Wimbledon 2011

[Sir David Gray]

The biggest two weeks of the tennis calendar are fast approaching and today the draw was made for the main draw of The Championships.

Andy Murray will play Daniel Gimeno Traver in his opening round match, defending champion Rafael Nadal will play Michael Russell, Roger Federer faces Mikhail Kukushkin and Novak Djokovic will play Jeremy Chardy.

Amazingly, though, the biggest story of the first round draw goes to two players who are further down the rankings.

After their five set marathon which resulted in 138 games being played in the decider, John Isner and Nicholas Mahut have been drawn to face each other once again in the opening round.

I wonder what the odds will be on another 70-68 scoreline in the fifth set.

The first seed that Murray could face would be the 27th seed, Marin Cilic, in the third round. They should have faced each other at Queen's last week but Cilic pulled out.

In the last 16, Murray could play Stanislas Wawrinka, who he also played at that stage of the tournament in '09.

In the quarter finals, Murray may face Andy Roddick, who he destroyed at Queen's last weekend.

And in the semis, should Murray get that far, it may be Rafael Nadal who is lying in wait for him.

Murray cannot play Djokovic or Federer until the final.

All that is a long way off though and on paper it does look like quite a tough draw for Murray. He shouldn't have too many problems in the opening couple of rounds but guys like Cilic, Wawrinka and Roddick are experienced pros and won't be easy to beat.

Of course, a lot of things could happen before that stage of the tournament and Murray must take one match at a time.

Dan Cox plays Sergiy Stakhovsky, Dan Evans plays Florian Mayer and James Ward plays Michael Llodra.

[HibbyAndy]

Cillic in the 3rd round is a shocker!..I didnt really expect Andy to get someone half decent till bout the 4th round, Still fancy him to play Nadal in the semi's But like you say FB he has his work cut out if he wants to go far in the tournament dispensing the possibility of players like Wawrinka (Hate that spotty faced canute), And Roddick.

Go Andy

[Sir David Gray]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Cillic in the 3rd round is a shocker!..I didnt really expect Andy to get someone half decent till bout the 4th round, Still fancy him to play Nadal in the semi's But like you say FB he has his work cut out if he wants to go far in the tournament dispensing the possibility of players like Wawrinka (Hate that spotty faced canute), And Roddick.

Go Andy

There's 4 seeds in all the 8 sections of the draw, which takes you up to the last 16. In Murray's section, the seeds are Murray, Cilic, Gasquet and Wawrinka.

That basically means that if the draw goes according to plan, all the seeds will begin to play each other from the third round onwards.

The good thing for Murray is that Cilic does not come into Wimbledon in the best of form and he doesn't have a great record at Wimbledon either (his best performance was in '08 when he got to the last 16). He may even struggle a bit in his first round match against Ivan Ljubicic.

I would expect Murray's first real test not to come before the last 16.

[Sir David Gray]

Order of play for day one has been announced;

Defending champion, Rafael Nadal, will be up first on Centre Court against Michael Russell, with that match starting at 1pm.

Andy Murray kicks off his tournament against Daniel Gimeno Traver in the third match of the day on Centre Court, so that match should be on at around 4pm-ish.

Other Brits in action tomorrow are;

Katie O'Brien v Kimiko Date Krumm (12pm on Court 2)
Naomi Broady v Anne Keothavong (approx. 5.30pm on Court 12)
Sergiy Stakhovsky v Dan Cox (approx 3.30pm on Court 14)

[Sir David Gray]

Oh well, that'll be British player number one out already!

17 minutes played and Katie O'Brien has already lost the opening set 6-0 to Kimiko Date Krumm.

She's just won the opening game of the second set though!

[Sir David Gray]

Second set was better but Date Krumm beats O'Brien 6-0 7-5 so the first British player goes out after about an hour.

Oh well...

Rafa just starting on Centre Court just now. He's 1-1 in the opening set.

[The Mook]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Oh well, that'll be British player number one out already!

17 minutes played and Katie O'Brien has already lost the opening set 6-0 to Kimiko Date Krumm.

She's just won the opening game of the second set though!

Just heard that Date Krumm is 40, retired back in 1996 and decided to make a comeback 12 years later

[Sylar]

Schiavone vs Dokic on centre court just now.

Looks like it's a bit chilly

[Craig_in_Prague]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Schiavone vs Dokic on centre court just now.

Looks like it's a bit chilly

Could hang your coat up

[Sir David Gray]

Rain's arrived and they're currently off the court until the Centre Court roof is covered.

Another British player is in trouble as Dan Cox lost the first set to Sergiy Stakhovsky, 6-2.

[HibbyAndy]

I love watching Dokic, She just has so much grit and determination, Will to win and has that eye of the Tiger. She's had many many problems going on in her personal life over the years but when she plays Tennis its like she forgets all whats going on in her life, The Tennis court is her sanctuary

Piled on the pounds as far as i can see though,But still a great player and back in the top 50..And her chest is amazing

[hibsbollah]

Why is Dokic and Sciavonne so early? Surely theyre both seeds?

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

I love watching Dokic, She just has so much grit and determination, Will to win and has that eye of the Tiger. She's had many many problems going on in her personal life over the years but when she plays Tennis its like she forgets all whats going on in her life, The Tennis court is her sanctuary

Piled on the pounds as far as i can see though,But still a great player and back in the top 50..And her chest is amazing

First 10 lines were a good review of the ladies tennis.
Line 11, seems fair enough!

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Judging by the spacing of the txt on my phone anyway!

[Sir David Gray]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Why is Dokic and Sciavonne so early? Surely theyre both seeds?

Schiavone's a seed, Dokic is currently ranked 45th in the world and only the top 32 are seeds.

She's actually a lot higher than she was a few months ago. At the start of the year, she was outside the top 100.

Andy's just coming on!

[Craig_in_Prague]

This chap is given Murray a good match.......

Although 1st sets tend to be like that........if he wins this one, I'd imagine he'll win 3-0.....

[Barney McGrew]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

This chap is given Murray a good match.........

It's going to be a bit more than that by the looks of it.

He's at the top of his game and Murray is all over the place. Andy needs to get his finger out pronto or he's going to be watching the rest of Wimbledon fortnight in his house.

[bingo70]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

It's going to be a bit more than that by the looks of it.

He's at the top of his game and Murray is all over the place. Andy needs to get his finger out pronto or he's going to be watching the rest of Wimbledon fortnight in his house.

I think he'll be alright, never heard of this guy so i'm guessing he's not used to best of 5 sets so although he's going out all guns blazing just now he's likely to tire, the adrenelin will wear off pretty soon i'd imagine.

IMO Murray will win this 3-1

[lyonhibs]

A lot of supposition and arrogance going on in the commentary box about Traver 'dropping his standards'. Murray needs to improve by a factor of 3 at least to win this match. Massively dissapointing so far from Murray.

[bingo70]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

A lot of supposition and arrogance going on in the commentary box about Traver 'dropping his standards'. Murray needs to improve by a factor of 3 at least to win this match. Massively dissapointing so far from Murray.

There's a reason for that though, this guy is playing at way above his level, in a best of 3 sets match you are more likely to oget away with it than in a 5 set match, sooner or later his standards are likely to drop and when he does Murray has got to make it count which i'm sure he will

[AFKA5814_Hibs]

Murray turning the screw now. 4-0 up in 3rd set.

[hibsbollah]

I'm feeling sorry for the Spaniard now. Hes totally lost it. He started off superbly as well.

[lyonhibs]

aye ok, the Spainard has totally fallen apart here. Mentally and - it seems - physically. Bit of a shame to be honest.

[HibbyAndy]

Murray was outstanding after the 1st set...Infact he was actually quite good in the 1st set but the Spaniard played way above his station ..He totally fell apart after an hour.Gasquet potentially in the 4th round looks a cracking match.

[HibbyAndy]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

aye ok, the Spainard has totally fallen apart here. Mentally and - it seems - physically. Bit of a shame to be honest.

Totally crumbled.

[Sir David Gray]

Only caught the first couple games of the first set and then I had to go out.

Disappointing that Murray dropped a set but it happens. Nadal didn't play well throughout the first week of the French Open, got taken to five sets in the first round and then in the second week, when it really mattered, he turned on the style and eventually won the title.

He'll just be pleased that he was on Centre Court today and he was able to get his match finished and get into the next round. With the weather today, if he had been on any other court, the chances are he wouldn't have been able to get finished today and would have needed to come back tomorrow.

He'll likely be playing Tobias Kamke next in the second round on Wednesday as he is two sets to love up against Blaz Kavcic, although Kamke is losing the third set 5-1.

Tomorrow, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are in first round action, with both being on Centre Court.

Brit-watch tomorrow will be;

James Ward vs Michael Llodra (approx. 3pm on Court 2)
Mathilde Johansson vs Heather Watson (approx. 7pm on Court 3)
Florian Mayer vs Dan Evans (approx. 3pm on Court 5)
Naomi Broady vs Anne Keothavong (12pm on Court 12)
Elena Baltacha vs Mona Barthel (approx. 4pm on Court 12)
Sergiy Stakhovsky vs Dan Cox (approx. 2pm on Court 14)
MATCH TO RESUME AT 6-2 0-1.
Klara Zakopalova vs Emily Webley-Smith (approx. 6.30pm on Court 14)
Angelique Kerber vs Laura Robson (not before 5pm, court TBA)

The rematch of John Isner vs Nicolas Mahut is tomorrow as well so that might be worth a wee watch.

[Sir David Gray]

Two Brits have fallen so far on day two of The Championships.

Dan Cox lost his match, which was carried over from yesterday to Sergiy Stakhovsky, in straight sets and Naomi Broady lost to fellow British player, Anne Keothavong.

That last result does obviously mean that Britain will have at least two players in round two, after Andy Murray's success yesterday.

Keothavong will now face number eight seed, Petra Kvitova, in the next round.

[Sir David Gray]

A wee update;

Federer wins the opening set against Mikhail Kukushkin in a tiebreak.

Fernando Verdasco has fought back from two sets down against Radek Stepanek and it is now 6-6 in the deciding set. Remember there's no tiebreak in the decider so could it be a repeat of Isner/Mahut last year?

Elena Baltacha has just taken the first set, 6-2, against young German Mona Barthel.

Dan Evans lost the opening set against Florian Mayer, in a tiebreak.

[Sir David Gray]

Britain will have a third player into the 2nd round as Elena Baltacha has just beaten Mona Barthel 6-2 6-4.

Dan Evans has just dropped the second set to Florian Mayer, despite serving for it at 5-4.

Roger Federer is through to round two after beating Mikhail Kukushkin 7-6 6-4 6-2.

[Sir David Gray]

For the third year in a row, only one British male will be in the second round of Wimbledon. Dan Evans, Dan Cox and James Ward all made first round exits this afternoon which only leaves Andy Murray to fly the flag.

Evans had a creditable result against Florian Mayer as he narrowly lost the opening two sets in tiebreaks and then took the third set 6-3 but he lost the fourth set 6-4.

Ward, who had a great run at Queen's just over a week ago, lost out in straight sets to Michael Llodra.

In the women's draw, Laura Robson and Heather Watson still haven't played their first round matches yet so they will take place tomorrow.

Emily Webley-Smith lost an epic match against Klara Zakopalova 6-3 5-7 8-6.

Brit-watch tomorrow;

Andy Murray vs Tobias Kamke (approx. 3.30pm on Court 1)
Anne Keothavong vs Petra Kvitova (approx. 5.30pm on Court 1)
Mathilde Johansson vs Heather Watson (12pm on Court 3)
Angelique Kerber vs Laura Robson (approx. 4pm on Court 18)

There was no repeat of last year's marathon between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut as Isner took the match in straight sets to get through to the second round.

This year, they played two fewer sets, 149 fewer games, the match was played over two fewer days and the match time was 9 hours and 2 minutes shorter than last year.

Novak Djokovic also won today in straight sets against Jeremy Chardy.

I leave tomorrow to go down to London, where I have 4 days at Wimbledon. Really looking forward to it so we'll need someone else to do the updates on this thread over the next week as I'm not back until next Wednesday.

Let's hope Andy Murray is still in the mix by the end of next Wednesday as that will mean he will have made the semi finals of Wimbledon for the third successive year.