Wimbledon 2021 Monday, June 28 - Sunday, July 11 2021

Hector Savage

The only slam that we skipped due to the pandemic, makes the wait even better ...

This is from 2015 but it suits ...

klr87

Big (and not so big) names missing:

Men: Nadal, Thiem, Raonic, Wawrinka, Coric, Goffin, Gasquet, Edmund (not going to include del Potro, as his injury is yet another long-term affair)

Women: Osaka (can't play, won't play), Brady, Yastremska (not eligible, despite just having somehow escaped a four-year doping ban). The top Chinese players basically have to stay at home to prepare for the Olympics, or something like that,

There are also fitness/injury concerns over the likes of Halep, Barty & Muguruza. There are 8 women in the draw courtesy of their protected ranking (after a long-term absence, usually due to injury), which is a very high number. All of those would have fitness and/or form concerns. There are just 2 men entered on a protected ranking.

EDIT: Wild cards of note:

Men: Sir Andy (of course), Carlos Alcaraz (new Spanish sensation)

Women: Liudmila Samsonova, who amazingly won Berlin last week as a qualifier.

The singles draw this morning should make things clearer. There are lots of potential banana skins (as in dangerous unseeded players), particularly amongst the women.

klr87

Halep out.

The draws have been made, but the qualifiers have not yet finished for the women, so they have yet to be placed in the draw.

Djokovic and Federer are on opposite sides of the men's draw. Djokovic could play Kevin Anderson in R2, but Anderson is nowhere near the player he once was. Tsitsipas (potential SF with Dkokovic) could play Vasek Pospisil in R2, another potential banana skin.

EDIT: Medvedev (#2 seed) could play Ciic in R3.

whiterebel

Cilic seems to be playing well on grass too.

klr87

whiterebel wrote: »

Cilic seems to be playing well on grass too.

Yep, he won his 3rd grass title only two weeks ago.

I forgot to say: Federer plays Mannarino in R1. Maarino won his only title on grass, and two of his (many) final defeats were also on grass. And he's in the semi-finals at Mallorca, playing Sam Querrey later today. But I doubt he will seriously trouble His Royal Swissness (as one of my work colleagues like to refer to Federer as).

whiterebel

klr87 wrote: »

Yep, he won his 3rd grass title only two weeks ago.

I forgot to say: Federer plays Mannarino in R1. Maarino won his only title on grass, and two of his (many) final defeats were also on grass. And he's in the semi-finals at Mallorca, playing Sam Querrey later today. But I doubt he will seriously trouble His Royal Swissness (as one of my work colleagues like to refer to Federer as).

Tough opener.

klr87

whiterebel wrote: »

Tough opener.

I checked, and Mannarino has a 0-6 record against The Fed, and equally bad against some of the other top players. I'd like for it to be competitive, as too often Federer just waltzes through the early rounds of slams without so much as breaking sweat (is that enough cliches?)

Slashermcguirk

Nasty first round draw for Medvedev, Struff is a very tricky opponent and he beat Medvedev just two weeks ago on the grass in Halle. Two of their other meetings also went the distance late into a deciding set. That is a definite potential banana skin.

I don't see Mannarino challenging Federer too much. Anderson a tricky 2nd round for Novak, not the player he was but a big server like that always tricky in the early rounds. I think its a tricky enough draw for Novak if he has to play Rublev in QF and Tsitsipas in SF, both of them have been very consistently good this year.

Murray has pulled a very good draw all things considered as he is a non seed. His highest rank opponent up to the 4th round would be Shapovalov.

Federer also has a nice draw as far as round 4 with the highest ranked player carreno busta and he is not a grass court player.

Tsitsipas hasn't played since the RG final and has a poor record on grass thus far

would be bucking the trend to go very deep although you'd think that his game ("Serve Plus One" orientated game) would suit the surface

Girly Gal

I think Djokovic is the overwhelming favourite here, very hard to see where a serious challenge to him will come from, none of the top players have a particularly good record on grass, age seems to finally have caught up with Federer, I don't really see him getting to the latter stages if he meets anyone decent early on.

The biggest threat to Djokovic is complacency (which I would rule out as the calendar and golden grand slam are his for the taking and unlikely to get this opportunity again), the first week is probably where Djokovic will be the most vulnerable and susceptible to a shock, I think once he gets into the second week he'll be almost impossible to stop.
The women's is wide open absolutely anyone could win it. Serena will be all out to win it, at this stage she shouldn't win it, but, wouldn't rule her out either as literally anything could happen on the women's side.

Girly Gal

Girly Gal wrote: »

I think Djokovic is the overwhelming favourite here, very hard to see where a serious challenge to him will come from, none of the top players have a particularly good record on grass, age seems to finally have caught up with Federer, I don't really see him getting to the latter stages if he meets anyone decent early on.

The biggest threat to Djokovic is complacency (which I would rule out as the calendar and golden grand slam are his for the taking and unlikely to get this opportunity again), the first week is probably where Djokovic will be the most vulnerable and susceptible to a shock, I think once he gets into the second week he'll be almost impossible to stop.
The women's is wide open absolutely anyone could win it. Serena will be all out to win it, at this stage she shouldn't win it, but, wouldn't rule her out either as literally anything could happen on the women's side.

If Del Potro was fit and here would he have a chance?

Maybe if he was facing 2017 Djokovic?

but probably not 2019 Djokovic right?

Girly Gal

glasso wrote: »

If Del Potro was fit and here would he have a chance?

Maybe if he was facing 2017 Djokovic?

but probably not 2019 Djokovic right?

What has that got to do with Wimbledon 2021? Going way off topic there, you can debate that on another thread or open another thread or better still with yourself

Girly Gal

Girly Gal wrote: »

What has that got to do with Wimbledon 2021? Going way off topic there, you can debate that on another thread or open another thread or better still with yourself

It was a pretty obvious parody comment I would have thought on the "if's and buts" stuff - maybe a nod to keep it out of the discussion in this tournament and take it on the basis of the current players and versions of same that are here!

Girly Gal

glasso wrote: »

It was a pretty obvious parody comment I would have thought on the "if's and buts" stuff - maybe a nod to keep it out of the discussion in this tournament.

Just gave my opinion on what I think will happen at Wimbledon this year though that was the idea, it's you that brought up unrelated stuff, take your own advice, will hold off posting again until the action starts next week

Girly Gal

Girly Gal wrote: »

Just gave my opinion on what I think will happen at Wimbledon this year though that was the idea, it's you that brought up unrelated stuff, take your own advice, will hold off posting again until the action starts next week

Not specifically aimed at you by the way.

Augme

Medvedev has a very tough first round draw but if he makes it through that he has a good chance of making the final. He's done well in his last three slams and has definitely had a much better attitude. I thought his approach and play at Roland Garos showed a maturity to him that I haven't been used to. Clay is never going to be a surface that suits his style but he still put the work in to make a decent go of it. If he gains a bit of confidence in grass he has the tools to be very dangerous.

klr87

Ostapenko (Eastbourne) and Kerber (Bad Homburg) have just won their finals, both coming into form just at the right time for Wimbledon. Kerber is due to meet Serena Williams in R3.

All 5 players Ostapenko beat at Eastbourne are seeded at Wimbledon. Ostapenko is unseeded, yet has a better record at Wimbledon than 7 of the 8 top seeds, Serena Williams being the obvious exception.

klr87

Johanna Konta OUT of Wimbledon, as a close contact of a COVID-19 case (i.e., one of her team):

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409238406689746945

Konta was seeded 27. However, as the order of play for tomorrow has been released, the draw will not be re-worked to include a 33rd seed. Instead, her place is taken by lucky loser Wang Yafan*, who will play Katerina Siniakova**.

*Lucky losers at Wimbledon are randomly selected from a pool of the higher-ranked players to lose in the last round of qualifying, rather than just going down the list. Wang is definitely one of the weaker players in that pool.

**Who, to be honest, would have been a very tricky opponent for Konta anyway.

Konta cannot now defend her 430 QF points from 2019, which is a big blow, on top of not being able to play her home slam. Worse still, it seems she herself is fully vaccinated, but the All-England Club (AELTC) said it won't make exceptions for a fully vaccinated close contact:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1409243358489370626

I bet the AELTC is now regretting that decision.

yerwanthere123

Haven't even looked at the men's draw really but I assume it'll be relatively easy for Djokovic. What even is a hard draw for him really? We need a Rosol 2.0.

As for the women's, I was thinking of picking Serena to win, but she really has a horror draw. Could have to play Kerber and Bencic/Gauff before even making the QF's, with Barty and Azarenka looming later. No point making too many predictions really, anything can happen. Only thing I'll say is I think Kvitova will lose R1 to Stephens, one of Ostapenko or Kerber will make at least the SF's, and Hsieh-Swiatek will be a terrific match. Think Hsieh will be well up for that one and Swiatek will be the first 'major' scalp of the tournament. Unforunately, I think Murray will lose to Basilashvili also.

Djokovic - Berrettini final the most likely outcome imo

klr87

Potential "upsets" in the women's singles today:

• Kvitova [10] vs. Stephens - much will depend on which version of each player turns up. More than that, both can go from world-beater to useless and back again, during the course of a match. No surprise that this is on Centre Court.
• Swiatek [7] vs. Hsieh Su-wei - Swiatek has played and beaten Hsieh before, at last year's French. But Hsieh is a better player on grass (just ask Halep), and Swiatek nowhere near as good on grass as she is on clay.
• Sabaleka [2] vs. Niculescu - Again, Sabalenka has played and beaten Niculescu before (on hard), so Niculescu's crazy game style shouldn't freak Sabalenka out ... she hopes.

Of course, this being the women's game, the actual upsets are likely to be elsewhere: maybe Mertens [13] vs. Dart [WC], or Karolina Pliskova [8] vs. Zidansek.

gmisk

19yo Jack draper has just taken the first set against Novak Djokovic...

MillField

Djokovic will find a second gear..

Hector Savage

Wow looks like Djokovic is on the way out, big upset on day 1 !!!

mzungu

I fully expect Djokovic to win comfortably from here.

klr87

Hector Savage wrote: »

Wow looks like Djokovic is on the way out, big upset on day 1 !!!

To quote Monty Burns: "Not bloody likely". He's probably just a bit rusty.

MillField wrote: »

Djokovic will find a second gear..

mzungu wrote: »

I fully expect Djokovic to win comfortably from here.

And that's what it looks like. After all, he was 2 sets down to both Musetti and Tsitsipas in the French Open. This looks easy-peasy by comparison.

An extra set on grass won't do him any harm, especially as the match is unlikely to go much beyond 2 hours.

Hector Savage

Sue Barker has only mentioned Murray 564 times so far, so it's not so bad ....

MillField

klr87 wrote: »

And that's what it looks like. After all, he was 2 sets down to both Musetti and Tsitsipas in the French Open. This looks easy-peasy by comparison.

I know it's probably unlikely, but you would have to wonder is it a tactic of Djokovic to extend the length of the match? His fitness/endurance is so strong you would imagine longer matches actually give him an advantage.

Hector Savage

Djokovic - beautiful player

Hector Savage

Just watching here , and seeing Goran in the Djokovic box, hard to believe it's 20 years since that amazing tournament

Hector Savage

Whats up with Djokovic's eye ?

Hector Savage

Echo .....

Hector Savage

...echo.....

Hector Savage

..echo...

gmisk

gmisk wrote: »

19yo Jack draper has just taken the first set against Novak Djokovic...

That was Djokovic's warm up.

Like honestly.

He didn't display a modicum of trepidation.

gmisk

Hector Savage wrote: »

Wow looks like Djokovic is on the way out, big upset on day 1 !!!

Ah well it was fun while it lasted lol

One to watch for me will be Berretini...he was so good at queens

gmisk

Hector Savage wrote: »

Whats up with Djokovic's eye ?

...he has a wandering eye...seemingly...

gmisk

gmisk wrote: »

Ah well it was fun while it lasted lol

One to watch for me will be Berretini... he was so good at queens

Berretini is more than one to watch at this stage - he's probably favourite to make the final given the draw on his side.

Hector Savage

Tiafoe is one to watch!!

He'll serve for 2-0 v Tsitsipas ...

Hector Savage

Hector Savage wrote: »

Tiafoe is one to watch!!

He'll serve for 2-0 v Tsitsipas ...

Tsipsitpas had no comp prep for grass this year with the time off for his grandmother's death after RG and never really showed grass form heretofore

And no grass last year either obv

Rob2D

BBC iPlayer is rubbish. Big step down coming from Eurosport player.

gmisk

Rob2D wrote: »

BBC iPlayer is rubbish. Big step down coming from Eurosport player.

It's a shame it's not on Amazon prime...there coverage of queen's and Eastbourne was very smooth surprisingly

Floppybits

Tiafoe is the forgotten one of the next gen. Not really surprised by this.

josip

3rd seed gone, exciting times from Day 1

Slashermcguirk

Tsitsipas out in straight sets...........yikes

Tiafoe is no slouch to be fair to him though, that was a tough 1st round draw. I think Struff will be a handful for Medvedev too. Didnt see the Djokovic match but 1st round matches can always be a bit strange especially when an unknown player comes out with nothing to lose. Sounds like a pretty comfortable win though after the 1st set heroics.

Muguruza wins 6-0 6-1 in 50 minutes, womens tennis is a shambles. How often do you see these womens matches over in less than an hour, farcical

Royale with Cheese

I reckon that'll be the last set Djokovic drops here til at least the final.

yerwanthere123

Slashermcguirk wrote: »

Tsitsipas out in straight sets...........yikes

Tiafoe is no slouch to be fair to him though, that was a tough 1st round draw. I think Struff will be a handful for Medvedev too. Didnt see the Djokovic match but 1st round matches can always be a bit strange especially when an unknown player comes out with nothing to lose. Sounds like a pretty comfortable win though after the 1st set heroics.

Muguruza wins 6-0 6-1 in 50 minutes, womens tennis is a shambles. How often do you see these womens matches over in less than an hour, farcical

Muguruza was playing Fiona Ferro.. she should be winning that match 60 61 in 50 minutes

klr87

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Muguruza was playing Fiona Ferro.. she should be winning that match 60 61 in 50 minutes

Ferro on clay is a very solid opponent, on grass ... let's not go there.


Kvitova needs to break Stephens to stay in the match.


Tsitsipas losing to Tiafoe is an unsurprising "shock".

Augme

Great first set win by Murray. Delighted for him. Would be great if he won this match, he deserves it.

klr87

Since Kvitova won her second Wimbledon title in 2014, it's comfortably been her worst slam, both in terms of best performance, and overall W/L ratio.

Swiatek has made it past Hsieh 6-4, 6-4. Banana skin avoided.

Murray takes the first set, coverage having switched to BBC1 'cos it's obviously of national importance ...

Gwynplaine

One positive from Covid, is the towels after every point. Nadal was the worst culprit.