Wimbledon Second Monday Preview

I usually can't say enough good things about the Second Monday of Wimbledon. If you can only attend the tournament on one day—this is the best day to go. Instead of the usual schedule of one half of the draw playing on one day and the other half playing the next day, on the Second Monday ALL remaining men and women play. This means there are lots of great matches being played and because not all of them can be played on the show courts, you'll still get to see high level players on the outer courts even if you only have a grounds pass. It's usually the best day in tennis and it's usually glorious.

However, the Second Monday of Wimbledon 2014 is not going to be quite so glorious. Yes, it will still feature many good matches, but you won't get to see all the remaining players. In fact, you won't get to see Federer or Nadal at all. A very rainy Saturday meant that many matches got cancelled, and because there is never any play on the Middle Sunday, these cancelled matches will be played on Monday and some of the matches that would have been on Monday will now be on Tuesday. So basically we get a second rate version of a Second Monday.

It's not all bad though. There is still the potential for some pretty exciting matches. Here are my two must-see matches on Monday:

Novak Djokovic vs. Jo-Wilfrid Tsonga
This match could go one of two ways: either Djokovic blows Tsonga away in three easy sets, or Tsonga plays the kind of amazing tennis we know he can play and forces a fifth set...and Djokovic still wins. As talented as he is, Tsonga is way too inconsistent to beat Djokovic in a five set match at Wimbledon. Plus, Novak needs to atone for his lacklustre French Open final performance.
Prediction: Djokovic wins in three sets

Genie Bouchard vs. Alize Cornet
The biggest upset of the tournament so far is, without a doubt, Alize Cornet's win over Serena Williams. Knowing that she took out one of the toughest competitors in the sport has got to give Cornet a huge amount of confidence, but she'll need more than just confidence to beat Genie Bouchard. Genie has reached the semifinals in every Slam this year, and she won't want to break her streak—particularly now that she won't have to face Serena.
Prediction: Bouchard wins in three sets

Other intriguing Monday matches include Marin Cilic vs. Jeremy Chardy, Feliciano Lopez vs. John Isner, Andy Murray vs. Kevin Anderson, Maria Sharapova vs. Angelique Kerber, and the continuation of the suspended match between Ana Ivanovic and Sabine Lisicki.

Federer's Triumph and Murray's Heartbreak

Roger Federer has had a pretty good summer so far: 7 Wimbledon titles, 17 Grand Slam titles, and back to his position of the number 1 player in the world. 

I don't think I've ever been so equally excited and heartbroken after a grand slam match. On one hand I wanted Federer to win another slam—something that many people, including myself, were not sure he would ever do again—but another part of me wanted to see Andy Murray silence all his critics and finally win a grand slam title himself.

As usual, Roger outplayed Andy when it mattered most, and Federer won the title 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. Murray played well, and I was happy that the British crowd enthusiastically cheered him on, but you knew that this loss was going to be devastating for Andy.

His post-match on-court interview was difficult to watch. Much like Federer after his loss to Nadal at the 2009 Australian Open, Murray broke down in tears and needed to take a few deep breaths before he attempted to speak again. His mother Judy could be seen crying onto a friend's shoulder, and his girlfriend Kim Sears looked on from the crowd with her hand over her mouth—tears streaming down her face.

Murray's past defeats in grand slam finals have often led to sub-par play for a few months after the tournament—many speculating that Andy had trouble mentally getting over the losses. But I hope that this time it's different. He's never had so much support from the British crowd before, and he's never taken a set off anyone in a grand slam final—until now. Perhaps this time he'll be able to take the positives from his results at Wimbledon and finally make a breakthrough at this year's US Open.

And as for Federer, I think he's made it pretty clear that he's going to go full out for the gold medal at the Olympic Games in a few short weeks from now. And since the matches are being played at Wimbledon—on the exact same surface that he just won his latest grand slam title on—I'm thinking the rest of the players should watch their backs.

The Roger Federer Song

To celebrate the upcoming Wimbledon final between Federer and Murray I now present you with "Grand Slam Man"—that delightfully catchy song about His Majesty R. Fed (written by the band Binge). You're welcome.

 

Wimbledon is Awesome: Federer vs. Murray picks

I am very excited for the men's final on Sunday. I haven't been this excited for a grand slam final for a long time. Not only did Federer beat Djokovic today (a feat in itself), but he's given himself a chance to win his 17th grand slam title and return to the number 1 spot in the ATP rankings. And to make things even better, Andy Murray will be his opponent in the final. I love Andy Murray! And Andy totally deserves to win a slam.

I'll be mainly cheering for Roger on Sunday—he's my favourite and it feels like forever since he won his last slam title. But it's nice to know that I'll be happy about the outcome either way. It would be great to see Andy win his first slam. All this "Andy's never won a slam" talk must be killing him, and I think he'll break down and cry if he wins, and I'd personally like to see that. I love myself an emotional winner. On the other hand, I feel like this might be Fed's last chance at another Wimbledon title and I want to see him tie Sampras in the Wimbledon category as well as number of weeks at number 1. And obviously Fed will also cry.

One thing is for sure: the Wimbledon crowd is going to be insane. They LOVE Roger. Like really really love him. But they're going to have to be behind Andy. I think the crowd (for once) will be pretty pro-Andy--even if that means they can't cheer as much for their beloved Fed.

I'm going with Federer beating Murray in four sets.

Can't wait.

Andy Roddick, Stop Breaking My Heart

As discussed in an earlier post, I really like Andy Roddick. He's been one of my favourite players for a long time now, since before he won his first and only major at the 2003 US Open. In fact, I've been a fan of Andy's for longer than I've been a fan of Federer's (crazy, I know). And through all of his ups and downs—his on-court temper tantrums, his rising and falling rankings, his final appearances along with early exits from Wimbledon—I've always rooted for Andy and wanted him to do well. So it hurts me a little inside to have to say this, but I think it must be said: "Andy Roddick, stop breaking my heart!"


Don't get me wrong, I don't mean that I'm disappointed in Andy because he hasn't won as many matches as he should have, or that he hasn't been able to get another slam title. I can't stand those people who act like their favourite athletes owe them something—like those people who watch the Olympics and are disgusted and disappointed by how poorly their country's athletes performed. They don't seem to take into account the fact that these athletes have trained their whole lives for this moment and chances are that they are probably a little more devastated than the random television viewer.


What I meant was that with Andy, you can see how much winning another slam means to him—and the heartbreak that you see on his face when he loses makes my heart break. And so I guess the better statement might be: "Andy Roddick, stop breaking your own heart, because it's breaking mine."


I'm not sure anyone could have watched last year's Wimbledon final without their heart breaking at least a little for Andy—and seeing him exit the tournament early this year only makes that 2009 loss to Federer seem even worse, as you probably can't quite convince yourself that he will ever get such a great chance to win the title again.


This year at Wimbledon you could feel the crowd really getting behind him—perhaps remembering what he went through after his loss the year before and hoping that maybe this year he could finally do it. It reminded me a little bit of the atmosphere at the 2009 French Open, after Rafa Nadal lost. You could feel that it was a now-or-never situation for Roger, and it seemed like everyone—the crowd, the commentators, and the other players—desperately wanted Roger to finally get the one trophy that he wanted so much. And while Federer was able to capitalize on his opportunity and win the title, Roddick couldn't quite find a way to stop Federer from winning his sixth Wimbledon crown.


So as each new major comes along, I hold on to the belief that Andy has got one more slam in him. That he'll be able to pull-off an upset of Federer or Nadal, and that all of the hard work he's put into this—new coaches, weight loss, new training programs—will finally pay off.


Maybe I'm crazy, but I really do think that one day he'll do it.