By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | July 8, 2019
With one week of tennis in the books, we look ahead to Wimbledon’s Manic Monday and beyond. It promises to be a great week of grass-court tennis at SW19, and here are the storylines we are most looking forward to following.
KooKoo for Coco Gauff
The emergence of 15-year-old Coco Gauff has been the biggest story of week one, but can the American pull a major upset over Simona Halep on Monday and keep captivating the imagination of the tennis world? It’s not likely, but certainly possible. The American has already become the youngest player to reach the second week at Wimbledon since 1991, as she backed up her upsets of Venus Williams and Magdalena Rybarikova by saving two match points against Polona Hercog in her Centre Court debut.
Petra Kvitova Catching Fire at Wimbledon
Perhaps it has to do with the fact that the Czech has entered the Wimbledon draw with little to no expectations and carrying a concerning arm injury. Perhaps it is simply because it was about time. Whatever the reason, two-time champion Petra Kvitova is finding her form on Wimbledon’s hallowed lawns again. She has reached the second week for the first time since 2014 and has looked like her old juggernaut self through three rounds, not yet dropping a set.
Kvitova has been the master of the short point at Wimbledon. 298 of her 344 points have gone four points or less—it’s the perfect recipe for Kvitova domination and if she continues to execute with precision we could see her pushing for a third Wimbledon title by week’s end.
Big 3 History
Can anybody stop the Big 3—Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and/or Rafael Nadal—from winning their 11th consecutive major here at Wimbledon? Let us rephrase that question, can anyone even knock off one of the Big 3 members in a shock upset?
Each has dropped a set in the first week, but let’s be frank: none of the three has actually looked too vulnerable.
Unless complete chaos occurs, we should see a Federer-Nadal semi-final on Friday and the winner will likely play Djokovic in the final on Sunday.
Federer is chasing a record ninth men’s singles title at Wimbledon, while Djokovic is bidding to execute his second successful title defense at SW19. All three players are looking to extend their Grand Slam title counts as well as increasing the number of majors that they’ve won since turning 30. Federer and Nadal have won four since turning 30 and each could take over the all-time lead in the category, while Djokovic could win his fourth post-30 major and tie up his rivals.
History is waiting—who will grab it?
Serena or Barty?
There is a very enticing matchup on the horizon on the women’s side, and if things go according to seeds today, we could see it in the quarter-finals where Serena Williams and Ash Barty will come up against one another for Quarter of Death supremacy.
At this point, it’s hard to bet against either because Barty has been absolutely steamrolling the field, dropping just 12 games and 9 first-service points en route to her first Wimbledon second week appearance, while Williams ramped up her form significantly in the third round as she powered past Julia Goerges without facing a break point and winning 71 percent of her second-serve points.
Upset Special, Nishikori-Style?
We asked the question on the Lucky Letcord Podcast Manic Monday preview with Mert Ertunga and Ros Satar, and now we are posing the question to the reader: If one of the Big 3 were to be upset before the semi-finals, which player is capable of pulling it off?
The general consensus was that Kei Nishikori had the best, albeit long, shot. The Japanese No.1 reached his first Wimbledon quarter-final last year and even took a set off of Novak Djokovic.
This year Nishikori has advanced to the second week without dropping a set and he has only dropped more than four games in a set once.
Nishikori faces Mikhail Kukushkin in the round of 16 on Monday and then would face Roger Federer in the quarter-finals if the seeds hold. Could he possibly defeat the King of Grass on Centre Court?