Wimbledon Preview and qualy

[Laury]

My preview is: Federer will be the winner but Nalbandian will be there!! In the final or semis!
About the qualy, there are not players from Uruguay, let´s see the results of the most popular players.
I was about to post some results but let´s wait until first round ends.

[Laury]

The seededs:

1. Roger FEDERER (SUI)
2. Andy RODDICK (USA)
3. Guillermo CORIA (ARG)
4. David NALBANDIAN (ARG)
5. Tim HENMAN (GBR)
6. Juan Carlos FERRERO (ESP)
7. Lleyton HEWITT (AUS)
8. Rainer SCHUETTLER (GER)
9. Carlos MOYA (ESP)
10. Sebastien GROSJEAN (FRA)
11. Mark PHILIPPOUSSIS (AUS)
12. Sjeng SCHALKEN (NED)
13. Paradorn SRICHAPHAN (THA)
14. Mardy FISH (USA)
15. Nicolas MASSU (CHI)
16. Jiri NOVAK (CZE)
17. Jonas BJORKMAN (SWE)
18. Feliciano LOPEZ (ESP)
19. Marat SAFIN (RUS)
20. Tommy ROBREDO (ESP)
21. Juan Ignacio CHELA (ARG)
22. Andrei PAVEL (ROM)
23. Max MIRNYI (BLR)
24. Fernando GONZALEZ (CHI)
25. Dominik HRBATY (SVK)
26. Taylor DENT (USA)
27. Robby GINEPRI (USA)
28. Ivan LJUBICIC (CRO)
29. Nicolas KIEFER (GER)
30. Vincent SPADEA (USA)
31. Mikhail YOUZHNY (RUS)
32. Hicham ARAZI (MAR)

[tall_one]

Gentlemen's Singles Preview
Thursday, June 17, 2004

Roger Federer of Switzerland, the favourite to retain the Wimbledon title he won last year over Mark Philippoussis, will open The Championships on the Centre Court on Monday against British wild card Alex Bogdanovic.

Top seeded Federer should have an easy paced start against Bogdanovic who turned 20 last month and is ranked 307th in the world. Once Federer is through that test he will play a qualifier in the second round.

Later in the tournament Federer is due a fourth round match against Carlos Moya of Spain with former champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia his potential quarter-final opponent. Hewitt was beaten in the first round last year by the qualifier Ivo Karlovic,the first time a defending champion had lost at that stage since 1967. Seventh seed Hewitt opens this year against the Austrian Jurgen Melzer.

Federer should face third seed Guillermo Coria of Argentina in the semi-final but Coria, runner-up at the French Open title this month, has not won a match at Wimbledon in two attempts. Coria also has a potentially difficult opening match against the 6ft 5in South African Wes Moodie. Coria
also has the durable Australian Wayne Arthurs and the experienced South African Wayne Ferreira in his section of the draw.

Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero, who was beaten in the second round of his defence of the French Open title, is sixth seed at Wimbledon and in line to play Coria in the quarter-final. But the American Mardy Fish or Sebastien Grosjean of France could cause problems for Ferrero before then.

US Open champion Andy Rodthingy, at his highest place of second seed this year after reaching the semi finals from fifth seed last year, starts against a qualifier and is then due to play the Spanish teenager Rafel Nadal, who is recovering from a foot injury, or the American Jeff
Salzenstein.

The strong serving Taylor Dent of the USA is in Rodthingy's section of the draw while Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands, highly experienced on Wimbledon grass, could come into Rodthingy's sights as well.

Rodthingy's scheduled quarter-final opponent is Rainer Schuettler of Germany who was the second most improved player in the world last year, winning 71 matches. At the semi-final stage Rodthingy is due to face the Argentine David Nalbandian, finalist in 2002. Nalbandian played his first match on Centre Court in that final against Hewitt and was given special permission to warm up on the court beforehand.

Nalbandian is seeded to play the British No 1 Tim Henman, four times a semi-finalist, in the quarter-final. Fifth seeded Henman, a semi-finalist at the French Open in his best Grand Slam performance on clay, begins against Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain who will be making his
debut in The Championships.

Henman should then move on to play Flavio Saretta of Brazil with Hicham Arazi of Morocco coming up in the third round. At the last sixteen stage Henman should face last year's runner up, Mark Philippoussis who beat him in 2000.
Henman's fellow British Davis Cup player Greg Rusedski, a wild card, begins against a qualifier and should play Schuettler in the second round.

Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia, who is playing at Wimbledon for the first time since he beat Patrick Rafter in the 2001 final, begins against a qualifier to meet either the Italian Filippo Volandri or the Georgian Irakli Labadze.

[Laury]

Thank you Nicki!
But this is gentlemen Wimbledon ;D

[tall_one]

i switched them now

[tall_one]

Gentlemen's Singles Withdrawls
Rafael Nadal (his doctor advised him against playing in The Championships)
Nicolas Escude (withdrawn)
Andre Agassi (hip injury)
Gustavo Kuerten (hip injury)
Mariano Zabaleta (knee injury)
Paul Henri Mathieu (wrist injury)
Jarkko Nieminen (broken wrist)
Younes El Aynaoui (withdrawn)
Gaston Gaudio (foot injury)

[tall_one]

Blake joins long list of Wimbledon withdrawals

WIMBLEDON, England -- James Blake pulled out of Wimbledon on Friday, joining a growing list of withdrawals from the year's third Grand Slam tournament.

Blake, who hurt his neck and spine last month, was replaced in the draw by 132nd-ranked Potito Starace of Italy, a loser in qualifying. The 40th-ranked Blake was injured when he fell and slammed into a net post while chasing a drop shot during a practice session in Rome after losing at the Italian Open.

Starace upset 10th-seeded Sebastien Grosjean at the French Open, then held match points against 2000 U.S. Open champion Marat Safin in the third round before losing in five sets. Starace, whose performance in Paris lifted him 70 spots in the ATP Tour entry rankings, will face No. 20 Tommy Robredo in the first round at the All England Club, where play starts Monday.

Rafael Nadal (broken left foot) and Nicolas Escude (right shoulder tendinitis) also pulled out of Wimbledon and were replaced by players who lost in qualifying. Nadal, ranked 47th, could have met No. 2 Andy Roddick in the second round. That spot in the field instead went to 128th-ranked Alexander Peya of Austria.

At 17 last year, Nadal became the youngest player to reach Wimbledon's third round since Boris Becker did it at 16 in 1984.

Eight-time major champion Andre Agassi, three-time French Open winner Gustavo Kuerten, reigning French Open champ Gaston Gaudio and Younes El Aynaoui withdrew from Wimbledon earlier.

Top-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne and No. 2 Kim Clijsters are skipping the grass-court major for health reasons, too.

[tall_one]

Argentine withdraws with torn abdominal muscle
Associated Press

WIMBLEDON, England -- Former finalist David Nalbandian pulled out of Wimbledon on Saturday with a torn abdominal muscle.

The Argentine, who was seeded fourth at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament, was hurt during an exhibition match in Buckinghamshire.

Nalbandian was the runner-up to Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon in 2002.

Luis Horna of Peru now will be seeded 33rd and move into Nalbandian's spot in the draw, facing Mario Ancic of Croatia in the first round.

Nalbandian's place in the field was filled by Stefano Pescosolido, an Italian ranked 143rd who lost in qualifying. Pescosolido will play Horna's original first-round opponent, Dennis Van Scheppingen.

Nalbandian joins a growing list of withdrawals at Wimbledon, where play starts Monday. Other men unable to compete include 1992 champion Andre Agassi, Gustavo Kuerten, James Blake, Rafael Nadal and Gaston Gaudio.

[Catriel]

It´s a pity to see they will not play, specially about David Nalbandian, we expected too much from him in Wimbledon.
But anyway it´s great to see Luis Horna seeded, he is a very nice guy and I wish him the best luck!

About Gastón Gaudio, I am not sure if he is injured, I think he will not play because he is still celebrating!!!
He appears on TV many times celebrating, he is the most happy person in the world these days!