Wimbledon 2014. The Draw Is Out!

A thread to chat about all things Wimbledon



With seedings announced unofficially:

1. Novak Djokovic (ATP ranking: 2)
2. Rafael Nadal (1)
3. Andy Murray (5)
4. Roger Federer (4)
5. Stan Wawrinka (3)

and the short but sweet grass season already under way,  with just a over a week away, it's that lovely time when we all start hoping and wishing for our favourite player to be the one to lift the most prestigious trophy in tennis.

As usual, maybe even more than ever, the draw will play a big part.

THE DRAW

http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scores/draws/ms/index.html


Are we going to see any big upsets in week one like last year, when Nadal went out in the 1st, and Federer 2nd round?
Does anyone see Murray defend his title?
Or...heavens forbid, Nadal win it?
How about Roger going for his No (1)8th?
Anyone for Nole?

So, who and why do you think is/is not  going to win Wimbledon 2014?

I think it is going to be between Fed and Djoko...though if the weather stays that hot, then Nadal may have a good chance....cause Wimbledon with dry or no grass and big balls makes the FO fast in comparison.

Nadal needs to lose in that first week otherwise he has a good chance.

Tenez wrote:I think it is going to be between Fed and Djoko...though if the weather stays that hot, then Nadal may have a good chance....cause Wimbledon with dry or no grass and big balls makes the FO fast in comparison.Nadal needs to lose in that first week otherwise he has a good chance.

I thought the same which is why still haven't "voted".

Federer will need to play himself into the tournament more than anyone else as he hasn't been playing with confidence for a while.
A win over Nadal in Halle if both get there would be good.
Nole's and Murray's game translate well onto grass as they don't really take any advantage of it.
Nole is least prone to an upset of the top players, so to me he's the safest bet for the SF or F.

I go with Djokovic.  It could be quite open this year - Nole has been playing well but grass is not his best surface, Roger is getting older and is not as consistent as he used to be, Rafa may be suspect and Andy just lost at Queens and it is still not obvious what form he really is in.  I could even see someone outside top 4 win, but the stars would have to align.

I am gonna go Dimitrov.

FedererKing wrote:I am gonna go Dimitrov.

That's enthusiatic!

Tenez wrote:

FedererKing wrote:I am gonna go Dimitrov.

That's enthusiatic!

It's time we saw someone else winning...  Djok is large fave, followed by Fed then Murray... but maybe it's time.  I may shove 10 on Dimi.

I may shove 10 on Earnie!

Nadal lacking grass-court matches, having back problems ahead of Wimbledon:

" So probably I will take two or three days off. I will fly to Wimbledon Wednesday early morning and play and practice a few days there. I don’t know if I’m going to have one match or not before.
I don’t have a very bad feeling but I still feel the back a little bit. It’s something similar I had at the Australian Open. I have a little bit of an oedema in the bone in the back.

And I felt that during Roland Garros in the first round, especially in the second round it was worse. But it’s true that after the second round I was improving. Today is not the worst day but I feel that I need to improve, I need to rest a little bit. I need to improve a little bit to try to play well in Wimbledon.
It’s a little bit more dangerous for me to change the directions. It’s difficult to create all the power with the back."

Welcome to low bounce and proper tennis, Rafa!

I do not think Murray has chances after that weird loss in Queens, Nadal is not a grass player, Djokovic… did he manage to recover after RG? So  I say that Federer is going to win Wimbly

He's getting his excuses in early.  As usual.  No sign of back problems when he wins.

ryanr2 wrote:I do not think Murray has chances after that weird loss in Queens, Nadal is not a grass player, Djokovic… did he manage to recover after RG? So  I say that Federer is going to win Wimbly

I like this enthusiasm  and optimism. I wish I could share it!

FedererKing wrote:He's getting his excuses in early.  As usual.  No sign of back problems when he wins.

Isn't that amazing? Just won RG and then suddenly physical problems flare up again.

He simply cannot stand the pressure of being the hunted!

Tenez wrote:

FedererKing wrote:He's getting his excuses in early.  As usual.  No sign of back problems when he wins.

Isn't that amazing? Just won RG and then suddenly physical problems flare up again.

He simply cannot stand the pressure of being the hunted!

But he'd rather die being brave..... 

For instance, before Djokovic’s double fault at match point, I had already decided to hit a high cross shot and then a parallel forehand. I had already made that decision before he missed. I told myself: “The time is now; I am tired, I must play.” My inner logic was: “If I miss, it will be my miss. If I end up not winning this game, I must not think that I haven’t been brave. I would rather die being brave.”

First round of qualifying for the main Wimbledon draw finished yesterday.

Very, very disappointed Wimbledon did not want to give Steve Darcis a wild card.
He has just come back from a long break after his shoulder injury following his glorious win over Nadal in the first round last year. A 5ft 10 in. tall SBH-er. In straight sets.

Darcis asked for the WC as he was physically not ready to go through qualifying rounds, but got refused and still decided to play, but unfortunately lost to Brands 3:6, 7:5, 6:2. So sad for him.
Darcis obviously loves Wimbledon more than Wimbledon loves him, no prizes for guessing why.

PH Herbert, Berankis, Harrison through.

Official seeds announced:

Gentlemen’s Singles
DJOKOVIC, Novak (SRB) [1]
NADAL, Rafael (ESP) [2]
MURRAY, Andy (GBR) [3]
FEDERER, Roger (SUI) [4]
WAWRINKA, Stan (SUI) [5]
BERDYCH, Tomas (CZE) [6]
FERRER, David (ESP) [7]
RAONIC, Milos (CAN) [8]
ISNER, John (USA) [9]
NISHIKORI, Kei (JPN) [10]
DIMITROV, Grigor (BUL) [11]
GULBIS, Ernests (LAT) [12]
GASQUET, Richard (FRA) [13]
TSONGA, Jo-Wilfried (FRA) [14]
JANOWICZ, Jerzy (POL) [15]
FOGNINI, Fabio (ITA) [16]
YOUZHNY, Mikhail (RUS) [17]
VERDASCO, Fernando (ESP) [18]
LOPEZ, Feliciano (ESP) [19]
ANDERSON, Kevin (RSA) [20]
DOLGOPOLOV, Alexandr (UKR) [21]
KOHLSCHREIBER, Philipp (GER) [22]
ROBREDO, Tommy (ESP) [23]
MONFILS, Gael (FRA) [24]
ALMAGRO, Nicolas (ESP) [25]
SEPPI, Andreas (ITA) [26]
CILIC, Marin (CRO) [27]
BAUTISTA AGUT, Roberto (ESP) [28]
GARCIA-LOPEZ, Guillermo (ESP) [29]
KARLOVIC, Ivo (CRO) [30]
GRANOLLERS, Marcel (ESP) [31]
TURSUNOV, Dmitry (RUS) [32]

The 4th round looks more dangerous to me than the quarters- to the top guys...

Well observed; I didn't even look below the top 8....yes, all the talent is lurking in the 8-16 bracket.
The only thing is they will be potential upset causers in week 2 when the grass will dry out.
I didn't look at the forecast, but it's been fairly dry and sunny here recently and if the weather continues like that next week, we'll have to hope Nadal gets some talented players in the first few rounds.

I still haven't recovered from the fact he's won his 9th RG and Nadal winning Wimbledon this year would definitely kill me!  

Look forward to the draw tomorrow. Wimbledon draws are generally fairly balanced. I am not expecting the shocker RG served up...

Above all I hope for some good matches, and am pretty sure we'll get a few.
Both RG and AO (bar the final) have been  pretty disappointing.

To get us in the mood for Wimbledon:

Last round of qualifying matches finished yesterday:

Berankis lost to Ito in 5 sets, bagelled in the 5th
PH Herbert and Harrison through to the main draw.

Main draw ceremony starting at 10 AM, live on radio Wimbledon:
http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/interactive/radio.html

The draw is out!
Federer in Nadal's and Murray in Nole's half.

Projected QFs:

Djokovic-Berdych (Tsonga in R4)
Nadal-Raonic
Federer-Wawrinka
Murray-Ferrer

First round matches:

Djokovic-Golubev (H2H 2:0)
Murray-Goffin (H2H 0:0)
Nadal-Klizan (H2H 1:0)
Federer-Lorenzi (H2H 0:0)

There are some cracking first round matches:
Paire-Rosol (the winner to hopefully play Klizan in R2 )
Dimitrov-Harrison
Wawrinka-Sousa
Baghdatis-Brown

Noke's got a tricky draw, in fact, Stepanek in R2, Simon in R3, Tsonga in R4, Berdych/Gulbis in R4, the local defending champion in R2.

Easy quarter for Murray with Agut as the only potential banana skin.
He played really well in Wimbledon last year, losing to Ferrer in R4 in a very close match.

Back again after a tough week... and the draws are out.

[1]Djokovic v Golubev
Stepanek v Cuevas
Kravchuk v Simon
Haase v [31]Pospisil
[17]Youzhny v Ward
Wang v Gonzalez
Klahn v Querrey
Melzer v [14]Tsonga
---------------------
[12]Gulbis v Zopp
Stakhovsky v Berlocq
Chardy v Cox
Matosevic v [18]Verdasco
[26]Cilic v Mathieu
Haider-Maurer v Edmund
Tomic v Donskoy
Hanescu v [6]Berdych
=============
[3]Murray v Goffin
Andujar v Rola
Kamke v Hernych
Johnson v [27]Bautista-Agut
[20]Anderson v Bedene
Volandri v Roger-Vasselin
Gabashvili v Puetz
Kuznetsov v [16]Fognini
---------------------
[11]Dimitrov v Harrison
Saville v Thiem
Young v Becker
Groth v [21]Dolgopolov
[25]Seppi v Mayer
Brown v Baghdatis
An.Kuznetsov v Evans
Carreno-Busta v [7]Ferrer
=============
[5]Wawrinka v Sousa
Lu v Nedovyesov
Russell v Reister
Istomin v [32]Tursunov
[19]Lopez v Sugita
Falla v Pavic
Nieminen v Delbonis
Smethurst v [9]Isner
---------------------
[15]Janowicz v Devvarman
Hewitt v Przysiezny
Riba v Mannarino
Lacko v [23]Robredo
[30]Granollers v Mahut
Gimeno-Traver v Giraldo
Muller v Benneteau
Lorenzi v [4]Federer
=============
[8]Raonic v Ebden
Herbert v Sock
Kubot v Struff
Lajovic v [29]Garcia-Lopez
[22]Kohlschreiber v Sijsling
Ito v Bolelli
Ilhan v Kudla
De Schepper v [10]Nishikori
---------------------
[13]Gasquet v Duckworth
Kyrgios v Robert
Vesely v Estrella Burgos
Jaziri v [24]Monfils
[29]Karlovic v Dancevic
Sela v Kukushkin
Paire v Rosol
Klizan v [2]Nadal


Saw Klizan in the match vs. Gasquet which he lost quite convincingly. He's able to generate lots of power though which could trouble Nadal. 2nd round could be a potential re-match with Rosol, but I hope he won't disappoint and lose in first round. Should he come through, there are still some very good grasscourters/ players on his way to SF, among them Nishikori, Raonic and Kohlschreiber, so chances are he will lose eventually. Please follow the good example of your national football team, Rafa and be the first to go home. I don't think I can stand another disappointment as RG!

Djokovic is the Wimbledon favourite by default this year, though he might be hampered by his wrist injury again. Anybody knows anything about it? If he's fine he has shown that he has the consistency to go far, at least SF I'd say. Still not convinced his grass prowess will be enough to bring him through a potential semi with Murray and/ or a final with Fed.

Murray hasn't won a title since Wimbledon 2013, lost in straights to Steps in Queens. I'm not convinced he'll make final or even semis, though he should have his chances vs. Djoko should he make it so far. Dimitrov didn't look bad on grass this year and could trouble him in QF. His movement looked a bit weird, the way he was sliding into his shots as if he were on grass, but it worked for him. Bautista-Agut didn't look too shabby either on grass so far, judging from his results (haven't seen him).

Fed just won Halle, but he did so last year too. He should reach 2nd round, no questions ask. First tougher match awaits in R2, but if he is his normal self he should come through there. His draw doesn't look bad, some good grass courters like Lopez in his quarter though. Wawrinka might withdraw, it is rumoured that he is sick and I don't believe that he can make quarters anyway with the draw he has got.


Because there is no clear cut favourite, there is any number of dark horses.

Here's to good, not too hot and dry weather and an exciting Wimbledon!

My guess at the projected opponents:

	Djokovic	Murray	Federer	Nadal
R1	Golubev	Goffin	Lorenzi	Klizan
R2	Stepanek	Andujar	Benneteau	Rosol/Paire
R3	Simon	Bautista Agut	Granollers/Mahut	Karlovic
R4	Tsonga/Youzhny	Anderson/Fognini	Janowicz	Gasquet/Monfils
QF	Berdych/Gulbis	Ferrer/Dimitrov	Isner/Wawrinka	Raonic/Nishikori
SF	Murray/Dimitrov	Djokovic	Nadal	Federer
F	Federer/Nadal	Federer/Nadal	Djokovic/Murray	Djokovic/Murray

My take on it:

Federer and Murray have easier draws, and I would say Federer even easier than Murray.  Let's see if he can take an advantage.

Nole and Nadal are harder, and I would say Nadal's is harder than Nole's.  Rafa has a couple of early round opponents that could test him, and also both of his potential QF opponents could potentially be tricky.

It could be interesting.

"A potential semi-final with number one seed Novak Djokovic looms for defending champion Andy Murray following the Wimbledon draw 
yesterday.
Second seed and French Open champion Rafa Nadal has been named on the same side of the draw with seven-time winner Roger Federer, of Switzerland."
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140621/tennis/Murray-has-Djokovic-in-his-sights-after-theWimbledon-draw.524361

I rfeckon Djok's is the hardest....  Tsonga, Berdych, Murray/Dimi before the final.

Thanks for the chart SB.
I still haven't recovered from RG, so have been relatively indifferent about Wimbledon.
After all that happened there beginning with the draw and ending with that sad and strange final, I am in the Que sera sera   mode right now....
That of course won't stop me from going there and hopefully overcoming this bit of summer blues   
To me, Fed's draw is the easiest as I don't think he'll even get to play Stan or Isner.
Apparently, for all his serving ace-machinery, Isner has never passed R2 in SW19, and Stan has a very tough 1st round match, just like in RG.
Murray's looks the safest and most rigged of all, I can only see Agut do some damage, he is a very decent grass court player, surprisingly. I saw him lose a very close match to Ferrer last year, and I think that was his break-through tournament.
Provided Nole is fine (and I see his draw the toughest of all top 4) he could make it to the final where in the dream case scenario he will play Fed.

Rotla,
Will you be starting the Prediction game for Wimbledon?
Tenez's got another week of holiday, so we need someone to see it through.

Fed was asked about Nadals chances.. Said what we all say-- Nadal most vulernable in the early rounds then:  " As you go deeper in the tournament, it becomes more clay courty, hard courty, with a bit of grass on it. It's easier to move; the ball bounces a bit higher.... I didn't check his draw, but if he gets through that, I would think we'll see more of what we've seen in the past, in my opinion."

Someone has to stop this guy early!!!