Ricky’s Tennis Previews & Picks For Day 4 at Wimbledon, Including Nadal vs. Kyrgios And Federer vs. Clarke

By Ricky Dimon

 

Rafael Nadal vs. Nick Kyrgios is the big story on Thursday at Wimbledon. Both Nadal and Roger Federer are among those in action, with Federer to face British wild card Lloyd Harris.

 

Ricky previews four of the marquee matchups and makes his predictions.

 

Nick Kyrgios vs. (3) Rafael Nadal 

Wimbledon is not wasting any time making major headlines. Upsets have been taking place left and right in both the men’s and women’s draws, and now Nadal and Kyrgios are set for a second-round tilt. This is the seventh career contest (3-3 head-to-head) between the less-than-friendly competitors, including their second at the All-England Club. Kyrgios stunned Nadal 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3 in the 2014 fourth round.

With a coveted matchup against Nadal on the line, Kyrgios still could not stay focused the entire way against fellow Australian Jordan Thompson. But he managed to survive a 7-6(4), 3-6, 7-6(10), 0-6, 6-1 roller-coaster. Nadal, playing for the first time since capturing his 12th French Open title, erased qualifier Yuichi Sugita 6-3, 6-1, 6-3. The third seed is not happy with Kyrgios right now either on or off the court, making him especially eager to avenge his brutal loss in Acapulco. This won’t live up to the hype.

Pick: Nadal in 3

 

(WC) Jay Clarke vs. (2) Roger Federer

Unlike Nadal, Federer did not turn in an especially convincing performance in his opener on Tuesday. The 37-year-old Swiss dropped the first set to little-known opponent Lloyd Harris before coasting the rest of the way to get the job done in four. Federer, who is seeking his ninth Wimbledon title, followed up a relatively encouraging clay-court swing by triumphing on his old grass-court stomping grounds of Halle two weeks ago.

The 20-time slam champion’s friendly draw continues on Thursday with Clarke, a 20-year-old Brit who obviously needed a wild card to get into the main draw. Ranked 169th, Clarke scored just his second career ATP-level victory by beating qualifier Noah Rubin 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 in round one. This will be nothing more than a great experience for the youngster.

Pick: Federer in 3

 

Sam Querrey vs. Andrey Rublev

It would be quite typical of Querrey to upset a top player and then flame out as a big favorite in his next match. But because this is grass, and especially Wimbledon, I don’t see that happening. The American is always dangerous at this tournament, with a semifinal showing and also a quarterfinal run–both in the previous three years.

Rublev, meanwhile, has been struggling with injuries and finds himself down at 79th in the world. The Russian has advanced past round two of a slam only twice in eight appearances throughout his career.

Pick: Querrey in 4

 

Steve Johnson vs. (25) Alex de Minaur

This should be one of the more competitive matches in the second round. Johnson has won two of his four career ATP titles on grass and he has now advanced out of the first round of three straight grass-court events. De Minaur ended a five-match losing streak at the French Open and has at least been decent during the grass-court swing.

A slight edge goes to the Aussie since he leads the head-to-head series 2-1 (2-0 on the main tour) and also played well in his Wimbledon debut last summer, advancing to round three before losing to Nadal.

Pick: De Minaur in 5

 

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.