And so it begins...

The rain, that is. Last year's Wimbledon was the rainiest in recent history. In constrast, the first week of The Championships, 2005 has been sunny and uncharacteristically hot. Some of the Russian players have had a hard time dealing with the conditions. I think the Germans are probably having similiar difficulties.

As a result of the rain, Day 5 was not completed. No matter. There were exciting moments and upsets, anyway. Take for example Marat Safin, who up til today was breezing through. He was upset by #26 seed Feliciano Lopez...in straight sets! Roddick needed all five sets to take out Andreev who to his credit had a great run. And then there is the #21 seed, Fernando Gonzalez, who easily ousted the #11, Johansson.

When one considers that only five of the 8 scheduled matches were completed, the day's stats are rather remarkable. I'm still pulling for Bjorkman ~ though he is down at the moment. Jonas tends to do well at Wimbledon. He is aging and doesn't have many years left. I'd like to see him make it to the quarters. Taking into account the completed matches only, I have predicted 3 out of 5 correctly. I'm fairly certain about Federer & Ferrero, so I'll end day five's stats over .500.

Just as the men have become less predictable, the women have become moreso. With six of the pairings complete, I'm sitting at 1000 for the first time this tournament. The numbers alone tell the story: the higher seeds are winning. I'm a little uncertaing about the round of sixteen, though. The big question is: Can Davenport beat Clijsters? The veteran Davenport has maturity and experience on her side, while Clijsters has a new-found focus and youth on hers. I think the determining factor will be Clijster's nerves.

That wraps up today's doings. The stats & winners keep moving back and forth, much like the tennis ball flying over the net.