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Djokovic, Federer On Wimbledon SF Collision Course

  • Posted: Jun 24, 2016

Djokovic, Federer On Wimbledon SF Collision Course

Murray same half as Wawrinka

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic finds himself in the same half of the draw as seven-time champion Roger Federer as he looks to win his third successive Wimbledon crown and fourth overall at The Championships.

Djokovic and Federer have met in the final the past two years at the All England Club.

Meanwhile, second seed and 2013 champion Andy Murray is on a semi-final collision course with fourth seed Stan Wawrinka.

Blockbuster first-round clashes include: John Isner vs. Marcos Baghdatis, Sam Groth vs. Kei Nishikori, Ivo Karlovic vs. Borna Coric, Stan Wawrinka vs. Taylor Fritz, Jack Sock vs. Ernests Gulbis.

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The 29-year-old Djokovic has already pocketed the Australian Open and Roland Garros titles this year, beating Murray in both finals, and is in hot pursuit of the calendar-year Grand Slam. The Belgrade native opens his Wimbledon campaign against Great Britain’s James Ward, who made his best Grand Slam showing when he reached the third round last year.

Next up for Djokovic would either be another British opponent – #NextGen star Kyle Edmund – or Adrian Mannarino. The first seed Djokovic could face would be No. 28 Sam Querrey in the third round, with No. 13 David Ferrer projected to face Djokovic in the fourth round, although former quarter-finalist Philipp Kohlschreiber is also in the Spaniard’s section.

A stacked part of the draw completes the top quarter. Sixth seed and 2014 semi-finalist Milos Raonic, who finished runner-up at the Aegon Championships last week (l. to Murray), could meet Djokovic in the quarter-finals. The Canadian opens his bid against Pablo Carreno Busta, with Andreas Seppi or Guillermo Garcia-Lopez possible second-round opponents. No. 27 Sock is projected to meet Raonic in the third round, with No. 11 David Goffin or No. 20 Kevin Anderson potential fourth-round rivals.

Federer headlines the second quarter of the draw. The 34-year-old Swiss was forced to miss Roland Garros, ending his Open Era-record streak of 65 straight Grand Slam appearances, but returned on the grass in Stuttgart and Halle with two semi-final showings. Federer, who lifted his seventh Wimbledon trophy in 2012 (d. Murray), opens his campaign against Guido Pella.

The first seed Federer could face is No. 30 Alexander Dolgopolov, with two Frenchmen – No. 16 Gilles Simon and No. 17 Gael Monfils – leading the charge to face the Swiss in the fourth round, though former semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov also features in that section.

Fifth seed Kei Nishikori is projected to challenge Federer in the quarter-finals, though the Japanese star has never been past the fourth round at SW19. Nishikori has a dangerous first-round opponent in Australia’s big-serving Groth, who reached the third round last year. The Croatian contingent is tightly packed in the second quarter of the draw, with Karlovic drawn to face #NextGen star Coric in the first round and 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic a possible third-round rival for either.

In an all-British first-round clash, Murray will challenge wild card Liam Broady, who recorded his only tour-level win when he defeated Marinko Matosevic in the first round at Wimbledon last year. In the second round Murray would face either a qualifier or Yen-Hsun Lu, with No. 26 Benoit Paire seeded to face Murray in the third round.

There is potential for a blockbuster fourth-round clash between Murray and former quarter-finalist Nick Kyrgios, but the #NextGen star must first overcome the experienced Radek Stepanek in the first round and strong grass-court contenders Dustin Brown and Feliciano Lopez.

Seventh seed Richard Gasquet and No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga feature in a section of the draw stacked with grass-court potential, all vying to face Murray in the quarters. In that section, Isner faces former semi-finalist Marcos Baghdatis in the first round and last year’s quarter-finalist Vasek Pospisil could look to upset Gasquet in the third round.

Under the guidance of Richard Krajicek as a grass-court consultant, Wawrinka will look to improve on two quarter-final showings in the past two years. But the Swiss has his work cut out for him. He opens against American #NextGen prospect Fritz, and could face 2013 semi-finalist Juan Martin del Potro in the second round, should the Argentine overcome Stephane Robert in his opener.

Eighth seed Dominic Thiem is projected to face Wawrinka in the quarter-finals. The 22-year-old Austrian won his first grass-court title in Stuttgart, right after reaching his first Grand Slam semi-final at Roland Garros. But Thiem’s first-round match sees him take on Florian Mayer, who beat the Austrian last week in the Halle semi-finals.

Tenth seed Tomas Berdych, who finished runner-up to Rafael Nadal in the 2010 final, could meet Thiem in the fourth round, but #NextGen Alexander Zverev may first challenge the Czech in the third round. The 19-year-old German reached his first grass-court final last week in Halle (l. to Mayer).

Defending champion Djokovic will lead off the first-round action on Monday at the All England Club, when he leads the Centre Court billing.

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Youzhny Hits Tweener Winner In Nottingham

  • Posted: Jun 24, 2016

Youzhny Hits Tweener Winner In Nottingham

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Cuevas Bests Muller In Notthingham

  • Posted: Jun 24, 2016

Cuevas Bests Muller In Notthingham

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Get Inspired: Talented tennis youngsters get tips from GB Davis Cup team

  • Posted: Jun 24, 2016

Two talented tennis youngsters, who are part of an LTA-associated programme to make the most of their talent, get to meet the Great Britain Davis Cup team.

Millie-Mae and Harry get advice from Dan Evans, Leon Smith and Dominic Inglot – and even get to play with Andy Murray and Kyle Edmund.

WATCH MORE: ‘We need more 14-year-olds like him’

READ MORE: Find out how you can get into tennis

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Wimbledon draw: Andy Murray to play fellow Briton Liam Broady in first round

  • Posted: Jun 24, 2016
Wimbledon on the BBC
Venue: All-England Club Dates: 27 June-10 July
Live: Coverage across BBC TV, BBC Radio and BBC Sport website with further coverage on Red Button, Connected TVs and app. Click for more details

Andy Murray will face fellow Briton Liam Broady in the first round of Wimbledon, which starts on Monday.

Former champion Murray has never played Broady, the world number 234 who has received a wildcard to the tournament.

Compatriot James Ward, also a wildcard, will play defending champion Novak Djokovic in his opening match.

In the women’s singles, British number one Johanna Konta faces Puerto Rican Monica Puig, while Serena Williams will face a qualifier or lucky loser.

Sixteenth seed Konta, ranked 18th in the world, has met Puig once.

The Australian Open semi-finalist came from behind to win 4-6 6-4 7-6 at last year’s grass-court tournament in Nottingham.

British number two Heather Watson starts against Annika Beck and could then face top seed Williams in a repeat of last year’s gripping third-round match, while Laura Robson has drawn Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber.

Robson and Kerber have met three times, including at Wimbledon in 2011.

The Briton won in three sets hen, but Kerber has triumphed in the other two matches, the most recent in Beijing in 2013.

In the men’s draw, Murray is in the more favourable half and would only face Djokovic or third seed Roger Federer in the final.

Djokovic and Federer are scheduled to meet in the semi-finals.

If Djokovic overcomes Ward in round one, he could play countryman Kyle Edmund in round two.

Edmund takes on Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.

The highest seeds in Murray’s half of the draw are Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori and Richard Gasquet.

Frenchman Gasquet, last year’s semi-finalist, will play British number two Aljaz Bedene in his opening match.

Other British players

Women’s singles:

Naomi Broady v Elina Svitolina (17)

Katie Swan v Timea Babos

Tara Moore v Alison van Uytvanck

Men’s singles:

Dan Evans v Jan Lennard Struff

Brydan Klein v Nicolas Mahut

Alex Ward v David Goffin (11)

Analysis

BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller:

Murray won’t be looking too far ahead – he was taken to five sets in his opening two matches at the French Open – but a fourth-round match with Nick Kyrgios on Centre Court could be fraught with danger.

It could be considered an advantage for Murray that Federer is in the other half of the draw with Djokovic, but the seven-time Wimbledon champion, 34, has played little tennis in recent months.

Robson’s draw suggests her recent luck is showing no sign of improvement, while Konta will have her work cut out to live up to her seeding.

She could face the 2014 runner-up Eugenie Bouchard in the second round and former Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova in round three.

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Rain Puts Damper On Day 4 Of Wimbledon Qualifying

  • Posted: Jun 24, 2016

Rain Puts Damper On Day 4 Of Wimbledon Qualifying

The final round of qualifying has been pushed to Friday

Rain put a halt to play on Thursday, Day 4 of qualifying at Wimbledon. No matches were completed due to showers throughout the day, with 13 of 16 final-round qualifying matches not making it to court.

In an all-American battle, No. 6 seed Bjorn Fratangelo leads No. 22 seed Austin Krajicek, 6-3, 6-3, 3-1. Both players are aiming to make their main draw debuts at Wimbledon. Fratangelo broke into the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings this spring after a strong clay-court season that saw him reach the second round of Roland Garros and win the $50,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Savannah, Georgia.

Albano Olivetti of France is one set away from his Wimbledon main draw debut after surviving a pair of tight sets against British wild card Edward Corrie, 7-6(5), 7-6(4), 1-0. The 24-year-old Frenchman returned to the tour this January after 19 months out due to injury.

Franko Skugor of Croatia is in the lead, 4-6, 6-1, 4-2, against No. 12 seed Gerald Melzer of Austria. The 28-year-old is looking to make his Grand Slam main draw debut and had never reached the final round of qualifying at a Grand Slam prior to this week.

All final-round qualifying matches will be completed on Friday, with the feature match being a #NextGen battle between No. 12 seed Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan and No. 29 seed Quentin Halys of France.

Visit here for full results and updated draws.

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Cuevas FedEx ATP Player Profile 2016

  • Posted: Jun 23, 2016

Cuevas FedEx ATP Player Profile 2016

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Wimbledon 2016

  • Posted: Jun 23, 2016

Wimbledon 2016

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Pat Cash Teaches Volley Technique

  • Posted: Jun 23, 2016

Pat Cash Teaches Volley Technique

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