It may not be the most popular tradition at the championships, but for all the divisiveness around resting on middle Sunday, there’s no denying it gives Wimbledon one of its best – welcome to Manic Monday.
Rafa Nadal, Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, Ash Barty, Roger Federer, Petra Kvitova. They’re all in action, all on the same day, with 16 matches across six courts. Suffice to say, there is no shortage of action – if there’s one day this year on which you should plan to do nothing but watch tennis, make it this one.
However, if you need a bit of help knowing which matches to prioritize, we’ve got you covered. Here’s your three to see for day 8, Manic Monday, at Wimbledon:
Johanna Konta (GBR) [19] v Petra Kvitova (CZE) [6] – Second on Centre Court
One of those matches where the draw has done neither player any favours, you could hardly ask for a more high-quality match in prospect than Jo Konta versus Petra Kvitova at this stage of the tournament. A tough match to predict, Kvitova comes in with a 3-1 advantage in the head-to-head, but with Konta in something close to career-best form and a crowd that is firmly on her side, the Brit has every reason to expect she can flip the script here. Whether she can do it will come down to both first-serve efficiency and how well she hits her down-the-line backhand in this lefty-righty matchup, but even if the British public heads home disappointed, they’re still going to get a few fireworks along the way.
Simona Halep (ROU) [7] v Cori Gauff (USA) – Second on No. 1 Court
For a player who hadn’t so much as sniffed senior-level grand slam tennis just a few weeks ago, it’s safe to say Coco Gauff is doing pretty well for herself by making the second week at Wimbledon, although now the difficulty is about to go up considerably against Simona Halep. A player unlike anything Gauff has faced so far, Halep’s ability to systematically break-down her opponents but also punish mistakes with spurts of well-timed aggression makes her quite the difficult puzzle for the young American to solve, and indeed, it’s very possible she won’t have all the necessary answers. That said, Gauff’s serve remains a significant advantage over the former world number one, and if she’s able to build pressure while avoiding long rallies where the Romanian is able to exploit her weaker forehand, who knows? The run may very well continue.
Matteo Berrettini (ITA) [17] v Roger Federer (SUI) [2] – Third on Centre Court
From outside the top 50 at the start of the year, to inside the top 20 by Wimbledon, 2019 has gone pretty well for 23-year-old Matteo Berrettini so far, and yet if he was to knock-off Roger Federer, everything that came before would be little more than a footnote. An Italian with an unusual affinity for grass that goes beyond just diving on it in the hopes of drawing a penalty (yes, this Aussie is still salty about the 2006 World Cup), Berrettini was a titlist in Stuttgart, and possesses the sort of power his opponents simply can’t afford to underestimate. Whether or not he can cause the upset remains to be seen, but at the very least, he’s going to give Federer the sort of rifled ball that either leads to the Swiss dissecting him or having a very rough day at the office, depending on how the forehand is firing. Either way it’s a match worth watching.
