What Will Happen In Week Two of Wimbledon?
Wimbledon
July 7, 2019
The first week of Wimbledon was one of the best in living memory.
So what will happen in week two?
We don’t have a crystal ball any more than you do. But here is our best guess as to how everything will unfold in the men’s and women’s singles.
Ash Barty and Serena Williams will get through their round-of-16 matches to set up a mouthwatering quarter-final.
A contest that would actually grace any final.
We hate to say this, but we think two of the best-loved stars in the women’s tournament will fall early in week two.
We are taking Petra Kvitova to beat Britain’s Jo Konta and Simona Halep to defeat the young superstar, Coco Gauff.
With sincere apologies to Halep and Kvitova, we hope we’re wrong!
Simona and Petra are great players and great people. But the crowds love Coco and Jo so much that they just give the tournament an extra dimension.
Kvitova, we believe, will end up facing Elise Mertens. Halep will progress to play Zhang Shuai in our opinion.
And in the other quarterfinal, we expect to see Elina Svitolina take on Karolina Pliskova.
So how do we see the women’s semi-finals line-up?
In an epic quarter-final, we think Ash Barty will beat Serena in three.
So next she will take on Kvitova, who will have beaten Mertens.
We then take Barty to beat the two-times Wimbledon champion to reach the final.
As for Halep, she will win through to make the other semifinal and play Pliskova. But it will be Pliskova who prevails to face the Australian in the great showpiece.
So who will win Wimbledon, Barty or Pliskova? For us it will be Barty, to create an amazing Roland Garros and Wimbledon double.
What of the men? The tournament is truly fascinating and the identity of the winner perfectly in the balance.
The Big Three are all looking great and will play vital parts at the business end.
But let’s go step by step.
We think Novak Djokovic and David Goffin will win through on Monday to face each other in the quarters.
The same with Milos Raonic and Roberto Bautista Agut.
Sam Querrey will win again to provide the quarter-final opposition for Rafael Nadal.
And Roger Federer will thrive and survive to face the Japanese hero of tennis, Kei Nishikori.
Djokovic will then beat the in-form Goffin in four. But Raonic v Bautista Agut is a tough one.
We’re going with Raonic on experience. But we wouldn’t be at all surprised if the underrated Bautista Agut reaches the semi-finals instead.
What of the other semifinal? It will be no surprise to hear us predict it will feature two of the all-time greats, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
Djokovic will outwit Raonic in their semi-final. When all is said and done, Novak will have had the easiest path to the final.
But now we get to the trickiest part of all…predicting those last two matches of the men’s singles tournament.
Roger or Rafa? Federer is looking good, really good. He is on his favourite surface. But there is something about Nadal this year. He looks so unstoppable.
Sure, you could have said the same last year. Then Rafa was unpicked by Novak over two days. But Nadal is doing everything so right at Wimbledon 2019. This could be his year.
So we’re going to make a controversial prediction. And you all know how much we love Roger at WDH.
We’re going to take Nadal to overpower Federer in five. In one of the best semi-finals ever.
Again, we don’t mind at all if we are wrong. Let’s face it, they are both magnificent.
If it all does unfold like this, one last question will be left. Djokovic or Nadal in the final?
Here’s the thing. Nadal has looked better than Novak so far this tournament. But as mentioned, Djokovic should have the less demanding path to the final.
Who wins that final could depend on just how much Federer takes out of Nadal in the previous match. And whether Novak finds a higher level when it matters, as he did last year.
It is virtually impossible to choose between the two. But if you really want us to, we’re going to go with Nadal, who will possess the greater hunger and desire after losing last year.
By the way, whatever happens, it won’t all be over. Because we are making one last prediction. Maybe our hearts are ruling our heads.
But we are taking Andy Murray and Serena Williams to walk onto Centre Court and win the mixed doubles at that point.
And then everyone will declare Wimbledon 2019, with all its heroics from Coco to Ash, from Rafa to Serena, to have been the greatest of them all.
Listen, this is all a bit of fun. We’ve made the predictions in a bold but light-hearted spirit.
By all means take a laugh at them when Wimbledon’s real week two unfolds. We will be laughing, too.