What’s Up on Wednesday?

In case you really haven’t been following Wimbledon, or my blog, Wednesday is men’s quarterfinals day at the All England Club. If you’ve checked out the post below, you’ll know that the women’s quarterfinals were riddled with upsets. The only favorite to make it through was Serena Williams, who is now heavily favored to win her 13^th major title. Serena is the first seed on the women’s side and after Tuesday’s action, Zvonareva, seeded 21, is the only other seed in the women’s top four. There aren’t quite as many possibilities for upset on the men’s side. In fact, the ‘worst’ player Federer could face in a potential final would be Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who is seeded number 10, not exactly Petra Kvitova. However, we also have the chance of seeing the top four men’s seeds advance to the final four of the tournament. Let’s see what stands in their way.

First up on Centre Court…Roger Federer vs. Tomas Berdych:

Berdych has beaten Federer twice, most recently in Miami in March of this year. This means that he has a chance. Federer hasn’t looked quite so invincible lately as he has in the past and exited the French Open in the quarterfinals for the first time in 24 Grand Slams. Berdych actually reached the semifinals at the French Open. Could he really repeat the feat at Wimbledon? No. Berdych may have a big game, but so does Federer and when it comes down to it, Federer is mentally tougher. Federer can fight back if he finds himself in a hole (see: first round match against Falla.) I feel like Berdych might self destruct. I saw him beat Andy Murray in Paris, which was a great result for the Czech and he does play an excellent game of tennis. However, I’m not giving up on Roger yet.

Next…Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Andy Murray:

Andy Murray is Britain’s best hope of winning any major title in the foreseeable future. After living in London for six months, I’m fairly sure that even the English would put aside their hatred of the surly Scot if he could win their hometown slam. I would love to see the celebrations if Murray won Wimbledon. The Brits have nothing else to do now that England’s out of the World Cup. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though. Murray still has two matches to win before we crown him Champion. Tsonga is seeded tenth and prior to this year, his best result at Wimbledon was the 4^th round. He’s an excellent player, but grass isn’t his favored surface. I think Murray should make it through to the semis, but I’m not calling him for the final until I find out his opponent.

Who’s up on Court 1…Novak Djokovic vs. Yen-Hsun Lu:

On paper, this is the most lopsided match up of the day. Lu is the only unseeded man left in the tournament and he is ranked number 82 in the world. Djokovic is an Australian Open champion ranked number 3. Clearly he will go into this match as the favorite; however, Andy Roddick was also heavily favored against Lu. Lightning doesn’t strike twice. Lu has had a dream run at Wimbledon this year, but Djokovic should win. He toughed it out against Hewitt on Monday even though he was clearly feeling ill. A couple of years ago, I think Djokovic would have fallen apart against a player like Hewitt on a good day, no less when he was feeling poorly. He’s not exactly known on tour for sticking out a match when he isn’t feeling well. I think Djokovic is maturing and should have no issues ending Lu’s tournament.

Finally…Robin Soderling vs. Rafael Nadal:

We saw this match up just a few weeks ago and it ended up being a bit one sided, but for some reason I find myself looking forward to this match most of all. As I said, there’s a good chance that the top four seeds will end up in the top four this year, but I think the man with the best chance of stopping that is Robin Soderling. I think Robin Soderling is capable of winning a Grand Slam. I’m not saying he’ll win Wimbledon this year, but I think he’s definitely a contender for a major title. Nadal doesn’t look as unshakeable as he did in Paris and Soderling has beaten him before. This should be a close match. I honestly think Nadal will prevail, but I would love to see Soderling pull off another great upset.

Is Court 2 Really the Graveyard?

It was for Andy Roddick on Monday, but I think if you asked Yen-Hsun Lu, he would tell you the exact opposite. The folklore says that Court 2 is the Graveyard of Champions. Former champions like Serena and Venus Williams, Pete Sampras, and Andre Agassi have all gone out to lesser known opponents on this outside show court. However, I wouldn’t necessarily say that the court had anything to do with the unlucky outcome of the match. I was certainly shocked to see Andy Roddick exit the tournament on Monday but Tuesday offered significantly more shocking defeats on the women’s side, none of which occurred on Court 2. Let’s take a look at what happened in today’s women’s quarter final action.

Vera Zvonareva def. Kim Clijsters: Kim Clijsters kicked off her comeback with a bang winning the 2009 US Open. Since then, she’s posted reasonable performances, but I was pretty shocked by her exit to Zvonareva. Clijsters looked in charge at the beginning of this match, winning the first set 6-3. I should note, that in February of last year, Vera Zvonareva was ranked 5^th in the world and Kim Clijsters wasn’t even playing tennis, so this isn’t really as shocking a victory as we all might think it is. Zvonareva may be ranked 21 now, but that is mostly due an ankle injury that plagued her for most of 2009. I’m guessing she’s recovered at this point and I give her excellent chances against Tsvetana Pironkova. I’m not 100% convinced though, because we all know what Pironkova is capable of…

Tsvetana Pironkova def. Venus Williams: Venus Williams has won Wimbledon 5 times as well as 2 US Open titles. Tsvetana Pironkova comes from Bulgaria, a country that doesn’t even have grass courts. She has never made it past the second round of any Grand Slam tournament and hasn’t won a single WTA title. Clearly you all pegged Pironkova to win this right? I can’t even imagine what the odds were on this one. To make matters even worse, Venus barely put up a fight, losing 6-2 6-3. Maybe there’s something about players ranked 82, as both Pironkova and Lu, the man that took out Roddick, are ranked 82 in the world. Who knows? Or, maybe Williams was having the odd off-day at Wimbledon, but this upset will most likely be the most surprising of the tournament.

Finalist: Vera Zvonareva – I have some doubts that Pironkova will be able to keep this momentum going. Generally an upset this incredible is followed by a let down.

Petra Kvitova def. Kaia Kanepi: Honestly, I’d never heard either of these names before this tournament and was shocked to find out that Kanepi was a Top 20 player as late as last year. I watched as Kanepi held match point after match point and self destructed. However, props to Kvitova for capitalizing on the opportunity. She was just as likely to choke as Kanepi but had no problem closing out the match when it came down to it. What’s Kvitova’s prize for fighting back to valiantly: a semi-final match against 12 time Grand Slam winner, Serena Williams. Fate’s funny that way. Sorry Kvitova.

Serena Williams def. Na Li: No surprises here. Serena managed to bring some order back to the day. She looks in fine form and, like I said, I would not want to be Petra Kvitova.

Finalist: Serena Williams

Champion: Serena Williams

What's to Come?

We've made it all the way through Middle Sunday, which means tomorrow is Magic Monday, possibly the most exciting tennis day of the year. In case you're not familiar with the Wimbledon format, there is no tennis played on the middle Sunday of the tournament. All singles round of 16 matches are completed on the second Monday, which is often termed Magic Monday. This is a very popular ticket as all of the best players are in action on the same day. I don’t usually like to do this, but I’d like to take a brief look at each match up going into week 2.

Gentlemen’s Singles

Roger Federer vs. Jurgen Melzer: Jurgen Melzer made an impressive run at the French Open earlier this month and is looking to repeat that result at Wimbledon. However, he’s been cursed with Roger Federer as an opponent. I know Federer’s not playing his best tennis, but even mediocre Federer is a terrifying prospect. Plus, Federer cruised through his match against Arnaud Clement and will be going into Monday’s match well rested and confident. I don’t think he’ll have much trouble dispatching Melzer.

Tomas Berdych vs. Daniel Brands: Who is Daniel Brands? I’m still not really sure where this guy came from. Considering he’s never played Wimbledon before, I’m pretty impressed with his results thus far. He managed to defeat Nikolay Davydenko in the second round and he’s also pretty easy on the eyes. I’m really not sure how I’ve missed him. As intrigued as I am, I think I’ll side with Berdych in this match-up. Berdych had a great result at the French and should ease his way into the quarters at Wimbledon.

Novak Djokovic vs. Lleyton Hewitt: I think this should be the most exciting round of 16 match-up. Both players have had pretty good tournaments, although Djokovic did have a real first round scare against Olivier Rochus. Hewitt recently won the grass title in Halle leading up to Wimbledon by defeating Roger Federer. He’s on a bit of a hot streak and I think he’ll prevail in five.

Yen-Hsun Lu vs. Andy Roddick: Roddick is one of my favorite players and I desperately want him to win a Wimbledon title. Lu has played in seven Wimbledons and never made it past the second round. He’s had a very lucky year, getting to the second week of a major for the first time, but I think his run is over. Roddick has been in the Wimbledon final three times now and has proven himself to be a world class grass court player. He should have no issues sending Lu home in the fourth round.

Julien Benneteau vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga: The battle of the Frenchmen. Both of these men have flown under the radar in the first week. People tend to forget that Tsonga made it to the finals of the Australian Open in 2008, so I guess he could make some kind of run at Wimbledon as well. I think Tsonga will muscle his way into the quarters, but not any further than that.

Sam Querrey vs. Andy Murray: I didn’t have high hopes for Murray entering Wimbledon considering his performance this year. I think I might have been wrong. Murray didn’t drop a single set all week. Murray shouldn’t have too much trouble getting past Querrey (maybe 4 sets?) and after that, he should make it to at least the semi finals, where he will most likely meet Nadal.

Robin Soderling vs. David Ferrer: I don’t have much to say about this one. David Ferrer is a great tennis player, but has never made it past the fourth round of Wimbledon before. Robin Soderling is probably one of the hottest commodities on the ATP tour at the moment and recently played in the French Open final for the second consecutive year. He also hasn’t dropped a set all week. Soderling in straights.

Paul-Henri Mathieu vs. Rafael Nadal: I have to take Nadal in this one. Two years ago Mathieu was a top 15 player, but his ranking has fallen all the way to 63 and he’s never made it past the fourth round at Wimbledon. Nadal may be a bit shaky considering his last two matches, but he shouldn’t have too much trouble getting through to the quarters, that’s when he can start to worry.

Ladies’ Singles

Serena Williams vs. Maria Sharapova: Both of these women are former Wimbledon champions so this should make for an excellent match. Maria Sharapova looks like she’s back to her old self and that’s nice to see. However, Serena Williams has pretty much dominated women’s tennis for the past several years. She’s the reigning champ and I think she’ll prevail in 3 sets.

Na Li vs. Agnieszka Radwanska: I’m not sure I really know enough about either player to judge this match adequately. Radwanska was pretty highly touted in the last couple of years, but seems to have faded from the spotlight, while Na Li is a pretty common name in the early second week of majors. Na Li to win.

Caroline Wozniacki vs. Petra Kvitova: Caroline Wozniacki may be young, but she’s certainly making herself known on the tour. She made it to the US Open final in September and I think she’s got even more potential. I’m not sure Wimbledon is her tournament, but I don’t think she’ll have any issues against Kvitova.

Klara Zakopalova vs. Kaia Kanepi: These are two names I wasn’t expecting to see, considering I’d never heard either before this week. Kanepi is the only qualifier left in the tournament on either side and she’s from Estonia, not exactly the most well known country for tennis. I’m not really sure who will win, but I like a good Cinderella story, so Kanepi.

Kim Clijsters vs. Justine Henin: This is probably going to be the most talked about match of the day. Both women are multiple grand slam winners have come back from long hiatuses. Wimbledon is the only major title that has eluded Henin and she has said that winning Wimbledon was her reason for coming out of retirement. Clijsters made her comeback with a bang by winning the 2009 US Open on a wild card entry. Both women are playing great tennis, but I think Henin is a bit hungrier. Henin in 3.

Vera Zvonareva vs. Jelena Jankovic: Jelena Jankovic has always been unpredictable. She lost in the third round last year to Melanie Oudin, who was a relative nobody at the time. However, I think she still has what it takes to beat Zvonareva.

Tsvetana Pironkova vs. Marion Bartoli: I like Marion Bartoli. She’s the number one French woman and a former Wimbledon finalist. I’ve never really heard of Tsvetana Pironkova, so I think I’ll have to take Bartoli in this one.

Jarmila Groth vs. Venus Williams: Jarmila Groth broke through earlier this month at the French Open, but probably won’t have much of a chance to go any further at Wimbledon. Venus Williams has won the title five times. She may have turned 30 this year, but she doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Her grass court game is incredible and I think she’s well on her way to winning a sixth title.

I’ll check in later and we can all analyze where my predictions went wrong.

Half Way There

We’re halfway through Wimbledon now and I’ve been terrible about updating. Believe me, I’ve had plenty of opinions this week, so I’m going to fill you in on some of what I think were this week’s most important tennis moments.

Have any of you noticed an abundance of five set matches? The Isner/Mahut match clearly comes to mind as it dominated the news from Wimbledon’s first week, but there have been several other five set matches this week, even if they weren’t quite so epic. I think it’s been a while since we’ve seen Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal tested so heavily in the first week of a Grand Slam. Federer started off his title defense with a five set match in both the first round and a four set match against a qualifier in the second round. In the first round, Federer somehow lost the first two sets of his match against Alejandro Falla (someone he’s beaten twice in the last month) and fought back to keep himself in the tournament. News outlets around the world seemed to be preparing articles about the impact of Federer’s first round loss, but he isn’t the Greatest of All Time for nothing. The true greats are the players that can fight their way back from a two set hole and win the match. Federer would live to fight another die, and I mean it when I say fight. It wasn’t quite the battle from the first round, but Federer did drop a set to Serbian qualifier Ilia Bozoljac. However, not to worry, Federer looked in top form during his third round match against Arnaud Clement. Nadal has been equally off balance, just squeaking by in his second and third round matches. In the second round Nadal faced off against Robin Haase of the Netherlands and was forced into five sets again in the third round against Philipp Petzschner of Germany. The lack of dominance of the top two seeds should make some others very hopeful. Andy Roddick, Andy Murray, and Robin Soderling have all had very strong starts in this tournament and it looks like any of them have as solid a chance at the title as Roger or Rafa do.

There’s been plenty of media attention, but I can’t skip the Queen’s visit. On Thursday, the Queen attended Wimbledon for the first time in over 30 years to watch Andy Murray play his second round match against Jarkko Nieminen. Murray won in straight sets. There was a lot of media speculation over who would get to play on Centre Court during the Queen’s visit (not that it mattered, as the Queen left directly after Murray’s match.) Once the official schedule was released, the talk of the day turned to who was jilted out of a chance to play for the Queen. First of all, the Queen met many players including the Williams sisters, Andy Roddick, and Roger Federer early in the day before taking in Murray’s match. Serena Williams did have a match on Thursday, and as the number one seed, probably should have been on Centre Court instead of Court 1. However, Roger Federer is the number one seed and has played some of his matches on Court 1 as well. Granted the Queen’s attendance wasn’t a question when it came to Federer, but I don’t believe that the Wimbledon coordinators were intentionally trying to jilt Serena. If anything, I would say that Serena’s outburst at the US Open is probably what kept her off Centre Court on Thursday, not her race or her attractiveness.

Speaking of outbursts, Victor Hanescu, the usually emotionless Romanian, was fined $7,500 for unsportsmanlike conduct and $7,500 for lack of effort in his third round match against Daniel Brands. The $7,500 fine for unsportsmanlike was well deserved. He spit at the crowd. I was very surprised to here this considering how steady he usually is on the court. Apparently everyone has a breaking point and the crowd found Hanescu’s. I tend to disagree with the lack of effort fine. I think this is kind of a silly rule anyway. Why would a player intentionally not try when they could just retire from the match? Hanescu’s match went to five sets before he retired, clearly the guy was trying. He won two sets. I know foot faults are uncommon and generally a player shouldn’t have that many double faults, but it’s possible that he really was injured or more likely that he was a little angry after the spitting incident and wasn’t playing at his best level.

Let’s check in with the women’s side for a moment. We saw early round exits from both French Open finalists Francesca Schiavone and Samantha Stosur. However, all of the major contenders for the title are still playing their best tennis. Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin look to be in pretty good shape. It’s a shame that one of them will be out after the fourth round, but that match up should be pretty exciting. Maria Sharapova, a former Wimbledon champ, is playing very well considering her recent form. I would consider her a possible second time champion, if she wasn’t playing Serena Williams tomorrow. Number three seed Caroline Wozniacki is also playing some great tennis and could give Serena some trouble down the line. Serena and Venus both look to be in tip top shape this year. I’m definitely predicting another all-Williams final.

I’m sure I could go on and on about the first week, but I think I’ll leave it at this. We’ve got another full week of tennis ahead and I think things are about to get very exciting.

Will It Ever End???

I’m so glad that I didn’t sleep in this morning. I started the morning off watching the USA vs. Algeria football match. I’ve been following the World Cup pretty closely, so I didn’t mind that it preempted Wimbledon considering the position of the US team. As a quick side note, congratulations are due to team USA for finishing first in their group for the World Cup. World Cup matches may not be available on the big screens at Wimbledon, but the players are certainly following along in the locker room.

Unfortunately, I don’t subscribe the television sports package, so I couldn’t switch over to the channel showing Wimbledon. However, at noon I got to start watching some tennis. What I didn’t know was exactly how much tennis I was getting myself into. After checking out the Wimbledon website, I was expecting to watch Roger Federer’s match. I barely believed my eyes when I began watching the Isner/Mahut match and saw the scoreline. I’m sure that most people had the same reaction I did. I believe it was somewhere around 28-28 when I tuned in. I was hoping to get some things done today after I finished watching this match, but somehow, what I assumed would be at most 30 more minutes turned into a grueling battle that I’m not sure is ever going to end. At 9:10, tournament officials decided to call the match for a second night because of darkness. The score stands at 59 all in the fifth set. This match has shattered all previous records of match length, set length, and number of aces. My guess is this match will end fairly quickly in the morning as one of the players will probably recover slightly better overnight than the other. I’m not going to venture a guess as to who will win though. The big question at this point is what happens to the second round match for the champion of this epic. Since this match started on Tuesday and ended on Thursday, the winner will be scheduled to play the second round on Thursday as well. Maybe the Wimbledon directors will have a heart and give the guy and extra night, but I wouldn’t count on it, depending on how long tomorrow’s continuance goes on. Anyway, Thiemo de Bakker should be pleased after winning his five setter (although significantly less epic) because no matter who wins tomorrow, de Bakker will go into the second round much better rested than his opponent.

I think I’ve explained that this match is incredible, but I would really like to pay tribute to the effort that John Isner and Nicolas Mahut have put in to this battle. The last 30 or 40 games may not have been the prettiest tennis in the world, but playing seven hours of tennis in one day is a feat by itself. In seven hours, neither man faltered, neither succumbed to injury or exhaustion. By the end of the day, John Isner looked like a man who wanted to die, lumbering onto the court after the change over and stretching out a ridiculously long arm (he is 6’9”) and hitting a clean return. I guess he was saving any extra energy for when it counted. On the other hand, Mahut looked relatively un-fatigued, although at times both men seemed to be stunned by what was happening. Well into the night, Mahut was still launching himself into the air to hit the ball and picking himself up off the grass to start the next point. Ironically, in the end, it was Mahut who refused to continue play while Isner proposed they finish out the match under the lights of Centre Court. Like I said, the rallies may not have been the most exciting we’ve ever seen, but somehow these guys tired at nearly the same rate, neither having enough energy to finish off the other or yielding to the exhaustion and giving up the next game. I for one cannot wait to see the end of this match tomorrow, provided that ESPN actually shows the end of the match. I did not appreciate the Australia/Serbia World Cup match being show instead of the tennis match I had already invested several hours in just because it ran over its allotted time. I hope they get a lot of angry letters from tennis fans who feared they would miss the end of this match.

You may not recognize it, but the photo above is actually Court 18, where this match has been taking place, during the off season for Wimbledon. The courts look a little different when there are fans, a net, and the court has been outlined. In case you were wondering, all of the photos I use of the blog (unless otherwise stated) are my own photos from visits to various tournaments and locations (which is why they may not always match quite perfectly.)

It may not seem like it, but there was actually other news at Wimbledon today. Roger Federer was pushed to four sets by a qualifier. If you read my previous post, I’m not going to change my predictions just yet. Federer hasn’t lost yet and each match is a new start. Wimbledon sometimes has magic effects on people. However, that magic didn’t show up for Nikolay Davydenko, who was dismissed in straight sets by Daniel Brands of Germany. Well, that’s a name I don’t think we’ll be hearing much longer.

Centre Court should be extra exciting tomorrow. The Queen will pay her first visit to Wimbledon in over 30 years. For her viewing pleasure, the tournament directors have set up a star studded lineup: Andy Murray vs. Jarkko Nieminen, Caroline Wozniacki vs. Kai-Chen Chang, and finally Rafael Nadal vs. Robin Hasse. The three stars should have no trouble putting away these relatively unknown opponents and the queen should be home in time for an early dinner.

Wimbledon 2010 Preview

In just a few hours, my favorite two weeks of the tennis year are set to begin: Wimbledon. Unfortunately, I had to return back to the US after my trip to Paris and won’t be in London for this year’s Championships. In January, I had the opportunity to visit the grounds of the All England Club. I’ll be the first to admit that the tour and museum will only interest true die-hard fans, but considering this is my favorite tournament, I loved every rainy, cold moment. Luckily, I’m free for the next two weeks and will be able to watch every minute of action this year, except maybe the ones that occur at 6:30 in the morning. I might watch those on my DVR.

Anyway, the draw was released on Friday and I’ve taken some time to mull it over. First off, let’s take a look at Grand Slam champions in the men’s field…

Grand Slam Champs:

Roger Federer

Rafael Nadal

Novak Djokovic

Andy Roddick

Lleyton Hewitt

Juan Carlos Ferrero

Wimbledon Champs:

Roger Federer

Rafael Nadal

Lleyton Hewitt

Clearly, Federer and Nadal are the favorites for the men’s title. Nadal wasn’t able to defend his title and Wimbledon last year and is back to top form as we saw a few weeks ago at the French Open and as we’ve seen throughout the clay court season. I don’t think anyone would count out Roger Federer for a title at Wimbledon. Federer may have lost in the quarters at the French Open, something he hasn’t done in the 23 majors prior to that, but Wimbledon is a whole different ball game from the French. Until last year, Federer the French Open had eluded Federer as one of the last holes in his trophy collection. This year he wasn’t feeling nearly the same amount of pressure. He’s silenced the critics by beating all the records and continuing to play at a phenomenal level. I think Roger Federer will amp up his game for Wimbledon. Wimbledon was Roger’s first Grand Slam title and he was clearly devastated to lose the crown in 2008. I don’t think he’s going to want to part with the trophy this year after he fought so hard to get it back. So, let’s break down the draw a little bit more…

First Quarter:

The highest seeds in this quarter are Roger Federer (1) and Nikolay Davydenko (7.) Under normal circumstances, I would say Davydenko could be a threat, but he’s never played his best tennis at Wimbledon and this is his first major tournament back in action since breaking his wrist. In any case, Federer should really face any resistance until the quarter finals, where countryman Stanislas Wawrinka or Tomas Berdych.

Semi Finalist: Roger Federer

Second Quarter:

Now we’re looking at a slightly trickier section of the draw. There are a lot of possible contenders in this quarter, namely Novak Djokovic, Lleyton Hewitt, and Andy Roddick. Djokovic is always kind of iffy at Wimbledon and Hewitt is looking in top form at the moment. He recently ended a 15 match losing streak against Roger Federer to win the title at Halle. On the other side, Roddick shouldn’t have too much trouble making it to at least the quarters. My guess, Roddick d. Hewitt in the quarters, which means we’re in for a real treat in the form of a rematch between the two players who gave us such an epic final last year.

Semi Finalist: Andy Roddick

Semi Final Prediction: Roger Federer d. Andy Roddick

Third Quarter:

Andy Murray should have this in the bag. He’s made it to the semis before and I think he’s looking to avenge last year’s defeat. The next highest seed in this quarter is Fernando Verdasco (8.) Andy’s biggest threat could come in the form of Sam Querrey (18) in the fourth round, who won Queen’s last week. Murray should get an extra boost on Thursday, when he may get the opportunity to play in front of Queen Elizabeth II.

Semi Finalist: Andy Murray

Fourth Quarter:

Here’s where things get interesting. This is Nadal’s section of the draw and it holds a lot of hazardous players. Originally, I thought Nadal’s first test would come very early on, in the form of Ernests Gulbis, who’s been playing very well this year. However, he has withdrawn from the tournament. This means Nadal should have no trouble until the fourth round, where he is set to meet either Mikhail Youzhny or John Isner. Either of these guys could be tricky. Youzhny has his ups and downs, but overall he’s had a pretty good year and could put up some resistance. Nadal has played John Isner twice, both this year, and has won both of these confrontations. However, they haven’t played on grass before. If they end up meeting, I think Nadal will make it through, but Isner will put up a fight. The next problem, and a slightly bigger one (not physically, Isner is 6’9”) will most likely be Robin Soderling. Nadal had no real issue dispatching this guy in the final of the French Open, but Soderling has been Nadal twice in the past and is increasingly hungry to win his first Slam.

Semi Finalist: Rafael Nadal

Semi Final Prediction: Rafael Nadal d. Andy Murray

Final Prediction: Roger Federer d. Rafael Nadal

Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve got some time on my hands, so hopefully I’ll be blogging very often over the fortnight.

I very nearly forgot to mention the ladies side. I won't go into detail, but I believe we'll be seeing another all-Williams final, but this time Venus will prevail. I'll go into more detail on the women's side in my next post.

Diary of an American in Paris: Days 2,3 & 4

Hi all. While I had the best intentions of updating every day from Paris, somehow I just never seemed to have the time or adequate internet connection. Anyway, here are some of my thoughts from the last few days.

Day 2 (1st June)

I originally decided to skip the sightseeing today and head straight over to the tennis to ensure that I would get a seat on Chatrier to see Nadal's match. I arrived at Roland Garros around 3pm and approached the guard at the entrance. I wasn't quite as lucky as yesterday because he didn't speak English. After many attempts to get my point across, he informed me that they were no longer selling tickets at night. Disappointed, I asked another attendant if I would be able to purchase a ticket tomorrow morning. He did speak English, but unfortunately the news wasn't good. I would not be able to get a ticket tomorrow either.

I spent the rest of the day walking around Paris. After what felt like many miles, I stumbled upon a plaza with a large screen set up and several exhibition courts. I was glad I finally found something to do with the tennis and sat down to watch some of the match highlights on the big screen. Luckily, this was the one day that we got good weather, so it was nice to sit outside with other fans.

I did manage to catch a few televised matches today, even if I couldn't be there in person. I was particularly intrigued by the Djokovic/Ginepri match. As an American, I always like to see our guys do well, but clay courts just aren't American friendly. Robby was the last American left on the men's side of the draw and I consider that a pretty poor showing considering we've got Roddick, Querrey, and Isner. Ginepri is one of those players that lives in obscurity the vast majority of the time and then surfaces once every couple of years with a good performance. I was unimpressed with Djokovic today. A player of his caliber should be able to go out and crush a guy like Ginepri. Sure, he still won in 4 sets, but what was the second set all about? It seemed like a severe lapse in concentration. He can get away with stuff like this when he's playing second rate players, but up against someone like Federer or Nadal, the tiniest lapse could cost him the match. Spoiler Alert: Jurgen Melzer was able to take advantage of this lack of concentration and has now secured himself a spot in his first Grand Slam semi-final.

Day 3 (2nd June)

It's raining. I've chosen to spend my day watching the tennis on TV and take a bus tour of Paris later tonight. Clearly the matchup of the day is Roger Federer and Robin Soderling. These two have met on twelve previous occasions and Roger Federer has beaten Soderling in all twelve, including last year's French Open final. I predicted on Sunday that Soderling wouldn't make it past tennis' golden boy, but I must admit that I was wrong. I never doubted Soderling's abilities. He's an incredibly talented guy, but it's hard to like anyone's chances against Federer, especially when they've already lost to him twelve times.

I started watching this match from the beginning and was quite pleased to see them split the first two sets (everyone likes a close match); however, I was confident that Roger would come back to win it and continue his Grand Slam semi-final streak. Again, I was wrong. I chose a nice little Italian restaurant for dinner because it was showing the match. I watched as Federer succumbed to defeat. After getting over the initial shock of the situation, I was quite pleased for Soderling. He may not be very popular amongst the other players, but no one can doubt his determination. He is so focused. I was sitting close enough Sunday to have a very clear view of the players and Soderling has an almost crazed look in his eyes when he plays. He's passionate about improving on his results and I think this will help him get farther in all the big tournaments.

Now, the important question, what are Robin's chances of winning? He has an excellent shot at making it to the final for the second year in a row. His semi-final is against Tomas Berdych. As I explained on Sunday, Berdych is a very unassuming player. He doesn't have the drive that Soderling has and he's never made it this far in a Slam. He's bound to be a bit nervous. Soderling's problem lies in the final match. It's nearly certain that Soderling will face Nadal (who plays Jurgen Melzer on Friday) in the final on Sunday. I don't envy his position, facing Nadal in a French Open final is no easy feat. While we can consider the fact that Soderling beat Nadal in the fourth round of the French last year, Rafa is considerably healthier this year. He has won nearly every clay court title this season and doesn't seem to be slowing down. If these two meet on Sunday, my money's on Nadal to win. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of Robin Soderling though.

Day 4 (3rd June)

Fun Fact: I arrived at the St Charles train station in Marseille this morning. I was approached by a French woman while waiting and apparently she was quite certain that I was Nadia Petrova. It took me a couple of minutes, but I tried to explain that I was definitely not Nadia Petrova. She finally bought my story and moved on. I really don't see the resemblance.

Today was actually quite surprising on the women's side. It seems that regardless of who wins on Saturday, we will have a first time Grand Slam champion. Sam Stosur has played a very solid season this year and really seems to be keeping her head in the high level matches. Arguably, she had the toughest draw of anyone to get to the final this year. She defeated Justine Henin, Serena Williams, and Jelena Jankovic on the way to the final. Schiavone seems to have come out of nowhere, but she also had a considerably easier road to the final, particularly after Dementieva retired in their semi-final. Interestingly, if Schiavone wins on Saturday, she will be the first Italian to win a Grand Slam.

My prediction: Stosur in two sets.