Wimbledon 2009

JP Liz

Wimbledon begins on June 22.

Is this the year for Andy Murray?

parker kent

Hiya! No I don't think he can make it all the way this year. I just always have the feeling that at a grand slam somebody will get the better of him. He's in good form so I guess he is a good shout for the semi finals at least, but I think Roger might get his trophy back!

Stevecw

No, can't see it happening for him. Maybe a semi thats about it. Build up the Brits into Hysteria...and then fall apart badly in 3 sets v Roger!!:pac:

Rafa was training today and looked fully fit...so i can only see a Rafa/Fed final really!

tayto2009

fed the best player of all time

robinph

Seedings are:

1 Nadal
2 Federer
3 Murray

So Murray just gets as far as the semi and then loses to Nadal.

Its So Easy

What I think is brilliant is the BBC will be all over BRITIANS Andy Murray when he is winning but it will be SCOTLANDS Andy Murray when he loses at whatever point he does lose.

juvenal

No.|Gentlemen|Ladies
1. |Rafael Nadal (Spa)|Dinara Safina (Rus)
2. |Roger Federer (Swi)|Serena Williams (USA)
3. |Andy Murray (GB)|Venus Williams (USA)
4. |Novak Djokovic (Srb)|Elena Dementieva (Rus)
5. |Juan Martin del Potro (Arg)|Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus)
6. |Andy Roddick (USA)|Jelena Jankovic (Srb)
7. |Fernando Verdasco (Spa)|Vera Zvonareva (Rus)
8. |Gilles Simon (Fra)|Victoria Azarenka (Bls)
9. |Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra)|Caroline Wozniacki (Den)
10. |Fernando Gonzalez (Chl)|Nadia Petrova, (Rus)
11. |Marin Cilic (Cro)|Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol)
12. |Nikolay Davydenko (Rus)|Marion Bartoli (Fra)
13. |Robin Soderling (Swe)|Ana Ivanovic (Srb)
14. |Gael Monfils (Fra)|Dominika Cibulkova (Svk)
15. |Marat Safin (Rus)|Flavia Pennetta (Ita)
16. |Tommy Robredo (Spa)|Zheng Jie (Chi)
17. |David Ferrer (Spa)|Amelie Mauresmo (France)
18. |James Blake (USA)|Samantha Stosur (Aus)
19. |Rainer Schuettler (Ger)|Na Li (Chi)
20. |Stanislas Wawrinka (Swi)|Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spa)
21. |Tomas Berdych (Cze)|Patty Schnyder (Swi)
22. |Feliciano Lopez (Spa)|Alize Cornet (Fra)
23. |Ivo Karlovic (Cro)|Aleksandra Wozniak (Can)
24. |Radek Stepanek (Cze)|Maria Sharapova (Rus)
25. |Dmitry Tursunov (Rus)|Kaia Kanepi (Est)
26. |Jurgen Melzer (Aut)|Virginie Razzano (Fra)
27. |Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger)|Alisa Kleybanova (Rus)
28. |Mardy Fish (USA)|Sorana Cirstea (Rom)
29. |Igor Andreev (Rus)| Sybille Bammer (Aut)
30. |Viktor Troicki (Srb)|Agnes Szavay (Hun)
31. |Victor Hanescu (Rom)|Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus)
32. |Albert Montanes (Spa)|Anna Chakvetadze (Rus)

Draws will be made on Friday 19 June at 10am BST.

juvenal

French Open quarter-finalist and Wimbledon #14 seed Gael Monfils has withdrawn from the upcoming championships due to a wrist injury. The Frenchman pulled out of Queens with the same injury after defeating Andrey Golubev in the second round.

His withdrawl means that the Gerry Weber Open champion Tommy Haas is granted a seeding at #24, after defeating #4 Novak Djokovic in Sunday's final, and Monfils will be replaced in the draw by a lucky loser from qualifying this week.

juvenal

After struggling through today's practise match against Lleyton Hewitt, Rafael Nadal is unsure of whether he will defend his Wimbledon title. Hewitt defeated Nadal 6-4, 6-3.

His coach said this evening, “He is having difficulties bending and it seems his treatments aren’t enough.

“I don’t know [if he will defend his title], we have to wait for Friday.”

An announcement on his participation will be made on Friday after another practise match against Swiss Stanslas Wawrinka.

BlackMamba

I doubt Nadal will defend his title. Judging by the Hewitt match, he's not 100% and he even said it himself that he wouldn't compete if he wasn't fully fit. Which is pretty big of him....most players would compete regardless and give the spectators lacklustre matches.
Could be Federer's time now...regain Wimbledon, and maybe retain US Open!:)

juvenal

Wawrinka defeated Nadal this afternoon 6-4, 7-6, (10-3), winning a Champion's tie-break at the end.

Nadal has delayed his press conference until later tonight (7pm) at the All-England Club.

Its So Easy

Nadal won't be playing at wimbledon this year. Just announced on www.twitter.com/wimbledon

Interesting101

I think Murray has a great chance this year.Esp not that Nadal is out.

He played very well at Queens and looks to be hitting form. I dont think he will get distracted my all the hype around him.

Altough Fed won the French he actually didnt play exceptional tennis.
He will be a different player on the grass but i do think Murray has a real chance to win.

Epicurus

I hope Murray will win it regardless of Nadal or Fed. I've always liked the guy. I just fear that should he win it he wont get the plaudits he deserves as the media will protray his victory as coming in a "weakened" competition with Nadals absence

juvenal

Very disappointing news from the tournament's, the other player's and the fan's point of view. Obviously he's not in the right shape to compete for two weeks, and even not at 100% he would be capable of lasting at least the first week.

I think that his style of play is one thing, but perhaps this may give his management team a wake-up call regarding his schedule. Granted he's still young, but tennis players do not have the shelf life that other sportspeople such as golfers have. At one stage Nadal was competing and winning so many tournaments that it felt like he'd go to the opening of an envelope! It shows what a competitor the guy is, but at the end of the day you have to look at the bigger picture and keep the four Grand Slam events and the Masters tournaments as priorities. Playing at every 250 event is not necessary, and in fact contributes to fatigue and injury such as this.

I think the men's draw is probably one of the most open in years, although I expect Federer and Murray to go deep, possibly as far as the final. The first few days will certainly be interesting to see where the player's form is on grass.

BlackMamba

Definitely agree with you juvenal. Nadal's team will have to seriously rethink his schedule now. At the rate he's going now, he'll retire before 30...maybe before Federer hangs up his racquet. I hope they insist on cutting back his tournaments. Just concentrate on the Masters and Grand Slams etc. Bigger spaces between tournaments will give his body time to heal and rest.

I know he's young but he shouldn't be getting tendinitis in both knees at 23 years of age. Some reports are saying he also has fluid on his kneecaps. Perhaps his penchant for clay is also a factor. It's more demanding on the body so it could lead to injuries quicker.

At least now he has good space of time before the hardcourt season and US Open. Everyone will see then how he's feeling and how he moves.

Tbh, I'm a Federer fan but I can admit that the game wouldn't be the same without Nadal.

robinph

Its So Easy wrote: »

What I think is brilliant is the BBC will be all over BRITIANS Andy Murray when he is winning but it will be SCOTLANDS Andy Murray when he loses at whatever point he does lose.

Rubbish.

BBC News

BBC News wrote:

But Nadal's withdrawal leaves Murray as the highest seed in his half of the draw, and the Scot is set to begin his challenge on Tuesday.

Sky News

Sky News wrote:

The Scotsman has won all three previous meetings, and most notably romped to a 6-0 6-0 victory on the grass at Newport, Rhode Island, in 2006.

But keep on believing that myth about how the British media reports on its sports stars success or failures if it makes you feel happy.

K4t

Knowing Murray, he'll probably think he's in the final against fed now with nadal out He'll have to play unbelievable tennis to even get to the final tbh.

Can't see past a back in form Federer this year.

Epicurus

K4t wrote: »

Knowing Murray, he'll probably think he's in the final against fed now with nadal out

No he wont. Murray knows that he has a very tricky draw right from the beginning against Robert Kendrick who led Nadal by 2 sets to love at Wimbledon 2006. And his path to the final is also littered with potential pitfalls, Marat Safin, a potential opponent, making his last appearance at wimbledon will want to go out on a high. And he made the semi final last year, has a good record here.

When he does win, and he will it'll be a deserved victory.

Andy Murray wrote:

But the Scot insists there will be no complacency: “I'm focusing totally on the first round, not looking past him at all. He's a tough grass‑court player. He has a big game. He plays very aggressive and takes a lot of chances. So, no, no chance of me underestimating him.”

http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/news/articles/2009-06-20/200906201245508661031.html

Aaron M

K4t wrote: »

Knowing Murray, he'll probably think he's in the final against fed now with nadal out

You obviously don't know Murray then!

curiosity

juvenal wrote: »

Playing at every 250 event is not necessary, and in fact contributes to fatigue and injury such as this.

Rafa has played in only 1 250 event this year, Doha in January, along with Fed and Murray. Every other player has played at least 1 250 event this year. The amount of tournaments Rafa plays isn't high, 18 in the last 12 months. Of the top 100, only Fed, Hewitt, and Tommy Haas have played less. That said, I think media reports were that Rafa wasn't overly keen on playing Madrid, coming after 3 victories in events previous.

If/when Rafa does regain full fitness, it will be interesting to see what events he plays in future. With Fed looking like he'll play on for a few more years yet, we could be blessed with more GS finals between the 2.

Loomis

robinph wrote: »

Rubbish.

BBC News

I can tell you for a fact I've read this type of reporting. I've read reports on his matches all through a tournament, more than once, where it was British No. 1 this and British No.1 that, and then in the report where he lost he was referred to as a Scot.
I'm not saying they deliberately do it or there's anything cynical in it. But I have seen it happen.

cfitz

Just watched Laura Robson take the first set 6-3 against Daniela Hantuchova. From what I've seen, her serve is the most impressive part of her game - she hit plenty of aces and she thumps out her second serve with great success. Daniela Hantuchova is possibly the most unpredictable player in tennis so a win for Robson might not be hugely significant from a performance point of view, but it would be a great start to her career. (I haven't seen the last 40 minutes of the match so it could be over now for all I know!)

lostexpectation

the bias towards andy murray by the bbc commentators is ridiculous, even mcenroe

Zipp101

Marat Safin lost...such a shame.

Aaron M

Just a reminder that if anyone is looking for a good quality, live stream that TG4 is available online:

http://www.tg4.ie/

They have the rights to show live Wimbledon and you can get a good quality stream (450k) on the following link (you may have to manually change the feed quality from 250k to 450k):

http://www.tg4.ie/scei/beo.asp

Rjd2

I must say I am looking forward to Hewitt vs Del Potro tomorrow.

Aaron M

Del Potro just lost the opening 2 sets to Hewitt. Looks like the no. 5 seed is going home early unless he can pull something out of the bag here!

juvenal

Hewitt causes the upset of the day, defeating #5 Del Potro 6-3, 7-5, 7-5.

juvenal

Very impressive performance from Murray tonight as he swept Gulbis aside in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5, 6-3. Murray made just five unforced errors in the match and won in 1hr and 28mins.

The Swiss star, Stanislas Wawrinka beat Martin Vassallo Arguello 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

Penguinssmell

Gulbis looked distinctly average. Be careful not to get dragged in the Murray madness, every good shot he hits will be called as unreal. Fed is still the man to stop.

anotherlostie

5 unforced errors over three sets is impressive, regardless of how much you like, or dislike, the nationality of the player.

Penguinssmell

I dont dislike him because he's Scottish. I dislike the fact that he's overhyped by the english, and I dont particularly like him anyway. And yes 5 unforced errors is impressive. But his opponent today played into his hands, tried a numerous amount of uneeded drop shots, and did not play his own natural game. Yes he won well, but it was also an easy match.

Mister Sifter

Penguinssmell wrote: »

I dont dislike him because he's Scottish. I dislike the fact that he's overhyped by the english, and I dont particularly like him anyway. And yes 5 unforced errors is impressive. But his opponent today played into his hands, tried a numerous amount of uneeded drop shots, and did not play his own natural game. Yes he won well, but it was also an easy match.

How on earth is he over-hyped? Have you been following tennis over the past 12 months? Murray has been awesome and is thoroughly deserving of the hype at present. He's not number 3 in the world for nothing and with his record against Federer, combined with the way his game is maturing, he's got a great chance at Wimbledon. C'mon Andy!!!

Draupnir

Penguinssmell wrote: »

I dont dislike him because he's Scottish. I dislike the fact that he's overhyped by the english, and I dont particularly like him anyway. And yes 5 unforced errors is impressive. But his opponent today played into his hands, tried a numerous amount of uneeded drop shots, and did not play his own natural game. Yes he won well, but it was also an easy match.

Murray is essentially underhyped in my opinion, given the fact that he is top 3 in the world in his sport at a time when two of the greatest of all time are playing. He is probably the best male British tennis player since Fred Perry and is likely to make a few more Grand Slam finals and probably win one at least.

Compare that to the hype that some of their under achieving footballers have gotten or some of their crappy Formula 1 drivers and you can see how underhyped he is for his achievements.

juvenal

Federer was cruising against Kohlschreiber, leading 6-3, 6-2 and was up a break at 4-3 in the third, before Kohlschreiber came back and broke him in game eight. They're now in a third set tie-break, and the German has a mini-break leading 4-3 with two serves to come.

juvenal

Kohlschreiber wins the tie-breaker 7-5, and now Federer leads two sets to one as we begin the fourth set.

juvenal

Federer comes through in four sets against Kohlschreiber, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1. Federer should really have won in three having been a break up in the third set, although Kohlschreiber played very well to come back and force the tie-breaker.

Federer will not be happy with his break point conversion (7/22), and also being broken in the third set when it looked academic. Kohlschreiber hit 51 winners, yet it still wasn't enough - must be pretty frustrating.

A rematch of the French Open final is next, with Soderling v Federer scheduled for Monday.

Loomis

Graeme1982 wrote: »

How on earth is he over-hyped? Have you been following tennis over the past 12 months? Murray has been awesome and is thoroughly deserving of the hype at present. He's not number 3 in the world for nothing and with his record against Federer, combined with the way his game is maturing, he's got a great chance at Wimbledon. C'mon Andy!!!

He is over-hyped because despite his great form he is still behind two players in the world rankings. The British media ignored this small fact and placed him as the favourite for the Australian Open ahead of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic (Murray at this point was still no.4 in the world). Dismissing the top three players in the world and the fact they had all shown over and over that they have the game and mentality to win Grand Slams the British media still made him a favourite.
That is simply arrogant. And typical of the British media regarding their sports personalities.

davyjose

Penguinssmell wrote: »

Gulbis looked distinctly average. Be careful not to get dragged in the Murray madness, every good shot he hits will be called as unreal. Fed is still the man to stop.

Yeah Fed is the man to stop, but Murray is just behind him. Just because he's over-hyped doesn't mean he's not an amazingly talented player.
His win yesterday was very, very impressive. And his recent records against the two ranked above him - Rafa and Fed - have been in the Scot's favour. Murray is a future multiple Grand slam winner, IMO, not because the BBC hype him, but because he's a quality, quality tennis Player who came along when the GOAT (Fed) was in his pomp and beat him regularly.

highgiant1985

My Tip for Wimbledon on Monday is

I Andreev 23/10 to beat T Haas

I also like a double of

I Karlovic is 4/6 to beat F. Verdasco
A Roddick is 1/2 to beat T Berdych

€1 returns €2.50.

Loomis

highgiant1985 wrote: »

My Tip for Wimbledon on Monday is

I Andreev 23/10 to beat T Haas

I also like a double of

I Karlovic is 4/6 to beat F. Verdasco
A Roddick is 1/2 to beat T Berdych

€1 returns €2.50.

Haas has beaten Andreev.
Karlovic two sets to one up against Verdasco
Roddick yet to start.

Rain has delayed play today. The roof has been closed for the first time. hewitt is two sets to love down against Radek Stepanek but is up two breaks in the third

juvenal

Murray and the home crowd stunned in the first set, as Wawrinka storms out of the blocks with double breaks for a 4-0 lead. He hold comfortably and serves out the set 6-2.

Andy Roddick and Tomas Berdych are in a first set tie-breaker on Court #1. Roddick gets an early mini-break as Berdych double-faults on the first point, before consolidating for a 3-0 lead. Roddick wins the first set tie-breaker with an ace, 7-6 (7-4). Ten aces in the opening set.

Running Bing

Wawrinka made a great game out of that. Some super tennis played by both men.

Wonder will that game take much out of Murray? He looked pretty wiped physically and emotionally. Must say though Im really warming to Murray. Whatever you say about him at least he shows a bit of emotion unlike Tim nice but dim. You can tell he gives a sh1t.

Mikel

Running Bing wrote: »

Wonder will that game take much out of Murray? He looked pretty wiped physically and emotionally. Must say though Im really warming to Murray. Whatever you say about him at least he shows a bit of emotion unlike Tim nice but dim. You can tell he gives a sh1t.

Unfair on Tiger Tim, he gave a sh1t alright, unfortunately for him his game wasn't big enough, and they slowed the courts down which ruined his chances.
I don't go in for this 'he looks like he doesn't care' attitude, some guys just aren't the fist pumping type. You can only be yourself.

The swiss made a great match of it, that backhand is a thing of beauty.
But I have to agree with McEnroe, at times it was like he was mentally undermining himself.

It might be the coverage but that was the first time the tournament came alive, though I would have loved to see Hewitt's match tonight.

The challenge now for Murray is to string two or three of those type of matches together. He had a similar win against Gasquet last year and then was flat in the next round.
He 'should' get the better of Ferrero, but if he's not recovered Ferrero is a former no 1, French open champion and the courts are playing like hard courts ,if not clay, especially on the serve.

Four cracking quarters lined up though, Karlovic is a threat if he's on and Federer has a bad day.
I'm delighted to see Hewitt there, but I'd like to see Roddick go far too.
I like Haas too and would like to see him do Djokovic who I think is a twat.

I wouldn't mind Murray winning the whole thing, I think he will some year anyway, and at least it would put to bed the whole BBC x number of years since Perry etc etc.
Plus his game is different and interesting, he's not one of the cookie cutter ball machine players that you can't tell apart from each other.

On a sad note apparently it was Santoro's last year, now that's a player you'll never see the likes of again.
The best description I heard of him was when he beat Sampras in Paris (1st round I think) and the Eurosport commentator watching Sampras fall apart called it 'Santoro's Torture Chamber'.
Incredible player.

JP Liz

Andy Murray kept his campaign on track with a dramatic late-night win over Stanislas Wawrinka as Wimbledon witnessed its first floodlit match. The fourth-round contest was played under the new roof after a rain shower.
And the Scot battled to a 2-6 6-3 6-3 5-7 6-3 win in three hours 56 minutes, with the end coming at 2238 BST - the latest ever Wimbledon finish.
Murray was outplayed early on but recovered to set up a quarter-final against wildcard Juan Carlos Ferrero.

"It was pretty special, I thought Stan played a great match," Murray told BBC Sport afterwards. "The standard he set at the start was tough to keep up with.

He is still on course

Aaron M

That was an epic match. Top quality from both players - a real competitive match. Wawrinka played some excellent tennis, Murray did well in the end to come through cause he was showing signs of tiredness in the final set.

The question now is can he recover completely for his 1/4 final match against Ferrero, who has been playing some really good stuff throughout the tournament.

The 1/4 final line-up is looking very good on the men's side of things - some great match-ups. Haas vs. Djokovic and Roddick vs. Hewitt should both be very competitive. I think Federer should get by Karlovic, even with his thundering serve.

fryup

can't see the appeal in murray

he's a dour character, why doesn't he crack a smile from time to time??......even his hair the way he looks, he just eeks of dourness

Mister Sifter

Mr. Anderson wrote: »

He is over-hyped because despite his great form he is still behind two players in the world rankings. The British media ignored this small fact and placed him as the favourite for the Australian Open ahead of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic (Murray at this point was still no.4 in the world). Dismissing the top three players in the world and the fact they had all shown over and over that they have the game and mentality to win Grand Slams the British media still made him a favourite.
That is simply arrogant. And typical of the British media regarding their sports personalities.

Listening to the BBC commentary last night i heard a lot of hope and willingness for Murray to win it, but i never got a hint of expectation that they actually thought he should win it.

I don't recall the media making him favourite to win the Oz Open. Most of the hype came from the bookies if i recall correctly. Just as in the Henman years, there's a good few Wimbledon followers who seem to ignore tennis for 11 months of the year and are oblivious to Murray's progress over the past 12 months. To them he's just Henman.

Anyway, Murray is doing a good enough job of proving he's good enough by himself. He did fantastically well to get through that last night as at times Wawrinka was well on top. Surely a player who will move back on up the rankings before long.

Murray beat Ferrero easily enough at Queens so as long as he can recover from last night ok, I fancy his chances of a spot in the semis.

mr_clean

Ferrero is having a good run ...
and he is comparing himself with Ivanisevic in 2001 ...

I'm gonna stick my neck out here and say Ferrero will beat Murray and will be a surprise finalist..

robinph

Mr. Anderson wrote: »

He is over-hyped because despite his great form he is still behind two players in the world rankings. The British media ignored this small fact and placed him as the favourite for the Australian Open ahead of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic (Murray at this point was still no.4 in the world). Dismissing the top three players in the world and the fact they had all shown over and over that they have the game and mentality to win Grand Slams the British media still made him a favourite.
That is simply arrogant. And typical of the British media regarding their sports personalities.

The people who will have placed someone as "favourite" is the general public who going and put loads on money on that player at the bookies. If you were to go into a bookies in Switzerland I bet they would have a different favorite and odds than you'll find on Paddy Power etc. All the British media were doing is report the facts from the British bookies odds which are used by British people putting a bet on the British player but with no real expectation of them winning, just a vaugely hopeful punt.