T_I_P's Wimbledon Draw analysis

Jun 19, 2011, 10:26 PM

by section (# indicates seed, Q=Qualifier,WC=wild card,LL=Lucky Loser)

1 Rafael Nadal vs Michael Russell
Ryan Sweeting vs Pablo Andujar
Giles Muller vs Tommy Haas
31 Milos Raonic vs Fabio Fognini

It will be interesting to see how the young Canadian Raonic does here. He has a bomb of a serve and his game should be very good on grass. But he does face the most interesting tennis player in the world Fabio Fognini in the first round. Could be a battle. Nadal should waltz through here and into the 4th round.
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24 Juan Martin Del Potro vs (Q) Flavio Cipolla
Olivier Rochus vs (Q) Kenny De Schepper
Frederico Gil vs (WC) Dudi Sela
15 Giles Simon vs (Q) Eduardo Roger-Vasselin

Open section. Del Potro does not play well on grass but he has a bunny draw here, with only Simon being dangerous. Pick: Del Potro
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10 Mardy Fish vs Marcel Granollers
Phiipp Kohlschreiber vs Denis Istomin
Robin Haase vs Pere Riba
21 Fernando Verdasco vs Radek Stepanek

Fish should take this scetion as his game matches with grass well. Watch out for Dutchman Robin Haase, he has a big game that can bither Fish should they meet. I am discounting Verdasco in this part. Pick: Fish
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25 Juan Ignacio Chela vs (Q) Marinko Matosevic
Donald Young vs Alex Bogomolov Jr.
(Q) Ruben Bemelmans vs Julien Benneteau
6 Thomas Berdych vs Filippo Volandri

Last year's runner up Berdych begins in an east section. I don't believe in him to make it deep but if he does not get out of this ection I would be shocked. One of my favoirte players Donald Young needs to capitalize on this soft draw and make the 3rd round. Chela is a clown on grass.
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4 Andy Murray vs Daniel Gimeno-Traver
Tobias Kamke vs Blaz Kavcic
Sergiy Stakhovsky vs (WC) Daniel Cox
27 Marin Cilic vs Ivan Ljubicic

Mr.Murray beginds his attempt to appease of Britain. He won't do it, way to much pressure. In most tournaments the home crowd helps but it actually hurts in Wimbledon, its more pressure than support. He should walk through this easy section though. Murray
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17 Richard Gasquet vs Santiago Giraldo
Igor Kunitsyn vs (Q) Igor Sijsling
(Q) Martin Fischer vs (LL) Simone Bolelli
14 Stanislas Wawrinka vs Potito Starace

Gasquet and Wawrinka look to be headed to a 3rd round show down. That will be a very good match. Qualifier Martin Fischer actually has a good grass game. could be dangerous. Pick: Gasquet
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9 Gael Monfils vs Matthias Bachinger
(LL) Grega Zemlja vs (Q) Lukas Lacko
(W) Arnaud Clement vs (Q) Lukasz Kubot
23 Janko Tipsarevic vs Ivo Karlovic

Hard section to pick. Monfils is not a grass court player. Karlovic is always a factor with his massive serve. Tipsy is also a threat here. Pick: Tipsarevic
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30 Thomaz Bellucci vs Rainer Schuettler
Feliciano Lopez vs Michael Berrer
Jaroslav Pospisil vs Victor Hanescu
8 Andy Roddick vs (Q) Andreas Beck

Andy Roddick makes his return to grand slam tennis after missing the French Open. Lopez is always tough in grass. Not an easy section for Roddick but he will probably still advance through it.

2nd hald coming later

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7 David Ferrer vs Benoit Paire
Ivan Dodig vs (LL) Ryan Harrison
Carlos Berlocq vs Karol Beck
26 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs Andrey Golubev

Another open section. Ferrer is not a grass courter. Young American Ryan Harrison gets a lucky loser spot and has a decent draw. I will go out on a limb and pick the volatile yet powerful man from Kazahkstan Golubev to take this section.
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22 Alexandr Dolgopolov vs Fernando Gonzalez
(Q) Rik De Voest vs Ruben Ramirez-Hidalgo
Grigor Dimitrov vs (Q) Cedric-Marcel Stebe
12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs (LL) Go Soeda

Tsonga all the way here. He is a darkhourse to win it all this year. Perfect game for grass with powerful serve and forehand and deft volley touch for a big man.
Gonzalez returns from injury, the former grand slam finalist plays young starlet Dolgopolov in what should be a great match.
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19 Nicolas Almagro vs Jarkko Nieminen
John Isner vs Nicolas Mahut
Somdev Devvarman vs Denis Gremelmayr
18 Mikhail Youzhny vs Juan Monaco

And in the most rigged draw ever, Isner draws Mahut in the 1st round for a rematch from their 70-68 5th set match last year. Isner should win easy this time ans actually could win this section with Almagro and Youhzny being out of form. (T_I_P favorite player watch, Somdev Devvarman(played at UVA) has a winnable 1st round match)
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28 David Nalbandian vs Julian Reister
Florent Serra vs Andreas Haider-Maurer
Adrian Mannarino vs (Q) Conor Niland
3 Roger Federer vs Mikhail Kukushkin

Few things of note here. Niland becomes the 1st Irishman to play in Wimbledon since 1972 and has a winnable 1st round match. This should be Federer's section, Nalbandian is the most talented player to never win a slam but he is too old now.
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5 Robin Soderling vs Philipp Petzschner
Kei Nishikori vs Lleyton Hewitt
Igor Andreev vs Teymuraz Gabashvili
29 Nicolay Davydenko vs (Q) Bernard Tomic

Dynamite 1st round match with Soderling and Petzschner. Soderling knows its a big match so he will step it up and beat the dangerous Petzschner in 5. Young Aussier Tomic should beat out of form Davydenko (TIP fav player watch. Kei Nishikori will beat old and decrepid Hewitt)
Soderling to win the region
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20 Florian Mayer vs (WC) Daniel Evans
Xavier Malisse vs Mischa Zverev
Ernests Gulbis vs Dmitry Tursonov
11 Jurgen Melzer vs (WC) Alejandro Falla

Mayer has the grass game and should win this section. Malisse will win it though, I expect him to bring it this year.
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13 Viktor Troicki vs Maximo Gonzalez
Yen-Hsun Lu vs Tommy Robredo
Ricardo Mello vs (Q) Frank Dancevic
19 Michael Llodra vs (WC) James Ward

Lu has a lot of points to defend after beating Roddick and making the 4th round last year. But it will be tough. Llodra will win this section, best volleyer in the game today. Troicki will have a let down after a great French Open

32 Marcos Baghdatis vs James Blake
Andreas Seppi vs Albert Montanes
Kevin Anderson vs Illya Marchenko
2 Novak Djokovic vs Jeremy Chardy

Djokovic's worst surface. He sat out the tune up event so he will be rusty. if Baghdatis can get his #### together he can test Djokovic. But Novak should take it anyway.

T_I_P's Wimbledon Draw analysis

bottom half

ok so I have the round of 16 looking like this

quarters and beyond

is there seriously zero other clemson fans that are tennis

I got 11 of the final 16

and my pick of Tsonga over Fed rings true***

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