Wimbledon Day 4: Seeds Crumble, Fall Out the Door

Hey, all. Galileo here.

Viktor Troicki has added another rant to his collection:


He is known for his hot head and even at Wimbledon he is liable to explode. In a five set loss to Ramos he blew up, yelling at the umpire. Apparently one of the line judges made a sound. And on the same day Simon threatened to sue for being forced to play in awful conditions. Yes, it was all in all an utter shambles. Like in Paris, nobody wants to play in the rain.

And 18 seeds fell, though only 7 in the men’s draw. Karlovic, my suicide pick, was very disappointing. Of course, the biggest seed to fall in the men’s was an Austrian who was everybody’s dark horse. Radwanska only survived [winning 9-7 in the third] Konjuh because her opponent wasted three match points before injuring herself. So it’s an extremely lucky escape for the third seed.


Ankle injuries are nasty. They can really effect a player’s career. Long term how has this impacted the Dane’s career? I suppose we’ll never know.


Before we get onto Murray and Nishikori, there is one more leg injury that must be referenced. Warning- not for the squeamish.


Well let’s go on with it...

*Suicide Picks*
MS 1st Rd: Mahut d. Klein {W}
MS 2nd Rd: 2nd Rd: Karlovic [21] d. Lacko [Q] {L}
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WS 1st Rd: Makarova d. Larsson {W}
WS 2nd Rd: Vandeweghe [27] d. Babos {W}
WS 3rd Rd: Suarez Navarro [12] d. Erakovic [Q]


CENTRE COURT: NISHIKORI D. BENNETEAU
...It’s a massive banana peel sidestepped by Kei here. When Benny won the first set 6-4 the upset alarm in BACKSPIN HQ began to flash, though not red. It flashed a light pink. Kei turned it off with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 come-from-behind win. Few avoided the upset, with Venus being a notable escape artist. Radwanska doesn’t count; she got extremely lucky. Benny went just 29-22 in the winners while Nishikori exploded. He hit the same amount of errors but blasted 48 winners throughout the match. He also broke 5 times to 2 in the two and a half hour contest. Nishikori started slow but soon hit his usual rhythm. The Asian number one has an abysmal record here, making just one fourth round. Kuznetsov is up next and will be no pushover. After that Cilic likely lurks. So from here it gets tougher.
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CENTRE COURT: MURRAY D. LU
...Rendy Lu was up 2-0 in the first set but his resistance was soon snapped. The Scot cruised through after that, dropping just 4 more games in the 100 minute contest. He managed just 20-25 on the winners while the second seed went 31-12. Muzza broke 7 times and won 56 per cent of receiving points. Little else need be said except that John Millman is up next for the Scot. He shocked Paire in four. The problem with these early matches is that they are so rarely close and this one was sadly no exception.
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NO.1 COURT : DIMITROV D. SIMON
...Dimi is back. He announced himself with a 6-3, 7-6[1], 3-6, 6-4 shock ‘upset’ over out of form 16th seeded Simon. It was a bad day for the 16th seeds. Konta drew Bouchard and lost in three. Dimitrov flashed 44 winners to 43 errors and was completely mad the whole match. Brilliantly, frustratingly mad. And you’re mad if you didn’t enjoy every stupid moment. Simon almost sued the umpire. Dimitrov’s defence and offense was mind-blowing. The confidence was back, the magic is flowing once more. Is he slowly moving out of his rut or will he be forever a grass-court specialist? Both men won well over 60 per cent of their serve points though there were still eight breaks. Simon seemed all out of ideas while Dimitrov flowed effortlessly around the greasy court and played some sparkling tennis. If he can beat Johnson he could be looking at rising into the top 32 again. Johnson will be somewhere around 25 in the world, a just reward for a very talented college player. Oh, the winner of that one gets Roger Federer. Yep.
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NO.1 COURT : VESELY D. THIEM
...One could be forgiven for forgetting these two are the same age. 7-6[4], 7-6[5], 7-6[3] was the scoreline, completed in three hours. But this is no reason to sell Thiem stock. Berdych lost in an identical scoreline to Gulbis a few Wimbledons ago. Berdych is still in the top ten while Gulbis has imploded. Despite Thiem going 45-29 in the winners while his opponent could only manage 37-25, and the Austrian only losing serve once, he still finds himself going home. He only won 31 per cent of receiving points, a mirror of his opponents. Vesely won four of every five points on his first serve. In the matches coming up against Sousa and Berdych he will need to continue that stat. It was his first big signature win and he can follow it up with his first round appearance at a slam.
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COURT 18: TOMIC D. ALBOT
...The Aussie blew many a chance but scraped through to a 7-6[3], 6-3, 6-7[6], 6-3 victory in front of his fanatics this afternoon. He refused to come to the net, allowing his Macedonian opponent to scamper around the back of the court and defend. He was the same mercurial self he has always been. Albot resisted admirably but he could never hurt Tomic. Tomic hit 66 winners, exactly twice that of his opponent. Tomic always seems to find his best tennis at Wimbledon and in Australia. He is the slight favourite against Agut, who has recovered a little form lately. But after that lurks Wawrinka and then probably Berdych. So the road is tough.
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OUTER COURT SELECTION: BARTON D. OLIVETTI
...Sure it took the Aussie three days and four hours but a win is a win. He won through 6-7[7], 7-6[5], 6-3, 6-7[5], 14-12. That took an age to type - this BACKSPINNER cannot imagine playing that kind of a match at a slam level of intensity. The Frenchman only managed to find one break point the whole match. He didn’t even convert it, either. Barton was only 2 from 13. Both players won just a quarter of receiving points and the Frenchie played 107 net points. A combined 196 winners outweighs the 79 errors that were hit in this insane match. Isner now awaits the Aussie qualifier. In this battle of the qualifiers both had been forced to go over 6-6 at some point in qualifying. Tennis is a funny sport.
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Kiki plays on court 7 tomorrow with Garcia. They play last and are up against Schuurs/Voracova. Kiki lost to Sasnovich 3 and 3 today. 27 errors and five breaks on the Pastry’s serve. She barely even won points on her opponent’s serve. Man, she needs to find some consistent slam singles form. She has too much talent for it be wasted. Roland Garros was a massive step in the right direction, though.


Thanks all and visit WTA BACKSPIN please.

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