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Davydenko Beat; Federer v Soderling, Djokovic v Safin Wednesday at Wimbledon
No. 4 seed Nikolay Davydenko was the highest-profile seed dismissed Tuesday at Wimbledon, losing 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to German Benjamin Becker in his opening-round match on the All England Club lawns.
ADHEREL
“He played good, but I played very bad,” said Davydenko, who went on to say that not only is he not guilty in the ATP’s much publicized match-fixing investigation, but that there is no match-fixing — even after numerous players have stated they have been approached by gamblers to lose matches.
“Nobody can prove anything,” said Davydenko, sounding like the PR man for match-fixing. “I think there’s no match-fixing in tennis.”
Ironically, with all the ATP turmoil surrounding match-fixing, the Hamburg event suing the ATP and the top-player uprising against ATP Chairman Etienne de Villiers, the only other upset on the day was ATP Player Council President Ivan Ljubicic, the No. 26 seed, who was outlasted in five sets by Austria’s Jurgen “Tuna” Melzer. No word from Ljubicic if the match was fixed or not.
Top 10-seeded winners Tuesday in opening-round play were (2) Rafael Nadal (d. Andreas Beck), (6) Andy Roddick (d. Eduardo Schwank), (8) Richard Gasquet (d. Mardy Fish), and (9) James Blake (d. Christophe Rochus in four sets).
“I think if you were to pick five guys to win, I’d like to think of myself in those five,” said Roddick, who next faces a tester against Serb Janko Tipsarevic. “This year I’ve played some of the best stuff I have in the last couple of years when I’ve been on the court. I always feel like I’m going to be able to grind out matches, kind of figure out a way to win sometimes.”
Unseeded names of note advancing were Xavier Malisse (d. Denis Gremelmayr), Arnaud Clement (d. Jonas Bjorkman in the Swede’s last Wimbledon appearance), Marin Cilic (d. Edouard Roger-Vasselin), Ernests Gulbis (d. John Isner in four), Tommy Haas (d. Guillermo Canas in four), Rainer Schuettler (d. Santiago Ventura), Sebastien Grosjean (d. Potito Starace), and Jesse Levine (d. American compatriot Donald Young in four).
Matches of interest Wednesday at the All England Club are (3) Novak Djokovic vs. former No. 1 partier Marat Safin, (1) Roger Federer vs. Robin Soderling, and (10) Marcos Baghdatis vs. former Slam champ Thomas Johansson.
Williams, Sharapova, Davenport Win at Wimbledon
Venus Williams overcame a stern first-set test from Brit Naomi Cavaday before advancing 7-6(5), 6-1 in her opening match Tuesday at Wimbledon.
“She played a great match,” Williams said. “She put a lot of pace on the ball, forced a few errors by me. I felt confident throughout the match. I felt good out there. I always feel good on that court.”
Other Top 10-seeded winners were (2) Jelena Jankovic (d. Olga Savchuk), (3) Maria Sharapova (d. Stephanie Foretz), (9) Dinara Safina (d. Yung-Jan Chan), and (10) Daniela Hantuchova (d. Sara Errani), all in straight sets.
The 21-year-old Sharapova took to the court in what she described as a tuxedo-inspired coat and shorts.
“I’m very inspired by men’s wear this year,” Sharapova said. “Every year at Wimbledon I want to do something classy. I’ve never worn shorts before at a Grand Slam and Wimbledon is the place to do it…It was great to get out there and get a feel for the court. It was my first match on grass this year and I did pretty well considering it was the first one.”
No. 23 Katarina Srebotnik was the only seeded upset victim Tuesday, outlasted 16-14 in the third set by Julia Goerges.
Seeds escaping with three-set wins Tuesday were (13) Vera Zvonareva (d. Aiko Nakamura), (20) Francesca Schiavone (d. Tamira Paszek 10-8 in the third), (25) Lindsay Davenport (d. Renata Voracova), and (32) Sania Mirza (d. Catalina Castano).
“It’s not ideal,” Davenport said of her knee issue. “It’s been bothering me now for a few weeks. It’s coming more from the back of the knee. In the latter stages of the second set I definitely felt it was getting worse. Two days ago it felt perfect. It’s frustrating. I’m not really sure what to say every day.”
Matches of interest Wednesday on the lawns are (1) Ana Ivanovic vs. French veteran Nathalie Dechy, (6) Serena Williams vs. Polish riser Urszula Radwanska, upset-minded Aussie Sam Stosur vs. (18) Nicole Vaidisova, an all-Russian in Evgeniya Rodina vs. Elena Vesnina, and an all-Polish in Marta Domachowska vs. (14) Agnieszka Radwanska.
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Rafael Nadal has won his last 18 matches. Nadal has also never lost an opening round Grand Slam match…
The only seeded woman to lose Tuesday was Katarina Sbrebotnik…
Roger Federer has won 35 straight grass matches at Wimbledon and 60 straight on grass…
Andy Roddick has failed to reach the Wimbledon semifinals the last two years…
British Chris Eaton, who got a wildcard into qualifying, is through to the second round. The 6-foot-6, No. 661-ranked bomber is playing his first Slam…
Elena Dementieva is the only player yet to finish the first round…
With the retirements of Wayne Odesnik and Nicolas Lapentti, a total of seven players retired in the first round, tying the Slam record for most in any one round (2002 US Open, 2007 Roland Garros). Good thing both tours say injuries are not a problem…
Maria Sharapova’s shorts are bad…
35-year-old Fabrice Santoro played on Wimbledon’s Centre Court for the first time…
Robin Soderling has lost 12 of 13 career sets to Roger Federer…
Novak Djokovic has reached the final 32 at his last nine Grand Slams…
Since Roger Federer won his first-round match, Novak Djokovic cannot be No. 1 the Monday after Wimbledon…
Venus Williams has won 17 of her last 18 Wimbledon matches…
Ana Ivanovic has won 8 straight Slam matches…
Three 19-year-olds are into the men’s second round: Juan Martin Del Potro, Ernests Gulbis and Marin Cilic…
Fernando Gonzalez is 2-0 v. Simone Bolelli. Both meetings went three sets, with five of six sets going to a tiebreak…
Weather: Continued dry and warm…
Nikolay Davydenko on the ATP match-fixing investigation: “This has been a bad dream, not for one day but for months. But I have still been able to play and that has made me happy. I have been told by my lawyer that this should be decided in July. This has taken so long — nearly one year. Nobody can prove anything. My lawyer has been waiting one year but there is no proof. I’m confident the ATP will find no proof. I’ve already played one year. If they decided to investigate for another year, I’ll still be playing.” — Question is, once the ATP admits they have no hard evidence, how much will Davydenko counter-sue for in regard to making his life hell?…
From MediaPost: “IMG, the traditional athlete representation agency that is moving even more aggressively into program marketing and ownership, said it has reached a deal with Fox to distribute sports programming internationally. The deal calls for the IMG Sports Media division to exclusively distribute more than 3,000 hours of catalog material from Fox Sports International. The agreement takes effect July 1. Content available to IMG includes the college football national championship game, Big Ten basketball and football games, action sports from Fuel TV and Fox Soccer programming.”…
From The Guardian Wimbledon blog: “…here’s Sue (Barker), strangely ageless, resplendent in grey trouser suit. “The history and the tradition all add to the glamour of it all,” she says. So do you, Sue, so do you…It’s Tim himself (in the studio)! Tiger Tim. Grrrr! You thought you’d seen the last of him, but Henman’s back. Also strangely ageless, also resplendent in grey trouser suit, he’s basically a (slightly) male version of Sue. Can he be as undistinguished a commentator as he was a player? Time will tell, but the early signs are promising. He nearly didn’t make it, he says, an infection on an old ankle injury. Aww, poor Tim…Tim’s voice has an interesting effect on my brain. It just shuts down, refuses to even attempt to take in what he’s saying. Maybe he is saying something interesting, I’ll never know. Luckily he can’t get much in, because John McEnroe’s there, babbling on. Thank god for McEnroe, he’s got things to say. “These guys are greedy bastards,” he says, about the modern breed of players. Oops, he can’t say bastards, says Sue. This is Wimbledon. Later he just about gets away with “derriere”. Meaning arse, I think…Time for Tim to do some work — an interview with Andy Murray, who may have heard of him. Actually, it must have been recorded, because the sky is grey and Tim’s wearing a different outfit — a casual V-neck jumper, also grey. The interview is certainly grey. They wander around mumbling to each other and Tim keeps asking Andy if he’s looking forward to the tournament. The idea is not to show what good mates you are, Tim, it’s to try to get something out of him. A bit more media training needed maybe. And don’t give up the day job. Oops, you did.”
British Lawn Tennis Association coach Brad Gilbert’s charge Alex Bogdanovic lost first round at Wimbledon, and now Gilbert is out the door. It was announced that Gilbert will part ways with the LTA and following Bogdanovic around the Challenger circuit when his contract ends in three months. ‘That kid sucks and I am sick of it,’ Gilbert didn’t say. Bogdanovic is a stunning 0-7 career at Wimbledon…
Britain’s The Telegraph perceiving anti-Serena sentiment at Wimbledon: “Serena is never happier than when projecting her role as a perceived style icon, so the obsequious comments from American journalists about her dress sense were only too gratefully received. “I love trench coats,” she trilled. “I probably have more coats than anybody. I’m always buying Burberry coats, I love them and I don’t know why, because I live in Florida.” At so many levels, she is a study in contrasts. She explains the attachment to her latest coat by the fact that it is “ladylike” — a perfect fit for her, in her words — and yet poor Kanepi can hardly have felt the same when on the receiving end of a first serve that peaked at 126mph. The polarising effect of Serena’s personality on the Wimbledon crowds has never been more starkly shown either. When she walked on court the audacity of the coat was audibly appreciated, and at the end she responded to the applause with a wave that could only be described as regal. And yet in between there was an ambivalence around Court No 1, the admiration for her ferocious play mingling with an uncertainty at her histrionics. At least her cry of “come on!” upon saving a break point at 6-5 down in the first set was less grating than her howls of anguish when her leg ‘cramped’ against Daniela Hantuchova last year. But that incident has proved damaging for Serena in the popularity stakes, as the crowd willed her muscular technique to falter against the wiles of her Baltic opponent…
MISC: Greek number one Eleni Daniilidou is likely to miss the remainder of the 2008 season following surgery to her right knee…No American women qualified in singles at Wimbledon…This year more players are coming out on court in dumb-ass trenchcoats or sweaters or tuxedo outfits or clown pants — which is good for tennis. Too bad Vince Spadea already lost, what a golden opportunity to float some “Vinnie style”…Wimbledon is under fire from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for hiring gunmen to shoot pigeons around center court and the restaurant to keep them from diving around players and spectators…Andy Roddick on Roger Federer’s Wimbledon look this year: “I personally don’t care. But I think any attention drawn to tennis for whatever reason is good. If that means wearing the Mr. Rogers’ sweater, whatever else you got, then so be it. I don’t know if it would be a good look for me or any of my friends or relatives.”…
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