Wimbledon Day 4 - McHale to the chief. Might have to throw a Li-sicki.

Order of play

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/22713811

First up on centre court, McHale vs Lisicki. No, seriously.

Will be most impressed if you can keep up this standard for every day of the fortnight JHM.

The challenge is on ......!!

Had one today.  Why couldn't chewbacca fly the falcon? Because Han-took-over.

Does anybody have an explanation, or even a vague theory, as to why McHale & Lisicki get the centre court?

Those were my questions when I saw the OOP. My best guess is that it is because Lisicki is British.

She's as British as Kim Jong Un.

I know that, but even so that is the best I can think of.

Speaking of British, how does one decide whether one is an Englishman/woman, a Scotsman/woman, a Welshman/woman etc.? Is it based on ethnicity? Say your grandparents were Scottish but they moved to London and your parents and yourself were born there. Are you still a Scot or are you then an Englishperson? Or is it a gray area and Scots should just not move to London to keep it simple?

Former finalist? But odd yes.

How about Querrey to upset Fed ? It's only two years since Fed was playing exhibition stuff against Hanescu in the first round, only to crash to Stakhovky in round two. Granted 2013 was a difficult year for Rog, but few would have seen him losing to Seppi in the Australian. No doubt come 5pm or so, all will be well. In that case, how about Brown surprising Rafa ?!

Very good Julius. I too will be impressed if you can keep this up the whole fortnight

summerblues wrote:Speaking of British, how does one decide whether one is an Englishman/woman, a Scotsman/woman, a Welshman/woman etc.?  Is it based on ethnicity?  Say your grandparents were Scottish but they moved to London and your parents and yourself were born there.  Are you still a Scot or are you then an Englishperson?  Or is it a gray area and Scots should just not move to London to keep it simple?

chuckles))
And I'm curious about the question too though.. maybe a question of family name, or accent?

sfp - I think now that we have seen both Federer and Nadal crash early at Wimbledon, then anything is possible. Querrey and Brown will, rightly, consider themselves better equipped to do the job than Stakhovsky and Darcis .....so they will obviously fancy their chances.

Equally, I doubt anyone would be remotely surprised if Fedal come through with room to spare.

summerblues wrote:Speaking of British, how does one decide whether one is an Englishman/woman, a Scotsman/woman, a Welshman/woman etc.?  Is it based on ethnicity?  Say your grandparents were Scottish but they moved to London and your parents and yourself were born there.  Are you still a Scot or are you then an Englishperson?  Or is it a gray area and Scots should just not move to London to keep it simple?

In sporting terms, one is Scottish if:

a) the individual is born in Scotland
or
b) the individual is not good enough to represent the country they were born in but can find a Scottish person  anywhere in their family tree in the last 500 years.

HM Murdoch wrote:

summerblues wrote:Speaking of British, how does one decide whether one is an Englishman/woman, a Scotsman/woman, a Welshman/woman etc.?  Is it based on ethnicity?  Say your grandparents were Scottish but they moved to London and your parents and yourself were born there.  Are you still a Scot or are you then an Englishperson?  Or is it a gray area and Scots should just not move to London to keep it simple?

In sporting terms, one is Scottish if:

a) the individual is born in Scotland
or
b) the individual is not good enough to represent the country they were born in but can find a Scottish person  anywhere in their family tree in the last 500 years.

And can we point out the same applies to every other country in the sporting world.

summer

You've missed the other option - British.

At least that one has an easy definition. Murray is British as long as he wins and Scottish when he loses

As a more serious response, to some extent it is a case of self-identification. I think most people would identify themselves as Welsh or Scottish either if they are born or are brought up there and with at least some family connection or if they are born in England but to Celtic parents.

Of course there are some who adopt the Irish-American approach to self-identity, where I think you are allowed to claim Irish ancestry if you like the colour green or have tried a glass of Guiness.

If you've ever eaten haggis and/or you wear a kilt to your wedding you're Scottish

CaledonianCraig wrote:And can we point out the same applies to every other country in the sporting world.

Craig, are you suggesting that significant parts of the England rugby and cricket teams may not be born and bred in England? That's an outrageous suggestion!

The self-identification in USA strikes me as very odd.

Irish-American and Italian-American seem to be identities that dont fade with the passing of generations.

Yet you don't really hear of Engish-Americans or German-Americans, which I believe constitute the largest part of the population.

I was born & bred in Scotland. My wife was born and bred in Wales. My children were born and bred in Manchester. They see themselves as English. Makes for a fun time during the 6 Nations.

Oh dear .....summerblues .......look what you've started ! This is all getting far too heavy.

Ok, so we've established that Lisicki is definitely not British

But she's on Centre today nonetheless. We need to show her lots of love.

(and I'm sure many of us would welcome the opportunity to show her lots of love.....)

HM Murdoch wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:And can we point out the same applies to every other country in the sporting world.

Craig, are you suggesting that significant parts of the England rugby and cricket teams may not be born and bred in England? That's an outrageous suggestion!

The self-identification in USA strikes me as very odd.

Irish-American and Italian-American seem to be identities that dont fade with the passing of generations.

Yet you don't really hear of Engish-Americans or German-Americans, which I believe constitute the largest part of the population.

German roots though or adopted Germans tend to be of surrounding countries. Even a few players born in Poland have and are now representing Germany.

Also who is missing out on a Centre Court berth today because of Lisicki who merit it more? You will struggle to come up with a viable alternative.

The Woz and Kvitova and the two other viable matches for centre court. Theyve put them on other courts for the same reason as Muzz or Roger arent always centre court, its just to try and switch things up, anf give people without centre court tickets some good names... I think

Is anyone really gonna complain about Lisicki getting Prime Time? She's a former finalist!

kingraf wrote:Is anyone really gonna complain about Lisicki getting Prime Time? She's a former finalist!

Precisely.

Ward off to a flyer against Jiri Vesely. He has an early break and leads 3-1.

Not at all. I like Lisciki   So what's the odds of s big shock today? Browns a bit hot and cold. Querrey has the game but he's been throwing matches away when they're close. I don't know how dangerous hasse still is nowadays

Always a treat to see Sabine. Not a classic beauty like Ana but she has a certain something.

Legs gifted from the Norse Gods?

James Ward takes the first set 6-2. Looking good. As for potential upsets - I don't see any happening on the show courts but won't rule out shocks elsewhere.

Rather a lack of eye-catching matches on the women's side today, thanks to Halep and Bouchard's defeats in R1.

I'd probably have put Kvitova on Centre rather than Lisicki, but it isn't exactly an absurd decision. C-Woz would also have been a possible high profile player to have on Centre, and so far it looks like Kerber v Pavlyuchenkova is the most competitive match.

I'd be looking at Brown v Nadal, because their one previous meeting (Halle last year) was Dustin's best ever win. Just sung at everything and landed enough to take it. However, even though Rafa is some way below his best, I don't think he'll fall victim to the same thing twice.

Haase is a good grass court player, but I think his biggest limitation is an inability to close out for the win against really top players.

Querrey has such a big serve you'd have to give him a small chance, but Fed is still one of the best returners against these really big servers.

kingraf wrote:Legs gifted from the Norse Gods?

You bet!

Be careful, that's all I'm saying....

bogbrush wrote:Always a treat to see Sabine. Not a classic beauty like Ana but she has a certain something.

Indeed.

In fact, I'd say she verges on being quite unattractive and yet she is still rather beautiful.

The shock of the day may be happening on No.8 Court with Bruno Paire leading No.20 seed Bautista Agu 6-2 6-4.

A bigger shock than say Ward taking down Vesely?

LuvSports! wrote:A bigger shock than say Ward taking down Vesely?

Point taken but it is another seed in danger of exiting.

Murray takes the first set in 20 minutes winning it 6-1. Would someone please send Haase to No.1 Court please?

Murray doing a fine job

Meanwhile ....whilst not exactly a fan of the Daily Mail (ok, I admit to a macabre interest at times....not unlike rubbernecking on motorways) I could not agree more with this scathing review of the truly dreadful new Wimbledon evening show on BBC2  

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3146621/It-s-like-Gear-meets-Play-School-JAN-MOIR-savages-Wimbledon-s-new-highlights-s-driving-fans-mad.html

Ye it looks s***e Lags. 
Despite his faults, Inverdale for me was very good at what he did.

I haven't seen it tbh. What does drive me mad is the main programme showing montages and interviews with who really cares and end up showing matches that have started already

Ward takes the second set on a tie-break and leads 6-2 7-6. A win here would propel him further up the rankings into the high 80s I do believe.

Agut perhaps not done yet and takes the third set and trails Paire two sets to one.

temporary21 wrote:I haven't seen it tbh. What does drive me mad is the main programme showing montages and interviews with who really cares and end up showing matches that have started already

Believe me ...... You ain't missing nothing ......!!

Murray leads 6-1 6-1 after 50 minutes. Haase has been very disappointing whilst Murray has done enough and no more than that.

Vesely in control in the 3rd set and looks to have it in the bag leading 4-1. Agut looks set to win the 4th set and take it to a deciding set against Paire.

CaledonianCraig wrote:Vesely in control in the 5rd set and looks to have it in the bag leading 4-1. Agut looks set to win the 4th set and take it to a deciding set against Paire.

Bruno Paire? 5rd set?

You hitting the Pimms me old mucker?

Are we watching the Dutch broadcast here, all they do is talk about Haase.

lags72 wrote:Murray doing a fine job  

Meanwhile ....whilst not exactly a fan of the Daily Mail (ok, I admit to a macabre interest at times....not unlike rubbernecking on motorways) I could not agree more with this scathing review of the truly dreadful new Wimbledon evening show on BBC2  

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3146621/It-s-like-Gear-meets-Play-School-JAN-MOIR-savages-Wimbledon-s-new-highlights-s-driving-fans-mad.html

I liked the old format with Inverdale.

Seeing Balding makes me want to club her like an helpless seal! Is there no end to her lack of talent?!

lags72 wrote:Meanwhile ....whilst not exactly a fan of the Daily Mail (ok, I admit to a macabre interest at times....not unlike rubbernecking on motorways) I could not agree more with this scathing review of the truly dreadful new Wimbledon evening show on BBC2  

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3146621/It-s-like-Gear-meets-Play-School-JAN-MOIR-savages-Wimbledon-s-new-highlights-s-driving-fans-mad.html

I thought it was just me!! I watched about 15 minutes, with my jaw on the floor, simply because I was mesmerised by how bad it was and couldn't move

I've never been a Balding fan and now I know why

I'm also not a fan of these sports programmes that have the fans stood around / in view just for decoration. At least on F1, they involve some of them

Yeah even the guardian has savaged it. They've taken a program supposed to be highlights for people who've been working. Instead they're spending it putting plasters on pictures , did they really do that!!