Summer 2018 Grass Court Season

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They are back on the grass from today. Can Fed get another Wimbledon title? Will Rafa have his first good SW19 for a while? Will Murray get back on court? Can anyone under the age of 29 step up?
Fed could get back to number one if he reaches the Stuttgart final although his main thoughts will be on Wimbledon. He must be favourite for another GS, although not such a big a favourite as Rafa was at the French. Other possible contenders include Cilic, Raonic (if fit) Zverev (if he can adapt), delpo, and....Rafa ? It would not be before time if the Spaniard had a good showing at Wimbledon.
The women's, as ever, is wide open, especially if Serena is not able to play. Mug and Kvitova could go a long way, as could Kerber. Stephens could also go deep.

dummy_half wrote:Perhaps the comparison for Dimitrov would be Safin - all the talent in the world but rarely if ever maximised, whether because of a lack of commitment or perhaps mentality. Sufficient to be a very good player and make an excellent living from the game but without the fire that burns so brightly in the likes of Nadal or Djokovic to make the most of what they have.

DH - Perhaps the comparison is a little harsh on Safin who, for all his faults, did get to number one and did win Grand Slams, including a classic win over Fed in his prime at the AO.
The elephant in the room with Dimi is his love life. Surely having a series of gorgeous girlfriends hardly helps his tennis.

Fed thru to final in Halle but not before another tight match in which he had to ward off five BPs in the second set before winning 7-6 (1), 7-5.
Been a bit of a struggle for Rog this week due to....what? Fatigue, crappy/slow court? Can't say he's not had plenty of grass-court practice, though.

sirfredperry wrote: The elephant in the room with Dimi is his love life. Surely having a series of gorgeous girlfriends hardly helps his tennis.  

Biologically speaking we were all put on this earth to procreate. Even survival is subservient to procreation. So successful has humanity been at procreation it is probably now outgrowing the planet.

Interesting semi-finals at Queens:
Cilic   vs  Kyrgios    
Chardy   vs  Djokovic  

and at Halle
Roger Federer vs Denis Kudla: Federer wins 7-6 7-5
Bautista Agut  vs  Coric    

Both Federer and Cilic are living up to their favorite and second-favorite labels for Wimbledon.
Kyrgios has been performing well this year (although has had time out for injury) - and he should be a significant threat.  Djokovic seems to be getting better and better and seems to be on his way back up.  And I have been impressed with Coric's steady rise.

Cilic beats Krygios in a pair of tie breaks to made his fourth final at Queens. Hopefully the Croat can right the wrongs of last year and do the Queens/Wimbledon double

Final line up at Queens:Cilic vs Djokovic
Good win in two tie breaks by Cilic over Kyrgios.  Djokovic came through in two sets over Chardy.  The future is looking promising for Djokovic - but maybe Wimbledon is coming too soon and we don't know whether he will reach the levels he achieved pre-injury. Have to put Cilic as good favorite to beat Djokovic in a tight final - although Djokovic may be tired - I don't expect him to have reached his pre-injury tournament fitness levels.

Final line up at Halle Roger Federer vs Coric
Despite Coric's good performances in getting to the semi-final I wasn't convinced he would beat Bautista Agut in the semi-final.  However Agut had to retire early in the first set. I expect Coric to put up a fight in the first set and maybe second set - but that Federer's greater experience and grass court nous will eventually prove too much for Coric. However, Federer may be feeling a little weary - he has been playing nearly every other day over the past two weeks.

Djoko showing signs of getting back to somewhere near his best, although he still doesn't look like the Novak of old. His game still lacks a bit of pop, but he's moving fairly well and cutting down the UEs.
I think he has a chance against Cilic who does have a habit of losing matches from winning positions. But the Croatian has looked solid enough this week.
Unbelievable draw for the WCs Murray and Wawrinka at Eastbourne. They'll have to play each other in the first round, with the winner facing Edmund! This is one time when you'd hope they'd fiddle the draw.

I would have to make Murray favorite for his tie against Wawrinka, given Murray's fairly surprisingly good performance against Kyrgios.  However, it could yet prove to be another intensely physical match - which is the risk you take playing at ATP main tour level (ATP 250 in this case) rather than dropping down to Challenger Level.

I haven't watched much tennis recently - but I follow the news.  Now I saw the BBC's best of five shots clip of the Djokovic v Chardy match and these are my impressions based on that (so just based on those five shots)
1) Djokovic looks like he is carrying no excess fat - so he looks physically fit and trim. Maybe he has even lost some muscle mass, although he was always a wiry type of person.
2) Djokovic's movement is significantly less than pre-injury Djokovic.  He used to be more energetic in his movement, he used to jump into slides with his hyper flexible ankles, and he used to get down lower.  That seems to have gone - or is there in only shadow form.

Certainly, Djoko looks thinner than in his prime. Cilic will go in as favourite for their final this afternoon.

Cilic definitely favourite in the final given his ranking and form over the past year. Delighted to see Novak back in a final. He is still well off his best but at least he is making some progress. Semis in Rome and gave Nadal a competitive match, QF at the French (though admittedly losing to someone he shouldn’t lose to) and now a final at Queens. He was looking in real trouble around Miami and Indian Wells so have to take the positives. Still not good enough to be winning slams

It’s Djokovic against Cilic - one of the greatest of all time against a solid top 10 citizen. The h2h is 14-1 for a reason. Of course, Cilic has much more chance than he usually would given Novak’s current ability to throw in bad matches here and there but Cilic is still the underdog here. Novak plays at the level he’s been at in the last couple of rounds, I’d expect him to win.

Cilic has been serving really well at Queens, if he up at 65% first serves he’ll win

Coric wins the first set in Halle 8-6 in the breaker

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:Coric wins the first set in Halle 8-6 in the breaker

Third set in Halle , 2-2 now. Most likely a TB will decide it. Coric up 5-2.

Coric breaks 4-2 final set.  Does Federer looked tired?  Is Coric a potential challenger for a Wimbledon semi-final or better?

Coric 5-2 final set.

No name Bertie wrote:Does Federer looked tired?

Yes, and most likely will lose #1. MP for Coric.

No name Bertie wrote:Is Coric a potential challenger for a Wimbledon semi-final or better?

If Grass allows baseline play, then yes, he is.

Borna Coric wins Halle 7/6(6) 3/6 6/2. Biggest win of his career

Good win for Coric.

Coric has been making steady steady progress up the rankings. Has given some indication that he has fight in him. He is someone that I have considered as possibly being a future Grand Slam winner once the "old order" have been pensioned off.

Federer was struggling somewhat throughout the tourney and never really looked convincing in his run to the Final. Experience got him through some very tight matches.

In the context of that run, I’m not too surprised to see this win by Coric ; and not surprised that a very talented, promising 22 year-old - who already has a couple of victories over both Rafa and Murray under his belt -  can overcome a guy around 15 years his senior.

lags72 wrote:Federer was struggling somewhat throughout the tourney and never really looked convincing in his run to the Final. Experience got him through some very tight matches.

He had some rare flashes of frustration yesterday and today. He had his chances but missed them.

Djokovic up a set. It would be good confidence booster for Djokovic, if he can win Queens.

Four favourites in my book for Wimbledon :

Federer
Djokovic
Cilic
Kyrgios

...... though I’m really not clear just what order I would place them in.

By no means do I see Federer as an outright fav - his performances at Halle have been far from Slam-winning level ; but of course things can change quickly once proceedings actually get under way.

Many say Djokovic is not back to his best but I think we have seen enough to know that he will be pushing himself very hard. And who can be totally sure that Rafa lacks the armoury to go very deep ..... ?

Quality final, now into a decider at Queen’s.

Tremendous win by Marin Cilic

What a week he has had here in London.

Cilic wins Queens , but happy to see Djokovic's level .

Good battling display from Cilic in both Semi-Final and Final.  Excellent preparation for Wimbledon.  Presumably he will rest a week and then be fit and ready for Wimbledon.

Roger Federer - takes several months off over the clay season - and then he plays back to back tournaments over a two week period - meaning he is playing competitive matches on every other day.  Maybe he was pushing it physically - but I assume he knows the limits of his body so holds back when he is feeling aches and niggles.  But a win and a runners-up position must also represent excellent preparation for Wimbledon - and I assume he will now take a weeks rest.
• I suppose the back to back tournaments rather mimics the two weeks of a tennis grand slam tournament. So perhaps that was the reasoning behind Federer entering back to back tournaments (ATP 250 + ATP 500) followed by a weeks rest before the grand slam proper (Wimbledon).

With regard to Corics win over Federer in three sets - as well as Coric being younger than Federer (almost half the age of Federer) he more or less had a walkover in the semi-final with Bautista Agut retiring after 5 games.

Djokovic must also be happy with his progress and his successful transition from clay to grass.

It would seem odd, in light of the grass season thus far, if anyone were to still suggest that Federer should win Wimby at a canter.

No name Bertie wrote:• I suppose the back to back tournaments rather mimics the two weeks of a tennis grand slam tournament.  

At W, group play is alternate days, so a bit of recovery is possible, unlike Halle/Stuttgart back-to-back.

JuliusHMarx wrote:It would seem odd, in light of the grass season thus far, if anyone were to still suggest that Federer should win Wimby at a canter.

I think “odd” is something of an understatement !!

Ok, he may be ranked Number 2 - and with the best Wimbledon record - but his Halle form was far from impressive. Both Djokovic and Cilic have looked stronger than Fed.  

There comes a point when the passing years simply have to catch up. Only once has a men’s Slam been won by a player older than Federer - and that was almost half a century ago, when the tennis world was very, very different.

Personally I wouldn’t be especially surprised if he falls before SF’s - or perhaps earlier.

Could be a very open, interesting, Wimbledon.

Wimbledon Qualifiers. The third seeded qualifier unfortunately got drawn against Dan Evans and promptly lost in two sets to love: Ivashka (3) v Dan Evans 4-6 4-6.
Gulbis and Tomic also through to the second round of qualifying.

Wawrinka vs Murray at Eastbourne - will play later today.

Murray takes first set 6-1 against Wawrinka.  So far, together with his performance against in-form Kyrgios - Murray looks like he is starting where he left off before the injury.  He just needs to not overdo things - gradually build up match and tournament fitness.  This is looking very good.  Maybe AO 2019 and Wimbledon 2019 could be realistic targets.  As long as he doesn't reinjure himself this is looking very promising & far exceeding my expectations of him. Of course early days and I shouldn't get carried away.

Oh fiddlesticks!  The BBC commentator is reporting Murray has developed a limp and it's getting worse.

Hmm reading more of the commentary it says that Murray developed a limp towards the end of Murray's gruelling match with Kyrgios, but that Murray put it down to muscular fatigue issues due to not having played competitive tennis for nearly a year. However the commentator is saying this "limp" has come back in the first game of the second set in his match against Wawrinka and that it looks worse than that developed in the third set of his match against Kyrgios. So impossible to say whether it is just some sort of muscular issue (and that Murray hasn't fully recovered from his match with Kyrgios) or whether it is a gradual return of his hip issue. The conditions are very hot - so fatigue can quickly develop if you don't get a balance of water & salt intake.

19-year-old Brit Jay Clarke may be someone to look out for in future.  He has just beaten Ryan Harrison 6-4 6-1 in the first round of the Wimbledon qualifiers.

Well Murray's match continues and it is 2-2 in the second set. So maybe Murray will get through this match.

BBC are reporting Tim Henman as saying he saw Andy Murray training at Wimbledon about five weeks ago - and that Andy Murray looked laboured, unfit, very rusty & that Henman felt certain that Murray would miss the Grass Season.  So he is reporting his surprise that Murray is back playing at a competitive level this soon.

Second set more difficult but Murray has a break to lead 5-3 and breaks again to win 6-1 6-3.  Murray had to save break points in the second set.

Well done Andy Murray in his first win after his comeback after almost a year out. He beats Stan Wawrinka 6-1 6-3 to progress to the Second Round in Eastbourne where he will play Kyle Edmund.

He moved pretty well I would say and his returns were still all there. His serve he will want to work on but this win will give him heart, hope and confidence for the future. Still I would say it may be the start of 2019 before he is physically and mentally in place to challenge for titles providing his hip problem is behind him.

I was amazed at Murray's movement, but can't believe their won't be a set back or two

Highly likely that if say he could get through three rounds at Wimbledon, he'll really feel it

I agree that Aus 2019 should be the target and in fairness, given the sheer stagnation of all the others below the Fab 5 - it's feasible he could have two good years

But it was just great to see him playing and the respect he has from the likes of Stan etc

I looked at the BBC's 90 odd seconds highlights of the Murray vs Wawrinka match - and to me Murray's movement looked good.  Murray has never been a smooth mover- he has always looked a little clanky - and I couldn't see anything that indicated a problem with the hip.  In the BBC write up of the match it was said there was some faint signs that Murray may not have fully recovered from the hip injury - but I think the commentator was seeing something that wasn't there.  I think Murray just needs to work on his fitness especially tournament fitness and try to avoid getting into intense physical matches for the time being.  What was unmistakeable was Murrays deep joy / relief in winning and I found that endearing and heartening.

Another Briton thru at Eastbourne thanks to Cameron Norrie's three-set victory over Brands.
Konta's win takes her on to a clash with Caroline W, while Dan Evans is smashed 0 and 3 in the Wimbledon qualies.

Serena Williams has been seeded 25th for Wimbledon. Probably most will agree, apart from Cibulkova who, ranked 32, now drops out of the seeding.

The overwhelming reaction I have seen on BBC sport and other media outlets has been that they side with Cibulkova instead.

LuvSports! wrote:The overwhelming reaction I have seen on BBC sport and other media outlets has been that they side with Cibulkova instead.

I am happy with Wimbledon's decision and I am sure it has nothing to do with the BBC's - Serena Campaign.  "Wimbledon" has always kept its right to seed as it sees fits - using the WTA / ATP rankings only as a guidance and assessing grass ability and current form.  I think they used to be more interventionist in the past - but became less interventionist following the protests by clay court specialists several decades ago.

My views on the BBC ... well they have become as bad as the rest ... full of people pushing their own personal interests with a big dollop of group think, plenty of clickbait and the like.  I would have expected more from the BBC given they are a taxpayer funded organ.

Sorry, i meant from people who have commented on the articles, not the people who wrote the articles.

LuvSports! wrote:Sorry, i meant from people who have commented on the articles, not the people who wrote the articles.

Hi yes I realised this. I was just making a follow up comment to your comment.

It's entirely sensible to seed Serena, regardless of her ranking - if anything I'd argue that 25 is rather low based on her history at the tournament.

They don't have the same discretion in the men's event - if they did I'd argue that Murray should be seeded too, as even at 80% he's easily in the top 10 grass court players.

dummy_half wrote:It's entirely sensible to seed Serena, regardless of her ranking - if anything I'd argue that 25 is rather low based on her history at the tournament.

They don't have the same discretion in the men's event - if they did I'd argue that Murray should be seeded too, as even at 80% he's easily in the top 10 grass court players.

Really - I didn't realise Wimbledon had a different policy between men (ATP) and women (WTA). I was aware of the protest and boycott of Wimbledon by clay court specialists several decades ago - and I thought it was resolved by Wimbledon saying they would stick to ATP world rankings as a basis for the seeding, but would change the seeding in exceptional cases and where they felt there was a significant difference between grass court level and the ATP world ranking.

Serena didn't deserve to be seeded. She chose to have a baby no one forced her. Comeback and earn a seeding. Wimbledon shown up as being weak

Anybody know why it is that the BBC is currently showing a Wozniacki v Konta match that finished some time ago ....... and yet the Murray v Edmund contest now on court is being carried only on radio .....