It seems like Somdev Devvarman has been around a long time. But for everything that he has accomplished, the Indian will be playing in the second round of a Grand Slam event for only the second time in his career when he takes on the 18th seeded Mikhail Youzhny at Wimbledon on Thursday.
Devvarman's only previous experience in this stage of a Grand Slam has been in 2009 when he made the second round at the US Open, his Grand Slam debut. The Indian does not favour the grass courts too much, preferring to battle opponents on hardcourts instead and it shows in his career record on grass - a meagre 2-5 win-loss record.
His opponent, the 29 year old Youzhny, also prefers playing on hardcourts - achieving his best results at the US Open where he has twice been as far as the semi-finals. But that he is also an accomplished player on grass. Youzhny has a 36-25 career record on the surface and has reached the 4th round at Wimbledon on five different occasions, the last being 2008.
Youzhny won the pair's only previous meeting in straight sets - in last year's Davis Cup first round encounter.
Inspite of having a better record on tour in 2011 when compared to the Russian (Devvarman is 14-13 for the year while Youzhny is 11-12), Devvarman certainly has his work cut out for him. He will need to play his very best if he is to harbour any hopes of creating an upset.
Prediction - Youzhny in straight sets
Join my Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Haresh-Ramchandanis-Tennis-Chronicles/106612526073357
Follow me on Twitter @TennisChroniclr
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSeen the whole thing infront of my eyes.. i must say he was laking the will to do it.. . He left some of the d makable shots.
ReplyDelete