THE MEN
The great Roger Federer will go against the up-and-down Alexandr Dolgopolov on Tuesday. Dolgopolov has an incredible variety, but he is rarely patient and he does not serve hard and move it around in the box. Still, maybe one time, Dolgopolov can play fantastic and on Centre Court he could be very happy and really go for it.
Federer knows everything he has to do, and in the first round, he will quiet the monster.
Kei Nishikori won over Marco Cecchinato and the Japanese says he can win it all at Wimbledon. On grass? Wow, he thinks that for two weeks, he will not get hurt — again? That would be very unusual. Let’s see.
There are times that Stan Wawrinka can play out of his mind, and there are others days he checks out. He was on fire at RG, but on Monday on grass, he lost against the young Russian Daniil Medvedev.
Good for Medvedev, but as Wawrinka has said, he cannot play well every week. Clearly, that happened on the first day.
Here is a stunner: Aljaz Bedene beat Ivo Karlovic 6-7(5) 7-6(6) 6-7(7) 7-6(7) 8-6. Karlovic can serve harder than anyone, but when they start rolling, he is too slow.
Rafa Nadal smoked John Millman, and without a doubt, he is one of the favorites. He has won Wimby before and, as long as he stays healthy, he can knock out anyone.
How about Marin Cilic who destroyed Philipp Kohlschreiber? Maybe he can reach the semis at a Slams.
Good wins by Kevin Anderson, Donald Young, Sam Querrey, Steve Johnson, and Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who advanced when Nick Kyrgios retired. A surgery coming for Kyrgios? This year, he has not dealt with the doctors.
THE WOMEN
The Roland Garros champ Jelena Ostapenko won on Monday, and we would think that the big basher will continue to feel that she is better than anyone. That is possible. After all, she did shock the world in Paris.
Speaking of Petra Kvitova, she is also on fire, winning Eastbourne and on Monday, she won easily. However, she is a little bit hurt already and while she bangs the ball, if she goes very deep, she can panic. Over the past decade, she did.
Good wins by Vika Azarenka, Ana Konjuh, Johanna Konta, Dominika Cibulkova and the Americans: Madison Keys, Jennifer Brady and Madison Brengle.
How about Genie Bouchard, who in 2014, she reached the final and she was looking very, very good. But now, she cannot get going. She lost against Carla Suarez-Navarro in the third set without a wimper. At this point, you cannot say that she can get back into the top 5. She is so confused.
The same thing goes with Laura Robson, who lost against Beatriz Haddad. Is the Britain Robson really loves tennis? I am just not sure.