WIMBLEDON 2022

serena back
russians banned

Ons goes on.

Thunderstorm here in South London and enough rain to partially flood my kitchen, so a second weather interruption already. Just the two covered courts in action, and I've zero interest in Novak grinding out a four-set win, so Struff-Alcaraz it is. This feels like a five setter.

Davidovich Fokina was serving at 76 64 53 40/0 vs Hurkacz two hours ago, felt cocky enough to play a needless tweener to discard one MP, lost the next seven points as well, then it poured down. He's now a break down in the fifth. Oops.

won it in a fifth-set tiebreak, unfortunately

Sinner knocks out Stan W on the first day.

Murray through late under the roof.

Watson was losing, even later, when TV coverage stopped.

I think Murray played an underarm serve and won the point.

Watson levelled the match at something like 10:40pm, when they suspended play (you can't go beyond 11pm).

Berrettini withdraws, +ve Covid test :/

As has Cilic

Jubb/Kyrgios - v enjoyable game so far.

Nadal getting the runaround a bit while Serena waits to go on.

yeah frankie cerundolo (ranked #41 but has never won a grand slam match) is playing well

Sweet Harmony.

Dramatic match. Late nights watching Wimbledon feels very new to me. When we had no roof and no lights it all closed down by ... 9?

So BBC's TODAY AT WIMBLEDON, though in the schedules, is effectively defunct as there is always live play at that time?

I've decided, quickly enough, that I don't approve of constant post-match court-side interviews. After the final, OK, we're used to that. Doing it after every match (at least on Centre Court + #1?) seems wrong to me on various levels.

The post-match interview with Kyrgios was kinda amusing in its own way, the lady was kinda being salty with him.

Suggesting that perhaps a future in commentary awaits because he was being his usual self, mithering loudly in the breaks at nobody in general, applauding Jubb when he got the better of him, complaining and being way too oversensitive about the crowd, of whom the most vocal ones were braying Aussies anyway.

I really want him to win a slam, just for the lolz.

Centre Court has had a roof since 2009 (and Court no 1 since 2019) but it's pretty unusual for play to go so deep into the evening on the showcourts on days 1 and 2 (Nadal-Cerundolo and Struff-Alcaraz were very long), plus it was Sirandy and Sir-ena, so I guess BBC couldn't cut away to Clare B and John Mc talking about MATCH-UPS and DIGGING DEEP and WEAPONS and whether he/she really WANTS IT. I haven't watched much, if any, of BBC1/BBC2 coverage - it's all been court-hopping on iPlayer. Watson-Korpatsch on court 1 (suspended at 10:40pm?) was online only, I think.

Indications that I don't follow the women's tour closely enough:
Kontaveit is number 2 seed?!
Alison Riske is now Riske-Amritraj! (Married Vijay's nephew three years ago, perhaps only now preferring the double-barrel)

Trying to get my work done quickly so I can watch Raducanu at 4:30, I'll keep an eye on Murray after.

If anyone has a tip for other potentially good games today lmk.

Ruud-Humbert (upset there, I suspect)
Chwalinska-RiskeAmtritraj (good Polish leftie from qualifying, another potential upset)
Sinner-Ymer

I'd love to see Kokkinakis take out Novak, but I think Monday was the day to catch him cold.

Thanks so much!

I'll run Ruud/Humbert in the background while I'm trying to work, looks like the rain has delayed things.

Don't follow sport enough to have any idea on this but ... what on earth has Raducanu done to deserve such hate? (Where by "hate" I mean snarky headlines in the UK press).

That's the UK press for you.

Well, yes.

But they seem peculiarly happy to see her ... not win.

Yeah, hard to know what the papers think, she did get pretty much bulldozed by Garcia today, despite the goodwill from the crowd.

Murray in trouble right now.

1 of these lads will make a semifinal btw

ugo humbert
goffin
tiafoe
bublik
norrie
stevie johnson
tommy paul
jiri vesely

Davidovich Fokina’s luck doesn’t last another final set t/b - was quite hard to watch as there was a spider on walkabout on the main camera lens!

Another late night on Centre…

Isner's curse

And Van Rijthoven takes out Opelka. Not a single tour level win until he got a wild card in Rosmalen and won the tournament. So that’s seven straight wins!

isners 0-8 record with 1 service break ever (!?) vs andy was misleading… those matches were all 2010 - 2016, isners a better player than he was then and murray obv is not what he was then

I didn't even know ADF got a point penalty at 7-9 in the t/b vs Vesely, which ended the match. This is what happens when you're half-watching on your phone with the sound off.

I've never seen Kyrgios play doubles but he's last on at court 18 sometime after his main game on court 2, given what a whiner he is, that might be entertaining.

Fact of the day:

It's a measure of how long Richard Gasquet has been around that his win over (then) world #2 Medvedev in Geneva a few weeks ago meant that he now has wins over opponents ranked every spot between 1-100. (He beat #1 Federer in Monte Carlo 17 years ago!) I hope the ATP make a little commemorative book of coins, like the ESSO FA Cup Centenary one I had as a kid. Les Exploits De Gasquet. Foreword by Guy Forget. Skip the bit about the Miami strip club and the cocaine.

Tim vR is very fun to watch. big strokes, big sh bh! plus comes off as just mentally solid. hope he sticks around awhile and gives everyone hell.

Dude, just leave your nose alone, I wish I had a red button option that cuts away just before Nadal serves.

Swiatek dropped a set! Alert the authorities.

Shapo sprayed his way to a 4-set defeat vs Nakashima. Stockport lad Broadby loses 11 games in a row vs Schwartzman but turns it around to win. Mertens saved match points in the fading light last night and outlasted Udvardy on the resumption today: possibly even longer than Tan-Williams (and Tan, trashed by her doubles partner for pulling out of that event, is through another round in singles). Huge win for Boulter over Pliskova. We had a 14-12 deciding t/b in the women's doubles. It's all going on.

And Kyrg-Kokk appear to have excused themselves from the doubles (Kyrg was on fire earlier, so I assume it's Kokk).

Oh bum, I was looking forward to that, I've been looking in on 18 periodically and was going to ditch Nadal for it.

And it's Kyrgios-Tsitsipas in r3. That has to be Saturday evening on Centre, right?

or 2 again?

Nadal getting dragged around way more than he should be at this early stage.

I like Broady, gonna look out for his next game.

I was shocked to discover that Jack Sock is still playing, and was up 2 sets 0 in the second round when his match was suspended today.

Looking at the order of play today, I was wondering Michael do you have any recs? Much obliged.

tiafoe/bublik should be entertaining

Thank you!

It's a measure of how long Richard Gasquet has been around that his win over (then) world #2 Medvedev in Geneva a few weeks ago...

Veteran poster Michael J there, still pulling off effortless prosodic dropshots after two decades on the ILx circuit.

He's one of the more experienced guys on the TOUR, but he keeps showing up and showing that he has the WEAPONS to go deep here. In this thread.

It's not the strokeplay, it's making it to the court I find difficult these days.

Tiafoe-Bublik for sure, also Mertens-Kerber and Basilashvili-VanR.

I'll keep an eye on the stats for Sinner-Isner, just to see if Long John is maintaining that servebot accuracy. I think the fact that we can't have 13+ game final sets might help him. I really don't mind if one of the 2m-tall bullet boys win it this year. It used to be my worst nightmare - the triumph of anti-tennis. Anything but Novak.

Isner should probably achieve his 'number of aces' world record today, I'm sure there will be a 48" clip on the Wimbledon YT page about it this evening.

One of the best things about yesterday was the suspension of play.

I work on headphones mostly and all those different channels' worth of ambient rain and crowd sounds, exquisitely rendered with expensive BBC location mics was lovely.

Oh absolutely. Even when the glorious ambient soundscape gets interrupted by tennis, the best courts are those with no commentary. Nadal-Tsitsipas in Barcelona last year was so much more enjoyable on Prime because the commentary feed had failed. I'm generally up for a bit of Andrew Cotter plus Mac/Nav but now that "Any point will do"/"Hey it's LOU REED" is behind bars, and Barry Davies has retired, I don't get much out of the chatter.

The distant chatter of the kids tasked with covering and uncovering the court yesterday was funny too.

Underwhelming - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYCyKEorbKQ

some good quotes re isners serve:

Opelka: “Obviously he has height, but technically he has a perfect motion. He is easily the best server of all time. Even now I think John has got the majority of his aces later on in the Tour. When Ivo [Karlovic] was first playing, the courts were faster and guys weren’t returning as well. People weren’t as big. For me it is no question John is the greatest server. The past six years the courts have been slower and that is when he has played his best tennis. Against Novak and Delpo and Cilic. These big guys who return well. To have the number and record in this era says it all.

“He has another gear. If you look at his motion on a 30/0 point, the intensity is lower. You see it when you return against him because you are so locked in trying to return and find anything. At 30/0 it will come off seven or eight mph slower, he won’t bend his knees as much. But it is still a natural motion. On a bigger point it comes in nine or 10 mph quicker."

Cilic: “Considering John, even though he has great height, which helps for the serve, he has one of the best techniques on the Tour. It is not easy to create that. He is a big guy. I know myself it is not easy to put everything together. The serve is probably the toughest shot we have in tennis. It is extremely technical and hats off to him for keeping his level of serving for so long and his game so high to play long into tournaments and have such great results. It is incredible to have this kind of a guy on the Tour along with Karlovic and other incredible servers.”

Querrey: “When it comes to John Isner’s serve, I think 95 per cent of players would say that it is the greatest serve of all time. And it is not just because he is tall. His mechanics are great and he does a great job of placement. He can slide it, hit it flat and hit a kick serve. I think the most impressive thing about it is late in matches, I feel he makes a ton of first serves. I don’t know if there is a stat from 5/5 or something in tie-breaks, but it must be so high. He deserves the record. He is not only an incredible server but an incredible player. He has been around the Top 20 for 10 or 11 years. He is not just a server, but to have that record is cool.”

Man if Broady comes back to take the third set, it'd be so cool.

There are some court-level clips on YT of Isner-Federer indoors in Basel, I think. It’s a phenomenal thing to see that serve snap down in a blink of a eye, but the Fed reaction times are incredible too.

Alize Cornet working her soft serve magic again.

Kyrgios still sharing his views, I see.

It’s a race to disqualification.

john Lloyd's commentary really making me root for nick here. that and my dislike for his opponent.

your basic insane kyrgios match..stef almost surely wins this in straight sets cuz nick wouldve self destructed if he was broken @ 4-4 2nd set…..

… instead saves that break pt (only 1 hes faced so far) & prob will win now

He's a total penis today

I have just noticed that the BBC IPlayer volume slider goes up to 11, is this common knowledge and I'm late to the joke?

Living this TB.

6-6

7-7!

Lol dropshot for the match!

Another cringe interview incoming

good 4th set, shame it didnt go 5

We're on today? Wow the big courts are gonna be knackered come the finals

Rooting for Ostapenko on the women's side.

Just won the first set in her match!

Gonna be switching between Tiafoe and Watson for a bit, I reckon.

Going to a decider after Jelena had two MPs!

Remarkable scenes with Cliff Richard, Desmond Lynam, Stefan Edberg et al on Centre Court today. But no place for Tim Mayotte.

Some old guy near the floor dressed in some red military uniform, like a Yeoman Guard or Sgt Pepper :)

Ostapenko loses, from victory really. Maria took her opportunity well.

goffin/tiafoe going 5

match has clearly been & will be on tiafoes racket but these guys are so closely matched overall

Poster Maresn3st, I believe that's what is called a Chelsea Pensioner.

Sinner vs Alcaraz seemed a marvellous prospect and felt like an epic to me - must have lasted 3.5 hours? - even though it wasn't 5 sets. I was surprised, perhaps naively, by how much Sinner dominated. The levels of power and skill in this match were still going to the end. Maybe Alcaraz underperformed, though, given the quality we've seen him produce before?

Lol thanks Pinefox :)

van rijthoven has some WEAPONS

oh no nicky has been fined FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS

That's almost exactly the champion's prize money for next week's ITF M25 in Roehampton, so he should ask for a wild card, beat a few guys ranked 300-700, and donate it. I've got a day off, I could go down there and heckle.

Nicky to win Wimbledon but get 80% of his prize money fined would be my favourite outcome.

The dissonance created by the miserable, joyless sod winning Wimbledon would be a sight to behold.

He was full of joy when he won the doubles at the Aussie!

Surprised by this (Jesse) Garin (and the Desperadoes) comeback vs De Minaur.

garin is good vs a flat hitter, i expected him to be in this match

going 5th set tiebreak now

Terrific battle, possibly longest match of the tournament. Venus/J Murray 18-16 t/b loss last night was also a treat.

#teamNick

🗣 "Any publicity is good publicity, right?"

Nick Kyrgios was not taking the bait when asked about his attire at #Wimbledon. 🎣❌#BBCTennis pic.twitter.com/3YSeY0zIAr

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 4, 2022

fucking english people and their obsession with rules

sinner up a set and a break on novak

What?! He was 3-0 down on the first when I looked!!

Novak on the ropes and a net cord saves him from double break!

Df, for DBL break

What a call from Sinner and hawkeye hands him the double break

Djoko breaks, played some excellent tennis.

Watch this rally if you can. The longest rally too.

Great hold from 15/40 by Sinner. Djoko will have to serve it out

What a brutal cross court fh on BP from Sinner

Djoko breaks, there were a couple of DFS in there though..

And breaks again, winning most rallies now.

sometimes it feels like he spots his opponent two sets to make it more interesting for himself

Sinner can't give DFS early on in the 5th, that's for sure

Think sinner has a chance if he goes for broke on his fh.

sinner throwing it away in this game imo

he just hasn't been as good hitting the ball on the move, which is a problem here

his drop shots keep hitting the net, not great bob

And a drop shot for the loss of serve.

joker just too good. he gets to everything.

oooof

Depressing. I figured at 0-2, he fades and loses in three or wins in five. No other result seemed likely.

Goffin only won something like six games off him in their QF a few years back; Norrie I can't see making an impact either. So that's another Sunday ruined. :)

Kyrgios to 'save' us all.

yeah looking good for norrie here but he has no chance vs djoko in the semi

norries path to reach a semi has to be one of the softest in awhile but good on him, still a huge accomplishment

Looks like Nadal is done?

Or not. He's kicking his serve in, not following through on bh, but his slice is causing Fritz all kinds of trouble - up a break in the 4th.

Kyrgios through in three.

Yup, could be going to a 5th

Nadal 3-0 at the tb decider. Inevitably.

poor fritz, he played fantastically well

I take huge pleasure in watching Rafa grind these wins out (now, maybe not 5+ years ago). Novak - not remotely.

<3 rafa, hes so tough

not dissimilar to novak suffering an ab injury midmatch vs fritz @ 21 AO & still winning in 5

Well done to Jabeur!

Rybakina making Halep struggle with the power of her shot making.

Won the first.

At the 2nd and the rallies are coming in. Both playing well.

3 DFs from Halep, who played some great stuff but unfortunately the power from Rybakina is putting a lot of pressure on Halep.

3 break back points for Halep

Broken, Rybakina goes off the boil.

2 DFS from Halep to hand it again!! :-(

No easy gimmes this time. Two aces.

The difference in this is the serving.

Another df for deuce..

Awesome return for the match!!

Great rallies, really could've done with another hour of this.

Lol @ a Russian born player in the final.

Rafa press conference about to start. I think Nick K has a bye into the final...

My god:

“I have a tear in the abdominal, the muscle,” Nadal said. “I was thinking about the whole day about the decision. But it doesn’t make sense to keep going. If I keep going the injury will get worse and worse. I feel very sad to say that.”

Personally I don’t like tennis. Each to their own!

— Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) July 7, 2022

Norrie serving for the first set, Djokovic looking rattled.

How has Norrie won this first set lol

Rami Malek in the crowd, still looking very much like a super villain

Women's singles: Both holding to 30 in their first games so far

First break Jabeur. Returns and game are consistent, lots of slicing and the unforced errors are coming!

Jabeur pulls it long on a BP. Rybakina eventually holds but atm it's all Jabeur. She has wonderful variety and is making Rybakina look one dimensional.

Breaks Rybakina for the set.

At the next Rybakina has a break with a great winner

Oh dear, Rybakina should've challenged that for 2-0. Instead she faces a break back

Gets through it with some big serves!

This 4th game is an epic. Both playing great

Jabeur should've called that. We'd still be in it!

And is broken, beating herself here Jabeur.

Onto a decider we go!!

2 bps Rybakina

What a turnaround!!

Rybakina looks good now..

Just a beautiful defensive love there.

Now a brilliant lob for bps Jabeur!!

Fantastic, she saved them all

And wins the game. If she wins, it's her resistance to Jabeur's pressure that will do it

The temperament has been the difference. Jabeur is disappointedly broken. Rybakina to serve for the title.

And does so!

i don’t think i’ve ever seen someone that chill about the biggest moment of their lives

I've seen more atmosphere at a library tbh.

Lol yes

iconic non-reaction from Rybakina on winning Wimbledon!!!

— Alex Macpherson (@alex_macpherson) July 9, 2022

Kind of wish she'd whipped out a Russian flag and waved it around.

Really that would be awesome

Let the tutting commence!

Just started watching as Kyrgios breaks Djoko in the 1st

Service from Kyrgios looks on fire so far..

Serving for the set and yeah getting into the serve, getting tight, one set point..

Deuce..

Great serving for the set!

big second serves is just in his nature but its also prob sound strategy honestly, medvedev did that in the us open win

The serving is so good and heavy but Novak is getting into the returns. 1-1

What a god rally..Djoko won that.

Great drop shot to see off that game.

0-30. He is in here..

Awesome..

Got to deuce at the next. But Kyrgios skanked a couple at the net.

What's your prediction at this stage, xyzzzz?

Djoko in 5 I think. Mainly hoping it goes the distance.

Yeah, I feel the same.

3 bps Kyrgios..

First real air-punching moment :)

Saves them all. Some unforced errors and Kyrgios starts chatting

One more BP to save.

Great drop shot from Djoko to save it lol

I wish nothing but death for ppl in the crowd who make calls :)

What a hold!!

Oh here we go, brat

Another BP Djoko, the returning is fantastic now

Beautiful volley Kyrgios

'lil Dustin Brown moment there

An ace to hold, good stuff!

Damn!

Lol what a shot Kyrgios

tweener freaked him out :)

Just talked himself into a df there..

Then two aces lol

"The one who looks like she had about 700 drinks"

Lol, this is just bollocks.

I know, he's like 'let me just get this ace out the way and then I can talk to the umpire'

Djokovic has got a ton of experience but even then these antics might test him

idk, it's pretty transparent all this kicking up dust over nothing

Yeah looked good. Incredible set of tennis. Don't know whether Nick can hold it together. Masses of chaos.

Lol at these successful, dfs

Lol @ Djoko slipping. Mad fucking game.

I can't quite figure him out, it's like tension is his fuel and the potentially destabilising effect on the opponent is a plus, but Novak's dgaf attitude almost makes it worse, idk?

Could do with less blather about Wills and Kate and their weird 40 year old son.

Hewitt's commentary has been superb btw. Just keeping to tactics, calling the shape of the match right, not getting involved in moralising about Nick's behaviour.

Yeah totally, I do like Mac tho', for a horrible moment I thought Pat Cash was gonna be in there

Djoko holds to 0

Now Djoko is mad

How long before someone says 'brinkmanship'

Goes to deuce. Some terrific play here..

Df for break.

oh he mad now

Beating himself..

I feel another 8 grander coming

Novak like 'tra la la...'

fork in the ass time

4-4, with Djoko marginally better

Nick to serve..

how are these poshos out there in blazers and sweaters wrapped around the neck?? insane

kyrgios just making slightly too many errors to hang with finals-form joker imo

Miracle get from Novak and it's now 30/all

The serving has been fantastic from Kyrgios. 5-4.

uh oh that drop shot made novak mad..

febrile shit

Amazing..

Should've perhaps challenged that, but aces for the win.

That umpire should get two medals for this final lol

Kyrgios makes Djoko play one more shot for a change

Shit, awful return from the 2nd ..

Tb

Lol at Djoko pulling that

Oh damn, what a rally

Excellent point after: 4-1 and on his way..

Simon Pegg getting a lot of stick :)

Kyrgios is going to punch Sue Barker in the post match interview.

Roger Federer...is the 3rd best player of all time. Sigh.

Kyrgios actually looking relieved

I want Kyrgios to scream at Prince George

— Labour Accelerationists (@LabourAccel) July 10, 2022

It's always sad, welp, I wonder how long they leave the whole shebang up on Iplayer? I fancy going back and watching some missed matches in a day or two.

I've posted about this before, but the most extraordinary (and, for me, distressing) aspect of Djokovic's career is his third-act near-invincibility when it matters. His first 16 Slam finals, up to age 28 (when he'd been #1 or #2 for four years, generally considered peak or near-peak Novak): 8-8. His last 16 Slam finals: 13-3. This includes a two-year period when he was injured / refusing surgery / off-form and not winning anything. Everything since summer 2018 has been a nightmare!

Keep hearing how he's not quite the player he was, and how much more vulnerable he is in early rounds, but I can't remember the last time he faced a real threat in the first week (Tiafoe, Melbourne 2021?). If Kyrgios had been in his segment of the draw, might have been a different story. Doesn't matter how wretched his form might be for an hour, he'll find a way back in, and it's over. As soon as he broke Sinner early in the third set on Tuesday - that was it. From my perspective, it's the equivalent of the Liverpool injury-time winner. You know it's coming. Never in Djoubt.

Nostalgic for the days when players you didn't like just faded away in their 30s. Imagining a timeline where a newly-focused Becker beat Sampras, Hewitt and Federer to collect early-'00s majors. Ugh. Might have kept him out of trouble.

Older players in tennis (men and women's), men's golf are doing better and winning big things later. Look at Ronnie in the snooker as well, who is much more solid now than when he was younger.

The work that has been done on fitness, diet, sports psychology, surgeries (the work on Andy's hope, or Nadal at the French). Throw in the vast experience you accrue at that age, which is the usual plus people used to talk about. That can be an explosive combination.

*Andy's hip

Someone like Nick is an old style sportsman. No coaches, berating the umpire for old style disruption, not much work with a psychologist(?)

Not playing a full schedule and talking about his mental health aside is at least some evidence of self-care. But would anyone be surprised if he never made another slam final again?

Borg quit at 26, Carousel for everyone. (Kidding, Federer exempt anyway).

On the bright side, Novak now down to #7 in the rankings and, for as long as he's barred from entering Aus/N America, that's not going to improve.
(If Wimbledon had been carrying points, I think he'd be #4 (Rafa up to #2), with Norrie at #8 and Kyrgios up to #16. As it is, Nicky K stays in the 40s. Federer now has no ranking for the first time since Sept 1997).

Older players in tennis (men and women's), men's golf are doing better and winning big things later. Look at Ronnie in the snooker as well, who is much more solid now than when he was younger.

... and football.

Ugh, 2023 doesn't start until the 3rd of July, I'm itching already.

I thought it started January 1st

Lol, I need previews, run ups, I want to get into it.