Wimbledon or general tennis thread

A thread for tennis fans. So, who's watching Wimbledon?

Some entertaining first round matches already played.

Go Scotland's Andy Murry!!

 

Restarted playing a little myself & watching Wimbledon since I'm in exams.
About what Belgian (=non Australian /versus/images/graemlins/wink.gif) people think about Hewitt, that's clear: He kicked out Rochus in the 1st round and kicked out Kim Klijsters in the final.

His current girl probably took him shouting "COME ON" all the time a bit to litterally, and who could blame him for that, eh!?

 

Very good player though i dont think Lleyton Heewitt has what it takes to win this year i wouldnt mind seeing Andy Roddick win he seems like a really powerfull tennis player my kinda style.

 

Lleyton is a very good player when he's focused but he doesn't seem like it this year. He'll need to push himself a lil more to get jobs done, it's very hot and humid in the UK so players are slow somewhat.

I think Federer will retain his title this year. He's playing very well. I also hate top admit this too but Tim Henman is in fine form this year, he's playing better but he's still working for his wins. Tim also has a fairly easy route to the finals dodging the champ and a few others too. He only has johanson to worry about.

As for the women's, I think Sharapova will lose her title. Henin-Herdin was my fave to win but she's out, lol. Could be anyones ball game this year.

 

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Myke said:

I'm curious to hear what other (non-Australian) people think of Lleyton Hewitt? /versus/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

He's clearly a good player but some people in the UK consider him arrogant. Case in point: yesterday at a press briefing he slagged the English cricket team despite them having beaten Australia convincingly at the last test.

But to his credit that arrogance clearly shows in his style of play - lashing ground strokes from defensive positions and powerful returns of serve..

I also think Federer will clinch the title again this year. His play is absolute quality, mixing perfect grass court serve & volly with patient strategic baseline play. His strokes are sheer perfection, especially that looping backhand.

 

as far as men's, Federer is very strong, when he's in top form, I think he's the person you'd have to fear the most present day at least, Roddick always has a shot, and I agree about Hewitt, he's a good player but it seems like he lacks focus out on the court sometimes.

women's: you can't EVER count out the William's sisters, Venus v Haynes was such a fun match to watch, I think Haynes in the future will do well, Sharapova has a chance but I think she has that problem that Seles had, alot of attention at a young age, hard to stay focused on what got you there in the first place (tennis) and now she needs to pay attention and win a few more majors before she gets difinitive seperation in my mind from Kournikova.

 

Saw Sharapova play today, very impressive win and played strong. Kournikova was just a pretty face and I never did consider her to be a good player. Sharapova at least has good awareness of the court and can play smart shots.

Williams sisters are unpredictable. They're powerful hitters and can knock anything out the bag when needed. Their endurance is long too.

 

Man this henman match is too tense..CMON TIM

HE's mentally and physically out of it ..it cud be over

AAAHH how unlucky...

 

Hard lines to Henman....although to be honest he's had more than enough chances to take the tile now.

Andy Murry played brilliantly today and I hope he goes far. HOWEVER, please please please spare the poor kid the wrath and stupidity of the gay British press.

He's only 18 and has a long way to go and already the media pricks are hailing him as a potential champion. Fuck off and get a life.

 

LOL Init I kno dat andy murray shit is going to mess things up for him...but den again he is saying dat he will lose before da game even begins.

OH and Henman says he is coming back next year neway.

 

Yea, tell me about it. You kid is (was) ranked 320, has only 6 competative matches on the ATP tour and the BBC media gimps are already hailing him as a potential champion.

Having said that he played brilliantly o centre court yesterday and probably deserves the win. However, I'm actually relieved he didn't win in many way.....the cheesy media hype would've been too much to handle.

Just to contrast the vast gulf in experience, check out the comparative stats:

http://www.atptennis.com/en/players/playerprofiles/default2.asp?playersearch=andrew+murray

http://www.atptennis.com/en/players/playerprofiles/default2.asp?playersearch=nalbandian

 

Lleyton Hewitt - His name is recognized by American sports fans, but just vaguely. In terms of tennis fans... of course they know him, but how they feel--mixed. I'm in the camp that likes him a lot, enjoys his intensity, and I admire his game. During his reign of the ATP, there were a lot of fans that hated him and many that loved him. Some fans were frustrated by his pulling on the crowd at the Australian Open this year. In the face of a Federer, I think he had an awesome year last year when it comes to tennis. The big first serve he'd been working on finally upped in percentage. His game overall improved. After Australia's Davis Cup victory of 2003, he started focusing on the majors again. And he did a wonderful job climbing to #2 in the year Federer confirmed his game and likely destiny. Heck, Hewitt completed the "lost to eventual champion" slam last year. Aside from being owned the last couple years by Roger Federer and Ivo Karlovic, he has a very good record against most players. Hewitt's back! But I don't think he'll win Wimbledon.

Andy Murray - Very surprised with his play at Wimbledon this year. Looking forward to seeing more, but I'm not making any predictions yet. However, I was impressed with his game and how he handled that crazy pressure the british fans put on any players they can get behind at Wimbledon. That pressure is probably only one-upped by the pressure of Roland Garros and the fans who can change their opinion of you at the drop of a hat. Anyways, props to Andy Murray for playing 3 very entertaining matches and keeping Nalbandian on the ropes (whose game is usually to keep the other player on the ropes, and he did).

Roger Federer - Federer is definitely the favorite. Hard to argue there. If we took away the anglo-nations (or maybe just the US), I imagine Federer would truly be the Jordan of tennis. Maybe he already is. Anyhow, he's a huge favorite. Anyways, if you don't know Federer or don't think much of his game, you really don't know much about professional tennis. Insanely complete game with weapons on all sides and his weaknesses only being slight, and very hard to penetrate. He might be the player for this era of tennis.

Roddick--I'm a Roddick fan to be honest. I started out putting him as the #2 favorite, but it's hard to say now. His first week play wasn't impressive aside from bits of the third round match. I will usually say that Roddick's backhand is underrated because he can slice decently deep and setup that inside-out forehand, but more specific to Wimbledon, he can actually hit passing shots with his backhand. I won't deny it has much to be desired in baseline-to-baseline rallies though. Anyways, in the first week, that backhand had lots of issues, especially being error prone. Roddick's netgame has improved and his dropshots have gotten better. Despite some improvements at net, his approach game has a lot of room for improvement. I still want a Federer-Roddick final like last year (exciting match if you caught the whole thing, not just the last half). But Roddick's game will really have to raise this week I think. His draw opened up nicely when Ljubicic and Soderline went out, I thought (I honestly didn't think he'd have much problem with Karlovic). But there are still good contenders in his draw.

Women's Field--I couldn't name a favorite this year. The closest I had to a favorite was Justine Henin-Hardenne and she lost in the first round to a very fit (most fit I've seen) Danilidou. Personally, my sentimental favorite is Kim Clijsters, but it's hard for me to call her a favorite. I like Sharapova, but I'm not crazy about her. Sharapova has a good athletic game--one that I compare to a pre-injury Serena Williams (many agree with me, many hate that notion--but come on, power baseliner going for winners a little too much but has the athletic ability, guts, and hair-trigger instinct to pull it off). If Sharapova ever shows the kind of game she had at the WTA Tour Championships last year, I'll stop comparing her game to Serena Williams, but for now, it's a very similar game with very similar talents. With who is left on the field, if we only spoke of game, I'd say Mauresmo can do it. But we've seen Mauresmo fall in the second week so many times, and often almost inexplicably. Honestly, I'd be happy if Mauresmo won, almost as much as if Clijsters won it all. I wish Venus would find her form, but it seems long gone and in need of repair. She's played some wonderful points though /versus/images/graemlins/smile.gif

David Nalbandian--Boy has he returned to SCARY AS HELL DARKHORSE OF ALL SURFACES form. The guy who either has admirers for the subtlety of his game, or others find really boring because his game sabotages others. Scary backhand (though it seems injury prone and unorthadox). Like Coria, the guy loves dropshots. Overall, he's probably the most frustrating player to play against. Federer nailed it when he coined a phrase about Nalbandian's game, "Contra Tennis."

Guillermo Coria--I'm a big Coria fan (despite his attitude at times and gamesmanship). To me, the guy plays brilliant points, has a true feel for the game. And his dropshots are almost as deadly as his speed. Though you wouldn't consider him a grass court player, I do enjoy watching him play on grass. I'll be rooting for Roddick when they play each other, but I'll be hoping that Coria will work Roddick well and hopefully, spur a growth in Roddick's game for the tournament.

Retrospect -- In the first two rounds, Marat Safin played what I thought was the best tennis of the tournament through the second round. But he fell in the third round and that's not too much of a surprise... My rule of thumb with Safin is, "you never know what will happen on the first week, but when he makes it to the second week, you have a good idea of where he'll go." That even applied at the Australian Open where I gave Safin decent odds to actually beat Federer, almost guaranteed that there would be a fifth set. I love watching Nadal play and had been anticipating him since 2003. I'm happy he's arrived, hope to see if he can build a game for grass. His massive kick forehands get nerfed on grass though (and he could develop a serve that would be better suited for the green). Justin Gimelstop (only the americans will know who he is, probably), boy was it fun watching him play at this tournament. Can't always say that about Gimelstop (usually I find him boring). Probably a nice final memory of his tennis before he moves on (likely to be a tennis commentator in the US).

-Chanchai

 

I'm curious--what do the Aussies think of Taylor Dent? Not that he's brought up big results to warrant too much concern. But his father was pretty good as an Australian Professional back in the late 70s.

He's not that well known in America though. Some people will probably only know him as "one of the last pure (over-aggressive) serve and volleyers int eh game now." Others will probably just know him because of his cousin, Misty May (a top-level beach volleyball professional).

-Chanchai

 

Interesting analysis. My predictions are changing with every match. Having watched Federer struggle somewhat in the third set to Juan Carlos Ferrero, I'm not so sure the tournament is his for the taking.

There's allot of dangerous players left in the draw, not least Spain's Felciano Lopez. I watched him play today against Mario Ancic and he was in searing form, running down every ball and playing measured ground strokes as if he were on the clay courts of Roland Garos. His swerving left handed serve is also an awesome asset

Lopez plays Hewitt on Monday. Now THAT will be a match to watch people.

As for the women's draw, I've no idea why but something draws me towards Russia's Maria Sharapova.........can't quite put my finger on it......
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Sharapova's in good form (not just physical form).

Lopez is playing VERY WELL and I'm enjoying his matches. Every tournament you've got a player that's got lots of momentum and rises up to a true dark horse status. You can never underestimate these players. This year at Wimbledon, it's gotta be Lopez. Hewitt's game is not up to snufff this tournament yet... If he raises it against Lopez, I'll be very happy. If not, Youzhny should make an entertaining semifinal contender.

Cannot discount David (pronounced Dah-veed) Nalbandian's chances though. That guy is always dangerous, and always sneaky. Argentine attitude, inherited John McEnroe's ability to elevate his game after being severely pissed off, and has that nasty game I described before (Federer's description: "Contra Tennis"). However, Thomas Johannson is an underrated and seasoned grass court player. It'll be an interesting matchup and I hope I get to see at least a full set of this match.

Well, being on the US' west coast, I was screwed over by NBC's all time zones policy combined with their demands that ESPN2's coverage be blocked while they're showing theirs... So I didn't get to see any of Federer vs. Ferrero or Lopez vs. Ancic yesterday. Really sucks...

Roddick's play against Coria really impressed me on Monday. Best I've seen him play in months. I'm tempted to say we should wait and see how he plays Grosjean, but he has owned Grosjean for the last 2.5 years. I think the last time Grosjean beat him was in the Davis Cup semifinals in 2002. Then again, you never know when that upset might happen, the two used to practice together a lot.

Hewitt vs. Lopez... Definitely looking forward to this. Federer vs. Gonzalez, not really looking forward to that--I do expect Federer to destroy Gonzalez. But Fernando (Gonzalez) is always fun to watch in small doses because he's always trying to destroy the ball.

My best guess:

Federer vs. Gonzalez -- Federer wins in 3 sets. Most likely no tie-breaks, maybe 1--and probably the first set if there is a tie-break.

Hewitt vs. Lopez -- Tough call... I will take a gamble and say Hewitt raises his game. Hewitt in 4 very close sets. Chance of a five-setter. I think Lopez will win a tiebreak.

Johannson vs. Nalbandian -- Nalbandian in 5 sets. I expect a grueling battle. Hard to estimate how many tiebreaks, part of me believes there will be 2 tiebreaks.

Roddick vs. Grosjean -- Roddick in 3 sets.

-Chanchai