We are getting down to the business stages at the All England Club so I thought I'd better look at some of matches that are to be played today. No surprises early with the top 4 guys making it through relatively unscathed, but the unexpected run of Bernard Tomic is certainly creating massive headlines across the world of tennis and the bandwagoning by certain media identities was never in doubt. I won't go into that here but John Newcombe saying that he has the best slice currently in mens tennis is too funny. I guess he forgot what he was saying about the kid a couple of years ago. Then again, we all love a winner. Feliciano Lopez and Mardy Fish are the other somewhat unexpected quarter finalists, however defeating Roddick these days is no claim to fame and he could have easily have gone out to Kubot in the previous round who blew match points on his serve in the tiebreak. Fish has played well the past week and a half and defeated last years finalist Tomas Berdych in the 4th round. A renewed dedication to the game over the last year has really benefitted his game and attitude. Tsonga has gone about his business quietly and is in good form on the grass, having also reached the Queens final in the lead up to Wimbledon. Let's have a look at each of the matches more closely and I may even stick my neck out on the winners:
Federer vs Tsonga
Federer will come into this encounter feeling very confident (when does he not mind you) with a 4-1 record over the Frenchman in past meetings, with the only loss coming in Montreal a couple of years ago where Federer choked a 5-1 lead in the final set. This will be the pairs first meeting on grass however, and Tsonga has the tools to ask the world number 3 some questions on the surface. Whether he implements the right game plan to use those tools effectively remains to be seen but if he has one of his lights out days and Roger is a little bit off this one could get interesting. Federer, well we all know what he's done here in the past so no need to ramble on about it here. The man is the most successful player of his time and most importanly, he still believes he can win more majors. That thought alone makes him dangerous. Tsonga is making his second consecutive appearance at the quarter final stage at the Championships and no doubt loves the surface, and hopefully for his sake, this won't be played indoors. Still, Federer should have too much variety for the Frenchman and the slices and change of pace will do his head in. Roger in 3.Murray vs Lopez
The hometown hope is here again and will be secretly liking his chances of progressing to the semi finals. The Brit (if he wins) is 4-0 against the Spaniard but like the previous matchup, these two have never met on grass which without a shadow of a doubt is Lalo's best surface. "Deliciano", as he has been dubbed by Murray's cougar mother Judy, has made the quarter final stage here on two previous occasions in 2005 and 2008 and was the last person to beat Tiger Tim Henman here back in 2002. However, Murray will be liking this match up against the big server. The Scot (if he loses) has one of the best return games in the world and will fancy his chances of getting most of the balls back into play. From there he can work himself into the rally and then dictate to the Lalo backhand, which is the weakness for the Spaniard. Sure, he has a nice slice of that wing, but the drive backhand is poor and can be exposed. If Murray can stay aggressive throughout and reframe from becoming passive when he gets comfortable in the match, I can only see one winner here. Murray in 3.
Djokovic vs Tomic
The Aussie media are billing this one to be the most important match played by an Australian since Lleyton Hewitt went down to Marat Safin in the 2005 Australian Open decider. Yes, the bandwagon has well and truly taken off for Bernie Tomic and the future is certainly looking bright for this kid. His more immediate future however is looking ominous with a showdown with world number 2 Novak Djokovic in the quarters here. The Serb has been the form player this year, losing only one match to Roger Federer at the semi final stage at the French Open last month and winning 7 titles already. It would be fair to say that Djokovic hasn't found his best form on the grass so far, but has still been winning his matches comfortably although he was tested in the previous round against Baghdatis. The main thing that Tomic has had going for him this week was the element of surprise. Most of the players he has faced so far have never encountered a player on the tour who mixes up his shots and pace of the balls so much. The slice is class and his serve has been working very well, with the youngster not dropping serve in his last 8 sets of tennis. However the unknown factor will go out the window today as the pair have become quite good mates over the last year, and even practicing together quite frequently these championships. Djokovic will know what to expect and his superior return of serve should get him into a proactive postion in the court to dictate play from the baseline and thus taking away Tomic's time and being able to expose his weak movement. Nole in 3.
Nadal vs Fish
Well all the talk has been about how serious Nadal's foot injury was and if there was a little bit of gamesmanship on his part during his 4th round encounter against Juan Martin del Potro. All I will say on the matter is I fail to see the advantage of taking a MTO at the beginning of a tiebreak and then proceeding to go down 3-0 in that tiebreak. People will see what they want to see here and I'm not here to discuss this matter or attempt to change anyones opinions because that isn't going to happen. Maybe the ATP need to look at the rules regarding when a player can take a MTO. Anyway back to the matchup. Fish has been playing some very good ball these championships and comes into this clash on the back of a very strong performance against reigning finalist Tomas Berdych dismantling the Czech in straight sets. The serve has been on fire and the grass compliments this nicely. He has lost a lot of weight in the past year and his off court life couldn't be better which has in turn translated into his performances on the court. Nadal is a different proposition however, and will make the American number 1 play a lot more balls than what the Berdman did in the 4th round. The world number one and defending champion has done what he has needed to do so far this event and has been his usual relentless self. He has been going for more on his serve in an effort to get more free points and this good signs for him, especially on grass. I can see this one going to a couple of tiebreaks and when it gets to that stage, it is often a lottery. But, I like Nadal's odds of taking this one in straight sets.
Well, I've predicted all of these matches will get done in straights. We can all check back in tomorrow and see how wrong I was!
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