FRIDAY, JUNE 19 – Defending champ Rafael Nadal has pulled out of Wimbledon with a knee injury, opening the door for Andy Murray and Andy Roddick to reach the final in the top half of the draw. Nadal has developed a serious case of tendinitis in both quadriceps tendons, and is said to be carrying a small amount of fluid on the kneecaps.
“I’m here and I’m just not 100%. I’m better than what I was a couple of weeks ago but I don’t feel right,” Nadal said . “To not play Wimbledon is one of the toughest decisions of my career. I tried everything. I didn’t feel terrible but also not close to my best. When I enter a tournament my goal is winning and my feeling right now is I’m not ready to win. It’s very painful for me but I can’t play at the tournament this year. It’s tough but it is what it is….I played with some problems on the on the knee for the last few months. I think I reached that limit now. One of the problems is I’m thinking more about the knees than what is happening on court and it’s very difficult to play like that.”
Nadal’s absence caused a significant reshuffle in the draw. No. 5 Juan Martin Del Potro, who now heads the first quarter that includes Roddick, will take Nadal’s place. Del Potro’s place in the third quarter will be taken by the 17th seed James Blake, who is looking at a potential fourth round clash with Marin Cilic and is in Novak Djokovic’s quarter. Blake’s place will be taken by Jose Arguso of Argentina and a lucky loser will fill Arguso’s spot.
Nadal’s withdrawal clearly opens up the top half for Queens champ Murray’s first run to the final, or Roddick’s third march to a final Sunday in Britain. Murray opens against Robert Kendrick, who took Nadal to five sets in 2006 and recently won a match at the French Open. Murray could face talented teen Ernest Gulbis in the second round, who has been in an awful slump; possibly the big serving Taylor Dent or No 30 Victor Troicki in the third round, and maybe the capable Swiss Stan Wawrinka or Marat Safin in the round of 16. It’s hard to tell who will come out of the bottom of his quarter, which is quite weak, but it might be Gilles Simon, Mikhail Youzhny or Fernando Gonzalez.
Roddick is surely pleased to have Del Potro, rather than Nadal, in his quarter, but the Argentine is quite capable of stunning him with serves, if he can get past Lleyton Hewitt in round two, his probable foe, and possibly Radek Stepanek in round four. Roddick opens against the talented Frenchman Jeremy Chardy and then could face the new teen sensation, Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, in round two. Benjamin Becker is a potential third round foe, and either Tomas Berdych or Nikolay Davydenko should be waiting in the fourth round. It’s a tricky draw, but a negotiable one if Roddick returns well and takes care of his opportunities at the net.
Five-time Wimbledon champion Federer must be somewhat pleased with his draw: he’ll play Yen–Hsun Lu of Taipei in the first round and then possibly the big serving Guillermo Garcia Lopez, whose movement is limited, in the second round. The third round could bring the grass challenged Philipp Kohlschreiber, but the fourth round could be challenging if either the supersonic Robin Soderling or the charging lefty, Feliciano Lopez, make it through.
The quarterfinals should bring the serve and volleying Jo Tsonga, who is due for another Slam breakout and is capable of cutting down the Swiss on a great day. Tsonga should be able to survive Fernando Verdasco or Ivo Karlovic if he focuses hard on his return games.
Federer’s semifinal foe is slated to be Novak Djokovic, but the weakest quarter of the draw may very well bring a surprise, given how up and down the Serbian has been. Mardy Fish could knock off Djokovic in round three, and there’s slew of other guys who could make hay, including Queens finalist James Blake, if he keeps his head on straight, Croatian fireballer Marin Cilic, if he finds his heart, and German veteran Tommy Haas, who is playing better than he has all year and just won Halle on grass.
From Tennisreporters.net
