Nadal and Sharapova already done at the running Wimbledon thread

Re: Nadal already done at Wimbledon

James Blake with an early exit. Actually led 5-0 in a third-set tiebreaker and lost seven straight.

 

Re: Nadal already done at Wimbledon

I guess we are I'll ask TSP to update the thread title.

Blake's got to be about done, doesn't he? He hasn't done well this year, and his ranking's really dropped.

 

Re: Nadal already done at Wimbledon

He's definitely on the downswing. Made an incredible recovery considering the health and personal issues he dealt with at the start of the decade but every opportunity he had to get over the hump (i.e. U.S. Open match with Agassi), he couldn't get it done.

 

Re: Nadal already done at Wimbledon

He has a fantastic story, but he's been disappointing in a lot of ways. He seems to disappear in majors, even ones where he should do well. Now, well, men's players are generally done by about 30 and he's 29.

 

Re: Nadal already done at Wimbledon

Blake's just not a top 10 player. He'll have good results, like at Queens, followed by some really surprising losses.

 

Re: Nadal already done at the running Wimbledon thread

Blake never learned how to have the routine service games that's a mark of the top players in the game.

Take a guy like Federer, he's not going to kill himself in the early rounds so he'll come out in the first set strong, win 6-1 and just try to get an early break in the final two sets and win 6-3, 6-4.

Blake could never get to a point where his service game was nearly automatic against early round competition.

 

Re: Nadal already done at the running Wimbledon thread

Roddick up 2 sets to 1 and up 4-1 in the 4th on ESPN.

 

Re: Nadal already done at the running Wimbledon thread

They had Roddick doing some commentary on the Murray match, since he's the last man to win his home Slam.

 

Re: Nadal already done at the running Wimbledon thread

Which would be relevant except it was the U.S., where no one cared.

 

Re: Nadal already done at the running Wimbledon thread

Was pressure the reason Henman never won Wimbledon, or was it the fact that he was always just Tim Henman? Was he ever realistically considered a favourite to win it?

 

Re: Nadal already done at the running Wimbledon thread

Murray's already won more ATP titles than Henman did in his career, 12-11.

And no, Henman was never considered a favorite, just someone who, if everything fell right, could go deep.

Whenever people were watching Henman, in key points, they were hoping the other guy made a mistake, because Henman couldn't do it alone.

With Murray, you have a confidence that he can make the critical shot at the critical moment.

 

Re: Nadal already done at the running Wimbledon thread


Henman had zero big wins. And he did better at Wimbledon (4 SFs) than any other slam because he was a serve-and-volleyer.

Pressure didn't do him in at Wimbledon. If anything, Wimbledon made him seem a little better than he really was.