Key events
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Two contrasting stories from yesterday …
First of Centre Court is arguably the game of the day: Swiatek v Svitolina. The world No 1 versus the most popular player at this year’s Championships.
Svitolina has certainly made her mark here, particularly in Sunday’s emotion-filled win over Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, but there are many factors at play here: her nationality, the fact that she only gave birth to her daughter nine months ago, her openness and disarming personality (Harry Styles has since offered her tickets to an upcoming concert, don’t worry).
Elina Svitolina on giving away her Harry Styles tickets:
“Well I hope Harry is watching maybe… I’m just a big fan of us. So you know… just like… 🫶”
Priceless. 😂
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) July 9, 2023
But above all, it’s Svitolina’s tennis ability that is centre stage. Nobody has more wins against current No 1s in the past 10 years than the Ukrainian. Swiatek will be worried.
This is great, from Guardian snapper Sarah Lee.
Jessica Pegula is having a fine time at the moment, and she will get today’s action underway against Marketa Vondrousova. Pegula has dropped just one set (in the first round) in this year’s tournament and looks in fine fettle as she aims to make her first grand slam semi-final.
Pegula has had a real late resurgence in her career, and didn’t break into the top 100 until she was 25. Now 29, she is one of the world’s best player, and has found a real consistency outside of the slams. Tumaini did this excellent interview with her earlier this year, well worth a read (she is the daughter of a billionaire who owns the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and NHL’s Buffalo Sabres).
Her opponent, Vondrousova, is no mug. Unseeded but ranked 42nd and a former French Open finalist, the Czech lefty could easily cause Pegula some problems today. It’s an intriguing opener on Court No 1.
Preamble
Hello world. We’re down to the last eight in the men’s and women’s draw. Big boy/big girl tennis. Loads of storylines, loads of drama. It should stay dry, so the roof on each court should stay open but This Is England, so no promises.
Here’s the order of play today, on Centre and Court No 1.
As you can see, play to get underway at around 1pm BST, although not everyone is happy about that.
But with just two quarter-final matches on each of the show courts today, we shouldn’t have any more 11pm finishes (although Kim Clijsters and Martina Hingis are pairing up in a ladies invitational doubles round robin later on No 1, which is quite fun).