WIMBLEDON 2015

Draws out! http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/draws/

Terrific grass season so far - Bencic and Konjuh both winning their first titles in style heralds really good things for the WTA. Shame Bencic has such a tough R1 - though her match vs Pironkova is certainly one of the most mouthwatering R1s. (Also: Konjuh/Cornet, Brown/Lu, Coric/Stakhovsky, Strycova/Stephens - the latter is playing the best tennis of her career, certainly, she's fixed her BH and everything.)

People were talking about Djokovic's tough draw and I assume they were joking? If he faced Kohlschreiber in R4 it'd be NID so why does R1 change everything?

Quite happy that Margarita Gasparyan's one-handed BH will get showcased on a big court against Serena. I wonder if Konta can do anything against Sharapova, she looked genuinely good at Eastbourne.

On board the "Dustin Brown to beat Nadal" train. THE DECLINE, IT IS FINALLY REAL

Oh yeah my slightly rushed and boring predix:

Women

(1) Serena Williams d. Dominika Cibulkova
(16) Venus Williams d. Francesca Schiavone
Kristina Mladenovic d. (23) Victoria Azarenka
Bethanie Mattek-Sands d. Tsvetana Pironkova
(4) Maria Sharapova d. Daria Gavrilova
(24) Flavia Pennetta d. (WC) Naomi Broady
(11) Karolina Pliskova d. Urszula Radwanska
Sloane Stephens d. Alison Riske
(31) Camila Giorgi d. (5) Caroline Wozniacki
(10) Angelique Kerber d. (20) Garbine Muguruza
(18) Sabine Lisicki d. (15) Timea Bacsinszky
(26) Svetlana Kuznetsova d. (3) Simona Halep
Ana Konjuh d. (8) Ekaterina Makarova
(21) Madison Keys d. (12) Eugenie Bouchard
(13) Agnieszka Radwanska d. Misaki Doi
(2) Petra Kvitova d. (28) Jelena Jankovic

S.Williams d. V.Williams
Mladenovic d. Mattek-Sands
Pennetta d. Sharapova
Pliskova d. Stephens
Kerber d. Giorgi
Lisicki d. Kuznetsova
Konjuh d. Keys
Kvitova d. A.Radwanska

S.Williams d. Mladenovic
Pliskova d. Pennetta
Kerber d. Lisicki
Kvitova d. Konjuh

S.Williams d. Pliskova
Kvitova d. Kerber

S.Williams d. Kvitova

Men

(1) Novak Djokovic d. (27) Bernard Tomic
(14) Kevin Anderson d. (24) Leonardo Mayer
(9) Marin Cilic d. (17) John Isner
(5) Kei Nishikori d. Alexander Zverev
Fernando Verdasco d. (4) Stan Wawrinka
(16) David Goffin d. (19) Tommy Robredo
(21) Richard Gasquet d. (11) Grigor Dimitrov
(26) Nick Kyrgios d. (7) Milos Raonic
(8) David Ferrer d. Vasek Pospisil
(22) Viktor Troicki d. Dustin Brown
Alexandr Dolgopolov d. (13) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
(3) Andy Murray d. Sergiy Stakhovsky
(6) Tomas Berdych d. Lukas Rosol
(12) Gilles Simon d. Adrian Mannarino
(15) Feliciano Lopez d. (20) Roberto Bautista Agut
(2) Roger Federer d. Sam Groth

Djokovic d. Anderson
Nishikori d. Cilic
Verdasco d. Goffin
Kyrgios d. Gasquet
Ferrer d. Troicki
Murray d. Dolgopolov
Berdych d. Simon
Federer d. Lopez

Djokovic d. Nishikori
Kyrgios d. Verdasco
Murray d. Ferrer
Federer d. Berdych

Djokovic d. Kyrgios
Murray d. Federer

Djokovic d. Murray

lol u have dustin brown taking out rafa?

bencic looked awesome today

if rafa loses to dustin brown he should 100% retire

if lu is healthy, he will absolutely beat dustin brown

Can't see Stan (even calming down from great heights achieved at the French) losing to piss like Verdasco.

Fed to lose before the semis.

Thinking a down-in-the-dumps Djoko could lose before the final, or certainly in the final to Murray, as I saw a 95 mph 2nd serve from him. If he keeps that up he could well win his 3rd slam.

On the women's side if Petra reaches the final I reckon she'd beat Serena. Obv its a big if, reckon she'll bomb - no shit Sherlock etc.

if rafa loses to dustin brown he should 100% retire

He lost to him last year!

And losing to darcis was worse.

Bad draw for Federer, outstanding draw for Novak

hm i think i missed that dustin/rafa match when it happened - its here on youtube, it is kinda spectacular huh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgwxnzlj0R4

Remember that all time for not just Brown's perfect lobs and monstrous backhand slap returns, but also how on a fuzzy stream it looked like one of his clothing sponsors was Grindr.

I actually think Murray can win but I'm just not going to go out on that particular limb in any official prediction sense

Agree Verdasco is generally useless but he leads the h2h with Stan 2-1, Stan's return game is so much less effective on grass and Verdasco has this habit of randomly peaking after stretches of uselessness

I also actually think Venus is perfectly placed to beat Serena but their matches have rarely been about form or logic.

IMAGINE tho if the player who ends Serena's quest for both a second Serena Slam and a potential calendar Slam is HER OWN SISTER

Oh yeah also look out for a potential CSN upset - Ostapenko in R1 is last year's girls' champ who's come on strong in the ITFs this year. Should be interesting to watch regardless.

I see the ATP are already selling the Kokkinakis/Zverev/Chung/Ymer/Edmund gang as a New Generation, very smart of them. The WTA meanwhile stays writing headlines about Bouchard's selfies

eeeee excited.
xp Venus preventing Serena Slam would be extra weird given the last one was entirely at her expense

I come back from Italy on Fri 10th, wim men's SF day - really hoping to see a Djoko - Stan rematch in the SF.

Gasparyan acquitting herself well so far

Told you all she was good. Nice to see a few brilliant 1HBs in there too.

Diyas/Pennetta was a good match, pleasantly surprised to see Zarina make the upset

Ostapenko up an early break on CSN, playing very well

That's turned into "Ostapenko is hammering CSN, up a set and a double break"

Really impressed by her game, very smooth and easy power

wow csn is so incredibly inconsistent, even for a women's tennis player

overly reliant on on-court coaching + least comfortable on grass + tendency to go into her shell when being overpowered + much-improved junior champ from last year with a big game = this result

Ostapenko's BH is wonderful

Incredible get from Bencic to finally close out Pironkova. Tsvetana got injured in the second set and it looked like a formality until she started fighting right at the end

Elsewhere I saw Struff totally gift the key breaks in sets 4 and 5 to Tomic, who looked weirdly super-casual about going five. Kanepi is basically not moving vs Hsieh. This Hewitt epic is a grindingly predicatble occurrence WHY HASN'T HE RETIRED YET

Victor Estrella Burgos broke Becker with an amazing FH pass, served out to love - first Dominican win at Wimbledon!

Chung v Herbert is an aggravating match, Chung just spurned about 100 game points to hold serve. Lots of multi-deuce games where none of the points are good

Someone's only here for the R1 paycheque...

https://twitter.com/angelikf/status/615570037404008448

The Missed Smash ‏@Themissedsmash 28m28 minutes ago

@angelikf thank goodness there are players like this on tour. If you're in a slam, you should play unless you physically cant. #thankyou
0 retweets 0 favorites

but... it seems that she physically can't play?

PAM https://twitter.com/PHShriver/status/615580778454454273

I think they meant "at least she didn't retire after a token three games like others have in the past *cough, Martic*" but I don't think that would make it better or worse. I don't blame Rogers either, someone ranked where she is can't afford to turn down the pay cheque and - possibly - her one shot of competing at Wimbledon. Not the players' fault that Slam wealth doesn't trickle down to where they make a living the rest of the year

oh alison ;_;

HURRAY NO MORE HEWITT

(Hi everyone!)

Every year I almost enjoy this thread more than Wimbledon itself.

Baghdatis is just PEAKING, beautiful to watch, no sign of the calf thing from the Nottingham SF

Young is as useless and whiny as ever

Really thought Safarova would be an obvious upset after her shambolic Eastbourne outing but Riske choked gigantically and Lucie managed to win ugly

lol, Baghdatis casually rushing the net after every return. So disrespectful to Young's serve

This is one of the most unusual sets of stats you'll see in 2015 men's tennis, or really tennis in general

http://i.imgur.com/q1l60OD.jpg

Dolgopolov dfs to hand back the break
Andrew Castle: "Edmund breaks back, that's a bit of Yorkshire grit for you!"

Kvitova looking great on paper. No points lost on serve in the set. But Bertens looks pretty rubbish, and her look as being blasted past reminded me of Wozniacki, with about as much chance of beating Peaktra on grass :D :D :D

Second consecutive Slam where I've watched Svitolina win a three-setter despite being far the less imaginative, creative and versatile olayer on court. Doi was dominating every rally and never really stopped but suddenly was unable to put a finishing shot into court. It was kinda hard to watch because that's exactly my problem on court too

Brown/Lu obviously tremendous fun, lots of diving volleys and angled passes and all sorts of delightful shotmaking

Petra serving for the match, having not lost one point on serve. DFed, obv.

35 minutes. Quicker than any of the three double bagels so far. (Weirdly - there had been no double bagels at Wim since 2009!)

"the hors d'oeuvre is over"

sounded like andrew castle obv

Lucic-Baroni beats Shvedova 75 67 75, sinks to her knees. Has a shot to take out Muguruza next.

It's really beyond doubt for me that Pospisil is the hottest ATP player

total package yeah

Very rusty by Robson, as expected, but glimpses of her old form. Rodina was very average but solid in every department, a good foil to see where Robson is at. Nearly got horrendously screwed on MP though

There really is no greater disparity between physical talent and mental strength in the top 100 than Garcia. Watson choking for her life and chucking in puffball serves and Garcia just smacks errors.

Coric dealing with Stakhovsky's wily game surprisingly well...

LMAO Bouchard is a set down to Duan Ying-Ying. Duan choked three SPs before finally taking the TB; she's generally hampered by a total unwillingness to run or move (at one point a ball bounced ~3ft away from her and she just sort of lunged and stumbled at it) but was bashing the ball a whole lot better than Bouchard.

Duan's sole career grass experience prior to coming through qualies was one Australian ITF 25K in 2012, where she qualified and lost R1 to Arina Rodionova.

saves them!

and wins the game, that was great stuff - resists to Novak's intent

very poor UE from D

vintage FH, roger back on it

Novak comes in for 30-30

now BP, so good this - best period of the match

what a chance fed

just about keeping his mind together to get through

what a rally and drop shot from Novak to earn that BP

one.more.shot

And he gets the break!

consolidates at the next 3-1

they're going to put the roof on aren't they *cries*

can't roddick get his tie in order? what a rebel.

lob for 15-30

not a great approach from fed: 40-30

4-2

sleepwalking to 3sps

3rd set Djokovic.

2-2 15-30, Fed in the net

30-40, BP

Djokovic making some crucial gets to get that break...

that return pushed all the lines - and so a break, give this another 15 mins.

Federer doesn't look like he has much left. These errors

oh man 0-30 up then more errors after some good serving

Break for the title Nole!

two BPs for the title

Does it!!

Drama-free!

Welp. Kinda feel like if Rog couldn't do it here, he might not ever again. Though I guess it's always possible he lands in a final against someone else. But it's going to be hard.

Really kept it together after the calamity of that 2nd set.

As for Fed to make it to a final at 33 its just one more line to add to the legend.

The one weird thing about Djokovic's resumé post-2011 is that he's underperformed at Slams relatively to his dominance everywhere else. This is the FIRST time since 2011 he's won multiple Slams in one year, and even with this he's only won 4 of the past 14 Slams (obv still great, but a small proportion given that he's mostly been a dominant No 1 in that period).

4 of the past 14, but now 3 of the past 5, so this is being redressed, it looks like

I was rooting for the old guy but man, those errors at the end. Such a shame after the way he's been playing these past few weeks.

BONUS HINGIS STILL TO COME!

4 of the past 14, but now 3 of the past 5, so this is being redressed, it looks like

Jury is still out for me - obv he is playing at a great level, but three of those slam wins came at a still coming back Murray in Australia and then an older great.

you can only beat who they put in front of you tho, and as lex says his slam record if anything underrates his dominance

Murray and Federer, regardless of their stages, are probably the best rivals the ATP offers Djokovic right now. Stan as well, whom he also beat in Australia.

There's definitely an "ATP lacks depth despite being incredibly strong at the top" argument but that's been true for the past decade.

Hingis and Paes slaying out there

Absolutely - but its only really in that one year (2011) that you felt that Djokovic could have a level of dominance of peak Fed or Nadal.

He is favourite for the US open, but you always feel there is something unexpected around the corner. xp

Goodness. Peya and Babos barely winning points

Wow. A 41-minute 61 61 massacre. Martina Hingis, double Wimbledon champion just like 1997. And three trophies go to India!

Roll of honour:

Men's singles: Novak Djokovic
Women's singles: Serena Williams
Men's doubles: Jean-Julien Rojer & Horia Tecau
Women's doubles: Martina Hingis & Sania Mirza
Mixed doubles: Martina Hingis & Leander Paes
Boys' singles: Reilly Opelka
Girls' singles: Sofya Zhuk
Boys' doubles: Nam Hoang Ly & Sumit Nagal
Girls' doubles: Dalma Galfi & Fanni Stollar

Ly - first Vietnamese Slam champion in history, I assume? I love the global diversity of this sport.

A good Wimbers this year I think.

Jesus!!!!!!!!!! Look at the Boy's champion!

He's freakishly tall.

New rankings!

1. Serena Williams (1)
2. Maria Sharapova (4)
3. Simona Halep (3)
4. Caroline Wozniacki (5)
5. Petra Kvitova (2)
6. Ana Ivanovic (7)
7. Agnieszka Radwanska (13)
8. Lucie Safarova (6)
9. Garbiñe Muguruza (20)
10. Carla Suárez Navarro (9)
11. Ekaterina Makarova (8)
12. Karolina Pliskova (11)
13. Angelique Kerber (10)
14. Timea Bacsinszky (15)
15. Venus Williams (16)
16. Andrea Petkovic (14)
17. Elina Svitolina (17)
18. Madison Keys (21)
19. Victoria Azarenka (24)
20. Sara Errani (19)
21. Belinda Bencic (22)
22. Sabine Lisicki (18)
23. Samantha Stosur (23)
24. Svetlana Kuznetsova (25)
25. Jelena Jankovic (30)
26. Eugenie Bouchard (12)
27. Flavia Pennetta (26)
28. Alizé Cornet (27)
29. Shuai Peng (28)
30. Irina-Camelia Begu (31)
...
32. Coco Vandeweghe (47)
41. Monica Niculescu (48)
47. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (54)
49. Magdalena Rybarikova (65)
51. Heather Watson (59)
62. Tatjana Maria (78)
81. Olga Govortsova (122)
110. Kristyna Pliskova (134)
130. Jelena Ostapenko (147)

Lucic-Baroni back in the top 50 after a 15-year absence, that's kind of amazing. And Tatjana Maria has a better career high ranking as amother than she did in her first career now...

1. Novak Djokovic (1)
2. Roger Federer (2)
3. Andy Murray (3)
4. Stan Wawrinka (4)
5. Kei Nishikori (5)
6. Tomas Berdych (6)
7. David Ferrer (7)
8. Milos Raonic (8)
9. Marin Cilic (9)
10. Rafael Nadal (10)
11. Gilles Simon (13)
12. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (12)
13. Richard Gasquet (20)
14. David Goffin (15)
15. Kevin Anderson (14)
16. Grigor Dimitrov (11)
17. Gaël Monfils (18)
18. John Isner (17)
19. Feliciano López (16)
20. Viktor Troicki (24)
21. Tommy Robredo (19)
22. Leonardo Mayer (21)
23. Roberto Bautista Agut (22)
24. Ivo Karlovic (25)
25. Bernard Tomic (26)
26. Andreas Seppi (27)
27. Pablo Cuevas (23)
28. Dominic Thiem (30)
29. Vasek Pospisil (56)
30. Juan Monaco (35)
...
37. Borna Coric (40)
41. Nick Kyrgios (29)
80. Dustin Brown (102)
81. Alexander Zverev (74)
89. James Ward (111)

wow, when's the last time the top 10 remained unchanged after a slam?

rewatched this final, incredible level the first two sets ~ what can you say abt fed in the 2nd set tiebreak? legendary

novak then bouncing back w the early break in the 3rd, he hit really hard and clean the last two sets and forced rog to make errors. the drama got sucked out of the match, & the rain delay didnt help either. wildly impressive performance regardless

Ha, at Tom D's:

Jesus!!!!!!!!!! Look at the Boy's champion!

Ah, Reilly Opelka, have ya stopped growin' yet?

Perhaps the only way to stop Novak was a global pandemic for which he will ultimately to refuse to take the eventually-developed vaccine.