'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
What’s happened to America?
Bobby Reynolds, a 30 year old qualifier, walked onto Centre Court yesterday evening preparing for the match of his life against world number one Novak Djokovic. Unwittingly though, he was not only playing for himself but almost a whole nation as he was, surprisingly, the last American man remaining in the Wimbledon draw.
Unfortunately, the spirit of Darcis and Stakhovsky wasn’t with the game challenger, and he was swiftly dispatched by an efficient Djokovic who restored order to the wacky world of Wimbledon of 2013.
Reynolds’s demise meant that the USA didn’t have a single male player in the third round at Wimbledon for the first time since 1912. Granted John Isner’s injury was completely out of the blue, but a nation as ingrained into tennis’s history and landscape shouldn’t be relying on a player ranked outside the top 20 as their best hope for a good run in a tournament.
There are a couple of good players coming through such as Denis Kudla and their brightest hope Jack Sock who reached the third round of the US Open last year. But if you want examples of how things can go wrong, look at Donald Young and Ryan Harrison. These men who were talked up as the next bright light and have simply faded away into the black spectre of the challenger circuit.
In the women’s game things are starting to improve with Sloane Stephens at the forefront, but in the men’s game we know that it now takes a long, long time for a young gun to break into the top 30 for example. So unless Harrison can suddenly find a eureka moment, it’s going to take another half of a decade for the US to have any breakthrough in the quest to find their new male major winner.
The new boys still have a lot to learn
Whilst the Americans continue to wait, the eyes of the tennis faithful are still trying to find the new star in waiting to replace the fading lights of Federer and Nadal. Most are pointing at the big serving Milos Raonic and ‘baby Fed’ Grigor Dimitrov. On the evidence of their displays yesterday, they still have a long way to go before they challenge Djokovic and Murray for honours in the next two or three years.
Milos Raonic – Not his best on grass?
Raonic’s record on grass has been dreadful since his breakthrough. He lost in the first round in both his warm up tournaments this year and has never won more than one match at Wimbledon. It’s clear from this record that Raonic is just not suited to the tricky art of moving on the green turf which is understandable given his height. It’s strange because if he had played 15 years ago, he would have almost certainly made it at least to the quarter-final with his serve.
Dimitrov has the pedigree and the shot making ability to be successful but his match with Grega Zemlja showed everything that needs to be improved by the Bulgarian. His impatience and lack of concentration meant that he went for shots that were more than unnecessary and almost cost him the match – and still could. He was completely outwitted by Hewitt at Queens earlier this month, and at this point in his career, his tennis ‘brain’ is, in evolutionary terms, a pea compared to someone like Murray.
Schedulers’ delight at rain
Strangely, a welcome sight for the schedulers
This might be the inner cynic in me, but I’m sure some of the schedulers were happy the final round of singles was cancelled. Black Wednesday might have been one of the most memorable days in Wimbledon’s history, but it meant a lot of big names needed to maintain fans’ interest for later on in the tournament had disappeared.
In the bottom half of the women’s draw, the only established names that semi-knowledgeable fans knew, were Petra Kvitova and Marion Bartoli. In the same half of the men’s draw, aside from Murray, the most recognisable name is arguably Fernando Verdasco and he isn’t even seeded. Trying to generate interest for people to come and watch the show courts that day would have been a lot trickier than normal. But thanks to the rain, the schedulers can parachute in some names from the top half.
In the women’s draw, who’s the better puller of fans than the new darling of British tennis, Laura Robson? It might seem a bit stupid to put a 19-year-old ranked 38 on Centre Court, but realistically she’s going to get a better reaction from the crowd than any other player left in that half of the draw.
David Ferrer has added a bit more muscle to the show courts as well but looking at matches like Nicolas Almagro vs Jerzy Janowicz on Centre and Victor Troicki vs Mikhail Youzhny on Number 1, you can understand the drawbacks of so many upsets happening too early in the tournament.
