6/30 Wilmbledon 4th round update

Wimbledon Men's update from 6/29

(2) Roger Federer defeats (13) Sodeerling in straight sets. Federer and Soderling both came out serving great but Soderling took too many chances especially on second serves. 6-4, 7-6, 7-6.

(3) Andy Murrary defeats (19) Wawrinka in five sets, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. For the first time in the tournament Murray did not bring his A game but his ability to rebound in the 5th after losing the 4th set shows his increased level of maturity.

(4) Novak Djokovic defeats Dudi Sela easily in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, 6-1. Djokovic is gaining confidence and once again looking like the player who won the Australian Open

(6) Andy Roddick defeats (20) Tomas Berdych in straight sets 7-6, 6-4, 6-3. Roddick seems to be playing his best tennis of the tournament right now and has a lot of positive momentum going into the quaterfinals.

Juan Carlos Ferrero defeats (8) Giles Simon in straight sets. 7-6, 6-4, 6-4. Ferrero seems to regain his form from when he was consistently going deep into majors.

(22) Ivo Karlovic defeats (7) Fernando Verdasco in 4 sets 7-6, 6-7, 6-3, 7-6. Fascinating story. Karlovic has yet to lose a service game in Wimbledon. That statistic is simply amazing.

Lleyton Hewitt defeats (23) Stepanek in 5 sets 4-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. Hewitt is back and playing well deep into a tournament for the first time in a couple of years. Great Story.

(24) Tommy Haas defeats (29) Igor Andreev in straight sets 7-6, 6-4, 6-4. Interesting match, both these players had to finish their 3rd round matches in two days. Haas continues his run of great tennis.

Preview of Wimbledon quarterfinals

(2) Roger Federer vs. (22) Ivo Karlovic - This match is going to be a huge challenge for Roger Federer. Simply put Karlovic is unbreakable right now. He has yet to lose a service game. Federer will have his work cut out for him, but if he can serve as well as he did against Soderling he should be able to advance.
Prediction Federer in 4 sets.

(3) Andy Murray vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero - Both Murray and Ferrero played 5 set matches in round 4 so fatigue may play an important factor in this match. Since Murray is the more talented player he may be able to fight off some of his fatigue and outplay Ferrero. Murray needs to stay positive and continue to play with his positive attitude and he should be able to advance in this matchup.
Prediction Murray in 4 sets.

(4) Novak Djokovic vs (24) Tommy Haas - Djokovic has been playing great tennis and his best tennis in a long time. Haas has played some grueling matches but is also playing great tennis. Djokovic has his confidence back and is once again playing like the player who won the Australian.
Prediction Djokovic in 3 sets.

(6) Andy Roddick vs. Lleyton Hewitt - In 2003 it seemed as if these two men were going to be battling for the #1 ranking before Federer and Nadal emerged. This should be a fun match to watch. Roddick will try to use his power serving game against Hewitt's defensive and feisty style. Players who play like Hewitt have been known to give Roddick trouble. Roddick needs to be able to control his anger and frustration, and take out his frustration through positive energy not negative energy
Prediction Roddick in 5 sets


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6/27 - Wimbledon Blog

6/27 - Wimbledon Update

(4) Andy Murray continued his brilliant play to advance to the next round in straight sets 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
(6) Andy Roddick defeated his good friend Melzer in 4 sets 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 6-3
Lleyton Hewitt continued his resurgence 7-5, 7-6, 6-3
(8) Giles Simon won in straight sets 6-2, 7-5, 6-2
(19) Wawrinka defeated american Jesse Levine 5-7, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3
(24) Tommy Haas was able to hang on in the 5th set 7-5, 7-5, 1-6, 6-7, 10-8. More on that below.
Juan Carlos Ferrero has resurfaced with a win over (10) Fernando Gonzalez 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
(23) Stepanek moved on 7-5, 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4
(20) Tomas Berdych moved on def. (12) Davydenko 6-2, 6-3, 6-2

The one women's match of note 17 year old American Melanie Oudin beat former world #1 Jelena Jankovic 6-7, 7-5. 6-2

Haas - Cilic match analysis part 2
First here's some quick match facts leading up to the conclusion of the match.
Stat Haas Cilic
1st serve % 63% 59%
Aces 5 26
Double Faults 11 11
Winners 35 91
Unforced Errors 28 50
Break Pts Won 5/10 5/10

These stats are very typical for both of these players. Haas is not going to have very many winners and aces but he will play solid matches and cause his opponents to make mistakes. Cilic is a lot more aggressive and because of his style he gets a lot more winners and aces but also has a lot more unforced errors. These stats are very similar for both players and show why this match is in a fifth set tiebreaker.

So onto part 2 of the match:
At 6-6 in the 5th set Cilic was first to serve he held serve easily dictating most of the points and coming to the net once to secure his service game. 7-6 Cilic. Then Haas followed by having a very easy service game win with his best shot being a down the line forehand winner. 7-7. Cilic then held serve to make it 8-7. Haas then held serve at love. 8-8. Haas played this game brilliantly and forced Cilic to make a couple errors to get the all important break. 9-8 Haas. Haas gets a quick 30-0 lead then Cilic hits a nice shot to make it 30-15. Haas then misses a volley winner 30-30, then an unforced error for Haas 30-40. The next point an unforced error for Cilic 40-40. Cilic then just pounds the ball and is up 40-AD. Cilic with the unforced error 40-40. Nice rally then Cilic drills it into the net Ad-40 match point for Haas. Haas hit slices on every one of his shots and eventually Cilic missed long.

Quick Analysis is day 2 of the Haas - Cilic match. Both of these players were on top of their game. They were a little rusty but both hit extremely well. Haas beat Cilic because he made less mistakes in the final two games. Cilic made too many unforced errors. However, this is a great learning experience for Cilic. Cilic needs to make less unforced errors. If he cut down on his unforced errors by 5 or 10% he would have won this match plain and simple. So now the 20 year old Cilic should know what he needs to practice to become a top 10 player.

Wimbledon 6/26

Wimbledon. (2) Federer, (4) Djokovic, (7) Verdasco, (13) Soderling, (22) Karlovic upsetting (9) Tsonga, and Dudi Sela upsetting (15) Robredo all have advanced to the fourth round.

(24) Haas vs. (11) Cilic

Today I am going to Part I of my Haas Cilic match analysis. Part I is going to be a summary of basically the entire match played on 6/26 and Part 2 will be the tiebreaker of the 5th set played on 6/27.

In the first set It was some great tennis from both Haas and Cilic. The two basically played even tennis for the first two sets but in both Haas was able to get the all important break of serve to win the first two sets. The third set was a different story Haas had a huge letdown and Cilic started to play dominant tennis to easily win the third set 6-1. In the 4th set Haas regained his form and was able to slow down Cilic to force a fourth set tiebreak; however, Haas couldn't win his service points and Cilic used the serve and volley and was able to win the fourth set tiebreaker to win the 4th set 7-6. In the fifth set Cilic went up 3-1 and got the all important break of Haas, however, Haas was able to break back to tie up the match 3-3. They both continued to hold serve until they ended the day tied at 6-6.

For Haas the story of this match was his reliance on volleying. Haas lived and died by the volley all day. When has was volleying well he was winning and when he wasn't he was losing. Haas made a lot of silly volley mistakes and probably should have won the match in the fourth set.

For Cilic the 20-year old proved a lot in this match with Haas. In his last match against Querrey he played back from the baseline and did not serve and volley very much. Against an opponent like Querrey who likes playing from the baseline staying back is a good strategy. However, against a player like Haas who likes to play at the net it is important to be willing to serve and volley to combat his controlling the pace of play from the net. For a 20 year old this tells a lot about his tennis IQ. Cilic was able to completely switch gears in the his 2 5 setters. For a young player this is hard to do because they have not played enough competitive professional matches usually to be able to make switches like this. So whether or not Cilic is able to move on to the 4th round by beating Haas, I think this tournament will be a big stepping stone in his career and I expect big things from him in the years to come.

As promised before I will provide Part 2 of this match analysis after the conclusion of the match on 6/27.

Wimbledon Recap

Here's a quick recap of Wimbledon 2009 so far:

Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Andy Roddick have all advanced to the third round comfortably.

Serena Williams, Venus, Williams, Kuznetsova, Wozniacki, Hantuchova, Dinara Safina, Jankovic, Ivanovic have all advanced to the third round.

Stories to watch :
1 - Lleyton Hewitt is back. After upsetting Del Potro in the second round, Hewitt looks like he is once again a force to be reckon with in the tennis world. Although he may no longer be a top 5 or 10 player like he used to be he is now a contender to make a deep run in Wimbledon. Grass courts definitely suit his style well so this is a good chance for Hewitt to reclaim his place as one of the best in tennis. If he can get through to the quarterfinals he should have a very interesting matchup with Andy Roddick.

2 - Tommy Haas. After struggling for years with injuries he is now playing his best tennis in years. Haas has a great chance to make a deep run in Wimbledon.

3 - Rafael Nadal - Tendinitis in his knees has forced him out of Wimbledon and left a terrific opportunity for another player to step up and claim the championship. Knee tendinitis is a scary injury for a player like Nadal who relies heavily on his athletic ability and strength. If his knees don't heal properly this could end up being a devastating injury for him and possibly causing him to no longer be able to play his best tennis.

4 - Maria Sharapova - Sharapova who is still recovering from injuries once again lost a tournament early. In the first round she'd played very well but she still seems nowhere near top form. Hopefully she can get past her injuries and once again be in the top 5 of women's tennis.