Tennis Prose




Jun/21

27

My Favourite First Round Matches At The Championships

No tennis fan has ever gone two full years of no Championships so this year’s first round matches are especially appealing. Here are my favorite first round encounters. Be prepared for a long read…

Ladies:

Fernandez vs Ostapenko: The young Canadian has stagnated of late and needs to make her mark again, to avoid becoming an also-ran. Ostapenko has been quiet for years and needs a statement slam effort.

Vandeweghe vs Govortsova: The original Coco is back and she can rekindle her glory days of a few years ago when she looked like a Slam contender.

Tauson vs Krejcikova. The young lass from Denmark vs the latest Grand Slam champion. Everybody loves those Sampras vs Federer, Chang vs Roddick, Capriati vs Navratilova moments.

Cornet vs Andreescu: If there is no drama, trickery or gamesmanship in this match I will eat my hat without strawberries or cream.

Anisimova vs Linette: Curious to see the form of the heralded Russian American, is she the next Maria or Kournikova light?

Gauff vs Jones. Coco II is showing signs of a Grand Slam breakout. Her first and definitely not last could happen this fortnight.

Serena vs Sasnovich: How many more times will we see this living legend in Grand Slam action? Could this be her swan song at AELTC? Likely no but you never know.

Sloane vs Kvitova: Tough first round draw for both of these former Grand Slam champions.

Keys vs Swan: Been hearing about young Katie for years. Now is her chance to declare her presence to the tennis world.

Swiatek vs Hsieh: They first met on court when Iga was nine. Now they are friendly rivals. Hsieh lost seven match points to Iga/Sands at Roland Garros. ESPN please show this match in it’s entirety.

Lao vs Boulter: The Little Giant finally qualified for Wimby and she has a winnable first round opponent. In some ways Lao’s perseverance impresses and inspires more than what Rafa, Novak, Fed and Serena have done.

Gentleman’s:

Djokovic vs Draper: All time king vs the adolescent apprentice with a bright future. The formula never grows old.

Kudla vs Davidovich Fokina: Kudla’s grass court expertise will trouble the NEXTGEN ace.

Lu vs Polmans: The 37 year old protected ranking vet is one of the greatest male Asians in the modern era. Former quarterfinalist at Wimbledon would like to see silence critics.

Tsitsipas vs Tiafoe: The Greek could surpass Fed and Rafa popularity some day, yes he can.

McDonald vs Khachanov: McDonald is a dangerous draw for anyone.

Lopez vs Evans: The all time iron man of tennis has played every Grand Slam main draw since French Open 2002 and he is still the most aesthetically pleasing player in the ATP at 39.

Zhang vs Hoang: Two longshot qualifiers looking to seize their grand opportunity.

Korda vs de Minaur: Both players are capable of second week heroics. Unfortunate draw as both are in super form at the moment.

Shapovalov vs Kohlschreiber: Lefty vs right one handers, young vs old, may the best man win.

Murray vs Basilashvili: Everybody wants to know, does Andy still have anything left in his Grand Slam singles tank?

Opelka vs Koepfer: The German always brings the intensity, can Opelka handle it and serve his way deep into the draw?

Berrettini vs Pella: Berrettini is in top form and could go very very far in this Wimbledon.

Isner vs Nishioka: These David vs Goliath duels are always fun to watch, especially with the lil Japanese lefty wizard at his best.

Karatsev vs Chardy; Can this mystery Russian play on grass too?

Felix vs Monteiro: If he can beat Federer on grass he can win Wimbledon.

Kyrgios vs Humbert: Unfortunately, a great player is going home early. Well, Nick still would have mixed with Venus.

Fritz vs Nakashima: Two Californians are separated by five years in age. They know each other from practice sets. Fritz should win but this will be a dangerous battle.

Medvedev vs Struff: The 2 seed vs one of the ATP’s best volleyers.

Alcaraz vs Uchiyama: You just know this Spanish teen is going to do big things someday.

Verdasco vs Dimitrov: Two veterans looking for a last hurrah.

Hurkacz vs Musetti: Italian stallion is a hot ticket now after his unforgettable two sets vs Djokovic in Paris.

Querrey vs Carreno Busta: Everybody knows Sam has the weapons and the experience to reach another Wimbledon semi.

Federer vs Mannarino: The all time living legend admits, “Clearly Wimbledon is very important for me right now.” Talk about pressure.

Sandgren vs Gombos: American has struggled this year, but with two QFs and seven match points from an AO semi, we know he’s dangerous.

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5 comments

  • Doug Day · June 27, 2021 at 11:09 pm

    Herckacz – Musetti
    Kyrios – Humbert
    Korda – deMinaur
    Blimey.
    This should be the quarters but anyway we’ll hit the grass running!

  • Scoop Malinowski · June 28, 2021 at 8:43 am

    Don’t forget Hsieh vs Iga, Sloane vs Kvitova could be a QF too.

  • Scoop Malinowski · June 28, 2021 at 12:30 pm

    Tiafoe has not had a masterpiece like this win vs Tsitsipas in years, but he did show years ago vs Fed and Delpo he can play with the best at the highest level. Dropped off for a few years but this win announces he is back but in warning to everyone else, “not even close to where he expects to be.”

  • gogue · June 28, 2021 at 7:42 pm

    Keep going to write so useful articles and also good that you have a lot of people who visits your website I can say it basede on the reviews you have here.

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  • Scoop Malinowski · June 28, 2021 at 11:20 pm

    thanks Gogue for the kind words, will do of course.

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