WIMBLEDON PREVIEW
PREDICTIONS AND ANALYSIS
2008
Wimbledon, the most prestigious tennis tournament
in the world is upon us and what a fantastic field
we have this year. The men’s title is up for grabs
more so this year than in quite a few years’ past.
The Fed Express is no lock to win again as Nadal has
also mastered the grass. Winning his first grass
court title at the Queen’s Club, Nadal has
positioned himself nicely to win his fifth Grand
Slam title and first one away from Roland Garros.
Federer, on the other hand, has Novak Djokovic on
his side of the draw, making Nadal's path to the
finals a bit easier than Federer’s. We see a
three-man race for the title with Federer, Nadal and
Djokovic vying for supremacy. But let’s also take a
look at some players who we can all make money off
of in the first week of Wimbledon.
Money Players
Marcos Baghdatis – The young man from
Cyprus has had a sub-par year to say the least for
the talented former Aussie Open finalist has posted
an 11-8 record on tour. But this is Wimbledon and
this is when some of his best tennis comes out. A
semi-finalist two years ago and a quarter-finalist
last year, his powerful serve, flat ground strokes
and great shot making ability make him extremely
dangerous on this surface. He will be a little
underrated with his play this year, which makes for
some great value. We rate him one of the top five
grass courters in the world when he is on. A solid
win today makes more of reason to take him,
especially in the first week.
Mario Ancic – The last man to beat
Roger Federer on grass years ago is a former
semi-finalist at the Championships and is always
dangerous on the grass with his serve and volley
game. We were surprised that the All-England Club
did not make an exception and seed the Croatian, up
from his number 43 ranking in the world. He is much
better than that as he recovers from injury and
looks towards the top ten again. He already took out
the 32nd seed today in Michael Llodra and will be a
great keeper in the first week.
Fernando Gonzalez – Surprisingly, the
hard-hitting Chilean is really fantastic on grass. A
former Wimbledon quarter-finalist, his smash mouth
game suits the courts and even with his big back
swing on his ground strokes, he rarely he gets
caught hitting late. If anything, the grass helps
his serve and enables him to set up his rocket
forehand. Don’t be surprised if he is in the second
week and he will be a consistent performer for you
guaranteed.
Play with Caution
Richard Gasquet – He seems to be on
our list recently no matter what tournament he is
playing this year. But there is great reason.
Richard has only a 13-12 record on tour this year
and just doesn’t seem to have pulled his game
together. But grass is where he has recorded his
best Grand Slam result, with a semi-final appearance
last year. So that will be fresh on gambler’s minds
but beware. With two grass tournaments under his
belt before the Championships, he lost to Nalbandian
in the quarters of the Queen’s Club in a close three
set match but lost in the first round of
‘s-Hertogenbosch to Marc Gicquel, not exactly an
upper echelon threat. Buyers beware.
James Blake – James’s matches are
usually very short in the first week of any major
and usually, he loses in the first week. Blake has
yet to get to the second week of Wimbledon and his
game, which should be suited the faster surface, has
not done so. A loss last year to Juan Carlos Ferrero
leaves doubt that he will ever be a threat at this
event. But his price’s still remain low and pose
much, if any value, when his play on grass is
anything but spectacular.
Lleyton Hewitt – It is sometimes hard
to believe that he is a former Wimbledon champion.
His play continues to remain the same as a lot more
players are passing him by. No one can question his
intensity and effort but his shots simply do not
have the force that they once had as he finds it
increasingly the difficult to hurt players. He
narrowly escaped from Robin Haase today in five sets
and we could definitely see him going down early in
this tournament.
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