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Dream week for Andy Murray
When the covers are pulled over Wimbledon for the final time in 10 days and the professional scribes begin analysing where the key moments of the tournament took place, Andy Murray’s first week in the championship will be one of most prominent.
Things couldn’t have gone much better for the British number one both on and off the court. On the court, he has looked almost faultless in his first three matches. Murray will say that this is the most important part of his game and this will please him the most. But in reality, the most important factor in Murray’s tournament happened two days ago.
As much as he will claim it hasn’t affected him, the fact that Nadal and Federer aren’t waiting for him in the semifinal will boost his confidence no end. Nadal has beaten him at three separate Wimbledons and everyone remembers how Federer left him in the final last year.
But even more crucially, names like Tsonga, Cilic, Isner and Wawrinka have also been dumped out early. Although they don’t pack the same name value of Nadal and Federer, they are still very dangerous for a big name to face. Tsonga and Cilic have given Murray nightmares in majors beforehand and the way Wawrinka played this year, everybody in the bottom half of the draw was relieved when Hewitt rolled back the years to beat the Swiss in straight sets on Monday.
The lack of dangerous opponents means that Murray should be incredibly fresh come the semifinals at least. And in this world of physically draining seasons and the battle of fitness that ultimately won Murray his first Grand Slam, a danger free run to the final could give Murray more of a boost then a five set thriller of a victory over Nadal or Federer.
Never a better chance for the kids to shine
Jerzy Janowicz
With the ridiculous consistency shown by the top players, particularly in the men’s game, the chances for a young up and coming player to show their talent at the business end of a major are slim to none. Now with so many sections of the draws opening up, the time is now for a champion in waiting to raise their head above the crowd and propel themselves onto the scene. On the men’s side, the third quarter in particular is as wide open as a car window in a heatwave.
Adrian Mannarino ranked 111 in the world is already in the fourth round as is fading former contender Jurgen Melzer, but the spotlight is on Benoit Paire and Jerzy Janowicz. Janowicz in particular looked very impressive dismantling Nicolas Almagro on Centre Court, but Melzer will provide a much sterner test to the big serving Pole than the clay court specialist who has never been past the third round at Wimbledon.
Paire faces a tough test against Lukasz Kubot who likes to serve and volley and made the fourth round here two years ago. Come through that and he should see off Mannarino no problem. Then it could very well be a battle of the young prospects for a place in the semi final and 720 massive ranking points.
In the women’s draw there are too many names to count. In the top half with Kerber knocked out today, an unseeded player will definitely have a chance to face probably Serena Williams in the quarter-finals. Laura Robson and Kaia Kanepi – a former quarter-finalist – are the current favourites to take that place.
Madison Keys has her biggest match of her career against Radwanska tomorrow as well. Heather Watson faced the same player last year in the third round and got hammered so how will Keys fare?
In the other half of the draw the prospects aren’t doing so well. Sloane Stephens stole the first set against Petra Cetkovska but then lost 6-0 in the second. Monica Puig lost the first set to Eva Birnerova, but both players were saved by the rain. With Petra Kvitova struggling against Ekaterina Makarova, these two young women won’t have a better chance to reach another quarter-final and for Stephens in particular, this is her chance to prove that she could be a contender on all surfaces.
Battle of the attitudes
Richard Gasquet
Probably the most intriguing match of the day is the curtain raiser on Centre Court tomorrow – Richard Gasquet vs Bernard Tomic. Tomorrow will see them face each other for the first time on grass after Gasquet beat Tomic at Indian Wells earlier this year. Since then, Tomic looked a different man against Sam Querrey in the first round compared to the one that stagnated after the Australian Open while Gasquet is coming off that deflating defeat to Wawrinka at the French.
Gasquet has become a stable member of the top 10 since his return at the end of the year and Tomic’s best run of his career came at Wimbledon two years ago but this will be a battle of the mind.
Both men have been accused of mental fragility in the past so it’ll be interesting to see how one of them will react to going two sets down. Tomic fought hard against Querrey, he had to survive nine break points in the first two sets, and ultimately prevailed whilst Gasquet went walkabout against Go Soeda in the third set while cruising. That will give Tomic hope he can knock out his second seed of the tournament and to get his career back on track.
