Wimbledon Final: Take a Bow

Hey, all. Galileo here.

We shall dissect the match properly below. Some thoughts first. Who goes to a Wimbledon final and decides that looking like a hobo is acceptable? Apparently Andy Murray does. He didn’t shave or get a haircut. He looked so scruffy and undignified. No hair was in place, a direct contrast to Milos Raonic. For any other tournament, it’s whatever. But for a Wimbledon final? It’s important. Particularly if it is your home slam.

'Nerveless'
'Cold-blooded'
Second time round, Andy Murray could almost enjoy ithttps://t.co/1hKU1Kq75g pic.twitter.com/w1Qv7GJc3d

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 11, 2016

Murray did not beat Federer or Djokovic. He played no top five players on his run. He played just one top eight guy. This run will, like Bartoli’s, have an asterisk. He was never going to beat Federer or Djokovic here; he can’t do it. It’s why he will never deserve to be a number one. Even though he is five times more accomplished than about four different WTA number ones.

Congratulations to Murray on winning Wimbledon twice and making all of Britain happy. He has played well this past fortnight. Of course he has.

Now this is the moment we look at pictures of Andy and Serena together. Well, this BACKSPINNER won’t let you down...







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Congrats to Henri Kontinen and Heather Watson, who won the mixed by defeating 15th seeds Robert Farah and Anna-Lena Groenefeld 7-6[5], 6-4. It is Kontinen’s third title of the year and his first mixed title. He and Watson played attractive tennis, matching his youthful good looks. Just one break in it but Kontinen/Watson hit thirteen winners to their opponents' three. Both of the champions' first two matches were walkovers, including second seeded Soares/Vesnina. After beating Hingis/Paes in three, they didn’t drop a set.

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Despite being a lefty, junior Denis Shapovalov has a zippy one-handed backhand. He used it in his three set win over 7th seeded Alex De Minaur of Australia. The 5th seed won 4-6, 6-1, 6-3. Canadian tennis is certainly very healthy right now. The Aussie went an abysmal 8-27 on the errors. The Canuck went 25-34.

Strangely the boy’s doubles tournament saw the top four seeds make the semi-finals with the final being between the top two seeds. And Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime lost despite being seeded first. Kenneth Raisma of Estonia and Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece beat the Canadians 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

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In the rankings, Federer and Nadal are on 5000 points, Murray at 10 and Djokovic at 15. Berdych and Thiem swap, seeing the Czech back into the top 15. Raonic stays at 7th but is just 5 points from the broken Kei. Tsonga is up two to 10th while Gasquet falls to 14th. Cilic only rises a place. Kyrgios and Tomic stay while Pouille is the big jumper. He is up 9 places to 21st. Querrey moves up 12 places to 29th but relatively speaking Pouille is the bigger mover. Anderson and Troicki fall 6 and 5 places to 31 and 32, but expect them to rise.

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Davis Cup now in this stupidly packed week. The ATP messed up organizationally and it really isn’t all the Olympics' fault. In fact, blaming the Olympics is a lazy excuse. Anyway, on the bottom of the draw America wins in Portland [ORE] against Croatia 3-2. Sure, Cilic will get a win but the Bryans along with two top thirty players should be enough. France will go to the Czechs, but they are that rare thing - a team that has no weak surface. Tsonga and Pouille will be enough to get a victory each. Throw in Mahut and Herbert with rocket-high levels of confidence and you have 3-1 France. Italy and Argentina always do better than one thinks they should. Expect a lot of grinding on outdoor clay in Presaro, Italy. Del Potro is the wildcard here. Argies to win 3-2 because of Delpo. And at the top of the draw is Britain versus Serbia without either of their best players, most likely. Without the big guns this is a dog’s dinner. Outdoor clay combined with home-court advantage should see the Serbians win this.

As well as the Davis Cup we have two 250’s and a 500. Eight events in two weeks mean a loss in profits and surprise winners. At Hamburg top seeded Kohl beats 3rd seed Cuevas in the first semi. In the other Zverev [4] defeats 2nd seed Paire.

Johnson will ride his confidence in Newport and defeat third seeded Muller on his way to the final. Second seeded Karlovic gets past defending champion Ram but loses in the final.

In Bastad Ferrer [1] defeats [3] Ramos-Vinolas. Granollers seeded 4th will take out second seeded Sousa in the other semi, but this is Ferrer’s to win. Ferru is 2-0 in finals here.

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Finally, Serena swept the doubles, as well. There’s now a discussion about greatest overall, though Navratilova still wins for this BACKSPINNER. When asked if she was one of the greatest female athletes of all time she replied simply...

...greatest female athlete of all time? "I prefer the words ‘one of the greatest athletes of all time" https://t.co/1Sw55iyBiE

— Heather Weir (@hjmweir) July 8, 2016

She and Venus are a tribute to our sport.


CENTRE COURT: MURRAY D. RAONIC
...When Chang won that French Open he never kicked on, he never rose to the heights of which he was capable. Ditto for Philippoussis in that U.S. Open final. For Mecir, reaching that final in 1986 and defeating Wilander [2nd in the world] and Becker [3rd] on route was not the start of something. Aged 22 he would make just one more final. We know Kei’s tale, too. Look at Ferrero. Never quite kicked on after 2003. Look at Kei. He has done little since 2014. Will Canada’s most successful ever singles player follow in their footsteps or Nadal’s? That first final tends to make or break players. He will certainly be back in a Wimbledon final. Impossible to guarantee, but this BACKSPINNER guarantees it anyway. He will also make a final run in Australia or New York, more likely Melbourne. He will be a top two player at some point. But it is here on the grass he will be most effective. We saw a grass court player lose to a baseliner. Milos played most of the grass-court tennis while Murray sat back and tried to be as dull as possible, throwing in the odd slice. Then Raonic comes forward and gets passed. Murray played boring, counter-punching tennis. That awful rubbish does not belong in a Wimbledon final. It belongs at Masters 1000 level on indoor hard courts. Raonic may have lost 6-4, 7-6[3], 7-6 [2] but it wasn’t close. Only one break in it and Murray was always going to win it. He essentially smothered Raonic. But the stat that really hurt the Canadian? 64 per cent of first serves in. Abysmal. It was not a totally awful first final but it was far from perfect. Now this BACKSPINNER believes in Raonic. He will go from strength to strength. With Nadal out and Nishikori nowhere and hurting, he is the fourth best player in the world right now, maybe higher. He will be in more slam finals, he will win more titles this year. He is already 1-3 but he has played Federer, Djokovic, Murray and Murray. Last year he lost in New York to Lopez in straights. This year he will, for the first time, get past the fourth round. But what other BACKSPINNERS think, I don’t know. Hang on- Todd, what do you think, which direction is he headed in. Will he be a top two player one day? [ Sounds about right. Just by process of eventual elimination or a further slip in the rankings, from Federer and Nadal, would get him very close. He 's not flighty like Dimitrov, nor injury prone like Nishikori, so you'd think he'd be able to keep his position and be able to continue to move up with big results. - tds ]


Well, folks, consider this BACKSPINNERS mic dropped. Thank you linesman, thank you ball boys. See you on Sunday for a hectic edition of ATP BACKSPIN.


Thanks and visit WTA BACKSPIN. Of course we are all absolutely exhausted here so the next week is designated nap week at headquarters.

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