Wimbledon: The Finale

Here I am slacking again since it's been a week since Wimbledon ended and nary a word from me (in this blog at least) on the results. Suffice it to say I was very, very happy with them and like the French Open, two of the sport's greats made history with their wins and made their many, many fans a cause to celebrate.

The king of tennis is back as Roger Federer won his 7th Wimbledon title last Sunday tying him with Pete Sampras and extending his all-time Grand Slam tally at 17 trophies. His win over 4th seed Andy Murray, who was seeking to be the first British man to win a Grand Slam singles title in 70+ years, also catapulted Federer back to the no. 1 ranking also tying him of Sampras' record of holding the top ranking for 286 total weeks. Federer is assured of breaking the record next week. For my part, I always knew Federer had another Slam or two in him, but the way Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have dominated the game in the past couple of years I was almost certain Federer would never be back as world number one. He proved everyone wrong the same way his finals opponent Murray proved everyone wrong when he handled the great pressure of reaching his first Wimbledon finals surprisingly well. In fact, Murray started off flawlessly winning the first set and continuing to be aggressive in the second set. It was Federer however who lifted up his game just in time, breaking late in the second set to win just before the rain forced the tournament to close the roof for the very first indoors Wimbledon Men's finals. Once the roof was closed, Federer was able to play more aggressively with his serves, with his forehands, and more interestingly with his net play. A 20-minute 10-deuce game on Murray's serve in the middle of the third set where Murray fell a couple time and Federer broke serve set the tone. Before you knew it, Federer was lifting the trophy while Murray tearfully and endearingly expressed his immense appreciation for the support he has received. To be continued at the Olympics?

Of course Serena Williams would beat third seed Agnieszka Radwanska at the Wimbledon finals to claim her 5th Wimbledon title (and 14th overall), tying her with her sister Venus Williams. After all, in the past 12 years, one of the Williams sisters have won Wimbledon 10 times. To make it sweeter, both sisters went on to win their 5th Ladies' Doubles title last weekend as well. Serena's superb serve (106 aces for the tournament's best including the men) and under-appreciated court smarts carried her through the final, but Radwanska also didn't give up. While Radwanska must have been overwhelmed by the huge occasion of her first Grand Slam final, losing the first give games of the match, she hung in there especially in the second set as Serena's level dipped a bit. Radwanska's Hingis-esque game helped her squeak out the tight second set, but Serena would recover and just the way the match started, would win the five straight games to win. Certainly the drive to win was great for Serena who had to overcome many health concerns during the past couple of years. With the Olympics looming, do not count out either Williams sisters to claim yet another gold medal. As a final tribute to Serena and Roger, it must be noted that both are over 30 years old which in tennis terms is close to retirement, but both of them have proven time and time again that age is just a number. Certainly Nike must be ecstatic this summer as four of their marquee players--Maria Sharapova, Nadal, Serena, and Federer--won Grand Slams and in historic and impressive fashion to boot!

In doubles, joining the Williams sisters who took out sixth seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, are wildcards Frederik Nielsen and Jonathan Marray who beat fifth seeds Robert Linstedt and Horia Tecau for the Men's Doubles title. Marray thus becomes the first British man to win a Grand Slam title giving the county some much needed emotional boost. In Mixed, Americans and second seeds Mike Bryan and Lisa Raymond defeated fourth seeds Leander Paes and Elena Vesnina. Again, with the Olympics being held at the All-England Lawn and Tennis Club in a couple weeks, we'll be seeing the same people in the same setting but this time playing for gold. And I will be there to watch it live! Exciting times to be a tennis fan!

Wimbledon Finals Preview

After nearly a fortnight of rain, royalty, and unbelievable upsets, a former champion reaches the final in hopes to match their past successes while going up against a first-time finalist with overwhelming pressure to succeed. I just described both the men and women's final match-ups at this years Wimbledon Championships which will be contested this weekend.

For the women, 4-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams blitzed past the defending champion (Petra Kvitova) and the world no. 2 player (Victoria Azarenka) for a chance to tie her older sister Venus with 5 Wimbledon championships. Just as an aside, Serena and Venus are also in the Women's Doubles Final with a chance to win their 5th Wimbledon title there as well. Third seed Agnieszka Radwanska will be Serena's opponent reaching not only her first Wimbledon final, but her first Grand Slam final ever. In fact she's celebrating a lot of first by also reaching her first slam semifinals after outlasting Maria Kirilenko in the quarter-finals and then deftly handling the hard-hitting German Angelique Kerber in the semifinals. Many have remarked her easy draw, but credit her for staying focus to give herself a chance to win her first major title which would also vault her to the number one ranking. Unfortunately, she seems to be suffering from a respiratory illness oh and also facing the best serve in women's tennis.

History will be made on the men's side no matter who wins. Six-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer can recapture the number one ranking by winning his 7th Wimbledon title on Sunday which will also put him in a tie with Pete Sampras in number of Wimbledon titles and help him surpass Sampras at total weeks at number one. A few people predicted Federer at the beginning of the tournament especially with the kind of relatively easy draw he received and that belief got stronger with Rafael Nadal's shock early exit. He certainly cruised for the most part with the exception of having to come back down 0-2 sets to Julien Benneteau, but after that scare Federer found new life dismissing Mikhail Youzhny in the quarter-finals and more impressive taking out world number one and defending champion Novak Djokovic. Federer's final opponent will be none other than the lone British hope Andy Murray who reaches his first Wimbledon final ending that particular drought. Were he to win the title, he would be the first British man since Fred Perry to win Wimbledon. With the London Olympics in a few weeks, this is an opportunity of a lifetime for Murray. Can he handle the pressure? He certainly showed great composure in getting through the toughest draw of the top 4 taking out Ivo Karlovic, Marin Cilic, David Ferrer, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Predictions: Radwanska was overmatched even before she got sick and if Serena continues to serve like she has been, she will be unbeatable. Then again might playing too much tennis (doubles) mean it'll be closer than we all expect especially with Radwanska's Hingis-esque game that could prove useful. As for the men, the pressure will be huge on Murray and while he leads his H2H with Federer, I think the occassion and his past slam finals history will play with his mind especially against a champion as experienced as Federer. Then again what better storyline for Great Britain for a homegrown champion right before they host the Olympics? With all of that said, I'm going to go with the tried and true and pick Serena and Federer for their 14th and 17th Grand Slam titles respectively.

Wimbledon: The Finale

For a tournament so steep in tradition, this year's Wimbledon Championships, which notably celebrated its 125th year, was marked by breakthroughs and a general feeling of change and transition. Most of this can be attributed to the crowning of first-time Wimbledon champions, Novak Djokovic and Petra Kvitova, who fought to claim the most coveted prize in tennis.


For so long, the tennis world has been dominated by two men, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, especially in Wimbledon where they have won the last 8 times. This year, however, Djokovic has defeated everyone, including notching a 9-1 record against Federer and Nadal. With this mindset, Djokovic went into his first Wimbledon final with the belief that not only could he win against Nadal, but that he would. Fortunately for Djokovic, Nadal blinked first in that all-important first set, playing a loose game, giving Djokovic the first set. With that in his pocket, Djokovic played lights out in the 2nd set not giving Nadal an inch in any game and eventually winning it 6-1. To his credit, Nadal upped his own game as well as took advantage of Djokovic's slight dip in concentration in the 3rd to get his own breadstick set. The 4th set was similar to the 1st with both players playing more within themselves and yet again it was Nadal to blink first in the 8th game giving Djokovic a chance to serve for the championships which he promptly did. Win or loss, he would've been ranked #1 tomorrow, but with this win, his 8th title of the year, he has quite literally shaken up the dominance of Nadal and Federer. It's scary to think what else he has in store this year.


The women's final didn't cause a monumental shake up in the women's tour and yet in smaller and indirect ways, it kind of did. First of all, the match really was in the hands of 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova who has had an amazing comeback year, reaching the finals here and the semifinals at the French Open. With her power and experience she was the favorite going to the match. And yet it was Kvitova who outhit and outplayed the former champion. What's more impressive though is how contained and relaxed she seemed playing in the biggest match of her life. After winning the first set, a dip of play might be expected, and there was a slight dip with both players trading breaks a couple of times each. Kvitova though was the more steady of the two and under the watch of her idol Martina Navratilova, she took down Sharapova in straight sets. Similarly to the men, Kvitova was able to breakthrough a tournament that in the past decade had been dominated by two players. For the women it was the Serena and Venus Williams, who both exited in the 4th round this year.

So is there a changing of guards in tennis? Are the era of Nadal, Federer, Serena, and/or Venus over? For the latter three, age is a big factor and they are all getting up there. And yet, I wouldn't be surprised to see them winning 1-2 more major titles. For Nadal, who is still at the top of his game, it's mostly adjusting to this new challenge that Djokovic has given him this year (5 straight losses in 3 different surfaces). Basically, their era of domination is probably over, but underestimate them at your peril.


Elsewhere, top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan claimed their 2nd Wimbledon title, 11th overall, beating 8th seeds Robert Lindstedt/Horia Tecau in Men's Doubles. Second seeds Kveta Peschke/Katarina Srebotnik defeated Sabine Lisicki /Samantha Stosur for the Women's Doubles title. Finally, 9th seed Jurgen Melzer /Iveta Benesova took out 4th seeds Mahesh Bhupathi/Elena Vesnina in straight sets for the Mixed Doubles. And just for old time's sake Martina Hingis/Lindsay Davenport defeated Martina Navratilova/Jana Novotna in the Ladies' Invitation Doubles. Sigh, come back to us.

Wimbledon Report: Gentlemen's Semifinals

The Wimbledon champion will be played between two of the hottest players of the men's tour this year. This year's Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic will face this year's French Open champion Rafael Nadal. This would be Djokovic's first Wimbledon title and Nadal's third. By reaching the finals, Djokovic takes over the world #1 ranking from Nadal.


Djokovic continued his impressive year, only losing one match all year, by taking out Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who had a 5-2 H2H advantage over the Serbian. Tsonga started strong and looked like could take the first set until Djokovic fought gamely to take it to a tiebreak which he won. Tsonga's level went down after that letting Djokovic easily win the 2nd set. In the third set, Djokovic had a chance to serve it out for his spot in the finals and the #1 ranking, but he got broken and Tsonga impressively won a tight tiebreak. After that though, it was all Djokovic.


The crowd was clearly behind Andy Murray from the start and to his credit Murray gave them plenty to cheer about early in the match going toe to toe with the defending champion Nadal. Centre Court was electic when Murray did manage to win the first set. At 1-2 in the second set with Nadal serving, Murray had the open court to go up 15-40, but his ball went long making it 30-30. Nadal held serve to bring it 2-2 then immediately breaks Murray. Murray was never ever to recover from, losing the set and the next two to the disappointment of his home crowd.

Predictions: Their H2H is 16-11 in Nadal's favor, but Djokovic has beaten Nadal the last 4 times they have played including two matched on Nadal's favored surface clay. In grass, Nadal leads 2-0. Djokovic has only lost one match all year while Nadal is riding a 20-match win streak at Wimbledon. Djokovic already has the #1 ranking, he'll test Nadal, but I believe the Spaniard will win his 3rd Wimbledon title in five epic sets.

Wimbledon Report: Ladies' Semifinals

The women's final will be The Battle of the Ovas as 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova face first-time Grand Slam finalist Petra Kvitova. With her serve clicking, Sharapova has looked sharped throughout the tournament being the only player to not have dropped a set. Kvitova is looking to be the first Czech player since Martina Navratilova to win a Grand Slam tournament.


Kvitova had to fight to get to her first final. After four rounds of easy matches, she was tested by Tsvetana Pironkova in the quarters and today by 4th seed Victoria Azarenka. Against Azarenka, she won the first set easily, but Azarenka fought back by handedly winning the second. Helped by Azarenka's shaky serve, Kvitova recovered nicely in the third set where she won on an Azarenka double fault booking her spot in the final.


It was a bit more routine for Sharapova who was looking to reach her first Grand Slam final since she got shoulder surgery three years ago. It was a dubious start for the Russian, broken early by her opponent, wildcard Sabine Lisicki, who seemed as relaxed as could be. Sharapova tightened up her game and fought to 4-4 before breaking Lisicki and then serving out the first set. Sharapova asserted and showed her experience in the 2nd set as Lisicki, perhaps starting to realize what she's playing for, just couldn't recover from losing the first set.

Finals Prediction: They've only played once before and it was last year at Memphis which Sharapova won in straights. Still they are both different players now than they were then and the occasion and venue is completely different. Kvitova is probably the more consistent player of the two at the moment, but Sharapova has the experience. Sharapova in 2.

Wimbledon Report: Gentlemen's Quarterfinals

The sun came out today for the men's quarterfinal action and were there some surprises. All of the matches were basically trickier and tougher than I had imagined. For some, it was a thrill, for one match in particular though, it was very disappointing.


Six-time champion Roger Federer had a 7-1 H2H record against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga heading into their match and while Tsonga is a solid grasscourt player Federer was seen as the favorite. He became even more so after winning the first 2 sets since he was 178-0. Then the rails came off, or more accurately the Tsonga train ramped up speed. He outhit and outplayed Federer the next three sets mounting one of his greatest comebacks ever to reach his first ever Wimbledon semifinals. He'll meet Novak Djokovic who defeated qualified Bernard Tomic who unexpectedly put up a fight, winning the 2nd set and giving Djokovic headaches by varying the pace of the ball. In the end, the Serbian notched his tour-high 46th match of the year.


Defending champ Rafael Nadal continued his quest for his 3rd French Open-Wimbledon double by taking out Mardy Fish, the last American singles player left in the draw. It's a testament to Fish though that he remained close to Nadal throughout the match even winning the 3rd set. Nadal will go head to head with Andy Murray in the semifinals after the Brit won in straight sets against Feliciano Lopez. While the scoreline was quite straightforward, Murray did sustain some kind of thigh injury late in the match. Stay tuned.

Predictions: Like the women, I actually ended up predicting 3 of the 4 eventual semifinalist with Federer the only hold out. I'm still a bit in shock that he lost that game, but no use in moping around. Nadal owns Murray and Murray has underperformed on this court plenty of times, which means Nadal is the clear favorite. Tsonga-Djokovic is a bit more complicated. While Djokovic has had a nearly flawless year, it's Tsonga who heads their H2H 5-2. And yet, I believe Nadal-Djokovic will be the final we'll see on Sunday.

Sighting: Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport partnered up for Legends Doubles. I bet they could still do some damage if they joined the women's tour now. Come back to us. Please.

Wimbledon Report: Ladies' Quarterfinals

With most of the big names out of the tournament already, the women still put on quite a show today. And with the rain wreaking havoc throughout the day, it was the only show in town.


After upsetting Serena Williams the day before, many expected former finalist Marion Bartoli to use her experience to overwhelm Sabine Lisicki. But it was the 2009 quarterfinalist who took command early under the closed roof of Centre Court. Even after losing the second set where she had opportunities to serve out the match, she just outplayed Bartoli to reach her first ever Grand Slam semifinal. She'll meet Maria Sharapova who has impressively not dropped a set all tournament including her dominant win against Dominika Cibulkova today. This is Sharapova's first Wimbledon SF appearance since 2006.


Petra Kvitova battled with Tsvetana Pironkova in one of the very few matches that were held and completed on one of the outside courts. Like Lisicki, Kvitova won the first set and then lost the second in a tie-break only to assert her dominance in the final set. This is Pironkova's 2nd straight Wimbledon SF appearance. She is set to meet first-time Wimbledon semifinalist Victoria Azarenka whose match with Tamira Paszek was moved from Court 1 to Centre Court due to rain. Paszek had chances, but ultimately Azarenka prevailed in straights. Their match is the latest woman's match to be played in Wimbledon.

Semifinal Preview: Even with all of the crazy upsets, I still managed to predict 3 of the 4 semifinalist before the tournament began! These four big-hitting blondes though will need to step it up for a chance to win the trophy. Lisicki is quite crafty and if the serve, which has been working quite well, abandons Sharapova, all bets are off. The Azarenka-Kvitova match is a complete toss-up. Rankings say Sharapova-Azarenka for the finals, but I'm rooting for Kvitova-Lisicki if only to salvage my hearing.

Wimbledon Report: Fourth Round

With the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (aka Prince William and Princess Kate) in attendance at Centre Court, Andy Murray swiftly handled Richard Gasquet in straight sets. On Court 1, Novak Djokovic similarly swept Michael Llodra with relative ease. Roger Federer dropped his first set of the tournament against a fiery Mikhail Youzhny, but won to reach his mind-boggling 29th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal. Finally, Rafael Nadal edged out Juan Martin Del Potro in a tight match to round out the top four. Both Nadal and Del Potro injured themselves during their duel and the extent of those injuries are still unknown.

Mardy Fish reached his first Wimbledon quarterfinal by taking out last year's finalist Tomas Berdych in straights while Jo-Wilfried Tsonga showed off his grass-court skills against David Ferrer. Down 0-2 in sets, Feliciano Lopez mounted an impressive comeback to defeat Lukasz Kubot in a dogfight that lasted more than four hours. Finally, Australian qualifier Bernard Tomic continued his dream run by taking out Xavier Malisse.

Quarterfinal Preview
Rafael Nadal vs. Tomas Berdych Mardy Fish
Andy Murray vs. Andy Roddick Feliciano Lopez
Roger Federer vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Novak Djokovic vs. Jurgen Melzer Bernard Tomic

Predictions: It really does boggle me how consistent the top four have been in big tournaments. In fact just a few weeks ago, they all reached the semifinals at the French Open and I believe they will do it again here. Tsonga and Lopez will be tricky players though and the extent of Nadal's injury could be a factor, but for now I'm sticking with the Big Four.


Before talking about the monumental upsets that transpired today, let's talk about the other matches. Top seeds Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka easily handled their opponents, Shuai Peng and Nadia Petrova respectively. Last year's semifinalist Petra Kvitova soundly defeated Yanina Wickmayer in straight stes. Kvitova and Sharapova are the only two players to not have dropped a set. Joining them in the quarterfinals are 2009 quarterfinalist Sabine Lisicki and Tamira Paszek (reaches Wimbledon quarters for the first time).

As for the upsets, defending champion Serena Williams and her sister, 5-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams, are ousted on the same day. It's a first for this tournament and quite shocking as they've dominated this tournament for nearly a decade. Marion Bartoli took out Serena, a bit reminiscent of when she defeated sister Venus a couple of years back, while 2010 semifinalist Tsvetana Pironkova repeated her amazing win last year against Venus in dominant fashion. Top seed Caroline Wozniacki hoping to win her first major title must wait again as she was also upset by Dominika Cibulkova. Wozniacki won the first set easily, but just couldn't steal one more set.

Quarterfinal Preview
Maria Sharapova vs. Caroline Wozniacki Dominika Cibulkova
Serena Williams Marion Bartoli vs. Na Li Sabine Lisicki
Victoria Azarenka vs. Andrea Petkovic Tamira Paszek
Petra Kvitova vs. Vera Zvonareva Tsvetana Pironkova

Predictions: My early guesses were obviously wrong, but in my defense I really didn't think both Williams sisters would be gone before the quartefinals. With that said, this is turning out to be Sharapova's slam to lose as she's the only one here to have a slam title to her name. The rest of the women though all have a great shot at not only reaching their first Grand Slam final, but to win their first one as well. I think Bartoli, Azarenka, and Kvitova will join Sharapova in the semis.

Wimbledon: Second Week Preview

Wimbledon began with 256 tennis players looking to grab the ultimate prize in tennis. After taking some rest on Sunday, the 32 remaining players, 16 men and 16 women, are all scheduled to play tomorrow in one of the greatest day in all of tennis.


Caroline Wozniacki [1] vs. Dominika Cibulkova [24]
Maria Sharapova [5] vs. Shuai Peng [20]
Sabine Lisicki vs. Petra Cetkovska
Serena Williams [7] vs. Marion Bartoli [9]

Tamira Paszek vs. Ksenia Pervak
Victoria Azarenka [4] vs. Nadia Petrova
Petra Kvitova [8] vs. Yanina Wickmayer [19]
Venus Williams [23] vs. Tsvetana Pironkova [32]

The big story here is that the Williams sisters are still alive and since they are on opposite sides of the draw, are we headed for yet another All-Williams final? Serena Williams probably has the better chance to win the whole tournament than her sister, but she definitely has the tougher road to get there getting Marion Bartoli and then having to face either Caroline Wozniacki or Maria Sharapova.

Venus Williams on the other hand is the only one in her side to even reach a Grand Slam final, let alone win one. But she'll need to avenge last year's loss first to Tsvetana Pironkova in order to even get that far.

Predictions: The higher seeds, should get through their matches along with Sabine Lisicki and Tamira Paszek. My earlier predictions are still for the most part OKAY since those I've predicted to win that to go to the semifinals are still alive!


Rafael Nadal [1] vs. Juan Martin Del Potro [24]
Tomas Berdych [6] vs. Mardy Fish [10]
Andy Murray [4] vs. Richard Gasquet [17]
Feliciano Lopez vs. Lukasz Kubot

David Ferrer [7] vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga [12]
Roger Federer [3] vs. Mikhail Youzhny [18]
Xavier Malisse vs. Bernard Tomic
Novak Djokovic [2] vs. Michael Llodra [19]

The top four keep on rolling as they, combined, have only lost three sets. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic should be heavily favored in their match-ups as should Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, but the latter two will face a bit more of a challenge especially since Juan Martin Del Potro and Richard Gasquet respectively have cost them problems before in big matches.

The other matches are a bit more in the toss-up column and for many it'll be their first fourth round showing at Wimbledon. Can some of them go one further?

Predictions: With Andy Roddick and Jurgen Melzer out, my predictions earlier are messed up, but I still have the top four meeting at the SF which I still feel comfortable in predicting. I also predicted Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to join the top four in the next round so I'll keep them. As for my replacement quarterfinalists, I'll choose Feliciano Lopez and Xavier Malisse.

Wimbledon Report: Day 6

With the All-England Club taking their traditional breather on the middle Sunday of the tournament, it was very important for the tournament to finish all of the third round matches, men and women, on this Saturday. Better weather and not a lot of super long matches, made this possible!


The cream of the crop is slowly rising as most of the top contenders are still alive and playing well. For the women, top seeds Caroline Wozniacki, Maria Sharapova, and Serena Williams all move through today giving up only 5 games each to their opponents. For the men, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Juan Martin Del Potro also got through with straight-set wins. Nadal and Del Potro, however, had to dig deep to win their first two sets in tight tiebreaks, but was then able to close it out in the third much more easily. Federer faced long-time on-court foe and off-court friend, David Nalbandian.


Winning against 32nd seed Marcos Baghdatis, a relieved Novak Djokovic was happy to win by "playing ugly," losing his first set of the tournament. 9th seed Marion Bartoli also lost a set and had to come back to win it 9-7 in the third. Two former French Open champions weren't so lucky as 6th seed Francesca Schiavone and 18th seed Ana Ivanovic were ousted before the second week. Schiavone served for the match twice, but just couldn't finish it out. 16th seed Julia Georges was the only other women seed to go out early. And finally, if you had asked me a week ago if 10th seed Mardy Fish would reach his first ever Wimbledon fourth round while Robin Soderling, Gael Monfils, Jurgen Melzer, Gilles Simon, and even Nicolas Almagro won't (because they all lost today), I'd call you certifiable. And yet, here we are, even after Andy Roddick's shocking early-exit from the day before.

As I said, no tennis tomorrow, but I should be posting my general thoughts for what has happened so far and what it all means for the second week of the fortnight. Until then, time to rest.

Wimbledon Report: Day 5

Crazy work day, family stuff, and a little something called Marriage Equality all conspired to make Wimbledon the last thing on my mind today, but there's no time like the present to talk about the fifth day of the tournament.


There were two big upsets today as former finalists 8th seed Andy Roddick and 2nd seed Vera Zvonareva were both ousted today. Roddick, who only reached the finals back in 2009, was beaten by solid grass court player Feliciano Lopez while Zvonareva, last year's losing finalist, was manhandled by 32nd seed Tsvetana Pironkova. Zvonareva was joined by 11th seed Andrea Petkovic and 12th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. The other seeded men to play today made it through with 4th seed Andy Murray and 1th seed Richard Gasquet setting up a mouth-watering 4th round duel between two former semifinalists after both winning their matches.


In keeping in line with what's happened so far, the women's match scheduled for Centre Court yet again went the distance as 4th seed Victoria Azarenka had to play a third set against 25th seed Daniela Hantuchova. They traded sets until rain forced a slight delay. When they came back, Azarenka dominated under the roof to reach the next round. A few of the other top contenders to win today include top seed Caroline Wozniacki, 5th seed Maria Sharapova, 8th seed Petra Kvitova, 9th seed Marion Bartoli, and 23rd seed Venus Williams.

Rain suspended and postponed play yet again with Rafael Nadal, Juan Martin Del Potro, Gael Monfils, Francesca Schiavone, Mardy Fish, and Tomas Berdych all being affected. Fortunately, the forecast seem to indicate that this might be the last day the rain will effect play. With the tournament taking Sunday off, they are praying that all matches complete tomorrow.

Wimbledon Report: Day 4

As I said yesterday, I wouldn't be able to watch today's matches because of a family matter, but it did give me a chance to take advantage of Radio Wimbledon. It wasn't pitch perfect and just listening to a tennis match was a bit odd, but it was better than nothing. So with that said, what did transpire today other than rain YET AGAIN interrupting play?


It was another eventful day on Centre Court as two matches went the distance. One of those matches was 5th seed Robin Soderling against former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt. Hewitt did great to win the first 2 sets, but Soderling mounted a heroic comeback winning the next three tight sets to move on. 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and 16th seed Nicolas Almagro also fought hard, winning in four grueling sets. Almagro defeated American John Isner who awaits another year to make a deep run on the grass. 24th seed Juan Martin Del Potro, losing the first set last night against Olivier Rochus, wins the next three sets today in easier fashion to move through.

Favorites Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic showed great and consistent form sweeping past their opponents today as they've done so far in the tournament. In the next round, they'll get a bit tested as they'll respectively meet David Nalbandian and Marcos Baghdatis who also won today. 13th seed Viktor Troiki, 20th seed Florian Mayer, and 26th seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez all fell.


The other long-distance match at Centre Court today was between wildcard recipient Sabine Lisicki and French Open champion Li Na. After winning the first set, it looked as if Li would go on cruise control, but Lisicki jumped ahead and eventually won the 2nd set. Li, for her part, composed herself and quickly led the 3rd set with a break. On Lisicki's serve, Li had 2 match points she just couldn't convert and then subsequently dropped served twice while serving for the match. At 6-7 with her forehand collapsing, Li had to serve again, this time to stay in the match. Happily for Lisicki, it wasn't meant to be for Li, as the German wins on her 3rd match point. A tough loss for sure for Li, but she can now fully savor her French Open win and hopefully be a bit more confident for the summer hardcourt season.

Funnily enough, a few former French Open champions did well to win today. 6th seed Francesca Schiavone, 12th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, and 18th seed Ana Ivanovic all made their matches look easy which is so unlike them. Elsewhere, Serena Williams, inexplicably relegated to Court 2, had to comeback yet again after dropping the first set. She clearly is still rusty, but every match is helping. There were a few seeded upsets, namely 13th seed Agnieszka Radwanska, 14th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and 31st seed Lucie Safarova.

Because of rain and/or extraordinarily long matches, a few players' matches were outright cancelled or will continue tomorrow. Among those displaced were Maria Sharapova, David Ferrer, Caroline Wozniacki, Marion Bartoli, Jurgen Melzer, and Shuai Peng.

Wimbledon Report: Day 3

This part of the draw must be cursed since rain has yet again interrupted play. Thankfully, it only amounted to delaying the start of play with a good chunk of matches still able to be completed. Still, there'll be a few some overflow matches tomorrow.


For a second straight day, a Williams sister brought big-time drama at Centre Court. Today it was 5-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams who was mere points away from defeat in the hands of the timeless Kimiko Date-Krumm. Date-Krumm played some inspired grass-court tennis to almost cause the monumental upset, but she played only one truly bad game in the end that cost her the match. With her still playing great tennis at her age, it makes one wonder why others (Dementieva, Hingis, Henin, Vaidisova, etc.) walked away so early?

With this said, it was actually a relatively drama-free day for the ladies as most of the seeds that played moved to the next round. The one exception was 30th seed Bethanie Mattek-Sands who still had to play her first round match. Top ten players Vera Zvonareva, Victoria Azarenka, and Petra Kvitova all got through in straight sets. 11th seed Andrea Petkovic played the very last match of the day, winning in 3.


Unlike the women, there was a litany of upset in the men's draw. Granted most of the top contenders such as Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, and Andy Roddick were troubled very little. And yet it was still quite a bloodbath for seeds. Among the casualties were 14th seed Stan Wawrinka, 21st seed Fernando Verdasco, 25th seed Juan Ignacio Chela, and 31st seed Milos Raonic. The latter was the favorite to win his match and meet Nadal in the next round, but when he fell and injured his knee/thigh he had to retire.

Joining the top contenders to the next round are 6th seed Tomas Berdych, 9th seed Gael Monfils, 10th seed Mardy Fish, and 17th seed Richard Gasquet. 24th seed Juan Martin Del Potro only got a chance to play one set which he inexplicably lost in a tiebreak against Olivier Rochus. The point of absurdity was reached when the 5'6" Rochus delivered a lob winner against the 6'6" Del Potro. The Argentinian best step up tomorrow!

Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to watch any matches tomorrow due to a family thing, but I'll definitely keep up-to-date.

Wimbledon Report: Day 2

Even though the wind made play a bit tricky for some players, thankfully the rain stayed away after postponing many of the matches the day before. Water was shed though from a very unlikely source.


Defending champion Serena Williams played her first Grand Slam match at Centre Court since she won the title last year. It wasn't easy as she had to gut out a 3-set win and by the end her emotions overwhelmed her. She was still tearing up when she spoke to the media after the match. And who could blame her after being unable to play for a year and getting a couple of surgeries that could've threatened her career.

Other top contenders who joined Serena in the second round include top seed Caroline Wozniacki, 3rd seed Na Li, 4th seed Victoria Azarenka, 5th seed Maria Sharapova, 8th seed Petra Kvitova, 9th seed Marion Bartoli, 11th seed Andrea Petkovic, and 18th seed Ana Ivanovic who all moved routinely in straight sets. The latter absolutely demolished American upstart Melanie Oudin. Unfortunately former Grand Slam finalists 10th seed Sam Stosur and 15th seed Jelena Jankovic weren't so lucky as they were unceremoniously bounced from the first round.


Unlike the women, no huge upsets for the men today as the top contenders including 2nd seed Novak Djokovic, 3rd seed Roger Federer, 7th seed David Ferrer, 8th seed Andy Roddick, 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and 24th seed Juan Martin Del Potro who all moved through with minimal drama. 5th seed Robin Soderling had to win in four sets after seemingly injuring himself in the third set. Other four-set winners include 11th seed Jurgen Melzer, 12th seed Gilles Simon, 18th seed Mikhail Youzhny, and former champion Lleyton Hewitt. The latter outlasted the younger Kei Nishikori in one of the outer courts.

The long awaited and much-anticipated rematch of The Longest Tennis Match Ever between John Isner and Nicholas Mahut lasted about 9 hours less than their historic match last year with Isner winning again, this time in 3 relatively straightforward sets. Joining Mahut on the sideline are 22nd seed Alexandr Dologopolov (beaten by former top 10 Fernando Gonzalez), 23rd seed Janko Tipsaveric (retired against Ivo Karlovic), 27th seed Marin Cilic (beaten by veteran Ivan Ljubicic), 29th seed Nikolay Davydenko, and unseeded James Blake who lost in a tight 5-set match against 32nd seed Marcos Baghdatis. 21st seed Fernando Verdasco won his close 5-set match against Radek Stepanek, 9-7 in the fifth set.

Though it's the longest day of the year, there are still some first round matches that will need to be played tomorrow due to the packed schedule today. But for the most part, it's on to the Second Round!

Wimbledon Report: Day 1

The big story on the first day of Wimbledon is still the impending re-match between John Isner and Nicholas Mahut which will be taking place tomorrow on the newly built Court 3. The match will be fourth in that court in a jam-packed Tuesday that includes more than 30 matches that were suspended or cancelled today due to rain.


Top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal led the top half of the draw by playing first on Centre Court per tradition. He won his 15th consecutive match at Wimbledon after coming from a break down in the first set. Under the roof, 4th seed Andy Murray came back from losing the first set to then dominate the next three sets winning 15 consecutive games. Other seeded players to make it through before the rain include 6th seed Tomas Berdych, 9th seed Gael Monfils, 10th seed Mardy Fish, 14th seed Stan Wawrinka, 17th seed Richard Gasquet, and 31st seed Milos Raonic.

Only two men's seeds fell today, 27th seed Marin Cilic and 30th seed Thomaz Bellucci, but other notable names to exit early include 2009 semifinalist Tommy Haas and recent Halle champion Phillip Kohlschreiber.


Playing in only her fourth tournament this year, 5-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams played as if she's never left winning in straight sets. She left the court so fast, you almost missed out on her latest Wimbledon fashion. A few others didn't have as easy a time with 2nd seed Vera Zvonareva, 6th seed Francesca Schiavone, and 12th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova needing to go to three to move on.

Kimiko Date-Krumm continued to show everyone that age is just a number as she notched the first win at this year's tournament taking out Britain's Katie O'Brien. Joining the young Brit, these seeds went out today: 17th seed Kaia Kanepi, 22nd seed Shahar Peer, and 28th seed Ekaterina Makarova.

There's rain in the forecast tomorrow, so the schedule will undoubtedly be in chaos yet again, but I bet there will still be some great tennis!

Wimbledon Preview

The tennis world moves to the green grass of the All-England Club at Wimbledon for the third Grand Slam tournament of the year, which begins this coming Monday. Below are my initial thoughts and predictions.


Top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal is entering the tournament with a 14-match win streak at the All-England club and though he has a tricky draw, it's hard not to see him powering through to the finals yet again. Boosted by his performance at the French Open, 3rd seed Roger Federer, who won Wimbledon just two years ago, should like his chances to win his first Grand Slam this year. But while it's easy to predict yet another Fedal Final, 2nd seed Novak Djokovic has only lost ONE match this year and 4th seed Andy Murray, fresh from winning on grass last week, is hungrier than ever for his first Grand Slam title.

Former Wimbledon finalists 6th seed Tomas Berdych and 8th seed Andy Roddick should not be underestimated, but then again they haven't played their best tennis recently. There is also 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who recently reached the finals at Queen's Club losing to Murray as well as the two German Philipps (Kohlschreiber and Petzschner) who reached the Halle final last week. There's also big-serving Juan Martin Del Potro and former semifinalist Richard Gasquet. With all of that said though, the match everyone is most anticipating will be the first round rematch of The Longest Tennis Match Ever between Nicholas Mahut and John Isner. The tennis gods surely have a wicked sense of humor don't they?

Quarterfinals
Rafael Nadal d. Tomas Berdych
Andy Murray d. Andy Roddick
Roger Federer d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Novak Djokovic d. Jurgen Melzer

Semifinals
Rafael Nadal d. Andy Murray
Roger Federer d. Novak Djokovic

Finals
Roger Federer d. Rafael Nadal


With Kim Clijsters out with injury, it's just one less player Serena Williams will have to beat en route to her first title since she won the tournament last year, which incidentally was also her last tournament played until last week's turn-up event. Ranked in the 20s, but seeded 8th, she's still the favorite. Her sister, Venus Williams is seeded 23rd, but has also seen very, very little play. Still, underestimate the Williams sisters at your peril especially at Wimbledon. Former champion and 5th seed Maria Sharapova should do some damage here as well as recent French Open champion and 3rd seed Na Li.

Like for the past year or two, this is a good opportunity for top seed Caroline Wozniacki, 2nd seed Vera Zvonareva, and 4th seed Victoria Azarenka to finally step up and claim their first Grand Slam title. The latter especially would do well to at least reach her first slam final. 9th seed and former finalist Marion Bartoli shouldn't be ignored as well as former slam champions Francesca Schiavone, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Ana Ivanovic.

Quarterfinals
Maria Sharapova d. Caroline Wozniacki
Serena Williams d. Na Li
Victoria Azarenka d. Andrea Petkovic
Petra Kvitova d. Vera Zvonareva

Semifinals
Serena Williams d. Maria Sharapova
Victoria Azarenka d. Petra Kvitova

Finals
Serena Williams d. Victoria Azarenka

FINAL WORD: Picking Federer to win is probably a bit of wishful thinking on my part since Nadal IS the favorite, but I would be shocked to see a winner not seeded in the top 4. As for Serena, if she's healthy, she will win this. There's no one that can match her will and power on court. Best people can hope for is she's really rusty, but even then she won't go down easily.

Tennis Year-In-Review

It's a new year, which means it's a new tennis season. I'm sorry to say that if you had blinked, you might had missed the off-season. Tournaments are already underway and in fact Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer appropriately opened up the new year by getting to the finals at Abu Dhabi beating Tomas Berdych and Robin Soderling respectively. The Spaniard won the exhibition match in two very tight sets. But before 2011 gets ahead of us, let's take a moment to take a look back at what happened in the tennis world in 2010...

Nadal's Historic Year

When he retired during his semifinals match at the Australian Open to start the year, everyone wondered if the 6-time grand slam champion's best days were over. It wasn't... by a long shot. He went on an historic run on red clay going undefeated sweeping all three Masters titles and reclaiming his French Open crown. He followed it up by taking his second Wimbledon title and then just for good measure becomes the youngest player to achieve a career Grand Slam by winning the US Open. He'll attempt to get the "Rafa Slam" at Melbourne in a few weeks.

And The Best Woman Player Is?

Take your pick, because no one has a clue. We have the #1 ranked woman Caroline Wozniacki who won the most matches on tour, but not a single major title to her name. There's of course Serena Williams who won TWO major titles, but played a severely limited schedule even by her standards mostly due to an injury sustained post-Wimbledon. Then there's Francesca Schiavone who won her first Grand Slam title at the French and helped Italy with the Fed Cup, but her results elsewhere are nothing to get excited about. Two other women had breakthrough years as both Vera Zvonareva and Samantha Stosur were first-time slam finalists and ended the year with their highest ever ranking. Their lack of a major title though leaves us just one possible contender...

Clijsters Keeps Re-writing Legacy

If I had to pick, it'd go to Kim Clijsters who has really taken advantage of her second chance in tennis after coming back on tour at the latter end of 2009. She successfully defended her US Open title, adding to the two she already had. Other than Wozniacki, she was probably the most consistent woman on tour winning titles from both halves of tennis season including two Masters titles. She also won the year-end championships for the third time and has gone 6-0 in finals since her comeback. Plus she has also dominated her fellow countrywomen Justine Henin during her comeback winning every match they've played this year.

The Longest Tennis Match of All Time

Lasting over 11 hours over three days of play, the first round match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon was far and away the longest tennis player played... ever. With the scoreline as ridiculous as the match time of 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(7), 7-6(3), 70-68, the two men showed incredible grit throughout the whole ordeal. There's nothing left to say, but wow. And also? I'm confident we'll never be seeing this ever again.

Federer's Book-End Successes & Charity Work

Federer failed to defend his French Open and Wimbledon titles and in fact he was unable to even reach the semifinals at either tournament ending his insane major semifinals streak at 23. And yet, he began and ended the year with style and class. Early last year, he won his 16th major title at the Australian Open as well as spearheaded an impromptu charity event dubbed Hit For Haiti to benefit those affected by the deadly earthquake. Then when many thought he was down and out, he went on a 35-4 run post-Wimbledon (21-2 post-US Open) capturing four titles including the year-end champion beating Nadal in the finals. He would end the year with Nadal yet again, playing two exhibition matches in both of their home countries to benefit their respective charities.

Best of the Rest Men on Tour

While Nadal and Federer took the lion-share of major titles during the year (what else is new?), let's give props to a few men who almost reached those summits. Andy Murray may have lost to Federer at his first Australian Open final, but he avenged it by defeating the Swiss twice this year. Robin Soderling yet again made a splash at Roland Garros defeating the world no. 1 and defending champion and reaching the finals before losing to the best player of the year two years in a row. Tomas Berdych hit lightning becoming the first player not named Nadal to take Federer out of Wimbledon in forever and as a reward, reached his first ever slam final. Finally, Novak Djokovic was THIS close to the top two all year beating both in some thrilling matches, but ultimately fell just short. He ends the year on top though, leading Serbia to its first ever Davis Cup victory.

Other Tidbits

Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi need to remember that those rivalry days are long over and they should just simmer down in their retirement. Issues regarding on-court coaching, doping, and illegal gambling were still around and will probably show up yet again in the upcoming year. Huge props to 40-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm for showing the world that age is just a number. And finally, we say our fond goodbyes to Elena Dementieva, Carlos Moya, Nicolas Kiefer, Virginia Ruano Pascual, Younes El Aynaoui, Sébastien Grosjean, Paradorn Srichaphan, and Taylor Dent.

Wimbledon: The Finale

While the fortnight was filled with historic matches, shocking upsets, surprise semifinalists, and a visit from the Queen, order was restored as both world no. 1 and former Wimbledon champions Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams won their 8th and 13th Grand Slam respectively solidifying their dominance in the tennis world.


For Nadal, it never came easily having to survive three 5-set matches before have to get through hometown favorite Andy Murray in the semifinals and an inspired first-time finalist Tomas Berdych in the finals. The moment seemed too much for Berdych, however, as he was beaten in straight sets 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 by Nadal, who wasn't playing his best. To many, the match might have seemed lightweight compared to the more recent 5-set historic and epic finals played in Centre Court the past few years, but for Nadal it doesn't matter. With this win, he moves to a tie with legends such as Andre Agassi, Ivan Lendl, Jimmy Connors, Ken Rosewall, and Fred Perry in the all-time list. Nadal also pretty much ensures ending the year at #1 and will have great momentum to complete the career Grand Slam at the US Open.


It was just as routine for Serena who blitzed first-time finalist Vera Zvonareva in 67 minutes winning 6-3, 6-2. Serena was dominant in her service games, just as she was the entire tournament, not even facing a single break point in the finals. For the tournament, she doled out an astonishing record of 89 aces. This is only Serena's second title of the year, the first coming at the Australian Open. With this win, she moves ahead of Billie Jean King in the all-time list, but don't be surprised if we don't hear from her until the next Grand Slam.

Meanwhile, unseeded teams ruled the doubles. Jurgen Melzer/Philipp Petzschner won against 16th seeds Robert Lindstedt/Horia Tecau while Vania King/Yaroslaca Shvedova beat Elena Vesnina/Vera Zvonareva for the crown.

Wimbledon Report: Gentlemen's Semifinals

The men's final will be contested very similarly to the women's, first time grand slam finalist vs. world no. 1 and former Wimbledon champion. Like the women's final between Serena and Zvonareva, it will be difficult to see the first time finalist pull off an upset especially in such a big stage.

With that said, this finalist with the name of Tomas Berdych have racked up very impressive wins, not only in this tournament, but in months prior. He reached the finals in Miami and loss to Andy Roddick. He reached the semifinals at the French Open losing to Robin Soderling. And en route to his first slam final, he defeated 6-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer and dismissed a breathless Novak Djokovic in straight sets. Unfortunately for him, he'll have to go 1-2-3 to win the title.

Waiting on the other side of the net is an invigorated champion, Rafael Nadal. Title-less and struggling for a year, he has now won four of the last five tournaments he has entered including sweeping the clay court season. He is now poised to once again achieve the much lauded French Open-Wimbledon double that he did back in 2008. He was tested in this tournament, having to win three of his matches in five sets, but he was masterful against his semifinal opponent, Andy Murray, who had the crowd solidly in his corner. Nadal staved off set points from Murray in the second and third sets, to win in straights.

Finals Prediction: Like the women, it's just difficult to give a chance to the first-time finalist, but Berdych, assuming he doesn't let the big stage get to him, should give Nadal some problems. Their H2H is 7-3 in Nadal's favor, so make of that what you will.

Wimbledon Report: Ladies' Semifinals

The women's final is set and it will be 3-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams vs. first time grand slam finalist Vera Zvonareva. Serena has dominated since day one and has not lost a single set en route to her 16th grand slam final. Zvonareva has also done well taking care of higher ranked players such as Jelena Jankovic, Kim Clijsters, and Yanina Wickmayer.


Zvonareva had to first take care of Tsvetana Pironkova in the semifinals and was in fact in trouble against the Bulgarian as Pironkova won the first set comfortably. Zvonareva stepped up her game in the final two sets to reach her first grand slam final. Unfortunately for her, she meets a Williams sister.


A Williams sister has contested a final for every year the past decade except for 2006. Serena carries on this tradition into this new decade and she had to defeat Petra Kvitova. It was a closer right than everyone expected as Kvitova broke Serena early in the first set. Even when Serena broke back, Kvitova held on until losing heroically in the tiebreak. The second set was a more routine affair for Serena as she tries to capture her 4th Wimbledon title.

Finals Predictions: The H2H between the two is 5-1 in Serena's favor and her power and experience should only make this final one-sided. With that said, these two have never met in grass before. And actually Zvonareva beat Serena very recently in Wimbledon... in Ladies' Doubles. Will that have any bearing? Probably not, unless it fuels Serena to take some sort of revenge or something. Poor Zvonareva.