Ah! I love Wimbledon! I’m so glad NBC is carrying today’s men’s quarterfinal and women’s semifinal matches. I am already giddy to wake up tomorrow morning and watch the women’s final–even more so now that the finalists are set. It’s one of the things I absolutely love about sports–there are no guarantees.
Sports pundits for weeks have been slobbering all over Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin. Specifically Henin, since winning Wimbledon would give her a Grand Slam for this season. But it won’t happen, because tomorrow’s women’s final at Wimbledon will be played by #23 seed Venus Williams and #18 seed Marion Bartoli. I love it when the top seeds don’t get through; it’s a testament to all that on any given day, the right blend of circumstances can create optimal opportunities for major upsets. Others might feel cheated that tomorrow’s final will not have a top seed, but wow to those women for not paying attention to their seed number, and just flat out-playing their draw all the way to the final.
Wish I could say the same for the men’s side.
As I write this, Andy Roddick (my fave) is getting pushed around by a scrawny French kid named Richard Gasquet, and even though it’s gone to a 5th set, I bet these next points swing to Gasquet. But there is much silver lining to Roddick losing: Gasquet will have to play Roger Federer, and I was not looking forward to watching my Andy get demolished by Federer yet again (I mean, really, at this point it’s cruel and unusual punishment to watch Roddick try to return one of Federer’s serves. It’s borderline embarrassing). Also, it would be great fun if Gasquet takes the momentum from beating Roddick and tromps all over Federer, putting a #12 seed in the men’s final. If Roddick does win, the men’s semi will be seeds #1, #2, #3, and #4. How boring is that?
My Wimbledon predictions: Venus Williams takes the women’s side. Men’s final will be Federer and Nadal. And that final would be pretty impossible to predict–the right blend of circumstances could create optimal opportunities for either one to win.
