Middle Monday

It’s Middle Monday at Wimbledon. Will fourth-ranked Andy Murray escape Sam Querry in the fourth round at Wimbledon? It would be great to see Murray, a Brit, reach the Wimbledon final and delight the host country. He would be the first British man to win the tournament since 1936. Murray hasn’t dropped a set so far, albeit he’s had a relatively easy draw. With Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer (the two R’s) clearly not at their best, Murray does have an outside chance to go deep into the late rounds. He is 12-2 at Wimbledon the past three years. Murray would potentially have to get through Nadal in order to reach the final, where he could face Federer. Nadal plays France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu in the fourth round. If Nadal prevails, he would oppose the winner of Robin Soderling and David Ferrer. Soderling is Nadal’s nemesis, so that would be one battle to look forward to in the quarterfinals. Seeing that Nadal has already been pushed to five sets, perhaps the Spaniard would be torn down by Swedish Soderling’s serving mastery. A Murray victory would propel the Brit into a quarterfinal match with the winner of Julien Benneteau and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, both also Frenchmen. First, he has to defeat a dangerous Querry. The 22 year old San Francisco native has been tearing up the grass courts lately and is set to play spoiler to England’s favorite son.
England has their Andy, and the American’s have theirs. Andy Roddick is well-deserving of a Grand Slam championship. Roddick shouldn’t have a difficult time with his next opponent, unseeded Yen-Hsun Lu. Roddick’s quarterfinal contest will be a tougher draw. Should the American advance, he would face either Lleyton Hewitt or Novak Djokovic. Hewitt is my favorite active male tennis player, and I am rooting whole-heartedly for the Australian to win Wimbledon. He is the most relentless tennis player I’ve ever seen on the court. Serbia’s Djokovic is ranked third in the tournament and should cause fits for the serve-and-volleyer, Hewitt. The Australian is on an eight game grass winning streak, however. Despite being favored, Djokovic is known for flopping in Wimbledon matches in recent years. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the warrior Hewitt defeat the formidable Djokovic on this surface. A Hewitt-Roddick quarterfinal would be well-worth the watch. Hewitt dominated Wimbledon before the Federer era began.
Speaking of…Finally, there’s Federer. Regal Roger practically owns the All-England Club, but has looked less dominant this summer. Federer, a six time Wimby champ, came close to losing his first round match. Now he meets Jurgen Melzer, the 16th seed. The winner moves on to tackle the victor of the Thomas Berdych-Daniel Brands pairing. Melzer has never made it past the fourth round in England, so odds are in Fed’s favor.

Parting Points: Song for Monday- “You May Be Right” by Billy Joel

It’s South Carolina vs. UCLA in the college world series final.

Strange feud between Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton…maybe it will cause the Rays to play better.