Monday, June 24, 2013

Wimble-dawn!

The wait is over, the heat is on. A fortnight of play, seven consecutive match wins (best of five set matches for men) to get the names etched on the prestigious Wimbledon crown. Wimbledon begins today on the lawns of All England Club. In accordance with the tradition, each year the men's defending champion opens the play at the centre court. Roger Federer will yet again (for the Eighth time) do the honours; against Victor Hanescu.


Adding to Federer, the line up for the opening Monday is star studded. Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka all have their opening round matches today. 

As a result, players like Nadal and Azarenka will only get to play on Court 1 while Federer, Murray and Sharapova will take the Centre Court. Anyway, none of them will be hoping to hang around in their respective courts for too long. It's only their respective challengers who would hope for a match of their lifetime to cause some turbulence in the tall order.

Other than the star show, there are some interesting contests also that are brewing today. On Court 1, former world no.1 and Wimbledon champion Lleyton 'fight till you fall' Hewitt takes on Swiss No. 2 Stanislas Wawrinka - the 11th seed, in what promises to be a mouth watering clash. Hewitt is not a title contender these days but he really likes to take out a couple of seeds in the opening rounds of the Slams. Will Stan be up for him?

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga takes on young hope David Goffin, who might just give him a few anxious moments to start the tournament. Though an upset is unlikely, a set at best might be for Goffin's taking.

Marin Cilic, though being the tenth seed, is constantly struggling in slams and will have to put his act together to pass the tough test in Cypriot Marcos Baghadatis. Baghadatis, like Hewitt, is past his best days but that can only fuel his thirst to go deeper in the draw.

On the women's side, the bright young guns of American tennis Sloane Stephens and Jamie Hampton will have to outdo the other for advancing into the next round. Stephens, a seeded player, is a bit ahead of Hampton in the ranking race but Hampton has flatter ground strokes and more compatible game for the grass. Also, Stephens run since defeating Serena in Aussie Open hasn't been very good. An upset may be on the cards.

Nevertheless, the match-ups, anticipation and results will keep on happening for the next two weeks. As the pre-tournament preparations are over, the players are warmed up for glory, let's get into our seats to enjoy the show. As they say in Tennis, it's....TIME!

2 comments:

  1. Who is ur favorite..djkoer or federer!!!

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  2. @Sandy: I personally like aggressive players so Federer, Djoker and Nadal in that order. I like Del Potro quite a lot. why do you ask?

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