subject: Rafa and Federer ready to rumble in WIMBLEDON 2010 [print this page] Rafa and Federer ready to rumble in WIMBLEDON 2010
Fedex Dominance in Wimbldeon: Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have combined for 23 of the last 28 Grand Slams in men's tennis and that has left little room for anyone else. These are the only Grand Slam tournaments that have been won by somebody besides Federer or Nadal since Federer took down his first title at Wimbledon 2003 The dominance by Nadal and Federer in Grand Slams has shut some pretty good players out, if not entirely then to a large extent. Nikolay Davydenko, who is a terrible grass courter but tough on other surfaces, has been a top player on tour for years but he's never made a Grand Slam final and a big part of that is that he is close to the same age as Federer.
Home Favourite: Andy Murray is 23 years old and he's been tipped for the top for a few years now and yet he was not able to surpass Federer in 2 Slam finals (US Open 2008, Australian Open 2010). Lleyton Hewitt has not won a Slam since 2002 and losing 15 matches in a row to Federer, a streak that just ended, definitely has something to do with that. Andy Roddick was America's best post-Sampras and post-Agassi hope but going 2-19 heads up against the Swiss Maestro has made Roddick an underachiever in Grand Slams as well. Neither of his meagre 2 wins over Federer were The countdown to the biggest Grand Slam event of the year begins and it is 2 days more to catch up the excitement from the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club Wimbledon 2010 Championship event. The grass court event announces increase in the prize money as compared to last year.
What At Stake:This year the Championship money will be 1,000,000 which is a whopping increase of 15% (150,000). However a total 13,725,000 will be distributed as total prize money at the event which is an increase by over 1.175 m as compared to previous year. While Nadal silenced his critics, who were saying that he was washed up due to injuries, by taking down 4 consecutive clay court titles, including the 2010 French Open, there is one serious reason to doubt Nadal heading into Wimbledon: he has not won a non-clay court title since Indian Wells 2009 and it is not for lack of trying.
Rejuvinated Rafa: Nadal won Wimbledon the last time he contested the event in 2008 but that year he also won London Queen's Club and this year he lost in that event to Feliciano Lopez. Was it just a fluff-loss or is Nadal overrated on non-clay court surfaces? One thing's for certain: +250 (5/2) is nothing to get excited about. Federer's odds are nothing to get excited about either at +150.
Predictions and Preview: He has been losing matches to all kinds of different players on tour in the last year and not just the younger improving players as Lleyton Hewitt finally broke his winless streak with a net-court match point at Halle on Sunday June 13th. But with his results fading Wimbledon 2010 Live may be Hewitt's, Roddick's, or Murray's opportunity to finally either assert or re-assert themselves as Grand Slam worthy as Federer and Nadal are BOTH overrated, a condition that hasn't been present too often for a long time. Here are the top 8 favorites in terms of betting odds heading into Wimbledon 2010 as the release date for the draw approaches (the implied probabilities associated with the odds are in brackets
