A personal blog by a Black, Gay, Caribbean, Liberal, Progressive, Moderate, Fit, Geeky, Married, College-Educated, NPR-Listening, Tennis-Playing, Feminist, Atheist, Math Professor in Los Angeles, California
Kevin Anderson (RSA) [8] d. John Isner (USA) [9] 7-6(6) 6-7(5) 6-7(9) 6-4 26-24. At 6 hours 36 minutes, this was the longest match ever played on Wimbledon's Centre Court and the second longest grand slam match of all time, exceeded only by the ridiculous 11-hour, 3-day ordeal Isner survived against Nicolas Mahut back in 2010 (winning 70-68 in the 5th set). After outlasting 8-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer13-11 in the fifth set Anderson maintained his composure for the second round in a row and this time won 26-24! This was quite an amazing mental performance because most players who have beaten Federer at Wimbledon have gone on to lose their next match. (In fact, this is one reason why I picked Isner to win.) One must spare a thought for John Isner who was trying to reach his first major final, and now in addition to the infamous 70-68 win he will be known for the 26-24 loss. Maybe he will be responsible for the implementation of the Isner rule, which leads to some kind of terminating mechanism for decisive sets in the majors, especially Wimbledon. I would endorse some kind of tiebreak (I would suggest it should be a 10-point match tiebreak) that would occur qt either 6-all or 9-all or even 12-all. But there must be a rule change to prevent 3 hour final sets.
Novak Djokovic (SRB) [12] d. Rafael Nadal (ESP) [2] 6-4 3-6 7-6(9) 3-6 10-8.This was a very high quality match that lasted 5 hours 15 minutes played over 2 days. Since it was the second match one after the Isner-Anderson marathon there was no way that it could be completed on men's semifinal Friday. The competitors showed why the 52-match Nadal-Djokovic rivalry is even more compelling than the Federer-Nadal and Federer-Djokovic rivalries. Djokovic extends his lead to 27-25 against Nadal, one of the very few players on tour who have a head-to-head lead against Nadal after more than 4 meetings. One of the key moments of this match was the 3rd set tiebreaker. Winning the 3rd set is always important in a 5-set match but in this match the player who won the 3rd set would know they would be able to go to sleep with a lead until the match resumed the next day. Djokovic had to save 3 set points in that tiebreaker before he was able to close it out 11-9. The fifth set was an amazing, tension-filled, high-quality affair. Djokovic had to save five breakpoints during the course of the deciding set. With the advantage of serving first, those breakpoints were not match points. It was not until the 16th game that Nadal finally was forced to save a match/break point which he did with an astonishingly gutsy drop shot winner. He had previously escaped two or three 0-30 deficits but then in the 18th game of the 5th set he was unable to do it again and slipped (literally) to go down 0-40 and lose his serve and the match.
MEN'S FINAL PREVIEW
Djokovic can exult that it appears as if he has returned to his old form, as evinced by his ability to defeat Nadal in a tough 5-set match. His reward is that he has an excellent opportunity to continue to add to his haul of major titles. From 2011-2016 Djokovic won 11 of 22 majors but he had not even reached a final since. If he beats Anderson in the championship match (where he is the prohibitive favorite after the South African survived two consecutive ultra-long matches in the last 4 days) Djokovic will get to 13 major titles, which is only 4 behind Nadal and 7 behind Federer. There's still a possibility that if he returns to the level which earned him 4 the Nole slam in June 2016 he could exceed Federer's major total before his retirement. Most people are not giving Anderson any chance to win but I am not one of them. I think it will be closer than people think, and I would not be surprised if Anderson wins a single set, probably because I think there will be a tiebreaker or two. Anderson will be surprised by the number of his serves that are returned into play, and its hard to imagine his movement will be even 50% of its usual level as a result of the extended time he has spent on court this fortnight, which should be dispositive.
This weekend 31-year-old Nicolas MahutreplacedJohn Isner as the champion of the grass court tournament in Newport, Rhode Island by coming back from to defeatLleyton Hewitt. Mahut also won the doubles title, with Edouard Roger-Vasselin, becoming the first ATP player to win both singles and doubles title at an ATP tournament since Mikhail Youzhny did it in February 2012 in Zagreb.
John Isner smiles after he saves his 12th match point against Haas
American Jamie Hampton upset 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova
Jelena Jankovic upset 2011 US Open Champion Sam Stosur
John Isner wrote his name in the tennis history books again, this time for another display of mental fortitude: saving a record dozen match points against Tommy Haas, even though he eventually lost 7-5, 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-7(10), 10-8. Isner was attempting to make it two matches in a row where he was coming back from 2-sets down to win, having done so against fellow American Ryan Harrison 8-6 in the 5th. Isner was able to even the match and although he was unable to win it, he again demonstrated his incredible mental strength and desire not to lose.
There were multiple other upsets on the day that I was travelling from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C.2011 Wimbledon Championand #7 seed Petra Kvitova was taken out 6-1 7-6(7) by American youngster Jamie Hampton and 2011 US Open champion and #9 seed Samantha Stosur lost to veteran Jelena Jankovic 3-6 6-3 6-4. Bethanie Mattek-Sands followedup her astonishing upset of 2011 French Open championLi Na and #6 seed by reaching the 4th round.
The marathon doubles match turned out to the deciding point in the tie between the 2012 Davis Cup champions and the Swiss, with the Czechs prevailing 3-2.
The final set took an incredible 215 minutes, and the Czech blew 12 match points before Chiudinelli double faulted on break point down 22-23, 30-40 to give the game, set and match to the Czechs.
In other amazing Davis Cup news, Canada eliminated Spain (who had played in the Davis Cup final 3 of the last 5 years) when Milos Raonic defeat Marcos Granollers. None of the Spanish players in the Top 20 (David Ferrer, Fernando Verdasco, Nicolas Almagro or Feliciano Lopez) participated in the tie. Canada has exactly one player in the Top 100, while Spain has had as many as 9.
The score is currently 3-6 7-6(5) 15-15. There are no tiebreaks in the final set of Wimbledon.
Federer has broken del Potro once (in the third set) but couldn't serve out the match, and del Potro broke back and broke once in the first set. Looks like del Potro is ignoring his 2-12 head-to-head record (and my prediction) with Federer right now!
Calls for a tie-break or some other means of ending a deciding set apart from a service break at the All-England Lawn Tennis club should receive a fever pitch after today's 2nd round clash between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France and Milos Raonic of Canada became the longest Olympic tennis match in history.
Tsonga outlasted Raonic 6-3 3-6 25-23 in a match took just under 4 hours, and ended on a dramatic match point in which the Frenchman ended on the ground. The first two sets took just under 1 hour, with the third set lasting for exactly 180 minutes (3 hours).
The issue of marathon early round matches at Wimbledon has become a prominent one following the ridiculous spectacle of John Isner and Nicolas Mahutplaying for nearly 11 hours over 3 days at Wimbledon in 2010, inthe longest tennis match of all time. Just this year on Day 6 of the tournament, Sam Querrey and Marin Cilic played the third longest match in Wimbledon history as well, with Cilic coming out victorious 17-15 in the deciding 5th set in 5 hours, 31 minutes. Each of the previous "winners" of these marathon matches (Isner, Cilic) have gone on to promptly lose their next match.
It should also be noted that each of these recent marathon matches has tended to feature large (well over 6'4") men with gigantic, powerful serves, which make service breaks unlikely to occur. If a tie-breaker of some kind was implemented after either 12 or 24 games were played in the deciding set, I think this would be reasonable. The status quo is simply indefensible. It is more likely that marathon matches will continue to occur as the players get larger and possess more powerful serves. Something must be done sooner rather than later.
Tsonga will face the winner of the match between Feliciano Lopez of Spain and Juan Monaco of Argentina in the 3rd round.
The second major tournament of the year, Roland Garros, began in Paris today. Two Americans in the twilight of their careers, Andy Roddick and Venus Williams, took the court and had contrasting results. Roddick, playing with a very pedestrian win-loss record of 7-9 for 2012 lost in the first round of a grand slam tournament for the first time since 2007 by falling to hometown favorite Nicolas Mahut6-3 6-3 4-6 6-2.
Venus, playing in her first grand slam match since she withdrew from the 2011 US Open after revealing she suffers from Sjogren's Syndrome (an energy sapping auto-immune disorder), started off slowly but eventually won her first round match against Paula Ormaechea 4-6 6-1 6-3. Unfortunately, she will almost certainly play World #3 Agnieska Radwanska in the next round. I don't see her getting through that match, despite sporting a 5-2 career head-to-head against the red-hot Polish player who has the most wins on tour this year.
Other players to watch who survived Day 1 were 2010 French Open finalist Samantha Stosur, #5 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Angelique Kerber, Juan Martin del Potro, Fernando Verdasco and 2009 French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Defending Champion Serena Williams cried after
winning her first Grand Slam match in a year
Day 2 of play at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships has ended with 2-time defending champion Serena Williams winning her first round match over Aravane Rezai, "the Pocket Rocket," 6-3 3-6 6-1 and then bursting into tears afterwards. Serena improved to 44-0 in 1st round Grand Slam matches, and showed more emotion in this win than she has in winning several of her 13 major finals.
'I didn't expect that,' she said. 'It just hit me at the end. I'm not a crier, but it felt so emotional. I think when I won my first US Open back in 1999 I had a little cry, but not like this. It's the most emotional I've been after a win and to be a first round, well, I usually never get super-excited. But it wasn't about winning today, it was about just being out there. Everyone has their troubles and you must have faith that you can get through it.
'I've been through a lot in the last 12 months, a lot of things that are not normal, things you guys don't even know about. It's been an arduous, long run and just to be standing up feels pretty awesome.
'I always preach to other people, "never give up", but this was my test. I could have given up, I could have sat at home and thought, "I've had a fabulous career, I don't need to work extra hard now." Instead, I proved I could. No more than that, really: I could. '
I've learned you can never take any moment for granted, I learned to try to appreciate it all. Each and every point, each and every momentI enjoy and relish. This was my struggle, my battle, something I have to overcome and still must overcome every day. This is the beginning of the road, not the end.'
Other winners in the first round were 6-time Wimbledon champ Roger Federer, 3-time Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick, World #1 Carolina Wozniacki and World #5 Robin Soderling. The only major seeds to go out were 2010 French Open finalist Samantha Stosur and former World #1 Jelena Jankovic. Fernando Verdasco avoided 1st round disaster by coming back from 2-sets down to win 2-6 4-6 6-3 7-6(6) 9-7.
Svetlana Kuznetsova and Francesca Schiavone played the longest women's Grand Slam match in history in the 4th round of the 2011 Australian Open, lasting 4 hours and 44 minutes (featuring a 3 hour third set), with the Italian outlasting the Russian 6-4 1-6 16-14. The match was an instant classic: clutch volleys, blazing winners, deft drop shots and cat-and-mouse at the net. Schiavone saved an incredible 6 match points (she was serving second so most breakpoints she faced in the final set were match points) and Kuznetsova saved two before succumbing. The Russian had more winners than errors for the match, with an equal number of winners and errors (44) in the deciding 3rd set, with Schiavone hitting more errors (33) than winners (31).
The momentum swapped back and forth, at one point there were four consecutive breaks of serve. The tennis was excellent throughout most of the third set; and the drama and tension was some of the most intense I have ever seen on a tennis court. Once the historical nature of "Franlana" as the longest women's match in Grand Slam tennis became apparent, there were immediate allusions to the drama of last year's Best Men's Tennis Match, the Isner-Mahut marathon, since that was the longest men's match ever played. In many ways, Schiavone-Kuznetsova was a more compelling experience.
Here are my picks for the "best" (or most memorable) tennis matches by men in 2010. These are basically the matches that had the most impact on me while they were occurring, feature some of the best play, had the most impact on the rest of the tennis world or are matches that I would most likely to watch again in the future. You can see my previous lists: Best Men's Tennis Matches of 2009 and Best Men's Tennis Matches of 2006. (There were no men's lists in 2007 or 2008.) I also have posted the Best Women's Tennis Matches of 2010.
A match for the ages. A tennis match that transcends tennis, and possibly sport itself. Two relatively unheralded players played a match which lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes, by far the longest match ever. The final set itself is a marvel, shattering the record for the longest match--in terms of time (8 hours,11 minutes) and number of games (138) played. The list of records broken is a litany of exceptionalism which is unlikely ever to be matched. When the rest of the tennis of 2010 is long-forgotten Isner-Mahut will still be referred to. What was most remarkable that despite playing so long, there was still brilliant tennis for vast portions of the match. This was truly an example of the cliche where it is sad that in every game there has to be a winner.
2. R. Nadal ESP d. A. Murray GBR, 7-6(5) 3-6 7-6(6), ATP World Tour Finals semifinal, London. The penultimate match of the 2010 season was one of the most exciting, well-played matches of the year. Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray had met three times before in 2010, with the Briton leading 2-1. However, this semifinal match at the Year-Ending Championships was being held before a British crowd which was considered to be a disadvantage for Murray. Many people do not like Murray's game, feeling that he plays too defensively given the talent, power and mobility he possesses (Gael Monfils suffers from similar complaints), but in this match Murray confounded his critics by being as aggressive as I have ever seen him play. The match was probably decided in the first set. There, both players played well, with Murray serving exceedingly well but after his serve failed him in the tiebreaker Nadal was able to tuck the set away on his first and only set point. In the second set, things were pretty even until Nadal went through a very bad patch at 3-all and basically donated the second set to Murray. In the third set Nadal got an early break which he was able to nurse into a 5-3 lead. Murray was able to hold serve and when Nadal served for the match at 5-4 he was broken despite holding a match point. In the inevitable tiebreak Murray continued his aggressive play but was rewarded with errors instead of winners. He can take heart that he at least went down slugging away and if he can apply this mentality to future matchups with his higher ranked rivals the results may be different.
3. N. Djokovic SRBd. R. Federer SUI, 5-7 6-1 5-7 6-2 7-5, U.S. Open semifinal, New York.
The greatest Grand Slam match played this year was the second men's semifinal at Super Saturday at the U.S. Open in New York. For the fourth year in a row Roger Federer faced Novak Djokovic at the last major of the year, having beaten him the first three times in one final and two semifinals. This time, history seemed prepared to repeat itself when Federer earned double match point at 15-40, 4-5 in the final set. The number of times Federer had lost a grand slam match after holding a match point in his career can be counted on one hand (without using all of the fingers). However, the young Serb was able to be very aggressive on these match points and after getting past that near-death experience was able to use the mental momentum gained to immediately break Federer in the very next service game and serve out the win. The match featured long streaks of very high-quality tennis from both sides, with both players displaying impeccable defense and offense. After winning 5 U.S. Opens in a row, Federer has now lost in the last two to younger challengers. Is this a sign of things to come? Only time will tell.
4. R. Federer SUI d. A. Murray GBR, 6-3 6-4 7-6(11), Australian Open final, Melbourne.
The highest quality grand slam final of the year featured yet another historic performance by Roger Federer as he was able to beat a player who has a career head-to-head edge against him in straight sets. Murray did not play badly, Federer was simply on fire for exactly the optimal time which allowed him to win each set. The third set in particular Federer should have lost but he was able to finally earn the break back and set up one of the classic tie-breaks of all time--a 24-point thriller that ended with Federer winning the match and his record 16th grand slam singles title.
5. G. Monfils FRA d. R. Federer SUI, 7-6(7) 6-7(1) 7-6(4), Paris ATP Masters semifinal, Paris.
Gael Monfils is a 6' 4", 180 pound Frenchman of African descent with size 15 feet who has long been predicted to do great things in tennis. He is one of the most dynamic players on tour and easily one of the fleetest of foot. He often responds well to a supportive crowd and has had some of his best results in front of Parisian crowds. Federer had never lost to Monfils and was probably not worried when he somehow lost the first set in a close tie-break. However, even Federer must have been surprised by the Frenchman's tenacity and will-to-win despite being down 4-1 in the 3rd set. Somehow, Monfils was able to save (count 'em) five match points at 4-5 through tremendous defense (his mighty serve basically deserted him on match points down so Monfils had to win those points the hard way). This was the fourth example of a match in 2010 where Federer had a match point and went on to lose the match (l. Djokovic US Open semifinals, l. Berdych Miami Masters 4th Round, l. Baghdatis Indian Wells 3rd Round, l. Monfils Paris Masters semifinals). Hopefully, Federer's new coach Paul Annacone will try to work on raising the level of his charge's aggression on big points (his often-atrocious break-point conversion rate should be another focus of improvement for the Swiss great) and we look forward to seeing the results in 2011. For Monfils, this was an amazing result which hopefully will spur him on to greater results next year and beyond.
6. R. Nadal ESP d. N. Djokovic SRB, 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-2, U.S. Open final, New York. After the fireworks of the men's semifinal between Federer and Djokovic, this final was something of an afterthought, especially since for the third year in a row it was played on Monday instead of Sunday due to inclement weather (get a roof already, New York!). The tennis quality was reasonably high but Nadal secured his inevitable date with destiny by achieving the career grand slam at the tender age of 24 years old, just 15 months after his great rival had achieved the same feat in Paris. Nadal and Federer both have claims to be the greatest of all time, with Nadal at 9 majors to Federer's 16 but is 5 years younger (and further along at comparable ages). The GOAT question will not be decided until after both men have retired, but without doubt this match was a seminal moment in tennis history, one to be remembered for a long time as Nadal joined the small select group of career grand slam holders.
7. R. Federer SUI d. R. Nadal ESP, 6-3 3-6 6-1, ATP World Tour Finals final, London.
Any match between Federer and Nadal is a marquee event, but this contest, following the best match of the year between top players (Nadal-Murray semifinal) was the culmination of the season in which Nadal won 3 consecutive grand slam tournaments. With Nadal sporting a gaudy 14-7 career head-to-head record against Federer some people thought he would cement his dominance with a win here. They were incorrect, however, because on hard courts the two greats are more evenly matched, with a very slight edge to Federer. The actual tennis was high quality, but the sets were somewhat lopsided in score. Even small lapses can be converted into 6-3 sets and a large lapse results in a 6-1 blowout between these two rivals who know each other's games so well. In the end Federer was better on the day and postponed the discussion of which of the two men will be at the top of the heap in history's final estimation.
8. R. Soderling SWE d. R. Federer SUI, 3-6 6-3 7-5 6-4, French Open quarterfinal, Paris. One year after engineering the upset of the decade by handing 4-time defending champion Nadal his sole defeat (ever!) at Roland Garros, the tall, strong Robin Soderling repeated the effort by ending Federer's incredible streak of grand slam semifinals at 23 with a 4-set win over the defending champion. History was repeated again a few days later, when, after reaching the French Open final, Soderling lost in a surprisingly non-competitive fashion. However, this match, like last year's defeat of the defending champion will be long remembered by tennis fans. It should be noted that Federer hasn't forgotten either, and hasn't lost to the Swede since (but Nadal has).
9. T. Berdych CZE d. R. Federer, 4-6 6-3 6-1 6-4, Wimbledon quarterfinal, London.
A few weeks after losing his hold on the #1 ranking and his famous semifinal streak, Federer had his dominance on grass ripped from his grasp as Tomas Berdych showed that his inaugural win over the Swiss player in Miami was not a fluke but a harbinger. The 6' 5", 200 pound Czech simply played a near-perfect match on Federer's home turf of Wimbledon's Centre Court, dismissing the defending champion in 4 crisp sets. Although Berdych was able to follow up his win with a victory over Novak Djokovic in the semifinal, he was unable to compete effectively against Nadal in the final, succumbing in straight sets to the Spaniard while I watched in the stands. Unsuccessfully defending his title in two consecutive grand slams, failing to reach the semifinals twice in a row must have been a dreadful blow to Federer, but he can seek solace in his quarterfinal streak, which now stands at 26 and counting.
The only other match on this list besides the Isner-Mahut classic which does not feature a grand slam champion was this all-Spaniard showdown between two of the fittest (and best-looking) players on the men's tour in the 4th round of the 2010 US Open. It also happens to feature one of the most amazing match points in the history of Open tennis. It should be noted that this fifth-set tiebreak occurred after nearly 4 1/2 hours of grinding, extended-rally play, after Verdasco had already been down two(!) breaks in the deciding set and fought back to even the match. What happens on match point deserves no words, just your admiration:
Absolutely amazing!
HONORABLE MENTIONS
R. Soderling SWE d. T. Berdych CZE, 6-3 6-3 3-6 5-7 6-3, French Open semifinal, Paris.
A. Murray GBR d. R. Nadal ESP, 6-3 7-6(2) 3-0 ret., Australian Open quarterfinal, Melbourne.
R. Soderling SWE d. M. Llodra FRA, 6-7(0) 7-5 7-6(6), ATP Paris Masters semifinal, Paris.
A. Murray GBR d. R. Federer SUI, 7-5 7-5, Canadian ATP Masters final, Toronto, Canada.
A. Murray GBR d. R. Federer SUI, 6-3 6-2, Shanghai ATP Masters final, Shanghai, China.
R. Nadal ESP d. T. Berdych CZE, 6-3 7-5 6-4, Wimbledon final, London.
R. Federer SUI d. N. Djokovic SRB, 6-4 3-6 6-1, Swiss Indoors final, Basel, Switzerland.
R. Nadal ESP d. R. Soderling SWE, 6-3 7-5 6-4, French Open final, Paris.
R. Nadal ESP d. A. Murray, 6-4 7-6(6) 6-4, Wimbledon semifinal, London.
T. Berdych CZE d. R. Federer SUI, 6-4 6-7(3) 7-6(6), Miami ATP Masters 4th Round, Miami.
R. Federer SUI d. N. Djokovic SRB, 6-1 6-4, ATP World Tour Finals semifinal, London.
S. Wawrinka SUI d. A. Murray GBR, 6-7(3) 7-6(4) 6-3 6-3, U.S. Open 3rd Round, New York.
J. Melzer AUT d. N. Djokovic SRB, 6-4 3-6 2-6 6-2 7-6(3), French Open quarterfinal, New York.
J-M. Del Potro ARG d. J. Blake USA, 6-4 6-7(3) 5-7 6-3 10-8, Australian Open 2nd Round, Melbourne.
M. Cilic CRO d. J-M Del Potro ARG, 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-5 6-3, Australian Open 4th Round, Melbourne.
L. Hewitt AUS d. R. Federer SUI, 3-6 7-6(4) 6-4, Gerry Weber Open final, Halle, Germany.
J-W. Tsonga FRA d. N. Djokovic SRB, 7-6(8) 6-7(5) 1-6 6-3 6-1, Australian Open quarterfinal, Melbourne.
(By the time you read this I will be in the air from LAX to London Heathrow on my way to Wimbledon. Depending on the vagaries (and expenses) of internet access, I may or may not have semifinals predictions for the men's and women's draws tomorrow.)
Roger Federer SUI (1) vs. Tomas Berdych CZE (12). The 6-time champion had started off his quest for a record 7th title weakly but in his last two matches his game has looked strong. Berdych is a very talented, huge serving, huge hitting 6'5" Czech player who has already beaten Federer once this year (even though he needed 5 match points to do it). He is a very similar player to Robin Soderlingwho beat Federer at this same stage of the tournament at the French Open a month ago, although possibly Berdych is not as good a mover as Soderling (which he demonstrated by beating Berdych in Paris). Before beating Federer earlier this year in Miami, Berdych had lost 8 straight times to Federer, including once at the 2006 Wimbledon. The Mighty Fed will find a way to win. PREDICTION: Federer in 4 sets.
Andy Roddick USA (5) Yen-Hsun Lu TPE vs. Novak Djokovic SRB (3). This is Novak Djokovic's dream draw and Andy Roddick's nightmare. Roddick lost to the unseeded player from Taipei despite losing his serve only once, a repeat of what happened in his loss last year in the thrilling final against Federer. This time, however, Roddick was much less aggressive at attacking his opponent's serve and mentally was only able to hold his serve until the 16th game of the 5th set, not the thirtieth game like last year, nowhere near the amazing 138th game that Nicolas Mahut was able to do in his jaw-dropping performance against John Isner. Some wags were flogging Lleyton Hewitt's chances of penetrating deep into the draw, since the Aussie had finally ended his 16-match drought against Federer last week by winning the grass court title in Halle. I was not one of them. Djokovic is the #3 best player in the world, and made sure that Hewitt knew it. By the end of this match, Lu will know it as well. PREDICTION: Djokovic in 3 sets.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA (10) vs. Andy Murray GBR (4). This match should be the highlight of the 2010 Men's Quarterfinals. Tsonga and Murray have only played three times, with Murray leading 2-1. That one loss came at the 2008 Australian Open, where Tsonga made his breakthrough to his first major final, eventually losing to Djokovic. There's no question that Tsonga has the weapons to beat Murray. This match should come down to the intangibles, which for Murray at Wimbledon are always difficult to evaluate. Does the fact that the British crowd will be overwhelmingly in his favor help him over the hump to victory, or will their outsize expectations smother his chances? I think it is no coincidence that the two places that Murray has reached major finals (Melbourne 2010 and New York 2008) were in cities where he does not carry the weight of a nation on his shoulders. Last year, he was curiously flat against Andy Roddick in the Wimbledon semifinals. I had picked him to win that match last year but this time I think if the match gets "complicated" it will be the Frenchman who will come out on top. Murray is the only player in the draw not to drop a set and it's possible (but unlikely) that this will happen again. PREDICTION: Murray in 3 sets or Tsonga in 4 or 5 sets.
Robin Soderling SWE(6) vs. Rafael Nadal ESP (2). This is a repeat of the 2010 Men's Final at Roland Garros where Nadal did not lose a set for the entire tournament. There's no question in my mind that the Spaniard is the greatest clay court player of all time. But this match-up is on grass, and of course, these two have a troubled history at Wimbledon. In 2007 the two played a much-delayed 5-set match over 5 days where Soderling made a fool of himself by mocking Nadal's quirks. He has since apologized. Up until his previous round's 5-set match against David Ferrer, Soderling had not dropped a single set in this tournament, the only top player (besides Murray) to have done so. Another problem for Nadal is that he has been troubled this tournament by two youthful, big servers in Robin Haase of the Netherlands and Philipp Petzschner of Germany. Soderling can not only serve regularly in the 130 mph range but he can back it up with power on both wings. But then again, if Ferrer gave Soderling that much trouble and his game is really a weak imitation of Nadal's then surely Nadal will give Soderling trouble as well. Out of the Top 4, I think Soderling (and Tsonga if he can stay healthy) are the most likely to break through to a major title in the near term. Here is where Sodelring will need to show if he can get through Nadal (and later, possibly Federer) to do it. I think he has a fairly decent chance of succeeding. PREDICTION: Soderling in 3 or 4 sets, Nadal in 5 sets.
On his 5th match point, on the third day of play, after 11 hours and 5 minutes, John Isner hit a backhand down-the-line winner to pass NicolasMahut to end the longest and greatest tennis match ever at the score 6-4 3-6 6-7(7) 7-6(8) 70-68.
Nicolas Mahut and John Isner will resume playing a Wimbledon Men's Singles 1st Round match on Thursday which has now been suspended twice for darkness after TEN HOURS of play! The match was suspended at 59-59 in the fifth set on Wednesday after the two played for 7 hours and 6 minutes--the longest set of all time and longer than the previous longest match in Grand Slam history. Isner-Mahut is shattering all previous records in a ridiculous number of categories: the number of games played, points played, duration, aces by a player, aces by both players combined, just to name a few.
On Tuesday, the two played for 2 hours and 54 minutes, won the first set 6-4, then lost the second 6-3, then lost the third 7-6(9-7) and won the fourth 7-6(10--8). And this is only his second match ever at Wimbledon. He lost in the first round last year. Isner has had four match points, all on Mahut's serve, the very last coming in the 117th game of the 5th set.
