| 14 June 2010
So Nadal Djokovic Murray Roddick and Cilic all walk into a pub in London.....and....never walk out. Could this be a joke? It might seem that way. These manly men were all the top seeds at the Aegon Championships last week (Aegon as in "egg on" your face, which is not too far off the mark either). They all lost and they lost pretty early, in what must rank as one of the worst wipe-outs of men's seeds since.....well, I don't know when. Sam Querrey was asked about it after his semi-final comeback in three sets over Rainer Schuettler. He couldn't remember when such a bloodletting had occurred either.
Sam certainly couldn't object to the results though - we were left with Querry Schuettler Lopez and Fish in the semi-finals. Another good joke, no? Actually, maybe not so improbable after all. Fish and Querrey can serve big on occasion and their games are suited for a quick surface like grass. Mardy had a good run at the French, so he was coming out of that momentum. But Querrey had an awful time in Paris, so it was more important that he arighted his ship before sailing into Wimbledon. And right the ship he did, losing a tight first-set in his semi with Schuettler, but coming back strong to win it in three. Sam left Paris in an absolute funk, grousing about tennis life in general and leaving his fans wondering if his heart was fully into playing.
The American lads put on a pretty good show in the final. The match looked very close right up until the closing games of the second set. Fish inexplicably lost two serving games in a row and played a couple of really lousy shots. Boom done, the match was over in straight sets. I was OK with that: Fish looks in good form but it was Querrey who needed to impress, and impress he did. I was so worried about Sam after he left Paris I wondered if we shouldn't have put him on a suicide watch or something. He was way down in the dumps. British soil gave him a huge transfusion of new confidence.
The score here was Querrey, 7-6(3), 7-5.
As the weekend wore on, more big-name seeds bit the dust. Er, the grass I guess. Over on the continent, Roger Federer was doing his thing with the usual style and panache he shows on grass. Why don't they just call in the Roger Federer Open instead of the Gerry Weber? Roger has owned the show for a while now, and recently signed a life-time deal to show his shining face at the event each year for the rest of his tennis life. Gee, what a horrible fate, no?
Then the weirdest thing happened: Federer lost to Lleyton Hewitt in Sunday's final. I had to close my eyes and read the scoreline again: 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4. No lie. Now I am worried, even though Hewitt is a fine competitor and a first-rate player on grass. I know Federer plans to play on well into his thirties, but a loss like this gives pause. Is he prepared to play on just for love of the game, and maybe still a spot inside the Top 5? Or will he go the Bjorn Borg route, realize he can no longer maintain the Number One ranking, and go from the game sooner rather than later? Let the reporter ask THAT type of question. I for one would love to hear the answer.
No sooner had the Federer score appeared on the screen than the Maria Sharapova loss came over the airways. She dropped a two-set final to Na Li of China. The Chinese woman is good-sized and strong and she's been around, but still. The second set, 6-1, looked pretty sad. When the world's former best player on grass loses on grass just before Wimbly it is a bit of a surprise, despite all of Sharapova's shoulder/elbow/serving woes.
What on earth can happen at Wimbledon this year? Will the boys and girls manage to restore order such that the top seeds can advance as they should? Or will another seeded wipe-out take place? I generally like a big event to have lots of upsets and barn-burners early on during the first week. But maybe not so much this time around. I already have had my fill of upsets and shockers just based on this past week alone.
That pub may be full up with dead seeds by the end of the first week of Wimbledon, who knows?
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