AGUT VS. A GOAT: The fourth-round match between Roberto Bautista Agut and Roger (“Greatest of All Time”) Federer could be called a match between Agut and a “GOAT.”
NOT QUITE TRUE: Early in Venus‘s career, when the hype machine was in full gear, Martina Navratilova said, “If everybody believed everything they read about her, we might as well go home, because Venus Williams is going to beat everybody.”
QUOTEBOOK:
“Gilles Simon is the master of prevarication. He has stamina to burn.”—Wimbledon Live Radio
“Love him or hate him, this kid Nick Kyrgios will get people watching this game for years.”—Nick Lester
“The fortitude of the people here at Wimbledon knows no bounds.”—Mary Rhodes
COCO PUFFS INTO QUARTERS: For the first time in ten years, three American women—Serena, Coco Vandeweghe and Madison Keys—are into the quarterfinals. Incredibly, the suddenly confident, big-hitting Vandeweghe has scored three stunning upsets in a row. She beat No. 11 seed Karolina Pliskova, No. 22 seed Sam Stosur, and today the No. 6 seed, last year’s semifinalist Lucie Safarova. Again and again, she came from behind against the seasoned Czech. Next, she faces Maria Sharapova. This is Coco’s 19th Slam, and her best previous result was at this year’s Aussie Open, where she reached the third round.
Twenty-year-old Keys, the No. 21 seed, cut down on her errors and improved her movement to beat the No. 122 Belarussian qualifier Olga Govortsova 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Through four rounds the average ranking of her opponents was 104. Next up for the Aussie Open semifinalist, is No. 13 seed Aga Radwanska, the 2012 Wimbledon finalist.
THE ACCIDENT-PRONE PRO: The devastating ruptured ligament suffered by world No. 1 Rory McIlroy raises the question whether a lot of pros will still go out onto the popular soccer field at Indian Wells. The injury to the defending British Open champ also brings to mind some random horrific injuries in tennis, such as Serena stepping on a glass in a Munich bar, Sam Querrey falling through a glass table, Mats Wilander missing the toilet when he went to sit on it in a Japanese hotel, or David Wheaton skateboarding through a glass window on the Stanford campus.
TO BE CONTINUED: In a superb grass court contest, the zoning Kevin Anderson served beautifully, blasted power forehands, moved adeptly for a 6’8″ giant, scored brilliant lunging stab volleys, and shocked defending champion Novak Djokovic to go up 7-6, 7-6.
But ultimately No. 1 Djokovic, who donated a wretched double fault in the first set tiebreak, proved his steely championship mettle by rallying to win the third and fourth sets 6-1, 6-4 and even the contest before play was suspended due to darkness. Fortunately for the struggling Anderson, the match was not moved to Centre Court, under the roof. Instead, it will be played Tuesday. No men’s defending champion has lost this early since Pete Sampras lost in the quarters in 1996.
A TALE OF TWO HALVES: Going into the fourth round, the top half of the ladies’ singles draw had won 35 Slam titles. The players in the lower half had none.
GO FIGURE: Kevin Anderson‘s coach Neville Godwin once beat Novak Djokovic‘s coach Boris Becker at Wimbledon Canadian Vasek Pospisil won in five sets in singles and lost in five sets in doubles.
TALL ORDER: Time and again, Andy Murray hit lob winners over 6’10” Ivo Karlovic.
NOT SO FAST, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: A headline in Monday’s paper read, ‘ANOTHER TITLE, FED? DREAM ON.’ Federer, who has dropped just one set going into his quarterfinal match against Gilles Simon, isn’t looking too shabby for a 33 year old.
HEADLINES:
SAME RULES FOR 150 YEARS—UNBELIEVABLE
TATT’S NOT THE DRESS CODE
WIMBLEDONCON—ALL ENGLAND CLUB’S SOUVENIRS ARE MADE IN CHINA … EXCEPT FOR THE CHINA, WHICH IS MADE IN ENGLAND
BEST TATTOOS: Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Dustin Brown, Liam Brody.
NOT EXACTLY A NOBLE EFFORT: After Australian fans who were backing the olive-skinned Nick Kyrgios put a chocolate spread on their face, tabloid reporters tried to stir controversy by asking Venus and Serena if it was inappropriate.
CURIOUS KRYGIOS: It was not a good day for Nick Kyrgios, as he lost to Richard Gasquet 7-5, 6-1, 6-7, 7-6. The Aussie—who is both incredibly charismatic and quite problematic, often in the same breath—got a code violation for an audible obscenity, exchanged words with the umpire over his socks, and was booed by the crowd when he shamelessly tanked a couple of points. Yes, he is so very appealing and talented, but he has some significant maturing to do.
