to take the second and third sets with relative ease. The cloud of doubt seemed to cleared on the grounds.

But with a late charge by Wawrinka in set four, Wimbledon’s first ever indoor (men’s) match would see a fifth set.

And although Murray sprinted to an much deserved early break in set five, it was Wawrinka who clawed back to equal proceedings at 3 games a piece. 911 on repeat.

Luckily for Murray, and all in attendance, the Swiss encountered his usual bout of nerves, which have often effected him when things really matter—Wimbledon is important.

With a final forehand winner, it was all over, with the Brits on their feet, and Murray on his knees. Their man had survived another round.

Murray will now head to his second straight quarterfinal showing at the All England Club, where he will meet former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero.

JCF had a great win of his own today, dispatching 8th seed Gilles Simon 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-2.

Ferrero makes his second quarterfinal at Wimbledon, he was also a quarter-finalist in 2007.

Rest will be crucial for Murray, with the match finishing at 10:24 pm local time. After press obligations, and some nutrition, a late night will certainly be on deck.

Luckily for Murray, and the other 7 players in the quarters, Tuesday will a day of rest.

Notes from London: Federer tames Soderling once again—no more bold comments by the Sod? Hewitt out maneuvers Radek—Rusty up ends the worm. Roddick beats Berdych—big deal? Murray fights the roof and Wawrinka—a loss Murray would not escape. JCF and Haas in the quarters—is this 2001?

To conclude tennis fan’s, the greatest day on the calender, finished with the most riveting match the tournament has seen thus far. With aces and elders reigning supreme this fortnight, could their be the potential for an all wood-racket rule? Wishful thinking.

Please check back folks, I will have a quarterfinal preview from the Championships—Wimbledon.

Wimbledon review. Day 6 action. Roddick makes fourth round; Hewitt, Berdych advance

London, England—Wimbledon

Aces you say?

In a third round tussle on Center Court today, American Andy Roddick was made to throw in as many non returnables as possible, in order to get past good friend, and Austrian Jurgen Melzer.

The lefty Austrian has never been a desired opponent for any player. His unorthodox style includes as many ebbs and flows as one encounters when riding the “tube” in London. With two-hand slice drop-shots, the occasional serve and volley, and let’s not forget the prominent “tank” factor—Melzer is tough hombre to play.

You would have thought that Melzer’s strengths and weaknesses would be of little-to-no-consequence for Roddick today, seeing that he was 8-0 against his opponent going into today’s contest. However, Roddick has always been a consummate professional, and never takes any match, or any player for granted. There is a reason why Andy has sustained a top 10 ranking for seven plus years.

With that being said, the Texas native was made to use all of his tool-box of tricks today, with Melzer fighting him toe-to-toe.

The serve was essential.

Regardless of what people tell you, grass is grass, it does in fact still favor the serve—regardless if it has slowed down a touch.

The server’s court was playing large today, to say the least. Roddick was called upon to use his mammoth delivery to pound 33 aces, and win 79 percent of his first serve points. Andy would not want it any other way.

To Melzer’s credit, he conjured up 26 aces of his own and won 78 percent of his first serve points. The Austrian also came back from a 1-4 deficit in the fourth set, before Roddick was able to exhibit his mental toughness.

Final score: 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 6-3.

To be honest, Roddick is playing his blue-colored brand of tennis to perfection this fortnight. He is by no means “rolling” through the field, but by the same token he has never appeared to be to in danger of “walking the plank”, against any of his opponents.

Will the relative adversity Roddick has encountered this week, give him more of chance going forward? You would like to think so.

Reasons being, Roddick is in much better form when he has to persevere. His fitness is never in doubt—he certainly likes the fight.

Andy is kind of like that boxer who is slightly out of his weight category, but relishes the opportunity to battle against the big boys. Although player’s such as Melzer or Kunitsyn, are by no means “big boy” competitors, they provide the ground work for Roddick to develop his “much needed” competitive juices going into the latter rounds.

Competitive juices, which are vital to the Americans existence in major events.

With the win, Roddick will now move onto round four, where he will meet high flying Tomas Berdcyh, who was a convincing winner over 12 seed Nikolay Davydenko 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

Berdcyh is never one to be taken lightly, with the veteran Russian certainly finding that out today.

Tomas is another one of those Marat Safin, Ernests Gulbis characters—we understand why they win, but we can’t understand why they lose.

Berdych does have wins over the games best over his “head-scratching” career, ousting the likes of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The guy can play.

Roddick and Berdych have met 4-times in the head-to-head meetings, with each player winning two encounters. The pair have never met on grass-courts—both players are firing at top form.

Four tough sets on the horizon.

Rusty shines

Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt renewed some of his past glory today, reaching the round of sixteen at the All England Club.

The Australian who benefited from top seed Rafael Nadal pulling out, backed up his fantastic win over Juan Martin del Potro with another stunning win over an unheralded opponent today, taking out Philipp Petzschner 7-5, 7-6(7-3), 6-3.

Much like Roddick’s win earlier, Hewitt was made to work today. Petzchner’s sling-shot serve was keeping him in the contest—Hewitt’s returns were up to the task.

Credit goes to Lleyton today. He is by no means the Hewitt of old, being a step slower and less pop on his backhand.

However, utilizing his well place delivery, which won him 82 percent of his first serve points, the Australian was able to hit out on his return games—grabbing three breaks of serve.

Petzschner on the other hand was not able to capitalize on his three break point chances, with his flat ground-strokes growing weary with consistency as the match progressed.

Advantage Hewitt.

Simply put, this was a huge win for Hewitt. In the event that the Australian would have been bounced in round one, it could have potentially concluded that Hewitt would be looking towards retirement.

But with a sound result at Wimbledon this year, you would have to think that Hewitt and his “Manic” supporters will be around for some time.

With the win, Hewitt will now forward to the challenge of Radek Stepanek, who was a 7-5, 7-5, 3-6, 4-6,6-4 winner over 16th seed David Ferrer.

Stepanek once again showed that his “throw back” game-style is more than good enough to compete in the brute force era of men’s professional tennis.

His “worm” dance is also an interesting dynamic for any event to behold.

Hewitt and Stepanek have met twice in their career head-to-head meetings, with the Aussie winning comprehensively in both matches.

This contest will be a “classic” grass-court match, with neither player holding the power card, but both exhibiting point construction to the highest degree.

Elsewhere, Tommy Haas finished off the most epic match of the event thus far, taking out 11th seed Marin Cilic 7-5, 7-5, 1-6, 6-7(3), 10-8. With the win, Haas ties his best ever finish at Wimbledon, on the strength of 71 percent of his first serve points won, and 5 aces.

Cilic was ultra impressive as well, winning 79 percent of his first serve points, 26 aces, and 93 winners in total. A “bummer” of a loss of Cilic, no doubt.

Haas will now look towards the fourth round challenge of Russian Igor Andreev who was a 6-1, 7-6(7-5), 4-6, 7-6(7-5) winner over Italian Andreas Seppi.

Could Haas have asked for a better draw this year?

The Other Swiss, Stanislas Wawrinka ended the Cinderella run of Canadian turned American Jesse Levine 5-7, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3.

Wawrinka ties his best ever appearance at Wimbledon, making the 4th round—he also made the round of sixteen in 2008.

Stan will now sit back and await the winner of 3rd seed Andy Murray who will be battling Serb Viktor Troicki during the last match on Center Court.

It appears as though Britain will be able to rest easy going into Monday.

The final men’s match of the day will see 10th seed Fernando Gonzalez against former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero. Look for some big forehands in that encounter.

The winner of that match will take on 8th seed Gilles Simon on Monday, with the Frenchmen easily dispatching 31st Victor Hanescu 6-2, 7-5, 6-2.

Great results for Gilles, a much needed one at that.

Notes from London: Roddick continues to advance—the much welcomed danger of Berdych awaits. Hewitt brings back old school tennis—Radek is older. Haas rides his month of form—will Monday be it? Levine plays well—any chance of returning home? Murray looks to relieve his home-country woes—a week away, it just might happen.

Finally, after 7 days of “sunshine” in London, perhaps the grandest drawing card at this years tournament, the “roof”, has yet to be utilized. Wouldn’t it be something to have the $150 million dollar umbrella, remain in his holster throughout the event?

I’m sure many a rain dances have been performed around the grounds of Sw19.

Please check back, I will have a complete round of sixteen preview for the Championships—Wimbledon.

Wimbledon review. Day 5 action. Federer advances to sixteens; Djokovic and Verdasco prevail

London, England—Wimbledon

Sweet sixteen

For the seventh straight year, second seed Roger Federer finds himself in familiar territory. That region of comfort where the Swiss genius resides—better known as the second week of Wimbledon.

Going into today’s encounter with 27th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, Federer did not appear to be in any danger. His spotless 3-0 mark against the German was further highlighted by two grass-court wins in the Kohlschreiber’s native backyard of Halle.

Today would not be any different.

With Federer blitzing through the first two sets, another easy win seemed to be on the cards. But with the determination of the diminutive German, the third set was captured, and for the first time in the fortnight, Federer would have to go four.

Although the fourth set was a blowout, the tail of this match will be remembered for a few rare, slips and dips by the Swiss.

One slip in particular, which occurred in set three, saw Federer venture off into his forehand corner attempting to run down a Kohlschreiber backhand. With Roger catching a piece of the “remaining” lush part of the court, the contortion of his body was not a welcome site.

All of a sudden, his groin, hip, or quad could have been torn—project Wimbledon over. Luckily, nor the slip or point was of any significance going forward, with Federer prevailing 6-3, 6-2, 6-7(5-7), 6-1. First Nadal falls in Paris (literally), and now R-Fed hits the turf in stunning fashion—how great minds think alike?

Onto the match analysis.

Roger was simply razor sharp in this contest. He was grabbing the ball on his forehand side—hitting it on a dime as he pleased. His backhand which wasGinsu perfect, remained a desired inch of the ground, to the demise of the German. His topspin one-hander was in peak form.

Federer’s serve was also spot on throughout. His speed, variety and spin was emaculate—the year’s of hitting targets had paid off. With Federer winning 77 percent of his first points, hitting 15 aces and only losing his serve twice—Kolschreiber was left with little to no options, when victory was concerned.

Nevertheless, the German once again proved that he is a “serious” threat when it comes to taking on the big boys. Perhaps beefing up his game, ala the gym, would suffice, with his technique being next to perfect.

Moving along.

The second week of grand slam competition is where Roger Federer likes to take his game to another level. The riff-raf of week one has been brushed aside—week two is meant for the super-stars.

Federer had this to say after advancing to the final sixteen.

“I thought it was a good match. I thought it was my best match of the tournament so far. I thought the rhythm was very high. We played a lot of tough points. I really thought, you know, from my side it was an excellent match.

Of course, you know, you also need the opponent to come up also with the goods to make it an exciting match, and I thought it was. Sure, I would have loved to win in straight, but he came back strong.

Maybe my serve let go just a little bit. But he started to pick side a lot as well and, you know, took the right decisions at the right time and deserved the third set in the end.

I was happy how I reacted. Thought I didn’t panic. Was an excellent match in the end.”

With the win, the man who is striving for his sixth title this year, will face the man whom he recently defeated in capturing his 14th grand slam title in Paris—Robin Soderling.

The Swede continues his great form as of late, with a 7-6(9-7), 6-4, 6-4 win over Spaniard Nicolas Almagro. Solderling once again shows that he is a man for all surfaces.

In case you were wondering, nothing has changed from the last time Federer and Soldering lock horns. Federer still owns a 10-0 life time head-to-head against the Swede, and one wonders if Robin has given any thought to a possible solution.

Soderling did suggest during the trophy ceremony in Paris, that “no one beats Robin Soldering 11-times in a row”, but will that surprising charisma he displayed during the post match speech, come to fruition on Monday in England?

Robin is playing the tennis of his life no question. The problem being, Federer is pretty darn close to his highest level as well. Included in the despair for Solderling, remains the fact that he has never been able to figure out the Federer riddle. His game, much like Kohlschreiber’s today, just does not match-up according.

Federer embraces power like no other player, and unless you can spin to win, like a Rafa Nadal, or power your serve for 50 plus aces, like a Karlovic—congratulations and a stern handshake from Roger, is all you’re gonna get.

Look for Federer to get through, in three “maybe” four sets.

Underdog?

It is certainly quite unusual to not view Novak Djokovic as one of favorites in a grand slam event. He is more-often-than-not, right in the thick of things, with the top contenders of any tournament.

But with sub-par grass-court results, (the past two two seasons) the Serb has been riding low in the eyes of the book-makers.

Novak doesn’t mind one bit.

With the pressure off, and the right sneakers in place, Djokovic is starting to wake-up the “doubters” and showcase his world-class talent for the tennis world to behold.

The danger of 28th seed Mardy Fish was present today. Novak was well aware. With that being said, the Serb played a consistent and strategically perfect contest against the American, dispatching him 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

With Mardy’s game being tailor made for the grass, Novak made sure that his returns were ever steady throughout. If Fish’s serve was diffused, the rest of his game could be dealt with. That stat was evident with Fish losing more than 60 percent of the baseline points, when the rallies were extended past 4-shots. Not a good feeling for Fish.

Novak helped his cause by pounding 8 aces, winning 75 percent of his first serve points, and braking the mighty serve of Fish, 4-times.

All of a sudden, Djokvoic is taken seriously.

The fourth seed will now move through to final sixteen, where he will meet Dudi Sela of Israel. Sela ended the grass-court campaign of 15th seed Tommy Robredo, by ousting the scrappy Spaniard 7-6(10-8), 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.

With the win, Sela reaches his best ever grand slam result. He also becomes the first Israeli player to reach the fourth round of a grand slam event since Amos Mansdorf made the round of sixteen at the 1992 Australian Open.

Djokovic and Sela have met on one occasion, with the Serb holding a 1-0 head-to-head lead. Monday’s fourth round encounter will also be the pairs first ever grass-court contest.

Look for Djokvoic to be three and out, come Monday afternoon.

Faux-hawk 3-0

The consistent year of Fernando Verdasco continued today, with the 7th seed advancing to his third straight round of sixteen at a major.

Will he be able to get over the hump?

Verdasco has never been known to be a high-level grass-court player. His mind-set being the most fragile liability on the lawns.

But with the continued success of Rafael Nadal, the Spanish Armada have seen a different taste presented to them when the grass-court season comes forth. We can, win this thing!

With 32 seed Albert Montanes (yes, another Spaniard), standing across the net from Verdasco reaching the final sixteen—a solid performance was a necessity.

If an off-season which was full of blood, sweat, and endless sprints up-and-down the famed Magic Mountain were any indication, we had a different Verdasco on our hands this year at Wimbledon.

Although Montanes put forth a valiant effort, it was Fernando who weathered the laser backhands of his compatriot, to persevere in four tight sets, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(7-2).

The outcome of the match was decided by Verdasco winning a slightly higher first serve percentage at 82 percent, with his lefty serve, certainly posing significant throughout.

Who would have thought Montanes could play so well on the lawns? Oh right, that Nadal guy made them all believe.

The win will now take Verdasco into the land of the ace, where the towering Ivo Karlovic will be waiting.

Karlovic won a tight match of his own today, ousting 9th seeded Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6(7-5), 6-7(7-5), 7-5, 7-6(7-5), in 2:44 minutes. In case you were wondering, Karlovic did hit a lot of aces in this contest—46 to be exact.

With no real point composition taking place in this one, Karlovic and Tsonga decided to brake out their torpedo’s and went straight for each other.

Tsonga, surprising is another chap that has never fared well on the grass. He has ever tool in his skill-set to make due on the turf, but with his is movement being a tad suspect, the flamboyant Frenchmen has never been able to make a deep run in England.

A shame really.

Verdasco and Karlovic have met three times in their career head-to-head meetings, with the Croatian holding a 2-1 lead. Karlovic also holds a 1-0 lead when the pair have met on grass.

Karlovic will have a distinct advantage in this one, with Verdasco holding the edge in the variety and mental departments. Oh how things have changed, Verdasco getting the nod in the mental department?

At any rate, a four or five-setter in the making.

Elsewhere, the final two 3rd round matches that took place on Day 5 action saw:

A few barn-burners on tap with 11th seed, Marin Cilic dead-locked with 24th seed Tommy Haas 7-5, 7-5, 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-6. Should be a photo finish come Saturday afternoon.

The last match of the day, which was also postponed due to darkness had 29th seed Igor Andreev leading Andreas Seppi 6-1 7-6(7-5) 4-6 5-5.

The respective winner’s of these two matches will face-off in Monday’s round of sixteen.

Notes from London: Fed flying again—slipping as well, ouch! Djokovic shows that he should never be disregarded at a major—will Mardy ever do well on grass? Verdasco keeps his ‘o9 mo-j0 in check—dare I say, the hair gel has left? Karlovic finds himself in unfamiliar terriorty—the second week of Wimbledon. Tommy Haas displays the finer details, on how to win, and lose a tennis match, 101.

Quote of the day: “If I can win with only one shot, I’m, I don’t know, a genius,” smiled Karlovic.

Well Ivo, I’m not sure if you are a genius, but you’re surely a testament to more (tall) kids picking up a tennis racket, instead of shooting hoops on a Sunday afternoon.

Please check back, I will have continuing daily coverage from the All England Club—Wimbledon.

Wimbledon review. Day 4 action. Del Potro drummed by Hewitt; Murray and Roddick move through in comfort

London, England—Wimbledon

C’mon

It seemed like an eternity ago, when former world number one Lleyton Hewitt was at the forefront of men’s tennis, racking up titles at will. His Wimbledon crown in 2002 was the pinnacle of his prominence. Since then however, the Aussie has had moderate success at the Big W. A few quarterfinals here and there, and semifinal once in a while— all encompassed in some good old Australian fun.

With the inception for the “Federer movement”, which was latter followed by “Rafa’s Rage”, the diminutive Australian was left “looking-up” to his competition. Not Lleytons cup of tea, by any means.

With continued struggles, came the repercussions of the many successful seasons of grinding—the hips had enough. But Hewitt was never one to quick—no way, no how.

The feisty Adelaide native was able to get back on his horse earlier this year, winning a more intimate tournament in Houston—a win, is a win. The fight was there, no question.

The ability however to defeat the very best was missing. Lleyton had gone over 2 years without defeating a top 15 opponent, and over 4 years without taking down a top 5 foe.

A quick fix into the memory banks of past glory was required—the hard work was put in.

Well folks, there’s no place like the greatest Center Court on earth, for one to break bad records.

Going into today’s match with 5th seed Juan Martin del Potro, Hewitt was optimistic. His grass-court credentials were far superior to his higher ranked opponent, his hunger to come up with a dynamic win, ever present.

It didn’t hurt that the Argentine was coming in off of a flu, which was perhaps induced by his recent hard earned rise to fame. Reaching the high-ranks of the men’s game, can take a lot out of player, regardless of their towering presence.

From the on-set of the match, it was evident what Hewitt would fancy. “Take a crack at the ball, and keep the big man on his toes.” Del Potro was known for his speed of shot, but certainly not for his speed of foot.

With Hewitt never being one to embrace the go-for-broke game-style, he decided to put his counter-punching preferences aside, and concentrate on ending points as quickly as possible.

With a despondent del Potro not embodying the same grit and determination he has shown as of late, Hewitt was primed for the biggest upset of the fortnight so far.

Final score: 6-3, 7-5, 7-5.

Hewitt had this to say after his comprehensive victory.

“I executed perfectly,” said Hewitt. “[I] hit the ball great. Served unbelievable for most of the match [and I] took it to him right from the start. It was a big win. I wanted to beat a top five guy. These are the places you want to do it, too.”

With listless effort from the Argentine today, the Tandil native will now head back home, where he will have to decide how he will go about defending the four summer hard and clay tournaments, which he won last year. If he is smart, he will by-pass a few of those tournaments.

Del Potro was candid today in his presser after his defeat, eluding to Hewitt being his idol growing up, as well as his fitness level going in.

“Well, I say, Congrats. He did a very good match. You know, he’s one of my idols. And I say, You are in very good shape again, so I’m happy for you and good luck.”

“I was sick before this tournament at home. Was a little difficult for me to come early to do a good preparation.”

With the loss, del Potro breaks his streaks of attempting to make his fourth straight quarterfinal appearance at a major. With the hard-courts on deck, the Argentine will certainly be a force once again.

Hewitt on the other hand, will live to fight another day (he would have it no other way), when he takes on Philipp Petzschner in round three on Saturday. The German defeated Mischa Zverev 4-6, 7-6(11-13), 3-6, 7-6(7-5), 6-0.

Hewitt and Petzchner have made once in their career head-to-head meetings with the Australian winning earlier this year in Munich.

Petzchner is a flat-hitting player, with Hewitt having to mix up his game in order to come through. Four sets seems about right.

A.M in the P.M.

Good luck trying to find a ride home on the “tube” in the early afternoon, while Wimbledon is on. That frantic noise throughout all the bars being filled to capacity, and arm-chairs being embraced by their owners, is all for one man— Andy Murray.

If the Scot is playing, don’t expect to get your dishwasher fixed, or that dry-cleaning on time. Nope, no way.

With Great Britain once again engaged in Murray’s constant progression, a hopeful title match, in over a weeks time—has fingers crossed.

With the eminent danger of opponent Ernests Gulbis on deck today, Murray was ready to light up more than just Buckingham Palace.

Aside from an explosive start by Gulbis in game one, a game in which he held two break points on the strength of two riffled forehands—Murray was in clear control.

The Scot was red-hot throughout, producing 36 winners to only 5 unforced errors, and winning 88 percent of his first serve points.

By contrast, Gulbis was his usual self today: 2 winners for every unforced error struck; 15 aces, to go along with 36 percent of his second serve points won. Let’s not forget, no breaks of serve.

It is dumbfounding to say the least, that a guy of Gublis’ raw talent is ranked 76th in the world. His game is very reminiscent of a Ferrari—a lean and mean sports car. But what good is a sports car without a gps? No direction, usually results in few results, based on lack of location—sound familiar?

With no titles to his name, and not having two matches strung together all year, Gulbis is in dire need of a tennis make-over. It better come quick for Ernests, before he is thrown into the pot where Marcelo Rios and Tomas Berdych reside.

Perhaps a call to Gil Reyes and Darren Cahill is in order?

Murray on the other hand, gave his legion of followers very few worries this afternoon. There was no Tim Henman anxiety to deal with—no need to buy another drink.

Murray’s straight forward victory once again showcased his innate variety of court craft. His ability to make players look utterly stupid, is quite a regular occurrence—to the demise of a draw filled with problem solvers.

Simply put, Murray is in good shape and is running on all cylinders. No Ferrari required.

Murray had this to say after his victory.

“Yeah, well, you know, I didn’t make ?? yeah, I didn’t make many mistakes from the ground. You know, when I did get myself into a point on his service game I made him work very hard for, you know, the points. You know, hit some good passing shots.

And, uhm, yeah, finished points when I was inside the court. I finished points off really well. Didn’t make any basic errors, so it was very good.”

Murray will now move onto round three, where he will meet hard serving Serb Viktor Troicki, who was a 6-7 (5-7), 6-0, 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 winner over Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain.

Troicki offers brute force at its best, and similarly to Gulbis today, he will be able to put forth some adversity early on against Murray. But will likely fade when the Scot figures him out. That will likely not take to long, with the their last meeting resulting in a 6-1, 6-0 scoreline for the Scot.

Murray and Troicki have met twice in their career meetings, with the 3rd seed holding a 2-0 edge. The pair have never met on grass-courts.

Roddick rolls

For the second straight match, Andy Roddick went four-sets. For the second straight match, it did not appear for second that even though a set was lost, Roddick would lose. The 6th seed was once again in chipper mood today, being on his beloved grass, striking his serve with conviction—altering his tactics from his previous encounter.

Roddick’s first round opponent Jeremy Chardy, is a completely different kind of player from Russian Igor Kunitsyn. Chardy is all flash, with considerable firepower—Kunitsyn is all about passing shots and precision.

With that in mind, Andy went junk-yard-dog style on his unseeded opponent today, slicing numerous backhands, and dare I say forehands? The distinct game plan discussed with coach Stefanki prior to taking the court. The objective was to give Kunitsyn little to no pace, and look for opportunities to strike. Although bunting balls back has never been the forte of the American, nowadays (and always for that matter) gaining the elusive “W” is the primary concern.

Roddick has this to say after his victory.

“A win is a win,” said Roddick. “I knew I was getting the better of him. I knew I was getting a lot more looks at his serve than he was at mine. [I] probably played my best set by far in the fourth set. It was comfortable most of the time. [A] couple things here and there, but overall it was all right.”

With the win, Roddick sets up a third round match with good friend and 26th seed Jurgen Melzer. The Austrian was a 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) winner over Benjamin Becker of Germany.

With Roddick knowing Melzer from their junior days, the American has never felt sorry for his friend once the battles have begin. Roddick is a perfect 8-0 vs. Melzer, with the pair never facing off on the turf.

Melzer’s lefty serve maybe good for a tie-breaker or two, but Roddick’s savvy grass experience should be enough to propel him towards the round of sixteen.

A mouth watering semifinal clash with Andy Murray maybe up shortly. Just putting it out there.

Other seeded and unseeded winners on Day 4 action included:

Eighth seed Gilles Simon defeated Thiago Alves 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; 10th seed Fernando Gonzalez blasted through the equally as powerful Leonardo Mayer 6-7(4-7), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; 12th seed Nikolay Davydenko quietly advanced over Victor Crivoi 6-4, 6-4, 6-2; 16th seed David Ferrer dusted Fabio Fognini 6-2, 6-2, 6-3; 19th seed Stanislas Wawrinka “nicely” defeated Martin Vassallo Arguello 6-3, 6-2, 6-2;
20th Tomas Berdych looked dangerous in taking out Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 6-4, 6-4; 23rd seed Radek Stepanek “wormed” past Potito Starace 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3; 31st Victor Hanescu blasted past Nicolas Devilder 6-2, 6-3, 6-1.

Unseeded results included:

Andreas Seppi dispatched Marc Gicquel 7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 5-7, 6-4; Juan Carlos Ferrero made Fabrice “the magician” Santoro disapear 6-7(1-7) 6-3 6-4 6-3; Jesse Levine continued his good fortune in London grinding past Pablo “a shot of” Cuevas from Uraguay 6-2, 6-1, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3.

Friday’s featured action at the All England Club will include: 2nd seed Roger Federer vs. 27th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber; 4th seed Novak Djokovic vs. 28th seed Mardy Fish; 7th seed Fernando Verdasco vs. 32nd seed Albert Montanes; 9th seed Jo-Wilfried-Tsonga vs. 22nd seed Ivo Karlovic; 11th seed Marin Cilic vs. 24th seed Tommy Haas.

Look for potential upsets in the Djokovic and Cilic matches.

Notes from London: Delpo, is no more in London—”Rusty” is feeling mighty good. Murray took Gulbis to the woodshed—the Latvian needs an overhaul. Roddick strayed away from his game—Kunitsyn was not impressed. Levine comes through large—Cuevas has a mighty cool name.

Quote of the day: As Andy Murray was obliterating Ernests Gulbis on Center Court, a young fan on “Murray Mountain”, shared his thoughts on the man of the fortnight, “I don’t really care about Murray, he’s not even English.” Well kid, let’s be honest here for a minute, this is as good as it’s gonna get—being greedy will not get you the cookie.

Please check back for daily updates from The Championships—Wimbledon.

Wimbledon Review. Day 3 action. Federer breezes into round three; Djokovic and Verdasco advance

7:19 pm cest

London, England—Wimbledon

On target

Second seed Roger Federer wasted little time today in advancing to the third round of the Wimbledon Championships, with a comprehensive defeat of Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.

Federer’s win today brought forth many nostalgic “Federer-esque” moments throughout the encounter. His movement was spot on; his fore-hand was ripping through the court; his back-hand was so 2007. When Roger is feeling good, it is truly a daunting proposition for the remaining members of a grand slam draw.

Garcia-Lopez actually did himself proud today. Stroking his gorgeous one-handed back-hand on a dime, while winning a reasonable 63 percent of his first-serve-points, as well as sneaking 3 aces by Federer.

Those type of numbers would usually do the trick against most adversaries, but not at Wimbledon, with Roger Federer breathing down the best that you have to offer.

Roger won an unfathomable 94% of his first serve points, hit 11 aces, and broke his Spanish opponent on five occasions. It also didn’t hurt that Federer was flicking his once flawless back-hand pass to perfection, and moving like a panther smelling his prey.

You could see by the way Garcia-Lopez shook Federer’s hand at the end of the contest, that he was just happy to be out there. The honored smirk on his face said it all “ya well, thanks for letting me play with you Roger.”

Federer had this to say after advancing to the round of 32.

“Yeah. Felt good, you know. I expected much harder because he’s been playing well in Eastbourne it was. He reached the semis over there. ”

“And I’ve played him twice before where I saw he has some, you know, good forehand and steady backhand. On grass, you never know, so…

I was quite surprised I was able to win so easily today.”

Roger also spoke about what Wimbledon meant to him, through the scope of the calender year.

“Well, it’s a wonderful tournament with incredible history. I feel very privileged having had the opportunity to play here as a tennis player. I think there’s only a few tournaments in the world that do that to you. As a little boy, you want to play at.

For me, there was probably like three or four tournaments growing up, but always Wimbledon was the biggest dream and the biggest stage. So I feel already happy just having played here. But obviously winning it is even much more than I ever thought I would achieve here. ”

Well, the man has five titles, he would certainly know.

With the win, Federer moves onto round 3 where he will meet 27th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber who narrowly escaped the jaws of life by defeating Ivo Minor 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2, 8-6.

Kohlschreiber does have a great all-court game, but it says here that his lack of a final blow-out shot will cost him against Federer.

That has proved to be the case thus far in the pairs head-to-head meetings, with the Swiss holding a commanding 3-0 lead. Within those three matches, Federer has twice won when matches were played on grass.

Look for a straight-set fourth round showing for the Swiss.

Finding his footing

Third seed Novak Djokvoic has certainly had his share of moments of slipping and sliding on the grass-courts of London. If not for slick surface of the lawns, Djokovic would have locked up some sort of grass-court title by now.

Movement is everything my friends.

Through the cooperation of his sponsor, Adidas (remember the Serb wore Nike shoes during last years event), Djokovic has diligently been working out the kinks of his grass footwear. Those changes in the dimple construction of his soles, seem to finally be paying off.

With today’s win, Novak achieved a better result over last years second round whipping at the hands of Marat Safin. He defeated a slightly less formidable foe during this years second round, taking out Simon Greul of Germany 7-5, 6-1, 6-4.

Although there were many instances where Djokovic fumbled around the court and questioned his ability to “play on grass”, the Serb seemed to have a better understanding of his intentions on the green stuff—more so than his first round.

With a higher margin on his ground-strokes, Novak’s confidence grew by each set he won. A final second serve ace, on match-point, was more than welcomed.

It is quite interesting how no one is speaking of the contender status of Novak in the tournament? He is the fourth seed right?

Well, the English certainly do have a way of writing you off quickly. It’s kind of like a “what have you done for me lately” routine.

And truth be told, Novak hasn’t produced any significant grass-court results in the past two years. Yes, he made the finals of a few meaningless tune-up events in the past two seasons. But when you take into account his second round defeat last, coupled with his quarter-final withdraw the year before—English fans aren’t exactly going to re-name Henman Hill or Murray Mountain after him.

Federer doesn’t even have the privilege, and he’s won the event 5 times. Novak needs to pick it up.

Djokovic had this to say after advancing to the third round. He also broke down the views on his German opponent.

“No. I don’t think it was easy. Actually, I made it more difficult for myself. I think I didn’t start really well the match. I was quite nervous, I don’t know, just waiting for him to make mistakes, which was obviously wrong thing to do, because he was going for the shots. He’s very aggressive and really good return, and he was putting a lot of pressure on my serve.

So I think I was dropping service games in the third set especially when I was up. So this really shouldn’t happen in upcoming matches.”

Djokovic will have to be in tip-top shape come Friday, when he next meets American Mardy Fish. Fish was a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 winner over another Serb. Janko Tipsarevic.

Novak assessed the danger of the up-coming Fish encounter.

“Well, he’s a big server, so I think any fast surface to play against him is a difficult match. And you have to respect his achievements in last couple of years. Especially on the Grand Slams he’s playing really well. We had I think two matches in the last two or three years, and I won them, but it was really close.

So I can’t rate myself as a favorite in that match, a big favorite, because I think he’s been playing well. It’s gonna be interesting. I think the key on my side is going to be return, if I’m going to be able to make him play more than he expects.”

Djokovic and Fish have met twice during their career meetings, with the Serb leading 2-0. The two players have never met on a grass-court.

As Novak suggested, this will be a serve vs. return battle. Djokovic will hit his spots on his delivery. If he is able to break down Mardy’s serve, and easy day at the office will occur.

If Fish can serve in the 80 percent range, look for the American to advance to the sixteens.

Faux-hawk 2-0

Spaniard Fernando Verdasco has never been a found admirer of the grass. With his game never seeing its best days on the lawns, two fourth round of Wimbledon showings have been his breaking point.

It’s not that Verdasco can not play on grass—his game allows for many different court surface victories.

However, with his outlook being day-to-day when in London; opposed to a title contention mindset on other surfaces, the Madrid native appears to be standing in his own way of Wimbledon success.

More to the moment, the Spaniard did not trip-up his chances at All England glory today, with his second win of the tournament, dismissing Kristof Vliegen in four tough sets, 7-6(7-3), 6-7(3-7), 7-6(7-4), 6-4.

By no means was today’s encounter a routine affair. Verdasco was made to work over-time by the hands of his Belgium opponent, persevering to the trials and tribulations of three straight ‘breakers, to finally squash the hopes of Vliegen, with a relatively straight-forward fourth set scoreline.

Perhaps the telling factor which has held Verdasco back from excelling to the highest degree on the grass, is his reluctant nature to hit bigger serves. He fully has the capacity to hit upwards of 135 mph (his highest mark today was 139 mph), but his lefty-ness needs to be utilized more efficiently.

But for one reason or another, Fernando has adopted more of a hard-court rally mentally when put on the lawns. Although he did strike 20 aces in today’s contest, that number is an unusual exception, and not the norm.

For Verdasco to see his fortunes at sw19 sway in his way, he will definitely have to use his loose arm service delivery to greater effect.

Nevertheless, today’s victory was a good test for the Spaniard, one in which he discussed in detail during his presser.

“He’s a very good player. He’s so talented, and when he plays good, he’s so tough to beat. And here on grass, also, when you play with one player that he serves so good, good variation, and also at the baseline he can make a very good slice and go forward to the net. He’s a very tough player. I didn’t expect that I’m going to win easy anytime.”

With the win, Verdasco advances to round three, where he will meet fellow Spaniard and 33rd seed Albert Montanes who was a 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 winner over Guillermo Canas of Argentina.

Verdasco and Montanes have met twice in their head-to-head meetings, with Fernando holding a 2-0 advantage. The pair have never met on a grass-court.

Advantage Fernando.

Elsewhere, the remainder of the seeded and non-seeded winner’s on Day 2 included:

Nineth seed J0-Wilfried Tsonga advancing to the third when his opponent Simone Bolelli withdrew with a bad back before the start of their match; the French fortunes of 13th seed Robin Soderling continued in London with the Swede dismissing Marcel Granollers 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4, 7-5; the days best match saw 11th seed Marin Cilic advance past a determined Sam Querrey 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(4-7), 6-4; 15th seed Tommy Robredo came all the way back to defeat Stefan Koubek 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1; Dudi Sela sent last years semi-finalist, 18th seed Rainer Schuettler packing with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-2 victory; 22nd seed Ivo Karlovic aced his way past Steve Darcis 7-5, 6-3, 6-4; 24th seed Tommy Haas advanced when his opponent Michael Llorda slammed into the umpires chair, ballgirl and all, hurting his back, while handing Haas the match at 4-3 in set-one. Haas decided to get the ball crew involved after the short match, by hitting with a selective number of youngster.

Nicolas Almagro gutted out a five set win over Karl Beck 6-4, 7-6, 3-6, 3-6, 7-5; Andreas Seppi was leading Frenchmen Marc Gicquel 7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 5-5, when the match was called to darkness. They will resume play on Thursday.

The final first round match that managed to wrap-up today, with Daniel Gimeno-Traver halting the grass-court danger of American Taylor Dent 7-5, 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.

Thursday’s featured matches will see: 3rd seed Andy Murray against Ernests Gulbis; 5th seed Juan Martin del Potro battling Lleyton Hewitt; 6th seed Andy Roddick facing Igor Kunitsyn.

Notes from London: The Federer of old is in the house—a scary proposition to say the least. Novak stumbled but surpassed his demons of a year ago—his shoe contract will be extended. The hair gel in London has passed Verdasco inspection—faux-hawks around the world, stand in unison. Llorda slammed into the umpire—before slamming out of The Championships. Querrey and Cilic played the tallest match in history—with power, and punch for the Center Court crowd.

Finally, what’s up with the Wimbledon committee allowing ONLY Center Court matches to use of lights, in the event the final match of the day progresses past day-light? The consistency of Wimbledon, for arguments sake, appears to be inconsistent.

Tommy Haas was right, “these guys are to cheap to buy lights for us to see.” Tommy would know, he’s not exactly a Center Court draw card these days.

Stay tuned tennis fan’s, I will have a Day 4 review, from The Championships—Wimbledon.

Wimbledon Day 2 review. June 23, 2009. Murray roars past Kendrick; Roddick and del Potro advance to round two

11:04 pm cest

London, England—Wimbledon

Murray’s Mountain

Third seed Andy Murray cleared the first hurdle in his attempt to capture his home-country grand slam today with tough four-set win over American Robert Kendrick.

After a quick break in set one, it appeared as though Murray was headed towards an easy day at the office. That was not meant to be.

With Kendrick’s world-class serve producing 16 aces throughout the encounter, it was up to Murray’s top notch return-of-serve to be up the task.

With a go-for-broke tactic spearheading Kendrick in set two, his teeth seemed to be sinking into the affair. His forehand winners were increasing, with some registering in the triple digits. The second set was in the bag—Murray’s Mountain was under the attack of agony. Would their hero be going home?

Deadlocked at one set a piece, Murray began to design his comeback surrounded by guile and determination. A roar of a break to go up 4-2, in set three, allowed the Scot to lock down a two sets-to-one lead. Kendricks only chance would be to go five sets.

With the fourth set staying on serve, Murray reached deep down (under his retro-styled, Fred Perry attire) to produce some cat-and-mouse tennis which was accompanied by the blunt force of his backhand. The Scot gave no indication in having the match go to the a hairy fifth set.

With dives, bruises and the bashing of his serve, Kendricks day was finally put to rest, with a final forehand sailing past the unfriendly baseline. Final score 7-5, 6-7(7-3), 6-3, 6-4.

By no means a straight forward affair considering that the last time the two players locked horns, Murray served up a displeasing double bagel to the American.

All in all, a great effort by California Kendrick, with the 29-year-old showing the world, on the grandest stage of tennis, that he does in fact possess some serious shots.

Murray had this to say after his victory.

“Yeah, I mean, I played him a few times, so I kind of knew what to expect. I was a bit disappointed to lose the second set, because I had a couple of chances. Didn’t take them.Uhm, you know, he didn’t really have any chances on my serve in the second.

I was expecting him to come out, go for some big shots. He pulled some off at the end of the second set, and he served very well for three sets. You know, it was a tough match.”

With the win, Murray marches on the round two, where he will meet Latvian Ernests Gulbis who defeated Riccardo Ghedin 6-2, 6-4, 6-4.

There will be some caution to the wind in Murray’s next encounter with Gublis. Although the youngster is severely under achieving at the moment (and in his career for that matter), he still has the ability to produce world-class tennis and defeat anyone on the plant. Murray and his British supporters surely hope that Gulbis does not find his form come Thursday.

Murray and Gulbis have met twice during their career meetings with the higher ranked Scot owning both encounters. If Gulbis can play to his potential, the contest could be close. The way that Gulbis has been playing, that is unlikely.

Roddick advances

American Andy Roddick also had to experience the onslaught of an non ranked opponent today, with Frenchmen Jeremy Chardy (full of flash and talent), pushing the sixth seed to four close sets.

With sound breaking serves resonating off of the rackets of both players, it was Roddick who was able to set the tone after a second set tie-break win—weather a third set Chardy resurgence—and close out yet another All England win.

Roddick only lost 8 points in total on his first serve throughout, while maintaining a 71 percent of first serves in. Those type of numbers will allow Roddick to progress deep into The Championships.

The one cause for concern, which Roddick will have to address on his day off on Wednesday, will be the return of serve statistics. Coach Stefanki get to work.

Albeit that Chardy brought the noise on his serve today, Roddick will be hard pressed to defeat the Roger Federer’s and Andy Murray’s of the world, if he does not impose himself to a greater degree in his return games. Regardless of the server which he faces.

Roddick spoke about getting through his tough first round match.

“Yeah. You know, he makes you uncomfortable because he plays so big. First he goes for big second serves, so you’re kind of just trying to fight him off long enough to where his aggressiveness might get in his own way. That happened a little bit there in the fourth set.”

Roddick also spoke about his take on Federer and Murray being the book-makers favorites for the final weekend.

“I don’t care who you guys are writing about. You know, predicting two weeks from now, that’s not how we go about our tournaments. I know it’s great and your job is to sensationalize stuff and get it out there. You know, you got to make people read about the sport.

As players, we appreciate that, but that’s not our job. Our job is to try to get through each round. As far as who’s talking about what, I don’t really care. You know, I just want to go out and win matches.”

Spoken like a guy who has been ranked inside the top ten for the past seven seasons.

With the win, Roddick advances to round two, where he will meet Russian Igor Kunitsyn who defeated “future prospect” Grigor Dmitrov. The 17-year-old was forced to retire in the middle of third set after sustaining a knee injury. Kunitysn led 3-6, 6-0, 4-0, when the Bulgarian called it quits.

If anything, Roddick catches a break at this point, with Dmitrov being an explosive high-flying, up-and-comer, fearing no foe. Girgor will be back, no need to worry.

Roddick and Kunitsyn have never met during their pro careers, with Roddick possessing much deeper grass-court credentials. A romp for Roddick is on the horizon.

del Potro Rising

The fast and furious success of 5th seed Juan Martin del Potro has seen the Argentine rise to the upper echelons of the sport in just under a year.

Date back to Wimbledon 2008—del Potro was in all sorts of danger. He had won just 8 matches going into the seasons third slam, with a second round exit at the All England Club surely not helping his cause.

But with the injection of confidence, and the diligent outlook from his coach Franco Davin, the Tandil native elevated his level of play to contender status.

With three consecutive quarter-final or better appearances in the last three grand slam events, del Potro has solidified himself as a factor. He can’t miss him.

And it’s not because he’s 6′6″ or rocks sleeveless shirts that dawn his sleek and lanky frame. The Argentine’s focus is grand to say the least. His new found ability to embrace adverse situations with undeniable resilience are the cornerstones in his continued climb up the ATP ladder. It does get much more difficult, from here on in…

The man who overtook Rafael Nadal’s draw when the Spaniard was forced to withdraw, took one step closer today, towards his fourth straight quarterfinal or better result in a major, with a straight set thumping over Frenchmen Arnaud Clement 6-3, 6-1, 6-2.

The 1:37 minute encounter featured 85 percent of first serve points won by del Potro, to go along with 10 aces and six breaks of serve.

Clement who was a quarter-finalist last year, is never an easy opponent to face. His ground hugging game style is suited to the grass, with his return of serve being stellar. That was of little concern to del Potro today.

The towering 5th seed had this to say after his victory.

“Well, I had a good start in this Wimbledon. Clement is a good player. He knows how can you play in this surface. He did quarterfinals last year and was very tough for first time against him. I didn’t read much, I did everything, serves, volleys, returns, and it was more easy than I was thinking before the match.”

It will not get any easier for del Potro going forward, with his next opponent being former Wimbledon champ Lleyton Hewitt.

Hewitt was a straight set winner over American Robby Ginepri 6-4, 6-1, 6-1.

The Australian will be a tough match-up for the Argentine, with the two players never facing off in their respective careers.

Overall, Hewitt is far better grass-court player, with del Potro holding the confidence card at the moment. Surely the best second round contest in the draw.

Elsewhere, other seeded and non-seeded winners on Day 2 action included:

Eight seed Gilles Simon defeating Bobby Reynolds 6-4, 6-3, 6-3; 10th seed Fernando Gonzalez out gunning Teimuraz Gabashvili 7-5, 7-5, 6-3; 12th seed Nikolay Davydenko spoiling the home-country hopes of Daniel Evans 6-2, 6-3, 6-3; Canadian turned American Jesse Levine came up with the biggest win of career, sending 14th seed Marat Safin swimming home with 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 victory; 16th seed David Ferrer gathered a much needed win over Kevin Kim 7-5 6-3 4-6 6-2; 19th seed Stanislas Wawrinka defeated Eduardo Schwank 7-5, 6-4, 6-1; 20th seed Tomas Berdych ousted Alex Bogdanovic 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; 23rd Radek Stepanek breezed past Alejandro Falla 6-4, 6-4, 6-1; recent Halle winner Tommy Hass continued his good form with a 6-7 (7-5), 7-6 (7-0), 6-3, 6-4 win over Alexander Peya; Mischa Zverev defeated recent Eastbourne winner 25th seed Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-2, 3-0; 26th seed Jurgen Melzer took out Wayne Odesnik 6-1, 6-4, 6-2; 30th seed Viktor Troicki powered his way past Brian Dabul 6-4, 6-4, 6-3; 31st seed Victor Hanescu narrowly escaped Ivan Navarro 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-7 (7-5) 12-10; good old Fabrice Santoro sliced one up for the good guys with 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 win over 33rd seed Nicolas Kiefer.

Leonardo Mayer blasted through Oscar Hernandez 6-0, 6-0, 6-3; Benjamin Becker continued his winning ways over Roko Karanusic 6-4, 6-4, 6-1; Michael Llodra scraped through Joshua Goodall 4-6, 7-6(7-5), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4; Fabio Fognini advanced when his opponent Denis Istomin retired after leading 1-6, 6-7 (7-3), 6-4, 3-1; Paul-Henri Mathieu defeated Frederico Gil 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2; Victor Crivoi grinded out Bjorn Phau 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3), 2-6, 6-3; Nicolas Devilder defeated veteran Nicolas Lapentti 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5; Thiago Alves dispatched Andrei Pavel 6-3, 2-6, 6-1, 2-6, 6-1; Juan Carlos Ferrero came up with a fantastic win over Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 7-6, (7-3), 6-3; Potito Starace advanced past an ailing Jose Acasuso 7-6(7-0) 6-3 retire; Pablo Cuevas out baselined Christophe Rochus 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 11-9; Martin Vassallo Arguello got past Pablo Andujar (ESP) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2; Philipp Petzschner over powered Rajeev Ram of the United States 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(7-3), 6-1.

American Taylor Dent was trailing Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 5-7, 6-7 (6-8), 7-5 before their match was called due to darkness. The pair will resume action on Court 5, Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday’s action at the All England Club will feature: number two seed Roger Federer vs. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain; 3rd seed Novak Djokovic vs. Simon Greul; 7th seed Fernando Verdasco vs. Kristof Vliegen; 9th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Simon Bolleli.

Notes from England: Marat has left Wimbledon—don’t be surprised if he is back. Murray moved a Mountain—keep checking in. Roddick showed his trim and slim look for England. Delpo seems to be good on anything—Hewitt will argue that.

The charismatic Fabrice Santro will live to see Thursday at Wimbledon—he is never a disappointment. Who knew this Kendrick guy was so good? Hopefully that’s not the last of him.

Finally, what’s up with Andrei Pavel getting into every grand slam with a current rank of 907? He is not under a protective ranking, and has only played three matches on the season?

Please check back as TennisConnected.com is once again proud to bring our readers and listeners, the most comprehensive coverage from the All England Club. Our daily wrap-ups, interviews, pictures and live scores will be your second best seat on Center Court. We will also be conducting a pre-Wimbledon radio show the Sunday before The Championships, as well as on the middle and final Sunday. Stay tuned tennis fans, a fortnight of glorious tennis awaits. Enjoy!

Wimbledon Day 1 review. June 22, 2009. Federer through in straights; Blake defeated.

London, England–Wimbledon

8:30 pm cest

Federer poised

Second seed Roger Federer began his Wimbledon campaign in successful fashion today, with a straight set win over Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei 7-5, 6-3, 6-2. Although the first set was a relatively close affair, the Swiss never appeared to be in any real danger during the opening stages of the match.

His opponent (Lu) seemed to be solid in all facets of his game, but his lack of a knock-out blow which seems to be protocol when facing Federer, was no-where to be found. In many ways, Lu was the perfect opponent for Roger to start off his Wimbledon run. He provided the Swiss with rhythm, and allowed for an assessment of his game to be conducted.

There was never really a point in the match were Lu presented any tactical intervention in his game. There were no serve and volley, no low chips to the Federer forehand, and no alteration in his return-of-serve pattern. Not a good idea when playing Federer.

The result, a clean cut comprehensive showing by arguably the best grass-court player in history. Federer’s numbers during the 1:45 minute affair were sensational, with the second seed winning 85% of his first serve points, striking 10 aces and breaking his opponent on five occasions.

It was evident that Federer was ultra confident throughout this affair, with his net approaches becoming a frequent tactic. When Federer goes 19/23 at the net in a grass-court match, you know he’s feeling good.

Federer, who in un-customary fashion opened-up Wimbledon proceedings this year (due to Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal), had this to say after winning the first ever match, in the roofed-edition of Center Court.

“It’s a very privileged spot, Monday 1pm, of course I feel honoured. I know Rafa deserved it more than I do this year but somebody had to do it and I’m happy they chose me. It gets your heart beating, that’s for sure.”

Federer also briefly spoke about his new look for The Championships.

“I went for a modern military look, hope people like it.”

Perhaps a military look which will bring out the “old” free flowing aggression of the Swiss. With his recent French Open victory, you would have to think that Federer will be in destruction mode for the remainder of the fortnight.

With the win, Federer’s quest a record breaking 15th grand slam title will regain flight on Wednesday, where he will await the challenge of Guillermo Garcia-Lopez who was a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 winner over Agustin Calleri of Argentina.

Federer and Garcia-Lopez have met on two occasions in their career head-to-heads, with the Swiss winning both encounters. Federer has only lost seven games in the two matches against Garcia-Lopez lifetime, with Wednesday’s contest being the first time they will meet on grass. Smooth sailing for Federer it seems.

Blake dusted again

The miserable year of American James Blake continue today at The Championships, after the 17th seed was inexplicably bounced in the opening hurdle by Italian Andreas Seppi 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5). The poor and confused attempt by Blake saw the soon-to-be 30-year-old struggle with his footing all-day, as well as also choked away a 5-0 lead in the third set tie-break.

Seppi who is notorious for having one of the weakest serves in the men’s game, only lost his serve twice throughout the contest, and won a reasonably high 70% of his first serve points.

Blake’s go-for-broke return games offered little consistency towards the Seppi serve, allowing the Italian to constantly gain momentum and stride as the match continued. There is no other greater feeling for a poor server, than to hold easily.

With the loss, Blake loses his second consecutive grand slam match in the opening round, and will now have to regroup in time for the summer hard-court season.

With quality showings in Estoril and Queen’s going into the French and now Wimbledon respectively, it appears as though warm-up results are not an indicative measure as to how Blake will perform at the majors.

If Blake is to have an unsuccessful summer hard-court season, to be followed by an early exit at the U.S. Open—retirement could be eminent.

During his presser, Blake went onto criticize the Tour for its poor calender set-up and also attributed to Nadal’s withdraw to the constant grind the top guys have to endure.

“I’m probably not supposed to say anything about the schedule or about the ATP in that way, but it’s just tough for guys,” said the 29-year-old American. “There’s really not many ways to mess with the schedule, to take tournaments away, but it would definitely help the players’ careers be a little bit longer.

“I don’t want to sit here and say there’s an easy solution, because I know it’s tough. I’ve been on the [ATP] player council. I know how difficult those meetings are, how much the tournaments want to hold on to their spots. But for the players’ longevity, something should be done.

“You need to be training, there’s no real pre?season. We’re at a slam three weeks into the year [at the Australian Open], so you can’t warm up into a year. You don’t have 20 or 30 games of pre?season like in baseball.”

Blake has a point, but it would be interesting to scratch up a few of his 2004 transcripts from when he was number four in the world. Perhaps the same sort of fatigue driven answer would not have been provided?

Seppi on the other hand will be delighted to progress, on his worst surface no-less. His second round showdown on Wednesday will have the Italian against Frenchmen Marc Gicquel who was a 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 winner over countrymen Adrian Marrianno.

Elsewhere, there were no other major upsets on Day 1, with the following final score-lines taking place:

Robin Soderling continued his high form from Paris with a 6-7(7-4), 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 win over hard serving Gilles Muller; 7th seed Fernando Verdasco thumped local favorite James Ward 6-1, 6-3, 6-4; flying Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came through in a relative struggle over Andrey Golbuev 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5); 27th seed Phillip Kohlschreiber defeated Florent Serra 7-6(7-3), 6-1, 6-4; 28th seed Mardy Fish benefited from his opponents retirement when Sergio Roitman quit after trailing 6-3, 6-2, 4-1; Ivo Minor got through Maximo Gonzalez 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 6-0; lucky loser Karol Beck opened up Roger Federer’s draw by dismissing 21st seed Feliciano Lopez 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 10-8; another barn-burner, and perhaps the match of the day saw Nicolas Almagro come back from two-sets-to-love against Juan Monaco 6-7 (3-7), 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 8-6 (match time 3:58 minutes); Dudi Sela defeated Santiago Gonzalez 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3; Vince Spadea, won a match in what seemed like an eternity over Paul Capdevill 6-0, 6-4, 7-5 (YouTube rap video coming up shortly); Janko Tipsarevic dismissed Jan Hernych 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4); Marcel Granollers up-ended Andreas Beck 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (7-4), 6-2; Simone Bolelli used his powerful game to grind past Daneil Koellerer 6-7 (7-3), 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4; 15th seed Tommy Robredo picked up a rare grass-court win over Luka Gregorc 7-6(7-4), 64, 57, 76(7-3); lasts years semifinalist 18th seed Rainer Schuettler avoided being upset by Xavier Malisse, prevailing 6-7(9), 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-1; Guillermo Canas progressed to round two with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 win over countrymen Diego Junqueira; 29th seed Igor Andreev muscled his way into the second round over fellow Russian Evgeny Korolev 4-6, 7-6(7-2). 6-4, 7-6 (7-4); Steve Darcis defeated last weeks Eastbourne finalist Frank Dancevic 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.

Matches that are still in progress or yet to take the court on Day 1 action will see:

Fourth seed Novak Djokovic currently in a battle with Frenchmen Julien Benneteau, with the Serb leading two-sets-to-one, on serve in the fourth; Michael Llorda vs. Joshua Goodall; 24th seed Tommy Haas against Alexander Peya; 11th seed Marin Cilic taking on Alberto Martin; Sam Querrey vs. Danai Udomchoke (Udomchoke replaced an injured Ivan Ljubicic, ankle); 32 seed Albert Montanes vs. Grega Zemlja.

Tuesday actions at the All England Club will feature 3rd seed Andy Murray beginning his attempt at becoming the first home-country champion since 1936. Murray will take on hard serving Robert Kendrick of the United States.

Other feature matches on Day 2 action will have 6th seed Andy Roddick against dangerous Frenchmen Jermey Chardy; 5th seed Juan Martin del Potro battling Arnaud Clement; 8th seed Gilles Simon taking on Bobby Reynolds.

Notes from England: We have Federer through, peRFect, if I may; Blake broken—becoming the norm as of late; Tsonga sizzling—it’s about time, you have a big game mate; Verdasco keeping the faux-hawk in check (one and oh for the haircut); finally with the roof over Wimbledon, they are not calling for any rain all week? Perhaps the prevention was all that was needed to cause a sunny Wimbledon.

Please check back as TennisConnected.com is once again proud to bring our readers and listeners, the most comprehensive coverage from the All England Club. Our daily wrap-ups, interviews, pictures and live scores will be your second best seat on Center Court. We will also be conducting a pre-Wimbledon radio show the Sunday before The Championships, as well as on the middle and final Sunday. Stay tuned tennis fans, a fortnight of glorious tennis awaits. Enjoy!

Wimbledon Preview:

It’s that time of year folks. Time where the sports world stands still and absorbs the magnitude that is Wimbledon. The time where “tennis really matters”—time where only the best have always prospered.

The pending and constantly altered questions which always seem to arise as the two weeks of All England Tennis develop, are as follows:

Will Rafael Nadal’s injury (and withdrawal) be the story we will remember the most after The Championships are complete? Will Roger Federer win his record 15th grand slam title and surpass Pete Sampras for tennis’ sole supremacy? Will Andy Murray ignite a tennis nation starving for a British Champion after 73 years of congratulating “another man” after each passing year? Does Novak Djokovic have the drive and determination to improve on his worst surface? Finally, will another Robin Soderling bud out of the tennis garden of talent, and impose a world beater effort?

Well tennis fans, these questions and many more enticing story-lines are sure to evolve over the fortnight of electrifying tennis ahead.

Let us now take a look at the 32-seeds to be followed by a draw analysis, as well as predictions based on the quarterfinals and onwards.

Seed report:

1. Rafael Nadal: In the event you wanted to know what would have been written about the top seed. The man from Mallorca is in some serious trouble. What first appeared like a Soderling meltdown, has now turned into a circus of uncertainty and crisis for all involved in “Nadal Land”. If he plays he will fight; if he plays, he makes the quarters tops. A potential second round clash with Lleyton Hewitt is nothing to shake a stick at. A new singles champion in 2009 you’d reckon. Oh how quickly things can change…

2. Roger Federer: What do we have here? Wasn’t this the “write-off” Roger Federer everyone was talking about? Well, R-Fed is back Ladies and Gents, and if history has taught us nothing else about tennis, it is a sport which revolves around momentum and confidence. With Federer possessing oodles of both, his record breaking grand slam stands at t-minus… a fortnight away.

3. Andy Murray: The “un-proper” Scot has shown the ability to beat the best. There is a catch 22 in the Murray equation however: always wins, but never wins in slams. He’s looking sharp in his new Fred Perry duds, but will the drought of 73 years without a British champion be solved by a first time slam winner? Unlikely.

4. Novak Djokovic: Nole is in the house. But isn’t this the same house that he so miserably flopped out of last year to Marat Safin? With the support of his sponsors, and the ability to play some sparkling tennis, the Serb will have to break-out his tassels and all the “rico suave” in his tennis bag to rule the “tube” in London. Julien Benneteau could give him a scare in round one.

5. Juan Martin Del Potro: Lanky but lean, and mentally groomed to perfection. Although JMDP has never excelled on grass, his new found “I’m around at the tail end of grand slams, what are you up to” attitude appears to be in full-fight as he enters the All England. He has made the quarters or better in the last three slams, and could very well make it four in a row in London. Note: JMDP gets Nadal’s draw.

6. Andy Roddick: A recent slip-up against good buddy Blake at Queens had initial concerns. But this is Wimbledon, and Andys gotta play, right? And how will he do? Well, it says here that although Andy appears to be in good and “light” form during the 2009 season, the years of not winning a slam can not be a good thing for Mr. Twitter. In case anyone was wondering, Andy can re-Tweet a questions or comment in 75 words or less.

7. Fernando Verdasco: Mr. Frohawk descends to his least favorite slam. There is no sun. His hair can not glisten. The bounce is not high. His ground-strokes will struggle. Fernando is also in a recent funk which can only be attributed to his house money running out rapidly. The hot streak of the first six months of the season maybe coming to an abrupt end. Nicolas Ma”who” could also cause him a scare in the second round.

8. Gilles Simon: My man Gilles, where have you been? Certainly not winning matches mate. The Nice native is currently experiencing technical difficulties. Those difficulties being that he is expected to win matches now that he is a top-ten player. Something the French have never embraced. Expectations which can only be described by malheureux.

9. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga: Another Frenchmen waiting in the wings. However this French player seems to have the bark to match his bite — something his countrymen seem to lack. With good touch and a rocket serve, Tsonga may just sizzle into week two of The Championships. His draw is conducive to such results.

10. Fernando Gonzalez: Gonzo was ever-so-close to making the finals of the French. If not for a sling-shot Swede, Gonzalez would have surpassed his Olympic glory. With tarp-hitting ability, courtesy of a ferocious forehand, the Chilean sensation maybe good for a brief appearance in week two.

11. Marin Cilic: Earlier season success had the tennis world ready to salute a new member into the Big four. But with growing pains came the realization that getting closer to the top, meant that the top is that much farther away. His movement will be suspect on the grass, but his ammunition might but be enough to suffice. His second round tussle with either Querrey or Ljubicic will be one to watch.

12. Nikolay Davydenko: Niko is no-grass-court wizard. Which is “weird”, for lack of a better word since his game features ground-hugging shot-making and rock solid returns. But with only one fourth-round appearance to his name, and bum ankle to boot, this Russian pony appears to be in need of much more than a good pair of grass-court sneakers.

13. Robin Soderling: He came into Paris as the 23rd seed. He comes into Wimbledon 10 spots higher. Will a ten place increase result in another Swedish surprise? Well, it says here that Soderling is a much better player on grass than he is on clay. And we all know how the clay turned out. Don’t be surprised if great things occur for le Sod. A great disappointment could also be in the cards with Gilles Muller being his first round foe. Can you say, another “Soderling type run” for Muller?

14. Marat Safin: Last years semifinalist was elevated in the ranks by the good grace of the seeding committee. Perhaps a farewell gift for the 007 Russian? And what did a ranking of 14, get good old Marat? A fourth-round date with Andy Murray. If he gets there, that is.

15. Tommy Robredo: The good news for T-Rob is that he just made the quarterfinals of the French Open. The bad news being that Robredo hasn’t been able to transition his clay game onto the grass of England. A quick and clean exit awaits.

16. David Ferrer: Ferrer is like tennis’ version of Freddy Kruger. Just when you think he’s gone, he comes back and strikes with a vengeance. Wait, this is not Elm street, but the glorious and bright roads of SW19. No nightmare for Mr. Ferrer.

17. James Blake: JB slams onto Wimbledon to prove that “Americans train to win Wimbledon”. Don’t worry James, you will be held to that statement throughout your stay in England. Blake is a bit of a question mark coming in. He is every-one’s sentimental favorite, and being half British, the Yonkers native will be eager to hit as many forehand winners as it takes in order to move forwards. However, more than “one shot”, it seems, is needed to win in men’s tennis nowadays.

18. Rainer Schuettler: With an improbable run to the final-four during lasts year event, Rainer is ready claw and grind his way to as many W’s as possible. This will certainly be a is a do-or-die tournament for the longevity of his career. Do, and he will remain in the top 50. Don’t, and he risks dropping the depths of retirement by the end of 2009.

19. Stanislas Wawrinka: “The other Swiss” can do it all. He is a master on every surface; but lacks the metal to succeed at the highest degree. If it weren’t for Roger Federer, Stan would be the best player in Switzerland. But is that really an accolade a player would want to be remembered for? His draw is cushy until a potential fourth rounder with Murray.

20. Tomas Berdych: The modern day Marat Safin needs a make-over in a big way. This explosive Czech is still searching for the ingredients to harness his immense talent. With the ability to blow through any foe with the flick of a racket, Berdych has only managed one final eight performance in a slam, during his under-achieving career. That streak will continue at Wimbledon.

21. Feliciano Lopez: Finally, a Spaniard who likes grass. F-Lo never seems to disappoint on the lawns of Wimbledon — the breeding ground for his most successful slam. If the draw is right, and it appears like it is, there is no reason why Lopez can’t serve-and-volley his way into the second week. Oh, how refreshing it is to speak of the net-rush. His first round encounter with Baghdatis is a popcorn match in the waiting.

22. Ivo Karlovic: A seed bump up? Well, if there is one player who deserves it, let it be Mr. Ace-in-your-face. Karlovic has never been shy when dropping dozens of bullets past his memorized opponents. But what’s up with Ivo only making it as far as the forth round at Wimbledon?

23. Radek Stepanek: The charm and charisma of the Ladies man of the tour is back in full force. Radek blends old-school tennis with the chest pumping rock of Green Day. With every win, comes a customary post match dance. Here’s hoping “the worm” sticks around until week two.

24. Tommy Haas: The recent Halle winner comes in full of flowing backhands. But would you believe that Haas has only reached the round of sixteen on one occasions, since being released from Nick Bollettieri’s boot camp? His draw looks promising.

25. Dmitry Tursunov: Lock and load, Dmitry is ready to fail. Just another example of how important movement is in tennis. If tennis were a stationary sport, Tursunov might be the greatest. But with wheels in motion, another early week departure seems eminent for the swash-buckling Russian.

26. Jurgen Melzer: Stand clear, two-hand drop-shots galore are coming to Wimbledon. The Austrian has done himself proud by climbing to the upper echelons of the men’s game. The one problem being that Melzer is one of the only tennis players out there who makes his job, actually look like a job, instead of an undying privilege.

27. Philip Kohlschreiber: The longest name in tennis is ready to stick around — to a writer’s delight of course . Philipp is another one of those players who can play on everything, but can’t win on anything. He’s simply bridesmaid material. But hey, at least you’re invited Philipp!

28. Mardy Fish: Deal or no deal Fish loves the grass. Too bad the grass doesn’t love him back. All the tools for a fantastic grass-court career have always been available. But a lonely 5-6 life-time record in England, leaves Mardy with limited options for Big W success. A hopeful payout by the “Banker” is in order.

29. Igor Andreev: Mechanics personified. The Mustang of the men’s tour has enough horse-power to go the distance. But his topspin and short backhand are not welcomed in these low bouncing parts of the tennis world. Don’t worry Igor, the summer clay-court swing is just around the corner.

30. Viktor Troicki: The second seeded Serb in the men’s draw (try saying that five-times while returning a Karlovic serve), is built more like a line-backer than a tennis player. In saying that, he has mucho pop on his serve, and a rocket forehand to back up his charge.

31. Victor Hanescu: The clay-court comfort of Victor (no relation to above mentioned Troicki) has never been one to embrace the grass like his countrymen Nasty Nastase. It’s a shame really, considering the well-harnessed array of shots this Bucharest native possesses.

32. Albert Montanes: Was the Wimbledon seeding committee aware of this? Come on now…

33. Nicolas Kiefer: A late addition, to fill the mightily void of a Nadal-less tournament. Nothing personal Nicolas.

Draw Analysis:

Nadal’s Quarter: Note: Nadal’s quarter was written prior to him pulling out. It was kept to uphold the symmetry of the article.

If Rafa was looking to ease his way into this year’s tournament with a few wild-cards and qualifiers, he is fresh out of replacement grip. The top seed will be tested right from the get go with 2008 quarter-finalist Arnaud Clement in round one. Under normal circumstances, Clement would not be a formidable foe for Rafa. But when you take into account the injured knee’s of the Mallorcan, Arnaud is one of the worst opponents one could have. No aces, just run, run, run.

In saying that Nadal, should be able to engage on his mental fortitude and dispatch the Frenchmen.

It ain’t getting any easier in round two. With former Wimbledon champ Lleyton Hewitt next up, Nadal will be tested beyond belief. Again if this were a healthy Rafa standing before us, then a straight-set win could be foreseen. However, under current conditions, (withdrawing conditions) a second round exit would not be surprising.

If Nadal is to squeak by the Australian, then the third would bring a certain sense of retreat to the Spaniard. Flaky Russian, Dmitry Tursunov, never a treat to win-it-all, would be a potential opponent. Tursunov under any circumstance (Nadal on one leg) would find a way to goof-up his chances.

The fourth round could see a familiar face (who hasn’t been able to hold up-hold his seed as of late), David Ferrer. The 16th seeded Spaniard is another one of those players the injured knees of Nadal would not look forward to facing. If Nadal is on, Ferrer is no challenge. But as we saw during the 2007 U.S. Open, an injured Nadal, plus a polished Ferrer, equals an exit for the higher ranked Spaniard.

If Rafa is somehow able to stave-off his first and fourth round opponents, he will then have the daunting task of returning the mightily serve of 6th seed Andy Roddick. Roddick will have his own work to do in the earlier rounds with stiff opposition from Chardy and Grigor Dimitrov. With Nadal’s current status, a final-eight showdown would be welcomed by the American.

Bottom Line, everything is hearsay at this point, as we are not well-aware to the extent of Nadal’s injury. With the game never seeing a fighter like the Spaniard, he may just surprise us all, and make another memorable run in England. With the uncertainly of not even participating, one can not be over optimistic for a repeat of this loved champion.

Pick: Roddick

Note: With the withdraw of top seed Rafael Nadal, 5th seed Juan Martin del Potro has taken the top seeds place in the draw. he will now face Frenchmen Arnuad Clement in round one. The Argentines previous spot will be filled by a lucky loser.

Federer’s quarter:

What a relief it must be for Roger Federer. With all of tennis’ accolades in the bag, and only the record of breaking Pete Sampras’ 15-slams remaining, get ready for the “old Fed”. With Federer playing for Federer now, and not history, expect to see a reunion tour of his classic hits from 2004-2007 season’s. The smell of victory surrounds RF.

Not only does Roger have Mother-momentum on his side, but a favorable draw has also been bestowed upon him. He should run through his first two opponents with ease: Yen-Hsun Lu and either Agustin Calleri or Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Tea-time will not be stalled.

The third round could bring forth the challenge 27th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, whom Federer is 3-0 lifetime against. Again, Philipp does everyone well, Federer just does it better, on a completely different level.

The round of sixteen would also usher in a comfort level for Roger, which he would very much like to uphold. His scheduled opponents, 13th seed Robin Soderling; 21st seed Felicano Lopez and unseeded Marcos Baghdatis, are a combined 0-23 against the Swiss. Ouch.

The potential Lopez encounter would be the toughest of the bunch, with the Spaniard possessing the overall greatest grass-court threat.

The quarterfinals could be a toss-up in regards to whom Federer could face. Seventh seed Fernando Verdasco seems to be struggling, and will be pressed to up-hold his seeding. Ivo Karlovic is always a threat, but the lack of return-of-serve in his skill-set will always be a hinder to him on grass. And the challenges of in-form Frank Dancevic or 9th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga may come into play.

All in all, Federer is here to win this tournament. There is no doubt. With his greatest challenge being himself, quite honestly. Similarly to Paris, England will bring forth another historic “first” for Federer, with the Swiss attempting to solely rule to podium of tennis greatness. If there is no French Open hangover (great movie by the way), Roger is poised to rack up slam number 15.

At the very least, a semifinal berth is in order, what is it now, 20-straight semifinal appearances in major tournaments? Truly fantastic.

Murray’s quarter:

Time to get down to business for the Scot. There is no time like the present, and with a hobbled Nadal, and Federer fighting the pressures of greatness, this might just by Murray’s year.

Andy did receive a favorable draw, with an opening contest against the hard-serving, but never a threat to seriously challenge, Robert Kendrick. Kendrick did have that two-sets-to-love lead against Nadal in 2006, but since has faded in the abyss of journeymen level tennis. Kendrick will hold his own, but will be dusted by the variety of Murray.

The second round could bring forth the mighty struggles of Latvian Ernests Gulbis. Gulbis has had an out-of-sorts beginning to 2009. It appears as though no refuge is in sight. Still a great game to face, one in which Murray will dispose of in routine fashion.

The third round has Murray facing the serving prowess of either unseeded American Taylor Dent, or 30th seed Viktor Troikci of Serbia. Both these men could challenge for a set, with Dent living and dying with his canon delivery. Great to see Dent back, as a qualifier no less, playing on his best surface.

The round of sixteen could bring forth good friend and 19th seed Stanislas Wawrinka. Stan has a great game as mentioned, but lacks that killer instinct to be a bonafide contender to the title. He could push Murray for a while, and even capture a set, but the “nice Stan” will shine through and allow Murray a quarterfinal place.

Marat Safin is also in this section, and may have some last minute heroics for all those concerned the Russian’s last dance. If that encounter took place, Murray would “Santoro” Safin, out of the England.

The final eight opponent for the British hopeful seems to be a crap-shoot at best. You have 8th seed Gilles Simon, who has been playing as well as Cub Scout. Fernando Gonzalez who up-ended Murray at the French Open, and can always cause a stir, but never finish the deal. And finally 33rd seed Nicolas Kiefer, who in all honestly should be happy that Nadal pulled out, granting him a seed.

All in all Murray could not have asked for a better quarter than this one. He will always have British pressure to deal with, but a cake-walk draw never hurts. With his Federer inspired cardigan, ready to rock, this Scot is primed and ready to showcase not only Perry’s clothing, but also the chance to be known as the last home-country champion.

Pick: Murray

Djokovic’s quarter:

How nice it must be to live the Novak life. Money, cars, commercials, and all the damsels in distress a pro player could want. There is however one problem Mr. Djokoivc: you are expected to play deep in major championships, a little more often.

With four consecutive poor grand slam results for the Novak, the lush grass of Wimbledon might just be the release-mechanism for a break-out Serbian resurgence.

Djokovic does have a tricky draw during the fortnight, and must make sure he has on the right pair of sneakers, this time around.

Dangerous Frenchmen Julien Benneteau is first up for Djokovic. Under any circumstance, is never an easy opponent. The craft and precision which Benneteau possesses, could give Novak an eye opener right from the get go.

The second round would slightly loosen the noose on Novak’s progression, with two under-matched qualifiers on deck. A great opportunity to practice some serve and volley?

The third round could bring forth countrymen Janko Tipsarevic or 28th seed Mardy Fish. Mardy may have something to say about Djokvoic sticking around in London, with a tailor-ready grass game, to challenge all comers. Alas, Fish has just not shown the goods whenever Wimbledon is in the air.

The sixteen’s could see Novak battle 18th seed Rainer Schuettler (last years semi-finalist), or 15th seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo. Robredo is suspect on the grass, with Schuettler needing another monumental Cinderella run, to stand any chance of sticking around, let alone defeating Djokovic.

The quarterfinals could see Djokovic contest against the likes of 17th seed James Blake (who can bring the noise, but always seems to forget his siren at the majors) ; Sam Querrey; Ivan Ljubicic; 24th seed Tommy Haas or 11th seed Marin Cilic. A lot of fire-power resides in this those names.

Djokovic would have a mighty struggle against any of these players (especially on grass), where their prolific serves would do some serious damage. Haas or Blake seem to be the best bets for Novak’s the final eight opponent.

All in all, Djokovic should cruise through his draw after the first round, with some caution to the wind being blown in the quarterfinals. However, Novak has had the tendency to throw in inexplicable losses to lower ranked players. Djokovic is due for a quality result—bring on the post match comments.

Pick: Djokovic

First round matches to watch for:

Andy Roddick vs. Jermey Chardy: Serve vs. serve, with French flair from an up-and-comer.

Juan Carlos Ferrer vs. Mikhail Youzhny: Wouldn’t be surprised if they were seeded, not surprised that they aren’t. If Youzhny plays his cards right (or racket against his head), then he just may walk away from Wimbledon with the most memorable video-clip.

Nicolas Kiefer vs. Fabrice Santoro: Attention, frustration and slices are headed Kiefers way. Will Santoro’s two-handed mayhem give the crowd in London one last show of brilliance? The Magician has plans on staying.

Sam Querrey vs. Ivan Ljubicic: Let’s just call it 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-7, 20-18 and flip a coin? That would be fun to watch though.

Steve Darcis vs. Frank Dancevic: Two of the best shot-makers you may never hear of.

Robin Solderling vs. Gilles Muller: French Open surprise vs. Wimbledon surprise?

Nicolas Almagro vs. Juan Monaco: Could be a quarterfinal in Paris, that is, if Almagro remembers how to play tennis.

Feliciano Lopez vs. Marcos Baghdatis: The luck of the draw has two of the best grass-court players teeing off in round one.

Darkhorses:

Nicolas Mahut: Huge serve, not much else.

Girgor Dmitrov: Claims to be the next R-Fed, good luck kid.

Sam Querrey: Has the game to excel on any surface; needs to check his contact lenses.

Andrei Pavel: Kidding.

Predictions:

Quarterfinals: Juan Martin del Potro vs. Andy Roddick; Andy Murray vs. Fernando Gonzalez; Novak Djokovic vs. James Blake; Roger Federer vs. Ivo Karlovic

Semifinals: Andy Roddick vs. Andy Murray; Roger Federer vs. Novak Djokovic

Finals: Andy Murray vs. Roger Federer

Champion: Roger Federer

Please check back as TennisConnected.com is once again proud to bring our readers and listeners, the most comprehensive coverage from the All England Club. Our daily wrap-ups, interviews, pictures and live scores will be the second best seat on Center Court. We will also be conducting a pre-Wimbledon radio show the Sunday before The Championships, as well as on the middle and final Sunday. Stay tuned tennis fans, a fortnight of glorious tennis awaits. Enjoy!

Join our RSS feed and mailing list to be up to date and entered into our contests.
(We do not sell or distribute your email)

Delivered by FeedBurner