Wimbledon

[jeffreycounts]

Ben's conclusion to his curfew-delayed match is supposedly the shortest session in Wimbledon history at 70 seconds. Good thing tennis players aren't paid by the hour.

Match suspended match vs Rinky Hijikata took 70 seconds. Play was stopped with Ben set to serve at 6-2, 7-5, 5-4. Next day: Bang, bang, bang, bang. Where's lunch?

Ben said in an interview he told the umpire the day before that he only needed 60 seconds to finish the match so need to stop play. When he came out the next day he was set on keeping that promise. Pretty entertaining stuff.

[jimlosaltos]

Ben's conclusion to his curfew-delayed match is supposedly the shortest session in Wimbledon history at 70 seconds. Good thing tennis players aren't paid by the hour.

Match suspended match vs Rinky Hijikata took 70 seconds. Play was stopped with Ben set to serve at 6-2, 7-5, 5-4. Next day: Bang, bang, bang, bang. Where's lunch?

[jimlosaltos]

Sabalenka quites the crowd vs Emma, taking the first set tiebreaker.

Aryna Sabalenka is now 14-1 in tiebreaks for 2025

[jeffreycounts]

Novak was looking exceptionally clinical in his match against Dan Evans. His serving this year is the best I have ever seen it, using all the spins and hitting the spots with pinpoint accuracy. It just goes to show hitting 115 to 120 mph will do the job just as well, and especially on grass — who needs 140+mph?

Like Pistol Pete! Take a look at our match rewind in the upcoming issue to see serving placement at its finest:
https://www.tennisplayer.net/articles/

I thought Dan Evans might give Noak some trouble, but a clinical straight sets win is encouraging.

[stotty]

Novak was looking exceptionally clinical in his match against Dan Evans. His serving this year is the best I have ever seen it, using all the spins and hitting the spots with pinpoint accuracy. It just goes to show hitting 115 to 120 mph will do the job just as well, and especially on grass — who needs 140+mph?

[jimlosaltos]

Apropos of the above serves this exchange ...

Sidebar: Amusing {or cautionary } veteran exchange when Darren Cahill was explaining technique issues with Coco Gauff's serve (I posted in the Aryna thread, which has turned into a Coco thread).

Cahill attempted to show how Coco takes her racket back causing problems, then stopped saying "My shoulder won't do that any more."

Pat McEnroe chimes in: "Mine won't either after 3 surgeries. I probably need a 4th."

As Harrison Ford said in "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "It's not the years, it's the mileage".

[jimlosaltos]

Only a few days into Wimbledon and already 19 men have hit serves of at least 140 MPH.
Two (2) players broke the all time record by Taylor Dent. Plus, we've seen second serves in 130 MPHs

And before anyone says "those new < whatever > ..." this includes old players (Dimitrov, Opelka) as well as new.
Top seeds and unseeded, high ranked and not in top 100.

Heat? Only on day one. Must be the strawberries.



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[jimlosaltos]

Draper has tough sledding, down 2 sets vs the old warhorse Cilic. The crowd is of course all behind Draper.

Very disappointing by and for Draper. Djokovic's quarter opens up like an over-ripe melon. Nearly 1/2 the singles seeds are gone by the end of day 3. Amazing.

[stroke]

Cilic huge win. Another great player that unfortunately had to play against the Big 3, like Gasquet, Monfils, Tsonga, Fognini, so may that had a brutal record vs the Big 3.

[stroke]

Draper has tough sledding, down 2 sets vs the old warhorse Cilic. The crowd is of course all behind Draper.

[stotty]

I was at Wimbledon yesterday and watched Mannarino vs Royer —a tight four set match, and Bonzi and Jordan Thompson, a tight five setter. It’s amazing to sit not 10 yards for the players and watch world-class tennis on grass.

Mannarino is the anomaly in today’s game, a little underpowered compared to most on the tour but he knows how to move a player around and make life difficult. Oddly enough, it’s his dead flat backhand that created the most difficulty for his opponent. Slice isn’t as effective as you might think from the TV, and most players (even those with extreme grips) can deal with it quite easily.

The trick is to use slice at the right time and not to overplay it as Dan Evans is doing right now as I watch him play Novak. Use slice as a curve ball in nervy and tight situations, then it can bear fruit, occasionally. Novak is gobbling up Evans’ slice with zero problem whatsoever.

[stroke]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Rh2KHXkHGn9n9BWk9

Updated odds to win Wimbledon

[stroke]

Wow he did it again. Incredible.

I have long been a Fritz fan. At this point, I would put him as the 3rd favorite to win this thing, and probably is his best opportunity to win a Major, which I have long thought he could accomplish.

[jeffreycounts]

I can NOT believe this. Fritz is on the verge of going past the curfew for the second five setter in a row and, get this,
the second match in a row against a 6 foot 8 inch server.

Yes, after surviving 6 ft in 8 in Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, Fritz is now in the fifth set against 6 ft 8 in Gabriel Diallo of Canada. Never seen Diallo but he did upset Cerundolo in the first round at Roland Garros, I believe.

Set score Frtiz: 3-6 6-3 7-6(7) 4-6, 2-2 as I type.

Diallo has been relatively "slow" by comparison to yesterday "only" maxed at 143 MPH, which was the record fastest at Wimbledon for several years { Gio upped the record from 148 to 153 vs Firtz)

On the other hand, I can't image better practice for today's match than Fritz's prior match

Wow he did it again. Incredible.

[jimlosaltos]

I can NOT believe this. Fritz is on the verge of going past the curfew for the second five setter in a row and, get this,
the second match in a row against a 6 foot 8 inch server.

Yes, after surviving 6 ft in 8 in Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, Fritz is now in the fifth set against 6 ft 8 in Gabriel Diallo of Canada. Never seen Diallo but he did upset Cerundolo in the first round at Roland Garros, I believe.

Set score Frtiz: 3-6 6-3 7-6(7) 4-6, 2-2 as I type.

Diallo has been relatively "slow" by comparison to yesterday "only" maxed at 143 MPH, which was the record fastest at Wimbledon for several years { Gio upped the record from 148 to 153 vs Firtz)

On the other hand, I can't image better practice for today's match than Fritz's prior match