2014 Wimbledon

[Sir David Gray]

Getting in first this time! :greengrin

The draw is made tomorrow for this year's Wimbledon and Andy Murray comes into the tournament as the defending champion.

The only other time he's started a Grand Slam as the defending champion was the US Open last year where he lost to Stanislas Wawrinka in the quarter finals.

As the number three seed at Wimbledon this year, he'll be hoping to do a bit better than that considering he can't meet Djokovic, Nadal or Federer until the semi finals.

It will be interesting to see how Rafael Nadal does this year after only winning one match in his previous two Wimbledons and Roger Federer will also be hoping to do better than his second round defeat last year.

Hope it's another great tournament. There's something special about the Wimbledon fortnight, it's one of my favourite times of the whole year so hopefully we'll be in for a lot of fantastic tennis with plenty of excitement and drama.

Roll on Monday. :aok:

[Sir David Gray]

Murray to play David Goffin in round one on Monday.

[Sir David Gray]

Murray's route to defending his title, if it goes with seeding;

Round one - David Goffin
Round two - Pablo Andujar
Round three - Roberto Bautista Agut
Round four - Fabio Fognini
Quarter finals - David Ferrer
Semi finals - Novak Djokovic
Final - Rafael Nadal

I wouldn't be surprised if David Ferrer loses before the quarter finals and he ends up playing Grigor Dimitrov instead.

[Sir David Gray]

Order of play on Centre Court on day 1;

1pm start

Andy Murray v David Goffin
Paula Kania v Li Na
Novak Djokovic v Andrey Golubev

Other British interest tomorrow will be;

Dan Evans v Andrey Kuznetsov on about 2:30pm on Court Two.
James Ward v Mikhail Youzhny on about 1pm on Court Three.
Johanna Konta v Shuai Peng on at 11:30am on Court Twelve.
Kyle Edmund v Andreas Haider-Maurer on about 2:30pm on Court Twelve.
Daniel Cox v Jeremy Chardy on about 1pm on Court Eighteen.
Naomi Broady v Timea Babos on about 2:30pm on Court Sixteen.

[heretoday]

Order of play on Centre Court on day 1;

1pm start

Andy Murray v David Goffin
Paula Kania v Li Na
Novak Djokovic v Andrey Golubev

Other British interest tomorrow will be;

Dan Evans v Andrey Kuznetsov on about 2:30pm on Court Two.
James Ward v Mikhail Youzhny on about 1pm on Court Three.
Johanna Konta v Shuai Peng on at 11:30am on Court Twelve.
Kyle Edmund v Andreas Haider-Maurer on about 2:30pm on Court Twelve.
Daniel Cox v Jeremy Chardy on about 1pm on Court Eighteen.
Naomi Broady v Timea Babos on about 2:30pm on Court Sixteen.

Thanks. Good work!

[Sir David Gray]

Johanna Konta having a great tussle against Shuai Peng at the moment.

Konta is serving at 4-5 in the first set and this game alone has lasted around 15 minutes!

[Sir David Gray]

Peng takes the opener 6-4.

[Sir David Gray]

Andy Murray had a straightforward victory over David Goffin, winning 6-1 6-4 7-5.

Murray will now play Blaz Rola in round two on Wednesday.

It wasn't such a happy day for most of the other Brits in action on day one though.

Naomi Broady was the only other British success as she defeated Timea Babos in three sets and she will now play either Caroline Wozniacki or Shahar Peer.

However Johanna Konta lost in three sets to Shuai Peng.

James Ward, Dan Cox, Dan Evans and Kyle Edmund all lost in the opening round.

On day two, Rafael Nadal gets his tournament underway and he plays second on Centre Court.

Roger Federer also starts tomorrow and he will be on Court One after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Jurgen Melzer finish their match from last night.

British players in action tomorrow are;

Samantha Murray v Maria Sharapova on Court One at around 3:30pm.
Heather Watson v Ajla Tomljanovic on Court Three at around 1:30pm.
Daniel Smethurst v John Isner on Court Three at around 2:30pm.
Tara Moore v Vera Zvonareva on not before 5pm.

[Sir David Gray]

No-one else watching this year? :dunno:

There was a win today for Heather Watson who is safely into round two but Daniel Smethurst and Samantha Murray were both hammered.

Tara Moore will return tomorrow to finish off her match against Vera Zvonareva and it is currently one set all.

Andy Murray will play his second round match tomorrow against Blaz Rola at 1pm on Court One.

Novak Djokovic plays his match against Radek Stepanek at around 4:30pm on Centre Court.

[heretoday]

I am getting that Murray mania again. He is a hard man to follow. His first serve is so unreliable.

[Mon Dieu4]

Watched Nadal today took a bit time to get going, loved when his opponent let out a Rick Flair Woooooooooo after winning a point

[Sir David Gray]

Watched Nadal today took a bit time to get going, loved when his opponent let out a Rick Flair Woooooooooo after winning a point

Watched his match whenever I could on the TV at work.

When I noticed Klizan had taken the first set, I did think that he may have been heading for another early exit at Wimbledon but I'm glad that he's through.

I hope he can get all the way through and play Murray in the final and for Murray to win!

[Pretty Boy]

brilliant stuff from Murray today. Marched through in quick time with no wasted energy.

I know his opponent wasn't great but you can only beat what is in front of you and Murray done that with a swagger.

[Sir David Gray]

brilliant stuff from Murray today. Marched through in quick time with no wasted energy.

I know his opponent wasn't great but you can only beat what is in front of you and Murray done that with a swagger.

Didn't see it due to work but losing only two games is impressive at any level of tennis, let alone a best of five sets Grand Slam match.

He now plays Roberto Bautista Agut in the third round on Friday and whilst he is certainly a step up in class in comparison with Blaz Rola, Murray certainly shouldn't have any concerns against him.

The draw's also opening up nicely for him as well after David Ferrer, who he was seeded to play in the quarter finals, was put out in five sets after losing to Andrey Kuznetsov, despite being two sets to one up.

Interesting match on Centre Court tomorrow as Rafael Nadal plays Lukas Rosol almost two years to the day since Rosol pulled off one of the biggest shocks in tennis history by defeating Nadal in the second round of Wimbledon in 2012.

Will lightning strike twice?

Rosol is certainly a better player than he was two years ago, as he is now 52nd in the world after being 100th in the rankings in 2012. I think Nadal will have too much for him tomorrow though.

[Hibee87]

Nadal Loses first set v Rosol 6-4......can this be a repeat of 2 years ago? I hope so as makes murrays life easier, however I think Djokovic is the one to beat, although he didnt have that easy a time against stepanik last night

[cabbageandribs1875]

Nadal will win wimbers...fact, end of etc etc











* imo of course :)

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

I don't think so. In my opinion only too, perhaps one or two will concur though.

[Sir David Gray]

Nadal will win wimbers...fact, end of etc etc











* imo of course :)


I don't think so. In my opinion only too, perhaps one or two will concur though.

My money's on Djokovic this year.

I think Nadal will probably get to the final as he doesn't really face much opposition in his half of the draw, with the possible exception of Federer, but I don't see him beating Nadal over five sets.

PS-Murray's third on Centre Court tomorrow so should be on around 4:30pm.

[Hiber-nation]

So easy again for Andy :thumbsup:

[Sir David Gray]

Another quick match for Murray tonight and safely into the last 16.

He now plays Kevin Anderson on Monday.

Novak Djokovic is also through to the second week after a straight sets victory over Gilles Simon, although he fell awkwardly and hurt himself.

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are on Centre Court tomorrow.

Looking forward to it! :aok:

[Sir David Gray]

Rafael Nadal loses the first set for the third match in a row in this year's Championships.

7-6 to Mikhail Kukushkin.

Not much happening elsewhere at the moment due to bad weather so the roof is closed on Centre Court.

[Sir David Gray]

Rafa levels things up by taking the second set 6-1.

Still no play elsewhere. It will be interesting to see if they decide to play tomorrow if they can't play much today.

As it stands, half of the men and women are still to play their 3rd round matches. Monday is traditionally the last 16 for both men and women and Tuesday is the women's quarter finals.

Could cause a bit of congestion.

[Sir David Gray]

Nadal takes the third set, also 6-1.

Kukushkin's pretty much given up now as Nadal's just broken at the start of the fourth set.

[Sir David Gray]

Rafael Nadal through to the last 16, beating Mikhail Kukushkin 6-7 6-1 6-1 6-1.

[Sir David Gray]

Major shock in the women's draw as Serena Williams goes out in the third round to Alize Cornet.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Ana Ivanovic looking well as per usual! Lisicki too. :-)

[Sir David Gray]

Murray on easy street.

Two sets up on Kevin Anderson right now.

Looking good for a quarter final place against either Grigor Dimitrov or Leonardo Mayer on Wednesday.

[Sir David Gray]

Murray wins 6-4 6-3 7-6.

Another straight sets victory and another quarter final place in a Grand Slam.

Come on, Andy.

[cabbageandribs1875]

poor Maria


http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/28110180


i don't normally watch any tennis until the final anyway :greengrin was Miss Sharapova one of them screamer types :rolleyes: can't be bothered with the screamers/grunters (not at tennis anyway)

[Sir David Gray]

Just seen shot of the year from Nick Kyrgios out on Centre Court against Nadal.

40-0 down, he just decided to open his legs and play the ball between his legs.

Stunning!

[Hibee87]

Just seen shot of the year from Nick Kyrgios out on Centre Court against Nadal.

40-0 down, he just decided to open his legs and play the ball between his legs.

Stunning!

Great shot, very cheeky. Although I think nadal will be too strong overall the boy is the future of tennis.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

poor Maria


http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/28110180


i don't normally watch any tennis until the final anyway :greengrin was Miss Sharapova one of them screamer types :rolleyes: can't be bothered with the screamers/grunters (not at tennis anyway)

What a racket she makes, pardon the pun! Kerber fully deserved her win as did Lisicki a wee bit earlier on.

[Sir David Gray]

Big shock in the making right now on Centre Court.

Nick Kyrgios leads Rafa Nadal by two sets to one.

Nadal will have to win in five sets if he's to get through to the quarter finals.

Cracking match so far.

[Hibee87]

Big shock in the making right now on Centre Court.

Nick Kyrgios leads Rafa Nadal by two sets to one.

Nadal will have to win in five sets if he's to get through to the quarter finals.

Cracking match so far.

And now a break up.......

[Hibee87]

Wow...hold serve, at least, and one massive Wimbledon shock

[Hibee87]

Stunning, dont think ive seen bigger shock at Wimbledon

[Pretty Boy]

Djokovic, Federer, Murray and Wawrinka will all be doing a wee jig right now.

Fantastic that an unseeded player will be in the semi finals.

[Sir David Gray]

Outstanding performance by Nick Kyrgios and definitely deserved that win.

It will be interesting to see if he can get himself mentally prepared for his match tomorrow against Milos Raonic.


Djokovic, Federer, Murray and Wawrinka will all be doing a wee jig right now.

Fantastic that an unseeded player will be in the semi finals.

Kyrgios is the only unseeded player left in the draw.

[Sergey]

Djokovic, Federer, Murray and Wawrinka will all be doing a wee jig right now.

Fantastic that an unseeded player will be in the semi finals.

Not quite true - Kyrigios is only in the quarter final and now plays the 8th seed for a place in the semi.

The other players are seeded 1 - 3 - 5 - 11 - 4 - 26

[Sir David Gray]

Touch of class by Nadal at the end though by staying behind to walk off the court alongside Kyrgios and then signing autographs.

Fantastic champion.

[Pretty Boy]

Not quite true - Kyrigios is only in the quarter final and now plays the 8th seed for a place in the semi.

The other players are seeded 1 - 3 - 5 - 11 - 4 - 26

Yep totally misread.

Did think it was odd that Raonic was unseeded (or so I thought).

[Speedy]

Stunning, dont think ive seen bigger shock at Wimbledon

I think Rosol beating Nadal was bigger shock.

It's a shock but Kyrgios is young, highly rated and had already beaten Gasquet.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Wow! What a hammering Murray took in that first set, 6-1 Dimitrov.

[J-C]

No Wimbledon win this year if he plays like this, he's being hammered.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Murray goes a break down in set 2 3-4, he's having a nightmare here! :confused:

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Back on serve, 4-4.

[Jones28]

Murray is having an absolute stinker here.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

2nd set tie-break

Dimitrov wins 7-4.

Looks like curtains for Andy, hope I'm wrong.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Murray a break down in the 3rd set, 2-4. :worried:

[Pretty Boy]

Murray missing Lendl?

Started mouthing off at his box again and showing his frustration, something he seemed to have under control previously.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Game, set & match Dimitrov, 3-0.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Djokovic goes 2-1 down in sets to Cilic.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Djokovic takes sets 4 & 5by 6-2 to reach the last four.

[Sir David Gray]

Missed the match today but sounds like Murray played one of the worst matches for a long time today.

Not a great time to throw in a performance like that.

Good luck to Dimitrov, he's certainly got a chance at winning this year.

[heretoday]

Raonic the dark horse? He looks like Gareth Bale! Great serve.

[Golden Bear]

Missed the match today but sounds like Murray played one of the worst matches for a long time today.

Not a great time to throw in a performance like that.

Good luck to Dimitrov, he's certainly got a chance at pwinning this year.

Andy was outgunned today by an opponent who was at the very peak of his form. He seemed content to simply return the ball as opposed to going for out and out winners. I've always felt he struggles against opponents who hit the ball harder than he does.

[Sir David Gray]

So the semi final line up is now complete;

Novak Djokovic v Grigor Dimitrov
Roger Federer v Milos Raonic

Two of the "big four" up against two of the new generation.

In many ways it would be quite exciting to see a Dimitrov v Raonic final.

It will be interesting to see how both of them handle the occasion on Friday, playing against two of the greatest players in the history of the game, both of whom are past Wimbledon champions, for a place in the Wimbledon final.

Neither of them have been as far as this before in a Grand Slam, in fact neither of them had previously made it past the second round at Wimbledon.

On the flipside, this will be Roger Federer's 35th appearance in a Grand Slam semi final, out of the last 45 tournaments, which stretches all the way back to the 2003 Wimbledon championships. He has also won 24 of the previous 34 Grand Slam semi finals, losing only to Djokovic (5), Nadal (3), Murray (1) and Safin (1).

Those are quite extraordinary statistics.

Djokovic's stats aren't too far behind either. He's now managed to make 23 Grand Slam semi finals from the last 30 tournaments and has managed to win 13 of the previous 22.

Looking forward to Friday afternoon already. :aok:

[heretoday]

Should be great Friday. Anything could happen although I do think Fed must be tiring a bit by now. At least he can rest a bit while Raonic's serves go shooting past!

[Sir David Gray]

Should be great Friday. Anything could happen although I do think Fed must be tiring a bit by now. At least he can rest a bit while Raonic's serves go shooting past!

That's the sort of match up which could suit Federer.

At almost 33 years old, he doesn't want to have lots of 25 shot rallies. Given the sort of serve that Raonic has, there's probably going to be a lot of short points so that could work in Federer's favour.

Raonic does have some serve though and if it's firing on all cylinders tomorrow, Federer's going to have a battle on his hands as his first serve is extremely difficult to return.

[Sir David Gray]

Novak Djokovic takes the opening set against Grigor Dimitrov, 6-4.

[Sir David Gray]

Dimitrov levels things up, winning the second set 6-3.

Dimitrov serving at 4-5 in the third.

[Sir David Gray]

Djokovic takes the third set, 7-6.

[Scouse Hibee]

Just back from a week away, is the Scottish guy Murray out then? :greengrin

[Sir David Gray]

Just back from a week away, is the Scottish guy Murray out then? :greengrin

Yep.

He managed to stay in a bit longer than the England football team managed in Brazil though. :wink:

[Sir David Gray]

Djokovic wins 6-4 3-6 7-6 7-6.

[Scouse Hibee]

Yep.

He managed to stay in a bit longer than the England football team managed in Brazil though. :wink:

:greengrin That wouldn't have been difficult. Not being a great follower of tennis I can only go by what I have read but it seems he was miles away from his usual game and never at the races. Is his new coaching relationship going to work or do you think he might be rethinking his decision already? A shame to hear of him relinquishing his crown so easily.

[Sir David Gray]

:greengrin That wouldn't have been difficult. Not being a great follower of tennis I can only go by what I have read but it seems he was miles away from his usual game and never at the races. Is his new coaching relationship going to work or do you think he might be rethinking his decision already? A shame to hear of him relinquishing his crown so easily.

He had a disaster against Dimitrov but looked so comfortable in the first week so that performance was a bit of a shock.

Sometimes that happens though and he's just got to work even harder to get back to where he was over the last couple of years.

He's now dropped to 10th in the rankings though so the seedings at the bigger tournaments are going to be really tough on him as he could potentially face the likes of Nadal and Djokovic in the quarter finals.

He really hasn't played anywhere near his best in 2014. His biggest win this year was against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Miami Masters and he hasn't beaten any top 10 players so far this year in four attempts.

[Scouse Hibee]

He had a disaster against Dimitrov but looked so comfortable in the first week so that performance was a bit of a shock.

Sometimes that happens though and he's just got to work even harder to get back to where he was over the last couple of years.

He's now dropped to 10th in the rankings though so the seedings at the bigger tournaments are going to be really tough on him as he could potentially face the likes of Nadal and Djokovic in the quarter finals.

He really hasn't played anywhere near his best in 2014. His biggest win this year was against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Miami Masters and he hasn't beaten any top 10 players so far this year in four attempts.

:aok: Cheers mate, that puts it into context, never realised he had been poor by his standards this year so far.

[Sir David Gray]

:aok: Cheers mate, that puts it into context, never realised he had been poor by his standards this year so far.

He's also not won any titles since winning Wimbledon last year and his best performance in a tournament since then was a semi final appearance in the Acapulco 500 event back in February (where he also lost to Dimitrov) and also at the French Open in May (where he was hammered by Nadal).

To answer your question from your first post regarding his new coaching set up, I get the impression that even Murray himself isn't too sure about how long it's going to last.

His relationship with Lendl was rock solid and he was the ideal fit for Murray. I think he is missing him a lot and it's showing in his performances.

[Sir David Gray]

Looks like the masters are putting the apprentices in their place today.

Roger Federer is two sets up on Milos Raonic and he's one set away from sealing his place in a Grand Slam final for the 25th time in his career and his ninth Wimbledon final.

[Sir David Gray]

So after 11 days of play, we've gone from 128 players in the draw, down to just two.

Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will contest the Wimbledon final on Sunday and the pair will play in only their second Grand Slam final against each other. Their only previous meeting was in 2007 when Federer beat Djokovic in straight sets to win the US Open, which was also Djokovic's first Grand Slam final appearance.

Federer is looking to win a record breaking eighth Wimbledon title, more than a decade after his first success there. He's also looking to extend his record number of Grand Slam titles by winning his 18th major title.

Djokovic, on the other hand, is looking to lift the Wimbledon trophy for the second time in his career, three years after his first.

He'll be looking to go one step further after the disappointment of losing in straight sets to Andy Murray 12 months ago.

I'm going to go for Djokovic in four sets, although I would like to see Federer win an eighth title at Wimbledon.

[Pretty Boy]

Was great seeing Federer give Raonic a bit of a schooling today. Was like he had rolled the years back.

Hope he wins it but I really lile Djokovic as well so hope it's a great match more than anything.

[Sir David Gray]

Bit of a pasting for Eugenie Bouchard at the hands of Petra Kvitova, 6-3 6-0.

Kvitova wins Wimbledon for the second time in her career.

[hibee62]

He's also not won any titles since winning Wimbledon last year and his best performance in a tournament since then was a semi final appearance in the Acapulco 500 event back in February (where he also lost to Dimitrov) and also at the French Open in May (where he was hammered by Nadal).

To answer your question from your first post regarding his new coaching set up, I get the impression that even Murray himself isn't too sure about how long it's going to last.

His relationship with Lendl was rock solid and he was the ideal fit for Murray. I think he is missing him a lot and it's showing in his performances.

All true, but the reason he hasn't won anything since Wimbledon is injury. He only played 4 more last year with a bad back, went for surgery and was only somewhere near his best again in May, and let's face it Nadal is close to unbeatable on clay. Of course he was likely to have a blip as he works his way back to his absolute best and that came against Dimitrov. Its a struggle now because of the way the rankings work but remember he has no points to defend from September onwards, and not very many between now and then. I'd expect him to be top 5 by the end of the year and he'll be back to his best for 2015, regardless of who his coach is.

[Betty Boop]

Federer takes the first set, cool as a cucumber. :agree:

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Fantastic standard so far, Djokovic goes an early break up in set 2. More of this please!

[Scouse Hibee]

Still fancy Djokovic to win this.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

1 set each.

[Betty Boop]

Four aces wow !

[IWasThere2016]

Breathtaking stuff. Fancy 1-3 Djokovic

[Betty Boop]

Come on Federer !

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

5th set to come, magic stuff!

[Betty Boop]

What a final ! Federer's six pack ! :hibees

[Pretty Boy]

Sitting in the Aspire Lounge at Edinburgh Airport enjoying complimetary drinks and a fanastic game of tennis.

Happy days

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Djokovic wins the 5th set and in turn the championship, sport at the highest level you cannae beat it! Got to draw the line at the TdF though, sorry Stax! ;-)

[Sir David Gray]

Saw most of this at work although it wasn't quite the same as sitting at home with a couple of beers!

Fantastic match, gutted for Federer as I really wanted him to win an 8th Wimbledon title. It will possibly be his last chance to win a Grand Slam but I suppose you never know.

Novak Djokovic is just an unbelievable athlete though.