Wimbledon preparation 2019: For Djokovic, Nadal and Thiem, less is more
While Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and also Dominic Thiem will most likely travel to Wimbledon without a grass tournament match, at least Roger Federer is in Halle.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Jun 17, 2019, 07:55 am
The change from ash to lawn is no longer what it may have never been before. The two leaders in the ATP world rankings, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, trust their experience in 2019 (and, in the case of the Spaniard, also the excellent practice opportunities on the sidelines of the WTA tournament in Mallorca). Djokovic, who will come to Wimbledon as the defending champion, is completely dispensing with a preparatory tournament this year. In the recent past, the Serb has enjoyed visiting the Queen's Club in London.
From the series of semi-finalists at the recently completed French Open, only Roger Federer will probably have at least one competitive game on the grass in their legs before starting on Church Road. Dominic Thiem, like the Swiss, should have competed in Halle this week, but the Austrian has to recover from the stress of the final run in Roland Garros. Thiem has already mentioned something for the lawn tournament in Antalya, which will be held in the coming week - apart from a certainly solid entry fee and a sympathetic Players' Night, he did not take much with him.
Andre Agassi broke the spell
Gone are the days when some players had worked their way through the Wimbledon challenge mentally: Ivan Lendl, who has been at Alexander Zverev's side since Stuttgart, signed the Australian legend Tony Roche, just for the one big title that he ultimately never won could finally bring it home. Lendl switched his brute baseline game to the finer serve-and-volley version, at that time the only way to really succeed on lawns. Only Andre Agassi broke the spell of the serve artists with his triumph against Goran Ivanisevic in the 1992 final.
Good service still helps, of course, see the semifinals between John Isner and Kevin Anderson almost a year ago. A repetition of the same is unlikely: the American has been curing a fatigue break since the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Miami, Anderson is celebrating his comeback after an injury break at the Queen's Club this week.
Nobody wants to play Nick Kyrgios early
What does that mean for Wimbledon? Djokovic, Nadal and Federer will naturally be favorites, the ATP Tour 250 tournaments in Stuttgart and ´s-Hertogenbosch have brought no new insights. Even if Matteo Berrettini never had to give up his serve in five matches at TC Weissenhof. The Italian had to concede exactly two breakballs to the respective setbacks, Jan-Lennard Struff could not use both in the semifinals.
By the way, Berrettini said goodbye to one of those candidates who has been happy to be involved in the Wimbledon title for years in round one: Nick Kyrgios. It's hard to imagine that the often entertaining, but always moody Australian runs a run like Anderson 2018. Although certainly none of the top players would like to meet the Canberra man early. Especially since Kyrgios, in contrast to Djokovic and Nadal, will have two lawn tournaments in their legs: Stuttgart and the Queen's Club this week.