Wimbledon 2008 Thread

[Norbington]

Wimbledon starts today and I can't find a thread for it.

This needs to be rectified.

Here is a thread for all Wimbledon discussion.

I am currently watching the first round of the Men's singles and its Federer Vs Hrbaty. I have no idea who Hrbaty is though...

We've got a predicted full week of sunshine so I'm hoping it's going to be a pretty good competition this year.

\o/

[jonffm]

Lets bet on what Murray will retire on.

Bloody Nose anyone? 3/1?

[firefairy]

I managed to watch all of the Federer match, and catch the last to sets of Djocovich and the very last bit of Hewitt. All good matches, Me happy :) Wimbledon is on!

[Norbington]

Ok so Women's singles matches are incredibly boring, as usual.

Bring on Nadal and his massive biceps.

[firefairy]

I think Beck did really well... Give him a few years and he'll be a dangerous player!!

Also does anyone know if Ben Becker is any relation to Boris? I'm assuming that Becker is just a really common surname in Germany....

[Norbington]

Yeah he was good.

Also Caraday Vs Williams was a surprise. I love how everyone in centre court was routing for Caraday. The British love the underdog!

Another thing, Murray's GF is really hot...

[jonffm]

Could just be that it's a British Grand Slam and Cavaday is British? Nobody likes the Williams sisters, they look like men.

Eaton looked good, was nice to see him slashed over the back pages today. Deserved his 15 minutes, but I think his next match is too much of an ask for him.

Murray should win with no problems, and it should only be Gasquet that provides really sturn opposition to him getting to the QF to face Nadal. If he gets to the QF and loses to him, fair enough, can't be helped because Nadals on lethal form....but any less and people will styart asking just when Murray will actually become this Top 5 player he SHOULD be by now.

[Norbington]

I really want to see the match where Federer finally loses. It'll be historic.

I bet Nadal will beat him eventually. As you say, he's on form atm so I think he's got a chance - then again he's always Feds main competition.

[AngryPaul]

I miss my days of "full-time" education where I spent the days lolloping around in my room watching near enough every Wimbledon match going.

Maybe I need to take a few days off of work to relive my young adulthood.


Spoken like a true 22-year-old ¬_¬

[Cyanide_]

Murray v Gasquet should be a good match

Too close to call, but Murray always fails somehow so I think Gasquet will take it.

[Youlikeyams?]

Watching the Murray/Gasquet match at the moment and I think Gasquet's beginning to falter. The crowd are definitely in favour of Murray (naturally, since he's Britain's main hope and all of that) but I'm feeling a little bit sorry for the Frenchman since he's got a crowd who aren't going to be supportive of him cheering on the other man constantly.

It's a bit of a shame to be honest, as Gasquet was well on his way to a victory before the crowd really started to cheer on in Murray's favour. Maybe he'll still pull it off, even though the Scot is clawing back.

[Dr_nwa]

I miss my days of "full-time" education where I spent the days lolloping around in my room watching near enough every Wimbledon match going.

Maybe I need to take a few days off of work to relive my young adulthood.


Spoken like a true 22-year-old ¬_¬

*cough* iplayer for work based tennis watching *cough*

I think yams is right and this is gonna go to Murray, even though I think Gasquet deserves it so much more

[Youlikeyams?]

I think Gasquet's just been complaining to the umpire about the crowd and personally I think he's too right in doing so. Maybe some "quiet please" signs wouldn't go amiss? :p

[Nuclear Spoon]

I wonder what Murray does when he finds a penny in his back pocket.

[Youlikeyams?]

FUCK YES A FUCKING PENNY FUCK FUCK FUCK YES

Gasquet's complaining again...think anything can be done about the crowd?

[Village Idiot]

I wasn't at all impressed with the crowd there during that. Especially when Gasquet got boo's coming back from a loo break, which was exactly the right thing to do, and for all anyone knows, he did actually need the loo!
I think they crossed the line at several points really.
Oh, and it was getting way too dark, they should have ended at least a game earlier than they did, especially as the Frenchman needed to break serve, and low light makes it even harder to see serves.

Also, I love the way Murray thinks he has a chance against Nadal, I can't see him winning that one at all.

[Dr_nwa]

that was a bit of a classic match

one of my besties was there and she is not going to stop rubbing it in tomorrow when i chat to her on msn :(

e: yeah the crowd was noisy but thats normal for a partisan british crowd, especially in the second week on centre court! Gasquet I thought was complaining a bit too much about something that no one could control, and using it to justify why he had just lost his game.
The light/no light complaint I think was justified. I'm pretty sure that cricketers wouldn't have continued in that light level. Admittedly there is potential for greater injury in cricket, but still it was too dark.

Still I'm happy.

[firefairy]

awesome match....

I do feel sorry for Gasquet though... the crowd were indeed bang out of order when it came to booing him...

[Norbington]

Best match EVAR.

He'll never beat Nadal though. That man is a tennis winning machine.

Edit: Also expecting 15,000 people to keep quiet in a match like that is a little silly. The booing for going to the loo was a bit much though.

[jonffm]

Eh? Crossed the line? It's the British Grand Slam, and he's the British Number One, opponents of Murray EXPECT a hostile crowd, and the same happens for the French at the French Open, and the Yanks at the US Open. Every player would have nipped off for a break at that point, but they would also expect it not to be very popular with the crowd who have paid alot of money for their seats wanting to see the game out before the end of the day. Frankly, it's foolish to think anything else....nothing the crowd did today was any different than what they did when Tim was playing....(barring see the guy actually WIN....sorry Tim :( )

Second...the light isn't opinion, they do have meters that keep track of the light, and it was clearly light enough right up untill the last game or two, at which point it was getting borderline but the umpire made the sensible decision not to have a game carry over till tomorrow that only has ONE game left in it. Besides, it was the same for both players, the light wasn't that drastically different between Murrays break and the end of play, that 15-20 minute window.

As for the Nadal thing, that was no doubt your exact sentiments afvter the first SET of this match...and to be honest, it's a pretty easy prediction to make that Nadal, French Open champ, will beat the 12th seed. It'll be a HUGE ask for him, but good luck to the lad, came through impossible odds being 2 sets down and against serve for the match...to come back to win....that's a tall order for even Nadal and Fed.

God, there's always right parade-pissers around after great sporting matches.


Anyways...

Superb match. Murray really looked down and out, but so long as he kept the 3rd set close, there was always the chance of a momentum shift. Definatly his most defining moment to date, and the best comeback this SW19 thus far. Showed great character, bottle, and skill.

But I tell you now.

If he hits ONE more drop-shot into the net, i'll personally slap him right across his big ugly face.

[Nuclear Spoon]

Anybody know when the comedy match is on?
Best bid of Wimbledon.

[Smowy]

But I tell you now.

If he hits ONE more drop-shot into the net, i'll personally slap him right across his big ugly face.

Agreed.
I don't like the way Murray gloats every time he wins.

[AngryPaul]

Outclassed and outgunned.

Nadal was very impressive last night. He's improved in so many ways, seemingly every year. Murray was sub-par. He made so many unforced errors and a couple a shots nearly left the stadium. He admits he was beaten by someone far better than him, but he didn't admit to being what we could all see; tired.

He was knackered after the Gasquet match and it showed. His head dropped every time a point was finished. He trudged back to the base-line, while Nadal sprinted.

He gave it some welly when the chips were down but it was far too late then.

Another Nadal-Federer final then....

[Small Fry]

This final today is going to be the best match I have ever seen.

Personally, I am leaning more towards Federer, because of his technical skill and quite frankly amazing record - Number 1 for over 4 years? That's fantastic.

However, Nadal has improved massively on grass, and his overall game has improved a lot since he last met Federer, so it's going to be very close.

[Norbington]

Final is going to be epic.

[Garry3]

Fuck me. . .

[Nuclear Spoon]

Final is going to be epic.

And it really fucking was.

[BlueIncaPilot]

oh noes!

:(

but what a fucking fantastic game! i've been glued!

[by crikey!]

fuck yes Nadal! i am very pleased. it was a pretty epic game though, i wanted it to be just a 3-setter to Nadal but oh well. it was awesome. most excited about sport i've ever got i think.

[Ronbert]

Federer at close to his best couldn't break Nadal. Murray had no chance, he had a great tournament.

Nads a worthy winner.

[Small Fry]

That was fantastic. Epic as...whatever was ever as epic as that, which was nothing.

[Norbington]

I feel bad for Federer but really good for Nadal. He really deserved it.

Have we seen the end of Fed's reign or is he going to come back and win another 4 or 5 wimbledons?

I can't say...

[Nuclear Spoon]

I think he might want to concentrate on winning the French Open at some point, it's the only Grand Slam he hasn't won. As long as Nadal plays, I think it might stay that way.

[Blue-Chameleon]

Came back from Wimbledon today (not that I went to the final, but I saw that and have to say it was brilliant viewing). I saw the second day of the quarter-final between Schuettler and Clement, so I know what it's like to be sat in front of an epic five-setter. The atmosphere there was indescribable and I can't imagine the same setting with the actual title at stake.
But that match is old news.

All I can say about today is that I hope Nadal won't win every tornament from now on, or I'll miss the rivalry between him and Federer.

[Small Fry]

Win every tournament? I don't think that's likely, Federer will always give him a run for his money, although I do think we shall see a World Number 1 in Nadal.