Roofs close as title opportunity opens at Wimbledon

THIS has been one of the wettest Wimbledon weeks on record and the closed roof over Centre and Court No 1 has undoubtedly contributed to the spate of upsets, the biggest of which came during the Men’s Quarter Finals when current World No 1 Jannik Sinner was sent packing by former No 1 Daniil Medvedev.

The latter has as rocky a relationship with spectators as he does with grass – supposedly not his favourite surface – and is not shy when it comes to complaining about conditions: “It’s humid. You don’t have much air. You lose concentration because it just gets to you, the sound of the rain, you don’t hear the sound of your shots any more. It’s like something is constantly falling on your head.”

Probably the fact that Sinner had beaten him five times previously, including from a two-set advantage in the 2023 Australian Open Final, was weighing more heavily in the Russian’s active head.

Either way, on this occasion, after losing the first set, Medvedev clawed back the next two, while Sinner, battling with more physical issues, took an extended medical time-out and came back strongly in the fourth, using an array of drop shots, volleys and any other tactic to shorten rallies, which won him the penultimate set.

One wonders why he doesn’t employ this strategy more often. However, in relentless baseline terms, Medvedev eventually won 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 2-6, 6-3 by elongating rallies, as he so often does, turning the crowd “crazy”, if not his way.

Meanwhile, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz knocked off the Queens Club champion Taylor Fritz in four satisfying sets, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 – also coming from a set down and with an hour to spare before Spain’s Euro 2024 Semi-Final against France.

“I get nerves during the match, but I am going to get more nerves watching the Spanish team... ,” the Spanish No 1 quipped. I suspect confronting a Serbian GOAT is the most nerve-racking.

The biggest upset in the Ladies Draw was New Zealand qualifier Lulu Sun’s 2-6, 7-5, 2-6 victory over Wimbledon darling Emma Raducanu, not to mention another World No 1, Iga Swiatek’s (grass being her Achilles heel) Third Round dismantling at the hand of Yulia Putintseva, and US Open champion Coco Gauff’s Fourth Round dismissal by fellow American Emma Navarro.

It is the feisty and diminutive Italian, Jasmine Paolini, who until last week had never managed to win a round on Wimbledon’s hallowed turf, who has won the hearts of the Centre Court crowd – mainly because she wears her own heart on her sleeve – in blitzing her way past Emma Navarro and Croatian Donna Vekic, to become the first Italian woman in the Open era to reach the Semi-Finals and Final of the Championships, matching Matteo Berretini’s 2021 feat.

Paolini will be facing off against the 2021 Roland Garros Champion Barbora Krejcikova in the Ladies Final this afternoon, after the Czechoslovakian pulled off a gritty, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win against fourth seed and former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, again rallying from a set down.

I actually left Centre Court half way through their second set, convinced Rybakina would win hands down, an illustration of how quickly these matches can turn.

And if the Ladies game is proving unpredictable and preventing any sustained rivalries, on a par with that of Novak Djokovic versus Carlos Alcaraz, then Lorenzo Musetti has also thrown a spanner into the works, having reached his first-ever Wimbledon semi-final in taking down three-times Eastbourne champion Taylor Fritz in a five-set thriller, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.

Djokovic of course on any given day, especially a Sunday, presents a far greater challenge, as does any former No 1, but Sinner and his pre-Wimbledon winning streak can take credit for igniting that flame of belief that is currently catapulting these young Italians onto Centre stage, on what might yet become their favourite surface... .