Wimbledon ATP Week One Review: Kisses and Knockouts

By Erik Gudris

Photo Credit: Getty Images

(July 1st, 2012) As Wimbledon takes a break on the middle Sunday, let's take a look back at an unpredictable and exciting first week on the men's side and a look forward to Monday's action.

Nadal's Loss

Rafael Nadal's shocking exit to Lukas Rosol will continued to be talked about long after the men's champion is crowned next Sunday. But can we really read too much into Nadal's loss other than he just ran into a man who grabbed hold of the fabled seam known as "the zone" and wouldn't let go until the final point? Even Roger Federer admitted he was laughing from sheer amazement during the last ten minutes of the match at watching Rosol basically redline winners from every part of the court and it's unlikely anyone, including the mighty Federer himself, would have been able to stop Rosol on that day.

If there's a silver lining for Nadal and his fans, it means he'll be able to get a longer break to recuperate after claiming his seventh French Open title and be even fresher for the Summer Games coming up in a few weeks. But while Nadal will be back again at Wimbledon, there's one troubling stat that might be worth noting. Since winning Tokyo back in 2010, Nadal has been unable to win any other titles except on the dirt. Does that mean Nadal is destined to being literally just the "king of clay", or can he once again regain mastery over every surface as he did two years ago? It may well take until next year to know for sure whether Rosol's victory was just a blip or a major roadblock on Nadal's overall legacy.

The Last Kiss Goodbye

Much speculation was read into Andy Roddick's surprising gesture when he blew a kiss to the Centre Court crowd after losing in four sets to David Ferrer yesterday. Though Roddick remained non-committal when asked afterwards if this was indeed his final Wimbledon, Roddick wasn't the only veteran who may have made a final exit from the tournament in the first week.

From Lleyton Hewitt and David Nalbandian, who both lost in the first round on the tenth anniversary of their Wimbledon final, former semifinalist Tommy Haas and James Blake who continues to compete on tour despite not being a factor at major events for some time now, the first week for all of these veterans was not kind. With the lingering shadow of perhaps dealing with another injury and the growing realization that their chances at winning a Major are now over, it may not be that big of a surprise to see one of them calling it a day at the end of the year. If this week was Roddick's or any other of the others mentioned final kiss goodbye to Wimbledon, all we can say is thank you for the memories -- it's been a heck of a ride.

Standouts, Flameouts and Timeouts

Lukas Rosol wasn't the only one to put in a stand up and take notice performance during the first week. From Ernests Gulbis who sent Tomas Berdych packing in three exemplary tiebreak sets on the first day to Sam Querrey, who proved with his losing yet valiant five and a half hour battle against Marin Cilic that he now enjoys a grinding fight on the world's biggest stages.

But for some of the ATP's rising stars, Wimbledon proved yet again that there's still work to be done for them to be considered Major contenders. From Bernard Tomic, who crashed out in the first round and admitted afterward he had not been training hard enough to Ryan Harrison, who despite a dogged fight against Novak Djokovic, proved he still has a way to go to being even a top 20 player. Milos Raonic is on the cusp of the top 20 himself, but another early round loss at a Major proved that despite all his lessons learned while playing against the very best, it may be wise for everyone to take a time out on all the hype being thrown around about the Canadian "missile" for the moment.

Day 7 Preview

Monday sees the resumption of play with men's fourth round action getting underway. Veteran Xavier Malisse will celebrate the tenth anniversary of his reaching the Wimbledon semis as he takes on No. 3 seed Roger Federer as the first match on Centre Court while No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic is expected to dominate over his fellow Serbian Davis Cup teammate Viktor Troicki.

After dealing with the drama of winning on Centre Court last night, No. 4 seed Andy Murray will be on Court 1 taking on Marin Cilic to be followed by David Ferrer facing Juan Martin Del Potro with both men hoping to reach their first ever Wimbledon quarterfinal.

No. 5 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga faces No. 10 seed Mardy Fish in a rematch of their contentious fourth round meeting at last year's U.S. Open while Brian Baker is bidding to be the third American qualifier to reach the quarterfinals since John McEnroe did it in 1997 and Paul Annacone in 1984. Baker faces No. 27 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber.