Novak Djokovic and Marin Cilic will continue their Wimbledon campaigns as the entire fourth round is played on Monday. They are set for respective encounters with Kevin Anderson and Denis Kudla.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (14) Kevin Anderson
Djokovic and Anderson will be squaring off for the sixth time in their careers and for the first time in more than three years when they meet again in round four of Wimbledon on Monday. Anderson won their first-ever encounter 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-4 at the 2008 Miami Masters but Djokovic has since won four in a row without dropping a set. The Serb prevailed three times in 2011–including 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 at Wimbledon–and at the 2012 Indian Wells Masters.
After succumbing to Stan Wawrinka in the French Open final, Djokovic did not play any off the grass-court warmups. But it is safe to say some rest did not do him any harm. The world No. 1 steamrolled through his first week at the All-England Club with straight-set scalps of Philipp Kohlschreiber, Jarkko Nieminen, and Bernard Tomic. Anderson punched his ticket to the last 16 by defeating Lucas Pouille, Marsel Ilhan, and Leonardo Mayer. This is the 14th-ranked South African’s second career trip to the Wimbledon fourth round and second in succession. Anderson’s one-two punch with his serve and forehand will make at least two sets relatively competitive, but Djokovic knows what to expect from the big guy and the favorite’s form is far too great for anyone outside the top five right now. In fact, since last summer’s Cincinnati Masters he has only one loss to a non-top five adversary (Ivo Karlovic, Doha).
Pick: Djokovic in 3 losing 11-14 games
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(9) Marin Cilic vs. (WC) Denis Kudla
Few could have imagined that Kudla would be in the second week of Wimbledon when this fortnight began–or that he would be the last American standing. That being said, his fine form at the All-England Club has not come out of nowhere. The world No. 105 had been just 2-6 at the ATP level in 2015 prior to this tournament, but he entered two grass-court Challenger events last month and reached the final of one before winning the other. His run so far at the All-England Club has been a dream for Kudla, who owns five-set victories over Pablo Cuevas and Santiago Giraldo and a four-setter at the expense of Alexander Zverev.
Next up for the 22-year-old is a first-ever meeting with Cilic. The reigning U.S. Open champion has not quite been the same since that triumph last summer, in part due to injury, but he is finally heating up again. Cilic reached the fourth round of the French Open and the semifinals in Stuttgart before succumbing to Viktor Troicki in a third-set tiebreaker. The ninth-ranked Croat has been far from dominant at this event, but he persevered through five-setters with Ricardas Berankis and John Isner after easing past Hiroki Moriya in his opener. Kudla wields some dangerous firepower, especially off the backhand side, but in the end this is mismatch between a slam champion and someone who had never previously been to a third round.
Pick: Cilic in 4
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I agree with the picks. It should be Novak and Cilic winning in routine fashion.
Djoker, Cilic. Though one could always hope Djoker would lose.
Novak should cruise and Kudla has nothing to lose so that could be interesting but I say Cilic in four tight sets with probably at least one or two breakers in there
You all already had all the fun in this thread but I would love it if somebody explained to me why the defending US Open champion takes 5 years to win a Wimbledon match.
Each.
What?
Wow Berrrrdychchch down two sets to Simon.
Damn.
Not that fedfan was gonna struggle before the semis anyhooo.
#DoYou???
I cannot believe that Berdy lost in straight sets to Simon. I saw that Simon was playing well against Monfils, but Berdy should have had the advantage on the grass.
Is anyone watching Novak/Anderson? In the first set tb, Novak very uncharacteristically double faulted at 6-6 to give Anderson set point and he served an ace. So now Novak has to come from behind.
Djoker is having trouble returning Anderson’s serve.
I’ve just seen Boris scratching his head frantically, could have been coaching Djoker.
nadline10 ( at 6:03 pm),
BB was criticised after the French Open that he “didn’t do well” during the final. Obviously, now he is trying to do better. 😆
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJQB_owUYAAk2Eg.png
Boris, you’re fired!
After defeating Djokovic in the U.S. Open final last year, Nadal implied his box had told him where to serve on match point, telling El Pais, “They told me to serve wide and that’s where I served.”
LOL
With Nole down a set, just a reminder on My tournament pick.
https://tenngrand.com/2015/06/27/wimbledon-full-tournament-picks-2/comment-page-1/#comment-202111
#Nostrahawkus
#DoYou???
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJP3tF8WIAABhNi.jpg
… and counting.
better not win the Sunday trinket or else those sneakers are ruined
#humb1e
fedfan will be farting laughing gas for 10 minutes if Nole loses this.
novak in 5 (4?)
wa will win wim?
and just to be clear chloro, it’s not a gang, it’s a club.
you mean a club that excludes wawa?
club of one?
All the fedfans cheering against Nole.
Championship point Federer.
The plan has worked flawlessly.
The most popular player in the universe will get 18.
#TheTruthIsOutThere
Nole blew a 4-0 lead in the TB.
This is something else! Anderson is playing lights out, fearless tennis. He just wouldn’t go away. I don’t remember him hitting his groundstrokes that hard. He’s outhitting Novak! That was some stellar, gutsy tennis from Anderson to get the second set.
I was going to go out, but now I have to stay and watch this. So Novak will have to win it in five.
Unbelievable!
Anderson up 2 sets to love.
How often do you see Novak lose a tb when he was up 4-0? Anderson just wouldn’t quit. Novak was struggling with his serve in those last points of the tb. He was feeling the pressure.
The question now is, can Anderson keep it up and get this done?
exactly! he was feeling the heat! Anderson is on fire! what a great performance it has been for him. Change of direction on his shots is hurting djokovic a lot and of course Anderson’s biggest weapon, his serve, is working so well.
Rafa’s out so I was rooting for Muzz and Wawa and because I don’t want rafa’s rivals (fed and nole) to win slams and pull away from rafa…but K.Anderson beating novak would be a nice surprise.
We know novak is a very very tough guy so let’s see if Anderson can win this .
I want anyone but Djokovic or Federer. At this point even Gasquet sounds good.
lol…true…i don’t have anything against these two but as I said, they are rafa’s rivals so and it would be not be cool if fed gets slam no.18 or if novak gets slam no.9 …. come on Kevin! haha
Ah yes, but what if it’s one or the other.
#WillTheRealFedFansPleaseStandUpPleaseStandUpPleaseStandUp
doing a little happy dance…(just a little one). Ok, South Africa. Don’t disappoint.
Federer would be the worst to win Wimbly.
Ajde Nole!!!
#NE1ButRF
there’s the champion’s response! 3-0 in the third set. Anderson must stay focused..