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Just curious to know really if anybody else out there is following the action down at SW19 as avidly as I am at the moment. For those who have no clue what I'm referring too at this stage, SW19 is the postcode of Wimbledon where one of the years 4 grand slam Tennis tournaments is currently taking place. Chances are of course, if you don't know what I'm referring too, then you probably don't care!
At the time of writing day 4 is looming large and traditionally by this stage, British interest is down to one player, indeed sometimes less but this year is actually a good one. three players still left to cheer on tomorrow. Two men, Andy Murray, the one name that won't come as a surprise and Chris Eaton who's name was all but unheard of before this fortnight started. One woman left in the ladies singles draw too, Anne Keothavong who is currently ranked 92 in the World and who is the number 1 ranked British woman.
Murray will meet Belgium's Xavier Malisse in his second round match. malisse is a former Wimbledon semi-finalist back in 2002 but these days is ranked 97 in the World. He has been eliminated at the second round stage of this tournament for the last two years and I think few would give him much hope of bettering that performance this time round.
Chris Eaton's reward for his wonderful straight sets first round victory over Serbia's Boris Pashanski is a match against this years twenty fifth seed Dmitry Tursunov. Few will expect Eaton to make it any further through the draw but he is clearly tenacious having had to win six matches just to get to play at Wimbledon at all. he also possesses a huge first serve and just might upset Tursunov a player who much prefers clay to grass and who's best performance at Wimbledon saw him make it through to the Fourth round in 2005. Tursunov isn't a player though likely to be put off at the prospect of having to play a British player at a British event, indeed on his way to the round of Sixteen in 05 he did put out one Tim Henman in the second round. On the other hand Tursunov is a notoriously volatile player, having been disqualified from the singles draw at the Knottingham Wimbledon warm-up event just last week for storming off during a doubles match so while Eaton unquestionably has his work cut out with this opponent, anything is possible. One thing is for certain, regardless of tomorrows result, this has been a brilliant effort for a man who is only ranked 661 in the World and who is, by a long way, the lowest ranked player left in this years tournament.
Finally, from a British perspective is Anne Keothavong. unfortunately I don't give her much of a chance in her second round match as she will play the reigning ladies champion Venus Williams who last year beet unheralded French woman Marion Bartoli two sets to love in the final on the way to her Fourth Wimbledon crown. Incidentally Venus Williams, in winning last year, became only the Fourth woman in history to win 4 times at SW19 behind Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf. That statistic alone should give some idea as to the mountain in front of Keothavong. If there is a crumb of comfort to be had for the British number 1 it is that Williams was given a really tough test in the first set of her first round match by the current British number five girl Naomi Cavaday who is ranked more than a hundred places lower than Keothavong in the World rankings. Williams eventually prevailing in that match, 7-6 6-1.
All in all then it is most likely that come round 3 we'll probably only have one Brit left to support in Andy Murray but who knows, fingers crossed either Keothavong or Eaton, or better still both, might just surprise us.
Away from the British players undoubtedly the story of the championships thus far has been the early exit of the World number 3, and number 3 seed Novak Djokovic. He went down today in straight sets with a lackluster performance against Marat Safin. Embarrassing for me as he was one of the players I tipped with an outside chance of winning the tournament. Djokovic has won three titles this year so far, most notably the Australian open back in January, his first grand slam title, but today he fell woefully short against an inspired Safin. Safin himself stated after the match that he was so sure that he'd lose to Djokovic that he had already booked his flight home for that evening. One assumes now that he'll have to cancel his travel plans because he'll be expected back on Friday to play Italian Andreas Seppi for a place in the fourth round.
Of course you can't talk about men's grand slam Tennis without mentioning the names Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, seeds one and two respectively. Many anticipate that it will be these two guy's, for the third year running, that will contest the final in eleven days time and with Novak Djokovic out of the picture, frankly this looks all the more likely. Federer, with now sixty one straight wins on grass under his belt is already into round three having already dispatched Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty and big serving Swede Robin Soderling without dropping a set. Nadal has yet to make it into the third round. Next up for the Spaniard is the nineteen year old upcoming star Ernests Gulbis. I expect the young, rapidly improving Latvian to give Nadal a good workout, but ultimately I can't see any other result than a Nadal win.
Other players to look out for on the men's side are Lleyton Hewitt, though he is carrying a hip injury, Andy Roddick who next faces the Serbian player Janko Tipsareviæ though that match will be no push over for the American as Tipsareviæ made it into the second week of this tournament last year and who clearly enjoys the challenge of grass. Another dark horse to look out for is the Cypriot tenth seed Marcos Baghdatis. At his peak in 2006 he was ranked as high as eight in the World at one point and that year reached both the final at the Australian open, eventually succumbing in four sets to Roger Federer, and the semi-finals at Wimbledon where he was put out by eventual runner up Rafael Nadal. He has slimmed down considerably for this years tournament and many feel that he is playing as well as he ever has, and looking fitter then he ever has.
More to follow.
Dan,
The women's event in many ways is even more interesting and certainly, at least on paper, a lot more open than the men's. In fact, depending on the outcome of results over the remainder of the championship, any one of three women could walk away as World number 1. In with a shout are Jelena Jankovic, Maria Sharapova or the current top girl Ana Ivanovic.
Of those three with out doubt it is Ivanovic who has struggled thus far. She was taken to three sets in her second round match by Nathalie Dechy, a player most certainly in the twilight years of her career, and but for the luckiest of lucky net cords, Ivanovic would now be on her way home. She eventually won her match 6-7, 7-6, 10-8 in three hours and twenty four minutes and while Dechy definitely played extremely well, one can't help but feel that a player with true championship credentials should have made easier work of this opponent.
Of course you can also never discount the Williams sister's when considering potential champions in the ladies event. Between them over the last decade and a bit they've racked up a remarkable fourteen grand slam singles titles, Serena 8 and Venus 6, plus a whole host of doubles slam titles as well. The only reason that neither of these two girls are fighting for the number one spot in the World is because that they choose to spend a considerable amount of time each season not playing in smaller events. Never the less they're seeded 7 and 6 in the draw, Serena being seeded one place higher than her older sister, and one or both of them is sure to make an impact at the latter stages of this tournament. Of the last 8 Wimbledon championships only twice has the Wimbledon title escaped the clutches of one or other of the Williams Sisters. 2004 when Maria Sharapova took the title, beating Venus in the final and 2006 when Amélie Mauresmo beet Justine Henin. The 2006 final is the only final since 2000 that hasn't featured either of the Williams Sisters, and in a nice piece of symmetry Amélie Mauresmo, this years 29th seed in the ladies, will be Serena William's next opponent. Venus, as discussed above, is set to meet GB's Anne Keothavong.
So there you have it. Who are your tips for the men's and women's titles this year. Any names you feel I missed out there? Most important of all, are you enjoying it?
Dan.
Do you know where I can watch this live online? They don't start showing the rounds on tv until the later ones and even then I may still be at work with the timezone difference.
Not sure if it can be watched online or not. Certainly you can catch the radio commentary though from the BBC station fivelive. If that'll do for you go to www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive and click on the listen live link.
Hope that helps.
Dan.
Wow Dan! I had no idea you were such a tennis fan. I haven't been watching but did enjoy your updates here. Good luck to the Brits still in the tournament.