Bill Simons
“It’s a wretched day in Southwest London,” said broadcaster Rupert Bell.
On a dark, dank English morning, court coverings may have been inflated on the outer courts, but spirits were deflated. Today was the first day Wimbledon or any other sports event in Britain would be at 100% capacity. But the action wasn’t exactly 100%. London drizzle can flatten the spirit.
The pressers were modest, and filled with a lot of “I don’t know”s, and a tad too many “Glad to be here” cliches.
The crowd, once so hungry for a cutting-edge moment, became resigned. Their cheers had a certain garden party propriety. Off-topic debates soon filled the void. Have Italian Matteo Berrettini and Ajla Tomljanovic replaced the slumping Gael Monfils and his fiancée Elina Svitolina as the hottest couple on the circuit? After the junior match between Pole Aleksander Orlikowski and Brit Jack Pinnington Jones was “uncanceled,” questions arose on the history of “uncanceling” in tennis.
Far off court, there was intrigue and some rage about the mysterious withdrawal of the British teen phenom Emma Raducanu. Did John McEnroe get it right on BBC when he suggested the front-page sensation, who had trouble breathing during her fourth round match and withdrew, just could not handle the big stage pressure? Or, as critics claimed, was McEnroe a callous, sexist cad, who didn’t know what he was talking about, being mean to an 18-year-old girl ranked No. 338?
Emma’s opponent, Ajla Tomljanovic, said “For him to say that, it’s definitely harsh. I have experienced something similar but not to that extent. I know that it’s a real thing. I’ve spoken to athletes that have gone through that. It’s not easy…I almost felt worse about it because I know how bad that can feel…I can’t imagine how she must be feeling, having to pull out.”
But the Czech star Karolina Pliskova suggested, no matter what, you have to be ready for prime time. “If you decide to do this sport and take a wild card,” she noted. “You’re going to be playing on a big court because you are from this country. You need to count on that pressure.”
Perpetual critic Piers Morgan said McEnroe was right, contending that Emma was “not brave” and she should seek John’s advise “on how to toughen up and become a champion like he was.” Social media noted that Morgan was again being critical of a younger woman. Some added that it was rich that the 56-year old (who walked off his morning talk show when he was upset by the criticism of a weatherman) was now critical of the teen who withdrew. Similarly, Andy Murray scoffed at Morgan judging Emma’s mental toughness.
For her part, Raducanu issued a statement saying she had been playing “the best tennis of my life…[but] the whole experience caught up with me.” She confided that she got dizzy and was advised to stop and added, “Last night will go a long way to helping me learn what it takes to perform at the very top.”
Meanwhile, as play began on Centre Court, fans were wondering whether No. 2 Daniil Medvedev would get through his delayed fourth-round match and give fans a delicious quarterfinal match against Roger Federer. But his play was flat, he was soon out and now Miami Open winner Hubert Hurkacz will face Roger on Wednesday.
None of the four women’s quarters went to three sets. There wasn’t a single tiebreak. The phrase “drama free” came to mind. The best in the world, Ash Barty, showed us close to her best against Tomljanovic in the first all-Australian quarterfinal since 1980. Barty played in a scalloped FILA dress that honored the humble Aussie Evonne Goolagong. But you might say there was little that was humble about Barty’s performance today. Sprinting like a kangaroo in the outback, she hit 17 forehand winners, and efficiently dismissed Tomljanovic 6-1, 6-3 to become the first Aussie Wimbledon semi-finalist since Jelena Dokic in 2000.
The match of the day was supposed to be Aryna Sabalenka vs. Ons Jabeur: power vs. guile, intense serve and groundies vs. inventive creativity and an onslaught of dropshots. What a feel-good tale it would be if the Tunisian pioneer could raise the flag for Arabs and Africans in a world long dominated by others. But Sabalenka had other ideas. After all, the Belarusian’s demons seemed to be behind her. More than any other top-30 player, she has long under performed in Slams. Thanks to her 6-4, 6-3 win over Jabeur, the 23-year-old powerhouse and No. 2 seed is through to her first major semifinal. In her 14 previous Slams, she hadn’t even reached a quarterfinal.
There were two others in the draw who had once tasted glory but had been struggling of late. In her last eight Slams, 2016 US Open finalist and former No. 1 Karolina Pliskova hadn’t gotten past the fourth round. She did reach the Rome final, but there Iga Swiatek beat her 6-0, 6-0. Her ranking had dipped to No. 13. But at Wimbledon she surged. Taking full advantage of a dough-soft draw, she raced to the quarters without losing a set and then dismissed Swiss Viktorija Golubic, 6-2, 6-2.
Angie Kerber’s emergence has been even more striking. The three-time Slam winner downed Serena in the 2018 Wimbledon final. But the German with a big grin hadn’t been smiling much lately– she’d lost in the opening round of this year’s Aussie and French Opens. In her last ten Slams she hasn’t gotten beyond the fourth round. Her ranking fell to No. 25. But in June she did win a tune-up tourney on home ground in Bad Homburg, Germany. At Wimbledon, the still fleet 33-year-old lefty downed rising Coco Gauff, 17, and today she dismissed the considerable No. 19 seed Karolina Muchova. She’ll next face Barty in the semis.
At the French Open, none of the tourney’s four semi-finalists had ever reached a Slam quarterfinal. The Wimbledon semis will feature three who have at least reached a Slam final before. And the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, Barty and Sabalenka, will be on hand. So it’s not surprising that the weatherman we consulted told us the forecast for the women’s final four is bright and shiny.
HEROES MATTER: When Ons Jabeur was a girl, Andy Roddick was her hero. More recently the Tunisian said, “When Roger congratulated me, I think [to myself] I’m good. It inspires me and gives me hunger to win more.” Now she hears Arabic chants everywhere she goes, and when she heard Tunisian soccer songs coming from the stands, she confided, “I wanted to sing with them.”
FEW BUMPS ON THE ROAD: The average ranking of Novak Djokovic’s opponents through his first three matches was No. 156. His fourth-round opponent, No. 17 seed Cristian Garin, was the first opponent he faced who was in the top 100, bringing the average ranking of his foes down to a ranking of 122. All of Federer’s opponents were in the top 60, and their average ranking was 39. The highest ranked player he faced was No. 27 Lorenzo Sonego.
WIMBLEDON GAVE NOLE HIS WINGS: Novak Djokovic told ESPN, “Wimbledon has always been a dream tournament for me, a sacred tournament.” He added that his first Wimbledon win ten years ago was a “once in a lifetime experience. More than 100,000 people came out to see me at home. It gave me wings for the next ten years.”
QUOTEBOOK
“I’m just a normal guy from Montreal.” – Felix Auger-Aliassime
“These guys are young, they can recover.” – The joking 39-year-old Federer, on the fact that Daniil Medvedev and Hubie Hurkacz had to finish their Monday match on Tuesday due to rain, and therefore play three consecutive days.
LOVING FAA: Darren Cahill said Felix Auger-Aliassime is “the most likable male tennis player.’ Chris Evert added, “He’s very polite.” The legend then added sarcastically, “It’s like, ‘He’s a male tennis player?’”
GO FIGURE: Angie Kerber, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Ash Barty are the major winners left at Wimbledon.
FEDERER ON COVID: Reflecting on COVID, Roger said, “I’m still not a hundred percent convinced we are on the other side. I still think there is more to come. Last year in the summer we also felt the same way, super positive, having a few cases here and there. It looked very promising, then everything changed again later on in the year; especially indoors for us in Europe it gets tricky…I feel safe as it’s outdoors…[But] I’m still very, very careful, especially with close contact. It happened with Jo Konta. We’re all hoping we can move on soon.”
TOUGH CROWD: After two knee surgeries, 39-year-old Federer is through to the quarters. Still, his Twitter critics can be harsh. One said, “looked very sloppy the first set. He needs to clean it up next round.”
