RICKY DIMON’S PREVIEW AND PICKS FOR THE DAY 2 MEN’S SCHEDULE AT WIMBLEDON 2015

Written by: Staff on 29th June 2015

RICKY DIMON'S PREVIEW AND PICKS FOR THE DAY 2 MEN'S SCHEDULE AT WIMBLEDON 2015

Spectators arrive for the first round matches during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 29 June 2015. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

Ricky’s preview and picks for the Day 2 men’s schedule at Wimbledon

By Ricky Dimon

The bottom half–the tougher one–of the Wimbledon men’s singles draw will be in action on Tuesday. That means Roger Federer, Andy Murray, and Rafael Nadal are all on the schedule.

A look at some of the marquee matchups on Day 2:

(LL) Luca Vanni vs. (WC) James Ward: Ward was unlikely to make the most of his Wimbledon wild card. Then Sunday came along, and David Ferrer withdrew from the tournament because of an elbow injury. Now the Brit gets to face a lucky loser instead of one the best players in the world. You’re welcome, James!

Vasek Pospisil vs. (Q) Vincent Millot: Pospisil is known mainly for two things: being on one of the best doubles teams in the world along with Jack Sock (they are the defending Wimbledon champions) and consistently getting terrible draws in singles. At long last he has one of the best draws at this event with Ferrer now out. The Canadian should get off to a routine start against Millot.

Tim Smyczek vs. (30) Fabio Fognini: It’s the guy that everybody loves vs. the guy that everybody loves to hate. Well, that might be a slight exaggeration because only diehard tennis fans even know who Smyczek is. And not everyone hates Fognini (right, Flavia Pennetta?). This should provide plenty of entertainment; after all, does any Fognini match not produce fireworks?

(Q) Dustin Brown vs. Yen-Hsun Lu: On grass–and only grass–this is one of the best matchups of the entire first round. Throw in the fact that the winner will likely get Rafael Nadal in round two and the Brown-Lu showdown becomes even more intriguing. Sure these two guys are not world-beaters, but at Wimbledon this is a match worthy of something like the third round as opposed to first.

Thomaz Bellucci vs. (10) Rafael Nadal: Nadal has lost prior to the Wimbledon quarterfinals on three consecutive occasions. If the streak of futility reaches four, it will not come at the hands of Bellucci. After all, the Brazilian is even more of a clay-court specialist than Nadal; way more, in fact.

(13) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Gilles Muller: Even with Tsonga at 100 percent, Muller would present problems for the Frenchman on grass. Heck, Muller presents problems for any opponent on this surface. And Tsonga is reportedly less than 100 percent due to an abdominal injury, so the upset alert can be sounded.

Denis Istomin vs. Albert Ramos-Vinolas: Istomin got plenty of help en route to his first ATP title last week in Nottingham, but who cares? A title is a title, no matter how it comes. Marcos Baghdatis got hurt in the semis and Sam Querrey imploded in the final. Istomin will now benefit from the fact that Ramos-Vinolas despises grass. Keep it going, Denis!

Sergiy Stakhovsky vs. Borna Coric: Let the contrast in styles reign. Stakhovsky is a veteran who loves grass and is something of a Wimbledon phenomenon thanks to his 2013 upset of Roger Federer. Coric is an up-and-coming teenager who is a grass-court novice and Wimbledon rookie (at least in terms of the main draw). Based entirely on the surface, Stako has to be the pick.

Mikhail Kukushkin vs. (3) Andy Murray: Murray’s draw is unkind. The reason for that, though, is not Kukushkin. Murray’s quest for a second title at the All-England Club should get off to a relatively routine start.

(6) Tomas Berdych vs. Jeremy Chardy: Berdych is one of those guys, kind of like Grigor Dimitrov, who either goes a long way in a slam or loses in the first round. There is not really any in between. Chardy has the talent to inflict another painful result on Berdych, but will the Frenchman actually do it? Probably not.

Ernests Gulbis vs. Lukas Rosol: Huge serves, winners at dizzying speeds, and mind-numbing errors should be the order of the day. And there will probably be most of the latter–at least in the case of Gulbis. The Latvian has been a disaster from start to finish in 2015 and grass is probably his worst surface, so things may get worse before they get better.

(31) Jack Sock vs. Sam Groth: Groth has an awesome serve but nothing else. Sock has a very good serve and just about everything else. Their discrepancy in all-court games would likely result in a blowout on any other surface, but Groth should be able to make it competitive on grass. Expect multiple tiebreakers.

Damir Dzumhur vs. (2) Roger Federer: A year after losing to Novak Djokovic in a five-set final, Federer is still looking for his eighth Wimbledon title. The 33-year-old Swiss disposed of Dzumhur 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 at the French Open one month ago. Things should be even more straightforward on grass.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Nick Kyrgios of Australia in action against Diego Schwartzman of Argentina during their first round match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 29 June 2015. EPA/ANDY RAIN

Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns to Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany during their first round match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 29 June 2015. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

Topics: Andy Murray, Atp World Tour, Borna Coric, Dustin Brown, Ernests Gulbis, Fabio Fognini, Federer, Gilles Muller, grass tennis court, jack sock, James Ward, Jeremy Chardy, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Luca Vanni, Rafa Nadal, Ricky Dimon, Sam Groth, Sw19, Tennis, Tennis News, Thomaz Bellucci, Tim Smyczek, Tomas Berdych, Vasek Pospisil, Vincent Millot, Wimbledon 2015, Yen Hsun Lu

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10sBalls_com says:

June 29, 2015 at 7:51 am

-@Dimonator’s PREVIEW AND PICKS FOR THE DAY 2 MEN’S SCHEDULE AT #Wimbledon2015- http://t.co/DglX3HYm4z #Wimbledon #SW19 #tennis @Wimbledon
Dimonator says:

June 29, 2015 at 8:24 am

RT @10sBalls_com: -@Dimonator’s PREVIEW AND PICKS FOR THE DAY 2 MEN’S SCHEDULE AT #Wimbledon2015- http://t.co/DglX3HYm4z #Wimbledon #SW19 #…