Wimbledon

_Bella_

With the grass court season underway in Britain, I think it's time to start discussing Wimbledon. Murray put in a spectacular performance in Queen's against Andy Roddick. Tsonga is also looking good on the grass after defeating Nadal. Djokovic and Federer both pulled out of tournaments due to fatigue/ battling injuries.

The WTA tournament has been taking place in Birmingham. Ivanovic seems to be playing a lot better, with her serve looking very impressive. The William sisters and Na Li will be playing at Eastbourne next week.

So who are your favourites for Wimbledon this year? Anyone going over?

Stella89

It is hard to see beyond the same semis as the french open , provided that everyone is fit and without injury . I'd love to see Roddick get to the last 4 with a chance to win it! .

Nadal vs Murray

Federer Vs Djokovic

ormond lad

Conor Niland won his first round match at the Wimbledon qualifying tournament at Roehampton in London yesterday.
He beat Josselin Ouanna of France 6-3 4-6 8-6 despite trailing at one stage in the final set 2-5 saving five match points en route to victory.
He must win two more matches to get through to the first round proper at SW19.
Australain Greg Jones awaits in the next round

Ken.

James Ward seemed fairly handy during queens. I know he hasn't a hope in hell of winning but I'd back him to go a few rounds.

rjp123

aside from the obvious 4 with nadal to win, berdych & soderling could be good outside bets. niland could easily win a few rounds if he gets through qualifying.

jcf

Nadal has won it.

Name allready on the trophy

DONE DEAL

Johnmb

jcf wrote: »

Nadal has won it.

Name allready on the trophy

DONE DEAL

I'm not so sure. I thought Federer was a goner this year, and wouldn't win any of the slams, but after the French, I have new hope for him. I'm not too worried about the final, he did as well as he's ever done against Nadal there. If he keeps that up for Wimbledon, he is a lot more likely to beat Nadal there than he was in France. I would have been a lot more confident about his chances if he had played Halle, but this is the one slam he is probably going into as the favorite if his French Open form continues.

rjp123

Yep nadal is the man to beat. Conor niland came from a set down to win his second qualification match today. 46 75 62. He plays last match on Thursday best of five sets. Would be first Irish man to play in Wimbledon if he wins Thursday.

JP Liz V1

No. 2 Kim Clijsters has pulled out :eek:

Kylo Ren

Can't wait for Wimbledon. Watching Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Roddick play is always a treat. And watching Murray lose is pretty cool too

Pighead

rjp123 wrote: »

Yep nadal is the man to beat. Conor niland came from a set down to win his second qualification match today. 46 75 62. He plays last match on Thursday best of five sets. Would be first Irish man to play in Wimbledon if he wins Thursday.

Not quite true. He'd be the first Irishman since Sean Sorenson in 1977 to play Wimbledon if he gets through.

He plays his final qualifying match tomorrow against a Cratian bloke called Nikloa Mektic.

Mektic is ranked 274 in the world almost 100 places below Niland. Great chance for Conor to finally reach a Grand Slam at the grand old age of 29. Match should be on about 12.30 or so.

Johnmb

rjp123 wrote: »

Would be first Irish man to play in Wimbledon if he wins Thursday.

As Pighead pointed out, that's not correct. We've had quite a few Irishmen (and women) play in Wimbledon. A number of them have even won it (albeit, the winning part was a long time ago, but still, they won it and they were Irish!).

the_monkey

No mention of Djokovic ???

Djokovic would have beat Nadal 3-0 in the FO final , if he hadn't played erratically against Federer.

BazBox

God not all this "if Djokovic had of beaten Federer he would have thrashed Nadal" stuff again, French Open is long gone Nadal won it get over it.

Still on Djokovic I would love to see him go all the way at Wimbledon, but id say its gonna be Nadal and Federer again, Murray will be over-hyped as usual and will fall at the quarters/semis, Roddick might spring a surprise but he will need to play out of his skin for the 2 weeks. Berdych and Soderling are decent on grass too, anyone else got any other tips? Tipsarevic maybe:eek:

On the womens side Serena is back might be too early for her though, also it will be interesting to see how Li Na gets on after her Fench Open win. Pity Clijsters is out too

It will be a great Wimbledon I hope

smackbunnybaby

Conor Niland kicked off at 11am in his fianl qualifying match, not sure of the score. Be amazing for him to amke the 1st round.

Pighead

smackbunnybaby wrote: »

Conor Niland kicked off at 11am in his fianl qualifying match, not sure of the score. Be amazing for him to amke the 1st round.

He hasn't started yet. Think there may have been rain in London. Loads of the games were delayed. Match is currently set for 1.15 but don't think that's set in stone.

jcf

yeah it's raining in Eastbourne, this is where he is playing, 2nd on court after some womens game - this could be huge for Irish tennis ....

Pighead

Play has just restarted at Wimbledon. Womens match on now will probably take bewteen an hour and an hour and a half so Niland will be on about 6.30 I'm guessing. Doubt he'll get finished tonight unless one of them wins in straight sets.

luis suarez

I will be making my money by laying andy murray there's no way he wins wimbledon.

rjp123

Pighead wrote: »

Not quite true. He'd be the first Irishman since Sean Sorenson in 1977 to play Wimbledon if he gets through.

woops i forgot about sean!
play suspended for the evening. start at 1030 tomorrow with ladies match ahead of him to finish their final set. if no rain should be on at 1130.

main draw at 10am so should be interesting to see where the qualifier slots go. come on conor

rjp123

jcf wrote: »

yeah it's raining in Eastbourne, this is where he is playing, 2nd on court after some womens game - this could be huge for Irish tennis ....

roehampton not eastbourne.....still huge!

Rjd2

rjp123 wrote: »

aside from the obvious 4 with nadal to win, berdych & soderling could be good outside bets.

Both have been shocking all year especially Soderling who has been battered by the top players he has encountered.

Out of the outsiders in the men I think Gasquet if he gets a good draw could be dangerous has form on grass and has been in good form all year.

Womens side is very open, Serena will be a threat, Kvitova could be the star of the young guys while Hantuchova has been very good recently.

Lisicki and Stosur are girls who could be dangerous as well.

rjp123

Rjd2 wrote: »

Both have been shocking all year especially Soderling who has been battered by the top players he has encountered.

erm what? Soderling has already won three ATP titles this year, a career first and otherwise has had a fairly solid run. Berdych hasn't scaled the heights of last year but has been a fairly solid qf-ist all year most recently reaching the sf of Halle last week.

They are both big guys with big serves who
have been there done that so there is a chance they might go well.

GoldFour4

Mahut and Isner in the first round !!

jcf

Come on Niland !!! up 4-2 in the 1st!!!

are these best of 3 sets yeah ?

jcf

f*cking rain , jesus christ, amazing they havn't moved Wimbledon to Gibraltar

Pighead

jcf wrote: »

Come on Niland !!! up 4-2 in the 1st!!!

are these best of 3 sets yeah ?

Best of 5 for the final qualifiers.

As for Soderling I'd agree with RjD2. He has been poor this year. lost early in the Aussie open and hasn't beaten any of the top 5 players all year.

He may have won three tournaments but they were in Brisbane, Rotterdam and Marseille where none of the big guns play. I'll be surprised if Soderling makes the semis this year.

Rjd2

Pighead wrote: »

Best of 5 for the final qualifiers.

As for Soderling I'd agree with RjD2. He has been poor this year. lost early in the Aussie open and hasn't beaten any of the top 5 players all year.

He may have won three tournaments but they were in Brisbane, Rotterdam and Marseille where none of the big guns play. I'll be surprised if Soderling makes the semis this year.

http://www.itftennis.com/mens/players/activity.asp?player=30021424


Nice to win competitions but as you said none of the big boys were their. Marseille especially was very easy for him, Cilic in the final:pac::pac::pac:

He was dire against Rafa at the French and bottled it against Dolgo at the Australian. Federer, Djokoivc and Del Potro defeated him quite easily in some of the more high profile competitions.

When you look at Wimbledon the same thing will happpen that always does. He will win some matches and the very first genuine world class player he encounters will dispatch him easily.

RosyLily

malachyscott wrote: »

Mahut and Isner in the first round !!

Can't believe it!! What are the odds?!?! Bit of a worry that it'll take the shine off their epic match from 2010! But you can guarantee that the crowds will be flocking to the match!

sky88

malachyscott wrote: »

Mahut and Isner in the first round !!

im going to predict the quickest match ever this year

VinLieger

Yeah theres no way it can be anything other than let down unfortunately, last year is just too much to live up to. Nevertheless it will be a great match to watch simply cus of the hype and history

jcf

Who will Niland play if he goes through ?

rjp123

jcf wrote: »

Who will Niland play if he goes through ?

That's not decided yet. The draw has been done with space left for qualifiers. Once all qualies are complete (whenever that is) there will be another mini draw and they will be randomly allocated a slot. Play cancelled for day again

jcf

rjp123 wrote: »

That's not decided yet. The draw has been done with space left for qualifiers. Once all qualies are complete (whenever that is) there will be another mini draw and they will be randomly allocated a slot. Play cancelled for day again

cancelled ? but it's not raining ? do they not have covers in those poxy courts ?

rjp123

yes they have covers. forecast is obviously dire. they go again in the morning but i think the forecast is still bad for tomorrow. difficult for the players.

jcf

rjp123 wrote: »

yes they have covers. forecast is obviously dire. they go again in the morning but i think the forecast is still bad for tomorrow. difficult for the players.

yes indeed.

its pretty bad for next week too.

rjp123

Pighead wrote: »

Best of 5 for the final qualifiers.

As for Soderling I'd agree with RjD2. He has been poor this year. lost early in the Aussie open and hasn't beaten any of the top 5 players all year.

He may have won three tournaments but they were in Brisbane, Rotterdam and Marseille where none of the big guns play. I'll be surprised if Soderling makes the semis this year.

to clarify : soderling beat roddick, tsonga and cilic in the finals of Brisbane, Rotterdam and Marseille this year. They are 'big guns'. The draws contained some other pretty 'big guns'. just because it isnt fed, rafa, djok or murray doesnt make it a weak field. fyi murray played rotterdam.

Anyway if you look back at my original post i stated my guess at the sf spots being filled by the obviuos 4 and said that soderling and berych were good outside bets - as in you would get a good price on them. i dont think that they will win but strange things happen in sport.

Pighead

rjp123 wrote: »

to clarify : soderling beat roddick, tsonga and cilic in the finals of Brisbane, Rotterdam and Marseille this year. They are 'big guns'. The draws contained some other pretty 'big guns'. just because it isnt fed, rafa, djok or murray doesnt make it a weak field. fyi murray played rotterdam.

Anyway if you look back at my original post i stated my guess at the sf spots being filled by the obviuos 4 and said that soderling and berych were good outside bets - as in you would get a good price on them. i dont think that they will win but strange things happen in sport.

No offence but to me "Big Guns" implies players who are regularly contending in the Slams. Cilic, Tsonga and Roddick whilst good players are not big guns. Cilic and Tsonga aren't even in the top 16 in the world whilst Roddick is at his lowest ranking in 10 years.

You may say that Berdych and Soderling are good outside bets but I'd disagree. To me, nobody outside the top 4 has a chance of winning it this year. There are no good outside bets. Soderling at his very very best would have a chance of causing an upset but he's definitely dropped a level this year to where he was in 2009 and the first half of last year. Berdych as well.

Rjd2

rjp123 wrote: »

to clarify : soderling beat roddick, tsonga and cilic in the finals of Brisbane, Rotterdam and Marseille this year. They are 'big guns'. The draws contained some other pretty 'big guns'. just because it isnt fed, rafa, djok or murray doesnt make it a weak field. fyi murray played rotterdam.

You know Roddick has been rubbish all year don't you?

You also know Cilic has been rubbish all year don't you?

Beating Tsonga is nice and all but he has lost to all sorts of mugs as well so its nothing to get that excited about.

The guy simply isn't as good this year and his dire performances against Del Potro, Djokovic, Federer and Nadal prove this.


He has actually got a tricky first round against Petzscher as well, but even if he wins that he still will fail against one of the top players.

rjp123

Rjd2 wrote: »

You know Roddick has been rubbish all year don't you?

You also know Cilic has been rubbish all year don't you?

Beating Tsonga is nice and all but he has lost to all sorts of mugs as well so its nothing to get that excited about.

you know that you generally have to overcome other players in a tournament prior to reaching a final right?
You know that its pretty ridiculous to refer to players of this calibre as mugs right?
You know that some surfaces suit some players right?

you know that peoples form dips and rises (for instance murray looks to be coming good after a poor start to 2011)?

anyway back to my original point . final to be won by one of the top four (im going with nadal but if not him federer) with 40/1 or 50/1 on an outsider such as soderling worth a few euro for the craic.

more importantly than that niland is now on at 11 now. supposed to be 1030 but they have put it back for 30 mins for some reason

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

First set Niland, 6-3. Two more to go.

VinLieger

Play suspended again?

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Back underway now. Niland leads 3-2 in the second after breaking serve but immediely being broken back.

rjp123

good opportunity to go 41 up there. back to 32.hopefully he breaks back straiht away

elainee

Sorry if this has been Asked already but is there anywhere where conor nilands can be seen either on line or on tv???

jcf

****ing rain Jesus Christ - what a **** tournament bring on the US hard court season

Mountjoy Mugger

6-3 7-6 (7-5)

One more set, please.

IRISHSPORTSGUY

C'mon Connor!!!

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Two matchpoints....

EDIT both saved

EDIT Third mtachpoint!

EDIT EDIT Saved again

And finally Mektic holds. niland still up a break, to serve for the match at 5-4

Gipo3

He Won!

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Nialnd wins, 6-3 7-6 (5), 6-4

Interesting to see who he gets in the main draw....