Let the action begin!
The Championship’s 124th edition gets underway today and understandably there’s a buzz surrounding the courts and SW19 in general. In action today would be the tournament favourite for both, the Men’s and Women’s categories; six-time champion Roger Federer and five-time winner Venus Williams open their campaign today as would seasoned grass-courter Andy Roddick and multiple-slam winners in the form of Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters. Henin has publicly stated that one of the reasons for her making a comeback was the inspiration she received on seeing Federer winning the French Open in 2009. Henin, who is yet to win at Wimbledon, the only major to have eluded her , will look to correct that this year as would Roddick who must still be smarting under the heart-stopping 5th set loss to Federer last year.
Federer versus Falla…
As is the tradition, the defending champion will start off proceedings at the Centre Court at 1pm local time and Columbia’s Alejandro Falla looks to become the no. 1 seed’s no. 1 prey. They’ve met four times before, thrice in Grand Slams and once even at this very court, six seasons ago. On each of those occasions, Falla fell in straight sets and the exact numbers seem even more frightening from Falla’s point of view. At the 2004 Wimbledon, Federer won 6-1 6-2 6-0 and at Halle a month ago, the Swiss triumphed 6-1 6-2. Expect another stroll in the park for Federer who’s said that despite his lackluster performances since winning major no. 16 at Melbourne this year, he feels confident enough to have another crack at the title he cherishes most. The six-time champion is bidding to go on par with William Renshaw and Pete Sampras, both of whom won seven titles at the All England Club.
Roddick, Djokovic, Hewitt and the rest…
They’ll all be in action today with Djokovic playing the last of the three matches at the Centre Court. The Serbian who’s had an ‘up and down’ career since winning his maiden and only Slam to date, at the Australian Open two years ago could have a tricky Round 1. Though Oliver Rochus is ranked 65 places below Djokovic, he’s beaten the Serbian on three out of four occasions, the last one coming at the Miami Masters this year. In Djokovic’s defense, his first two losses had come in 2005 when the Serb was still struggling to find his feet on the tour and he’s won their only meeting on grass, the win coming at Halle last year. Roddick opens his campaign against compatriot Rajeev Ram and Hewitt, fresh from his win over Federer at Halle, starts off against Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez, ranked 159 in the world. Other top players to be seen in action today would be no. 7 seed, Nikolay Davydenko, no. 11 seed Maran Cilic, no. 21 seed Gael Monfils and grass court specialists such as Mardy Fish and Taylor Dent.
Williams, Henin, Clisters, Mirza in action too…
Five-time winner and the no. 2 seed, Venus Williams faces off against 34-year old Rossana De Los Rios from Paraguay at Court no. 1 while surprisingly Justine Henin’s match has been pushed to a not-so-happening Court 12. Henin faces Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova as both Williams and Henin, should have little difficulty in winning their 1st round matches. Henin, is coming off a win at the UNICEF Open at Holland, her fourth career grass court title and the finalist at the 2001 [losing to Venus Williams] and 2006 [losing to Amelie Mauresmo] Wimbledon Championships will be keen to add this major to her kitty of 7 Grand Slams. Henin’s long time rival and country-woman Kim Clijsters too would be seen in action as would be no. 4 seed Jelena Jankovic and Indian hope Sania Mirza.
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