Wimbledon 2022

Serena Williams has been granted a wildcard and will play

Nadal will announce on friday what he will do regarding Wimbledon.

So, Djokovic is of course, hot favourite, no Federer and we dont know what will happen with Nadal.

Names to be considered: these for me could win anyone in a good day, and have experience enough.
Berrettini
Cilic
Felix
Kyrgios



Also to be considered:

Hurkacz: not great results on grass but he was semifinalist last year at wimbledon
Denis Shapovalov: was semifinalist last year, but he looks toasted this season
Tsitsipas: he doesnt have good past results, but I think he can do it, in these previous tournaments he is having some hard draws.
Murray: another big scare in first rounds as he is unseeded
Alcaraz: Dont know what to expect from him on grass, but surface should suit him. I think he did not choose wisely skipping all previous tournaments

Wimbledon often throws up surprise results and dark horses. Let's hope for something interesting and unexpected and exciting.

I actually think it was a fair decision of Alcaraz to skip some tournaments. He has played quite a lot this year, and had quite an emotional and exciting year for a youngster, and needs to not overdo it at such a young age. So what if he loses R1 or R2 at Wimbledon, he probably doesn't have high expectations for this year. There will be other Wimbledons.

Henman Bill wrote:Wimbledon often throws up surprise results and dark horses. Let's hope for something interesting and unexpected and exciting.

I actually think it was a fair decision of Alcaraz to skip some tournaments. He has played quite a lot this year, and had quite an emotional and exciting year for a youngster, and needs to not overdo it at such a young age. So what if he loses R1 or R2 at Wimbledon, he probably doesn't have high expectations for this year. There will be other Wimbledons.

I understand what you say, but being 19 years old... I dont know. He has played 8 tournaments this season, tsitsipas 13, Ruud 11, Zverev 11.... most players in top 50 have played 11-15 tournaments

I understand that players over 30 choose carefully what to play, but he is 19

Matteo Berrettini:
28-3 on grass since 2019
17-1 on grass since 2021
6-0 on grass in 2022


info from twitter @josemorgado

Carlitos Alcaraz is managing an elbow issue

Jeff Navarro wrote:Carlitos Alcaraz is managing an elbow issue

Didnt know, thanks

Ryan Pen1ston is in action again.
I feel like copying him on my e-mails - CC Pen1ston

The only way Berrettini will win Wimbledon is if those seeded ahead of him are knocked out before he has to play them.
The Italian has not beaten a top 10 player since the O2 in 2019 and that wont change even if he wins Queen's thanks to Pen1ston beating Ruud .

sirfredperry wrote:The only way Berrettini will win Wimbledon is if those seeded ahead of him are knocked out before he has to play them.
  The Italian has not beaten a top 10 player since the O2 in 2019 and that wont change even if he wins Queen's thanks to Pen1ston beating Ruud .

Largely disagree with this, as most of those seeded ahead of him just aren't very good grass court players while Berrettini, for all his limitations, is very effective on the surface. Obvioulsy, Djokovic should beat him, but otherwise I'd make him favourite for any individual match-up. Cilic might be the other exception if he can bring the same ball striking form he had at RG.

I half want to agree with sfp about Berrettini with his relatively poor backhand drive, but he actually has an excellent backhand slice, which is very effective on the grass. It skids and stays low, making it very difficult to attack. It is easy to say "just hit it to his backhand", but this disregards how difficult it is to get his serve back in the first place, never mind getting it far enough into the backhand corner to force him to accept a backhand. Only the best of the best returners will be able to do that semi-consistently. If he gets a forehand after the serve, the point is likely over as it is a huge weapon. In short, his big weapons make it very very difficult to exploit his weaknesses on this surface.

Matteo Berrettini is second favourite for Wimbledon behind Djokovic. Berrettini might not be everyone’s cup of tea (cough cough Sir Fred) buy depending on the draw the Roman will fancy his chances of getting to at least the semi finals. If he’s drawn in Nadal’s half he’d back himself to make the final.

As is the case when you play someone like Isner, you just have to hold serve when up against Berrettini and then win the tiebreak
  For instance B was less impressive in the Queen's final last year than earlier in the tournament but Norrie had two horrible service games and that was the match
  I see the wonderfully named Botic Van de Zandschlup has won at Queen's today and reached the semis.

Thanks for all the insights and info

Djokovic is the clear favourite at slightly odds on which means he has about a 50% chance to win the tournament according to the bookies

There is disagreement between the bookies as to whether Nadal, Berrettini or Alcaraz should be second favourite but there is not much between those three and they are all well behind Novak - bookies give them each about 10% chance

https://www.oddschecker.com/tennis/wimbledon/mens/mens-wimbledon/winner

I think the bookies are being a bit generous on Novak, as I really don't see him losing unless he picks up an injury. Nadal on grass is a different, much less dangerous beast than on clay or hard, Alcaraz is unproven and we've already discussed Berrettini - I'd honestly give Andy Murray as much chance as any of them (which is not much at all).

Nadal is finally going to Wimbledon. Good news!

he shall pray for not too dangerous first two rounds

I think the odds are slightly irrelevant this year tbh. Djokovic usually comes into Wimbledon having played 40 odd matches, this season he’s played 21 matches. He actually under more pressure as his greatest rival has won the two previous majors. And Djokovic may not play New York either.
Djokovic is favourite as the 6x champion but he’s not battle hardened this time around.

Medvedev beats Otte 7-6 6-3 to reach final in Halle. Will face Kyrgios or Hurkacz in the final.

Berrettini beats van de Zandschulp 6-4 6-3. Matteo ultimately a level above Botic.

Krajinović chops down Cilic 6-3 6-3 to setup showdown with Berrettini

Watched the second set of the Cilic match. Marin had a bit of a stinker. Thought he would at least reach the final.

Hurkacz comes from a set down to beat Kyrgios 4-6 7-6 7-6

Naomi Osaka will not play Wimbledon after suffering an Achilles injury.

Former finalist Eugenie Bouchard also decides not to play as she didn’t want to use one of her protected ranking entries on an event where there are no ranking points.

Dominic Thiem has also withdrawn. Think it’s looking like the end of the road for the Austrian.

being unseeded means Kyrgios could be a 1st round rival for any seed?

if thats the case, I really thing he could cut some important heads in the first week

Question, did he try the underarm serve today?

Looks like Berrettini will win another grass court title today.

His record on grass over the last two seasons has been excellent. But in his two triumphs at Queen's he will not have beaten a single top 20 player.

The highest ranking player he's met on grass and won in 2021 and 2022 is Hurkacz, at 18, at Wimbledon last year.

Now, of course, you can only beat who's in front of you and Matteo has been very good at this. But there's little doubt that he's had favourable draws.

Halle, for example, would have presented him with a far greater challenge this year than he's had in London.

sirfredperry wrote:Looks like Berrettini will win another grass court title today.

His record on grass over the last two seasons has been excellent. But in his two triumphs at Queen's he will not have beaten a single top 20 player.

The highest ranking player he's met on grass and won in 2021 and 2022 is Hurkacz, at 18, at Wimbledon last year. ...

Maybe there are not that many good or great grass courters amongst the top 20 players? Maybe the reason why Berrettini never seems to face them in such grass court tournaments is because they are seeded to meet him only at the latter stages of these tournaments and they just keep getting knocked out early by those ranked outside the top 20 whom are better than them on the grass.

Berrettini takes the opener 7-5 against Krajinovic

Hurkacz takes the opener in Halle against Medvedev 6-1. Medvedev abysmal on serve.

Matteo Berrettini beats Filip Krajinović 7-5 6-4. The big Roman had too much firepower for the Serb.
First time Berrettini has won two consecutive titles and first time he had defended a title.
Berrettini’s volleying has improved massively and the back hand slice is getting better all the time.
Krajinović was impressive all week. Dangerous opponent at Wimbledon

Hubert Hurkacz outclassed Daniil Medvedev 6-1 6-4 to win Halle. A rather embarrassing effort from Medvedev, whom has lost his last five finals now. Hurkacz is one of the weakest returners of serve yet he looked like prime Agassi against Medvedev.
For me Hurkacz is just Isner MK2.

An expected win for Berrettini. Bit scrappy at times and the Italian's first-serve percentage was far lower than normal.

As JN says above, some impressive volleying from Matteo. Still too many errors on the BH side, though.

Picking up on some of the comments earlier in the thread:

Thiem - real shame if he is unable to return to how he was pre-injury - other than Djokovic he's been the only player to properly test Nadal on the Roland Garros clay in recent years.

Berrettini - the Italian in my view is clearly the 2nd best player in world on grass at moment.  I still don't think he can beat Djokovic on the surface best of 5 but the powerful serve, big forehand, sliced backhand and net play is probably too much for everyone else.  I acknowledge SFP's point about lack of quality he's had to face - the field at Queen's these days is a shadow of what we've in previous years - we used to get the likes of Agassi, Hewitt, Roddick and Murray playing (or lesser ranked but v accomplished grasscourters like Mahut or Lopez), but indeed you can only beat what's in front of you.

One contender no-one has mentioned so far in this thread is Felix A-A.  Along with compatriot Shapovalov he has a game suited for grass, though has a better temperament and is less flashy but more consistent and mentally resilient than Denis.  I think he could reach the semis (or even final) depending on draw.

Tsitsipas is a big mystery to me - the first time I saw him play at Wimbledon he looked a natural on the surface - lots of net play and diving around a la Becker, but he doesn't really seem to have progressed much on grass since.  To me, he looks more likely to be the big name going out early (Murray would love to play him again!) than reach the quarters or semis.

It'll still be a big learning curve for Alcaraz - reaching the 4th round at this stage of his career would be good result for the Spaniard who is going to be at his most dangerous on the North American hardcourts this year in my opinion.

MrInvisible wrote:Picking up on some of the comments earlier in the thread:


One contender no-one has mentioned so far in this thread is Felix A-A.  Along with compatriot Shapovalov he has a game suited for grass, though has a better temperament and is less flashy but more consistent and mentally resilient than Denis.  I think he could reach the semis (or even final) depending on draw.

Actually I did mention him as one of the main contenders

FAA could well be in the mix. He was strangely diffident for a couple of sets v Berrettini at Wimbledon last year but then started really going for it.

But the Italian, although pegged back for a while, came through in the end.

Berrettini also overcame Hurkacz at SW19 last year, but the Pole perhaps can also be considered a Wimbledon contender.

Alcaraz, for me, is still a bit of an unknown quantity in Slams and this is grass. He will probably be a lot more dangerous in New York than in south London.

Good to see British men and women climbing the rankings published today. Pen1ston and Jodie Burrage are among those making goodly advances.

two different wimbledon paths:

1st Round: Kyrgios
2nd Round: Andy Murray
3rd Round: Evans
4th round: Cilic
1/4 finals: Berrettini


The easiest:

1st Round: Q
2nd Round: Federico Coria
3rd Round: Baez
4th round: Schwartzman
1/4 finals: Alcaraz

Three good British wins yesterday. Jack Draper beat Jenson Brooksby 2 and 2.
Jodie Burrage came from a set and 5-3 down to knock out Petra Martic who has been ranked as high as 14.
Then Harriett Dart beat Madison Brengle in three sets.
Nearly all the British men were beaten in the first round of Wimbledon qualifying, but there were wins for Aidan McHugh and Arthur Fery who beat experienced Italian Thomas Fabbiano.

Ryan Pen1ston has pulled off another big victory - beating fast-rising Rune in three sets at Eastbourne.

Ryan was close to defeat, having to serve to save the match at 4-5 and 5-6 in the second set. But after taking the tiebreak 7-5 he ran away with the final set 6-1.

The British players seem to be inspiring each other. Katie Boulter has just beaten Pliskova at Eastbourne.

sirfredperry wrote:Ryan Pen1ston has pulled off another big victory - beating fast-rising Rune in three sets at Eastbourne....

The associated "Grass Court Season" thread is the first time I had heard of Penniston.  26 years old, suffered a major health issue as a child, turned pro 2018, first went top 300 Nov 2021 and top 200 May 2022.  Currently ranked 147 and is having some headline worthy wins against some top players (who may not be that good on grass?).  Not sure if he is going to be a consistent feature in the months and years to follow (top 100 or better?).

The success of the Brits on grass may be due to the unusual circumstances surrounding the last few summers.

First, due to Covid, there was NO grass-court season in 2020. Then, thanks to the French rather mean spiritedly moving RG back a week, there was a truncated grass-court swing in 2021.

This certainly led to some to a somewhat poor Wimbledon last year, with both singles finals being particularly low standard.

So the emerging players such as the Runes, Ruuds and Brooksbys are somewhat novices on the green stuff and shocks have ensued.

sirfredperry wrote:The British players seem to be inspiring each other. Katie Boulter has just beaten Pliskova at Eastbourne.

I happened to catch the subsequent performance of Jodie Burrage in knocking out top seed Paula Badosa : have to say I thought she was rather impressive ! Not just for the win against a high ranked opponent ; but the way she consistently went for her shots and didn't falter when occasionally under a bit of pressure herself.

Had never heard of her before ; but if she keeps this up might be one to watch ?

Burrage has been around for a bit but this is easily her best spell. Having seen a few glimpses of her, I have to say she plays more like one of those feisty eastern Europeans than a Brit.

Serena will get at least one more doubles at Eastbourne having won her first match with Jabeur last night.

Emma Raducanu was the biggest out of the blue entrance onto the big stage of tennis. Despite her frailties she is still an amazing player with great promise. Penniston seems to have done well on the hard courts and started to mount the ranks towards the end of last year and then made headlines recently on the grass. I am not sure what exactly is going on but SFP has made some good points here and in the past regarding the affect of the coronavirus lockdowns etc.

Harriet Dart adds to the British successes by overcoming Teichmann of Switzerland at Eastbourne in a match held over from last night.

Katie Boulter came from SPs down and 2-5 to take the first set against Kvitova but the two-time Wimbledon champ now 4-0 up in the second set.

Boulter and Burrage went out at Eastbourne yesterday but Harriet Dart kept the Union flag flying by beating Kostyuk. She no takes on Kvitova who was a bit up and down yesterday. So the Briton has a chance

Jack Draper continued his good form by ousting Schwartzman. Evans , though is out, and misses the chance to take on Norrie.

Draper could now play Pen1ston who is one set all in his held-over match.

In the women's, Haddad Maia is now on a 12-match streak on grass and has to be considered a real threat at Wimbledon. Bet she's one of a number of players who would have loved to have got ranking points at SW19 this year.

Draper did , indeed, face Pen1ston and prevailed 3 and 3 to move into the semis.

Kvitova was too much for Harriet Dart although Petra looked short of her best and will be really up against it in the semi against Haddad Maia who had a walkover.

Wimbledon projected men’s quarter finals:
Djokovic vs Alcaraz
Ruud vs Hurkacz
Berrettini vs Tsitsipas
Auger-Aliassime vs Nadal

Ladies projected quarter finals:
Swiatek vs Pegula
Badosa vs Pliskova
Collins vs Jabeur
Sakkari vs Kontaveit