Men’s Draw

Thus far, Wimbledon has been everything I’ve hoped for, and then some. The reemergence of Marat Safin as the athletic beast he is when he wants to be is great for Wimbledon. It wasn’t long ago that Safin had a tirade about how grass is for cows. Not only is Safin finally playing well for the first time in several years, but he rolled Djokovic, which has given him incredible confidence throughout the tournament. After he takes care of Feliciano Lopez, the meeting with Federer in the Semis will be under way. This is a guy who defeated Pete Sampras in the 2000 US Open. He will be up for the Federer match. Although, Federer and Nadal are both playing at the top of their grass court games, and look well on their way to another meeting in the finals, again. Some even think this is Nadal’s year. The other talk of the tourney has been Andy Murray finally showing up. He has had a storied tournament thus far, with his shot making ability at an incredible level. I feel sorry for anyone that didn’t see the last three sets of his match with Gasquet. Murray’s movement has just been phenomenal. He gets to everything, and if he threads one more running backhand down the line, he should be tested for some kind of drug. His match today against Nadal is not one to be missed.

Women’s Draw

Oh, I almost forgot, Justine Henin retired so it doesn’t really matter. Serena is on the verge of finishing a very uneventful Women’s Wimbledon. Sharapova, the early favorite, looked terrible in her routine-looking loss to Alla Kudryavtseva. She came out flat, and at a couple points in the match it sort of looked like she was going to make a surge, but she came up short, losing the second set 6-4. Dinara Safina, whom I hoped would be a perpetual major finalist, came up short as well to Shahar Peer who has more or less been a journey woman through her professional career. The WTA Tour is wide open as of right now. Nobody has emerged as the true top player. There is room for a star to be born, but I think for now and for some time to come, we can all just lament over Justine!

American Men

Why does Andy Roddick always have trouble against Janko Tipsarevic? At first, looking at Roddick’s draw and considering the fact that he didn’t play Roland Garros to prepare for the grass court season (he said he was hurt), he should have been set to make the Semis. James Blake was in the same section of the draw with just as easy a draw, but lost to Rainer Schuettler. Wimbledon couldn’t even spell this guy’s name right. In a recent publication they wrote in “Robert Schuettler”. This is a guy who was good for one season about four years ago. Blake proved again that he has mental toughness issues as he lost another tough five-set match, after being up two sets to one. The Americans had a terrible showing this year, with their best result coming from true journeyman, Bobby Reynolds. No good. We should have sent Justin Gimelstob just to stir the pot a little from the American side.

Predictions

Roger Federer v. Mario Ancic

Federer is just playing too strong for Ancic to have a real chance at this match. Although, Ancic is serving well, so expect there to be a few longer sets and even possibly have Ancic steal one, but probably not.

Score: Federer – 6-4, 7-5, 6-2

Marat Safin v. Feliciano Lopez

Safin is just playing too well right now to pick against him with a guy like Lopez. However, Safin isn’t going to make it easy on himself. Lopez is also serving out of his mind this Wimbledon, which might frustrate Marat.

Score: Safin – 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (6)

Rainer Schuettler v. Arnaud Clement

This battle of geriatric proportions should actually be a good one. Both players can see the finish (of their careers) along the horizon and both know this is one of their final chances to really stake a name amongst the top players in the game. Look for a long, hard-fought match, with the size of Schuettler being too much. I’ll be optimistic and say five sets.

Score: Schuettler – 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, 4-6, 8-6

Andy Murray v. Rafael Nadal

Wow. This is a match made in heaven right now. Murray is at the top of his game, with an entire country behind him. He has all the confidence in the world right now and has momentum on his side. Nadal is playing as well as he can on grass, so I think that Murray’s cute story will come to a close. As much as I like his intensity and shot making ability, the energy will be securely in the Nadal corner. I foresee Murray getting frustrated and losing in four sets. Nadal will prove to be too much.

Score: Nadal – 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1