Roger Federer and Andy Murray Top Winners and Losers at Halle and Queen's Club
Roger Federer and Andy Murray hauled in big titles at Halle and the Queen's Club in London. Now the real ultimate grass-courts test will begin with the Wimbledon draw later this week.
Meanwhile, other stars are battling injuries, but there have been a couple of success stories from journeymen. Which ones will keep their momentum for Wimbledon? Who is ready to rebound?
There's a different kind of story in the WTA with Serena Williams crushing her nearest competitors. She is the top of a crumbling muffin that is trying to round up some challengers and much-needed comebacks from other top-10 also-rans.
Find out who is hot and who is not in this weekend's commentary of "Winners and Losers."
Loser: Stan Wawrinka
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At the Queen’s Club championship in London, French Open champion Stan Wawrinka got off to a great start by clubbing dangerous, young Nick Kyrgios. But Wawrinka was ousted in his second match by veteran “serveborg” Kevin Anderson.
If this were Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic, the result might mean something. Wawrinka? Probably nothing.
We’ve learned enough about Wildcard Wawrinka and his risk-reward approach. He’s been a spectacular success the past two years playing this way, winning three huge titles (2014 Australian Open, 2014 Monte Carlo, 2015 French Open), but he’s going to have plenty of early-rounds exits as well.
There are two things about this that make Wawrinka even more dangerous. First, he fretted a bit in the second half of 2014, but now knows he can resurface for title opportunities despite his ups and downs. Mentally, this will only help him shrug off defeats, hit reset and get going again.
Second, some of these early exits might help him physically. While Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Roger Federer continue to play four or more matches just about every tournament, Wawrinka is kind of building in more rest, or at least he can be fresher with a more intermittent cycle of peaks and valleys.
No doubt Wawrinka would like to win every match, but clearly the mileage on his body seems to have more left than someone like Rafael Nadal or Lleyton Hewitt, who have played many grinding matches over the years, usually advancing deep in many tournaments.
So Wawrinka lost. Maybe he is really a winner after all. Plenty of rest for Wimbledon.
Winner: Andy Murray
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Andy Murray has made a habit of winning titles on rain-interrupted weekends. Last month, the Scottish star won his first clay-court title at Munich after enduring rain delays and a Monday final.
This past week, he had his semifinal match washed out, forcing him to make it up on Sunday. Hours later, he polished off the Queens Club championship. Call him “Weatherman Murray.” He has often come out a winner when tournaments are interrupted by bad weather, heat or heavy wind.
While other players are bothered by these conditions, Murray has proven to be adaptable. He knows how to feel out a match with his defense and pick his openings and advantages. He can stay level while opponents self-destruct.
Murray doesn’t get enough credit for this, but in the past decade his flexibility might be second to Roger Federer’s in terms of surfaces, weather and success. For instance, while Novak Djokovic was stymied by wind at the 2012 U.S. Open final and by heat and fatigue at the 2013 Wimbledon final, Murray took the titles.
But until Murray wins on blue clay, he has a ways to go to catch up to Federer’s versatility.
Loser: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
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It’s never good for an athlete to deal with injuries, but for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is cycling through to his 2013 pattern. Then, the big Frenchman was a French Open semifinalist. At Wimbledon, he got injured in the second round and never really recovered the rest of the year. It took a long time for him to get back, capped by his Rogers Cup victory in August, 2014.
Now he is coming off a strong semifinals effort at the French Open, but an abdominal injury might cause him to miss Wimbledon, according to SI.com. He’s already missed time at three tune-ups leading up to the draw at Wimbledon later this week.
Tsonga at full strength would have a chance to do some damage at Wimbledon. His serving and athleticism give him a chance to finish points quickly on grass. If he has not exactly succeeded in winning majors, he is certainly capable of winning big matches and perhaps one day getting that major.
It’s just not likely to happen this year at Wimbledon unless his abdominal strain is suddenly healed. It’s a slow injury to heal from, so he might have to look to peak for the U.S. Open series beginning in August.
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Winner: Andreas Seppi
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There are lucky losers in tennis, but Andrea Seppi gets this week’s award as the ultimate lucky winner. The unseeded Italian journeyman, who is far from being a grass-court player, saw his draw part like the Red Sea, and he rode it all the way to the final at Halle.
First, Seppi got through Tommy Haas, who is just returning after a long hiatus from tennis. Seppi’s current tennis conditioning was much better than his talented, but aging opponent.
Next, he got through Tommy Robredo on a grass surface. Robredo is only 31-25 on grass for his career. He’s not exactly Rocket Rod Laver.
Then Seppi benefitted from two retirements, Gael Monfils and Kei Nishikori. Both players are less comfortable on grass, but battling injuries. Seppi only had to play to a 6-1, 1-0 lead before Monfils retired. Against Nishikori, Seppi’s load was even easier, a 4-1 first-set lead before Nishikori went to the net to shake hands.
Suddenly he was facing Roger Federer in the final. There the magical-carpet ride ended with his 7-6(1), 6-4 loss.
Loser: WTA Supporting Stars
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While all the talk on the women’s tour has deservedly fallen on Serena Williams and her continued dominance, the WTA’s other stars have made life a lot easier for her. The quality at the top has clearly waned from 2014 to 2015.
A year ago, Australian Open champion Li Na was looking to make a run at No. 1. By September she had retired with knee injuries.
A year ago, Maria Sharapova was nearly unbeatable on clay. Now she is hardly playing like a top contender, and Wimbledon does not seem like the place to turn things around.
A year ago, Simona Halep was a French Open finalist and climbing into the top three. Now she is a shell of herself, winning easily on some days, but losing to No. 43 Kristina Mladenovic last week. She is not playing close to the kind of tennis needed to compete at, let alone win at Wimbledon.
A year ago, Eugenie Bouchard was all smiles and a lot more wins. This year she has a 7-12 singles record and has dropped to No. 12 in the world. She will lose a lot more points if she doesn’t get back to the Wimbledon final.
A year ago, Victoria Azarenka was not a factor. She still is trying to fight her way back.
Is it really down to Serena or Petra Kvitova for the Wimbledon title? Time for the other women stars to step it up.
Winner: Viktor Troicki
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Nobody should ignore Viktor Troicki when the Wimbledon draw comes out. The veteran Serbian is playing some steady tennis on grass the past couple of weeks.
At Stuttgart, he plowed through a tough lineup, defeating youngsters Borna Coric and Alexander Zverev. In the semifinals he defeated Marin Cilic, an excellent grass-court player. He fell in the final to Rafael Nadal.
This past week at the Queen’s Club tournament, Troicki scored a pair of wins over Cilic and big-serving John Isner. Andy Murray finally put him away in the semifinals.
His momentum has come through a lot of hard work since he returned to tennis in July 2014 following a controversial doping ban. He's had to work his way back into the top 30, and now he's playing his best tennis since 2011.
Nobody’s suggesting that Troicki will play deep into Wimbledon’s second week, but his momentum is riding high right now.
Loser: Kei Nishikori
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The week at Halle started out well for Japanese star and No. 2-seed Kei Nishikori. He defeated Dominic Thiem, Dustin Brown and Jerzy Janowicz, all players with some explosiveness.
Then he ran into the more methodical Andreas Seppi in the semifinals. Nishikori retired after trailing 4-1, limping off with a calf injury that had obviously been bothering him as indicated by the tape wrapped around it before the match.
Nishikori said for Yahoo.com that he aggravated the calf in his quarterfinal victory against Janowicz, and that he was being overly cautious against Seppi. He said, “I don’t want to take a big risk for Wimbledon, so I just retired from the match.”
Nishikori observers have long been concerned for his stamina and durability. The past year he has usually performed well, highlighted by a pair of epic, lengthy wins over Milos Raonic, Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic at the 2014 U.S. Open.
The last thing he needs now is to be banged up for Wimbledon and the U.S. Open series. He relies heavily on his legs and cannot have them compromised. It’s probably good that he pulled out at Halle, but nonetheless a concern moving forward for Wimbledon.
Winner: Roger Federer
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It was practically a foregone conclusion that Roger Federer would win his eighth title at Halle, so long as he could get through his first match against German Philipp Kohlschreiber, a fine player on grass who plays well in his home country.
Check.
Federer's final victory over Andreas Seppi was merely the cherry on top of another mark of excellence on fast courts. How about six titles at Cincinnati and Switzerland, seven at Dubai and Wimbledon, and eight at Halle. Whatever comparisons are made to fellow superstars Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, Federer has been the king of 21st-century fast courts.
Attention will now turn to Wimbledon, and many will proclaim that this is his last big chance to win major no. 18. While that’s to be decided, and it seems silly to dismiss the No. 2-ranked player in the world after Wimbledon ends, there will be a lot of hard work to prepare for each of his opponents. He will need to serve well, put pressure on baseline sluggers and return well against big servers.
Avoiding Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray would also be ideal, but of course there are plenty of other players who can present a host of problems, like Marin Cilic, Tomas Berdych and Milos Raonic. There’s enough depth at the top and pretty good middle-men to clutter up the draw.
Federer is ready right now, and that’s all that can be expected at this point. The drive for No. 18 continues.
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