Definitely not a tennis player…
| Venue: All England Club Events: June 27 – July 10 |
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So far it’s been a mixed fortune for the Brits at Wimbledon, with some big names eliminated and others causing big surprises.
Most of the pre-championship favorites had a relatively comfortable passage into the third round, but headlines aside, there were plenty of things you might have missed – both on and off the pitch.
` Sport recaps an alternative look at some moments from round two.
A ‘wookie’ bug
After finishing second at the French Open ahead of Wimbledon, big things are expected of Coco Gauff at the All England Club this year.
The 18-year-old American is the youngest player in the singles draw and there were very few errors on the pitch on her way to the third round.
That being said, there was a little gaff for Gauff.
When asked to drop a message to the legendary Sue Barker, who will be hosting the `’s Wimbledon coverage for the last time this year, Gauff looked confused at first, wondering why she was asking a tennis interview about a character from the Star Wars movies was asked…
Has harmony been restored or not?
Few things are more entertaining than sports stars — or famous people — airing out their dirty laundry in public.
The morning after Harmony Tan defeated the great Serena Williams with the most remarkable result of her career, she retired from women’s doubles with a hamstring injury – resulting in an angry backlash by her proposed partner Tamara Korpatsch.
It seemed like the two had made things right again when Korpatsch posted this Instagram message on Thursday morning…
Then the saga took a different turn. This message appeared in the stories of the 27-year-old German – but was later deleted – shortly after Tan won their second-round singles match…
Hmmm. Perhaps there was a clue in Tan’s post-game press conference as to what triggered Korpatsch again.
When asked how the dispute was resolved, the French woman said: “She texted me apologizing for this publication. I don’t like drama. I am not like that.
“So I didn’t answer.”
Hell has no anger than a tennis player with a blue cross.
When you know it’s not your day…
Britain’s Katie Boulter caused quite a stir when she defeated former world number one Karolina Pliskova to reach the third round at Wimbledon for the first time in her career.
But maybe Pliskova knew it wasn’t going to be her day before even stepping onto the pitch.
The 30-year-old Czech is no stranger to Center Court and had reached the final the year before, but she was a little confused walking there on Thursday, walking the wrong way as she came out the doors.
To be fair to her, the entrance is new this year…
Never celebrate too soon
You are making your Grand Slam debut and you have scored what you consider a brilliant victory point. Of course you’re going to celebrate, right?
Well, when you do this, always make sure your opponent definitely didn’t get to it.
Unfortunately, that was the case with Brit Alastair Gray on Thursday. The 24-year-old wildcard thought he had saved a set point with a great angled volley and turned to smash his fist in the air, only for his opponent Taylor Fritz to dive and get the ball over.
One thing is for sure, Gray definitely won’t be rushing it in the future.
Run away from your problems
“Something like this happens once in a lifetime,” said Jiri Vesely. But the Czech didn’t want to stay and bask in the glory of his win after a bizarre end to his game in the second round.
Had he done so, he would have discovered that opponent Alejandro Davidovich Fokina had received a point penalty for smashing a ball out of bounds.
Unfortunately for the Spaniard, the match point deficit could not have been worse in a fifth-set tiebreak.
“I don’t even know what he got the point penalty for,” said Vesely. “I didn’t see what he did. I was in the corner and just heard the announcement.
“I’m in the net and out before the referee changed his mind. It must have been a pretty tough ending for him.”
Get your hot dogs here!
If you were feeling hungry at Wimbledon on Thursday then Seat 14 was the place to be as it had more hot dogs on display than a kiosk in a football stadium.
These were the sort to satiate your entertainment hunger rather than fill your belly, however, as Lorenzo Sonego and Hugo Gaston got the crowd cheering with some superb trick shots.
Who did it better?
Manchester City fan Liam Broady credited Jack Grealish with inspiration for his first-round win, suggesting the fact they have similar hairstyles may have something to do with it.
He kept the Grealish connection on Thursday, copying the England midfielder’s celebration as he won a five-set thriller with Diego Schwartzman and reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time.
“It was easy, wasn’t it?” he joked afterwards. “I had fooled everyone at two sets to one and a breakdown but it’s an incredible feeling. I thought I would go off for the third time on the second lap but you guys were amazing today.”
If Broady can go ahead and win the whole thing, he might even make it to the top Grealish’s title parade celebrations…
something in your eye
It’s not often that a defeated player gives an on-pitch interview – unless it’s him Andy Murray retires early from the Australian Open – but it happened on Thursday when a player actually unsubscribed. And it was all pretty nice.
In her last game as a singles player, Kirsten Flipkens, 2013 Wimbledon semi-finalist and 2003 junior champion, lost to 2019 champion Simona Halep, with the players sharing a warm and long hug over the net while the Belgian’s eyes filled with tears filled.
Flipkens received the warmest ovation in second place, then Flipkens made a heart shape with her hands for the crowd and crouched down to kiss the grass.
After taking a few deep breaths to collect herself, the 36-year-old told fans: “I’m really happy and grateful that I was able to say goodbye to this champion here, on this pitch, with an audience like you. “
A nice farewell…
A truly unique look
Did you maybe watch a frustrated tennis star smash his racquet last year? Now, you can actually contributed to something quite unique.
While you can’t play with broken strings, it turns out you can make an intriguing-looking desk out of it.
As part of Wimbledon’s commitment to protecting the environment, a niche idea was to process used racquet strings collected in 2021 to make desktops for the on-site ticket offices.
Stylish, practical and good for the planet. What’s not to love?
Wimbledon aims to reduce emissions from its operations to net zero by 2030
Like father, like son
And how about a little cuteness to round it off…
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