(Coverage starts at 8am ET on ESPN, all times Eastern)
Day 10 at Wimbledon saw Venus Williams’ fairy tale run come to an end, as she finally fell to Angelique Kerber 4-6 4-6. “You just step up to do the best you can. I ran up against a better player,” Williams said, with the philosiphical calm that can only come with years of experince and five Wimbledon titles. Her sister Serena, however, will continue on in her quest to tie Steffi Graf’s Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam titles, after beating Elena Vesnina 6-2 6-0 in just 48 minutes, her shortest match of the tournament thus far. “I’m very happy,” Serena said. “I was really focused because we’ve had a lot of tough matches before. I knew... Read More
(Coverage starts at 8am ET on ESPN, all times Eastern)
Marin Cilic pushed Roger Federer to the brink of elimination, going up 2 sets to nil, only to drop three straight, losing before falling 7-6 6-4 3-6 6-7 3-6. “This is huge for me. Epic,” Federer said later. “Sometimes when you’re two sets to love down, the mountain to climb is so huge it’s monstrous. I remember just being in trouble the whole time.” But the match of the day was the 3 hour and 53 minute slugfest between Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Murray went up 7-6 6-1, but lost the next two sets 3-6 4-6, only to dig deep and dismiss Tsonga 6-1 in the fifth and final set.
(Coverage starts at 8am ET on ESPN, all times Eastern)
Centre Court 8am ET Simona Halep (ROU) [5] v Angelique Kerber (GER) [4], QF The #5 ranked women’s player in the world, Simona Halep overcame a tough first-set loss to Madison Keys to win 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-3 in just under 2 hours to reach the quarterfinals, as Keys struggled with a bum achilles, and 48 unforced errors. This is Halep’s fifth Wimbledon, and the first time she’s made it past the first round, as well as the first time she’s made it past the second round in any of her 15 Grand Slam appearances.
Angelique Kerber, ranked 4th in the world, had a much easier go of it, dispensing with Misaki Doi in straight sets 6-3 6-1,... Read More
(Coverage starts at 8am ET on ESPN, all times Eastern)
The weather gods took their foot off the gas long enough for plenty of play at Wimbledon, allowing Coco Vandeweghe a chance to upset 6-seed Roberta Vinci, Serena Williams to sweep Annika Beck.
Centre Court 8am ET Roger Federer (SUI) [3] vs. Steve Johnson (USA) Roger Federer dispatched another Briton over the weekend, this time defeating Daniel Evans 6-4 6-2 6-2 in an hour and 26 minutes. The victory was built on Federer’s 11-0 advantage on aces, as well as his 0-8 advantage on double faults.
Steve Johnson, a 26-year-old American ranked 29th in the world and playing in his fourth Wimbledon, defeated Grigor Dimitrov 6-7 7-6 6-4 6-2. Johnson’s 4th-round appearance is the furthest he’s made it... Read More
(Coverage starts at 8am ET on ESPN, all times Eastern)
It rained a again on Friday, and no one was happier than Novak Djokovic, whose match against American Sam Querrey was suspended with the defending champ down 2 sets to none. The rain didn’t come fast enough to save Stan Wawrinka, the #5 men’s tennis player, who lost to #165 Juan Martin Del Potro by a score of 3-6 6-3 7-6 6-3. Serena Williams got more than she bargained for from 65th-ranked Christina McHale who forced Williams deep into the third set, before falling 6-7 6-2 6-4. Meanwhile, Venus Williams found her match delayed by rain at match point, and had to wait before finishing off 19-year-old Darya Kasatkina 7-5 4-6 10-8.
On Tuesday, fans at Wimbledon’s Centre Court looked on as Serena Williams defeated Amra Sadikovic, Andy Murray defeated fellow Brit Liam Brody, Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Caroline Wozniacki, and Coco Vandeweghe beat Kateryna Bondarenko. For a complete list of results, you can go to Wimbledon’s website.
Center Court Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) [3] vs. Kateryna Kozlova (UKR) - Round 1, 8am Twenty-seven-year-old Agnieszka Radwanska has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the world. She’s making her 11th appearance at Wimbledon, where she lost to Serena Williams in the finals in 2012, and fell in the semis in 2013 and 2015. She made it to the semis at the Australian this year, losing to Serena, and lost to Tsvetana Pironkova in the 4th round at Roland Garros.
(Coverage starts at 7am ET on ESPN, all times Eastern)
Yesterday saw Novak Djokovic take James Ward in straight sets, 6-0 7-6 6-4; Garbine Muguruza best Camila Giorgi, 6-2 5-7 6-4; and Roger Federer struggle to get past Guido Pella in straight sets, 7-6 7-6 6-3 – you can find the complete results here. Today we get the greatest female tennis player in the universe, as well as a hometown hero taking Centre Court.
Serena Williams (USA) [1] v Amra Sadikovic (SUI) 8:00am And so it begins: Serena Williams’ latest attempt to tie Steffi Graf’s Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam titles. Williams’ 2016 started by bailing midway through the Hopman Cup in deference to inflammation in her knees; then she fell in the finals of the Australian... Read More
(Coverage starts at 7am ET on ESPN, all times Eastern)
Wimbledon will be played for the first time in a long time without two of the sport’s brightest stars, Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal. Sharapova is awaiting an appeal of her 2-year ban from tennis for doping, and has decided to spend her newfound free time by enrolling in Harvard Business School, while Nadal is nursing the wrist injury that forced him to drop out of the French Open. But enough about who’s not playing, here’s a look at today’s Center Court action.
Novak Djokovic (SRB) [#1] v James Ward (GBR), 8:00am Rarely has men’s tennis been so dominated by a single figure as it is now by Novak Djokovic, winner of the won last five Grand Slam titles,... Read More
Can anyone stop Serena now? She’s one match away from securing not only the most coveted trophy in tennis, but also another “Serena Slam,” as well as keeping the Calendar Slam dream alive (no pressure!). It’s an amazing prospect for her and her fans. Just don’t mention it to Serena before she steps on the court. Tennis players are notoriously superstitious. While Serena historically has been vulnerable in the first week of slams in the past few years, once she gets to this stage, it’s usually all over but the shouting — or grunting in this case.
The woman who will try to stop her, Garbine Muguruza, has, surprisingly, beaten Serena before at a slam. In 2014, Muguruza outhit Serena in the second round of the French Open, winning decisively... Read More
The final four men face off tomorrow in the Wimbledon semi-finals and a quick look at the line-up brings to mind the old saying: “one of these things is not like the others.”
That would be France’s Richard Gasquet, ranked #21, who beat Stan Wawrinka in a five set thriller in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Gasquet is the lone man in the group who has never won a Slam or even made to a final. He has his work cut out for him when he steps on Centre Court tomorrow for the first scheduled match against Novak Djokovic. Djokovic leads their H2H a whopping 12-1, but there’s some newfound fight in the Frenchman that could make this more of a battle than a blowout.
7 Days in Hell premieres on HBO at 11pm on Saturday, July 11, and is available now to watch on demand.
As the real Wimbledon draws to a close, it’s a good time to look back at the greatest match ever played there. The greatest match in the history of tennis, for that matter: the 2001 Charles Poole/Aaron Williams match that stayed stuck in Deuce for seven excruciating days.
Of course, that match never happened, but the new HBO mockumentary Seven Days In Hell goes to great pains to make it look like it did, by using official HBO Sports iconography and personalities like Soledad O’Brien and Jim Lampley, commentary by real tennis stars Serena Williams, John McEnroe, and Chris Evert, and grave-sounding narration... Read More
The final eight men are all in action at Wimbledon on Thursday. Here’s a preview of who’s playing who and what to watch for:
First up on Centre Court, hometown hero and 2013 Wimbledon winner Andy Murray faces unseeded Canadian Vasek Pospisil. Murray leads the H2H 3-0 but Pospisil is also a Wimbledon champion (he and American Jack Sock won the doubles trophy versus the top-ranked Bryan brothers in 2014), so he’s no stranger to handling the pressure awaiting him. Still, the entire stadium – heck, the entire United Kingdom – will be rooting for Murray. Pospisil isn’t just playing one guy; he’s playing a nation. Watch for how many times Murray sarcastically shouts at his player’s box during the match, even when he’s winning.
