Wimbledom - Third Round - June 3

Today is Sunday, therefore there's a day of rest at Wimbledon, there are no matches today, but yesterday was an interesting day again. There were a few surprises, but then again, every day there are surprises, these make the game more interesting.

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Marin Čilić vs Daniil Medvedev

Two giants on the tennis court, this is the recipe for a good show. It was the second match between these two and the first one was won by the Russian.

Čilić had an excellent start, he won the first two sets, making Medvedev work hard. The first set even ended in a tie-break, which the Russian lost. I was hoping he gets angry and frustrated as he is not used to lose, especially not to lower ranking players. Then Medvedev lost the second set as well, this time to 6 - 3, which must have made him more angry or more frustrated.

There were two scenarios from here. 1. Medvedev continues his downward evolution, frustrated, angry and loses. 2. He uses his frustration to his advantage, channeling his anger to fuel his game. My only concern was that Čilić will not be able to keep up with the Russian. There's an age difference between the two and Medvedev is definitely stronger mentally and physically as well.

So what happened was the second scenario, Medvedev put his game together and won in the end. Čilić unfortunately didn't have much energy left to fight.

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Roger Federer vs Cameron Norrie

A lot of eyes are now on Federer, Everyone want to see how he's doing, including me. I'm very happy he's back and even happier to see he's doing well.

In normal conditions I'd say Cameron Norrie is not a problem for the Swiss, but these are far from normal conditions, as Federer has missed out a lot, so we don't know how far he can go. Regardless of the time spent out of court, Federer did very well yesterday. He needed 4 sets to win the match and the set he lost wasn't so bad as he lost to 5 - 7. That's not like losing to 1 - 6. I'm happy he has the strength to fight and also know he's smart enough to know when to retire in case something goes wrong.

Felix Auger Aliassime vs Nick Kyrgios

When Nick Kyrgios is palying, you can be sure there will be either a show or a scandal, or both. This player is a clown, no offense. He has neither limits, not manners and he's the shame of the tennis world at times. He is often playing to entertain the public and that's his only goal.

Yesterday he had the bad luck of getting injured in the first set. After asking for medical help, he tried to continue but had to realize he has no chance and by pushing himself while injured, he could make the situation even worse. Therefore giving up was the best solution.

This is how the young Felix Auger Aliassime got a gift from the Australian, he qualified for the next round without any difficulties. More about what he has to face at the end of my post.

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Taylor Fritz vs Alexander Zverev

I'm waiting for the tennis player who can beat Zverev at an early stage of the tournament, but there's none it seems. The German is very good, mo matter what surface he's playing on. Yesterday he needed four sets to beat Fritz.

Lorenzo Sonego and Matteo Berettini both did well and qualified for the next round, which I'm grateful for. There are a lot of young and talented Italian players in the top 50, many of which are playing in the most Grand Slam tournaments. Unfortunately Sinner had to leave the tournament too early, but Berettini has a real chance here.

Alexander Bublik could not get past of Hubert Hurkacz and Ilya Ivashka won against Jordan Thompson.

Tomorrow is a new day in Wimbledon, with a lot of interesting matches. At this stage I'm brave enough to make some predictions.

Novak Djokovic vs Cristian Garín

This match will be painful to watch as I like them both but no matter how good Garín is, he's still a young player and doesn't have the experience of Djokovic. I'm not saying he has zero chance, but his chances to win are slim, very slim. If he does, I'll be very happy.

Matteo Berrettini vs Ilya Ivashka

This match should be a straight forward one, I don't think Berettini has anything to be worried here.

Felix Auger Aliassime - Alexander Zverev

Oh God, poor Aliassime is going to get a tough tennis lesson tomorrow. He has zero chance against the German, on the other hand he's going to get a nice experience.

Roger Federer vs Lorenzo Sonego

This match can go either way. Sonego is part of the young generation and although he's very talented, Federer has way more experience. Everything will come down to how Federer will be able to handle the necessary physical effort. I can't really predict the winner, it could be either of them.

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Márton Fucsovics vs Andrey Rublev

Yesterday when I saw who Fucsovics is going to meet, it made me smile, not that the situation is funny. Fucsovics has a history with the Russian Rublev and the scores are not good. Every time they meet, the Hungarian loses. It's like Rublev is Fucsovics's worst nightmare. I'd love to see the Hungarian win, but I don't think he has a chance, unfortunately. Rublev is very good.

Denis Shapovalov vs Roberto Bautista Agut

This match is also an unknown one, I have no idea who has the most chance here. I'd like to see Bautista win, but who knows.

Karen Khachanov vs Sebastian Korda

I'm really happy to see Khachanov at this stage of the tournament. I'm not sure what's going on with him, but lately he's been getting eliminated too early. I'm hoping he can win against Korda tomorrow. I'd really love to see him win.