Wimbledon 2005

Qualies report:

Guccione, who played a very entertaining match vs Henman at Queen's last week, nudged out Patience 23-21 in the third in their first round match before Losing To A Brit (Delgado). On the ATP tour it's not unknown for players to be forced to wear a badge (a teddy bear crying Union Jack tears) to show that they Lost To A Brit in the Roehampton qualies. Some can't stand the ridicule and the stigma and end up giving basketball clinics in Split. Gambill and Clement are still in there, watching the rain fall, waiting for their final qualifying matches, which is reassuring. Bit of a comedown for those two.

They don't hand out badges on the WTA tour - they don't have to. Plucky Mel South took a set off Rita Kuti Kis but the rest of the UK Grrlz folded like damp flatbread: taking a total of 25 games in 5 matches. I'm keen to see if Sybille BAMMER makes it.

Seeds for the Gentlemen's Singles:>

1. FEDERER, Roger (SUI)
2. RODDICK, Andy (USA)
3. HEWITT, Lleyton (AUS)
4. NADAL, Rafael (ESP)
5. SAFIN, Marat (RUS)
6. HENMAN, Tim (GBR)
7. CANAS, Guillermo (ARG)
8. DAVYDENKO, Nikolay (RUS)
9. GROSJEAN, Sebastien (FRA)
10. ANCIC, Mario (CRO)
11. JOHANSSON, Joachim (SWE)
12. JOHANSSON, Thomas (SWE)
13. ROBREDO, Tommy (ESP)
14. STEPANEK, Radek (CZE)
15. CORIA, Guillermo (ARG)
16. PUERTA, Mariano (ARG)
17. FERRER, David (ESP)
18. NALBANDIAN, David (ARG)
19. HAAS, Tommy (GER)
20. LJUBICIC, Ivan (CRO)
21. GONZALEZ, Fernando (CHI)
22. HRBATY, Dominik (SVK)
23. FERRERO, Juan Carlos (ESP)
24. DENT, Taylor (USA)
25. KIEFER, Nicolas (GER)
26. LOPEZ, Feliciano (ESP)
27. GASQUET, Richard (FRA)
28. NOVAK, Jiri (CZE)
29. MASSU, Nicolas (CHI)
30. SODERLING, Robin (SWE)
31. YOUZHNY, Mikhail (RUS)
32. VOLANDRI, Filippo (ITA)

Seeds for the Ladies' Singles:>

1. DAVENPORT Miss Lindsay (USA)
2. SHARAPOVA Miss Maria (RUS)
3. MAURESMO Miss Amelie (FRA)
4. WILLIAMS Miss Serena (USA)
5. KUZNETSOVA Miss Svetlana (RUS)
6. DEMENTIEVA Miss Elena (RUS)
7. HENIN-HARDENNE Mrs Justine (BEL)
8. PETROVA Miss Nadia (RUS)
9. MYSKINA Miss Anastasia (RUS)
10. SCHNYDER Miss Patty (SUI)
11. ZVONAREVA Miss Vera (RUS)
12. PIERCE Miss Mary (FRA)
13. LIKHOVTSEVA Miss Elena (RUS)
14. WILLIAMS Miss Venus (USA)
15. CLIJSTERS Miss Kim (BEL)
16. DECHY Miss Nathalie (FRA)
17. JANKOVIC Miss Jelena (SCG)
18. GOLOVIN Miss Tatiana (FRA)
19. IVANOVIC Miss Ana (SCG)
20. HANTUCHOVA Miss Daniela (SVK)
21. SCHIAVONE Miss Francesca (ITA)
22. FARINA ELIA Mrs Silvia (ITA)
23. SUGIYAMA Miss Ai (JPN)
24. ASAGOE Miss Shinobu (JPN)
25. SPREM Miss Karolina (CRO)
26. PENNETTA Miss Flavia (ITA)
27. VAIDISOVA Miss Nicole (CZE)
28. FRAZIER Miss Amy (USA)
29. BARTOLI Miss Marion (FRA)
30. SAFINA Miss Dinara (RUS)
31. MEDINA GARRIGUES Miss Anabel (ESP)
32. RAZZANO Miss Virginie (FRA)

There ya go.

"Miss Amelie" sounds the cutest thing in the world. But it isn't. Oh no.

The one I'm watching in The Qualies is Miss Pironkova of Bulgaria, first name TSZVETANA!!!, who reached the semi-finals of her first ever WTA tournament last month.

Women's title is between Justine, Maria and Serena in that order I think. Justine is the mentally toughest woman on tour, on a million-match winning streak and has great grass-court game, but has never won it. Maria has been very consistent this year but keeps dropping sets to randoms and matches to Justine. Serena is probably the best grass-courter around but hasn't won a match of any sort for two months, and has pulled out of more events than she's completed this year. Everyone else = mental midget headcase type, expect CHOKING to ensue.

Is Davenport a Miss because she keeps her maiden name as her professional name?

Oh my, Serena and Venus could meet in the 4th round.

The new BBC trailers are intriguing, as they seem to be offering the vague prospect of ChakChakChak's girly forehand causing her to shatter into a thousand pieces. This is a notch up from last year's effort, with Mac detailing the great storylines the tournament had, almost exclusively involving players that didn't turn up. Nice way to portend the Lleytz-Clidge break-up too.

If the BBC had any sense they'd be playing the Venus and Serena line from 'Signs' over the trailers.

Hopefully I will also have magicked up a job by Tuesday but let's face it this won't be happening. I'd be up for queueing for a ground pass from early morning. Email me if you would also like this, I won't be back til Sunday.

I heart Justine so much, she should walk this tournament.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/4094998.stm for the men

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/4095022.stm for the women

Nothing leaps out in Federer's quarter. Hewitt-Blake potential r2 ding-dong. Safin has a murderous segment: Srichaphan, Poup & Ancic await. Two of our ALL-TIME FAVES square off in the third quarter: Schalkin' Vac and Starchy Tito! Henbot has a really nasty one first up in Niemenen...Arthurs lurks in r3 and Grosjean in r4; a real achievement for Timmy to fulfil his seeding this year. Ljubicic is the scariest seed in Roddick's path but Ivo Karlovic is waiting in r2.

Third round clash for Clidge and Ai Sug? Can Suarez upset La Mesmo? Pierce-Henin r4 tie likely and, get this Second Monday organisers, Venus-Serena! They should both be Centre Court (if they happen) and sod the blokes. Should S(p)esil K deal with the feeble threat of Amanda Janes, it'll be Sharapova in r2.

Back with QF predictions later...

Clijsters-Asagoe
Mauresmo-Dementieva
HeninHardenne-Hantuchova*
Schiavone-Sharapova

(* - no Venus-Serena in r4 after all?)

Clisters vs. Schnyder
Sprem vs. Frazier (the Murphy's Law quarter - if they can go wrong, they will)
JHH vs. Serena
Razzano vs. Sharapova

Clijsters vs Kuznetsova
Sprem vs Jankovic (for the jokes, mostly)
Henin-Hardenne vs Serena
Zvonareva vs Sharapova

Is there, is there, a reason for Roddick to have been promoted to #2 seed ahead of Hewitt?

I don't like the fact that we all seem to think Pandy's gonna fall before the second Wednesday. Cos you know what that actually means will happen...

Got my reasons for Malisse confused - Karlo does for Dicko. Igo does for Karlo. And Malisse does for him. I reckon.

Gonzalez will be the first seed to go. Mackin's victory leads to brief talk of revival in British men's tennis. This ends by the fourth round.

Youzhny (to Baghdatis)
Davydenko (to Draper)
Massu (to Sargsian)
Nadal (to Spadea - gnarled, cynical, biggest-losing-streak-in-tennis-history Vince will asnnoy him into submission)
Henman (to Nieminen)
Volandri (to Arthurs)

I'm hoping safin does well, despite the tough draw.

(what time do ppl start queueing again? plz don't tell me thousands of ppl sleep overnight - sorry to ask but couldn't find the advice given last year (when I didn't go but its looking better this year), i searched for a bit earlier and now the search is slow...)

Bear in mind, however, Dechy now has Magic Trousers.

In the women's, Pironkova doesn't make it but Santangelo does. In the I-should-bloody-well-hope-so column, Els Callens and Ashley Harkleroad are there. As is Sofia Arvissson. It's about time we had a good Swede.

In the realm of the unfinished, we have a Brit whose storming comeback was stunted in the gloom: Delgado back from 2-6 5-7 vs Goldstein to level the match; Moodie-Djokovic also 2-2 overnight. And that's your lot.

Forecast for weekend is high-80s in London...but Monday is showers. :(

Roddick won Queens for the third year in a row. Hewitt got kicked out by Karlovic. So yeah Roddick will probably do better this year on Wimbledon. (Also because Hewitt's been injured)

He's serving for a place at his 11th Championships - 5-2.

After a sweltering Sunday the weather looks likely to break this morning in London. Let's get the thunderstorm out of the way before 1pm, yeah?

Re: seedings - there is a mysterious "grass court formula" which has never been revealed, usually it takes the form of "fiddle about with player's actual ranking + past grass record so that the Henbot gets promoted a bit". They don't bother for the women.

Last minute predictions -

Clijsters v Kuznetsova
Mauresmo v Jankovic
Henin-Hardenne v S.Williams
Razzano v Sharapova

Federer v J.Johansson
Hewitt v Safin
O.Rochus v Gasquet
Grosjean v Roddick

I will be attending Wimbledon tomorrow (weather pending), queuing up from early o'clock and getting a ground pass. Londoners without prior work commitments, fancy joining me?

Elsewhere - Shaughnessy vs. Schruff IS WAR - Mighty Meg takes the first 6-1, only for The Shambler to take the second by exactly the same score. Oh, and Chakkatakk IS ROBBED of the first set by Jankovic 6-4. Janko-BITCH, more like. Yeah.

Fedge's Road To Glory starts against PHM. He's 5-3 up, but two of Paul-Henri's three have been won against serve. He's a plucky young feller, no?

Masterclasses - whatever else they are - aren't really where sport draws it's energy from.

So, today, rather selfishly, I want to see a thumping.

I wuvved Edberg. Now *there* was a grass court player (*drifts back to rose-tinted summers in the late 80s*).

(x-post that was a cunning disguise to mask the fact that he's a just an emotion-free tennis-bot)

Is this still a pathetic attempt to get the Olympics?

(Hahaha, Roddick "I could do with a beer just now")

Sue B: "We didn't think you could get any better, but it seems that you have"
Rog: "Yes, I guess so" (smug grin)

(I'm developing silly reasons to dislike him now, just because I feel it's time)

The problem with this argument is that McEnroe (in 1984 particularly) was supremely dominant in a manner only matched by Federer last year and Becker won as many GS titles as (and a greater number of other titles than) the supposedly ice-cool Edberg. To be honest, Borg is the only example I can think of someone who totally sublimated a vicious temper to such an extent that he showed no emotion on court. Everyone else has their occasional wig-outs.

As for Roddick's awkwardness being potentially endearing - there was a South Carolina leftie called Tim Wilkison who was active in the '80s who I recall having a similarly unorthodox, ungainly scrapping style. I really loved watching him whereas I can't warm to Roddick - perhaps it was Timbo's lack of a 145mph serve and his eternal loserdom status which made him a wee bit cuddlier.

No one reigns for long in tennis - as supreme as he seems now, Rodge will be swallowed up by the pack over the next 3-4 years; he'll have to fight off Nadal, Gasquet and the rest of the teens. I personally would like to see him do a calendar-year Slam like Laver. And if Roddick simply has Becker's career minus the three Wimbledon titles, I'll settle for that too.

(Ailsa, my predictions are famously rotten! The year I got 10 of the 16 quarterfinalists across both events I practically did a lap of honour round Westow Park.)

Well well well that was quite special.

I agree with all of those who say that sport draws its energy from rivalries not masterclasses BUT:

a) Federer is exception to all known rules - he plays at such a level that watching his masterclasses just feels like a privilege. No one else I have ever seen on a tennis court comes close. Conversely, any time when he's NOT playing this well feels a bit like a let down.

b) There are rivalries in men's tennis, still - it's just that none of them come to fruition at Wimbledon. Hewitt and Roddick are the next two best grass courters, and they're not so much Federer's rivals as his bitches. Roddick has only beaten Fed once ever! That is not a rivalry to hype up. However, Safin can match Federer elsewhere (well, potentially on grass too if he sorts his head out, but that's not gonna happen), and the emergence of Nadal and Gasquet bodes very well - especially as Gasquet has taken such a liking to grass.

Men's singles: Roger Federer
Women's singles: Venus Williams
Men's doubles: Stephen Huss and Wesley Moodie
Women's doubles: Cara Black and Liezel Huber
Mixed doubles: Mahesh Bhupathi and Mary Pierce
Boys' singles: Jeremy Chardy
Girls' singles: Agnieszka Radwanska
Boys' doubles: Jesse Levine and Michael Shabaz
Girls' doubles: Viktoria Azarenka and Agnes Szavay

Side note: how long will Martina keep going before she just gives up on the record?

I still like Borg best. And James Hunt. And Barry Sheene.

Jimmy Connors will be forever associated with Glen Campbell. I guess it is/was his/their wholesomeness.

1. Roger Federer (1)
2. Lleyotn Hewitt (2)
3. Rafael Nadal (3)
4. Andy Roddick (4)
5. Marat Safin (5)
6. Andre Agassi (6)
7. Nikolay Davydenko (7)
8. Guillermo Canas (8)
9. Thomas Johansson (22)
10. David Nalbandian (19)
11. Tim Henman (9)
12. Mariano Puerta (11)
13. Gaston Gaudio (12)
14. Joachim Johansson (10)
15. Guillermo Coria (18)
16. Radek Stepanek (13)
17. Richard Gasquet (20)
18. Fernando Gonzalez (24)
19. Ivan Ljubicic (16)
20. Tommy Robredo (14)

I thought Connors was OK throughout the event (his greatest quality was his genuine, and apparently newly-rediscovered, excitement for the game and the event) but he let himself down by repeatedly calling Roddick the "number two player in the world". Not for a good few months, Jimmy - and maybe not any time soon either.

I just wrote a long diatribe about Roddick having the worst placement of any of the Giant Servers but I think this thread has a surplus of Pandybashing already, so I've deleted it.

Connors' 'hm' after almost every point got annoying but I liked him.

Coverage in the times turned to fed's genius but again people are not looking at his opponent closely enough - there was no authority to roddick's passage to the final!!! he wz taken to five by the 1st week. If anyone believed he could beat fed he had to give better signs.

Roddick '04 seemed to tough out tight sets better than Roddick '05, though I frequently seemed to be outraged on the old thread about his perceived jamminess. His backhand hasn't improved, he's a wee bit better at (and keener to approach) the net but he just can't sustain the ace barrages any more. Federer started last year's tournament chugging along at about 75%, peaked in the qf vs Hewitt and then went off the boil; this year Fedz started a little weaker, hit top form in the latter stages vs Ferrero in r4 and basically stayed there. Federer '03 was wonderful throughout but, if I remember correctly, he had an easier draw, attacked the net a lot more and we didn't have quite such high expectations of him then.

In terms of games won, only Mathieu and Minar offered less resistance to Federer this year than Roddick.

what about..: "player X at full stretch here".

Which means that Roddick is unsuitble to be promoted to #2 seeding, if you ask me. Except because he got to the final, it'll happen again next year, even though he only got there this year because he got pr... etc.

The sense of deja vu about the final was quite satisfying, to me.

Edward O OTM. If AELTC really use a 24-month grasscourt ranking system then, even if Roddick is outside the #10 on the Entry System next June, he'll be #2 seed again if he does even moderately well at Queen's '06. To be honest, it's Lleyts who might slide during the rest of this year; Nadal may press for #2 now.

26-8 for the former, an astonishingly poor 10-6 for the latter over the past year.

2003? Gosh, time flies. But it is still amusing, or perhaps metaphysically interesting, that they have had virtually the same match three years running.

I think the popular perception of last year's final as a match that Roddick was unlucky to lose perhaps glosses over the fact that he was tremendous fortunate to find himself up against a man nowhere near his best on such a big occasion (which is atypical in itself - 21 consecutive winning finals and counting). But at least that made it a contest.

Incidentally - didn't you think: during the Final, they were often talking about Federer's inability to mishit a shot immediately after he had hit a ball into the net, been faulted on a serve, was 30-love down or whatever. The rhetoric tended to overtake what was happening on the green ground, even if the final score was emphatic enough.

(Recite in Andrew Castle voice.)