TENNIS: Wimbledon 2021 - Week 1
Day one
It was raining at lunchtime, before play on the showcourts with their roofs started, but after work, I could watch most of Kvitova vs. Stephens (whose ranking had dropped and who hadn’t had any grass-court matches this year, the commentators said.) But on the beautiful Wimbledon grass, verdant and striped, she calmly played well, drawing errors from a not-at-her-best Kvitova, particularly her returns. As a Grand Slam champion (one of 15 in a draw that has seen withdrawals) she’s a quality player and has suffered unhappy losses to COVID.
Instead of watching the build-up to Murray’s match, I switched to watch tennis that was going on concurrently: Swiatek vs. Tsieh, quite a contrast in players. Tsieh pulled off some remarkable points, but Swiatek had had an early break, and was inspired enough to play her aggressive tennis, stopping her opponent from play her way.
I had to stop and leave midway through the second set (because I was getting my second dose of vaccination) so I mssed the conclusion.
I came home to find Murray up in the third set at 5-4, having won the first set. How deceptive is a scoreboard? Shocked commentators made it clear that Murray had been 5-0 up in the set and had had match points at 5-3. His opponent was now re-energised, Murray seemed fatigued and his first serve deserted him.
Basiliashvili (the twentysomethingth seed, but I’d never heard of him before) won the third, and then because of dimming light and the threat of rain, they closed the roof, giving Murray time to reset and slightly different conditions to play under. For a bit, it looked as if neither of them would keep their serve, but Murray did, and he seemed to have remembered what must have deserted him in the second half of the preivous set.
It felt almost like old times, with the drama of Murray getting a prime time BBC1 slot. For what it’s worth, yes, he beat a seeded player, but let’s see him against a top 10er. He hates to lose and it looks as if his body can execute what’s going on in that tennis brain of his, but he’s not match fit.
I like that Wimbledon have adopted the interview on the grass (sorry, groundskeepers, but that’s 2021 for you), and although I was a bit dubious about their letting in such a crowd, it added so much to the atmosphere of this match in particular. On the other hand, poor Johanna Konta, having to pull out and self-isolate because a close contact had caught COVID. I hope she’s spared getting infected and sick herself.
I was genuinely shocked that Tsitisipas lost. Getting to his first grand slam final must have taken it out of him is all I can say without having seen the match. (After learning it was to Tiafo, I wonder if recent grass-court experience helped him too.) Young Jack Draper ought to take everything he can from winning a set against Djokovic, who hadn’t had time to get used to the grass, ad indeed learned all he could from all the other points.
Day two
Over lunch, I caught some of Dan Evans’s third set against Feliciano Lopez, who veered from flashes of serving strongly to not quite being the force he was.
By the time I could watch the tennis after work, it was towards the end of the fourth set between Federer and Mannerino, this was after Mannerino’s fall, which was obviously hampeting his movement, a real shame, because, unsurprisingly, he’d made it tough for Federer. Federer progressed tanks to Mannerino’s retirement.
Which meant we got to see (and hear) Coco Gauff against Fran Jones (new on me, but learning about her disabilities - she has three fingers and a thumb on both hands and fewer a reduced number of toes, meaning adjustments for balance and grip - and that she’d gone to tennis school in Spain at nine explained her determination. She competed well, but Gauff (the youngest player this year) had the edge.
And so on to Serena Williams, who was in the same bit of the draw and could meet Gauff in the third round. She started off well against her Belorussian opponent and then, when she was clearly taking an uncharacteristic moment, it became obvious something was wrong. (They showed the slip bad landing and other slip repeatedly in slo-mo.) It was obvious she was hampered e serve and in her movement and probably in pain, and she went off with the trainer.
Now, I never thought Serena was all that likely to win again here this year. I don’t believe her opponents believes so either - you could tell that from the fearless way her opponent played (although her serve wasn’t ood enogh and Williams had just given notice she was probably going to win this match), but two match-ending falls on Centre Court - perhaps payers wouldn’t ee it as such an honour to be scheduled to play there!
Ash Barty made her way through against Carla Suawz-Navarro, who was able to lift her game to win the second set, and after having to postpone her retirement year for an abject reason (cancer treatment in the midst of a pandemic), I hope that much of the match will count as a pleasant memory for her, on Centre Court and all.
But players have enough to handle playing one other player. Adjusting their footing and bad bounces are one thing, they don’t need to be injured by the grass!
Day three
At lunchtime, I literally caught the last shot of the Alize Cornet match against Andreescu - I needed to rewatch it to grasp what had happened. What a thumping. It sounded like Andreescu still hasn’t come to terms with the surface, which Cornet was familiar with. I think I watched a bit of Berrettinni after that and was reassured by his serve.
And then in the evening, it was the end of the first set of Murray’s second-round match on Centre Court and I watched him break again to win the set. My impression in the second set was that Otte believed he was still in this, although Murray broke again, he couldn’t back it up and got very flat and frustrated with himself, losing the second and third sets, starting the fourth in the certain knowledge that they’d be closing the roof soon. It felt so familiar, but Murray’s lack of match sharpness and inability to pull himself out of the doldrums made me find it hard to fully commit emotionally.
Qualifier Otte was competing despite only playing seven matches in the main draw of any tour events (although he’d won two sets against compatriot Zverev in the French and maybe beliefed because of that, but this was Centre Court at Wimbledon against Murray and the crowd.
The roof closed, we caught up on who had slipped and won so far that day, and returned to find a Murray who had surely benefitted from a word with his team (perhaps emphasising as commentator Tim Henman did that he should play more offensively.) Murray’s movement was mostly fine, slower running in a few areas and having one potentially nasty fall. He won the fourth set, the news at 10 was delayed, I gave up a few games into the fifth, because even if he wins, it will cost him, and however much Wimbledon is keen to help him and the BBC by putting him last on Centre Court, he can’t rely on breaks or the roof closing to keep winning.
Day four
For me it was a day of exercising my choices. At lunchtime, I chose not to watch the Zverev match.
In the evening, the choice was between Federer and Gasquet like it was however many years ago, or Azarenka vs Cistea, and I chose the latter. I was glad I did. Such a compelling, hard-hitting match, with the lower ranked and less experienced Cistea having to play at her best, but doing so, outhitting Azarenka at times. The great Belarussian returner was broken back after breaking, and Cistea deservedly won the first set.
Azarenka showed why she is a top-class player at the start of the second. She hadn’t been thrashed and had been playing well, just not enough at the important points, and she was determined for that not to be the case in the second set, breaking early and maintaining that. However, Cistea did not wilt either.
And so they started the thir dset (and this is where real life crept in, I paused the match to phone a relative, then there was a problem with the phone, and trying to sort that out with the tennis on distracted me, but whenever Azarenka edged ahead, Cistea fought back. Apparently she’d had a good year this year, and used all her self-belief to play some harder, better tennis than Azarenka. Her habit of towelling off her shoes seems like a perfectly understandable tennis player response to all the slipping and tumbling we’ve witnessed, although the sun was finally out and more dust patches were visible.
I learned from Today at Wimbledon that she’ll be playing the newest Brit wondergirl, Emma Radakanu, who’d done A-levels this year, the poor thing, and getting through to the third round on your debut is a good result.
Federer won, and alas, will be facing Norrie (he had Nadal in the French at this point! Granted, Federer is rustier and older, but the crowd’s divided loyalties will be hilarious.) I noted they’d given Murray the last slot on Centre Cort again, although I was glad to hear Pat Cash’s realism about the Scot’s chances, while the man who’s still the unquestioned world number one and favourite, Djokovic, gets shifted to Court no. 1.
Day five
I think I watched Fognini against Rublev because the match on court 2 hadn’t started over lunch.
I had Evans’s match against young Sebastian Korda on in the background mainly, as I caught up a little with ironing. The seed had his chances, because Korda is still inexperienced, but already has more weapons (the big serve) and many other things to back them up.
I learned Nick Kyrigos is playng mixed doubles with Venus Williams. Do him good. Would be surprised if he misbehaved around her.
And then I snorted at Sue Barker, who used to be a proper tennis player, making Tim Henman talk up the narrative that the people wanted, as if Murray had a hope of regaining past glories after dropping an unnecessary set and winning the last match in five as if this were a movie. Claire Balding was at it too when the inevitable roof closre happened.
As Boris Becker (too softly spoken when the crowd were roaring) pointed out, the number of hours played at Wimbledon so far favoured Shapalov, even if nothing else did, like their ages, like Murray is coming back with a metal hip after four years of rehab and very few matches, like Shapalov’s real talent taking him in and out of the top 10. He’s one of the post next gen crop and people are wondering if he will get a Grand Slam. It makes Norrie’s win at Queen’s (although some of it was a bit catching him early on the surface) more impressive.
Shapalov’s backhand is a beauty, and everything else about his game was so much better than Murray’s previous opponents at Wimbledon this year. I’d stopped paying much attention when Murray pressed a bit to make the first set a bit more competitive. He even came close to winning the first set, but failed, and Shapalov never wobbled as much again.
The main positive, I guess, is that Murray’s movement seemed okay, even after one fall. (Shapalov fell more and was rather endearing in the interview - the on-court interview is surely here to stay.)
I felt sorry for the remaining Brits now that both Murray and Evans are gone, but at least Djokovic can be assured of the Centre Court for the rest of hi run. The women’s tournament is still wide open.
Day six
I let myself be guided by what was on the main channel at the time. Curiosity impelled me to watch Radakau’s match, knowing little about her and having been impressed by Cistea’s previous win. There was a point during that eight-game run where I thought, ‘I think we can get excited here.’ Tracy Austin kept pointing out things that impressed her about Radakanu’s play, athleticism and composure, such as how she rebounded after not breaking in the epic fifteen minute game. Her youth and joy were clear when she pulled off certain shots to win points, but the first set was a good foundation, and that was an excellent win for someone who has only started concentrating full time on tennis in the past few months. (She even took the shine off Coco Gauff.)
Next was Norrie aainst Federer. Going in, I thought Norrie was capable of doing better than he had at the same stage at the French against Nadal, that he was capable of getting a set off Federer, but it didn’t look like it in the first two sets. Yes, he just got broken once in both, but that’s enough, and I think Henman made an axcellent point about Federer always being focused, never mind the standard of his play, while Norrie couldn’t match him there.
In the third set, where he was concentrating, playing a match against an opponent, not playing Federer on Centre Court, he was very competitive, so much so that if he could have maintained it throughout the fourth, he might have broken and become the favourite in the fifth. Whatever Federer said in interviews afterwars, there were moments of edginess. But Norrie couldn’t keep up at that level. I hope, doubles success aside, he is bitterly disappointed for a few days, and better prepared for the next big match after. But Federer is indeed playing himself into form, although if he couldn’t take match points against Djokovic the last time, I’m not convinced he will now (but I’m perfectly aware that when it comes to the Big Three, Nadal is my favourite so I’m not really neutral.)
I then watched Barty’s match. Well, to be honest, I was less focused on this and the previous match than I had been on the first. The commentators praised the no. 1 player’s tennis a lot, but she didn’t quite smother Siniakova, making the second set more tricky than we expected it to be. She’s facing Siniakova’s doubles partner and the current French Open finalist next. I don’t know what to make of the kerfuffle during the Ostapenko match.
I then kept following the conclusion of the Medvedev-Cilic match (er, I don’t think this umpire will be doing any finals this year.) It was a bit nuts at the end, but it’s clearly a big deal in Medvedev’s career to come back from being two sets down in a five setter and getting through to the second week of Wimbledon, something he’s never done before, which is why he certainly hasn’t been much mentioned (although Djokovic, Federer and Murray were taking up much of the attention.) Zverev and Bennettinni are also through, among less heralded names.
I then watched Today at Wimbledon, knowing I could fast forward through clips I’d already seen. I wish they’d shown the draw, although it certainly looks as though there are some tasty matches coming up on Monday.
And apparently there will definitely be play on Middle Sunday next year. Ugh, mammon. (Should I use the word ‘definitely’ after the last sixteen to eighteen months?) This entry was originally posted at https://feather-ghyll.dreamwidth.org/187499.html. Please comment wherever you prefer to.
It was raining at lunchtime, before play on the showcourts with their roofs started, but after work, I could watch most of Kvitova vs. Stephens (whose ranking had dropped and who hadn’t had any grass-court matches this year, the commentators said.) But on the beautiful Wimbledon grass, verdant and striped, she calmly played well, drawing errors from a not-at-her-best Kvitova, particularly her returns. As a Grand Slam champion (one of 15 in a draw that has seen withdrawals) she’s a quality player and has suffered unhappy losses to COVID.
Instead of watching the build-up to Murray’s match, I switched to watch tennis that was going on concurrently: Swiatek vs. Tsieh, quite a contrast in players. Tsieh pulled off some remarkable points, but Swiatek had had an early break, and was inspired enough to play her aggressive tennis, stopping her opponent from play her way.
I had to stop and leave midway through the second set (because I was getting my second dose of vaccination) so I mssed the conclusion.
I came home to find Murray up in the third set at 5-4, having won the first set. How deceptive is a scoreboard? Shocked commentators made it clear that Murray had been 5-0 up in the set and had had match points at 5-3. His opponent was now re-energised, Murray seemed fatigued and his first serve deserted him.
Basiliashvili (the twentysomethingth seed, but I’d never heard of him before) won the third, and then because of dimming light and the threat of rain, they closed the roof, giving Murray time to reset and slightly different conditions to play under. For a bit, it looked as if neither of them would keep their serve, but Murray did, and he seemed to have remembered what must have deserted him in the second half of the preivous set.
It felt almost like old times, with the drama of Murray getting a prime time BBC1 slot. For what it’s worth, yes, he beat a seeded player, but let’s see him against a top 10er. He hates to lose and it looks as if his body can execute what’s going on in that tennis brain of his, but he’s not match fit.
I like that Wimbledon have adopted the interview on the grass (sorry, groundskeepers, but that’s 2021 for you), and although I was a bit dubious about their letting in such a crowd, it added so much to the atmosphere of this match in particular. On the other hand, poor Johanna Konta, having to pull out and self-isolate because a close contact had caught COVID. I hope she’s spared getting infected and sick herself.
I was genuinely shocked that Tsitisipas lost. Getting to his first grand slam final must have taken it out of him is all I can say without having seen the match. (After learning it was to Tiafo, I wonder if recent grass-court experience helped him too.) Young Jack Draper ought to take everything he can from winning a set against Djokovic, who hadn’t had time to get used to the grass, ad indeed learned all he could from all the other points.
Day two
Over lunch, I caught some of Dan Evans’s third set against Feliciano Lopez, who veered from flashes of serving strongly to not quite being the force he was.
By the time I could watch the tennis after work, it was towards the end of the fourth set between Federer and Mannerino, this was after Mannerino’s fall, which was obviously hampeting his movement, a real shame, because, unsurprisingly, he’d made it tough for Federer. Federer progressed tanks to Mannerino’s retirement.
Which meant we got to see (and hear) Coco Gauff against Fran Jones (new on me, but learning about her disabilities - she has three fingers and a thumb on both hands and fewer a reduced number of toes, meaning adjustments for balance and grip - and that she’d gone to tennis school in Spain at nine explained her determination. She competed well, but Gauff (the youngest player this year) had the edge.
And so on to Serena Williams, who was in the same bit of the draw and could meet Gauff in the third round. She started off well against her Belorussian opponent and then, when she was clearly taking an uncharacteristic moment, it became obvious something was wrong. (They showed the slip bad landing and other slip repeatedly in slo-mo.) It was obvious she was hampered e serve and in her movement and probably in pain, and she went off with the trainer.
Now, I never thought Serena was all that likely to win again here this year. I don’t believe her opponents believes so either - you could tell that from the fearless way her opponent played (although her serve wasn’t ood enogh and Williams had just given notice she was probably going to win this match), but two match-ending falls on Centre Court - perhaps payers wouldn’t ee it as such an honour to be scheduled to play there!
Ash Barty made her way through against Carla Suawz-Navarro, who was able to lift her game to win the second set, and after having to postpone her retirement year for an abject reason (cancer treatment in the midst of a pandemic), I hope that much of the match will count as a pleasant memory for her, on Centre Court and all.
But players have enough to handle playing one other player. Adjusting their footing and bad bounces are one thing, they don’t need to be injured by the grass!
Day three
At lunchtime, I literally caught the last shot of the Alize Cornet match against Andreescu - I needed to rewatch it to grasp what had happened. What a thumping. It sounded like Andreescu still hasn’t come to terms with the surface, which Cornet was familiar with. I think I watched a bit of Berrettinni after that and was reassured by his serve.
And then in the evening, it was the end of the first set of Murray’s second-round match on Centre Court and I watched him break again to win the set. My impression in the second set was that Otte believed he was still in this, although Murray broke again, he couldn’t back it up and got very flat and frustrated with himself, losing the second and third sets, starting the fourth in the certain knowledge that they’d be closing the roof soon. It felt so familiar, but Murray’s lack of match sharpness and inability to pull himself out of the doldrums made me find it hard to fully commit emotionally.
Qualifier Otte was competing despite only playing seven matches in the main draw of any tour events (although he’d won two sets against compatriot Zverev in the French and maybe beliefed because of that, but this was Centre Court at Wimbledon against Murray and the crowd.
The roof closed, we caught up on who had slipped and won so far that day, and returned to find a Murray who had surely benefitted from a word with his team (perhaps emphasising as commentator Tim Henman did that he should play more offensively.) Murray’s movement was mostly fine, slower running in a few areas and having one potentially nasty fall. He won the fourth set, the news at 10 was delayed, I gave up a few games into the fifth, because even if he wins, it will cost him, and however much Wimbledon is keen to help him and the BBC by putting him last on Centre Court, he can’t rely on breaks or the roof closing to keep winning.
Day four
For me it was a day of exercising my choices. At lunchtime, I chose not to watch the Zverev match.
In the evening, the choice was between Federer and Gasquet like it was however many years ago, or Azarenka vs Cistea, and I chose the latter. I was glad I did. Such a compelling, hard-hitting match, with the lower ranked and less experienced Cistea having to play at her best, but doing so, outhitting Azarenka at times. The great Belarussian returner was broken back after breaking, and Cistea deservedly won the first set.
Azarenka showed why she is a top-class player at the start of the second. She hadn’t been thrashed and had been playing well, just not enough at the important points, and she was determined for that not to be the case in the second set, breaking early and maintaining that. However, Cistea did not wilt either.
And so they started the thir dset (and this is where real life crept in, I paused the match to phone a relative, then there was a problem with the phone, and trying to sort that out with the tennis on distracted me, but whenever Azarenka edged ahead, Cistea fought back. Apparently she’d had a good year this year, and used all her self-belief to play some harder, better tennis than Azarenka. Her habit of towelling off her shoes seems like a perfectly understandable tennis player response to all the slipping and tumbling we’ve witnessed, although the sun was finally out and more dust patches were visible.
I learned from Today at Wimbledon that she’ll be playing the newest Brit wondergirl, Emma Radakanu, who’d done A-levels this year, the poor thing, and getting through to the third round on your debut is a good result.
Federer won, and alas, will be facing Norrie (he had Nadal in the French at this point! Granted, Federer is rustier and older, but the crowd’s divided loyalties will be hilarious.) I noted they’d given Murray the last slot on Centre Cort again, although I was glad to hear Pat Cash’s realism about the Scot’s chances, while the man who’s still the unquestioned world number one and favourite, Djokovic, gets shifted to Court no. 1.
Day five
I think I watched Fognini against Rublev because the match on court 2 hadn’t started over lunch.
I had Evans’s match against young Sebastian Korda on in the background mainly, as I caught up a little with ironing. The seed had his chances, because Korda is still inexperienced, but already has more weapons (the big serve) and many other things to back them up.
I learned Nick Kyrigos is playng mixed doubles with Venus Williams. Do him good. Would be surprised if he misbehaved around her.
And then I snorted at Sue Barker, who used to be a proper tennis player, making Tim Henman talk up the narrative that the people wanted, as if Murray had a hope of regaining past glories after dropping an unnecessary set and winning the last match in five as if this were a movie. Claire Balding was at it too when the inevitable roof closre happened.
As Boris Becker (too softly spoken when the crowd were roaring) pointed out, the number of hours played at Wimbledon so far favoured Shapalov, even if nothing else did, like their ages, like Murray is coming back with a metal hip after four years of rehab and very few matches, like Shapalov’s real talent taking him in and out of the top 10. He’s one of the post next gen crop and people are wondering if he will get a Grand Slam. It makes Norrie’s win at Queen’s (although some of it was a bit catching him early on the surface) more impressive.
Shapalov’s backhand is a beauty, and everything else about his game was so much better than Murray’s previous opponents at Wimbledon this year. I’d stopped paying much attention when Murray pressed a bit to make the first set a bit more competitive. He even came close to winning the first set, but failed, and Shapalov never wobbled as much again.
The main positive, I guess, is that Murray’s movement seemed okay, even after one fall. (Shapalov fell more and was rather endearing in the interview - the on-court interview is surely here to stay.)
I felt sorry for the remaining Brits now that both Murray and Evans are gone, but at least Djokovic can be assured of the Centre Court for the rest of hi run. The women’s tournament is still wide open.
Day six
I let myself be guided by what was on the main channel at the time. Curiosity impelled me to watch Radakau’s match, knowing little about her and having been impressed by Cistea’s previous win. There was a point during that eight-game run where I thought, ‘I think we can get excited here.’ Tracy Austin kept pointing out things that impressed her about Radakanu’s play, athleticism and composure, such as how she rebounded after not breaking in the epic fifteen minute game. Her youth and joy were clear when she pulled off certain shots to win points, but the first set was a good foundation, and that was an excellent win for someone who has only started concentrating full time on tennis in the past few months. (She even took the shine off Coco Gauff.)
Next was Norrie aainst Federer. Going in, I thought Norrie was capable of doing better than he had at the same stage at the French against Nadal, that he was capable of getting a set off Federer, but it didn’t look like it in the first two sets. Yes, he just got broken once in both, but that’s enough, and I think Henman made an axcellent point about Federer always being focused, never mind the standard of his play, while Norrie couldn’t match him there.
In the third set, where he was concentrating, playing a match against an opponent, not playing Federer on Centre Court, he was very competitive, so much so that if he could have maintained it throughout the fourth, he might have broken and become the favourite in the fifth. Whatever Federer said in interviews afterwars, there were moments of edginess. But Norrie couldn’t keep up at that level. I hope, doubles success aside, he is bitterly disappointed for a few days, and better prepared for the next big match after. But Federer is indeed playing himself into form, although if he couldn’t take match points against Djokovic the last time, I’m not convinced he will now (but I’m perfectly aware that when it comes to the Big Three, Nadal is my favourite so I’m not really neutral.)
I then watched Barty’s match. Well, to be honest, I was less focused on this and the previous match than I had been on the first. The commentators praised the no. 1 player’s tennis a lot, but she didn’t quite smother Siniakova, making the second set more tricky than we expected it to be. She’s facing Siniakova’s doubles partner and the current French Open finalist next. I don’t know what to make of the kerfuffle during the Ostapenko match.
I then kept following the conclusion of the Medvedev-Cilic match (er, I don’t think this umpire will be doing any finals this year.) It was a bit nuts at the end, but it’s clearly a big deal in Medvedev’s career to come back from being two sets down in a five setter and getting through to the second week of Wimbledon, something he’s never done before, which is why he certainly hasn’t been much mentioned (although Djokovic, Federer and Murray were taking up much of the attention.) Zverev and Bennettinni are also through, among less heralded names.
I then watched Today at Wimbledon, knowing I could fast forward through clips I’d already seen. I wish they’d shown the draw, although it certainly looks as though there are some tasty matches coming up on Monday.
And apparently there will definitely be play on Middle Sunday next year. Ugh, mammon. (Should I use the word ‘definitely’ after the last sixteen to eighteen months?) This entry was originally posted at https://feather-ghyll.dreamwidth.org/187499.html. Please comment wherever you prefer to.