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Wimbledon, England (Sports Network) – Reigning champion Novak Djokovic and
six-time winner Roger Federer cruised into the third round, while three-time
runner-up Andy Roddick notched an opening-round victory Wednesday at Wimbledon.
Pink Ed Reed Jersey . The top-seeded Djokovic
handled promising 20-year-old American Ryan Harrison 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in 1 hour, 56
minutes in the Day-3 nightcap under the roof on Centre Court. The powerful
Djokovic was not broken, while he broke Harrison on three occasions. Djokovic is
now 29-1 over his last five majors and 41-2 over his last seven Grand Slams. The
25-year-old Djokovic reached his first-ever Wimbledon final and captured his
first-ever title here with a victory over Rafael Nadal a year ago. Djokovic and
Nadal have met in the last four Grand Slam finals, with the Serb winning three
of them. Nadal, however, beat Djokovic in the French Open finale three weeks
ago. Djokovic will meet the Radek Stepanek-Benjamin Becker winner on Friday.
Playing in front of Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of
Cornwall, the third-seeded Federer gained a 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Italian
Fabio Fognini on Centre Court. The super Swiss fired 13 aces and needed 1 hour,
14 minutes to swiftly advance to the next round, where the 16-time major champ
will meet 29th-seeded Frenchman Julien Benneteau on the hallowed lawns at the
All England Lawn Tennis Club. The Prince of Wales, who applauded Federer after
his Day-3 victory, had not attended Wimbledon since 1970. Federer also kept up
his incredible second-round streak, having never lost in that round at a Grand
Slam. The last time he failed to reach the third round at a major was when he
fell in the opening round at the 2003 French Open. The 30-year-old Federer is in
a bid to tie William Renshaw and Pete Sampras record of seven Wimbledon titles,
but his last major championship came in 2010 at the Australian Open. The
30th-seeded Roddick needed two days to beat Scotlands Jamie Baker, 7-6 (7-1),
6-4, 7-5, in a match that was suspended because of rain on Tuesday. The American
advanced in three hours with the help of 14 aces and was not broken in the
predictable match. The former world No. 1 Roddick is a former U.S. Open champ
who has lost to Federer in a trio of Wimbledon finales. Up next for Roddick will
be speedy German Bjorn Phau on Thursday. Eighth-seeded Serb Janko Tipsarevic
posted a come-from-behind second-round win against American Ryan Sweeting, 5-7,
7-5, 6-4, 6-2. Meanwhile, 12th-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro beat Frances
Guillaume Rufin 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4; 15th-seeded Argentine Juan Monaco bested
Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-0); 18th-seeded Frenchman Richard
Gasquet doused Belgian Ruben Bemelmans 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; 26th-seeded Russian
Mikhail Youzhny drilled Spaniard Inigo Cervantes 6-1, 6-3, 6-4; the
aforementioned Benneteau topped American journeyman Michael Russell, 7-6 (7-4),
2-6, 6-4, 7-5; and 31st-seeded Florian Mayer topped fellow German Philipp
Petzschner 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in second-round play. Petzschner was a
runner-up in the Netherlands last week. Seventh-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer
finished off a rain-suspended opening- round match by besting German Dustin
Brown 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-4. In other first-round action involving seeds, No. 21
Canadian Milos Raonic smacked 20 aces in downing Colombian Santiago Giraldo 6-4,
6-4, 6-4 and Austrian lefthander Jurgen Melzer ousted No. 25 Swiss Stanislas
Wawrinka 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 6-4, 8-6. The rising Raonic needed only 80 seconds
to advance on Wednesday after his match was suspended on Tuesday night. Other
second-round wins came for Serb Viktor Troicki and Uzbekistans Denis Istomin,
while additional opening-round wins came for Phau, 6-foot-10 Croat Ivo Karlovic,
and Poles Lukasz Kubot and Jerzy Janowicz. Karlovic will meet fourth-seeded
three-time Grand Slam runner-up Andy Murray of Great Britain in round two on
Thursday. Rain delayed play for several hours on the outside courts on Wednesday
and four second-round matches were suspended or postponed. The second-seeded
two-time Wimbledon champ Nadal will take to the courts Thursday for his
second-rounder against Czech Lukas Rosol. The former No. 1 star owns 11 Grand
Slam titles, including seven French Opens and the pair of Wimbledon
championships. The super Spaniard has appeared in the last five major finals,
going 2-3, including another big win in Paris a few weeks ago. He lost to
Djokovic in last years Wimbledon finale. Elite Torrey Smith Jersey . Head coach Tim
Burke said veteran quarterback Buck Pierce will not be available for the contest
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signs of life since changes were made on the sidelines, with Paul Mariner taking
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. MacDougall began the day by edging Quebecs Mike Fournier 8-7, and followed
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watched his putt lip out and figured his best shot at winning was over. Limited Ray Lewis Jersey . It wasnt easy,
though. “Im glad to see everybodys sweating here, and its not just me,”
Franchitti said with a grin. Just then, fellow driver Will Power walked into the
room and, not skipping a beat said, “Im not. WASHINGTON —John Wall banked in a
3-pointer just before the shot clock expired, giving his team a 99-96 lead with
17.1 seconds to go. He threw hands up to celebrate, flashed a big broad smile
and traded high-fives with his teammates. Then he played some solid defence,
forcing his man to miss a potential game-tying shot. He rubbed it in with a
playful taunt: “I told you! I told you! No shot! No shot! Sit down.” When the
final buzzer sounded, he declared “Im a winner.” The final score: 103-98. Doesnt
sound familiar? Of course not. That was a Blue vs. White intrasquad scrimmage at
a recent Washington Wizards practice, one of the few settings these days in
which Wall can actually enjoy some regular success. Such scenes have yet to
become a part of the standard NBA game repertoire for the No. 1 overall pick
from the 2010 draft. The body language is just as likely to feature a sag of the
shoulders rather than a smile on the face. His buzzer-beaters miss the mark more
often than not. His trademark “Dougie” dance is on hiatus, nearly forgotten amid
all of the losing. While there are many positive things to say about Wall as a
pro as he wraps up his second season—talented, hard-worker, well-behaved—
one thing he isnt, at least not yet, is a winner. “Theres moments when you get
down,” Wall said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Its like you get
down on yourself and the whole team—because you know when you play together,
you play hard.” The Wizards want to build their franchise around Wall, but so
far hes essentially been waiting for the rest of the construction to take hold.
Washington has been the worst team in the NBA since his arrival, with a record
of 34-97. This season alone the Wizards have hit the reset button in multiple
ways, firing coach Flip Saunders and trading supposed-to-be linchpins
JaVale McGee and Nick Young and then telling another one—Andray Blatche—to
stay home and work on his conditioning. With team president Ernie Grunfelds
contract expiring at the end of the season—and a renewal definitely in
question as the team heads for a fourth straight appearance in the draft lottery
—Wall already sticks out as a rare piece of franchise stability, even though
hes not been around that long. The Wizards can only be thankful that hes no
longer the player whose attitude problems got him cut from his high school team
in Raleigh, N.C., and that he—at least publicly—displays remarkable
perspective at age 21 and buys into the rebuilding program touted by owner Ted
Leonsis. “Its not easy for me. When I was picked, I knew it was going to be a
tough rebuilding process,” Wall said. “You come in and you just try to compete.
I asked KD (Kevin Durant) the same thing—how did he deal with his two years
when he was struggling. “One thing is, you just come in early and be the last
one to leave the gym, just be a leader that way and make sure youre working on
your game and getting better every day. The time will come that things will
change around.” The recent days have been especially tough on Wall. He dribbled
out the clock before getting a shot off in a two-point loss to Indiana on
Thursday. He went 1 for 10 and missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer in a three-point
loss to Atlanta on Saturday. He drove baseline and missed a layup in the final
seconds of a two-point loss to Detroit on Monday. Wall leads the league with 193
turnovers, and his 3. Ed Reed Jersey. 9 per game average is second
worst behind Deron Williams of New Jersey. Wall is also averaging 17.1 points,
7.9 assists and 4.8 rebounds. “Sometimes you have to fall a little bit, before
you get there, and right now thats happening to him,” teammate Roger Mason said.
“But hes a young player. Hell learn from it. Youve just got to be mentally
strong in this league. This league isnt for children. Hell be fine. Hes
tough-minded and its going to make it that much more sweet when they go the
other way.” Wall has the additional burden of being a team captain, an honour
given him from Day One of his rookie season by Saunders. All now agree that it
was probably too much too soon but that hes started to grow into the job. Wall
says he now has a better sense of “knowing which ways you can talk to certain
guys.” Still, the Wizards have their rudderless moments, particularly a recent
loss to Golden State that had coach Randy Wittman apologizing for the teams
“unprofessional” effort. Those are the times when a captain needs to be an
assertive leader. “He does lead a lot by example,” teammate Maurice Evans said.
“We (the veterans) supplement vocally, and obviously its such a tall task
because theres so much that needs to be done here. But just from being a
teammate of John, its impressive the work ethic that he employs and how much of
that leadership role he embraces.” Of course, considering some of the exploits
of some recent Wizards players, one could argue that Wall sets a new team
standard just by staying out of trouble. He describes a life consumed by
basketball, family and not much else. His mother drives up from North Carolina
for every home game and cooks him his favourite meals. He lives in an apartment
in the city with his best friend. Hes a devout student of the game, one who
studies video with assistant coach Sam Cassell before tipoff and spends his late
evenings watching games hes recorded simultaneously on his three television sets
at home. “Basically, I try to watch games at all times of night,” Wall said,
“especially if one my Kentucky guys is playing.” Wall was one-and-done at
Kentucky, but the decision to leave was tougher than he expected because he
liked the college scene. He took two classes toward his business major during
last years lockout and is determined to get his degree. The work ethic issues
faded long ago, when he switched high schools and then got benched for not
wanting to carry out his new coachs instructions in the final minutes of a close
game. “We lost that game, and the next three games I probably played two minutes
total,” he said. “My momma said, If you want to be something special and do
something, youve got to change your attitude. And ever since that moment, my
momma telling me that, everything changed.” The overhauled mindset is getting
tested with a Wizards team still trying to put together a rebuilding plan that
actually shows some promise. Fair warning: Theyve only got two more years before
Wall can become a free agent and seek other pastures if he no longer feels
theres a winning future in Washington. “I know things are going to change,” he
said. “I know theres going to be a time when were going to be in the playoffs
and fighting for the Eastern Conference championship. Thats what you live for.”
’ ’ ’