good morning and apologies for the late hoddle - Fitzie forgot to schedule this one after writing it:
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It’s a big day in sports. The Euro, Concacaf and Conmebol tournaments continue. We’re into stage 3 at the Tour de France, and today marks the first day of Wimbleon.
Let’s focus on the latter today. Specifically, let’s give a mini-breakdown of the draws.
Women’s singles
Favourites: Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff
It’s an open tournament this year. Swiatek and Gauff don’t have a lot of success here, nor on grass. Even though I really like Gauff, I’m not too sure she’ll be able to handle getting through to the QFs, SFs and F all in one go. It’s a big ask.
Rybakina is a huge serve who’s had an inconsistnent year, but I do think she has a favourable draw. She probably won’t run into any trouble until the QFs, when she likely faces either Ons Jabeur or Jessica Pegula.
But my money is on Sabalenka. I know she’s carrying a shoulder injury, but I’m betting her withdrawal from Germany a couple weeks ago has given it enough time to heal. No one serves or hits harder than her on tour. She’s the best hard court player in the world. After this tournament, I expect her to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish.
Dark Horses: Danielle Collins, Ons Jabeur, Emma Raducanu, Madison Keys, Jelena Ostapenko
Let’s discuss Raducanu first. The player who gets a tonne of press in the UK. She deserves to be a dark horse in the tournament, with two good wins against Sloane Stephens and Jessica Pegula before losing to eventual champ Daria Kasatkina in Eastbourne. It’s been a long road to recovery, but I like what she’s doing.
Collins and Keys can both crush the ball. That’ll do well here. And they’re both having a tremendous year. Perhaps Collins moreso than Keys.
Mens singles
Favourites: Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Alex Zverev
This might be the most open men’s Wimbledon tournament in decades. I have no idea who’ll win. It’s hard to pick against Djokovic, but he’s had a rough year and it seems his age is finally catching up with him. Plus, he just had surgery!
And it’s rare for someone to do the French Open-Wimbledon double. Can Alcaraz do it? I’m not sure. That leaves Sinner and Zverev. I don’t know what to make of it.
Dark Horses: Grigor Dimitrov, Tommy Paul, Jack Draper, Karen Khachanov, Alexander Bublik
I’m going with form here. Paul and Draper both won grass titles recently, and Dimitrov (a former semifinalist here) is having a bit of a renaissance year.
But here’s the problem: They’re projected to play either Alcaraz, Zverev or Sinner pretty early on. In a best of 3, that’s kinda doable. Not so in a best of five.
Otherwise, look at the winner of Matteo Berrettini-Marton Fucsovics to trouble Sinner in the second round. That is an upset I could see happening, even though I’ll go with Sinner as my champion.
Fitzie’s predictions:
Women’s final: Sabalenka def Swiatek
Men’s final: Sinner def Hurkacz
Fitzie’s track of the day: Talk Talk, by Charli XCX
And now for your links:
England’s ‘get out of jail free’ card vs Slovakia
Mexico out of Copa America