Predictions: day 3!

Haas (33) vs Raonic (7)

Wawrinka (4) vs Burgos (33)

Venus (16) vs Putintseva (33)

Broady (33) vs Goffin (16)

Berankis (35) vs Cilic (9)

U Radwanska (33) vs Stosur (22)

Herbert (33) vs Tomic (27)

Verdasco (33) vs Thiem (32)

Gasquet (21) vs De Schepper (33)

Raonic
Wawrinka
Venus
Broady
Cilic
Radwanska
Tomic
Thiem
Gasquet

Cheers for the scores Polly! Pocket dynamo...

No problem! Hey, pocket dynamo is Graeme Dott's nickname, I used to be a fan of his years ago  Nice!

Was more Polly pocket but hey ho :P

Ah yes, that would work too…It's getting late 

Well done you 2! I was playing today so no time to set the draws.

Raonic (7)

Wawrinka (4)

Venus (16)

Goffin (16)

Cilic (9)

Radwanska

Tomic (27)

Verdasco (33)

Gasquet (21)

Rao, Stan, Venus, Goffin, Berankis, Stosur, Herbert, thiem, gasquet

AF: haas waw venus goffin cilic stosur tomic nando gasq

T'OT: to come later

Raonic
Wawrinka
Venus
Goffin
Cilic
Stosur
Tomic
Verdasco
Gasquet

Worst matches today are on CC!

Look forward to Herbert-Tomic.

noleisthebest wrote:Worst matches today are on CC!

Look forward to Herbert-Tomic.

Are you really going to sell your tickets? But…..Djokovic is on, don't you want to see him? 

I know you've become less of a Nole fan and more Fed fan recently, but I hadn't realised the extent of it. Maybe you should change your moniker to rogeristhebest now 

I've always been Fed's fan same now as 10 years ago...just that with Nole it was different as it involved a wide range of emotions.

Yes I'll try and sell the tickets when I get into grounds.
So many other better matches to see.

I just hope I don't have a sunstroke...they say 34+ degrees today!

Yes, I understand that, seeing as you're both from Serbia (I think?)

Hope you have a great time and get to see some nice matches.
Take care and drink plenty of water, and take a hat!

Thanks Polly.
Going now, but no hat...for some reason I feel boiling with it on...but have a few tricks of how to remain cool

Look forward to icy Pimms!
For some reason I only enjoy drinking it at Wimbledon.

And off I go

Enjoy FITB!

TO'T: haas stan venus goffin cilic stosur tomic verdasco gasq

Here goes mine:

Raonic
Wawrinka
Venus
Broady
Cilic
Radwanska
Tomic
Thiem
Gasquet

Haas (33) 
Wawrinka (4) 
Venus (16)
Goffin (16)
Cilic (9)
Stosur (22) 
Tomic (27)
Verdasco (33)
Gasquet (21)

Tenez wrote:Enjoy FITB!

Fanks!

Nishikori out of wimby through injury

Yes..sad....But he has been injured more often than not.

luvsports! wrote:Nishikori out of wimby through injury

Yeah he has a fragile body. Another promising player after Delpo who won't last long.

Berankis more than holding his own vs Cilic on CC. 1 set all!

Yes shame he lost a very close TB!

Glad Bagdha won. This Millman was getting on my nerves....same mimics as Roddick.

Great match between Cilic and Berankis.

Cilic saving 2 BPs at 5 all in the 5th. The crowd too partial in favour of berankis.

Berankis had not won a match since March....before Wimby

And as expected in typical cases....Berankis loses his next game.....

Very unlucky. I did see only a small bit but Cilic got all the lucky net call.

Gutted for the wee man. Hope this acts as a springboard and not another barren run.

I had a lovely day.
So tired and sun exhausted...but I'd do it all over again!

Will write more tomorrow...

Ha! Love it! Im queuing up Friday!

I will also hopefully find the time to visit.

luvsports! wrote:Ha! Love it! Im queuing up Friday!

I was thinking of doing it...but there just aren't enough good matches on Friday in that half of the draw to justify all the effort, I dunno...maybe Saturday but then every Tom Dick and Harry will be in that queue as it's the weekend.

And silly me, booked myself with work next week so can't go, totally messing up dates thinking Wimbledon was finishing on the 5th of July...I hate it!!!

I'd've done it today, just too tired from yesterday...we fans need a day of rest between the matches, too!

Tenez wrote:I will also hopefully find the time to visit.

You're so lucky as you live close..and have all those friends who ply you with tickets...I'm jealous....VERY!

And just in case anyone here has a spare ticket for tomorrow or Saturday I'll have it!
(it's worth a try )

Yesterday I had a spare ticket but fortunately sold them both for what I paid.

The couple that bought them were so suspicious of why I didn't want t watch Djokovic...

Fortunately, I was able to ease their worries by telling them I saw him from row one in Boodles last week...

Especially after they saw your t-shirt of "noleisthebest"

I'm trying to put some videos and photos here directly from my ipad, but it's not going through for some reason...and it's a pain and time consuming having to do it through photobucket...

luvsports! wrote:Especially after they saw your t-shirt of "noleisthebest"

He, he... no, I was my usual chic self

I'll wear that T-shirt when he wins Roland Garros...and open that bottle of champers I had in the fridge a few weeks ago...and if he never wins it, I'll never open it. I'll leave it in my will with the poem I'll write to go along...

So here's how my day went yesterday...


After successfully selling my CC tickets, unburdened and lightfooted I skipped and hopped to the bar and got myself two Pimms: the "normal" and new version called "summer crush" which when I saw a woman in the queue order before me, thought was a strawberry iced smoothie

Someone in the club had mentioned it the night before and at the time I thought what a silly thing to sell frozen Pimms (that's how the women from the club saw it advertised on TV apparently...) but! being in such a happy mood and in need of some serious cooling from those hot temperatures, I ventured into the unknown...

And - it was brilliant!

So, with two cool drinks in my hands I joined the queue for court 18 where Tomic was playing Herbert...it was close but the queue was moving very slowly I could see a bit of play over the fence and was sad Herbert lost, I thought he had a good chance of winning, but Tomic was up to his usual gamesmanship tricks faking dizziness and calling an MTO to stop Herbert's serving momentum.
On top of that, the brilliant Ozzy fans were cheering him on.
Unfortunately, it did the trick.
I am convinced he would have lost the match without them.
I watched Herbert in Roehampton last week and enjoyed his organic game of good first serve, FH and simple but nice grass tennis.
Ah well...at least he made it to R2....

The next match was Kyrgios-Monaco.
Nicely seated in row one I had an excellent view and was able to fully "examine" Nicky boy.

First thing I noticed was the white sleeve he had over one of his arms which I saw heavily tattooed the other day. It looked like snake skin.
Did Wimbledon order him to cover that mess up?
If so, good in them!

Nick Kyrgios is one if the players I thought could have a good future before I saw him live.

Yes, he is definitely talented: plenty of easy power, great serve, excellent hands...and you'd think: well, that's enough, isn't it?
Well, no.
His FH though loose shouldered and quite free and whippy is a bashing shot. He, like many other players now born with this new technology is enjoying whacking rather than playing the ball and being pleased with himself too much with the effect... (Verdasco is another one). There is very little thinking and creating.

He is a showman extraordinaire!

But unlike Monf, who is a class clown, Kyrgios is a thin-skinned egomaniac.
When he served for the match (a break up!) I told him: come on Nick, give us serve and volley! and he just banged a serve in won the point from the baseline and then growled like an angry animal in my direction.
How dared I ask for what he's got no guts for and show him up?

And sadly, it's not just him who has no idea abput volleying...Pouille is the same, but more about him alter.

This whole generation of players (with the honourable exception of Thiem)  can only bash the ball from the baseline.

Some, less talented do it safely, the others more,gutsily, but bottom line - that's all they can do.
If there is a mid court ball begging to be put away with a BH volley - they'll hit it with a full swing DBH groundstroke and .... miss!

It's sad to see it.

Off for a coffee break now...stay tuned

A friend of mine started to queue today at 5am and got court 1 tickets. So it's feasible.

I might actually pay a visit this afternoon.

Tenez wrote:A friend of mine started to queue today at 5am and got court 1 tickets. So it's feasible.

Yes, but I don't live in SW to be able to be in the queue at 5 am...

Tenez wrote:I might actually pay a visit this afternoon.

Lucky you...great matches today.
I may try Saturday.

While I was in the queue for court 18, several players passed by:
Agut, whose head is huge, and looked like count Dracula,
Coric, who looked around people cockily:  "aren't I important and a somebody?" with his eyes, only to look away snubbed,dejected and confused with: "why does nobody here know me...."

Later I saw an absolutely beaming Giraldo...but at the time I didn't  know about Nishikori's walkover.

I also chatted to two Spanish umpires Molina Carlos and they were very friendly loving talking bout 20 seconds rule!

I was really surprised with their enthusiasm, esp one of them said: We are trying  but it's not an easy rule to implement.
At that stage I had to go into court 4 to see Thiem- Verdasco...

My next adventure took me to court 4 where after a short queue I got a brilliant seat and watched almost the whole 5 sets of Thiem - Verdasco.

The short of it: very sad Thiem lost. He is one decent, proper player. Superb topspin CC BH.

Verdasco bludgeoned it with all his might (and that is saying something with THAT forehand...), but could not break it down.

Only got to him a few times with those shoelace ones that can only be pulled off with a half-volley...but I doubt even Rog could do that from inside the court.

Thiem even had a break in the fifth but absolutely squandered it in the following game...he was serving in the sun and rushed his shots...what a shame...

He had it in his hand and let it slip...

Verdasco played very ŵell, though... Nando is one of those players who has power and some great shots, but no finesse and sweetness, still, a nice uncompromising game, so happy for him.

Thiem could do well to flatten his FH. He spends so much energy on it and the result is not worth it.
If he can fix it, he'll be brilliant!

Great player in the making potentially.

noleisthebest wrote:While I was in the queue for court 18, several players passed by:
Agut, whose head is huge, and looked like count Dracula,
Coric, who looked around people cockily:  "aren't I important and a somebody?" with his eyes, only to look away snubbed,dejected and confused with: "why does nobody here know me...."

Later I saw an absolutely beaming Giraldo...but at the time I didn't  know about Nishikori's walkover.

I also chatted to two Spanish umpires Molina Carlos and they were very friendly loving talking bout 20 seconds rule!

I was really surprised with their enthusiasm, esp one of them said: We are trying  but it's not an easy rule to implement.
At that stage I had to go into court 4 to see Thiem- Verdasco...

yes the allee of court 18 is where they all go though at some stage. You can even be shoulder to shoulder with them watching matches....Some are certainly bigger headed than others.

noleisthebest wrote:

Thiem could do well to flatten his FH. He spends so much energy on it and the result is not worth it.
If he can fix it, he'll be brilliant!

it's all about pure confidence which comes with lots of practice.....not easy..when a shot can make you a great or a loser.

After Thiem-Verdasco, I hopped over to court 14 I think where Pouille/Mannarino were losing to Myrni/Kubot.

I watched a few games first before I could sot on one of the benches and as I walked past Pouille's coach I told him: "You need to teach you boy to volley with the BH, he missed a few easy ones"...he,he...he did not like it!
Basically, just like Kyrgios, Pouile was hitting a standard full swing DBH long, instead of putting it away with a BH volley.

I was so hopeful for this match but sadly very disappointed!

Pouille's and Mannariono's attitude was terrible. I make more effort on club nights!

Mannarino almost did not bother returning quite a few serves, kept giggling and talking to Planque (Pouille's coach) and the guy next to him (probably his own coach).
Pouille looked like Mannarino's little brother and copied him with insecure gestures towards the coach asking whether to challenge or not (and those outs were at least 15-20cm long) many times!

Manarrino is such a superb player with smoothest skills and had a few brilliant shots: a 2nd serve ace, a beautiful BH volley, some fantastic BH passes (his BH is really, really good!), but that was just a few shots, the rest was all "I can't be bothered" style...

Pouille is definitely not a doubles material as his limited arsenal was quickly available for all to see: he can't do much apart from basic groundstrokes (and even those he was hitting with no confidence!)which are very good, but useless against experienced players he was facing.
He looked like he stumbled in that match by accident. I felt for him as Mannarino spoilt the match for him by his poor leading.

Myrni and Kubot (who I watched Mannarino lose to in 5 sets two years ago) were a complete contrast: focused and there to win, which they did with ease: sharp serves, returns, volleys - easy peasy!

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:

Thiem could do well to flatten his FH. He spends so much energy on it and the result is not worth it.
If he can fix it, he'll be brilliant!

it's all about pure confidence which comes with lots of practice.....not easy..when a shot can make you a great or a loser.

I think he was taught his FH as if he was a basher, but he is not a basher, so an odd combination!
I hope he keeps working on it. I cheered for him and complemented his BH.
Everyone else was for Verdasco