Juan-Carlos Ferrero? Tommy Haas? Lleyton Hewitt? Andy Roddick? Roger Federer? Ivo Karlovic?
This sounds like a run-down of 1995’s Future Stars of Tennis. Or the quarterfinals of a major in, say 2003. But, 2009??? No chance. Well, that is the case, as it is these six elder statesmen of the men’s tour making up 3/4 of the final eight at Wimbledon in 2009–joined only by young guns, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic. For my money, I find it incredibly exciting as there is a great combination of the youth (Murray and Djokovic), the accomplished (Federer and Roddick), the career revivals (Hewitt, Ferrero, and Haas), and the throwback late-bloomer (Karlovic). So, what are we to expect tomorrow? That is anybody’s guess.
#2 Roger Federer vs. #22 Ivo Karlovic
In the first match on Centre Court tomorrow, the five-time Wimbledon champ will take on a throwback to the days where groundstrokes were few and rallies were short, who, by the way, happens to be 6-foot-10.
How They Got Here
The Federer has not exactly been as overwhelmingly dominant this year as he has in year’s past, but he still has only dropped one set–a third-set tiebreak to 27-seed Philipp Kohlschreiber. He is coming off a straight-set win over 13-seed Robin Soderling in a rematch of the surprising French Open finale. Soderling had chances in both the second and third set tiebreaks, but Federer showed exactly why he has won 14 Grand Slams and made an astonishing 20 consecutive Grand Slam semis–he wins big points.
Ivo Karlovic won his first-round match against Slovakian Lucas Lacko in straight sets. But, Lacko did something that no one else has done yet against Karlovic–he earned a break point. In fact, Lacko had 4 break points in that match. He was 0-for-4. Since then, Karlovic has gone through three more rounds, including matches against 9-seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and 7-seed Fernando Verdasco, without facing a single break point. Yes, you read that correctly–IVO KARLOVIC HAS NOT BEEN BROKEN IN 79 SERVICE GAMES AND HAS ONLY FACED 4 BREAK POINTS ALL TOURNAMENT, ALL IN THE FIRST ROUND! He has made 71% of his first serves (and they are bombs) and won 91% of the points on that first serve. Unbelievable! Needless to say, Karlovic is on an absolute roll with his serve. However, this is not to say that he has cruised because his lack of an all-around game makes it difficult for him to break. He broke Tsonga once in the third round, winning 7-6, 6-7, 7-5, 7-6, and Verdasco once in the fourth round, winning 7-6, 6-7, 6-3, 7-6.
Wednesday’s Matchup
Needless to say, we will probably see a tiebreak or two. I will at least go out on a limb and say that Karlovic will NOT break Federer–that much is pretty sure. So, it is going to come down to the big points in a tiebreak or a Federer break. In both cases, I like Federer, but not easily. I could see Dr. Ivo winning at least one tiebreak and making Federer really work for his 21st straight semifinal. Federer is 8-1 against Karlovic all-time, but the one win was on hardcourts in Cincinnati last year, where Karlovic beat Fed without a single break, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6.
The Pick
Federer in 4. Look for Federer to break once and win a pair of tiebreaks (the big points), but it will not be a walk in the park. Karlovic is serving as well as anyone ever has, and, as boring as it is to see no breaks, it is pretty incredible to see someone do something better than any else does in the world. Then again, the game is tennis, not “serving,” and Federer is better at tennis than anyone else in the world, so we will go with him to win this one.
#4 Novak Djokovic vs. #24 Tommy Haas
The youngest player left versus the oldest player left in the first match on Court 1 on Wednesday. Djokovic was only 12 years old when Tommy Haas burst onto the scene as a 21-year old semifinalist in Australia. Now, ten years later, Haas is in the middle of a career revival, while Djokovic, the 4th-ranked player in the world, is trying to win his second Grand Slam.
How They Got Here
Djokovic dropped the first set of his tournament here to Frenchman Julien Benneteau, before rattling off 12 straight sets (Benneteau, Simon Greul, Mardy Fish, and Dudi Sela) to get to this point. Djokovic really has yet to be tested at all since the Benneteau set, not even needing a tiebreak in the past three rounds, beating Sela in the round of 16, 6-2, 6-4, 6-1. It almost seems as if Novak has not even really been in this tournament–usually a good sign.
On the other side is Tommy Haas. Maybe because it is a great story, but it seems like Haas has been all over this tournament. Like Djokovic, Haas dropped the first set of the tournament to an unseeded player, before winning in four. Haas basically had a walkover against Michael Llodra in the second round, as the Frenchman retired after only 7 games. And, that break turned out huge for Haas, as his third-round opponent, 11-seeded Marin Cilic went five sets with American Sam Querrey in the second round. Haas, the more rested player, came out and won the first two sets 7-5 and 7-5. But, Cilic did not roll over, winning the third 6-1 and the fourth in a tiebreak, setting one of the more exciting sets of the 2009 Wimbledon, one where Haas survived 10-8 (staving off two match points) to advance to the round of 16 in just under four and a half hours. Haas then handled #29 Igor Andreev in straight sets to get him to his first Wimbledon quarters in 11 chances.
Wednesday’s Matchup
Well, these two played three weeks ago in the grass-court tune-up tournament in Halle, Germany (Haas’s native country–and his first ever grass title, having won on all other surfaces), and Haas defeated Djokovic in the tournament’s final. Haas has been one of the hotter players of this year’s grass-court circuit, but Djokovic has cruised through this tournament. It should be interesting as Djokovic loves to pound away at the baseline, while Haas has reincarnated the Stefan Edbergs and Patrick Rafters, with a true serve-and-volley game on both first and second serves. Either way, the contrast of ages, styles, and career arcs makes for a very interesting match on Court 1.
The Pick
Djokovic in 4. As much as we here at BSB want to pick Haas in the upset, Djokovic’s game is just too good right now, and he hits some of the best passing shots in the business, so Haas’s serve-and-volley game should not cause as much trouble for Djokovic than it did for someone like Cilic. I do think, however, that if it goes five, I like Haas’s heart a lot more than Djokovic’s.
#3 Andy Murray vs. Juan-Carlos Ferrero
Just as someone dusted off David Duval at golf’s U.S. Open two weeks ago, it seems someone has also dusted off “The Mosquito” in this year’s Wimbledon. Juan-Carlos Ferrero was one of the best all-court players in the world in the beginning stages of this decade, but injuries have really derailed what was heading to be a great career. Now, only in the tournament on a wild card entrant, he is back to playing some great tennis and has reached another Grand Slam quarters. And, now, he has the opportunity to crush the hopes on an entire kingdom, who has not seen a “native son” win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936.
How They Got Here
Andy Murray, carrying all the hopes of the United Kingdom on his racket strings, dropped a set in the first round, but cruised rather easily through the first three rounds, including an easy win over #30 Viktor Troicki in the third round. But, then…he found himself in an absolute war with #19 Stanislas Wawrinka–one of the best matches of the tournament this year. Wawrinka dominated the first set against a lost-looking Murray. But, Murray recovered, won the second and third, and was up a break in the fourth, before Stan rallied, won the fourth set and battled hard in the fifth, but fell 6-3, under the roof, in the latest Wimbledon match in history.
Ferrero, a wild card entry, knocked off Mikhail Youzhny in the first round and Fabrice Santoro in the second (both of which were money-making wagers for Yours Truly), but then it looked like the fun would end, as he drew 10th-seeded and red-hot Fernando Gonzalez in the third round. Gonzo won the first set, 6-4, but Ferrero rallied to win sets two and three. After Gonzalez took the match to a fifth set and just when it looked like he would survive, Ferrero stepped up, won the fifth and moved on, winning the fifth set 6-4. But, another test awaited the veteran Spaniard in the round of 16 in 8th-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon. But, Ferrero won the first set in a tiebreak and then just cruised after that, winning in straight sets with surprising ease.
Wednesday’s Matchup
It just goes to show the arc of Ferrero’s career in that, until three weeks ago, he had never played Andy Murray. Ferrero was very good when Murray was in the juniors, and Ferrero has been a complete non-factor since Murray has been relevant. Murray beat Ferrero easily on the grass at Queens three weeks ago, in a semifinal match on his way to the title. Plus, with grass being possibly the best surface for Murray and the worst for Ferrero, it seems like a mismatch, until you remember that a Brit has not won Wimbledon since before the second World War, so Murray has tolose in one of these rounds, right? Plus, the last wild card entrant to Wimbledon that has gotten this far was Goran Ivanisevic in 2001, who beat the other British hope, Tim Henman, en route to winning the whole thing.
The Pick
Murray in 3. As much as I LOVE curses and misery and the like, this matchup just does not look good for The Mosquito (one of my all-time favorite players). Murray should move on to the semis–and maybe even the finals–before breaking every British heart.
#6 Andy Roddick vs. Lleyton Hewitt
The second match on Court 1 is, at least for BSB, the most anticipated match of this year’s tournament thus far. It is hard to express how excited I am in the resurgence of my favorite all-time athlete, Lleyton Hewitt, so it is about time for Lleyton to break my heart again–just when I started to believe again.
How They Got Here
Several commentators said that if Hewitt lost to #5 Juan-Martin Del Potro in the second round, it might be the final match of his career. But, fortunately for me (and the BSB readers who would have to put up with a long, passionate post about the end of the career of an athlete that only I seem to like), Lleyton swept right through Del Potro in straight sets. He had done the same to American Robby Ginepri in the first round and then to German Phillip Petzschner in the third round. Then, the bulldog in Lleyton was awoken in the round of 16 when #23 Radek Stepanek took the first two sets. But, Hewitt, the ultimate fighter, flipped the switch and hammered Stepanek one, two, and two in the final three sets to move on to a quarterfinal date with Mr. Roddick.
Roddick made a habit of winning two sets, dropping the third, and then winning in four through the first three rounds of this tournament. He had that exact result against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in the first round, Russian Igor Kunitsyn in the second round, and 30th-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer in the third round. He stepped up his game in the round of 16, winning in a dominating straight sets against #20 Tomas Berdych.
Wednesday’s Matchup
Well, both players have been number one in the world. Both have 27 titles. Both are former U.S. Open champs, and both have been finalists here at the All-England Club (Hewitt is a former champion). And, most importantly, both are so incredibly entertaining with tennis rackets in their hands. No matter what happens, this match is going to be one for the fans. Both men have an incredible competitive spirit and will not ever give up on any point in the match. Over the courses of their careers, Hewitt leads the all-time series 6-5, but Roddick has won 4 in a row, including a 7-6, 7-6 win on grass three weeks ago. The big matchup in this match is going to be the Roddick serve versus the Hewitt return. When Lleyton was the best player in the world, he did so mainly because he was such a great returner of serve. When Roddick was the best player in the world, he did so mainly because he was such a great server. Wednesday’s match may just come down to whether or not Lleyton can break Roddick in any consistent manner. On the other side, Roddick’s return of serve is probably his biggest weakness, but Lleyton’s serve has always been inconsistent. If Hewitt is hitting his first serve with consistency, Roddick may have trouble breaking him. All I want, personally, is a five-set war. Is that too much to ask?
The Pick
Hewitt in 5. Honestly, can I really pick against Lleyton Hewitt? No, no, I can’t. This is going to be a war, but I can see Hewitt winning a classic, so I am going to pick this one with my heart, not necessarily my head.
Ridiculous story there. What happened after?
Thanks!