Serve & Volley Naresh Kumar

Two days of brilliant sunshine with no rain breaks have taken Wimbledon 2008 to the second round. Most of the chaff has been removed from the draw, but the threshing continues. Inevitably, some grain has fallen with the husk. Six of the 32 seeds are out — notably No.4 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia who was defeated by B. Becker of Germany.

David Nalbandian, the No.7 seed from Argentina, also a former Wimbledon finalist, fell to an unknown Dancevic of Canada.

Another significant loser was the 18th seed 6’10’’ Croat Karlovic, who with his big serve was the most dangerous floater in the draw.

V. Hanescu who will spearhead the Romanian Davis Cup against India moved into the second round with a victory over Falla of Colombia. Hanescu, ranked No.81, seems to be of a higher class than members of our Davis Cup team, and our boys will not relish playing him on slow clay in Romania.

For Federer, Wimbledon 2008 will be the defining fortnight of his illustrious career. The humiliating loss to Nadal in Paris has shown that “he is in decline”.

At 26 years of age he is no longer cruising smoothly on autopilot in his matches as was evident from the nervy wobbles in his earlier matches in Paris. The tag of being ‘the greatest player who ever played’ has disappeared in the swirling red dust of Roland Garros.

Now, he is left with the challenge of two more Grand Slam titles to match Pete Sampras’s 12. Experts and past champions are divided in their opinion of whether Federer can win Wimbledon 2008. In my view, nobody knows, not even Federer.

Let me place the facts before you. Both, Nadal and Djokovic are much younger and no longer following in his slipstream. They are ranged alongside and now have self-belief that they can beat Federer.

Federer has clocked almost double the miles and his fuel tank both mental and physical is substantially depleted. Unfortunately there is no fuel gauge or dip stick to measure such reserves.

The answer can only come when he is tested in a tough match. As I write this there is news that Safin has beaten Djokovic. This is good news for Federer as Djokovic and Nalbandian, both dangerous opponents, have been eliminated from his half.

Now, only the challenge of Nadal remains who is improving with every match on the grass. Nadal is better than last year and Federer certainly is no as good as he was. I give Nadal a slight edge, but the stars can tilt it either way.