Wimbledon 2015: Talking points from Day 3

Milos Raonic smashed the third fastest serve on Day 2 of Wimbledon

Will Raonic break the Wimbledon serve record this year?

Milos Raonic hit the third fastest serve ever recorded at Wimbledon yesterday (145mph) during his four-set victory over veteran Tommy Haas. He is only two miles an hour behind the current record holder American Taylor Dent. As the 6ft 5 giant continues to physically mature on the tennis court, the prospect of that record finally breaking is drawing closer. The question is will he have enough time this tournament to achieve it.

The big-serving Canadian looked to be in supreme control of his second round match winning the first two sets in 53 minutes and conceding just two games in the process. Although Raonic eventually prevailed in the fourth set 7-6, the issues with his concentration and mental application were exposed once again when Haas held onto a mini-break in the third set tie-break to extend the match further than it should have been.

On five separate occasions, Raonic had Haas in trouble on serve but then handed the initiative back to the German with unforced errors or excruciatingly passive tennis. The Canadian is well aware of his concentration issues and has been working on them for over a year since his semi-final loss to Roger Federer. It appears he is slowly making progress having recorded his best results in a calendar year before a foot injury hampered his momentum.

It is surely only a matter of time before Raonic breaks Dent’s Wimbledon record but we would all like him to do it sooner rather than later to give this youngster the confidence his needs to push on to the next level. His third round opponent is the box office Australian Nick Kyrgios, a man who also isn’t the most consistent of players when it comes to their mental faculties. It is a mouth-watering matchup that should definitely grace Centre Court.

In an era of transition in the men’s game, we need to see guys like Raonic improve their games enough to be able to challenge for Major titles. On the face of things right now, Raonic’s game is still inconsistent to do that which is a real shame.

Is Victoria Azarenka a darkhorse to upset Serena?

The coronation for Serena Williams’ Wimbledon title presentation is already being planned. The flowers and guest speakers are already booked and Williams’ post title speech is being written as we speak. Considering her procession over the Women’s tour over the last 12 months and that a half-cooked version of herself won the French Open, it isn’t hard to see why.

Yet she hasn’t won Wimbledon in three years and as her losses to Sabine Lisicki and Alize Cornet have proved, she isn’t the undefeatable titan that many make her out to be. Coming up against the wrong opponent at the wrong time could spell disaster.

One of the potential foes on her route to the final is former world No1 and two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka. Should the seedings go to plan, the pair should meet in the quarter-finals.

Azarenka isn’t the same force she once was because of a persistent foot injury and anybody who heard her piercing scream on Court No1 two years ago will understand why the pain hasn’t vanished quite yet. The Belarusian has struggled to find the form which took her to two consecutive Wimbledon semi-finals four years ago but judging by the way she easily dispatched former semi-finalist Kirsten Flipkens yesterday, that form might slowly be coming back.

The pair met in the third round of the French Open last month with Williams prevailing in three sets. Azarenka matched the 20-time Major winner blow for blow for two sets before running out of steam in the third. Should the pair meet again in the last eight, the 25-year-old would have four matches behind her and should be fully fit to take on the Wimbledon queen. If Williams is still not at the top of her game, it could be much more of an interesting contest than many anticipate.

The heat is on during record-breaking day

Yesterday officially was the hottest day in Wimbledon history as temperatures topped 35.7C in the afternoon. On the courts themselves, the heat increased even further reaching a blistering 41.2C on Centre Court during the Marin Cilic – Richard Berankis match.

Given the obsession the British public has with the weather whatever the time of year, the record-breaking warmth was naturally at the tip of everybody in the media’s lips. How could the player’s possibly cope with this extreme heat? The sulky, naturally attention seeking Bernard Tomic was unsurprisingly quick to complain of dizziness but overall, the reaction of the players to the scorching weather was ‘eh.’

Given how the Australian Open actually has a heat policy for the consistently extreme temperatures and the US Open is played during the hurricane season, veterans like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal revelled in the ‘perfect playing conditions’.

Play has never been suspended at Wimbledon due to heat and it doesn’t look like it ever will – unless global warming kicks into overdrive. Although it was certainly noteworthy as a record-breaking day, chalk all this fuss up to the fact that us Brits were caught completely by surprised that we didn’t have to go to the Mediterranean to get sunburnt yesterday.