Wimbledon - Day 1 OOP

First topic message reminder :

Centre Court Matches (1pm start): 
Victor Hanescu v Roger Federer [3] 
Kristina Mladenovic v Maria Sharapova [3] 
Benjamin Becker v Andy Murray [2] 

Court 1 Matches (1pm start): 
Maria Joao Koehler v Victoria Azarenka [2] 
Rafael Nadal [5] v Steve Darcis 
Lleyton Hewitt v Stanislas Wawrinka [11] 


Full schedule:
http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scores/schedule/index.html

Match of the day: Hewitt v Wawrinka
Both players come in with grass court form; Hewitt after reaching the semi final at Queens, Wawrinka after reaching the final in 's-Hertogenbosch.
Hewitt's run at Queens included some wins against quality players. The fact that Hewitt has had a week in Wimbledon already while Wawrinka will only just arrive may work in Hewitt's favour, however Wawrinka has played well at both slams this year, and I don't expect Hewitt to stop him here.
Prediction: Wawrinka in 4.       

Other matches of note:
Baghdatis v Cillic, Verdasco v Malisse
James Ward plays Yen-Hsun Lu for a chance to play (probably) Murray in R2. Would like to see the local guy win that and get a chance to play on Centre in his career.

emancipator wrote:Oh I suppose those missed drop shots are also because of bad knees

Perhaps he was trying to end points quicker due to his bad knees?

Ban and Jepp i take your points, youre not Rafa haters but 1...
Suggesting Rafa fans invited this on themselves is taking the urine... im a rafa fan, DONT tar me with the same brush...
2 specifically poitning out you dont feel for Rafa fans... its NOT the time jeep ok? 

As soon as the brigade get here its gonna be worse than 606, seriously please dont push anything, even if its innocuous

Also thank your profanity filter... I take your hint

The guy went 5 sets with Djoko running like a champ, then 2 days later romped through Ferrer-- his knees were fine...   Take 2 weeks off and suddenly all you guys picking him to destroy the 7 time Wimbledon champ Federer a couple of days ago are talking about the knees again...  Come on guys--  Nadal's movement was bad, maybe because of the new grass and rustiness, but don't blame injury.  

He's certainly the clay Goat, but the past 3 years have proven he's not the all around Goat-- hopefully that talk is now put to rest.

The moment Cowan tipped him for the title you knew the mockers were on him

Couldn't imagine Federer even giving 1 set to Darcis.. shows the difference between the Clay God and the Overall God

What's going on? Just got in from work and heard that Nadal lost to Steve Davis???

I mean he was a great snooker champion in the 80's, but making a comeback now? In Tennis??

As Becker said... No one died. It was just a Tennis match. 

Darcis played an excellent match.

falzy21 wrote:Ban and Jepp i take your points, youre not Rafa haters but 1...
Suggesting Rafa fans invited this on themselves is taking the urine... im a rafa fan, DONT tar me with the same brush...
2 specifically poitning out you dont feel for Rafa fans... its NOT the time jeep ok? 

As soon as the brigade get here its gonna be worse than 606, seriously please dont push anything, even if its innocuous

Well, maybe you shouldn't have been so quick to put up stupid articles discussing quarter finals before the first round had started.

banbrotam wrote:

falzy21 wrote:I suggest to EVERYONE ... Nadal fans or Nadal haters other (jeep) that we keep things nice... this place is about to become a living hell.

Agreed

But some Rafa fans invited this with their over confidence and indignant reaction to him been seeded five

No way, that is harsh, complaining about a seeding "invites" a drugs reference, hardly. I did just find out for the first time what happens if you press that exclamation mark and I reported it to the moderators so it might go after a while. Nadal might be on drugs or he might not but it isn't appropriate to say that without evidence, even as a joke, and, if nothing else might be worth removing the post for legal reasons.

Indeed LF. There is still 13 days left of tennis which might produce more shocks on the way.

That was amazing!!!

My twitter feed has gone nuts. Superb match of tennis and one of the biggest upsets i have ever seen. Wimbledon has well and truly started with a bang!

#RafaOut

Murray to hopefully win now 

TorturedGenius wrote:What's going on?  Just got in from work and heard that Nadal lost to Steve Davis???

I mean he was a great snooker champion in the 80's, but making a comeback now?  In Tennis??

Please be gentle, TG.  The board/forum needs to stay civil and respectful, please.

Looks like I am supporting JWT again then, second year in a row

OKAY emancipator, STOP IT, that article was a poll, I expected them to both make it, Nadal hasn't. Dont call my article stupid just because in retrospect it didnt work out.

Come on guys be honest here and this goes to Murray, Federer, Djokovic or fans of any player in the world.

If you had seen your player win twelve slams, beating Fed at Wimbledon, winning all four slams etc etc and being a player renowned for his movement, court coverage and supreme speed and fitness then you witness him being beaten on grass in surprising circumstances to players he would be expected to eat for breakfast you cannot tell me you are not going to claim anything other than injury and it is plain to see.

I am delighted for Murray's hopes that Rafa has been knocked out but it is sad to see one of the sport's all-time greats reduced to a pale shadow of what he was on grass. That is all I will say on the matter on this thread.

falzy21 wrote:Suggesting Rafa fans invited this on themselves is taking the urine... im a rafa fan, DONT tar me with the same brush...

If I said that you'd have a point

However, I did say some Rafa fans - meaning not all

I'm sad he's out - I honestly wanted that a Fedal / Murray Tsonga QF - simply because it would end the argument about this being a great era

I also defended him on this thread against those who implied it wasn't the knee. Rafa would never play like that unless something was wrong with him

Reminds me of the Murray/ Cilic US Open match of 2009, when Andy played poorly and seemed inhibited and then it turned out he had a wrist injury

legendkillarV2 wrote:Indeed LF. There is still 13 days left of tennis which might produce more shocks on the way.

Quite agree, LK. Hating a player and the sport which provides so much to us is not very pleasant. Healthy players produce a healthy sport. 

Wish Nadal stays healthy.

Some or not... you dont have a right to start winding people up, adults dont do that Ban. Youre an adult you know that, 2 wrongs arent right.

Hewitt and Stan on Court 1, they've got their money's worth today. That could be a great one!

Agree with LK and LF, let's keep it civil. There are other matches on today, with all due respect to Darcis and Nadal. Starting with Stan the man flubbing his timing early in the match...

Massively gutted for Nadal, but at least I can enjoy Wimbledon without anti-Nadal threads. no¿

falzy21 wrote:Some or not... you dont have a right to start winding people up, adults dont do that Ban. Youre an adult you know that, 2 wrongs arent right.

What are you on about? I merely point out that some Rafa fans were ridiculous in their confidence - why is that a wind up

Does all my comments about supporting Rafa on this thread, get ignored simply because you are upset?

Please calm down - unfortunately there are a few Rafa and Roger fans who go OTT about their players and then are made to look silly.

It's a forum and pointing this out is not being a WUM

If I did this  at all Rafa fans, it certainly would be

CaledonianCraig wrote:Come on guys be honest here and this goes to Murray, Federer, Djokovic or fans of any player in the world.

If you had seen your player win twelve slams, beating Fed at Wimbledon, winning all four slams etc etc and being a player renowned for his movement, court coverage and supreme speed and fitness then you witness him being beaten on grass in surprising circumstances to players he would be expected to eat for breakfast you cannot tell me you are not going to claim anything other than injury and it is plain to see.

I am delighted for Murray's hopes that Rafa has been knocked out but it is sad to see one of the sport's all-time greats reduced to a pale shadow of what he was on grass. That is all I will say on the matter on this thread.

Pretty much spot on. I understand the exasperation with the injury claims that follow Rafa more than most players. It's still amusing though to see people in denial about his glaring physical problems.

James Ward still putting a good fight up against Lu. 6-5 heading towards a tie-break again.

Nadal out. 

Have to say though that Darcis played exceptionally and hats off to him for that. Does this make it harder or easier for Murray? The Fed should have an easier quarter-final than was expected now.

Anyway back to the Tennis, Murray's looking better as he gets used to the court and has just broken again

Fine but be sensible eh? People are entitled to have confidence without being retrospectively panned for it ban. Again thats about respect

falzy21 wrote:Ban and Jepp i take your points, youre not Rafa haters but 1...
Suggesting Rafa fans invited this on themselves is taking the urine... im a rafa fan, DONT tar me with the same brush...
2 specifically poitning out you dont feel for Rafa fans... its NOT the time jeep ok? 

As soon as the brigade get here its gonna be worse than 606, seriously please dont push anything, even if its innocuous

Again Falzy I apologise. 

It was in the singular though when I meant Nadal Fans. Yes can guess who. And I can't apologise for the excrement they were posting before hand.

I'll leave it now though.

Murray's done well to get through this one in straight sets. He was never in danger of losing it at any point but he was really down on himself and the first set could well have slipped away. Serving for it at 5-2.

Duty281 wrote:Nadal out. 

Have to say though that Darcis played exceptionally and hats off to him for that. Does this make it harder or easier for Murray? The Fed should have an easier quarter-final than was expected now.

If they both get there of course

It still leaves Djoko as my favourite - but Murray gets the most immediate boost.
 
For Nadal my question is how close is the parallel to last year going to be?  I would think he's clearly got a knee injury or a problem with confidence in the knee on grass - what next?

Duty281 wrote:Nadal out. 

Have to say though that Darcis played exceptionally and hats off to him for that. Does this make it harder or easier for Murray? The Fed should have an easier quarter-final than was expected now.

Well it certainly boosts Roger's chances a great deal lets put it that way. Now potentially it is only Murray and Djokovic that he needs to go through to win his 8th Wimbledon title.

Thank you Jeep... thats nice of you

mthierry wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:I understand the exasperation with the injury claims that follow Rafa more than most players. It's still amusing though to see people in denial about his glaring physical problems.

You're correct. But this doesn't make us Nadal haters or WUM's. As I said, some of his fans have too much of a god like view of him and seem to even ignore his warnings

He more or less said that his future was on clay

Yes Murray 

Good Tennis day all round, apart from my defeat

Good test for Andy. I like the way Becker kept trying, forcing Murray to up his game

Rafael Nadal on his defeat to Steve Darcis: "There were not a lot of good things for me. I tried my best all the time I had my chances but I did not make it. It is difficult to adapt your game on grass. Now is not the right time to talk about my knee. The only thing I can do is congratulate my opponent. It is not a tragedy, I lost, it is sport."

"I'm confident that I will recover and be ready for the next tournaments. I have played far more than I expected after my injury and I will try my best for the next couple of years."

A mix of things there. As one of my friends has just said, the rest is probably good for him to be honest, better he gets an enforced rest by an inspired opponent now than an actual injury forcing his way to the QFs etc and misses most of the year again

barrystar wrote:It still leaves Djoko as my favourite - but Murray gets the most immediate boost.
 
For Nadal my question is how close is the parallel to last year going to be?  I would think he's clearly got a knee injury or a problem with confidence in the knee on grass - what next?

Boris on BBC repeated what I said earlier. It may very well be that the quick twists and turns and change of directions needed on grass that exasperate the problem perhaps even more than hard courts. Certainly if anyone watched the pre-tournament interview of Rafa he didn't sound all that confident about the knee.

Where's Nadal going to be seeded for Wimbledon next year?

Andy through in straight sets 6-4 6-3 6-2. Business-like performance.

Anyway, it's done and he's out, good luck to Darcis I hope he backs it up with a deep run

One thing I have noticed, that the conditons look relatively fast, i.e. like last year

No problem Falzy.

It is why we all love sport. That could have been anyone tbh. It's the beauty of knock-out competitions. And how tennis works. Anything can happen

What a start to Wimbledon!! Fantastic drama.

kingraf wrote:Massively gutted for Nadal, but at least I can enjoy Wimbledon without anti-Nadal threads. no¿

Not that easy, KR. I would not be surprised if there are negative articles. I am bracing for it.

Be nice if Darcis got some real both pointage and monies for his efforts, be a shame if he went out 2nd round after this. Anyone know the opponent?

banbrotam wrote:One thing I have noticed, that the conditons look relatively fast, i.e. like last year

It may be because today is the first day. Let us see how it plays out in the second week.

laverfan wrote:

kingraf wrote:Massively gutted for Nadal, but at least I can enjoy Wimbledon without anti-Nadal threads. no¿

Not that easy, KR. I would not be surprised if there are negative articles. I am bracing for it.

I'm sad he's out. I like Rafa

falzy21 wrote:Be nice if Darcis got some real both pointage and monies for his efforts, be a shame if he went out 2nd round after this. Anyone know the opponent?

Kubot (ATP #130) v Darcis (ATP #135). More than likely, he will win it.

laverfan wrote:

banbrotam wrote:One thing I have noticed, that the conditons look relatively fast, i.e. like last year

It may be because today is the first day. Let us see how it plays out in the second week.

But even for the first day it looks fast(er). I think it's simple if it stays dry - then it's a bit faster