Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will continue their Wimbledon campaigns during third-round action on Saturday. Spots on the second Monday are at stake, with Nadal facing Alex De Minaur and Djokovic going up against Kyle Edmund.
Alex De Minaur vs. (2) Rafael Nadal
Nadal had lost in the first two rounds in three of his last five Wimbledon appearances, but he did not come close to suffering that kind of fate in 2018. The top-ranked Spaniard is No. 1 in the race to London thanks to a 32-2 record and he is showing no signs of slowing down on a more uncomfortable surface following yet another dominant clay-court surge that featured his 11th French Open title. Nadal opened at the All-England Club with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 rout of Dudi Sela before beating Mikhail Kukushkin 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday.
Up next for the second seed on Saturday is a first-ever showdown against De Minaur. The 19-year-old Australian has stormed onto the ATP scene this season, already up to No. 80 in the world. Eleven of his 13 main-tour wins have come in 2018, with a semifinal showing in Brisbane, a runner-up performance in Sydney, two grass-court Challenger finals (one title, one runner-up), and four-set victories this week over Marco Cecchinato and Pierre-Hugues Herbert. De Minaur is clearly in fine form on the green stuff and his aggressive, early ball-striking will test Nadal, but he does not yet possess the all-around firepower to put a serious scare into the two-time Wimbledon champion.
Pick: Nadal in 3 losing 11-14 games
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(21) Kyle Edmund vs. (12) Novak Djokovic
Djokovic and Edmund will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers and for the second time in less than two months when they battle for a spot in the second week. After Djokovic won their first three encounters in straight sets (twice on hard courts in 2016 and again on hards at the 2017 Indian Wells Masters), Edmund recently prevailed 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 on the red clay of Madrid. But that was before Djokovic’s comeback had gained momentum, as the loss to Edmund dropped him to 6-6 for the season and 3-6 in the span of nine matches. The 21st-ranked Serb is 14-3 since with a semifinal run in Rome, a quarterfinal performance at the French Open, a runner-up finish at Queen’s Club, and routine Wimbledon wins over Tennys Sandgren and Horacio Zeballos. Djokovic has not surrendered more than three games in any set this week.
Edmund is an impressive 23-12 this year despite cooling off just a bit since a surprising semifinal result at the Australian Open. The 17th-ranked Brit had been a hopeless 1-5 lifetime at Wimbledon prior to this summer, but he is through to the third round for the first time thanks to straight-set victories over Alex Bolt and Bradley Klahn. This is where Edmund’s favorable draw ends, and he will likely get a grass-court lesson from an ever-improving Djokovic.
Pick: Djokovic in 3
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Yes, Kei will be the favorite against Gulbis, but Gulbis won’t be a push over on grass – if he isn’t too exhausted after playing the qualies and then three five-setters in a row. But Ernests has a good serve and grass is a good surface for him.
Gulbis is the essence of an all-court player. Clay is actually his best surface.
Always gave Nadal a run for his money on any surface. Wimby about ten years ago.
But he’s yet to get a win over Rafa; he had beaten the rest of the big four though.
Gulbis’ temperament is different too. I actually think he might beat Kei
very winnable match with Kei on his worst surface (despite Kei’s great performance today)
If Kei plays like he did vs Kyrgios, hard to see Gulbis beating him. Gulbis mishit so many of his shots, he could have beaten Zverev in four instead of in five sets imo. Zverev wasn’t performing at his best too imo, slipping and falling so often on grass.
Hard for me not to like Gulbis. Whereas Kyrgios is lazy and boorish, Gulbis is just lazy. It’s kind of understandable given his billionaire family. Plus, he’s funny and he’s been pretty open about enjoying the playboy lifestyle.
Still, you’d have to say he’s one of the bigger cases of waste of tennis talent in the last 10 years or so. Much more talented than, e.g. Tomic, imo. Maybe he’s start pulling things together as he approaches 30.
he’s the No. 1 in the waste department. Biggest since Safin, who at least won 2 slams to prevent from being in the waste category.
still time for Gulbis?
Late bloomer? Maybe.
Yeah no 1 in the Waste Department (Kyrgios a close second)_,there should be a recycle bin for all that talent
Even though it hasn’t been the biggest thing holding him back, Gulbis’s forehand is kind of a technical atrocity. I can’t think of a weirder looking FH possessed by a top 100 player.
I don’t think Gulbis is more talented than Kyrgios. Nick is several years younger, however, so I don’t think we can say he has wasted his talent to the same degree. On the other side, Gulbis seems to enjoy his life more.