Wimbledon

[jimlosaltos]

And another WTA seed is gone -- numero uno Iga Swiatek is out to Putinseva 6-3, 1-6, 2-6

So the 29 yo Kazak is the one that baked the breadstick. How ironic.

Could Danielle Collins, on her retirement tour, take a Wimbledon crown? Her side of the draw is certainly opening up nicely.

Have to give some recognition to Yulia. Here's our Tour Portrait of Julia from San Jose and a sample with that big smile.

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[jimlosaltos]

Holger Rune continues his lackluster 2024 going down two sets - 1-6, 6-7(4) but serving for the third to the 220th ranked Quentin Halys.

If Djokovic survives Papyrin (they're on court now) and Rune loses following Hubi retirement with that nasty-looking knee injury, Djokovic could get to the finals by meeting only one, solitary seed, presumably Alex de Minaur (9).

Who needs two knees?

Djokovic talks about his knee in this excerpt from TheAthletic:


Djokovic has made it into the final 32 without playing someone ranked higher than 123 — with only one fully functioning knee. He was stiff at times, slow (for him) and tentative, all understandable after meniscus surgery barely a month ago. Still, he pushed just hard enough to prevail.

“The muscles around it are contracting and getting sore more than usual because they’re compensating and protecting the knee, which is normal,” he said. “There’s more work on those muscles. Maybe because they are sore, they’re also not really giving me that kind of dynamic speed and power that I need and want to have.”

Now the question is who, if anyone, will have the game and the gumption to take advantage of Djokovic’s compromised state on his favorite surface, before he meets one of his biggest current rivals, Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, which can only happen in a final.

[stroke]

Holger Rune continues his lackluster 2024 going down two sets - 1-6, 6-7(4) but serving for the third to the 220th ranked Quentin Halys.

If Djokovic survives Papyrin (they're on court now) and Rune loses following Hubi retirement with that nasty-looking knee injury, Djokovic could get to the finals by meeting only one, solitary seed, presumably Alex de Minaur (9).

Who needs two knees?

Djokovic talks about his knee in this excerpt from TheAthletic:


Djokovic has made it into the final 32 without playing someone ranked higher than 123 — with only one fully functioning knee. He was stiff at times, slow (for him) and tentative, all understandable after meniscus surgery barely a month ago. Still, he pushed just hard enough to prevail.

“The muscles around it are contracting and getting sore more than usual because they’re compensating and protecting the knee, which is normal,” he said. “There’s more work on those muscles. Maybe because they are sore, they’re also not really giving me that kind of dynamic speed and power that I need and want to have.”

Now the question is who, if anyone, will have the game and the gumption to take advantage of Djokovic’s compromised state on his favorite surface, before he meets one of his biggest current rivals, Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, which can only happen in a final.

Oh the drama.

[stotty]

Novak sneaks through in the end. I didn't see all the match but he looked pretty good to me. He served beautifully and was solid off the ground. The longer he stays in the tournament the better he is likely to get. He'll be hard to stop were he to reach the final. Rune could be a handful, however, and Novak has struggled with him in the past. I will look forward to that one.

[stroke]

Match of the day, Grigor vs Med. Oddsmakers have it a pretty much a pick 'em.

[stotty]

Alcaraz wins the first set against Humbert and it looks it will a one horse race thus far. Tim Henman and Andrew Castle think Alcaraz's forehand is the biggest shot in tennis. Hard to argue with that assessment when Alcaraz just hit a dead ball from behind the baseline at 107mph for a clean winner. Humbert didn't even move.

[stroke]

Alcaraz wins the first set against Humbert and it looks it will a one horse race thus far. Tim Henman and Andrew Castle think Alcaraz's forehand is the biggest shot in tennis. Hard to argue with that assessment when Alcaraz just hit a dead ball from behind the baseline at 107mph for a clean winner. Humbert didn't even move.

I heard that accessment on Alcaraz forehand. Hard to say. The shot quality rankings on the ATP forehands, Alcaraz is certainly up there with Novak, Sinner, Tsitsipas, Ruud from what I can remember.

[stotty]

Humbert playing a really good tactical second set and is engrossed in the task. He just needs a break through to show for it.

[stroke]

Humbert playing a really good tactical second set and is engrossed in the task. He just needs a break through to show for it.

Umbert is a really good player. Alcaraz and Sinner both have the Fed like "injection of pace" forehand.

[stotty]

Umbert is a really good player. Alcaraz and Sinner both have the Fed like "injection of pace" forehand.

Yes he turned out to be a difficult customer. It was that "injection of pace" from Carlos that made all the difference here and there.

[jimlosaltos]

I heard that accessment on Alcaraz forehand. Hard to say. The shot quality rankings on the ATP forehands, Alcaraz is certainly up there with Novak, Sinner, Tsitsipas, Ruud from what I can remember.

Alcaraz seems to be flattening out his forehand more often at Wimbledon. This from his prior match

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[jimlosaltos]

Madison Keys was up double-break in the final set, then retired to Paolini at 5-5.

Hamstring pull.

[jimlosaltos]

Sinner takes out Shelton in 3 sets that were perhaps a bit better contested than the scoreline shows.

But Jannik won 70% of his second serve points 19/27

Third set was 11-9 in the tiebreak. Shelton got 15 aces in, I think 16 games.

Sinner came to the net more often than Ben and was more effective there: 22 of 32 vs only 13 of 27. Who would have thought three years ago that Sinner would be this eager to get to the net and this good when he got there? More of Darren Cahill's work?

[jimlosaltos]

Ace leaders all with 3 matches

Perricard - 105 aces
Halys - 70
Bublik -66

With 4 matches

Humbert - 56
Shelton - 55
Stuff - 53
Fritz 53

[jimlosaltos]

Good numbers from Craig at Braingame on Iga losing yet again in early rounds at Wimbledon, on his blog at this link.

Short version, Iga's severe Western grip and truncated, severe upswing might be fine on clay but on grass, she doesn't play defensive forehands well enough.

Winner Putinseva had 11 forehand winners / 16 errors = -5
Loser Iga 19 forehand winners / 46 errors = - 27

Main points in his analysis:

Iga doesn't seem to have a defensive forehand.

Swings hard and extremely fast regardless of how rushed she is.
Often starts to recover before she's finished the shot. Panicking?
When Iga is on defense, she tends to squat to hit her forehand and is off balance.
She only has one speed, and doesn't alter her technique to defend.
Does poorly hitting the first forehand after her serve.