LTA HEAD of men’s tennis Leon Smith gives his daily verdict from Wimbledon.
This time he analyses the top Brits, reveals Marcus Willis’ fairytale run is STILL all the talk of SW19 – and discusses much more.
SHOCK OF THE DAY
GARBINE MUGURUZA looked like a superstar when she won the French Open but this has brought her back down to earth. Fair play to Jana Cepelova.
SHOT OF THE DAY
IT has to be Fabio Fognini’s reverse tweener lob in his win over Federico Delbonis. Players practise them for fun but doing it in a match has to feel good.
THEY ARE A BRIT SPECIAL
IT was good to hear Heather Watson get tough with herself after she lost to Annika Beck.
If she can look at herself like that and say, “I’m going to do something about this,” that’s good.
Jo Konta mustn’t look at her defeat to Eugenie Bouchard in isolation. She is bang on track. Dan Evans dug deep in that first-set breaker and when Evo hit the front he looked great. I can’t wait for the Federer match.
Watching Andy Murray in that third set was pure enjoyment. The way he was playing close to the lines showed he was just on it.
WORLD IN MY EYES
WE had an early start on the Tube at High St Kensington with Dan Evans and his team.
Next was a three-hour high performance meeting with LTA colleagues, then watched Evo before a catch-up with doubles head coach Louis Cayer. Took in Andy’s match and did some commentary on Jo.
UNDER THE RADAR
STEVE JOHNSON won his first tour title at Nottingham just the other week when he beat Pablo Cuevas.
And the American followed that up by beating Jeremy Chardy 6-1 7-6 6-3. And now he has Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov — one of my other dark horses.
I am really looking forward to seeing that one today when they meet on Court 18.
TALK OF THE COURTS
THE Marcus Willis story was still a big talking point. But everyone was looking forward to the Konta-Bouchard game and it lived up to the hype. Brilliant match — Bouchard is back.
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