Wimbledon 2021 begins on Monday with the mercurial Benoit Paire in action, along with Alex De Minaur who is great on the grass. De Minaur faces young gun Sebastian Korda. Our panelists have predictions for all the Wimbledon matches.
Diego Schwartzman vs Benoit Paire
Damian Kust: Statistically, this is Benoit Paire’s best Grand Slam. His mindset is always a question mark, but his all-or-nothing game works well here and he should be able to power through a very, very mediocre grass-court player like Schwartzman. Paire in 4
Pablo Mosquera Hasselbaink: With a 2-16 record in 2021, we can conclude Paire is not good at winning tennis matches lately. On the other hand, Schwartzman has won just 33% of his career matches on grass. It’s safe to say neither player is a contender at Wimbledon. I trust the Argentinian slightly more. Schwartzman in 5
Lloyd Harris vs Ricardas Berankis
Damian: Harris is having his best-ever season and while he hasn’t reached these heights on grass yet, everything about his game says that it’s a matter of time. He also took a set off Roger Federer two years ago, playing a sublime set. He can do it more consistently now. Harris in 4
Pablo: I’ll take Harris’s bigger game over Berankis’ steadiness all day every day on grass, and twice next Monday. Unless the South African is way off his level, he should prevail over the Lithuanian. Harris in 3
Sebastian Korda vs Alex De Minaur
Damian: This is very exciting but De Minaur’s court coverage and foot speed should probably lure enough errors out of Korda. The Australian will also be coming with a lot of confidence from a great week at Eastbourne. De Minaur in 4
Pablo: Without a doubt, one of the best matchups the draw has produced. Prior to Roland Garros, Korda won his first career title in Parma, then was gassed in Paris. Likewise, De Minaur has gone as deep as he could at Eastbourne. Should we expect him to be devoid of energy at Wimbledon? I don’t think so. The Aussie ‘demon’ needed match play after a predictably lackluster clay season. Korda was an unknown quantity on grass before a promising quarterfinal run in Halle. De Minaur was a top player on the surface back in juniors and at the Challenger level, but hasn’t made the leap on the main tour yet. While it’s plausible Korda will end up having a more prolific career, I’ll give De Minaur a slight edge right now. De Minaur in 4
Pierre-Hugues Herbert vs Pablo Andujar
Damian: The surface matters a lot here and it should easily allow Herbert to expose Andujar’s a bit weaponless game. The Frenchman is a fantastic doubles player and can use that bag of tricks here: serve, block return, volleying. Herbert in 3
Pablo: One of the last members of the serve-and-volley fraternity, Herbert hasn’t played a singles match since botching a match point versus Jannik Sinner at Roland Garros. Nevertheless, he’s won back-to-back doubles titles at the French Open and at Queen’s with his partner Nicolas Mahut. Thus, I expect him to play well enough here to dispatch the grass-allergic Andujar. Herbert in 4
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