Right now we get onto the men's matches from the 2016 Wimbledon championships and so far the men's tournament has seen some very dramatic revelations in a dramatic first week, which could well change the surface of the outcome of the men's side of the net. So let's take a look and see how things are going so far...
TOP SEEDS IN PROGRESS
OK so first up for a change I will start with the home favourite, Andy Murray who so far has been in fine form at SW19 having so far. And Andy in his first match beat fellow Brit, Liam Broady effortlessly in 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 and he went on to thrash the Chinese player, Yen-hsun Lu 6-3, 6-2, 6-1. Andy however did face a bit more resistance though from his 3rd round opponent, John Millman, the Aussie who gave Andy a testing 2nd set but Andy managed to push through and he went on to secure his straight sets win in 6-3, 7-5, 6-2.
So this sees Andy poised to do well here at SW19 having not dropped a set so far in the tournament going into the 2nd week, this will definitely help his chances of winning as he will able to conserve his energies for what lies ahead. But in the 2nd week this is of course where things will warm up for the British No.1 but so far good.
Next is Roger Federer who has also made good progress so far in the event and he got his campaign off to a slightly shaky start against Guido Pella but he still managed to come through in straight sets, 7-6, 7-6, 6-3. After this Roger took on the surprise story of the tournament, the British player, Marcus Willis, ranked 772 in the world he managed to come through all the qualiying rounds and beat Richard Berankis, a player ranked over 700 places higher than him to reach the 2nd round. However in this match, Roger was comfortably the better player as he dominated Willis from start to finish even though Willis gave a good account of himself in the 2nd and 3rd sets, Roger came through 6-0, 6-3, 6-4. And in the 3rd round, Rog took on another Brit, Dan Evans and yet again he comfortably beat Evans who looked almost shellshocked to be on the same court as Roger and again the Swiss won in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 to reach the 2nd week.
And this sees Roger safely into the 2nd week and he looks to be in good form although his next opponent will be a step up in class the American, Steve Johnson who has beaten Grigor Dimitrov in the 3rd round so I expect that to be a tougher test. Regardless of this though, Rog is into the 2nd week and he is starting to put any doubts over his form to bed.
As for the other top seeds that are through Kei Nishikori has had a relatively easy time so far in getting to the 2nd week as he beat the big serving Aussie, Sam Groth in the 1st round in straight sets. Kei however did drop a set against the talented Frenchman, Julienne Benneteau before coming back to win in four sets. And in the 3rd round Kei managed to see off his Russian opponent, Andrey Kuznetsov in straight sets to reach the last 16 with a 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 victory.
Milos Raonic too so far has made very steady progress at SW19 and with being coached by John McEnroe, it really has sharpened up his grass court game and he has also reached the last 16 without dropping a set. Raonic has so far encountered Pablo Carreno-Busta of Spain, Andreas Seppi and the American, Jack Sock all of whom he has dispatch in straight sets, so Raonic is looking pretty good and remains a dark horse for the title.
And the other seeds that are still in so far are Richard Gasquet although he is currently in a 3rd round match against the Spaniard, Albert Ramos-Vinolas and he leads two sets to one but that will played most likely later today. Marin Cilic, the former US Open champion has also made it into the last 16 and continues to show his skills on grass courts as he beat Lukas Lacko in straight sets in the 3rd round and has only dropped one set in the tournament so far but he will go on to face Kei Nishikori next.
Bernard Tomic who has been up and down in form in recent years has made good progress so far though in this tournament and is also now in the last 16 having beat Roberto Bautista-Agut in straight sets 6-2, 6-4, 6-4. David Goffin has also made it into the last 16 and he will next face the big serving, Milos Raonic for a place in the quarter finals for the first time. And lastly Nick Kyrgios is also still in and currently locked in battle with Feliciano Lopez for a place in the 4th round where he could meet Andy Murray.
SEEDS GONE OUT
Ok so let's look at the seeds that have gone out so far and they will include one or two big shocks and to start off, one of the biggest casualties was Stan Wawrinka who came up against Juan Martin Del Potro in the 2nd round. And despite making a strong start by winning the first set, Stan was unable to deliver on that form as the big serving Delpo weaved his way into the match and stunned the 4th set to win the last three sets and a place in the 3rd round with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 victory.
Dominic Thiem next up was the next top seed casualty who was up against the big serving, Jiri Vesely who had already beaten Novak Djokovic earlier this season in Monte Carlo. And the big Czeck managed to assert himself over Thiem as he came out on top in three tiebreak sets to score a big win and reach the 3rd round as Thiem went out and the Czeck won 7-6, 7-6, 7-6.
David Ferrer who for the first time in years, has dropped out of the top 10 continued to struggle with his form as he lost out to the grass court specialist, Nicolas Mahut in straight sets. Gilles Simon also suffered a loss at the hands of Grigor Dimitrov, who had been having a bad season so far but no doubt this win would have given him a boost as he saw off Simon in four sets. Gael Monfils also suffered a very early exit as he was put out in the first round by fellow Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy in five sets.
And lastly (or second to last!) Viktor Troicki loss to the Spaniard, Albert Ramos-Vinolas had a bit of controversy as their match took place on an outer court that had no hawkeye and on the 2nd to last point Ramos-Vinolas served an ace but Troicki clearly thought it was out. And Troicki picked up the ball and yelled at the umpire telling him it was clearly out but the umpire awarded the point to the Spaniard who went on to win the match in five sets but Troicki afterward continued his argument with the umpire calling him "the worst umpire in the world!" and even went to the officials office to complain after that!
THE UPSET OF THE TOURNAMENT.....SO FAR.....
Soooooooooo....this brings me onto what undoubtedly has and will be the upset of the tournament so far as Novak Djokovic, the two time defending champion took on the big serving American, Sam Querrey in a match that Novak looked to be the hot favourite to win. However it was clear from the start that Novak looked to be off his game as Querrey played with power and precision in the first set, which he grabbed on a tiebreak. And in the 2nd set, Novak looked even more out of sorts as he looked almost disinterested in the match and he suffered a double break and lost the set with it to go on the brink of losing his title with a two set deficit. However luck looked to be on Novak's side as the match was suspended due to rain and they came back the next day to resume the match.
And on the match's resumption, Novak came out a different player as he broke Querrey twice in the 3rd set and went on to serve out to take the 3rd set to keep his title defence alive. And in the 4th set, Novak looked to apply the pressure to the Querrey serve which to the American's credit he was able to cling onto it until 4-4 where Novak finally broke him to have the chance to serve out to level the match and take it to a decider. However Sam was not yet done as courtesy of a couple of loose points from Novak, Sam broke back to level 5-5 and play went to another tiebreak which saw a see-saw of momentum. And in that breaker, the unthinkable happened as Querrey took the minibreak lead and then sealed the deal on his serve and with that, he dumped out the two-time defending champion, the World no.1, Novak Djokovic, in four sets with a stunning 7-6, 6-1, 3-6 7-6 victory.
Well....this defeat certainly sent shockwaves through the tennis world as a defeat so early on in a grand slam seemed extremely unlikely for the World No.1, but this match shows that even the very best can have their bad days. And right from the start Novak looked out of sorts and he later said after the match that he wasn't 100% healthy but he didn't want to talk about what was troubling him. Novak also confirmed that he wasn't going to play the Davis cup for Serbia in their upcoming tie against the defending champs, Great Britain, which if Andy plays could put them in the driving seat for the title again, but that is something we can leave for another post.
Novak did however suggest in the post match press conference that the sheer effort of winning the French open left him somewhat depleted in terms of his motivation going into Wimbledon. And I think it was safe to say that Novak didn't really look his best going into the tournament as he was dropping serve even early on to James Ward and Adrian Mannarino in the first and second rounds and missing shots he normally wouldn't.
And its almost like Novak is suffering the same sort of hangover Andy did after he first won Wimbledon in 2013 and in the subsequent tournaments that season he just couldn't get himself going. But regardless of what happened there is not much doubt that Novak will bounce back especially as the Olympic games is coming up soon where he will anxious to claim the gold medal to complete his golden career slam.
But in the meantime Sam Querrey deserves full credit for his terrific performance and his powerful and accurate serving that saw him come through this match and it secured his first ever victory over a World No.1 player. And with that Querrey has opened up his half of the draw for the other players and in particular, Roger Federer who was set to meet Novak in the semis, should be rubbing his hands with glee with this result that could see him potentially progress to the final with a shot at his 8th Wimbledon title.
SO WHAT NOW FOR ANDY???
So what does this mean for Andy Murray's chances??? Well this now leaves Andy as the top seed in the tournament and given that he has already won the tournament and also reached the last two grand slam finals this year in a row, this really could be his best chance to win the title for a 2nd time.
However there are still some dangerous opponents for Andy ahead and next up Andy will face the talented and hotheaded Aussie, Nick Kyrgios in the 4th round so that will be potentially a tough one for him to come through. However given Andy's current form I think Kyrgios will not be able to find a way past Andy but it is still one he should be wary of regardless. And Nick I think can definitely nab a set here against Andy so I wouldn't be surprised if it went four sets tomorrow but Andy should still come through.
So with all that in mind given Andy progresses past Nasty Nick he will still need to possibly face Tsonga or Gasquet in the quarters and maybe potentially Tomas Berdych in the semis, so his spot in the final is no given. And let's not forget Roger Federer who could be waiting for Andy in the final, who could prove to be Andy's toughest obstacle to overcome in the tournament. However it is in Andy's favour that Roger has had alot of time out with injury this season and he is yet to win a tournament this year so there is no guarantee that the Swiss maestro will win the title again this year. But you can never write Roger off and if you do, well as they say, do it at your own peril!
Anyway so we will see how it goes from here and I will be back again soon with more updates on the men's matches. Its been an exciting tournament so far which has seen plenty of upsets and the biggest one of them all with Novak Djokovic going out but there is still plenty to come and I will report back soon with more results.
Till the next one its bye for now!
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