Wimbledon 2013: Talking Points from Day 7

Poland’s moment in the sun

Jerzy Janowicz

On Wednesday, Polish tennis will see its biggest match in men’s tennis history when Lukasz Kubot and Jerzy Janowicz face each other for a chance to reach the Wimbledon semifinals. The elder statesman of the two Kubot has always been a solid grass court player. Someone who finds it easy to exploit any weaknesses a player has on the surface.

He reached the fourth round two years ago when he lost to Feliciano Lopez after beating Gael Monfils on route. This year he beat two more Frenchman, the highly rated Benoit Paire in straights and the lucky Adrian Mannarino in a five setter. He has had some luck in the draw, but he himself has beaten a seed en route and deserves this chance in the sun.

But many people will be seeing this as a changing of the guard and the emergence of a future Grand Slam champion. Janowicz has impressed many with his 140mph serve and power game. He’s certainly got the power to progress in the rankings but as he showed against Jurgen Melzer, if someone can return his serve he still has a lot to learn about movement and developing points.

I don’t think Kubot has the game to exploit this weaknesses though as Janowicz’s power surely will be too much for someone ranked outside the top 100.

While Janowicz is a possible star of the future, Agnieszka Radwanska is now arguably the favorite for the Wimbledon crown and her first major. As usual, she flew under the radar in the draw mainly because she was in the same half as Williams. Now though, the Pole is the highest seed left in the draw and after reaching the final last year, will be confident of doing the same again this year.

Li Na stands in her way. but Radwanska is the more consistent and the better player on grass in my opinion and has had to beat some very good floaters in Madison Keys and Tsvetana Pironkova to reach this far.

Although Janowicz and Radwanska are probably going to be at the forefront of the Polish game for a while as their strength in depth isn’t what it used to be, Wimbledon 2013 could be seen as the zenith of Polish tennis in years to come.