Early Wimbledon Thoughts
I was not able to travel to Wimbledon this year, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been able to tune into ESPN 2 during working hours. That being said, here are some random musings on what has gone on the first couple of days:
- Once again, a European Grand Slam has not been nice to males from the United States: first round losers include Wayne Odesnik, Donald Young, John Isner, Vince Spadea, Robby Ginepri, Mardy Fish, Kevin Kim, Sam Querry, Bobby Renyolds and potentially James Blake (who just dropped the first set to Christophe Rochus. Yikes.
- Wimbledon has also not been nice to people who thought Nalbandian might be a dark horse to make a run here, myself included. Set with a draw in which he should have been able to cruise into a round of 16 clash with Bagdhatis (especially after Karlovic went down in the first round for the 4th straight year), Nalbandian instead lost to young Canadian Frank Dancevic 6-4, 6-2, 6-4. That being said, two contenders on that side of the draw, Djokovic, Federer, as well as the aforementioned Bagdhatis are not shedding any tears.
- Speaking of Djokovic, he leads off the action on Centre Court tomorrow with a second round matchup against Safin. What is so intriguing about this match is that I would not be remotely surprised if Safin pulls off the upset, or if Djokovic wins 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 (or a similar score). That is how talented, and mentally inept, I perceive Safin to be.
- Real quick, who says tennis is not exciting.
- Nothing too major of note on the Women’s side. A few minor upsets (like Dellacqua over Schnyder and yet another Russian, Dushevina, taking down her compatriot Maria Kirilenko). One top seed that narrowly avoided a major upset was 4th seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, who barely beat Mathilde Johansson of France 6-3 in the third set.
- As usual, both Serena and Venus Williams were solid in their first round victories. Typical of them, they did not blow out their opponents as they seem to play their way into the tournament, getting stronger as the fortnight plows ahead. Seriously, do not be surprised if Richard Williams is watching both his daughters play in the finals.