Grass Court Heroics To Come

Djokovic takes flight for a BH in the 2011 Final 

Wimbledon is many kilometres away this year - last year just a train ride from Paddington.  However, I will enjoy the exploits of the best players live on the big screen and its only an hour or so from now.  Predictions are fun so I should throw mine in for what they are worth.  Last year I managed to select both singles champions - this year I am less confident which can only mean an open event.

On the mens side, the big three appear to have the tournament to themselves, but last year, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga upset that with a sensational comeback win over Federer in the quarters.  This year his draw is relatively friendly on the way to a potential quarter final against Nadal.
The sixth seed Tomas Berdych made the final 2 years ago, having knocked out both Federer and Djokovic en route there.  He could again be trouble for the world number one should they play to their seedings and meet each other in the final eight.  Getting there is no guarantee for the Czech star though - his performances at Grand Slam level since the 2010 final have been less than glorious, with 2 quarter finals at the Aus Open the best he has offered.

Seriously, Djokovic and Federer should be one semi final, and Roger must overcome plenty of demons to pass this test.  The winner of 16 GS titles has made only 1 final in his last 9 attempts, and not passed the final 8 in his last 2 trips to Wimbledon.  Novak has made the semis at least in his last 8 GS events, of course winning 4 times.

Unless we see a blast from the very best of Roger's past, I cannot see anything Swiss preventing yet another Nadal v Djokovic finale at the highest level.

Maria Sharapova is clearly the best player in womens tennis at the moment, and her second Wimbledon title would take her past Kim Clijsters to 5 GS titles in total.  Nothing other than a Williams sister or a sharp reversal of form from the defending champion can prevent Maria from taking the running Roland Garros Wimbledon double.  I still believe that Petra Kvitova has the perfect game for the SW19 surface and may survive deep into this draw.  However she does appear to have lost some confidence since last year - losing first round at Eastbourne didn't help.  Maybe the semi final in Paris will be the boost for her to push for back to back glory on the hallowed grass.  If she can manage to deal with Serena in the quarters watch out for Petra.

Well the outside courts have action soon so I'd better start my viewing preparations.

The first day will provide entertaining propositions:  unseeded Kim Clijsters plays Jelena Jankovic who is sending hate mail to those who manufactured this draw.  8th seed Janko Tipsarevic is up against Mr Popularity David Nalbandian so expect line judges to be wearing helmets and protective padding for that match.  Looking for a seed to fall first up?  Court 16 could be it - 12th seed Nicolas Almagro never does well at Wimbledon and he is facing little terrier Olivier Rochus who nearly took out Del Potro last year in the second round.