John Isner begins his 2016 Wimbledon campaign against a foe he’s been so used to dominating. That’s Marcos Baghdatis, who is looking to stop Isner’s win streak against him. Read on for a preview of this matchup. Also check out our breakdown of Horacio Zeballos vs. Mikhail Youzhny.
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If there’s one thing Isner has in excess heading into today’s meeting with Baghdatis, it has to be confidence. Well, maybe Isner is of the humble type but he can’t deny the fact that he’s been straight up savage when up against Baghdatis. For those in the dark, note that Isner is 6-0 in career matches against Baghdatis.
In their most recent meeting, Isner whipped Baghdatis via a 6-3, 6-3 victory in Atlanta last year. While all of their meetings happened on a hard surface, Isner and his deadly first serves could still be expected to trouble Baghdatis when they get entangled at the grass court of the All England Club. See, Isner leads the ATP in serve rating (318.5) and is second in first serve percentage (69.8) on grass courts this year.
Isner has reached the third round of Wimbledon in each of the last two years. That remains his deepest run since making his debut at All England Club nine years ago.
Baghdatis will try to avoid bombing out of the first round of this year’s Wimbledon. Of course, that means getting over Isner, who is a big obstacle for Baghdatis, literally and figuratively.
As mentioned above, the 6-10 Isner has Baghdatis’ number, having not lost in six meetings against the Cypriot. To get past Isner, Baghdatis will have to solve the American’s serve. Unfortunately, Baghdatis is just 30th in return rating on grass per the ATP site with a 135.5 clip.
Baghdatis is no stranger to success at All England Club. He has made it to the quarterfinals back in 2007 Wimbledon, which is still the furthest he’s gone in a grand slam tournament.
