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Wimbledon 2015: Roundup of men’s Manic Monday

By Melanie Schumilas

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Manic Monday at Wimbledon certainly lived up to its name as seeded players continued to stumble and Nick Kyrgios continued to stir up controversy.

Let’s take a look at the men’s roundup of a very Manic Monday.

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Richard Gasquet gets revenge against unstable Nick Kyrgios.

Just a mere year ago, Gasquet was living a tennis player’s nightmare as he failed to capitalize on nine – yes, nine – match points against then-19-year-old wildcard Kyrgios.

Fast-forward a year later, the Frenchman was clearly looking for revenge on the most prestigious grass court stage. Although Gasquet stumbled early in the first set, dropping the first two games despite holding a 40-15 lead in each, he eventually broke the young Australian twice and took the first set 7-5.

The second set is where things get spicy. Kyrgios, who seems to never stop mumbling to himself or whoever will make eye contact with him, was given a code violation for audible obscenity. Then, he decided he was simply over life and blatantly tanked the second set.

Jun 26, 2014; London, United Kingdom; Richard Gasquet (FRA) in action during his match against Nick Kyrigios (AUS) on day four of the 2014 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn and Tennis Club. Mandatory Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

The third game of the second set was the worst display of sportsmanship possible as Kyrgios didn’t even bother swinging his racquet at two of Gasquet’s serves and then pitifully chipped at the other two.

It was a pathetic display from the 20-year-old who is being heralded as the one of tour’s “rising stars” of today and a future top 10 player, according to McEnroe. 

Kyrgios brought his bad attitude into the third set as he lashed out at chair umpire James Keothavong after being urged to pick up his pace on changeovers.

“Mate, Rafa and stuff play 30 seconds in between points every time and all I’m doing is putting my sock back on,” he said to Keothavong with aggravated sass.

Now, the man-child could face up to £160,000 fine for his flagrant and continuous lack of effort in the second set. Considering that his fourth round departure made him only £120,000, tennis’ new “bad boy” will have to cough up another £40,000 of his own money. Shouldn’t be an issue since he can afford to drive a $62,000 BMW M3…

Ultimately, Gasquet escaped a momentary scare after losing two match points, but Kyrgios gave him the win by double faulting. The 21st-seed will play 2015 French Open Champion Stan Wawrinka on day nine.

Unseeded Vasek Pospisil is into the quarterfinals.

There’s a Canadian in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, but its definitely not who you’d expect. No. 56 Pospisil is better known for his doubles play. He won the 2014 Wimbledon men’s doubles title with partner Jack Sock after defeating the legendary Bryan brothers in an epic five-set match.

Pospisil has shown promise on the singles circuit, hitting a career high No. 25 in January 2014, but since struggled with consistency and consequently his ranking dropped considerably.

Evidently, the 25-year-old has rebounded onto the singles scene with his deepest Grand Slam run yet. But, the journey to the quarterfinals was most definitely not easy.

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The unseeded Canadian has played three, five set matches through four rounds – and that’s just in singles. Pospisil, with his best-friend and partner Sock, fell in a rollercoaster five set match in doubles on Monday. Through seven days, Posipisil has played a total of 31 sets in singles and doubles combined. Hats off to his fitness coach, he’s got Pospisil’s fitness on point.

En route to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal, Pospisil overcame 30th-seeded Fabio Fognini and 22nd-seeded Viktor Troicki. Hopefully the Canadian No. 2 isn’t too tired to duke it out with third-seeded Andy Murray on day nine.

Gilles Simon stuns Tomas Berdych in straight sets. 

Although prior to Monday, Simon led Berdych 6-4 head-to-head, it seemed that no one expected the 12th-seed to extend this lead with a convincing straight set win over sixth-seeded Berdych.

Simon has only been in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam once before, at the 2009 Australian Open and statistically Wimbledon is his worst major tournament. He’s only made it to the fourth round once previously, also back in 2009.

For Berdych, Wimbledon is statistically one of his best Grand Slams. He’s 32-12 at this slam, with six fourth round appearances.

Considering these stats, it’s quite surprising that Simon executed such a clean and quick win over the 2010 Wimbledon finalist. The Frenchman spent less than two hours on court as he hung back and retrieved ball after ball, breaking down the strapping Czech’s powerful groundstrokes.

The duo pounded nearly as many winners as each other – Berdych hit 22 and Simon swatted 21—but the world No. 6 coughed up a staggering 30 unforced errors, nearly three times as many as his opponent.

Against all the odds, Simon’s counter-punching consistency won him this match and catapulted him into the quarterfinals at Wimbledon for the first time in ten appearances.

Novak Djokovic and Kevin Anderson battle put on pause.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has clawed himself out of a two-set-to-love deficit against the ultra-tall 14th-seeded Kevin Anderson to even the score at two sets all. Unfortunately, play was suspended due to darkness but will resume on Tuesday.

Who’s your pick for this major battle of massive serve versus one of the best returners on the tour?

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