Wimbledon Day 3

First topic message reminder :

GOATgate

Roger Federer has been told he cannot wear trainers with orange soles again at Wimbledon. The Swiss defending champion wore the trainers as he eased past Victor Hanescu 6-3 6-2 6-0 in the first round.

The official guidelines state that: "Including the warm-up period, players at Wimbledon must be dressed almost entirely in white."

Worthy of a DQ


Centre Court - 1.00pm

Flavia Pennetta (ITA) v Victoria Azarenka (BLR) [2]
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) [6] v Ernests Gulbis (LAT)
Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) v Roger Federer (SUI) [3]

No.1 Court - 1.00pm

Fernando Verdasco (ESP) v Julien Benneteau (FRA) [31]
Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) v Andy Murray (GBR) [2]
Petra Kvitova (CZE) [8] v Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)

No.2 Court - 11.30am

Dustin Brown (GER) v Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)
Petra Cetkovska (CZE) v Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) [9]
Michelle Larcher De Brito (POR) v Maria Sharapova (RUS) [3]
Kenny De Schepper (FRA) v Marin Cilic (CRO) [10]

he's crying with happiness! shell shocked, all too much for this hero!

Mad for Chelsea wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:This win (presuming he does it) should force him up the rankings by about 50 places and who knows what he can do in the next round? Hewitt just a few too many errors and never really worked out a game plan to combat Brown.

to be fair he's got a beautiful draw afterwards too: Mannarino in the next round followed by Paire (or Kubot or Robert). Very winnable matches you'd think?

gets this one wrapped up, well done him

Looking at that, he's got every chance. Judging by the list of opponents though, Federer is going to eviscerate whoever gets through that quarter. Not that I mean to spoil the love-in, however! Awesome win for Brown

(Almagro-Rufin into a second set TB, Verdasco and Benneteau into first set TB)

Silver wrote:

Mad for Chelsea wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:This win (presuming he does it) should force him up the rankings by about 50 places and who knows what he can do in the next round? Hewitt just a few too many errors and never really worked out a game plan to combat Brown.

to be fair he's got a beautiful draw afterwards too: Mannarino in the next round followed by Paire (or Kubot or Robert). Very winnable matches you'd think?

gets this one wrapped up, well done him

Looking at that, he's got every chance. Judging by the list of opponents though, Federer is going to eviscerate whoever gets through that quarter. Not that I mean to spoil the love-in, however! Awesome win for Brown

(Almagro-Rufin into a second set TB, Verdasco and Benneteau into first set TB)

yeah. So much for "nightmare draw" eh? Funny that in Paris Federer had the consensus cakewalk and got knocked out early, here he had a supposed nightmare but it's opened up quite beautifully for him. Murray's draw looks by a long shot the hardest now...

Cilic has gone too!!!!

LuvSports! wrote:Maybe in tennis terms he's actually only 23 for the amount of time hes played!

Exactly....

He'll always be a young man to me...his mother used to take him along to Cornwall Beach in MOntego Bay to play in the sand, at the place where I worked for two and a half years in Montego Bay.

Forgive me if I'm biased, but this is personal....

So much for the theory that Dustin couldn't keep up the pace...he said it best in his interview. If anyone's going to beat him, they're going to have to beat him playing the type of tennis he wants to play, and what he plays best.

I'm running late If Gulbis does in Tsonga I'll be very happy. Poor Cilic.

The Special Juan wrote:Cilic has gone too!!!!

getting ridiculous now. Something had to be done, the biggest event in the Tennis calendar year is turning into a farce

Yup, Federer had an abject nightmare, but it's amazing how the absence of a top four player can suddenly throw things off balance. Murray definitely has the tough draw now!

Verdasco just played a blinder of a tiebreak, including a beautiful knifed slice pass to finish it off 7-1 against Benneteau. Youzhny is under a lot more pressure this set, being pushed on nearly every service game by Pospisil and that's 5-5 in the second. Rufin steals the second away from Almagro in the breaker with some consistently aggressive play, 1-1 in sets - we have a Rufin fan or two on here, don't we?

Annnd Paire has the first set against Robert. What's this about Cilic, TSJ?

Cilic has apparently withdrawn from his second round match against de Schepper

Lydian wondered out loud if the tour had out grown grass. I think this Wimbledon was a pure anomaly, but you begin to ponder.

CILIC IS OUT NOW! This taking the urine!

Fifth injury withdrawal of the day now Cilic has gone.

That's a big name to go, as well - Cilic was in good nick at Queens. Such a shame. As kingraf said, lydian called this prior to the tournament.

Youzhny just had to save a set point on his own serve, now into a breaker against Pospisil, who's come back into the match very well after a bit of a diabolical first set. Annnd fair play to Pospisil, levels at 1-1 in sets. He deserved that one after knocking on the door of Youzhny's service games all set, really raised his game. Quite a good match to watch

Almagro breaks Rufin for 4-2 in the third. Crowd seem to be enjoying that one a lot. If anyone wants me to stop babbling on about random matches btw, just say.

Is gettin' ridiculous now, the darcis one really annoyed me though following nadal's exit. Why do they play so many clay court tournaments and then only one before the grass of wimbledon. they need to look at it and allow the players more time to adjust to the grass and the movements required. makes sense to me.

that nadal quarter is just wide open now, paire highest seed left there. fed basically in the semi's you would think now to play murray. azarenka out means one less for williams, only sharapova can do anything now to stop her.

kingraf wrote:Lydian wondered out loud if the tour had out grown grass. I think this Wimbledon was a pure anomaly, but you begin to ponder.

I suspect lydian has a rather biased viewpoint here (which is only logical) due to his personal preferences. I do think that movement on Grass is (very) different to the movement required on clay (HC is much closer) and hence the transition is incredibly difficult. The real problem is just how short that transition is: you're basically straight off RG into one of the two relevant warm-up tournaments, then a week off, then Wimbledon. Compared to the amount of preparation time on Clay or HC that's just ridiculous.

Now you factor in the fact that tennis players are on the whole getting taller, which makes the low bounce of grass that much harder to deal with (think of Cilic and how far he has to reach down, or even Nadal's knees needing much greater flexing) and you begin to understand the problem.

The best option for me would be to make the grasscourt season longer to allow players the transition time, though that's impractical for calendar purposes. To be honest I'd like to see the whole calendar re-thought, with a shorter season generally (with improvement of fitness comes also extra fatigue, players just can't play week-in/week-out as they used to), maybe knock off one of the clay court Masters, and certainly knock off two of the HC ones (Paris for instance is completely pointless).

Tsonga gifted an early break by Gulbis. Tsonga leads 2-1.

Same here. Grass is too short, if its a lead-up to the greatest tournament in the game.

Something Im very interested in seeing, is wether the very nature of the mens game, is going to cause a reversal of sorts. As it stands to be a top 10 player you need the explosiveness of a state sprinter, but also the Stamina of a marathon runner. You factor in the constant surfacee adjustments, and I think the Requirements needed to become a professional have just become too much. Nole did his ankle, Murray his hip, Nadal his knee, Federer his back. A guy like Federer is fortunate in that he can skip up to four Masters, keeping primed for Slams. I just think eventually something is going to break with the younger members of the big four. Their too physical, too consistent.

Re today: Nice to see Verdasco hasnt quite dissappointed me yet. With some luck a return to the top 30 would be nice!

Verdasco and Benneteau into another tiebreak, can't be separated. Very entertaining match so far, some great points. Your man looks good, kingraf!

Almagro is up 2-1 on Rufin, but on serve in the fourth. Pospisil hasn't gone away against Youzhny, level and on serve in the third. Paire two sets up on Robert, you'd fancy him to come through that one in fairly short order.

Verdasco takes the second tie-break and leads Benneteau 7-6 7-6. Another seed in trouble.

Silver - he always does.. At times he even resembles that other Spanish southpaw. Its when the momentum is going against him that I change the channel. Come back with him beaten invariably.

So sad that I was out for the Dustin Brown/Lleyton Hewitt match - came back to see the players leaving court and the post match interview with DB. Commentators tantalisingly describing the match but declined to show any of the fabulous play they were waxing lyrical about - guess I will have to watch Today at W!

Does anyone remember this thread from the old place about Brown?: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A62835771

Lovely to see him doing well!

Paire through in straight sets beating Robert.

Hard to see a way back for Benny now though, so it looks like Verdasco lives to fight another day. He's played brilliantly in both breakers, just stepped up at the key moments. I know what you mean though, if he starts to lose the plot then he frequently combusts.

Pospisil is putting up a hell of a fight against Youzhny, I'm impressed. He's just saved a set point via lucky net cord at 4-5 down in the third set. The Colonel knows he's in a match...

Paire has won in straight sets against Robert, and Almagro finally breaks Rufin - now serving for the match in the 4th.

CaledonianCraig wrote:Verdasco takes the second tie-break and leads Benneteau 7-6 7-6. Another seed in trouble.

I love to watch Benneteau play, but it's great to see Verdasco stepping it up once more - can't understand why he hasn't done much more with his career.

Anyone watching Gulbis and Tsonga? Jo is a break up, and Gulbis just missed a chance to break back. A bit torn with this one - love Jo, but find Gulbis incredibly exciting to watch when he is on.

wasteful from Gulbis, works well to get to breakback point but plants a routine return of second serve long, and Tsonga escapes. Can't afford to miss those, Tsonga won't give you many...

I admire Gulbis's talent, but with such an exaggerated backswing on the FH he's going to struggle on grass as you have less time to react and the bounce is more variable. Without looking I would say it's comfortably his worst surface...

Gulbis sprays a few more errors and a DF to eventually hand the first set to Tsonga. Solid from the Frenchman but hasn't really had to make it out of second gear so far.

Gulbis making far too many routine errors. He needs to cut them out if he wants to truly test Tsonga.

Tsonga learning how to win matches without going into third gear

I can't speak highly enough of the shift that Pospisil is putting in against Youzhny out on court 18. After being desperately poor for the first set, he's since leveled and then was just edged out in the 3rd set TB. He's basically been red-lining his game for two sets, a fantastic effort. I hope he doesn't go away now, and keeps fighting - very entertaining match.

(Winners to UEs: Youzhny 37-11, Pospisil 49-20. High quality)

Verdasco through in straights against Benneteau, another seed goes flying out. That's ten gone already.

Gulbis works break point. Tsonga into the net, easy volley, but he hits it lazily and Gulbis comes back with a superb FH pass to break serve! leads 4-3 in the second...

Regarding the courts...Wozniacki fell early and it really unsettled her, thereafter losing 6-2 6-2.

Victoria Azarenka has asked for whoever is responsible for traction on the Wimbledon courts to have a good hard look at themselves preferably in the presence of their boss.

"I don't think it was in a good condition. I fell badly, my opponent fell twice," she said.

"It would be great if someone who was responsible for these things looked at it because there's nothing that I did wrong to cause me to slip."

There seems to be something amiss this year...too many have literally gone down now. We know Rafa had a vulnerable knee but maybe it was sent over the edge by a poorly prepared surface this year considering two other top players (Vika and Cilic) have had to withdrawn due to knee injuries they are not known for. These players are getting faster and faster at moving, grass is a slippery surface when new under intense acceleration/deceleration for low balls. Just saying...

trainer on for Tsonga now

Do you think that the extra week preparation would help matters, or is it entirely down to poor work by the Wimbledon ground staff this year? They've had a tough task with the weather in the leadup to the tournament, so it wouldn't surprise me either way.

Pospisil on the rampage, looks like he's going to take the 4th set. Youzhny had a medical timeout for something, it wasn't made clear. Also, what the hell is Martina Hingis doing at the Robredo-Mahut match? She appears to be in one of the player boxes...how curious.

Did Tsonga fall?

Youzhny's in trouble here, guys. Into a 5th set against Pospisil who has generated some serious tennis to come back from a set down. Extremely high quality match. I'm glued, can't take my eyes off it - and Murray/Tsonga are on other courts!

What a simply brilliant retort from Tim, Boris and the AELTC to the frankly amazing comment from Victoria Azaranka.

'I did nothing wrong to cause me to slip'. Perhaps, and I am just speculating here, but that is why it was called a slip? A phenomena that has happened since the dawn of time? Haven't we all slipped at some point in time and not demanded a full scale investigation into the conditions under foot?!

Perhaps physical traits such as agility, poise and balance are required to a greater extent for grass court tennis then pure acceleration and power.

Boris summed it up best for me.

"The grass is always going to be slippery in the first couple of matches, that has been the case for the past 100+ years."

What's Tsonga looking like now, he ain't seriously injured is he? This would be ridiculous, beyond ridiculous.

John wrote:What's Tsonga looking like now, he ain't seriously injured is he? This would be ridiculous, beyond ridiculous.

hate to say it, but it really doesn't look good

i want gulbis to win, but not like this

Hmmm isnt he just losing to a better player?

I hope he loses. I love big Jo, and actually had him winning, but playing on injured is fool's

sloppy from Murray to let Lu off the hook at 5-2 15-40...

This is a disaster... not for Andy or Roger ofc but this many injured players in one day. What a freak occurence!

Nothing will be taken serious about the grass until Murray has to pull out injured, typical. I'm hearing the atmosphere is totally flat at the Tsonga game. Whole tournament is turning into a slight joke now, Nadal losing and then the entertaining Tsonga possibly leaving early. Real shame.

good service game from Murray and he takes it 6-3. Solid if unspectacular, a bit of a slow start but the first serve clicking into gear nicely when he needed it.

Lu's ball-toss is absolutely all over the place, and Murray takes full advantage as he breaks in the first game of set 2.

Gulbis moves into a two sets to one lead against Tsonga, will Tsonga continue? yep, but unless Gulbis implodes I see little hope for him here...

Love sacks TSONGAS gone too from injury... i dont know...

oh my god, joke now

in fact Tsonga won't continue, another one bites the dust in what is a black day for the tournament

Er, never mind.

Mahut and Robredo into a first set TB, and the Youzhny epic continues. Pospisil serving at 4-5 down in the final set, match point down at 30-40...saved! That's some serious nerve.