Wimbledon – Gulbis beats Delpo, Mattek injured, and Coco wins
Gulbis beats Delpo – says he has nothing to lose
Seems like Gulbis‘ new mantra at Wimbledon of ‘having nothing to lose’ is really helping him to bring out his real game and this was proven when he defeated Del Potro in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, 7-6.
On Wimbledon‘s grass Del Potro had no answer to Gulbis’s game or power, which seemed to show hints of the game that Gulbis used to play when he was in the top 10, even though Gulbis has now tumbled out of the top 500 in the world. In fact Gulbis hit a total of 60 winners and 25 aces.
It seems like Gulbis’s mental transformation has helped him greatly. “I was very relaxed. It did not really surprise me because I am just in a relaxed state of mind right now coming into this tournament. As soon as I am relaxed, I can produce this kind of tennis,” said Gulbis.
When asked about his match with Djokovic, Gulbis said, “I had nothing to lose this match, and I played well. I am going to have even less to lose next match. Maybe I will play even better.”
With this type of mentality, and some injury precaution because Gulbis has had a career full of injury, Gulbis might just upset Djokovic in the next round.
Bethanie Mattek’s horrible knee injury
Bethanie Mattek just went through an athlete’s worst nightmare. On Court 17, she slipped on the grass and fell to the ground. A few seconds later she was screaming and writhing in pain. She had suffered an acute knee injury.
The 5 time doubles Grand Slam champion shouted “Help me! Help me!” as she waited for medical attention, which apparently took quite a lot of time to arrive on court. Her opponent Sorana Cirstea criticized the amount of time that paramedics took as well.
“I turned around and told them to bring a stretcher or something, because I think everyone froze. No one was having any reaction. It was heartbreaking because she went into shock.”
“It took a while until the medical team was there. It took a really long time. I don’t know for how long she was on the ground, but I would say 10 to 15 minutes.”
Bethanie Mattek’s doubles partner who was court side, Lucie Safarova was also in tears when she saw her opponent writhing on the floor. Safarova even stated that she had ‘seen nothing like it’ when she saw her partner’s knee.
Bethanie Mattek was then taken to the hospital at 5:25 p.m.
Coco Vandeweghe wins her 2nd round match
With fellow American Serena Williams out of the running, Coco Vandeweghe is basking in the limelight. She is light on her feet with her seemingly simple second round match win against Tatjana Maria, winning 6-4, 6-2. But the American player insisted that the match was far from easy, and that it was in fact a tough win for her.
“Tatjana is a very tricky player. She constantly is putting pressure on you, whether it’s to make a pass or continue a point through. She’s very fast. She makes it very difficult, and constantly tests your nerve to be able to come up with the good,” said the twenty-five year old in her post match interview.
After winning her first two matches in straight sets, Vandeweghe says that she she is feeling a lot more comfortable on grass.
“Second match your feeling a lot calmer about your choices in play.” She would then go on to say that she is happy with her serves and volleys so far.
Even though Vandeweghe has a packed schedule since she has paired up with Jelena Jankovic for doubles, she doesn’t seem to be too worried about it. On Middle Sunday, which is usually a day for all players to rest, she said that she will come out and have a ‘chill’ practice.
Her next match will be against fellow American, Alison Riske, for an all American third round match up.