Big 4 Still Standing as Wimbledon Heads Into Second Week

As we head into the second week of Wimbledon 2017 the big four and eight out of the top 10 seeds are still left standing. There is also only three unseeded players left in the draw including Paire, Anderson, and Mannarino.

So things are shaping up nicely but Murray and Djokovic have by far the easier draws left of the big four. Djokovic, in particular, is having it quite good with his first round opponent retiring and not having faced a seed four the first four rounds. Even the 15th seed Monfils lost to Mannarino. It just goes to show you that draws don’t necessarily mean anything.

That said, Djokovic has been playing well and it probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference who he faced. Today he defeated one of the surprises of the Championships Gulbis 6-4, 6-1, 7-6(2). It was a slow start but once Djokovic found Gulbis’ forehand it was one unforced error after the other and Gulbis never recovered.

That Djokovic shot of the day I mentioned earlier (courtesy of @doublefault28) pic.twitter.com/uiLOokfJnf

— Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil) July 8, 2017

Federer was next on center court who defeated Zverev 7-6(3), 6-4, 6-4. I have not been particularly impressed with Federer so far. He was nervous in the first set against Lajovic and today again in the first set he dropped serve after going up an early break. I mean losing serve to Zverev who is not exactly known for his return game is unusual for Federer.

Federer may be feeling the pressure of winning that record 8th Wimbledon title but we will see how it goes against Dimitrov. Dimitrov’s opponent Sela retired today after dropping the first two sets 6-1, 6-1. Dimitrov has a poor 0-5 record against Federer but having seen Federer I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a close match.

Raonic plays Zverev and hasn’t been very impressive this grass court season. I can see Zverev winning that which would be another tough opponent for Federer even though he made short work of him in Halle.

Grigor Dimitrov awaits in the fourth round for Roger Federer…#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/FtiNNTCDiy

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 8, 2017

Djokovic has a much friendlier draw because Mannarino has nothing to really hurt him with while Thiem or Berdych shouldn’t be a problem if he keeps up his good form. There is no guarantee that he will but so far this grass court season things have gone well for him and after exactly a year’s slump things seem to be finally falling into place for him again.

In the top half, you’d think Murray will come through Paire and the winner of Anderson and Querrey as well. Nadal has it tough with Muller and Cilic but unlike Federer, he has been very convincing. Muller is playing well but I don’t think he can defeat Nadal. If someone can it is Cilic but I think Nadal will likely make the final.

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