The Official Site of Brad Gilbert

What a disappointing day of tennis on Saturday. Only one of the eight men’s matches was competitive with two retirements and one walkover on the day. The only competitive match was Tsonga beating Haas 7-5 in the fourth. That was very entertaining tennis as Tsonga battled back from 2-5 down in the fourth set. A very interesting note that Jo-Willy has never played a five-setter. The Frenchman is now placed in a great place in the draw and I think we’re headed for a Djokovic-Jo Willy quarterfinal. Jo Willy has won four of the six previous meetings. Youzhny never took the court but red cards to Stefan Koubek, a qualifier, who pulled out at 6-1 against Verdasco because of a fever. It better be a real high fever.

The much-anticipated match last night between Bags and Rusty, aka Hewitt, fizzled in the second set as Bags pulled out with a sore shoulder and pulled the rip cord at 6-love, 4-2. I am sure Rusty wasn’t too upset because now he’s set for a showdown with Fed for this Monday night clash. I always feel like in a major it’s awfully tough not to finish. I played over 800 matches in my career and never retired once. It’s the seventh time in Bags’ career he’s already retired.

Another absolute routine day for the Williams sisters and both look in excellent form and this might be the best Venus has looked down here in years. And she is in a great part of the draw with a real chance to get to the semifinals. The last time she’s only been to the final four was in 2003 when she made it to the final for the only time. She also was a semifinalist in 2001. Serena has been in dominant serving form and she’s the only player, male or female, not to lose serve. She will be tested in the next round against Aussie Sam Stosur, who beat her at Stanford last summer. It will be a blockbuster Monday night with Fed-Hewitt and Serena-Stosur.

Their good schedule continues with a nice doubles match today on their off day.

There are 10 of the top 11 seeds left in the 4th RD and the top players are coming out strong in the first Slam of the year! Last year 12 of the Top 16 seeds reached the Round of 16.

All of the Big Men, the Big Men half, hits the courts today, with Big John Isner facing Andy Murray, who is 16-2 lifetime against opponents taller than 6′6″. He has a great ability to get returns in play which causes problems for the big men. It’s been a great run for John but I think it’s just too much Murray today. I am very surprised that delpo-Cilic is not on the big house and it’s the second year in a row they are meeting here in the 4th round on the same court. They have played twice before in majors and this will be their third meeting in a year in a major. In both matches, here and at the US Open last year, Cilic was a up a set and a break and he took his foot off the gas pedal and delpo won in four sets.

Defending champ Rafael Nadal takes on the Super Giant Dr. Ivo (Karlovic) for the third time. Rafa has won the previous two meetings, including a three set tie-break battle at Queen’s in 2008. Ivo leads the tournament in aces with 93 and he’s still that one guy that nobody wants to face. I hope that Rafa gets by him so we could see the Rafa-Murray clash.

Andy Roddick takes on Fernando Gonzalez in another brutal Round of 16 match and Roddick is not showing any affects from missing the last couple months with a knee injury. I think he’s going to have too much game for Gonzo tonight and he’s going to take out the Chilean in straight sets.

My predictions for the first week have been a little shaky and I’m overdue!

My popcorn match of the day is the all-Belgian match between Henin and Wickmayer. All of the talk has been about Clijsters-Henin but the forgotten Belgian is Wickmayer. She comes in as a qualifier and ranked No. 16 in the world and she comes in with nothing to lose since all the pressure is on Henin. I believe Wickmayer is on her way to becoming a Top 10 player very soon. As long as the leg is OK, Henin should be able to prevail.

G’day Mate!