Now its time to look at the men's event at this year's Wimbledon championships in which the top players of the world compete for that much coveted golden trophy. So let's how things have gone so far...
1st WEEK NOTABLE SEEDS THAT WENT OUT
Well, the first week saw some big upsets on the men's side of the net with the biggest casualty coming on the 1st day, which was Stan Wawrinka, who was up against the talented grass court player, Daniil Medvedev who has enjoyed a grass season on the grass so far whereas Stan hasn't, who went out in the 1st round at Queens. And it was no different here for Stan as Medvedev showed his grass court pedigree and used to defeat Stan in four sets to reach the 2nd round at Wimbledon.
Another big upset was Nick Kyrgios, who was up against Pierre Hughes-Herbert and Nick found himself two sets to love down before he finally decided to throw in the towel due to injury. This marked Nick's worst loss of the season so far after going out early in Australia and Paris in the first two slams in the 2nd round.
Feliciano Lopez, the 19th seed, despite having a great grass season so far and winning the Queens club title for the first time just a week prior to Wimbledon, also suffered an early loss at the hands of Adrian Mannirino of France as he retired in the 4th set with injury.
Juan Martin Del Potro also suffered an early exit in the 2nd round as he was defeated by Ernest Gublis in straight sets, which saw the big Argentine fail to reach beyond the first week at Wimbledon again for the second year running.
Kei Nishikori was another top 10 seed casualty who suffered an early exit in the 3rd round at the hands of the 18th seed, Robert Bautista Agut, the Spaniard who is pretty consistent on all surfaces and has so far reached the 4th round of every major. Nishikori however has always struggled to play well on grass having never gotten past the last 16 at the event.
And lastly Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who has been a two time semi-finalist at SW19 also suffered a defeat from the American big server, Sam Querrey as the two of them needed two days to complete their five set epic match. On the 2nd day of returning to the court, at 6-5 up to Querrey it took only five minutes for the American to break Tsonga's serve and seal his place in the last 16.
2ND WEEK SO FAR AND MORE UPSETS
So moving onto the 2nd week we saw big seismic upsets that left the crowds at SW19 in shock starting with Rafael Nadal, the former two time champion, who took on the talented grass court specialist, Gilles Muller in the 4th round.
And the two men played what has so far been undisputedly the match of the tournament that was a real epic that went the distance. The match began however with Muller surprisingly outplaying Rafa and nabbing a two set lead to put the 4th seed in real danger of going out. Rafa however managed to dig deep and win the 3rd and 4th sets to level the match and make him the favourite to win the decider. However, Muller showed his class with his quality serve and kept his calm as both men played a thrilling deciding set that went real deep as both men refused to budge on serve until at 14-13 it was Muller that made the breakthrough and broke Rafa at last to win the match. This saw Rafa go out yet again at Wimbledon before the quarter finals for the 2nd time in the last six years as Muller reach his first Wimbledon quarter final with a stunning 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13 victory.
This really was a big upset given that Rafa looked to be played very well on the grass courts again as he reached the last 16 in such impressive form having not dropped a set. However, Muller deserves all the credit here for pulling off such a big win and it blew the draw wide open for the other players to progress further.
The next big upset came with the defending champion, Andy Murray who took on the big serving American, Sam Querrey, who had already come through two testing five setters to get to this stage against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Kevin Anderson respectively. Andy had come into the event with a question mark around his fitness as he was suffering from a hip injury that hampered his preparations but he still managed to put in a good effort to get this far to the quarter final stage.
And at the start of the match it looked likely that Andy would be able to win it as he took the first set and he went up a break in the 2nd set. However, Querrey broke back and then went on to break Andy's own serve to level the match. The 3rd set was a tight affair however that saw both men trade breaks of serve as Andy failed to serve out the set at 5-4 and play went to a tiebreak, which Andy won to take the two sets to one lead. However just as victory looked to be in sight for Andy, his fitness suddenly detirioated and started to hobble badly on one leg as his hip injury resurfaced, which let Querrey back into the match as he ruthlessly broke the defending champion three times in the 4th set to level the match. And in the 5th set, Andy's movement grew even worse as he could barely move around the court, hobbling and limping badly, this let Querrey grab the triple break to go 5-1 up and then serve out the match with an ace to reach his first major semi final with a huge upset victory winning 3-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1, 6-1.
Well, this was yet another big upset with Andy looking in pretty good form at the start of the match only for his hip injury to rear its ugly head (or hip!) again, Querrey's big serving and good movement were too much for Andy as the match wore on. And by the end of the match it was difficult to watch the defending champion hobble around the court and in the last couple of games he was really whincing in pain, so it was inevitable after the 3rd set that he wouldn't have won.
So, this leaves a big question mark as to what Andy will do next as it looks most likely that he will need to take an extended break to sort out his hip, which could either involve a long period of rest and rehab or maybe even surgery, which experts have said could put him out for six months, meaning his season this year would be as good as over. Personally I would rather see Andy take the necessary time out needed to get himself back to 100 percent fitness and if that means taking the rest of the season off to recover, then so be it as his fitness and health should definitely come first before playing any tournament regardless of it being a slam or not.
And the last big upset comes in the form of Novak Djokovic, who was looking to be in pretty good form coming into the tournament as he won his first grass court warm-up title at Eastbourne just the week prior to Wimbledon and he managed to reach the quarter finals here where he played Tomas Berdych.
However unfortunately for Novak, during his win over Adrian Mannarino in the 4th round he was suffering with a shoulder injury, which later developed into his elbow as he went into his match with Tomas Berdych. So, in the match both men played a tight first set that went to a tiebreak and Berdych took the initiative as Novak appeared to be struggling with his elbow and the big Czeck took the opening set. And in the 2nd set, after going a break down, Novak finally decided to throw in the towel as his elbow injury forced him to retire trailing 2-0 in the 2nd set that saw Berdych reach his 2nd consecutive Wimbledon semi final with a 7-6, 2-0 ret result.
Well this result was definitely a surprise as Novak looked to be in good form coming into Wimbledon even though there were a few concerns about his shoulder injury in his 4th round match he appeared to be OK in the first set against Berdych. However it was soon apparent that Novak's elbow was a problem and in the end it was too much for Novak to continue.
So, this now leaves another question mark over Novak's fitness, who has considered taking an extended break himself to try and get his form back and recover well, which means potentially we might not see either Andy or Novak in action in the latter half or indeed the rest of the season. Time will tell soon enough for both men but right now rest and recuperation sounds like the best course of action.
WHO'S LEFT
Well as for who is left there is of course the men's favourite, Roger Federer, who so far has been in sublime form in the tournament and is yet to drop a set as he has breezed his way into the semi finals. Roger so far has taken out players such as Mischa Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov and in his quarter final match, Milos Raonic, all in straight sets, which has shown that he remains imperious in his form and well on course to lift that recording breaking 8th Wimbledon title.
Marin Cilic, who was already considered a real favourite for the title also has made a great run into the semis so far as he reached the last eight without dropping a set. However that all changed when he met Gilles Muller, who handed Cilic his first real test of the tournament and the Luxembourger pushed Cilic to the limit as their match went to a 5th set. But in the end, Cilic showed his class as he went to break Muller twice (or three times maybe!) in the decider and seal his place in his first Wimbledon semi final with a hard fought 3-6, 7-6, 6-5, 5-7, 6-1 victory.
And of course we have Tomas Berdych and Sam Querrey who toppled Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic respectively. However both men will have their work cut out as Berdych will take on Roger next, which is one I honestly have to say is a match I do not think he will win and it will be most likely that Rog will come through that match without dropping a set. Querrey however might be able to make life tougher for Cilic as they had previously played the second longest match at Wimbledon as both men played a five setter previously that went Cilic's way 17-15 in the 5th. Cilic however has never lost to Querrey in his career and I think this late in the tournament that he will be the real favourite to come through that match in an easier fashion in maybe four sets.
SIGN OFF
Right, so that's it for now and I will be back with the result of the men's semi finals once the matches have been played out.
So, till the next one its bye for now.
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