Wimbledon got a lot done on Thursday, with rain staying away. The tournament has nearly caught up in terms of its singles schedule and so have our tennis picks. If all the second-round matches finish early on Friday, and almost all of the third-round matches can be completed later in the day, the tournament will be able to take a break on Middle Sunday, provided that the weather cooperates on Saturday.
We had a solid day on Thursday as we went 2-1 with our tennis picks, but were disappointed with one result. Dominic Thiem let us down as he lost in straight sets to Jiri Vesely. However, we did bounce back by getting a win from John Millman, who beat Benoit Paire, and we also got a victory with Joao Sousa, who beat Dennis Novikov.
Here are three third-rounders later on Friday on the men’s side along with our tennis picks.
Jack Sock vs. Milos Raonic
There is a chance that Sock could pull the upset. He has a powerful serve and forehand, having learned the game on hardcourts the way most Americans do. It’s not as though the basic serve-and-forehand game isn’t made for grass. It’s conducive to winning cheap points without too much effort. It’s a first-punch type of game which takes advantage of a surface which is not friendly to longer rallies.
The problem with Sock’s game is that when he goes up against higher-ranked players such as Raonic, he doesn’t have as many options as he needs. His backhand isn’t strong enough, and his net play isn’t imposing enough to make an extra dent in an opponent and create extra uncertainty in the mind of his adversary. Raonic has developed his backhand and his net game more than Sock has. He also owns the powerful serve, which is better than Sock’s. The forehand might not be quite as good as Sock’s, but it’s close enough that he won’t get punished too often. Raonic is the more complete player with more ways to win a match. That means that while Sock could take a set, it will be hard for him to win two or three of them.
Pick: Raonic in four sets
Andrey Kuznetsov vs. Kei Nishikori
This is an interesting match in that Nishikori is clearly dealing with a rib injury. It’s most likely nothing more serious than a deep bruise, but even that kind of injury can take weeks to fully heal. When a player has a rib injury, the clear limitation on the court comes when trying to serve. A player has to arch his body in a way which strains the ribs and can bring about noticeable pain. Nishikori, in his second-round win over Julien Benneteau, could not throw his body into his first serves as fully as he wanted. The velocity was down, which meant that Nishikori could not hit hard and flat serves. From the deuce court, these serves mostly go down the tee. From the ad court, these serves go wide to the far corner of the service box. Nishikori couldn’t really perform those kinds of serves. He spun his serves with slice – wide to the deuce court, and down the tee to the ad court. On a normal day, Nishikori would beat Kuznetsov in straight sets. Here, he will probably need five, but he’ll probably have enough strength on his groundstrokes to break Kuznetsov’s serve and win a close match.
Pick: Nishikori in five sets
Pierre-Hugues Herbert vs. Nicolas Mahut
This is a matchup in which Mahut is the man with the grass-court credentials. He just blitzed No. 13 seed David Ferrer in straight sets, losing a grand total of only eight games. Mahut is on a roll, and by winning a match quickly on Thursday, he should still be fresh for Friday. On top of that, he gets a very manageable opponent in Herbert, who should be a significant step down in competition from Ferrer. He should be able to win here, so take Mahut with your tennis picks.
Pick: Mahut in four sets
