Wimbledon 2016: Friday Schedule and Predictions for London Bracket
Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic, the defending tournament champions and the top seeds in their respective draws, are set to headline Friday's action at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships.
It's another star-studded slate at the All England Club as organizers try to get everything back on track after two straight days with weather delays created a scheduling logjam. Unfortunately, the AccuWeather forecast notes there's a chance for more rain and potentially even thunderstorms Friday.
With that in mind, let's check out all of the matches on tap for Day 5. That's followed by a trio of picks for the day's most intriguing matches.
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Friday's Singles Schedule
| - | Centre Court | - |
| G2 | (4) Stan Wawrinka vs. Juan Martin Del Potro | 8 a.m. |
| L2 | (1) Serena Williams vs. Christina McHale | Next |
| G3 | (3) Roger Federer vs. Daniel Evans | Next |
| - | No. 1 Court | - |
| L3 | (8) Venus Williams vs. (29) Daria Kasatkina | 8 a.m. |
| G3 | (1) Novak Djokovic vs. (28) Sam Querrey | Next |
| G3 | (6) Milos Raonic vs. (27) Jack Sock | Next |
| - | No. 2 Court | - |
| G2 | (15) Nick Kyrgios vs. Dustin Brown | 6 a.m. |
| L2 | (10) Petra Kvitova vs. Ekaterina Makarova | Next |
| G3 | (5) Kei Nishikori vs. Andrey Kuznetsov | Next |
| L3 | (5) Simona Halep vs. (26) Kiki Bertens | Next |
| - | No. 3 Court | - |
| G2 | (10) Tomas Berdych vs. Benjamin Becker | 6 a.m. |
| L2 | (13) Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Tara Moore | Next |
| G3 | (11) David Goffin vs. Denis Istomin | Next |
| L3 | (28) Lucie Safarova vs. Jana Cepelova | Next |
| - | Court 7 | - |
| L2 | Annika Beck vs. Aliaksandra Sasnovich | 6 a.m. |
| - | Court 8 | - |
| G2 | (24) Alexander Zverev vs. Mikhail Youzhny | 6 a.m. |
| L2 | (21) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Yulia Putintseva | Next |
| L3 | Misaki Doi vs. Anna-Lena Friedsam | Next |
| - | Court 12 | - |
| G2 | (12) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Juan Monaco | 6 a.m. |
| L2 | (11) Timea Bacsinszky vs. Monica Niculescu | Next |
| G3 | (9) Marin Cilic vs. Lukas Lacko | Next |
| L3 | (4) Angelique Kerber vs. Carina Witthoeft | Next |
| - | Court 16 | - |
| G2 | (22) Feliciano Lopez vs. Fabio Fognini | 6 a.m. |
| L2 | (24) Barbora Strycova vs. Evgeniya Rodina | Next |
| L3 | Sabine Lisicki vs. Yaroslava Shvedova | Next |
| - | Court 17 | - |
| G2 | (32) Lucas Pouille vs. Donald Young | 6 a.m. |
| L3 | (12) Carla Suarez Navarro vs, Marina Erakovic | Next |
| G3 | Pierre-Hugues Herbert vs. Nicolas Mahut | Next |
| - | Court 18 | - |
| G2 | (18) John Isner vs. Matthew Barton | 6 a.m. |
| L2 | (18) Sloane Stephens vs. Mandy Minella | Next |
| G3 | Steve Johnson vs. Grigor Dimitrov | Next |
| L3 | (9) Madison Keys vs. Alize Cornet | Next |
Predictions for Top Matches
Stan Wawrinka vs. Juan Martin del Potro
It's hard to believe this year's U.S. Open will mark seven years since Del Potro claimed his only Grand Slam title. At that time, the Argentine looked like one of the sport's future superstars with a powerful game capable of challenging anybody on tour.
Alas, a series of wrist injuries have derailed his promising career to the point where it wasn't clear whether he'd ever make it back. He admitted after his first-round win over Stephane Robert that he was "close" to quitting last year, but he's finally sensing progress, per Dan Imhoff of Wimbledon.com.
"This is my comeback after three years," Del Potro said. "I'm expecting to be better in the future, but for this year my biggest challenge could be to finish healthy and ready to make a good preparation for the next year."
Facing off with the No. 4 seed will be a terrific litmus test to see how much progress he's made. He hasn't looked all the way back to full strength quite yet, but his numbers in the first round were encouraging as he tallied 30 winners with just 18 unforced errors.
Wawrinka doesn't have a great track record at Wimbledon. It's the only major where he hasn't advanced beyond the quarterfinals. So there's some upset potential if the Swiss star has an off day, but catching Del Potro while he's still trying to work back to top form should lead to a chalk result.
Pick: Wawrinka in four sets
Venus Williams vs. Daria Kasatkina
It's always interesting when one of the sport's legends takes on one of its best young players. That's certainly the case here as Venus Williams, a five-time Wimbledon champion, takes on Kasatkina, a 19-year-old Russian who's already risen inside the top 35.
That said, the toughest foe Venus Williams may face Friday is fatigue. It took her three sets to beat Maria Sakkari on Thursday and then she went out to play doubles with sister Serena, too.
Rene Denfeld of the Tennis Island highlighted the quick turnaround:
The key for Kasatkina will be setting the tone with aggressive play early in the match. She has a tendency to get a bit wild off both wings, but taking some chances and making her veteran counterpart do a lot of running is the way to gain an advantage.
Venus Williams' crucial factor is efficiency. She had 31 unforced errors and eight double faults while converting 46 percent of break points to squeak by Sakkari. A more well-rounded performance will be necessary to reach the fourth round.
Pick: Venus Williams in three sets
Milos Raonic vs. Jack Sock
The potential is there for this to become a terrific rivalry as Raonic, a 25-year-old Canadian, and Sock, a 23-year-old American, both feature plenty of power. It's been mostly one-sided during the early stages of their careers, however, with Raonic holding a 7-1 edge.
The sixth seed played an outstanding match to knock out Andreas Seppi in the second round. He had 41 winners, 25 aces and won 73 percent of the points when coming to net—a key for him in this event. He hopes to continue that wide-ranging success Friday, as noted by ATPWorldTour.com.
"I have to serve well," Raonic said. "We've played a lot of times. I've been able to find the solutions most of the time. I got to take care of the serve. I need to find my way forward, find a way to be the aggressor."
He's a legitimate sleeper selection to win the entire tournament if his play at the net becomes more confident before possibly facing the game's top players next week. While it's an area he's worked hard on, he hasn't looked completely comfortable quite yet.
Meanwhile, Sock clearly needs to try something new Friday based on his prior lack of success in their head-to-head meetings. Knowing Raonic is still a work in progress at the net, perhaps using more variety to entice him forward rather than tying to slug it out is his best avenue. It likely won't be enough, though.
Pick: Raonic in four sets
All match statistics courtesy of the tournament's official site.
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