Roger Federer will make the traditional Monday afternoon start as the defending champion when he goes up against Dusan Lajovic at Wimbledon. Potential third-round opponents for Federer are veterans Ivo Karlovic and Mikhail Youzhny.
(1) Roger Federer vs. Dusan Lajovic
It will be a rematch of a second-round encounter last year at Wimbledon when Federer and Lajovic go head-to-head again at the All-England Club on Monday afternoon. Twelve months ago, Federer won their only previous meeting 7-6(0), 6-3, 6-2 and went on to capture his eighth Wimbledon title. The Swiss’ strategy to skip the clay-court swing worked out perfectly in 2017 and he did exactly the same this time around. His grass-court warmups also transpired in similar fashion the past two seasons, with one loss and one title (in 2018: a title in Stuttgart and a setback against Borna Coric in the Halle final).
Lajovic is a mediocre 13-14 this year after heating up on clay, with a quarterfinal run in Madrid, a semifinal showing in Lyon, and a five-set loss to eventual quarterfinalist Alexander Zverev at Roland Garros. The 57th-ranked Serb played one grass-court warmup event, beating Filip Horansky this past week in Antalya before succumbing to Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-4, 2-6, 7-5. Lajovic is not the easiest of first-round opponents and Federer was hardly at his best in Halle, but the 36-year-old is 91-11 lifetime at Wimbledon and will surely raise his level for his favorite tournament.
Pick: Federer in 3 losing 11-14 games
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Ivo Karlovic vs. Mikhail Youzhny
Karlovic and Youzhny will be squaring off for the sixth time in their careers on Monday. Youzhny is leading the head-to-head series 4-1, but they have split their two previous grass-court contests; Karlovic prevailed 6-3, 6-4 four years ago in Halle before the Russian scored a 6-3, 7-6(6) victory last summer. Fast forward 12 months and Karlovic may finally be slowing down at 39 years old. The 6’11” Croat has slumped to No. 112 in the rankings, is 9-12 at the ATP level in 2018, and has not won a match of any kind since Barcelona in late April.
Youzhny is also well past his prime at 36 years old, with a 5-12 record at the ATP level this season and a ranking of exactly No. 100 in the world as of Sunday. He played all three weeks of the grass-court swing heading into Wimbledon, with three successful qualifying attempts in Stuttgart, Halle, and Antalya followed by first-round exits on every occasion–most recently at the hands of Robin Haase in three sets. In this battle between former Wimbledon quarterfinalists, the discrepancy in serving prowess may be the difference in what should be an extremely competitive showdown.
Pick: Karlovic in 4
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I’m very busy organising travel/accomodation back to London and work so will keep things breif this week.
Lajovic in 4. All the sings are there for the upset.
Youzny in 4 or 5. Youzny lives Wimbledon and sees Karlovic as similar class prey.
Stop it JC. You’re trying too hard to get Rafans on this site to like you 😂
No worries, Benny. If JC says Fed will lose that all but guarantees he’ll win. 🙂
Lajovic in 4? No! He is not going to drop a set. (Just joking, Federer will win in 3)
Youzhny in 5 (He owns the H2h record 4-1)
Youzny and Karlovic are arch rivals, been on tour a long time and know each others games back to front. Youzny is the better all round player when he brings his game and has a chip return. It’s no wonder he has a strong H2H record over Karlovic.
arch rivals is a bit of a stretch!!!!!
It’s hard to apply the term “arch rival” to Ivo Karlovic. Like, I can totally imagine Youzhny kicking the dirt, and saying, “I HATE playing Karlovic” (and really, who wouldn’t?) and then Karlovic saying, “Aww. Come on, Misha. Here. Have some strawberry ice cream.”
Seriously.
Youzhny in five Fed in three
Fed doesn’t stand a chance in this one even if they lose the roof. How did he manage to get such a tough first round draw? So unfair.
Lajovic was in control for most of the match last year and should use that to convert in this rematch. Despite Roger having one more year of experience on the grass, Lajovic just too strong and grass just too much for the old man who hasn’t won Wimby since 2017.
And the old guy has only won it once in the last 5 years! He’s got no chance!
The last time Fed lost in the first round of a slam was 2003, before he won his first slam. Hard to see it happening here. I think he’ll be pretty fresh, too. Fed in 3 sets, two easy, one tight.
Roger will win in straight. His only problem will be Cilic in the semis. http://www.138mph.com/wimbledon-tennis-marin-cilics-draw-analysis/
What about Coric who he just beat him in Halle and could play Fed in the 4th round?
As for Coric, he became Fed devotees’ hero after defeating Rafa in Basel in 2014.
But after Coric beat Fed in Halle, they don’t hail the former any more.
Thank you guys and girls. If I’m looking for entertainment, just come in here and read the comments. Very amusing.
Augusta’s obsession with carefully selected Fedfans is particularly valued.
Eugene JULY 2, 2018 AT 9:20 AM,
Hmm. Your co-Fedfans have always made heroes out of the players who have defeated Rafa.
Quite right augusta08. Delpo was the guardian angel of Fedfans once until he started beating Federer regularly.
Augusta, they are not my co-Fedfans. That term is too diluted and vague. Same goes for Rafans or any other… Only thing we have in common is that tag you overuse.
I guess when FED loses an important match you personally are not sad about it, or you might even enjoy it. There’s nothing wrong with it. I wouldn’t expect something else from a Fed’s opponent fan. That’s natural. Human nature. Obviously, being glad that Fed/Rafa was eliminated to ease the draw for your favourite player is one thing, and hating the other player is a totally different thing.
Eugene JULY 2, 2018 AT 12:33 PM,
If people I mentioned at AT 7:44 AM aren’t your co-fans, you shouldn’t have paid attention to my post.
Well put Eugene.
I, for one, am the sole member of the Rafael Nadal’s Armchair Doctors Brigade.
We are lucky to have you, Benny and Kevin on TG showing that relatively objective fedfans do exist on tennis forums as there are a select few objective Rafans here such as Mira Andi, nny, sanju, Amy, ed, Ramara, vmk1 and lucky among others that escape me at the moment.
Great to have a few very balanced and objective fans who you don’t even know who their favourites are like rc and hopefully to stay Cheryl Murray but I suspect Cheryl’s favourite is Andy Murray?
Well, I didn’t get to watch the Fed-Lajovic match, but the score line turned out to be more one-sided than I thought. I thought Fed would win in straights, but not necessarily dropping only 8 games.
You lucky that your beloved played on grass. Otherwise thia would have been more competitive.
I think people think that because I like Roger Federer, that must mean that I fawn over him the way that people do on Tennis X, or like people do with Rafa on this site. I just happen to like his game. But I also like Rafa and Novak’s respective games. I admittedly find Andy Murray’s game to be unbearably boring to watch, although I really like him as a person. That’s the one thing about the Big 4- If you forget about how they are on the court, all four of them seem to be genuinely nice guys off the court.
Uh, I think playing on grass is part of the Wimbledon package, not a question of luck. If it was on clay RF would refuse to play there anyway.
Never have I seen such commotion over a brand endorsement switch. My twitter feed was clogged with this fluff. Apparently, Roger must have been very mistreated and taken advantage of by Nike…
Relax, it will be done as The Annointed One commands:
Roger Federer: The RF logo is with Nike at the moment, but will come soon to me at some point. I hope sooner rather than later… It will come with me at some point, they are my initials. The good thing is it’s not theirs forever.
“I was excited to wear Uniqlo today, I must tell you. It’s been a long time coming.”
“Come to Me!!!!”
Federer recently said that if you scratch beneath the surface, that he and Rafa are very similar.
I find that it’s quite the opposite.
Sorry, he OWNS the initials RF? What about Robert Foster, Ruth Farrell, etc? Do they know he OWNS their initials?
I’m no lawyer but I suspect he’s gotta buy the logo from Nike. I’m sure they can come to an arrangement. Not like Nike’s gonna have any future use for it.
He kinda looks like Nole now.
Maybe he should switch his initials to NCG.
(C for Clay)
Will Nike now go all out to promote Rafa and market him? He is their prime tennis face.
Nike sure has lot more money power and pull than Uniqlo.
Fed saying it was long coming was strange
It’s a tiny blip on Nike’s radar screen. Tennis is a minor sport for them.
Nike’s usually done well by Rafa with clothing and shoes, plaid shorts to the contrary notwithstanding. Also I was never a big fan of the piratas.
Maybe Fed wanted throwback to the days of the garden party and/or imperial outfits? A sweater ready with the number of slams he’s won on the back? Or maybe he’s just tired of polos. Today’s outfit was collarless.
Ramara JULY 2, 2018 AT 4:47 PM,
I assume that Fed wanted to get more money from Nike, but the latter refused to pay.
(I remember that in 2013 he demanded more money from his hometown /Basel/ tournament. The tournament officials refused to pay & Fed didn’t sign the contract. After the tournament signed the agreement with Rafa, Fed decided to play without having any contract.)
Everyone is after money be it Roger or Rafa. Noone is out for charity, tomorrow if Rafa gets a sponsor to pay him more, he will also dump his current sponsor.
Well, he’d think about it, but he’s awfully fond of his Nike handler, Tuts.
Its the same Rafa who was paid heavy appearance money and he turned up for Laver Cup. Lets not worship the players and be honest with ourselves.
Which would explain why Rafa’s playing DC and probably skipping Laver Cup this year. Everyone knows how much money the players get paid for DC.
I also do not believe that Roger started the Laver Cup to milk more money out of tennis before he folded his tent and went away quietly.
If Fed can play like he did today, especially on serve, he should take this tournament again. Apart from the serve, he moved and volleyed very well. FH was good, but something looks a bit off with his BH, as it did in Halle. It’s obviously a shot that relies very heavily on timing.
Love to see the plush green lawns at the start of the tournament.
You are spot on there Joe esp with the shanking! Coric is gone so Roger should be glad
Thanks, Monalisa. Yes, I hope he gets his timing right.
Even though Coric would have been a tough opponent, it’s a shame to see him lose so early. But Medvedev is not an easy 1st round match.
Mannarino was always expected to be Federer’s R4, not Coric