The British No1 has sailed into Wimbledon’s last 16 with three displays of steely purpose and goes into the tournament’s final week aiming to make historyJohanna Konta’s biggest challenge as Wimbledon enters its concluding week is not so much the pedigree of her 15 rivals left in the draw – there is no standout favourite – but marrying the intensity of her emotions to the quality of her performance. She has done that with encouraging consistency since breaking into the top 10, most impressively in Miami, where she defeated Simona Halep, Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki on her way to the title.On Monday Konta plays the one-time French prodigy Caroline Garcia on No1 Court in the fourth round and, as her...
The Spaniard has not reached the last eight at Wimbledon since 2011 but after winning at Roland Garros, he looks a real contender for the titleIt has been many years since Wimbledon has witnessed Rafael Nadal prowling the baseline so confidently – those narrow eyes glaring across the net as if his opponent just dared to insult his mother, that laser-like focus matched only by the staggering accuracy of his groundstrokes. But the Spaniard, who is seeded four this year, has every reason to be confident judging by his enthralling and ultimately emphatic 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 win over Donald Young.Before the match pictures had circulated on social media of Nadal struggling to use a self-service checkout machine while buying a...
The tanking of Bernard Tomic and the retirement of Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon has produced scornful reproach but empathy ought to be the reaction when young people reveal their vulnerability in publicWhen Bernard Tomic, grappling for an elusive sense of purpose in whatever remains of his professional life, slunk out of Wimbledon on day two and later admitted his love of tennis is being drowned by pernicious feelings of ennui, the mind went back to the first time he saw Novak Djokovic standing on the opposite side of the net.The memories of that sun-kissed Centre Court afternoon in 2011 should induce fond nostalgia. At best, however, they are no more than bittersweet and are mostly tinged with the kind of...
Seven months after suffering a horrific hand injury, the double Wimbledon champion delighted Centre Court with a straight-sets win over Johanna LarssonPetra Kvitova produced the most stirring moment of Wimbledon’s opening day, beating Johanna Larsson in straight sets on Centre Court to confirm both her own status as an improbable candidate for a third women’s title and another step in a heartening comeback story. Related: Petra Kvitova could return to tennis within six months following knife attack Related: Petra Kvitova has won ‘biggest fight’ in French Open return after knife attack Continue reading...
The champion cut an awkward, pained figure on Centre Court on day when the All England Club’s quiet grandeur was an expression of something unshakeableAnd breathe again. Public concern at the state of Andy Murray’s hip injury has been a prominent note in the build-up to Wimbledon this summer. Pray for Andy, one newspaper urged on the eve of the championships, calling for a collective effort of psychic will to ease that troubling joint, save the British summer and all the rest of it.In the event Murray cut an awkward, pained figure through his two hours on Centre Court, dragging those bulked-up ankles across the turf like a pedigree shire horse, wincing up at his coach and apparently in a...