Wimbledon Gentlemen’s & Ladies’ Quarterfinals

Wimbledon is in week 2, which means we are getting down to the wire here. Tomorrow will be the Ladies Quarterfinals. Matches are as follows:

On Centre Court – first match is Clijsters vs. Zvonareva followed by Serena Williams vs. La Ni of China.

On Court 1 – first up is Pironkova vs. Venus Williams followed by Kvitova vs. Kanepi

Predictions: Clijsters, both Williams sisters, and… I’m not sure. That last match features two people I am not familiar with, as I tend to follow Men’s Singles much more closely than the Ladies, as of late.

Wednesday will be the Men’s Quarterfinals, which looks like it will be much more interesting (in my opinion). The draw stands as thus:

Federer vs. Berdych
Djokovic vs. Lu (who beat Andy Roddick for a spot in the Quarters)
Tsonga vs. Murray
Soderling vs. Nadal

Predictions – Federer, Djokovic, Murray, and… I’m not sure. I want to say Nadal but I know he is having knee problems, so that makes this tricky. He might make it past the Quarters, but if he plays Murray in the Semifinals then I think it will at least be a pretty decent battle to the Finals. I’d personally love to see Murray vs. either Federer or Djokovic in the Final match. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though. After all, in this tournament anything is possible.

Wimbledon Men’s & Women’s Draw Announced

The draw for Men’s and Women’s Wimbledon singles matches has been announced. Here are the notables from each section.

Men:
Section 1 features Roger Federer, who looks to have a clear path to the Quarterfinals. Section 2 has a few potentials, including Novak Djokovic, Lleyton Hewitt, and Andy Roddick. I also wouldn’t mind seeing Taylor Dent or Mardy Fish make it through, although that is more of a long shot. Andy Murray should have a clear path in Section 3, although I will be routing for Robert Kendrick to surprise us all. As for Section 4, Nadal will probably take this section, but I will be cheering on James Blake and Robby Ginepri. Blake especially though, because he is my favorite of the American players. Not only is he a good player on the court, he has showed heart and strength off the court as well. His story is an inspiring one that I’ll probably do a feature on at a later date.

Women:
I honestly care less about the Ladies singles, but that is mostly because most of the players I used to route for either no longer play or have a very slim chance of actually winning. Usually the Championship goes to one of the Williams sisters, and I’m sorry but this is starting to get old for me. I will still predict winners based on likelihood rather than personal preference though. For Section 1, it will probably either be Serena or Sharapova (more likely Serena though, as Sharapova has dropped considerably in the rankings as of late). Section 2 doesn’t really have anyone worth noting that I can see, so I’ll go with the rankings and say Wozniacki of Denmark takes this section. Section 3 will hopefully go to Clijsters, although Petrova and Jankovic have a decent chance too. Section 4 will likely go to Venus Williams, but I will be routing for Sania Mirza of India. I have loved her since her first year appearing in the majors where she surprised everyone by making it all the way to the 4th round in the US Open. I said then that she had potential for greatness, and I’m really hoping this is the year we see that.

Those are all my notables for this year’s Wimbledon. The complete draw is available on the Wimbledon website. 1st round starts June 21st. Keep it tuned to News on Shuffle for all the latest in tennis news and highlights.