Wimbledon

[stotty]

I will be taking a trip up to SW19 tomorrow. I am hoping the weather holds up as don't have show court tickets...so no roof. There is nothing like sitting on a bench on an outside court watching world-class tennis from just a few feet away. I usually pick a match listed in the order of play and park myself down early to get the best possible view.

Ryan Peniston, who lives but a mile from me, plays Andy Murray tomorrow in an all Brit affair. Needless to say I'm rooting for Ryan.

[stroke]

Watching the Fritz match, I see Morgan is still the number 1 +1 seed.

[jimlosaltos]

Djokovic, not surprisingly, through his first round match, 18th straight first round win, and 29th straight match win at Wimbledon.
Today over Pedro Cachin 6-3 6-3 7-6

[jimlosaltos]

https://open.substack.com/pub/hughclarke/p/wimbledon-draw-preview?r=1t7zzc&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=emai l

Hey, don't blame me. IBM's AI said it ...

filedata/fetch?id=101335&d=1688335780&type=thumb

[stroke]

https://open.substack.com/pub/hughclarke/p/wimbledon-draw-preview?r=1t7zzc&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

[jimlosaltos]

First round matches of potential interest to some (me, anyway)

Draws/ men

https://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/draws/gentlemens-singles

Monday:
Venus Vs Elina Svitolina

Two oldies but greaties. Elina back from maternity leave has already won a title in Stuttgart, I think it was, and made a good showing at Roland Garros, while Venus, at 43 yo holding on longer than her younger sister, recently battled to her first Top 50 win since 2019 in three sets against Camila Giorgi to reach the Rothesay Classic second round. Venus is one of only 6 places to notch a top 50 win after 43rd B-Day.

Possibly Tuesday?
Dominic Thiem vs Stefanos Tsitsipas

Two great players at cross-roads. It's only a couple of years since Domi was beating the likes of Novak Djokovic (on hard courts and French semis), Rafael Nadal (on clay), and Roger Federer (on grass and hard courts) -- all with super-heavy ground strokes and kick serves. Then he hurt his wrist and hasn't gotten his A game back yet. On German grass a couple of weeks ago, he seemed to be re-inventing his game. Gone was the huge power and spin, more slice serve wide, and net play. Meanwhile, Stef should be one of the contenders at Wimbledon, but has looked downright lethargic and rudderless. Here's a pro tip: Don't take Melatonin before a big match. I'm serious. After a series of late night matches Stef took Melatonin, desperate to get a day nap before his match with Carlos Alcaraz at the French and by his own admission, was eliminated before he woke up.

I can't even ....

Will either right the ship? Good guys and entertaining offensive players. Fingers crossed for both.

[jimlosaltos]

ATP says that Alcaraz, Djokovic and Medvedev all have the opportunity to be number 1 in the world at the end of the Wimbledon fortnight.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/wimbledon-2023-world-no-1-scenarios

[jimlosaltos]

Something tells me the draw won't pan out like this. Let's see what comes to fruition on quarter finals day...

That's one bet I'd make

[stotty]

Men's Singles Draw


Gentlemen's Singles - Projected Quarter-finals

Carlos Alcaraz vs Holger Rune
Daniil Medvedev vs Stefanos Tsitsipas

Jannik Sinner vs Casper Ruud
Andrey Rublev vs Novak Djokovic

Something tells me the draw won't pan out like this. Let's see what comes to fruition on quarter finals day...

[jimlosaltos]

Potential Cinderella: Mirra Andreeva claims the 25th victory of her season (incl. ITF) topping Korpatsch to reach the Wimbledon main draw, the 16 yo no-flag is the youngest to do so since Coco Gauff.

-- First 3 matches on grass.
-- First 3 wins on grass.

-- 18-1 vs. lower ranked players in 2023.

filedata/fetch?id=101304&d=1688149873&type=thumb

[jimlosaltos]

Women's Singles Draw

Some questions on the women's side. Defending champ Elena Rybakina was a favorite at Roland Garros but pulled out as one of several players hit with a virus. Apparently, the unspecified bug is a bad one. Rybakina pulled out of Eastbourne last week citing the same stomach difficulties. So, Rybakina has only played two competitive matches on grass since last Wimbledon and lost the second to Donna Vekic at the BET.

Plus, yesterday we learned that Iga Swiatek pulled out of a final with a stomach virus.

Ladies projected quarter-finals:

Swiatek vs Gauff
Pegula vs Garcia

Rybakina vs Jabeur
Sakkari vs Sabalenka

Women's draw is tremendously imbalanced. According to the bookmakers' odds, here are the top 10 favorites for Wimbledon and their position in the draw:

Top half:

Swiatek
Gauff
Vekic

Bottom half:

Sabalenka
Rybakina
Kvitova
Jabeur
Krejcikova
Ostapenko
Sakkari

[jimlosaltos]

Men's Singles Draw

Carlos Alcaraz is the number one seed, and on draw Alcaraz would meet a resurgent Alexander Zverev in the fourth round, then Rune, Tsitispas/Medvedev all just to make the final.

Djokovic has an easier draw on paper, meeting Rublev (7) in a quarter and Ruud (4) in a semifinal. The wild card is Jannik Sinner (8) who will likely be favored over Ruud (4), whose worst surface by far is grass. Sinner led Djokovic 2 sets to love last year, before falling in five sets, but has not been playing his best this year, beyond a victory in Miami on hard courts.

Gentlemen's Singles - Projected Quarter-finals

Carlos Alcaraz vs Holger Rune
Daniil Medvedev vs Stefanos Tsitsipas

Jannik Sinner vs Casper Ruud
Andrey Rublev vs Novak Djokovic

The second quarter looks wide open since Tsitsipas comes in after playing a terrible grass tune-up cycle. Medvedev has been a bit better, but is more of a, dare I type this, "hard court specialist"?