Andy Roddick, Tomas Berdych play their first round matches on Monday – Wimbledon Championships 2011
Former world number one, Andy Roddick of the United States, begins his Wimbledon Championship voyage on Monday afternoon, when he will face the 156th ranked German opponent, Andreas Beck, in the opening round of the
prestigious event. The contest will be held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, England, as the battle for glory begins at the only grass-court Grand Slam tournament.
28-year-old Roddick has recently recovered from his shoulder injury, which cost him the French Open campaign. The American injured himself at BNL Internazionali d’Italia and had to withdraw from Roland Garros after failing to get
physically fit. Roddick made his comeback to the pro tennis arena last week when he took part in the AEGON International, making to the semi-finals of the tournament before losing to world number four, Andy Murray in straight sets 3-6, 1-6.
Less can be said about Roddick, as he is still straining to get back his vintage form back after returning from injury. The American is certainly rated among the top class tennis players in the world and can be heavily destructive
on his day. His opening round match against the unseeded Beck should not pose a real challenge for him and he should be able to take him down with ease.
Roddick has already won a singles title in the running ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) season and has a win-loss ratio of 19-7 this year. On the other hand, Beck has lost both of his matched he played this year and appears
in no form to take down the aggressive Roddick. The American has featured in the final of Wimbledon three times but has failed to bag the Grand Slam title every time. Certainly he will desire to clinch one this time round.
World number seven, Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic will also start off his Wimbledon campaign on Monday, when he will face the 81st ranked Italian competitor, Filippo Volandri in the first round clash.
Running an impressive 29-13 win-loss record this ATP season, Berdych is among the top-10 male tennis players in the world. He is well reckoned to be one of the craftiest players in the pro tennis arena these days and has five ATP
singles titles to his name.
Berdych had a tremendous run at Wimbledon last year, when his outstanding performances earned him a place to play his first ever Grand Slam final against the world number one, Rafael Nadal. He lost to Nadal in straight sets but
will be eyeing to put up a much improved effort this time round.
The Czech has faced the unseeded Volandri on six prior occasions and has stood victorious on four of those occurrences, including the last encounter in Sydney two years ago. Berdych lead the head-to-head series against the Italian
by 4-2 and he is the favourite to win for the Monday’s matchup.
It should not be a difficult task for the Czech to outplay a competitor who he has already defeated on multiple occasions but Volandri might come up with some serious resistance to him in the contest.
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