The only way to beat Rafa on clay is to take risks... to over-achieve you have to over-play and risk more than you feel comfortable doing, if Thiem can do that and build enough hope in the first hour, hour and a half, maybe get the first set he can make it physical like he did in Madrid. I'm not sure if Thiem and Rafa had a run in the Bois de Boulogne that Rafa would win.

Mats Wilander

Categorized in : Sports

You can't be considered a great player unless you win Wimbledon. That's the way it is.

Mats Wilander

tennis player winning

Sports is about balls and about heart and you don't find too many champions in any sport in the world without heart or balls. He might have them, but against Nadal they shrink to a very small size and it's not once, it's every time.

Mats Wilander

champion heart sports

When you become a top player, you think that nothing else and nobody else matters. You can tell everybody on earth, 'Listen, I'm playing tennis, I don't have time for you. I'm in the semifinals of the U.S. Open, screw everybody and everything else.'

Mats Wilander

tennis player thinking

To me, Hewitt and Nadal would be the best spirited fighters I've ever seen on the tennis court.

Mats Wilander

nadal tennis would-be

That would be unbelievable, for me that would be a bigger deal than Rafa winning 12 French Opens.

Mats Wilander

sports

I think (the seeds going out) it's way more positive than negative for women's tennis, i hope that men's tennis goes that way where we see more upsets. It's great to follow Federer and Nadal, but I think 16 seeds would shake up the men's draw.

Mats Wilander

sports

I think she is the most dangerous floater, I would say she is now 100 percent ready, with her game she doesn't need lots of grasscourt matches. When you hit the ball as hard as she does it's first-strike tennis and no one is better than her at that.

Mats Wilander

sports

It's not like Nadal at the French Open, i would back the field over Federer, just.

Mats Wilander

sports

He doesn't necessarily love grass the first week because it's green and slippery, but if the weather's hot and it gets quick and bouncy, watch out in the second week.

Mats Wilander

sports

Cilic for me is second favorite, you do not want to play against Cilic. He has won one( Grand Slam title) and he feels like he's overdue a second one.

Mats Wilander

sports

Rafa is a genius on clay, so far ahead tactically, it's like he has a built-in coach in his mind. You can't tell what he's going to do before he does it, but when he does it, it all looks so obvious !

Mats Wilander

sports

It's unfortunate and I think Serena must get a lot of credit( for trying) to come and do that, it's not a criticism but it's a shame. It's not like it's( fast court specialist) Pete Sampras. Roger knows how to play on this surface. He wouldn't have got hurt.

Mats Wilander

sports

If I were Thiem I would be going like, 'You know what Sascha, today we're going to go for a run. It's not going to be a sprint but a run and we're going to go uphill for four hours. If you beat me in the end you're better than me, but I'm going to take you the whole way.' If he does that Thiem is the favorite.

Mats Wilander

sports

Djokovic will know that it's a match he could lose but I think we are seeing a more determined Djokovic, if he beats Verdasco then you have to start talking about Djokovic because he's beaten Nadal enough times and has gone to enough Grand Slams finals.

Mats Wilander

sports

I think with Keys it's a matter of time before Mihaela Buzarnescu pulls it together for two weeks, mihaela Buzarnescu has got a huge game and big forehand and serve so Keys is always one of those ones that can win it. For Keys this is a little bit of an opening and I think Mihaela Buzarnescu might take full advantage of( Buzarnescu beating fourth seed Elina Svitolina).

Mats Wilander

sports

We need more honesty out there, but it is hard when you see what the media does to someone who is trying to be honest, are you saying that Andy Murray was not emotionally flat for some of this year ? And I think it is exactly how Novak Djokovic was at the French Open.

Mats Wilander

sports

Bigger than winning titles, bigger than other milestone wins... this could be the most important match of her career, huge... just huge.

Mats Wilander

sports

If Murray was injured he would not be playing here at all, i think because he is out there and playing he is 100 percent fit. Or thereabouts... nobody is ever 100 percent, but he is there or thereabouts.

Mats Wilander

sports

He obviously loves to play on grass, it looks so natural to him, playing on grass is going to help him a lot.

Mats Wilander

sports