WIMBLEDON 2007

Draws online! Projected 4th rounds -

Federer v Haas (Tursunov more likely though)
Blake v Gonzalez (both ripe for upsets to randoms)
Roddick (BOO) v Ljubicic
Gasquet v Murray (who should surely withdraw? not worth fucking his wrist up completely)
Davydenko v Baghdatis (Johansson and Monfils are lucky floathers in Russian Dave's section, and Baghdatis will have to get past Argentine Dave)
Hewitt (BOO) v Djokovic (YAY)
Berdych v Robredo
Youzhny v Nadal

Henin v Schnyder (like Batty Patty is going to get to the second week...Bondarenko Sr has to like her chances)
Hanturexia v S.Williams (another Justine/Serena qf...am happy with that, more chance of the match happening and it'd be GREAT for JH to beat Serena here)
Jankovic v Peer
Hingis v Chakvetadze (haha Jankovic and Hingis both open against Brit WCs)
Ivanovic v Petrova (Nadia gave an interview earlier this week saying she was depressed, unmotivated, and having parent issues - before promptly reaching the Eastbourne SF; Ivanovic meanwhile managed to win just 4 games off Hanturexia this week)
Vaidisova v Mauresmo (nice draw for defending champ to play herself into form)
Kuznetsova v Dementieva
Safina v Sharapova (V.Williams lurks for Little Miss Marat first)

exciting!!!

traffic around wimbledon village already at standstill. many roadworks going on around the area. should be fun.

report back if you sight any players stevie!

this is gonna be great

I've seen several of the players' taxis, but they have blacked out windows so no exciting starspotting. Stevie, are you going to the Wimbledon Village fair tomorrow? I am strangely tempted...

report back if you sight any players stevie!

i fear i would not recognise them... is mcenroe still playing?

Stevie, are you going to the Wimbledon Village fair tomorrow?

i will be going on a work trip to las vegas tomorrow, sadly, but my nan will be working a couple of days at the tournament, as ever, the sprightliest 80 year old you'll see working the strawberry stalls!

Oh, just as I got my sleeping patterns back in whack, this. I shall be vampiric to watch this!

ha, i was just about to email you to see if you wanted to go for drinks when i'm in yr area - ah well have fun in las vegas, eh!

xp

there are worse places for a heartbroken newly-single dude to be, i have heard... but if yr in wim after next thursday, gimme a call, cos i be back and done by then.

aw, i didn't know you were heartbroken - well, hope las vegas is good to you, and i may well make it down to wimbledon when you're back...

What's good: I am off work for all but three days of the tournament.
What's bad: I will spend most of it knocking seven bells out of my kitchen (or, more likely, taking the kids to the park while Pam does it). Q: how to fit a new countertop when you can't lift the 38mm-thick 2.5m-long wood off the floor?

I'm going to stick my neck out and say a rejuvenated Safin will give Fed his first SW19 five-setter since Sampras '01...

LOL at prospect of Henman getting a grass-court lesson off Carlos Moya. Starace vs Djokovic! Centre Court, perhaps?

"Wayne Arthurs, who I thought retired in January...."

Such was my understanding, but maybe the Oz exit was so emotional because Wine would never play in Australia again. His absolutely positively last major will start with a match against a Belgian called de Bakker, who to win will need to come out, er, smoking (boom-tish!)

Assuming Hewitt, whose career trajectory seems pointed the same way as his cap, can get past local quallie Richard Bloomfield and two others (and assuming anybody outside his immediate family still cares), he will run headlong into official Next Big Thing Novak Djokovic, only about ten years after Lleyts was NBT. Nadal has a potentially dangerous first-up date with Wine's Oz memesis, Mardy Fish (edit: scratch the 'nemesis' part as all the Mardmeister needed do that day was watch from over the net).

de Bakker, who to win will need to come out, er, smoking (boom-tish!)

this is perhaps the most awesomely, spectacularly monstrous pun i've seen in over a year. ken c eat your heart out!

Henin just beat Mauresmo 7-5, 6-7, 7-6 in the Eastbourne final in a really bloody terrific match. It would be excellent if this would be the Wimbledon final as well! And I think it might be.

hi dere tennis ILXors, if you are on teh Facebook, please join Extreme Radwanska Sisters Appreciation Mania. It needs more members than just me and Lex.

edward i wd like to not have the word "squ**ing" in my officer title!!!!!

plz amend 2 "who will be annoying pillock tennis commentators like Chris fucking Bailey for years to come"

Okay, I confess, only I am a squeeing fanboy. But FIXED.

50 members by third round!

:D

I met a gigantic tennis fan the other day, and we talked about Wimbledon for about 2 hours. I should recruit him to ILX, stat. (I don't know where he stands on les souers Radwanska though)

Spoke at length to Andrew Castle yesterday, he's our columnist for the tournament. Nice guy. He tips Djokovic and Serena to win. Hopefully I'll get to SW19 this week if I can blag it.

djokovic? out on a limb there, though he's my finalist. darren do you have an email address i can get you on btw?

i'm 99% queueing for a ground pass on wednesday, pending weather.

my only real out-on-limb predictions:

Justine to beat Serena in QF
Chakvetadze to SF (Hingis just off injury and v out-of-form, Jankovic will surely drop dead at some point having played what seems like the last 500 weeks in a row)
Possible random QFist from the Ivanovic/Petrova section...Mirza maybe?
Paszek to make the 4th round in the Golovin/Dementieva section

so SFs would be Henin v Chakvetadze and Mauresmo v Sharapova; same final as last year, Henin to win.

Men's SFs...Federer v Roddick, Djokovic v Berdych, Fed over Djoker in the final. Blah.

Okay, y'all know I love Sania to bits, but I will eat anything you can name if Mirza reaches the QFs this year.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PRESENTING THE ALL-NEW SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA!

New look:

http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/3/global/photogallery/wimbledonparty/f_20.jpg

New hair:

http://i13.tinypic.com/65zwz2q.jpg

Email address sent, Lex.

I like to think i'll be going on Wednesday but it depends on workload and the weather (and the slim chance that I can get the-man-who-took-Wilander-to-five-sets to sort sth out).

IL PLEUT

but certain players more than welcome to stand under my umbrella-ella-ella

1307: "If Murray had pulled out a few hours earlier the draw would have been rewritten. The seeds would have been bumped up and Blake would have become Murray's seed, and Fish would have been brought in as the 32nd seed and avoided Nadal in the first round.

"The lateness of Murray's decision has caused a certain amount of consternation among the Americans in particular."
Five Live's Jonathan Overend

If he needs at least another 10 days before he's fit then why did he leave it so late to pull out?

im playin on yr centre court without yr roofs

Bold Predictions: Hewitt out early enough to make it to the Adelaide Crows match this weekend. No more British players by Round Three. Da Fed to pwn yo ass on grass.

"IL PLEUT"

QUELLE SURPRISE!

If he needs at least another 10 days before he's fit then why did he leave it so late to pull out?

as i understand he wanted to see if he had an adverse reaction to his practice on sunday - assume he did. understandable that he'd want to leave it to the last minute though, obviously he was desperate to play! good decision though. and i do like him a lot but the less british players to hog the airtime the better frankly. maybe this year we can actually watch some tennis.

who gives a shit about mardy fish, seriously.

Americans? Or some of them anyway.

I liked Serena laying down FACTS.

"I believe I'm the best player," Serena said. "If I'm playing well, it's hard for anyone to beat me. It's not even a belief, it's a fact."

Local lass Naomi Cadaver has Wimbers07's first service break - against Martina F Hingis no less (paying attention Dan?).

Oh god, I can't be less excited about one of the next matches on free-to-air being Thimble.

Maybe I should cough up for the website feed things.

Serena's always talked big. If she can back it up fair enough but whenever she can't, the subsequent pointing/laughing is even more fun. It's not actually true, anyway.

Hingis is looking dreadful btw.

So's Federer, actually!

obv he will win and improve as needed, but it WILL be needed.

I started watching that but Gabashvili's first service game was so torturous I switched over - most of the time was consumed by Gabashvili missing serves, falling on his arse while standing up and so on.

Sandshoe Face is already two breaks up (BOO!) on Justin the Gobstopper (YAY!)

Oz Foxtel currently has Rob the Slob already a break ahead of Some Other Gonzales. The online comedians on the official site, with whom I consider us in competition, are calling Henners 'Tiger Tim'. Such sarcasm!

Rodge is looking so foul he's only one break up.

I think Sandshoe Face might be first into set 2 (6-1 up, obv has the New Jersey Nuisance by the gimels.)

Three reasons why my Wimbledon watching is being severely impeded this year:
1) no telly
2) work insanely busy so no sneaking off
3) six month old baby

Waahhh :(

oh and I suppose i need to add
4) rain

AND I didn't even get my annual trip to Eastbourne this year.

I think Sandshoe Face might be first into set 2 (6-1 up, obv has the New Jersey Nuisance by the gimels.)

He was beaten by Kaia Kanepi who has had time to win the first set AND start trailing in the second 1-2! Not letting him have that particular record.

Arch, a mate of mine here in Melbourne told me with his new-born he's already seen a complete FA cup Final for the first time in Godknows and is looking forward to the same thing with Wimbledon amd the Open Golf.

You might miss Wimbledon but you could see a hell of a lot more of the Oz Open.

Also a set up: a gentleman called Harfield who, as you've no doubt already guessed, is Argentinian

he's been picking his ass a lot inbetween points

This is so gutsy. I NEVER expect that the war of attrition is won by the player who holds serve easiest throgughout the match - LOOK! ROGER BREAKS!

It's kind of nice not being able to see it. I can imagine Nadal's smalls to be anything I want, and it's all good.

Roger's cruising now

It seems like it only took about 10 seconds to go from 2-2 to 5-2!

After being so close to going down a break twice! He really looked to be on the ropes too.

it's like he just realized this is HIS surface

Holds to love with three aces. He might just go ahead and finish it here.

here it is

haha false alarm, deuce 3

wow, he's done it!

GLEE! Great final! Drama! Good outcome! Nadal is getting awful close here, maybe he'll go all the way next time.

And I have won $50! What more can a man want.

really good match. wish i had watched more wimbledon this year. wanted nadal to win, but he seemed to lose hope a bit in the last set.

AND as if this day couldn't get any better, the Bryan Twins didn't win the doubles! Llodra and Clement upset them!

Roger really pushed it into that extra gear when he was facing those breaks. Bravo.

even won over titchyschneider!

Yeah, that was brilliant. The semis and finals have been terrific all round. Good work, tennis dudes (that includes you lot, as always, I read far more than I contribute).

Great, great final. Now perhaps all the pro-Sampras goons who rather perversely insist that their man is the greater because he won lots of close matches and puked on court and so on will be slightly satisfied by Fed coming through a real Slam final test. I mean, 15/40 twice!

They need to make Roger play against the tennis equivalent of Big Blue the chess computer.

Me, earlier: Why is Rog just giving Rafa a chance to catch him up a bit for lolz?

It seemed like it was a bit like that, wasn't it? Just gave Rafael that glimmer of hope then, BANG, nope, I'm still fuckloads better than you. Even when he was facing multiple breakpoints in the final set, it didn't actually occur to me that he wouldn't still win.

Odds on Rodge blubbing?

awesome match, and i dont even really watch tennis that much

that's exactly what youd expect from someone like federer... he gets challenged, the match is close, and he lays the smack down. very tiger-woods-esque

Roger's suit: class

Hmm...Rafa looked like the better player until 2-2 in the fifth, it has to be said. I mean...last year, I couldn't have actually imagined that he could push Rog like that at Wimbledon. And Rog was playing really well, too, unlike in his tactically vacant, error-strewn RG finals. Rafa was out-hitting as well as out-grinding him.

And for Rafa to be able to do that, after getting so comprehensively screwed by the weather and the scheduling and the five-setters and (possibly) the injury in the fourth set...Rog won today, and it was deserved, but I think Rafa proved emphatically that he is very, very capable of beating Rog here.

Ooh! Great news from the juniors: Miss Urszula Radwanska follows big sis Agnieszka's footsteps to the girls' championship...

And YAY for Bryan twins losing

Hurrah for Roger! Great final.

RF has had mid-match crises in Slam finals before but he usually resolves them by the end of the third set and strolls through the 4th (Agassi, Roddick x 2, Baghdatis) so this was the first time he's been extended like this.

He didn't blub. I'm glad I didn't have any money on that.

Next up: Janko & Murray Jr in the Mixed!

I didn't think Rafa looked better so much as Roger looked worse, he seemed to be making a *lot* of silly unforced errors. Probably not that many, but a few by his own exacting standards.

His backhand looked a bit iffy today, though the forehand was still its usual ridiculously fluid, accurate weapony self, but Nadal seemed a league smarter, esp regarding movement and serve placement.

that fifth set was some really amazing tennis.

why is rusedski a) commentating at all - thought we'd got rid of him long ago, b) insistently pronouncing the J of Jankovic as a hard J?

Lol @ this replay of the Bryan brothers arguing with the judge. It's like they are straight out of a frat boy movie.

Heh, I love it when the girl in mixed doubles aces the guy. Bjorkman looked v pissed off at the thought of the Jankovic serve being too much for him to handle!

NEW RANKINGS!

1. Roger Federer (1)
2. Rafael Nadal (2)
3. Novak Djokovic (5)
4. Andy Roddick (3)
5. Nikolay Davydenko (4)
6. Fernando Gonzalez (6)
7. Richard Gasquet (14)
8. Tommy Robredo (7)
9. James Blake (9)
10. Tomas Berdych (11)
11. Tommy Haas (10)
12. Ivan Ljubicic (12)
13. Andy Murray (8)
14. Mikhail Youzhny (13)
15. David Ferrer (15)
16. Guillermo Canas (17)
17. Juan Carlos Ferrero (18)
18. Marcos Baghdatis (16)
19. Juan Ignacio Chela (20)
20. Carlos Moya (22)
21. Lleyton Hewitt (19)
22. Marat Safin (24)
23. Jarkko Nieminen (21)
24. David Nalbandian (25)
25. Dmitry Tursunov (23)
26. Robin Soderling (28)
27. Filippo Volandri (27)
28. Paul-Henri Mathieu (39)
29. Agustin Calleri (29)
30. Jurgen Melzer (31)

other notable moves - illness-ravaged Ancic slides to 39, last 16 showing helps Tipsarevic make his top 50 debut at 48, Bjorkman slides to 55, Monfils continues to rebuild his ranking and is back up to 57.

1. Justine Henin (1)
2. Maria Sharapova (2)
3. Jelena Jankovic (3)
4. Svetlana Kuznetsova (5)
5. Ana Ivanovic (6)
6. Amelie Mauresmo (6)
7. Serena Williams (8)
8. Anna Chakvetadze (7)
9. Nadia Petrova (9)
10. Nicole Vaidisova (10)
11. Marion Bartoli (19)
12. Daniela Hantuchova (12)
13. Martina Hingis (11)
14. Dinara Safina (14)
15. Elena Dementieva (13)
16. Patty Schnyder (15)
17. Venus Williams (31)
18. Shahar Peer (16)
19. Tatiana Golovin (17)
20. Na Li (18)
21. Vera Zvonareva (20)
22. Alona Bondarenko (24)
23. Sybille Bammer (21)
24. Katarina Srebotnik (22)
25. Lucie Safarova (25)
26. Tathiana Garbin (23)
27. Mara Santangelo (29)
28. Anabel Medina Garrigues (26)
29. Samantha Stosur (28)
30. Ai Sugiyama (27)

plus, Krajicek, who fell from 32 to 45 last week when her points from the 's-Hertogenbosch title came off, yo-yos back up to 32; Paszek rises from outside the top 50 to 35; poor old Severine Bremond falls out of the top 60 :(

Murray and Jankovic have actually WON the mixed doubles!

And Murray/Jankovic win the mixed doubles, hurrah. Jankovic was marvellous.

xpost

That she was.

Roll of honour!

Men's singles: Roger Federer
Women's singles: Venus Williams
Men's doubles: Arnaud Clément and Michael Llodra
Women's doubles: Cara Black and Liezel Huber
Mixed doubles: Jamie Murray and Jelena Jankovic
Boys' singles: Donald Young
Girls' singles: Urszula Radwanska
Boys' doubles: Daniel Lopez and Matteo Trevisan
Girls' doubles: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Urszula Radwanska

See you all next month when we head to my old hometown!

Even when he was facing multiple breakpoints in the final set, it didn't actually occur to me that he wouldn't still win.

i don't know, i felt like in the 4th set his confidence seemed a little shaken. but then it seemed like after he held off the first set of break points in the 5th the total self-assurance returned. he knew he was going to win. great match, though. now i gotta go buy some u.s. open tix.

the entire murray/jankovic interview is excellent! http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/news/interviews/2007-07-08/200707081183926571140.html

Haha, that's great.

Just catching up now with the bits I missed of the final last night.

This match was among the very best of the very best. Only a Roger Federer oould climb out of the hole he found himself in in set 4. (Of course, the Sampras diehards would now tell us that Pete was still better because he'd never have let himself get into such a mess in the first place.)

Eventually this turned out to be a good tournament. The weather hassles disturbed the tempo, so we had long priods of high tension when not a lot was actually happening, building to an absolute crescendo. Meanwhile, the race between Fed on clay and Raffles on grass is also gaining pace (and putting ever more daylight between themselves and whoever no 3 is this week) and whoever wins that one might yet score that grand slam.

I enjoyed that final, minus the first set, which I didn't see.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/Rafa2.jpg

Awww.

He looks like a wounded infantryman with that head-wrap.

Haha!

Rafa looked more upset afterwards than I've ever seen him :(

It's interesting, the point at which certain achievements stop being "things to do in the future, but no rush" and start being "clouds hanging over one's head". RG is like this for Federer - probably as of last year. Wimbledon is like this for Justine, as of her loss last week. Winning a non-RG Slam isn't like this for Rafa yet, but if he doesn't do it soon...down that road we are headed.

Rafa's hardcourt record pales next to Federer's but he's still capable of causing Fed problems on that surface (whereas practically no one else is) - 2-2 head-to-head on hard. They've yet to meet indoors. Roll on 2009 World Tour final (or whatever they're calling the Masters Cup) at the Dome in Greenwich!

Best Wimbledon final I've ever seen (of the 10 or so I have memories of).

Class!