Tag: roger federer

Wimbledon Gentlemen’s & Ladies’ Semifinals

The Men’s Quarterfinals were today, and boy were there some surprises. Shock of the day came when Roger Federer lost to Tomas Berdych in 4 sets. We almost had another shocker with Nadal, but he was able to bounce back and win his match against Soderling. The draw for the Semis stands as thus:

Berdych vs Djokovic
Murray vs. Nadal

Predictions: I would love to see a Djokovic-Murray Final match, but I also realize Murray will have a real fight if he wants to beat Nadal. For that matter, anyone who beats Roger Federer is someone to watch out for, so Djokovic better be careful if he doesn’t want to be eliminated.

The Ladies Semifinals are tomorrow, and unfortunately do not include my favorite player that from the Quarters – Kim Clijsters. Instead we can look forward to Serena Williams vs Kvitova and Zvonareva vs Pironkova. The only player I even know anything about here is Serena, and I’ll be shocked if she doesn’t at the very least make it to the Finals. Then again, none of my predictions from the Quarters proved to be right (except Serena winning her match) so I guess I’m not one to judge the Ladies side of this tournament. Like I said in a previous post though, I am much more familiar with the Men’s draw. That’s probably why the only one I got wrong on that side was Federer losing (and let’s be honest – no one saw that coming).

Who do you think will make it to the finals this year at Wimbledon? Is it the person you are routing for or someone else? Sound off in the comments section below.

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.