Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios will kick off their Wimbledon campaigns on Tuesday as they begin their collision course for a potential quarterfinal showdown. Djokovic is running into Tennys Sandgren, while Kyrgios opens with Denis Istomin.
Tennys Sandgren vs. (12) Novak Djokovic
Djokovic’s 2018 comeback from various physical problems has been riddled with speed-bumps, but the ride has been smoother of late as he heads into Wimbledon. Following disastrous performances in Indian Wells and Miami, the 12-time Grand Slam champion reached the Rome semifinals, the French Open quarters, and finished runner-up to Marin Cilic at Queen’s Club–where he got a look at one championship point. With both Cilic and Roger Federer on the other side of the Wimbledon draw, Djokovic seems like one of the favorites to book a spot in the title match or even win the whole thing.
Before the world No. 21 can look that far ahead, he has a first career meeting with Sandgren set for Tuesday. Sandgren made a stunning run to the Australian Open quarterfinals earlier this season and his clay-court swing included a runner-up performance in Houston and a quarterfinal finish in Geneva. But clay and slow hard courts suit the 57th-ranked American’s game extremely well. Grass is a different story. Sandgren has played a grand total of two matches on the greenery, losing to Bjorn Fratangelo at the 2017 Ilkey Challenger and to Frank Dancevic a few weeks later in Newport. A reinvigorated Djokovic should have no trouble giving the underdog a free lesson in grass-court tennis.
Pick: Djokovic in 3 losing 12 games or fewer
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(15) Nick Kyrgios vs. Denis Istomin
Kyrgios and Istomin will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers on Tuesday. Both of their previous encounters have gone Kyrgios’ way; 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 in a grass-court Davis Cup contest four years ago and 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 one season later at Roland Garros. There is no reason to think anything will change unless Kyrgios is less than 100 percent, but he displayed some encouraging signs in his grass-court singles comeback. The 18th-ranked Australian advanced to the Stuttgart semifinals and fell to Federer in a final-set tiebreaker before succumbing to Cilic 7-6(3), 7-6(4) during semifinal action at Queen’s Club, where he beat Andy Murray, Kyle Edmund, and Feliciano Lopez.
Istomin is still going relatively strong at 31 years old with a decent ranking of 92nd in the world. The Uzbek has always been a solid grass-courter, so it is no surprise that he played all three weeks in the buildup to Wimbledon. Istomin reached the Stuttgart quarters, lost in the final round of Halle qualifying, and defeated Andreas Seppi in Eastbourne before suffering a bad grass-court loss to Marco Cecchinato. This is not the easiest of opening-round draws for Kyrgios, but the 15th seed will likely serve Istomin off the court before things get too competitive.
Pick: Kyrgios in 3 with at least one tiebreaker
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who ya got?
Istomin’s played a lot of matches on grass coming into the major this yearand looks like he might be finding some form again. Don’t be surprised if he pulls off the upset if Kyrgios turns up with mental issues.
Kyrgios in 4
Djokovic in 3 losing <= 12
NK and ND in three
Joker in a hard fought 3; and Istomin in 4.
Nole in 3
Kyrgios. 4
I haven’t watched a lot of tennis, is Novak in form?
I know he would win but has he recovered?
Wawrinka is better at grand slam level and should be ready to start producing something after a long break from injury and being mentally destroyed by Nadal in the 2017 RG final. Dimitrov is vulnerable right now so an opportunity presents itself for Wawrinka to get a solid top 10 win under his belt. 3 sets against Querrey on grass is not bad form either if you ask me given Querrey’s result last year.
Wawrinka in 5
My write up yesterday that the site wouldnt let me post.
Wow, Wawrinka was paying 4.30 too.
Don’t know where to post this but Delpo is playing well on grass! Good transition from clay! His FHs look formidable and he has improved his ROS! As long as his matches are not physically demanding this game will certainly take him far!