Wimbledon - rest day reflections

With the farcical Wimbledon rest day now upon us (thankfully for the last time) it provides an opportunity to assess the damage done over six days of rain interrupted competition.

First let’s address the injury toll. 

The pre tournament withdrawal of Simona Halep was compounded by Serena Williams slipping and injuring her hamstring in the seventh game of her first round match.

Within the same hour, Adrian Mannarino also fell victim to the dodgy surface, and left the tournament, after holding the upper hand against Roger Federer in their second round clash. 

The eight time champ subsequently cashed in on his good fortune, gaining form with each match and finding a spot in the second week.

Not so lucky was Nick Kyrgios, who after setting the place alight with two magnetic performances, ran out of fitness in a third round encounter with one of Canada’s two big hopes Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Seedings haven’t always meant a great deal for the Ladies Singles, as Elina Svitolina (3), Sofia Kenin (4), Bianca Andreescu (5), Serena Williams (6), Belinda Bencic (9) and Petra Kvitová all exited in Week 1.

However, we still have a round of sixteen packed with mouth watering matches, at least on paper.

The emergence of 18 year old British wildcard Emma Raducanu is one of the major memories this Wimbledon will leave with us. And her journey hasn’t ended, with her prospect of a quarter final berth very real, although Ajla Tomljanovic too has justifiable claims to that spot.

Poland is excited at the prospects of Iga Swiatek whose match against Ons Jabeur will be a highlight, more so since Jabeur eliminated former champion Muguruza.

However, the other Polish interest could attract even more attention. Hubert  Hurkacz (14) has not lost a set in his three matches, and gives himself a real chance of knocking off second seed Daniil Medvedev, who came back defiantly from two sets to love against Marin Cilic to win his third round match.

Alexander Zverev has looked menacing this campaign, but Felix Auger-Aliassime may offer just the resistance to provide a crowd pleaser.

The other Canadian still alive in the draw, Denis Shapovalov, needs all his wits about him to overcome Roberto Bautista Agut, 2019 Wimbledon semi finalist. If he plays the way he dispatched Andy Murray so efficiently, then he could feasibly advance to the final eight.

Another battle which deserves a decent fight for top billing is Ash Barty v Barbora Krejcikova.

The top seed has never played the reigning Roland Garros champion, but the pair are leading the WTA Race and should treat spectators to top class fare.

And one match which I truly believe could surprise everyone is that in which fifth seed Andrey Rublev starts as clear favourite opposite unseeded Hungarian Marton Fucsovics.

Although Rublev has beaten Fucsovics in the three meetings between the pair this year, I cite the win over ninth seed Diego Schwartzman in the third round as a positive for Fucsovics and something which could make this one close.

My selections:

Novak Djokovic (1) to defeat Cristian Garin (17)

Andrey Rublev (5) v Marton Fucsovics I just don’t know 

Sebastian Korda to defeat Karen Khachanov (25)

Denis Shapovalov (10) to defeat Roberto Bautista Agut (8)

Matteo Berrettini (7) to defeat Ilya Ivashka 

Alexander Zverev (4) to defeat Felix Auger-Aliassime (16)

Roger Federer (6) to defeat Lorenzo Sonego (23)

Hubert Hurkacz (14) to defeat Daniil Medvedev (2)

Ashleigh Barty (1) to defeat Barbora Krejcikova (14)

Ajla Tomljanovic to defeat wildcard Emma Raducanu 

Karolina Muchova (19) to defeat Paula Badosa (30)

Angelique Kerber (25) to defeat CoCo Gauff (20)

Wildcard Liudmila Samsonova to defeat Karolina Pliskova (8)

Madison Keys (23) to defeat Viktorija Golubic 

Iga Swiatek (7) to defeat Ons Jabeur (21)

Elena Rybakina (18) to defeat Aryna Sabalenka (2)