Djokovic, Murray and Serena lead unfamiliar cast
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail China Daily, July 1, 2013
 |
|
Andy Murray of Britain arrives for training on a practice court at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, in London, June 30, 2013. [Photo/Agencies] |
In fact, Britmania will reach a 15-year peak as for the first time since 1998, home interest will still be alive in both singles draws on the second Monday.
Laura Robson has finally started to live up to the promise she showed five summers ago when she won the junior Wimbledon title and will be backed to reach her first major quarterfinal as she will be taking on Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, an opponent ranked eight places below the British number one.
While Robson's odds of winning the title are being slashed on a daily basis by excited British bookmakers, Djokovic remains the man to beat in the men's draw.
He has yet to drop a set and has surrendered a miserly 29 games, two fewer than Murray, in his three matches to date.
In the pick of the fourth-round showdowns, he is facing renaissance man Tommy Haas.
The German, who plummeted from a career-high second in the world in 2002 to almost 900th in June 2011, is playing some of the best tennis of his life at the age of 35 and loves playing on grass.
He shocked Federer to win the Halle title last June and knows he has the weapons to hurt the world number one as he downed Djokovic in both of their previous grasscourt showdowns and also in Miami earlier this year.
"Against Tommy Haas, it's going to be a big challenge for both of us. He had a few great wins lately," said Djokovic.
"He played again really well this season on grass. In general, this season he played great. He's 35, 36 years old, and he's been playing very close to the best tennis of his life, in my opinion. He's very fit. He doesn't look like a 35-year-old man, for sure. He's full of confidence on the court."
Woman's holder Williams is another member of the over-30s club and at 31, there is no doubt she is playing the best tennis of her life.
Winner of three of the last four Slams, world number one Williams is hurtling towards Grand Slam title number 17, and sixth at Wimbledon, and so far no one has come close to derailing her.
Up next for her is Sabine Lisicki. The German beat Sharapova en route to the last eight 12 months ago and made it all the way to the semis in 2011 but only the very brave would put money on her replicating the feat this year.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)