WIMBLEDON 2014 Discussions - Page 3

Federer: I Can Win Wimbledon


Roger Federer, a 17-time Grand Slam champion, feels confident in adding an eighth Wimbledon crown to his trophy case when the grass-court Slam gets under way next week.

"I feel like I'm a contender for the tournament," said the World No. 4, seeded fourth this year. "I feel like if things click here, I should be able to win the tournament; whereas at Roland Garros I feel like I'm slightly more dependent on [Nadal].

"[When I play at Wimbledon] it's more on my racquet. As soon as that's the case, you are more confident in your chances."

The 32 year old says that he feels more prepared to vie for the title this year, compared to last season's struggles with a back injury.

"It's a pleasure being healthy and really fit and eager to give it a go again," said Federer.

"This year I feel all the options are there: return, serve, serve and volley, my backhand - everything is working to my liking. For that reason, I feel I'm a bit more relaxed mentally because I know it is there."

Federer firmed up his bid for the grass-court major by claiming his third straight Halle title (d. Falla) last week.

"I think [Halle] helped me in that I know that things are good on grass. I'm not coming in from a bad [grass opener], which would have left more question marks. I think Halle was able to settle things down for me."

The Basel native also addressed his early exit from Wimbledon last year, when he tumbled out in four sets in a second-round defeat to Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky.

"I clearly want to do better than last year, there's no doubt about it," admitted Federer. "I had too many hiccups leading into Wimbledon and I probably felt those [results]. Plus, Stakhovsky did play well, so you've got to give him credit.

"I hope to utilise my fitness, the amount of matches I've played this year. So I'm really coming in with a much better feeling than maybe in the last year."

Edited by awesomegurti - 9 years ago

The draw at the outset of any Grand Slam championship is bewildering. If you're prone to anxiety about what you might miss while watching something else on your television, computer, or smart phone, you could end up a blubbering mess on your sofa, with printed draw sheets spread all around and three devices simultaneously beaming information and images.

I mean, who would have predicted that qualifier Facundo Bagnis would upset Frenchman Julien Benneteau in the first round at Roland Garros a few weeks ago? That match ended 18-16 in the fifth; nobody who saw it will ever forget it. A Grand Slam draw consisting of 128 men or women is truly the forest you can't see for the trees.

Of course, nobody could have predicted that outcome, and I'm not going to pretend I can, either. But let me choose a few matches that ought to have "watch me!" labels plastered on them " not necessarily because they're liable to end up 18-16 in the fifth, but because they involve interesting match-ups or come with tantalizing backstories:

Men

No. 59 Marinko Matosevic (AUS) vs. No. 18 seed Fernando Verdasco (ESP) " Branko Matosevic's son Marinko (I just had to write that!) is a rugged 6-foot-4 jasper with a huge serve and a huge smile to go with it. He's an appealing, easygoing Bosnian-born Aussie who's been playing very well lately; at Queens he bombed his way to wins over fellow big men Marin Cilic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (no mean feat, eh?). Verdasco was a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon last year (his best performance there to date), but Branko's boy Marinko may have enough firepower and confidence to pull off the upset.

No. 82 Bernard Tomic (AUS) vs. No. 100 Evgeny Donskoy (RUS) " Tomic is the archetypal spoiled tennis brat. The words, "Do you know who I am?" are never far from this guy's lips when he's in trouble, which is pretty often. He made the fourth round last year, and he's got a lot of grass-court game. Donskoy, though, is one of those "on the cusp" players who's probably desperate to work at least a little deeper into the protected ranks of the direct entry players (the cutoff at Grand Slams is usually No. 104). Donskoy a 24-year old Muscovite, knows that Tomic is a head case. Look for him to exploit the knowledge.

No. 78 Dustin Brown (GER) vs. wild card Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) " This is bound to be an entertaining, ahem, dust-up between two exuberant characters " Brown, who has steadily improved his ranking and plays a slashing, dashing game, and Baghdatis, that wonderful ball striker who made the Australian Open final and the semis at Wimbledon in his best year, 2006. Over the years, Baghdatis seems to have lost his drive (he's down to No. 115, which up from wherever he was a few months ago), and at times he appeared to be carrying a spare tire around his waist. Brown had a spectacular win over a leg-weary Rafael Nadal in the first round of Halle (just days after Nadal had collected his ninth French Open title). Baghdatis has declared that his goal is to "get back into the Top 10." I've got news for you, Marcos " the road to the Top 10 goes through Dustin Brown. Beware!

No. 243, wild card Daniel Smethurst (GBR) vs. No. 9 seed John Isner (USA) " Okay, maybe I'm a sadist. But I'm just hoping that after Isner throws in that first serve, he looks across the net and asks, "Ever see anything like that before, boy?" More realistically, I'm curious to see how often Smethurst, who hasn't even cracked the code in Challengers yet, gets polyester on those Isner serves. Is it really fair to give so green a prospect a wild card into Wimbledon, and put him up against the most lethal server in the game? This could ruin the kid for life.

BTW, Ivo Karlovic plays lucky loser Frank Dancevic in the first round, so my question to you is: Who wins the ace contest, Isner or Karlovic?

No. 70 Benoit Paire (FRA) vs. No. 50 Lukas Rosol (CZE) " This will be a battle of two very big (6-foot-5) dudes with very big attitudes, and not always good ones. With his scruffy beard, all Paire lacks should he desire to impersonate a French fur trapper circa 1820 is a coonskin hat and a necklace made from grizzly bear claws. He's quick to anger and his strokes are wild and unpredictable, and that makes him great fun to watch. Rosol bolted to fame when he hit Rafael Nadal off the court in a second-round match at Wimbledon. To his credit, Rosol has built on that unexpected win and, at age 28, he's now solidly established in the middle of the Top 100. Leave it to Rosol to produce the savage ball striking, and Paire to leaven it with temperamental outbursts " interspersed with bizarre drop shots " in this one.


Women

No. 82 Julia Glushko (ISR) vs. No. 19 Sabine Lisicki (GER) " This one has potential disaster written all over it. With defending champion Marion Bartoli out of the game, Lisicki, who lost to Bartoli in last year's final, gets the honor of opening the women's competition. Given that Lisicki froze up so badly in last year's train wreck of the final that she was in tears half the time, you have to wonder what emotional impact walking out onto that court will have on Lisicki. The woman dubbed "the Laughing Girl from Germany" by the British tabs let it be known that the tournament means the world to her. At what point does that kind of enthusiasm morph into debilitating pressure?

No. 142 Samantha Murray (GBR) vs. No. 5 seed Maria Sharapova (RUS) " I don't care if her name is "Murray" and this is Wimbledon, the woman who lost two-and-three in the first round of the New Delhi ITF event to Thailand's Varatchaya Wongteanchai doesn't have a chance against the French Open champion.

No. 26 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) vs. No. 44 Alison Riske (USA) " It's hard to decide which is the more beatable seed, No. 21 Roberta Vinci or Pavlyuchenkova, who hasn't won three matches in a row since the January WTA event in Paris. Okay, Riske hasn't done that herself, not in all of this year. But she's been improving gradually, while the talented Ms. Pavlyuchenkova continues to be one of the biggest disappointments in the WTA. She could be the first seed to go this next week. Riske, who attended Vanderbilt University, has said that were it not for the lure of pro tennis she would have gone into medicine. Had she chosen that course, she might have become a psychiatrist and could now help Pavlyuchenkova figure out how to make good use of her gifts.

No. 31 seed Klara Koukalova (CZE) vs. wild card Taylor Townsend (USA) " It was nice to see Wimbledon give the wild card to Townsend, a singles finalist in the junior girls' competition last year. She earned her invite at the French Open, where she had main draw wins over Vania King and Alize Cornet, but the just-turned-18 youngster is still ranked outside the top 100 (no. 148). That could change, and quickly, if Townsend shows the kind of volleying skill and precise shot making that powered her run at Roland Garros. Given that Townsend could have drawn anyone in the first round (includiing a top seed) she has to be happy with this match-up.

No. 18 seed Sloane Stephens (USA) vs. No. 87 Maria Kirilenko (RUS) " Kirilenko's ranking is irrelevant, except as a measure of how much tennis she's missed over the past two years. Before she was laid low by a series of injuries (shoulder, knee, wrist " that about covers it) she was a Top 10 player. Kirilenko is still trying to get herself match tough, but in spite of that this may become an interesting test for the unpredictable Stephens. She has a way of coming up big in majors but she was crushed by eventual French Open finalist Simona Halep in the fourth round at Roland Garros.

I don't know how many of these matches will wind up making headlines for one reason or another, but that hardly matters. Surprises are meant to be exactly that, and tennis would be less fun without them.

Edited by awesomegurti - 9 years ago

Wimbledon draws: Murray-Djokovic SF? Serena-Maria QF? Nadal-Rosol R2?



LONDON (AP) The draw for Wimbledon was relatively kind to defending champion Andy Murray. It was a lot more daunting for top-ranked Rafael Nadal.

Murray, who last year became the first British man to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936, was drawn Friday to open the defense of his title against 104th-ranked David Goffin of Belgium, who will be playing in the main draw of the grass-court tournament for only the third time.

In the women's draw, top-ranked and five-time champion Serena Williams is in the same quarter as French Open champion Maria Sharapova. The two could face each other in the quarterfinals.

Murray, who is seeded third this year, has admitted he does not know how he will cope with the pressure of walking onto Centre Court as the defending champion on Monday.

At least he has a relatively smooth path in the draw until the quarterfinals, where he could play seventh-seeded David Ferrer or Grigor Dmitrov, who won last week's warm-up at Queen's Club. Then looms a potential semifinal against top-seeded Novak Djokovic - a rematch of last year's final.

''It will be a proud moment to come back as defending champion,'' said Murray, who is now coached by former Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo after parting ways with Ivan Lendl earlier this season. ''I don't know how I will feel, I have no idea. I'm sure I will be nervous and feel some pressure, but I'll try to enjoy it. It's a new experience for me.''

For Nadal, it's a lot trickier. The Spaniard, who holds two Wimbledon titles, has not fared well on the grass the past two years, losing in the second round in 2012 and the first round last year. He's also coming off a loss in his first match at the Halle grass-court tournament.

The top-ranked Nadal, who is seeded No. 2, will start against No. 57 Martin Klizan of Slovakia. The Spaniard, who won his ninth French Open title earlier this month, could then face Lukas Rosol, who beat him here two years ago.

Nadal, the only man with at least one Grand Slam title in 10 consecutive years, could then be pitted against big-serving Ivo Karlovic in the third round. Waiting in the quarterfinals could be another big hitter - eighth-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada.

Friday's draw put Murray in the top half with Djokovic, who won Wimbledon in 2011. Nadal is in the bottom half with seven-time champion Roger Federer.

Federer will start against Paolo Lorenzi of Italy and Djokovic will play his first match against Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan.

Djokovic could meet Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the fourth round and former finalist Tomas Berdych in the last eight.

Federer, who has lost before the quarterfinals at three of the last four Slams, might face third-ranked and Davis Cup teammate Stan Wawrinka in an all-Swiss encounter in the quarters.

Sharapova, who defeated Serena Williams in the 2004 final at the age of 17 to win her only Wimbledon title and first Grand Slam championship, will open against Samantha Murray. Williams will take on Anna Tatishvili.

If Williams and Sharapova get to the quarterfinals, it will set up their 19th career meeting. Williams leads 16-2 and has not lost to her Russian rival since the 2004 WTA Championships.

The other potential women's quarterfinals are: Simona Halep vs. Jelena Jankovic, Victoria Azarenka vs. Agnieszka Radwanska, and Petra Kvitova vs. Li Na.

Williams is coming off a second-round loss at the French Open, where Sharapova won her fifth major title. After Williams' previous early exit at the French Open in 2012, when she lost in the first round, she went on to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

Williams could face an intriguing fourth-round match against Eugenie Bouchard, the 20-year-old Canadian who has reached the semifinals of both Grand Slams so far this year. But the 13th-seeded Bouchard faces a challenging first-round opponent in Daniela Hantuchova.

In the absence of defending champion Marion Bartoli, who retired less than six weeks after winning her sole Grand Slam title, last year's runner-up finalist Sabine Lisicki will open Centre Court play on Tuesday against Julia Glushko.

The third-seeded Halep, who achieved a breakthrough performance at the French Open by reaching her first major final, is in the same quarter as former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic.
Edited by awesomegurti - 9 years ago

Prince of Grass😳😳

One of the least surprising upsets in tennis history occurred in Halle last week, when top-seeded Rafael Nadal lost his opener to Dustin Brown, 6-4, 6-1. No disrespect to Brown, who played a fine match, but when the score rolled in, I couldn't help but think back to some words Nadal spoke in his post-match presser after he flummoxed Novak Djokovic in the French Open final.

"Yes, I am going to Halle tomorrow," Nadal said when asked about his grass-court plans. "I want to try to play well again in Wimbledon."

Nadal then cited his general fatigue, as well was the mild bout of back problems he experienced in Paris, and added these thoughts on Halle: "I really feel that I have compromised with them to go there. I missed it last year. I don't want to miss it two years in a row. . . I know probably the result will not be the perfect one there, because days of preparation are not the right ones."

In other words, Nadal felt he owed it to the tournament to play there after having skipped it 2012"under doctor's orders, because of chronic tendinitis in his knees. But his decision wasn't entirely altruistic, either. Last year, without having played a grass event before Wimbledon, he was knocked out in the first round of The Championships by Steve Darcis.

That was a blow that heaped insult upon injury. For in 2012, Nadal was the victim of a stunning but entirely deserved upset crafted in Wimbledon's second round by Lukas Rosol. Furthermore, the previous year was responsible for creating one of the most significant failures on Nadal's resume: He not only lost the Wimbledon final to Djokovic, he also handed over the world No. 1 ranking.

You could say that Wimbledon has been mighty rough on Nadal for a few years now.

Because of that, it's pretty easy to peg the King of Clay as a mere prince on grass. True, the games of clay-court wizards often have been found wanting on turf. And certainly, bagging the Channel Double"Roland Garros and Wimbledon"is a formidable feat to pull off. But let's remember that until the well-documented injuries began to impact Nadal's attitude and preparations, he was on his way to becoming the King of Grass as well. And there's no doubt that being acknowledged as such was something to which Nadal, unlike many of his fellow clay-court titans, aspired.

"For me, (Wimbledon) is a tournament I love so much," Nadal, a five-time finalist at Wimbledon, said in Paris. He loves it so much that he went and played a tournament he had no business entering in the hopes of getting adequate preparation. "So I really want to do it and try my best there (Halle). We will see what's going on."

Nadal played his first Wimbledon final against Roger Federer, perhaps the best grass-court player of all time, in 2006"just his third try in London. Nadal lost in four sets, two of them tiebreakers. It was in many ways a stunning and utterly unexpected performance by a player whom many had already pigeonholed as a mere "clay-court specialist."

Yet from day one, Nadal has reiterated how much Wimbledon means to him. A realist at heart (albeit an emotional one), Nadal understood all along that Wimbledon was, and remains, the ne plus ultra of tennis. To legions of sports fans worldwide, you're never really a tennis champion until you're a champion in SW19.

Nadal also knew what it means for an outstanding clay-court player to win on grass. And we all appreciated the premium he put upon being a Spanish player who could rule the world of British grass. Some of these culturally-based attitudes have deep, deep roots.

Of course, Nadal would never articulate a preference for Roland Garros or Wimbledon; he's not one to bite the hand that feeds him, nor is he blind to his debt of gratitude to the good people of France. But don't let his success at Roland Garros lull you into thinking that for him, doing well at Wimbledon is just gravy.

Nadal made another Wimbledon final in 2007, and once again he ran afoul of Federer. But this time, it was in five extremely tough sets, and Nadal might very easily have won it. Then, in 2008, Nadal's grass-court dream finally came true, as he mastered Federer in what many believe is the greatest match of all time. But that also became the point at which Nadal's history on grass took a wild, unpredicted turn.

Looking at his first five years at Wimbledon"three finals, and a 1-2 record against Federer"would anyone suggest that Nadal is lacking as a grass-court player? But that was then, and in this "now," some of Nadal's lawn luster has dimmed.

"Grass always was a little bit harder for me after the injury," Nadal said of his record from 2009 onward. "I get injury here (Paris) in 2012; I played 2012 Wimbledon with that injury. I never played a match after that Wimbledon. Last year I tried, but I was not enough ready to compete in Wimbledon."

Well, a skeptic might think Nadal is just blowing so much smoke with all this talk of injuries and such, but there's ample evidence that they have had a substantial impact. The big question now is, has he been so banged up over the years that the 28-year-old lost some of the athleticism that once enabled him to topple Federer on Centre Court?

Those who are inclined to insist that Nadal isn't as dangerous on grass as he is on clay anymore seem to have just one leg on which to stand their argument"that the relatively slow surface in Paris makes it marginally easier for Nadal to compensate for anything he might have lost through years of wear and tear. If you buy that (and it's a plausible theory), you can float the argument that he is no longer athletic enough to dominate his peers at a tournament where the only quality common to the overwhelming number of champions is athleticism.

Personally, I can't buy into the idea that Nadal's athleticism has diminshed"although I might by the time this upcoming fortnight is over. I just think back to those finals against Federer, and the untrammeled, explosive athleticism that Nadal brought to those meetings. I dwell upon those impossible backhand passing shots hit from a crouch well off the court, or the way his inside-out forehands skipped away on impact, like watermelon seeds squeezed between the fingers.

My feeling is that too many of the things that can go wrong at any given time did for Nadal at Wimbledon, just as so many things have gone right for him in Paris. Nadal certainly needs to recapture the proficiency as well as the unbridled enthusiasm he once demonstrated as he barreled over those Wimbledon lawns. The evidence suggests that he's more than willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish that.

"I'm healthy," he said in Paris. "That's the most important thing, I feel."

You may remember that after Nadal was unable to defend his Wimbledon title in 2009, he bounced back the following year with an win over Tomas Berdych. The situation is somewhat different this year, but not so much so that a Nadal triumph would seem a surprise.

Edited by awesomegurti - 9 years ago

Hello HI

Thank you for PM ing ,How do I call you piggie
Was just thinking about this yesterday

Gurti HI

Res 21 Kya karahi yo

Originally posted by: nebuna

Hello HI

Thank you for PM ing ,How do I call you piggie
Was just thinking about this yesterday

Gurti HI

Res 21 Kya karahi yo

Originally posted by: piggie

seriously pta nahi what is Sahi upto inten saare res?😆

oh! and i wanted some healthy discussion so calling in people😳

but i guess Finale tak  it will mostly be like this only😆

btw there is a poll aswell.. vote in for your choice of winner.😉

Voted
But why do people think Murray again ,it depends upon current form murray was brilliant then

Originally posted by: nebuna

Voted
But why do people think Murray again ,it depends upon current form murray was brilliant then

Shocker n upset of the day Stousr out in 1 round

Upsets started at Wimby 2014

Bookmarking 😆 I don watch the first couple of rounds, so i'l join in later  😆