This match is last on centre court today at approx 2 am. Anyone planning to stay up ? Doug and Andymonium, what time will it be for you ?
29 year old Gambill is currently ranked 503, a long way from his career best of 14 which he reached in 2001. Off the tennis court he enjoys modelling and adding to his collection of fast cars - he was once the next great hope of American tennis and it was thought that it wouldn't be long before he started collecting Grand Slam titles at the same rate as new cars. However after 2002 his form dipped and he's never really been the same player again. Among his career best achievements have been reaching the Wimbledon quarters in 2000 before losing to Sampras in 4 sets and reaching the Nasdaq-100 Open final in Miami [the self-styled 5th grand slam].
Gambill plays with 2 hands on both sides, often seen in players who've started tennis at a very young age, so young that they haven't been able to hold a racket with just 1 hand. He has a game which is best suited to clay and grass. He has a big 1st serve and an ability to serve-volley to mix things up. He's equally at home at net and at baseline.
He and Henman have played 6 times. Gambill won the first 3 meetings [6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in Tokyo 1998, 7-6, 1-6, 7-6 in Stuttgart 1998 and 7-5, 6-3 in Stockholm 1999] but Henman has won the last 3 [ 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in Cincinatti 2001, 7-5, 6-2 in Indian Wells 2002 and 7-5, 6-4 in Hamburg 2003].
Gambill has played only two tournaments this year, he lost in rd1 of the Waikoloa challenger in Jan and then turned up in qualifying here. He got into the main draw as a lucky loser having lost 7-6, 7-5 to Andre Agassi's conqueror Andrea Stoppini in the final qualifying round. As he replaced one of the seeds he got a bye through rd1 and yesterday beat Tipsarevic 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 as the Serbian wilted in the blazing heat.
This match is last on centre court today at approx 2 am. Anyone planning to stay up ? Doug and Andymonium, what time will it be for you ?
I am two hours behind Wash DC, so if the Blake/Safin match starts on time and lasts a couple of hours then Henman's match will be on at about 7pm my time. I was looking at the schedule, I think Andy's match and Tim's match might overlap a little. I would love that as I will be in from work and also it is before putting the kids to bed....lol
I think both Tim and Andy will win tonight in straight sets. I hope the Fish match goes to three sets so Andy gets on court late like Henman. It will be cooler then and much easier on the body.
Dare I say I fancy a Tim/Andy Semi...not sure if anyone else has said that yet, but the more I look at the draw the more I feel Andy will take Lopez and Henman will just beat Tursunov again. I know I shouldn't look that far forward, but wouldn't it be great?
(I won't be up I'm afraid but will read the commentary on here first thing in the morning.)
Oh Bethan ! Where's the commitment, lol
I'm going to try my hardest to stay up, what's the best option though ? It looks as though Andy will probably start about 2-2.5 hours before Tim, if there's an hour in between the matches should I sleep for that hour or stay awake ? It's just that around 2am I start getting headaches plus a peculiarly overwhelming urge to close my eyes.
Montana Doug wrote: I am two hours behind Wash DC, so if the Blake/Safin match starts on time and lasts a couple of hours then Henman's match will be on at about 7pm my time. I was looking at the schedule, I think Andy's match and Tim's match might overlap a little. I would love that as I will be in from work and also it is before putting the kids to bed....lol
I think both Tim and Andy will win tonight in straight sets. I hope the Fish match goes to three sets so Andy gets on court late like Henman. It will be cooler then and much easier on the body.
Dare I say I fancy a Tim/Andy Semi...not sure if anyone else has said that yet, but the more I look at the draw the more I feel Andy will take Lopez and Henman will just beat Tursunov again. I know I shouldn't look that far forward, but wouldn't it be great?
A Tim v Andy semi-final looks very possible at the moment, I wonder if the Beeb would cover it like they did in Basel last year, wouldn't that be great ! I'm a little wary of expecting it though as if I do they'll probably both lose tonight, lol If Henman plays his best than he should beat Tursunov, the hot conditions will make the balls fly a little more and aid Tim's game. Hopefully if he gets through to a quarter with Dmitry the match will be scheduled during the day.
I think that the biggest obstacle will actually be Mardy Fish, he could cause Andy big problems in the quarters, he's fast returning to the form which took him into the top 20 a few years ago.
i think i'll be up for murray's so hopefully hes able to finish by half 1, by which time though unrealistic, tim should be on. so im not sure about tim's match, but hopefully i'll have a smile on me face in the morning to see tim has won!