Wimbledon 2014: MOTD Day 6 Sat 28/06/2014

I could not decide which match to drop to bring the selection to our customary 7 matches, so we will have all eight of them:

Mikhail Kukushkin  (KAZ) [33]
v
Rafael Nadal  (ESP) [2]


Santiago Giraldo  (COL) [33]
v
Roger Federer  (SUI) [4]


Stan Wawrinka  (SUI) [5]
v
Denis Istomin  (UZB) [33]


Milos Raonic  (CAN) [8]
v
Lukasz Kubot  (POL) [33]


Feliciano Lopez  (ESP) [33]
v
John Isner  (USA) [23]


Jerzy Janowicz  (POL) [25]
v
Tommy Robredo  (ESP) [33]


Simone Bolelli  (ITA) [33]
v
Kei Nishikori  (JPN) [10]


Nick Kyrgios  (AUS) [33]
v
Jiri Vesely  (CZE) [33]

all of us

Kukushkin

My picks:

Kukushkin
Federer
Wawrinka
Raonic
Lopez
Robredo
Nishikori
Kyrgios

My picks:

1. Nadal
2. Federer
3. Wawrinka
4. Raonic
5. Isner
6. Robrado
7. Nishikori
8. Kyrgios

My WIFI playing up again and not working!

Quick picks via the phone....

Kuku, Fed, Istomin, Raonic, Isner, JJ, Nishi, Kyrgios

not a big difference between 7 and 8.

1. Kukushkin   
2. Federer
3. Istomin
4. Raonic
5. Lopez
6. Robredo: JJ fought his way into 3R yesterday as if his life depended on it - and maybe it did. After losing the 3rd and the 4th set, he found some reserves to seal the deal in the 5th. He'll be on court today again after only a day's rest, wonder how he'll recover.
7. Nishikori
8. Kyrgios - both had 5setters in their previous matches; Kyrgios showed surprising mental and physical strength, defending 9 MPs!

Kuku
Federer
Stan
Raonic
Lopez
Robredo
Nishi
Kyrgios

Just got back to see that
KUKU HAS WON THE FIRST SEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!


GO KUKU!!!!!!!!

I hope he does it, but all I ever see is Nadal coming back.  Same with that cretin Selby.

The good news is that it's raining and favouring Kuku's ball-striking.
Nadal's giving him plenty of time with his moonball.
Kuku was in Rosol's box when Rosol beat Nadal in 2012. I can still remember his disbelieving jaw-dropped face...
I bet it didn't cross his mind then he'd have the opportunity to repeat his friend's feat in just two years' time.

Kuku cooked...

I wonder how today's rain delay is going to affect scheduling for Monday...

These guys let Nadal off the hook time and again.  Blasting the winners is great and when they redline they make him look ordinary-- but there were also tons of oppurtunities for Kuku to come in and finish it at the net.  He had Nadal on the string side to side and Nadal was just blocking short balls back... but Kuku just stayed back and kept trying to blast away, and Nadals short moonball would take so long to reach him that Nadal had time to get back into position....      Of course, this is why these guys are lower ranked, they just don't have all the right shots and tactics- but it tells me Nadal would be toast in these early rounds against a better player.   What happens in the 2nd week is a different story unfortuantly..

I told my wife - it's incomprehensible how these journey man can make Nadal look ordinary for a set, set and a half, but the greatest ever Federer goes out there and can't take a set off Nadal...       matchups,mental,etc.

McEnroe is becoming so over the top in his praise of Nadal it's comical. The no nothing fanatics will eat it up, but it's such a joke. I almost think McEnroe has heard the criticism and derision- esp from Fed fans- and just to aggravate them- is getting more and more over the top with called Nadal the Goat.

Kuku had no chance from the baseline longer than 2 sets as he is simply not "fit" enough.
He knew it, Nadal knew it, even David Mercer and Peter Fleming knew it but chose to dress it up: "if it was best of three, Nadal would get worried, but because it's the best of 5, BEST PLAYERS ALWAYS WINS!!!!!!!"  

And so, why blame the masses if the "experts" say things like this!


That aside, Maestro time!

Interesting comment from McEnroe that Fed'd BH is better than ever.

I can't judge how true it is as I have always loved its amazing artistic variety and what he does with it from any inch of the court: everywhere he finds himself there is a new shot, just now he hit this beautiful, soft, sliced volley and made it drop like a feather.

Easy, breezy first week for Fed, just what the doctor ordered.
He hit enough balls to be ready for some potential grinding in the second, great serving, didn't get broken once!
It was a pleasure to watch him today. For some reason, I'm in the mood for some of his full-on flat
FHs, I hope he gets those going next week   

Fed said after match that he has a "few niggling things" bothering him physically...  uh oh.............

That was one cool win for Cornet who just beat Serena on C1!
She was so happy, it was cute to see. She must have felt she won the entire thing, kept sitting on her chair, didn't want to leave the court.

Very gutsy drop-shot on the match point, as well!

And now...


IDEMO ANA!!!!

is serena's dominance on the game up??
its been pretty poor results in grand slams for her over the past year
she seems to have developed a tendency to become very nervous and tight

Veejay wrote:is serena's dominance on the game up??
its been pretty poor results in grand slams for her over the past year
she seems to have developed a tendency to become very nervous and tight

come on Veejay- don't you remember the real tim ruffins guarantee?-  Serena was the greatest player ever to play and would dominate well into her late 30's!  lol

Has anyone seen the order of play for Monday. Looks strange. I know that they have an extra 5 matches to fit in from today (including three Men's 3rd round, so they can't play two 4th round matches until Tuesday), but Federer-Robredo and Nadal-Kyrgios are not there, which means they'll have two days off and then play Tuesday and Wednesday?

Polly 81 wrote:Has anyone seen the order of play for Monday. Looks strange. I know that they have an extra 5 matches to fit in from today (including three Men's 3rd round, so they can't play two 4th round matches until Tuesday), but Federer-Robredo and Nadal-Kyrgios are not there, which means they'll have two days off and then play Tuesday and Wednesday?

My guess is they did not want to let them play 4th round while Wawrinka-Istomin and Isner-Lopez are going to be playing 3rd round only.  Now, of course, they are still playing 4th round for the top half, but I suppose that is a bit different.

Wimbledon have really stuffed it up colossally this time...Fedal won't be pleased about back to back days in week 2.
Although....young Kyrgios has played several 5 setters so the extra day of rest will do him good and he'll need it!

I've got the ticket for C1 tomorrow, but will probably spend most of my day in Court 18.
I have no desire to watch Mr and Mrs Sharapova...

Hello all..... I have not seen a single rally thus far....my trip ends this afternoon as we are catching the ferry back to London.

I'll be unfortunately too busy next week to see more of it.

I find it really absurd that they do not play today the delayed matches! That's mean to Stan and his opponent!

Hi Tenez, welcome back to the UK.

Also, from what I can see, they've also left out a 4th round women's match (Halep-Diyas) who will go on to play the one woman who manages to get through from the Lisicki-Ivanovic-Keys-Shvedova section.

So hang on, sorry, I need to get this straight in my head.

Usual schedule:

Monday: 8 Men's 4R; 8 Women's 4R
Tuesday: 4 Women's QF
Wednesday: 4 Men's QF

What happens now:

Monday: 3 Men's 3R, 4 Men's 4R; 2 Women's 3R, 6 Women's 4R
Tuesday: 4 Men's 4R; 2 Women's 4R, 3 Women's QF
Wednesday: 4 Men's QF; 1 Women's QF

I didn't even notice that there is no play today.   So they resume on monday and the players who had their matches delayed play two days in a row? The bottom half have to play back-to-back matches? (will be an advantage to Nadal though, because his opponent will likely be tired before the match even starts.) Talk about fair competition... not that they'd care.    Fortunately Kyrgios managed to finish in time yesterday, so he can recuperate. He'll need it.   

The Nadal match yesterday - so depressing once again. I knew nothing is won vs. Nadal with winning a first set and sure enough Kukushkin was absolutely done in the second set already. The level of Nadal's physical dominance is simply staggering! The unbearable desperate look on Kukushkin's face told everything, you need to know about that match. He knew it, Nadal knew it, everyone knew it. 

The atmosphere had gone totally flat, the as per usual admiring commies had a hard time trying to pretend, that continuing to watch the match is somehow a worthwile occupation. They even said something like Nadal sucked the life out of his opponent! Well, that's exactly what he does - every - single - time and that's why he kills the sport. He may have been needed 2004-2010 to counter Federer's dominance, but has long since outstayed his welcome and is nothing but a nuisance at the moment with his ugly game and too obvious medical conditioning.

It seems we are headed toward the nth rendition of the beauty and the beast - and not the fairytale one. This beast will maul the beauty as it always does, leaving nothing but sad and dead reminders in his wake where once was life.

Speaking of which - the Federer game was light and graceful, though the look on Giraldo's face no less desperate. He didn't look deadly exhausted like Kukushkin, he looked like a man who just didn't know what else to do, simply outclassed. About his backhand - it worked really well to set up his points and had one exceptionally beautiful winner with it. Don't agree that it's the best backhand he's ever had - the Federer backhand at its best is a pretty solid and dangerous shot on low bouncing surfaces.

Haven't seen any of the remaining matches, but I'll be sure to try to catch up on Nishikori-Bolelli tomorrow as that one took a surprising turn. Haven't seen Bolelli, he took out Kohlschreiber in a 5-setter, now in a 5setter with Nishikori, so there must be something about him. I don't mind surprises, but with Nadal going strong, Nishikori is one of the few remaining hopes to stop him. Though, maybe not, if he can't take out Bolelli.

Polly 81 wrote:What happens now:

Monday: 3 Men's 3R, 4 Men's 4R; 2 Women's 3R, 6 Women's 4R
Tuesday: 4 Men's 4R; 2 Women's 4R, 3 Women's QF
Wednesday: 4 Men's QF; 1 Women's QF

I wonder what they do if the weather acts up again, since rain is forecasted on monday again. Seems the astrologers who predicted some disturbance for the Wimbledon tournament were right after all.   Hope they are right with their other prediction as well now - a Federer - Djokovic final.  

Nice to have you back, T.
Bon voyage.

Autumnleaf wrote:The level of Nadal's physical dominance is simply staggering! The unbearable desperate look on Kukushkin's face told everything, you need to know about that match. He knew it, Nadal knew it, everyone knew it.

Yep....completely agree!


Thanks Polly. I love the UK......but it cannot beat France for Hols!!!. I went to Cassis (beautiful sea resort in the Med), Marseilles, Avignon, Genolhac (in the Cevennes where a friend from my tennis club in London got married ...and the prime reason for my trip to France), Hossgore (Atlantic see resort), Bordeaux, Deauville and Paris to visit family.

I wish I could retire and spend the rest of my life doing just that.....driving around the world.

noleisthebest wrote:That was one cool win for Cornet who just beat Serena on C1!
She was so happy, it was cute to see. She must have felt she won the entire thing, kept sitting on her chair, didn't want to leave the court.

I feel sorry for Serena, first it was RG, now it;s Wimbledon. It's weird because she is in a good shape.
Serena got so upset that she even retired from doubles with Venus

ryanr2 wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:That was one cool win for Cornet who just beat Serena on C1!
She was so happy, it was cute to see. She must have felt she won the entire thing, kept sitting on her chair, didn't want to leave the court.

I feel sorry for Serena, first it was RG, now it;s Wimbledon. It's weird because she is in a good shape.
Serena got so upset that she even retired from doubles with Venus

Excellent news!
Hopefully the organisers are going to put another, decent match on C1. I'm off to there now

Tenez wrote:Thanks Polly. I love the UK......but it cannot beat France for Hols!!!. I went to Cassis (beautiful sea resort in the Med), Marseilles, Avignon, Genolhac (in the Cevennes where a friend from my tennis club in London got married ...and the prime reason for my trip to France), Hossgore (Atlantic see resort), Bordeaux, Deauville and Paris to visit family.

That sounds like such a nice trip.  I was in the Cevennes myself just last year, though it was in autumn and they recommended coming back in spring.

Liked the UK too though while I was working there close to London. Especially the foot trails or whatever you call them that connect towns and villages. Spent my spare time there walking from my town to the neighboring ones, until my feet hurt.  But it's probably harder to appreciate your own region because you see it every day and get used to it. Maybe unless you are NITB, the way she is able to transcend common occurences like with the old ladies in the Wimbledon report.