The final eight men are set for the quarterfinals at the All England Club. And as we saw in the first week, the trend of who’s “old” is new again has prevailed as five of the men playing are in their late twenties, with one in his thirties.
Djokovic vs. Haas
Tommy Haas, the oldest player left at 31, is playing some of the best tennis of his career getting to the quarters of the French Open and winning in Halle over Djokovic. That certainly has to be in Djokovic’s mind but Djokovic’s near clinical wins in the last few rounds prove he has an outside shot to win it all. Djokovic in four sets.
Murray vs. Ferrero
Murray, the local favorite, is coming off his wild five set win over Wawrinka. Juan Carlos Ferrero, a wildcard and former number one back in the day, is having his best Grand Slam tournament in a long while. Despite Ferrero’s stellar playing in seeing off Fernando Gonzalez and Gilles Simon, the home crowd should lift Murray’s tired legs to a four set win.
Federer vs. Karlovic
If Federer is going to win his fifteenth Grand Slam title, he’s going to figure out a way to break the booming serves of Ivo Karlovic. Karlovic has not been broken yet, thanks to the 137 aces he’s hit so far. Federer has won the last eight meetings due to his deft return of serve. But expect this to be won in four tiebreak sets with Federer finally on top.
Roddick vs. Hewitt
Lleyton Hewitt continues his impressive return on the grass courts after surviving a five set duel with Radek Stepanek. He’ll have to come up with some more amazing tennis if he’s going to knock out Andy Roddick who is serving and volleying better than ever. Hewitt will hope the match turns into a grind fest but with Roddick serving as well as he is, I don’t see that happening. Despite the marquee match up, I think Roddick will get through in three sets.
Adjusting the Net 