Wimbledon Day 7 matches to watch: Rescheduling impacts Manic Monday

LONDON — These are the matches to watch on Day 7 of Wimbledon. Play begins on the outer courts at 6:30 a.m. ET and at 8 a.m. ET on Centre Court and No. 1 Court. ESPN's live coverage begins at 7 a.m. ET, and live coverage from Centre Court will start at 8 a.m. on ESPN2. Click here for the order of play, and see the full TV schedule here.

Storylines

Roger Federer's and Rafael Nadal's tournaments get tougher after scheduling decision: Wimbledon's Manic Monday is supposed to be the best ticket in tennis. All 16 fourth-round matches are supposed to be played, giving fans a smorgasbord of top action even on the outside courts. But this year is different. Peruse Monday's schedule and two of the game's biggest names are missing: Federer and Nadal. Both men cruised through their third-round matches under the Centre Court roof on Saturday, but with rain on the outside courts, the tournament canceled two matches in the bottom half, Stan Wawrinka vs. Denis Istomin and John Isner vs. Feliciano Lopez. Another match, Kei Nishikori vs. Simone Bolelli, was suspended for light in the fifth set.

As a result, Wimbledon held back the entire bottom half of the men's draw to wait for these matches to finish. That means Federer, Nadal and everyone else who's already through in the bottom half will have an extra day off on Monday as the schedule plays catch-up, but then play back-to-back days on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Wimbledon midterm grades: Serena falls; Big Four in good shape

"That’s not a positive thing," Nadal said. "But it cannot be perfect."

It's even worse news for those still in the third round. Wawrinka, Isner and Nishikori, for example, could have to play Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday if they win their matches.

Suspended third-round matches resume: Wawrinka's and Isner's matches were the only two third-rounders canceled on Saturday. But three big matches were suspended due to light and will resume on Monday. The most dramatic one involves Madison Keys, who will play a second-set tiebreaker to try to force a third set against Yaroslava Shvedova (First match, Court 12). Keys sustained a leg injury late in the match on Saturday and had to be helped off the court by the physio when her match was finally called at 9:35 p.m with Shvedova leading 7-6 (7), 6-6.

The most important match with respect to title hopes involved last year's finalist, Sabine Lisicki, and Ana Ivanovic (first match, No. 1 Court). Their match was suspended with Lisicki leading 6-4, 1-1.

Also Monday, No. 10 seed Nishikori and No. 132 Boelli resume at 3-3 in the fifth set (first match, Court 8).

Matches to watch

Alize Cornet tries to back up her upset against No. 13 Eugenie Bouchard (first match, Centre Court): After losing to Cornet on Saturday, No. 1 Serena Williams made one thing clear.

"I think everyone in general plays the match of their lives against me," Williams said. "I'm pretty sure that [Cornet's] next match, it won't be the same."

Serena's struggles at the Grand Slams continue with loss at Wimbledon

Those are pointed words from Williams, but she's not wrong. Cornet played the perfect match to beat her earlier this year in Dubai and then got routed in her next match by Venus Williams 6-3, 6-0. This time Cornet will have to recover from the emotional high of pulling off the upset of the tournament to take on Bouchard. The only time the two played was last year on clay and Cornet had to battle for a three-set win on her more favored surface. The Frenchwoman has needed three sets to get through all three of her matches at Wimbledon. Bouchard hasn't lost a set.

Maria Sharapova faces a tough test from No. 9 Angelique Kerber (third match, No. 1 Court): Sharapova had a dominant first week, losing just seven games in six sets. Four of those six sets were won either 6-0 or 6-1. Now she faces her first top-10 in Kerber, who nearly won her first grass-court title the week before Wimbledon, in Eastbourne. Sharapova leads 4-1 against the German, whose one win came on the quick indoor courts in Paris two years ago. The two have not met in more than a year. 

Caroline Wozniacki seeks first Wimbledon quarterfinal (second match, Court 12): The former No. 1 has never advanced past the fourth round, but she has a chance against No. 43 Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, who knocked out No. 2 Li Na in the third round. Wozniacki is 3-0 against Zahlavova Strycova, but the Czech is in the best grass form of her career.

Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic close out Centre Court: Murray gets the second slot on Centre Court to face No. 20 Kevin Anderson. The two haven't played in nearly three years. Murrray's return skills will be tested against the South African's big serve, which drove his third-round opponent, Fabio Fognini, batty.

Top-seeded Djokovic follows Murray against No. 14 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a semifinalist in 2011 and '12. This would be a blockbuster fourth-round match if Tsonga were in form, but he's not. The Frenchman hasn't beaten a top-10 player in more than a year, going 0-8 since defeating Roger Federer at last year's French Open. Nevertheless, it should be an entertaining affair. The last time these two played at Wimbledon, in 2011, points were ending like this:

Tsonga and Djokovic drove each other to exhaustion at Wimbledon 2011. Djokovic won in four sets.

Glyn Kirk/Getty Images