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W: Sweet 16
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06/28/2009 - 7:00 AM
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 Each evening at Wimbedon, one of the young women who work in
the pressroom winds through the rows of reporters and asks if you’d like a copy
of the Order of Play. I’ve never seen anyone turn it down. In the midst of the
chaos of keeping your eye on half a dozen results, typing furiously, and
trying to pretend your stomach isn’t angry at you, having a clean
slate of new and unspoiled matches to anticipate and ponder is a welcome distraction. Plus,
there’s that Wimbledon touch at the very top:
The Championships 2009
Intended Order of Play for Monday 29 June 2009
COMPLETE
So reassuring and official, that COMPLETE. From there, we all sit
back and blurt out incredulous and borderline-pointless comments—“Poor Dinara, Court 2 again”; “Wow,
Djokovic on Court 3 and Hewitt on Court 2!—to no one in particular. Then,
unfortunately, it’s back to dealing with the unfinished article in front of us.
The middle Saturday of Wimbledon offers an especially momentous Order of Play. Here were are shown how all 16
fourth-round matches will play out on Monday, one of the busiest days (outside
of first rounds) in tennis.
For today, that sacred parchment—it’s just a piece of white
paper, but we can pretend—will serve as our way into the second week. Here’s a
preview of what we might see on Monday, working from the outer courts in.
Court 18
Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Melanie Oudin
This is not unwinnable for U.S.-hope-of-the-nanosecond
Oudin. Radwanska will give her a chance to hit her shots. Will enough of them
go in, or will the crafty Pole push her just far enough out of position to keep her
from getting a good look. Pick: Oudin
Virginie Razzano vs. Francesca Schiavone
Razzano has been on a tear, relatively speaking, but I like
Schiavone’s heavy strokes more. They’re safer, without being soft. Pick: Schiavone
Court 4
Igor Andreev vs. Tommy Haas
This is a battle of European veterans on an intimate and
picturesque side court. Andreev has more
firepower with his forehand, but Haas looked more motivated and proactive
against Cilic—as if he wanted to wipe the memory of his five-set defeat to Roger Federer in Paris out of his memory with a win—than he has in years. The old-timer is on the
verge of becoming a story again. Pick: Haas
Caroline Wozniacki vs. Sabine Lisicki
The two teens are 1-1, with Lisicki winning their last
match, in the final in Charleston on clay. The German is the bigger hitter, but
she’s also rawer than the unflashy but poised Woz. Pick: Wozniacki (in three)
Court 3
Victoria Azarenka vs. Nadia Petrova
The Graveyard begins with an intriguing and hard-to-figure matchup between young and (somewhat) old. Petrova is the more powerful athlete,
but Azarenka has looked typically relentless so far. The question may be: Who can get
their serve in if they get a lead? Pick: Azarenka
Dudi Sela vs. Novak Djokovic
The last time Djokovic was shunted to a small show court was
against Philipp Kohlscheiber in Paris. Hopefully for him, he won’t let the snub
bother him—he does like being the man, after all. Sela is a tough out, but
Djokovic seemed very happy with his performance in the last round. I’ll talk his word for
it. Pick: Djokovic
Juan Carlos Ferrero vs. Gilles Simon
I’ve been waiting to write something good about Simon for months, but he keeps disappearing before I get the chance. The smooth-moving
French always thrive on grass, and Simon may have finally found his bearings
after a poor season. This has the makings of a long, but enjoyable affair. I’ll
take the younger guy. Pick: Simon
Court 2
Elena Vesnina va. Elena Dementieva
I’ve been at Wimbledon for a week, and this is the first I’ve
heard os seen Vesnina’s name. Dementieva is making the most of her soft section. Pick:
Dementieva
Daniela Hantuchova vs. Serena Williams
I remember watching these two play at the Open a
few years ago and thinking that I’d never seen a greater disparity in power and
physicality on a tennis court. Serena can go off, and she can be upset, but not
by Hantuchova. Pick: Williams
LLeyton Hewitt vs. Radek Stepanek
Hewitt appears to be the Safin of 2009. Stepanek gets
under your skin and forces you to make shots to beat him, but Hewitt has been
making all the shots so far. He also hasn’t played a ridiculous amount of
tennis over the first week. Pick: Hewitt
Court 1
Venus Williams vs. Ana Ivanovic
The AELTC has given Ana a shot by taking Venus off of
Centre Court, where she’s won something like 30 sets in a row. And Ivanovic,
after a very shaky start, has found her range in the second set in the last two
matches. But it won’t be enough to dislodge Venus in the second week. Pick:
Williams
Fernando Verdasco vs. Ivo Karlovic
Ivo the Terrible is back to destroy tennis after a
series of Wimbledon disasters. I’ll make a guess: Dr. Ace vs. Mr. Sauce will come
down to the tiebreakers. Karlovic won their last meeting, on grass at
Nottingham last year, 10-8 in a third set breaker. I’m seeing a repeat. Pick:
Karlovic
Tomas Berdych vs. Andy Roddick
This will be interesting. These huge servers are 2-2 against
each other, with Berdych having won the last time, on hard courts, in a third-set
tiebreaker. The Czech is more dangerous all around, but Roddick has the better
day-to-day head on his shoulders. It will be tricky for him; he may have
to weather an early storm and find a way to keep it going long enough for Berdych to self-destruct. Pick: Roddick
Centre Court
Robin Soderling vs. Roger Federer
The big court plays out as it has all week: Federer early, Murray
late. Some British writers are worried that this will give Federer an advantage
if they meet in the final. I’m not clear on why. Either way, he’ll have to survive
the Sod first. Federer has been sharp for the most part so far, but I get the
feeling Soderling will scare him Monday. The Swede has gotten better with each match and shaken off any possible letdown he may have felt after the French. He also has nothing to lose after
taking his lumps in the final there; at the very least want he'll want to improve on that
result. And now he knows that if he gets hot, anything can happen—he has the
map to the big upset. But Federer, with a 10-0 head to head, has the map to
beating Soderling. Pick: Federer
Dinara Safina va. Amelie Mauresmo
The world No. 1 makes her Centre Court debut against the
2006 champion. This seems like the perfect time for one more return to glory on
the lawns for the Frenchwoman. She’s 4-2 against Safina, and almost beat her
the last time they played, in 2008 on hard courts. Pick: Mauresmo
Andy Murray vs. Stanislas Wawrinka
The BBC gets its late-afternoon Murray mania again. More than
Federer, he has been flawless thus far. Stan beat Murray as recently as last
year on clay, but the Scot mowed him down in straights at the U.S. Open. The low-key Wawrinka has never been at his best on the big Slam
stage. This is the biggest of them all. Pick: Murray
That’s it, I’m going sneaker shopping. Thanks everyone for reading. I would have commented back, but Typepad had it in for me this
week. Enjoy Monday at Wimbledon; I’ll join you on DVR back in New York. ESPN,
NBC—so much better than actually being there, I’m sure.
33 Comments
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Posted by MJ |
06/28/2009 at 07:38 AM |
first! |
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Posted by vtc_tennis |
06/28/2009 at 07:42 AM |
first? |
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Posted by Or |
06/28/2009 at 07:44 AM |
Lets just say that all of Israel (well, Amit Naor exluded) rejoiced when they realized they stuck Djoko on the graveyard.
I'm sort of happy this isn't on center, easier for the Israelis and Jewish community to get tickets, and root for their man, and Dudi thrives on crowd support, and his game is attractive enough to get some love from the Brits, who root for the underdogs.
Hopefully, Dudi would manage to do what no Israeli had done in over 20 years, get to the Quarters of a Slam.
My money on Nole, my heart with Dudi. May the winner of this lose to Roger in the semis. |
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Posted by MJ |
06/28/2009 at 07:48 AM |
Match picks we differ on: I pick Verdasco over Karlovic, Safina over Mauresmo, Radwanska over Oudin, and Stepanek over Hewitt. |
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Posted by fedfan |
06/28/2009 at 08:11 AM |
I think Dinara will actually beat Amelie. She doesn't like grass and claims her knees are bothering her, but she usually plays to form until she reaches a stress inducing final. Amelie is good on grass, but age and injuries have taken their toll.
I don't think Soderling will bother Roger too much, as he's always handled power hitters pretty well, and he's extra confident on Center Court. I am concerned about how he will handle the foot speed of both Djokovic and Murray. Roger has been striking the ball fairly well so far, but hasn't been pushed very much to see how much quickness is still there. I think Nadal's almost super human speed bothers Roger as much as the high, spinning forehands.
Another thing I've noticed, (or perhaps imagined), since the back injury Roger hasn't seemed to bend his knees as much to get down to strike low bouncing balls. I've always noticed his ability to do this with such ease, it reminded me of the smooth action of pistons in an engine, or springs in a hinge. It contrasted with poor Tim Henman, late in his career, having to bend stiffly at the waist to get to low balls. Is this because the balls are bouncing higher on the currently used grass at Wimbledon, or am I imagining the whole thing? |
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Posted by fedfan |
06/28/2009 at 08:12 AM |
Thanks for your work this week. Safe trip. |
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Posted by Aabye |
06/28/2009 at 08:52 AM |
Get back to NY safely.
Wow, I have lost track of the days completely. I woke up this morning looking for some tennis and was surprised to find none of tv. As I started booting up my computer, my first thought was that it was raining, and then I remembered the new roof and realized that couldn't be it. It finally hit me as I entered Wimbledon into Google: It's the Middle Sunday, genius. |
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Posted by Ross |
06/28/2009 at 10:50 AM |
It's an embarrassment of riches. I don't know where I'd rather be--here at home with my HDTV (plus ESPN 360) or at SW 19. I even wonder if they should play them over 2 days. |
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Posted by Master Ace |
06/28/2009 at 11:02 AM |
Steve,
Here are my picks in order you presented yours:
Court 18 - A Radwanska and Razzano
Court 4 - Haas and Wozniacki
Court 3 - Azarenka, Djokovic, and Ferrero
Court 2 - Dementieva, S Williams, and Hewitt
Court 1 - V Williams, Verdasco, and Roddick
Centre - Federer, Mauresmo, and Murray |
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Posted by Master Ace |
06/28/2009 at 11:06 AM |
"Hopefully, Dudi would manage to do what no Israeli had done in over 20 years, get to the Quarters of a Slam."
Or,
Do you mean on the ATP side? Shahar made the QF at 2007 Australian Open against Serena. |
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Posted by Mick |
06/28/2009 at 11:23 AM |
Fedfan, I've also noticed the same thing about Federer not bending as well take the low balls. Overall, he looks a lot more wooden in action than even a year ago. |
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Posted by iloveagaradwanska |
06/28/2009 at 11:56 AM |
"Ivo the Terrible is back to destroy tennis."
That's the greatest thing I've ever heard. |
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Posted by iloveagaradwanska |
06/28/2009 at 11:56 AM |
"Ivo the Terrible is back to destroy tennis."
That's the greatest thing I've ever heard. |
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Posted by JohnC |
06/28/2009 at 12:07 PM |
Karlovic over Verdasco; one sincerely hopes not! |
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Posted by Bobby |
06/28/2009 at 12:14 PM |
I'm curious to hear more about the "disparity in power and physicality" between Serena Williams and Daniela Hantuchova.
As for Elena Vesnina, I'm surprised to see that she's into the second week of not only singles but also doubles and mixed doubles! I suspect she's the only one who can brag about this. I also wonder if all that doubles practice is what's taken her so far in singles. Something has to explain how she's made it to the second week -- she's definitely not one of the regulars. |
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Posted by Or |
06/28/2009 at 12:20 PM |
Yes, of course, on the man side. Shahar made it to the Q on both AO and the USO. |
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Posted by Master Ace |
06/28/2009 at 12:31 PM |
Or,
Thanks for the reminder on Shahar making the 2007 United States Open. Her and Nicole Vaidisova played a good 3 set match to open the evening session on USA while CBS had the stars playing earlier in the day. |
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Posted by Master Ace |
06/28/2009 at 12:34 PM |
Bobby,
Elena Vesnina has had a good year that started with a finalist appearance at Auckland against Elena Dementieva(who she is playing tomorrow) and had a semifinal appearance at Ponte Vedra Beach. During Wimbledon, Vesnina has defeated some solid opponents in Wickmayer, Dushevina, and Cibulkova. By the way, Igor Andreev is playing all the tennis disclipines on the ATP side. |
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Posted by Bobby |
06/28/2009 at 01:25 PM |
Master Ace, thanks for the info on Elena Vesnina and for mentioning Igor Andreev on the men's side. Andreev too has been moving up on the rankings, and I wonder if his rise to can be attributed some to playing doubles? By the way I wish there were more picture of him and Maria Kirilenko playing mixed doubles together. (They're dating, right?) |
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Posted by Oyo |
06/28/2009 at 02:08 PM |
he does like being the man, after all
I don't think so Steve. Djokovic is staying under the radar here and like it. |
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Posted by Skip1515 |
06/28/2009 at 03:51 PM |
Where'd you go to get new tires? Easy trip home. |
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Posted by potts |
06/28/2009 at 06:42 PM |
Great stuff, Steve...
Given it will get somewhat tougher from hereon, I did some tallying for Federer and Murray so far as their three matches have been comparable overall - two easy, one a little tougher, dropping 1 set each on a tiebreaker.
Murray
Total match time - 342mins
Total Winners - 125
Total UEs - 41
Total DF - 6
Federer
Total match time - 345mins
Total Winners - 117
Total UEs - 41
Total DFs - 5
close stuff, eh? :) And plenty more where that came from... |
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Posted by Lleytsie |
06/28/2009 at 08:39 PM |
steve - did you mean
safin of 2008 ? |
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Posted by Or |
06/29/2009 at 05:09 AM |
I think Kolhi is a defender on much higher calibar than Fish, hence the higher winner count. Very different players, both good on grass though.
Yup, close stats.
Both Roger and Murray has their work cut out for them. |
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