The injury list for the US Open is growing by the day, so it is going to be a very interesting tournament. The only top male player not on the list is Roger Federer.
- Novak Djokovic – Shoulder and general fatigue. Has had some issues with patella tendinitis this season
- Rafael Nadal – Large burn blisters on fingers and left foot
- Andy Murray – Sore arm
- Mardy Fish – Heel
- Tomas Berdych – Shoulder
- Robin Soderling – Wrist – he has announced he will travel to NYC
- Jo Wilfried Tsonga – Arm. Ultrasound showed no muscle tear after he withdrew in Montreal.
- Andy Roddick – Recently pulled out of Montreal with an oblique but played in Cincinnati.
- Milos Raonic – Recovering from hip surgery
- David Ferrer – Recovering from hairline fracture in left hand
- Tommy Robredo – Withdrawn – Ongoing groin issues
- Sam Querrey – Withdrawn – Recovering from elbow surgery (spurs)
- Juan Carlos Ferrero – Recovering from multiple injuries
Womens injuries so far:
- Serena Williams – Aggravation of toe injury
- Andrea Petkovic – Torn meniscus
- Kim Clijsters – Withdrawn – Abdominal muscle tear
- Venus Williams – Recovering from virus
Mens Singles:
A lot happened today in the mens singles. First of all in the key matches with the top players both Nadal, Soderling and Murray advanced quite easily. However, there were a few upsets! Marcos Baghdatis (27) was defeated by Leonardo Mayer in straight sets, Florian Mayer was defeated by Alejandro Falla in four sets, Nikolay Davydenko (28) was defeated by Antonio Veic in a tuogh five set match, and Sam Querrey (24) was defeated by Ivan Ljubicic in straight sets.
The dark horse seems to be Lukasz Kubot who progressed again with a straight sets win over Carlos Berlocq. Kubot has come through some tough matches in qualifying and has already taken out Nicolas Almagro (11) and Carlos Berlocq in the main draw, with both of these players being clay court specialists.
Womens Singles:
Match of the day for me was Maria Sharapova (7) against young French lady Caroline Garcia. Garia was playing some amazing tennis and was making Sharapova look like your average hacker. Garcia was up 6-3 4-1, but then she seemed to remember that she was playing on center court at the French Open against Maria Sharapova. After that she didnt win another game and Sharapova won 3-6 6-4 6-0.
Apart from that all seeds that played today pushed into the next round, apart from Alexandra Dulgheru (27) who lost to Sorana Cirstea 6-2 7-5.
Mens Doubles:
Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimoniic (4) played some great tennis today and defeated Igor Kunitsyn and Ivan Ljubicic. Watch out for these guys in the tournament!
Womens Doubles:
Casey Dellacqua and Rennae Stubbs are an unseeded team to watch in the womens doubles. They just defeated Kimiko Date-Krumm and Shuai Zhang 6-1 7-6.
There has been some great matches on the first day of the Australian Open 2011. For me there were two match results that stuck out from the crowd. Florian Mayer def. Nikolay Davydenko (23) – 6-3 4-6 7-6 6-4 and Lukasz Kubot def. Sam Querrey (18) 5-7 6-2 3-6 6-1 8-6.
Davydenko was completely out of sorts today and never really bough his A game to Melbourne Park. However, Kubot played an amazaing match and pushed out a fighting Sam Querrey. I had the pleasure of playing juniors with Kubot and he probably the only guy that is taller and has a bigger serve than Sam Querrey on tour!
The match of the tournament so far has just completed at Wimbledon 2009. Marin Cilic defeats Sam Querrey in 5 sets and 6-4 in the fifth set. Final score was 4-6 7-6 6-3 6-7 6-4.
Querrey started the match in great form getting a set up and 5-2 up in the second, but really let Cilic back into the match. In the last three sets it was easily some of the best tennis I have seen at Wimbledon 2009 so far.
The final set was very tight with both players barely losing a point on serve. However, when push came to shove it came down to Cilic leading 5-4 with Querrey serving. The first few points were tight and then Cilic was up 15-30 and Querrey then seemed to choke and decelerated his serve to double fault for only the 3rd time in the match, which gave Cilic a great opportunity to close out the match and that he did.
Cilic now goes on to play Tommy Haas in the third round, in which Haas is my outside pick for the tournament.
Im sitting in my living room at the moment watching Marin Cilic and Sam Querrey play in the second round of Wimledon 2009, and thinking that it was only a couple of years ago when I saw both these top players playing in the junior event.
I find it funny how the average person who watches tennis really only knows and likes the top players. I wish there would a lot more tennis on tv especially here in the UK and home back in Australia, but I wish they provided more of an acknowledgement to the lower level players and even juniors at these major events and any other event for that matter.
I honestly am really not sure what The Tennis Times will eventually turn in to, but im very keen to provide as much coverage as possible about the players you have never heard of.
