TENNIS - Wimbledon 2025 R2
Jul. 4th, 2025 08:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllDay three
As promised, the weather changed – so much so that there was no play because of rain until play was scheduled to start on Court No. 1. The sun would eventually come out, with a slight breeze, but it was about 10 degrees lower than it had been.
I started watching Tiafoe vs. Norrie on court no. 1, realised that either of them could win in three, four or five and switched over to the Centre feed once it was available (for the record, Norrie won in four, meaning another seed was out.)
Sabalenka was making her debut on Centre this year, and faced Bouzkova, who had beaten her once before. The non-tennis-expert (male) commentator made a big deal of her having made the QF here, but Sabalenka’s made the semis twice. In fairness, Bouzkova played almost as well as she could have, and it went to serve, with Sabalenka maybe facing fewer difficulties until we got to the business end, and Bouzkova broke. Maybe it was sheer outrage, but Sabalenka found another gear, broke back and took them to a tie, which she won.
Bouzkova didn’t collapse, but Sabalenka was the stronger player and won the second set handily enough.
Next up, Alcaraz playing ‘Call Me Ollie’ Tarvet, the British US college student ranked seven hunderdandsomething who got through in quallies. My interest was more in where Alcaraz’s level was at, and it was a somewhat wobbly service game until he closed it out. Then Tarvet served (and the usual things about playing on Centre Court for the first time apply) and Alcaraz found he could break him, so the pressure was off.
Although Alcaraz was generally playing with more intensity than in the first round, and his serve and forehand were clearly better, he struggled more in his service games throughout. Tarvet ended up having eight break points in the first set, but couldn’t convert any. Mainly he wasn’t allowed, Alcaraz played better on the break points, but the 6-1 scoreline for the first set wasn’t reflective of the play.
Tarvet had settled down by the start of the second set, held serve and broke. Alcaraz responded immediately, breaking back (with ease) and overall dominating. Credit to Tarvet, though, his speed was good and not only did he get up to most of Alcaraz’s dropshots or dinky short ones, he did something useful once there, to the point that I thought Alcaraz should have cut out some of those cat and mouse points against this opponent. But Tarvet never got many cheap points on serve.
Although he won his fair share of showy points, and the last two sets looked better scores wise, Tarvet didn’t have ‘have beaten Federer’ in his back pocket, and he wasn’t facing such a flat Alcaraz. There are areas that Alcaraz can (must!) improve, but he was through in three, while Tarvet has certainly shown that he has it in him to be a pro player. The LTA will no doubt take note.
Finally, Raducanu vs Vondrousova, who had beaten Kessler in the first round battle of the winners from just over a week ago. We were reminded that Raducanu had beaten her on her Wimbledon debut, although they’d both won grand slams since then. It soon became clear Raducanu had turned up determined to play, with a smart game plan to meet Vondrousova’s variety with some of her own, nullifying some of her biggest weapons and finding a balance between attack and defence. She broke first. Vondrousova broke back, but Raducanu’s return game was mighty, and if Vondrousova would double fault twice, then she’d break again, and win the first set.
It was more of the same in the second set. Vondrousova was rocked back by the return, her forehand wasn’t doing much damage, Raducanu was handling the slice and just looked relentless. She was very bubbly in the post-match interview. Would really like to see her bring that return game to her next match, where she’ll be facing Sabalenka (in as much good as it may do her.)
I zipped through Today at Wimbledon to glean that the big seed out was Paolini, which meant that Sabalenka was the only top 5 seed left in the women’s draw. Also out was Vekic, who’d done so well last year, and a clutch of lower seeded players. Oh, and Boulter, who lost to a lucky loser. But Kartal, taking advantage of Ostapenko’s draw, was through to the third round. Fonseca had beaten Brooksby.
Day four
I watched a bit of Mensik vs. Giron. Mensik had won the first set by taking advantage of Giron’s unsettled state right at the beginning, but in the second set Mensik went walkabout mentally, and Giron took advantage. (Mensik would get it back and win in four.)
I stuck to the court no. 1 feed, so I saw Andreeva, who was playing Bronzetti (a regular top 100 player) and seemed to believe in the first set that being in the top 10 added more weight of shot. Of course, it normally does, but not in this year’s Wimbledon. Bronzetti settled and Andreeva changed tactics, for some reason, so the Italian broke, but Andreeva broke back. It went to a tiebreak, and Andreeva played much much better and so won in two sets. (She hit some dodgy smashes on her way to do so.)
Next up, Rybakina vs. Sakkari, who has been struggling for form (but looked great in shorts). Sakkari handed a break to Rybakina with three double faults in one service game. Rybakina seemed more troubled with where her first serve had gone – it only turned up if the were in mild bother and she won nearly all her points on it. Good job her second serve is so strong.
Sakkari started off the second set by breaking Rybakina, who broke straight back and then found more first serves and really started flowing. Sakkari stopped having any impact on the match, and Rybakina glided through.
Next up, Draper vs. Cilic, who has come back via the Challengers from injury. The two men hadn’t played each other before, and there was a bit of feeling each other out, but also being reminded that not only is Cilic a grand slam champion, but he was runner up here and won Queens twice. He had a clear tactical plan and executed it well, nullifying Draper’s strength (forehand). He shut the crowd up in the first two sets.
I started fastforwarding, Draper took advantage of a drop in form from Cilic in the third set, but Cilic was back in the fourth, and had the scoreboard advantage, so a break point was also a match point. I think it’s a huge shame for Draper that this happened in the second round, because there’s no way that is not going to become A Thing in his mind at his home slam. I hope he learns the right lessons about what he needs to work on.
All credit to Cilic, though, he reminded everyone of his class and he’s about two years younger than Djokovic. Don’t know how deep he’ll go, but he’s back for now.
I caught up with the fact that Swiatek, Navarro and Krejikova won their matches, Djokovic took a little while to convert a break point against Evans and then was playing really well. Sinner came through easily, De Minaur less easily, but Paul lost in four – his ab and lack of grass-court time probably telling against him.
As promised, the weather changed – so much so that there was no play because of rain until play was scheduled to start on Court No. 1. The sun would eventually come out, with a slight breeze, but it was about 10 degrees lower than it had been.
I started watching Tiafoe vs. Norrie on court no. 1, realised that either of them could win in three, four or five and switched over to the Centre feed once it was available (for the record, Norrie won in four, meaning another seed was out.)
Sabalenka was making her debut on Centre this year, and faced Bouzkova, who had beaten her once before. The non-tennis-expert (male) commentator made a big deal of her having made the QF here, but Sabalenka’s made the semis twice. In fairness, Bouzkova played almost as well as she could have, and it went to serve, with Sabalenka maybe facing fewer difficulties until we got to the business end, and Bouzkova broke. Maybe it was sheer outrage, but Sabalenka found another gear, broke back and took them to a tie, which she won.
Bouzkova didn’t collapse, but Sabalenka was the stronger player and won the second set handily enough.
Next up, Alcaraz playing ‘Call Me Ollie’ Tarvet, the British US college student ranked seven hunderdandsomething who got through in quallies. My interest was more in where Alcaraz’s level was at, and it was a somewhat wobbly service game until he closed it out. Then Tarvet served (and the usual things about playing on Centre Court for the first time apply) and Alcaraz found he could break him, so the pressure was off.
Although Alcaraz was generally playing with more intensity than in the first round, and his serve and forehand were clearly better, he struggled more in his service games throughout. Tarvet ended up having eight break points in the first set, but couldn’t convert any. Mainly he wasn’t allowed, Alcaraz played better on the break points, but the 6-1 scoreline for the first set wasn’t reflective of the play.
Tarvet had settled down by the start of the second set, held serve and broke. Alcaraz responded immediately, breaking back (with ease) and overall dominating. Credit to Tarvet, though, his speed was good and not only did he get up to most of Alcaraz’s dropshots or dinky short ones, he did something useful once there, to the point that I thought Alcaraz should have cut out some of those cat and mouse points against this opponent. But Tarvet never got many cheap points on serve.
Although he won his fair share of showy points, and the last two sets looked better scores wise, Tarvet didn’t have ‘have beaten Federer’ in his back pocket, and he wasn’t facing such a flat Alcaraz. There are areas that Alcaraz can (must!) improve, but he was through in three, while Tarvet has certainly shown that he has it in him to be a pro player. The LTA will no doubt take note.
Finally, Raducanu vs Vondrousova, who had beaten Kessler in the first round battle of the winners from just over a week ago. We were reminded that Raducanu had beaten her on her Wimbledon debut, although they’d both won grand slams since then. It soon became clear Raducanu had turned up determined to play, with a smart game plan to meet Vondrousova’s variety with some of her own, nullifying some of her biggest weapons and finding a balance between attack and defence. She broke first. Vondrousova broke back, but Raducanu’s return game was mighty, and if Vondrousova would double fault twice, then she’d break again, and win the first set.
It was more of the same in the second set. Vondrousova was rocked back by the return, her forehand wasn’t doing much damage, Raducanu was handling the slice and just looked relentless. She was very bubbly in the post-match interview. Would really like to see her bring that return game to her next match, where she’ll be facing Sabalenka (in as much good as it may do her.)
I zipped through Today at Wimbledon to glean that the big seed out was Paolini, which meant that Sabalenka was the only top 5 seed left in the women’s draw. Also out was Vekic, who’d done so well last year, and a clutch of lower seeded players. Oh, and Boulter, who lost to a lucky loser. But Kartal, taking advantage of Ostapenko’s draw, was through to the third round. Fonseca had beaten Brooksby.
Day four
I watched a bit of Mensik vs. Giron. Mensik had won the first set by taking advantage of Giron’s unsettled state right at the beginning, but in the second set Mensik went walkabout mentally, and Giron took advantage. (Mensik would get it back and win in four.)
I stuck to the court no. 1 feed, so I saw Andreeva, who was playing Bronzetti (a regular top 100 player) and seemed to believe in the first set that being in the top 10 added more weight of shot. Of course, it normally does, but not in this year’s Wimbledon. Bronzetti settled and Andreeva changed tactics, for some reason, so the Italian broke, but Andreeva broke back. It went to a tiebreak, and Andreeva played much much better and so won in two sets. (She hit some dodgy smashes on her way to do so.)
Next up, Rybakina vs. Sakkari, who has been struggling for form (but looked great in shorts). Sakkari handed a break to Rybakina with three double faults in one service game. Rybakina seemed more troubled with where her first serve had gone – it only turned up if the were in mild bother and she won nearly all her points on it. Good job her second serve is so strong.
Sakkari started off the second set by breaking Rybakina, who broke straight back and then found more first serves and really started flowing. Sakkari stopped having any impact on the match, and Rybakina glided through.
Next up, Draper vs. Cilic, who has come back via the Challengers from injury. The two men hadn’t played each other before, and there was a bit of feeling each other out, but also being reminded that not only is Cilic a grand slam champion, but he was runner up here and won Queens twice. He had a clear tactical plan and executed it well, nullifying Draper’s strength (forehand). He shut the crowd up in the first two sets.
I started fastforwarding, Draper took advantage of a drop in form from Cilic in the third set, but Cilic was back in the fourth, and had the scoreboard advantage, so a break point was also a match point. I think it’s a huge shame for Draper that this happened in the second round, because there’s no way that is not going to become A Thing in his mind at his home slam. I hope he learns the right lessons about what he needs to work on.
All credit to Cilic, though, he reminded everyone of his class and he’s about two years younger than Djokovic. Don’t know how deep he’ll go, but he’s back for now.
I caught up with the fact that Swiatek, Navarro and Krejikova won their matches, Djokovic took a little while to convert a break point against Evans and then was playing really well. Sinner came through easily, De Minaur less easily, but Paul lost in four – his ab and lack of grass-court time probably telling against him.
