History tends to forget that Britain’s last victor in the Wimbledon women’s tournament lost her first two semi-finalsFirst you have to suffer. The unspoken rule for any British hopeful striving to scratch the nation’s itch at Wimbledon is that the journey is never complete until they have dragged themselves off a deflated Centre Court at the end of their semi-final debut with sympathetic applause ringing in their ears, their bottom lip quivering and that lump in their throat threatening to spill on to the grass, guilty only of daring to think it would be different this time. Related: Venus Williams into Wimbledon final with smooth defeat of Johanna Konta Related: Johanna Konta: quiet Sydney schoolgirl always had focus of a...
Win or lose against Venus Williams in the Wimbledon semi-finals a fine mid-twenties British talent has begun to hit the grooveThe relationship between player and crowd at Wimbledon tends to be pegged out around great matches, an accumulated muscle memory of successive oddly intimate moments of extreme competition down the years. Johanna Konta’s gripping quarter-final defeat of Simona Halep looks like being the latest example of this process in action.Both women played to the outer reaches of their capacity over three high-grade sets. Centre Court quivered and moaned in the way no other sporting crowd ever really quivers and moans. In victory Konta threw another grappling hook across the divide from late-blooming high-class hopeful to slams contender. Plus she added another...
From asking about Novak Djokovic’s inward journey, to inquiring whether a cold might kill Roger Federer – the press pack’s curious agenda raises eyebrowsDuring the press conference that followed his third round win over Ernests Gulbis, Novak Djokovic was asked to ruminate on his journey. “Paradoxes and contradictions are some of the more interesting parts of life,” observed his inquisitor. “You’re on this journey that’s exploring different aspects of life, very subtle, inward quiet. Yet tennis is such a war, a battle, winner, loser, boxing without the violence. How do the two aspects of your life impact each other? Does your journey in any way diminish your ferocity, your fight?” Eh? Related: Johanna Konta and Andy Murray make history with...
Konta was serene, Murray rather spiky, but Britain has representatives in both the Wimbledon men’s and women’s quarter-finals for the first time since 1973Liveried in regulation green and purple and an anachronism at an All England Club that has long been digitised, the resolutely old school, manually operated order of play board outside Centre Court is one of Wimbledon’s more popular locations for souvenir selfies. Related: Johanna Konta first British woman in Wimbledon quarter-finals for 33 years Related: Andy Murray hobbles to 10th straight Wimbledon quarter-final with Paire win Related: Konta fans fume as Wimbledon switches big screen match to Murray Continue reading...
While Roger Federer cruised into the last eight at SW19, Rafael Nadal was knocked out by 16th seed Gilles Muller, losing 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13 Muguruza fights back to knock out No1 seed Kerber Muller beats Nadal in five-set thriller Murray hobbles to straight-sets win over Paire Konta first British woman in Wimbledon quarter-finals for 33 years 9.55pm BST Video highlights from a thrilling at Wimbledon here: 8.46pm BST Related: Rafael Nadal loses thrilling Wimbledon five set epic to Gilles Müller 8.44pm BST Well, that’s all from me today. What a day of tennis. What a ending. Gilles Muller will sleep well tonight. Rafael Nadal probably won’t allow himself any sleep until the US Open. Thanks for reading, emailing...