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This is Janik Noah and you're listening to the tennis podcast. Hello and welcome to the tennis podcast Live from Mimbleden on day 8 of the Championships. I'm Catherine Mitiget. This is Matt Roberts. This is David Law. This is our wet weather position, which is frankly just our position now of former position is haunting us over there. Serving is a metaphor for the Great British Summer Time. So, so near yet so far.
And actually we had to scoot the bench further forward today because even our wet weather position was under attack from the rain. No worries, safe folks. Apart from centre and number one court here at Wimbledon, but rain be damned, we are going to have a good night. You see what I did there? I did love it. I couldn't help myself. What a gift to know about Jokovic has just given us to kick off the show tonight.
We have all just watched that interview live up here, rewound it and watched it again to check that we weren't imagining it and that was actually all just happening. And it's quite a lot to process, but it feels like a real bizarre gift he's given us there. Yeah, that was truly excellent. I mean, I wasn't in the stadium earlier.
I was watching with the sound off because of the position I was in in various interview rooms, etc. But my understanding is that the crowd was certainly at some point cheering RUNE. A lot. A lot. And every time you were on a point, it wasn't often. And Jokovic didn't like that. After a while he thought people were using it as an excuse to boo him as part of it, right? Arguing with the umpire about it. In the umpire, there was this bizarre situation.
The umpire explaining to him they're not booing, they're shouting RUNE. Right. And I felt like saying, Novak, we all endured a whole Australian open of this a couple of years ago when the whole Sue thing caught on. And Sue Barco endured it walking onto the scene to court the other day. People were booing Sue. Right. Yeah. Um, so look, I, I mean, maybe the odd one or two people jumped on it and used it as an excuse to get it Jokovic. But I don't think he's got that right in that.
I don't think that was hostility towards him. But I also absolutely don't mind him having a pop like that. That is so much fun. It's harmless. I grow, isn't it? I mean, tennis players using imaginary haters to fuel themselves to victory. It's a tailors old as time. Yeah. And as you say, like what a gift because it's really given us something to talk about and something to be excited about for his future matches as well. Like it's like, oh, okay, Novak Jokovic is in that mood. Is he?
Okay. Um, I can kind of get on board with that. And yeah, I think he probably slightly misread it, but has, has used it for kind of to his advantage because that to me, okay, look, we've got a lot of Holgeruna stuff to talk about. That was not a good performance from him, but that's as good as Novak Jokovic has looked in quite a while, I would say tonight. So smooth, so in control of his game from start to finish, played well in the few key moments that there were.
And yeah, like he is, he's right where he wants to be in this tournament now. Yeah. For anybody that missed that interview, he said to all the fans who have respect and stated tonight, I appreciate it. But then when Rishi Pissad doing the interview, kind of push back and said, like, I don't think it was anti towards you. I think they were, you know, trying to give Runa some desperately needed encouragement. Novak said, I don't accept that. That is not what's happening.
He said, I've been on tour for 20 years. I know what's going on out here. False. And then he goes, you guys can't touch me. Yeah. Which is going to be set to music and doing the rounds on the internet very soon. Yeah, I mean, he points it out. There's been a lot more hostile crowds than this. And I mean, he's absolutely right because this is a centric or a win-win-win. And they know the most kids stuff. Geneteal crowd there ever is. It's fantastic, the entertaining that it pissed him off.
And I mean, look, he takes me back to his early days when he was due to face Andy Rodic at the US Open and Rodic kind of made fun of him in the press conference before the match. And people ask him about what to expect from the match he was about to play. And he says, well, kind of, it depends whether he gets out there because, you know, you've told me he's got an injury. So what is it? Is it SARS? Is it anthrax? Is it bird flu? And he said all these things.
And Jokovic, not surprisingly, didn't take too kindly to that. Jokovic, you know, Rodic does like to do those sort of things in the press conference. Is he, you know, I can understand why that wound Jokovic job. Jokovic then proceeds to beat him in four sets inside the Arthur A. Stadium and the brilliant interviewer for USA Network who had the rights and who were showing their last ever night of tennis before the rights shifted to ESPN. I think it's Michael Barkin.
I think his name was the interviewer, brilliant interviewer. He just sort of put it to, to know that about, you know, you seem really motivated tonight. And no that took that as the opportunity to say, yeah, I guess I don't have all these things that Andy said I have. And then the crowd started booing him and he just stood up to them like 23,000 New Yorkers who were all booing him off the court. It was absolutely epic. And that is very much the no that Jokovic I enjoy seeing.
But tonight I think he has managed to wrestle an argument out of not very much and definitely here for it. Yeah, no that Jokovic is never been to a brief springsteen concert. That is something that has become evident tonight. Yes. That's what happens at those. You will go booze. Oh. And he's never watched Matt Kuchar play golf where they go, right, all the suit, like he was there for the suit thing. I'm sorry to bring that up.
That was, that was a bad time and that was straight in open, wasn't it? But yeah, I mean, look, he's used this as fuel for his whole career, hasn't he? And maybe feels like, maybe his subconscious feels like he needs an extra boost. But I also think his subconscious is so aware of times when he has been booed and it's been like out, frankly, out of order at times. So you think back to the other US open when he beat Federer and the whole crowd.
Look, I understand the support and the love for Federer. But I remember feeling for Jokovic that night. Jeez, how on earth is he standing up to this? Because it would make me shrivel to think of the amount of people against him that night. And he's still one. And he made that a trademark of his career. I'm sure in the subconscious there, even though he's become a lot more appreciated in this country in front of this crowd the last few years, I feel.
There is, there's a lot of residual feeling, I reckon. I mean, I'm only diagnosing it from afar, but he's sensitive to it. And yeah, if he hears, I reckon one or two, then that kind of, I guess, feeling comes out, okay, well, that's why I'm me up. I'm going to take you all on. Yeah, and like, think how flat he was through the first five months of this season. And I know most of that was outside of the slams, but it was flat. The Australian Open as well. We didn't see this side of Novak Jokovic.
And this is a dangerous side of Novak Jokovic for the rest of the draw, I think, if he's in that kind of mood. Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me. I don't know who said that, but it's springing to mind, certainly. Do you know who wasn't out to get him tonight? Holger Runa. Yeah. Bloody disappointing. Yeah, it was. It was, there is no two ways about this. That was Paul from Holger Runa. Six, three, six, four, six, two, felt kind of less close than that, even.
I thought it was naive from Runa. He was sticking to a, belligerently sticking to a tactic that clearly wasn't working. It felt obvious to me that he had no confidence in his baseline game, whereas, you know, when Holger Runa burst on the scene a couple of years ago and beat Jokovic in Paris, okay, indoors, etc., etc., hardcore, but he was prepared to go toe to toe with Novak Jokovic. He backed himself to do that and he backed his game off the ground and he did it today.
And maybe that's reflective of the year he's had and the low canister of confidence, because it hasn't been a great 12 months of a Holger Runa bit. Even so, it felt to me like he was finding something here. You know, first victory from two sets to love down in the previous round. He had a lot of support out there on center court. He's a big time showtime guy. I can't really believe how bad that was today. I'm a bit shook by it. And the start of the match set the tone.
I mean, he came out so sloppy and flat and just lost a string of points to begin the match. And he then was very sloppy at the start of the third set as well. So that's two of the sets. He's basically just handed a break to Novak Jokovic right at the start. And he can't afford to do that against many players in a grand slam draw. Let alone Novak Jokovic. And yeah, there was a lot of going for shots that weren't on.
There was a lot of big hitting out rather than sort of trying to trust his physicality, maybe. I think Grand Slam Runa is not the best version of all the Runa. It doesn't peak at them. It doesn't peak at them. I don't think he has mastered the ups and downs of five set matches at all in terms of his own physicality, his own concentration. I think that's a struggle for him. And he's up against the master at it. And that night's not night session.
That sort of evening slot on Centricore has become Novak Jokovic's time here. It hasn't it. Last year we saw him win so many matches in that slot again this year, very often under the roof, almost always under the roof. This is an indoor tournament now in case you hadn't heard. And he loves those conditions. And he loves that slot on that time of day. And you've got to bring an awful lot more than what Hulgaruna did today. As the first time he's not shown up against Novak Jokovic, I would say.
So we know he can be better than this, but he's got a long way to go. It's like, you know, Sinner and Alkarez kind of know they're good. And Hulgaruna thinks he's good at the moment. Feels like the difference to me right now. And there's just such a big gap in terms of how he's performing at the slams compared to them. You know, that wouldn't be a criticism unless before the tournament he's talking about him forming a big three with them.
And if he is saying that and he is saying that, then you've got to show more than this. But look, Jokovic was amazing. His mastery at the net, his touch, his little short game was just so good tonight. And Runa seemed to think that touch and bringing Jokovic into the net and bringing himself into the net was a good idea. And it was very clear very early that it wasn't. I'm always seeing videos on social media of him playing little touch games with Patrick Moratoglu.
And I'm like, not playing Patrick Moratoglu anymore, Hulgar. This is no bad job. No, he wasn't here today and hasn't been here for the tournament. I understand he's not going to be with him for the Olympics. They haven't officially split up, but he's had Kenneth Carlson with him this tournament who will also be with him in Paris, the Olympics his mum also hasn't been here with him.
I don't know whether that sort of a trial arrangement, whether that trial would be considered a success because it hasn't been all over a bad Wembleton forum, but it has ended badly. The only thing giving me pause, David, is the fact that I feel a very similar way right now to how I felt after Yannick Sinner's semi-final defeat to know about Jokovic last year when I sold all of my Yannick Sinner's stock. I was like, wow, we are going too soon on this guy.
He is a long way away on today's evidence. And I still stand by that on that day. He was poor that day. But he used it as fuel. He learned to look from it. He caught up quickly. Yes, he did. And also that was a semi-final. Now I know he might have had an easy run to that semi-final, but he still was there. This is two rounds earlier. And Runa hasn't done it at Grand Slam's at all yet. And I think it's concerning that he's got his peaking the wrong way around.
The fact that you want to see players produce their best at the Grand Slam's, not their kind of their worst. And I mean, look, he's had a rough run of things for a while. And there have been the odd moments we've enjoyed his five-set matches, but you'd also have to ask, well, why are you in those five-set matches? Why are you two sets to love down against the guy in the first place? Why are you in five sets against Cabolia? I'm actually loved, but it shouldn't have happened really.
Certainly not as often as that happened into him. He is searching big time and nowhere near finding. What's the answer? What would you like to see him do? Good question. I mean, I'd give you a… Because the building blocks are there. That's why we get so high on him when he's good because the foundations are so good. I do feel as though Sinner was further ahead than Runa when Sinner got down K-Hill and overhauled his team.
I think he hadn't had these defluxuations, even though Runa's had these incredible moments where he's beaten Jockewitch and made us… Hey, gentlemen. The grounds will be closing in around 5 minutes. They're going to be disbanded. It's okay. Friends? No, you're rowing there. At Wimbledon? At Wimbledon. And safe, journey home. Good night. I like that. Yeah, it was though. Yeah. But the thing is, he's gone back to Moratoglou. This is the third time he's been with him now.
And it is all a bit bizarre, isn't it? You know, the fact that Moratoglou's not here. I mean, I've got a lot of time for Kenneth Carlson as a person. I knew him on the tour. Great guy. And I don't know what he's like as a coach. I don't know enough inside or experience. But things are not going very well at the moment on call for Hulgaruna. And I just feel that he does need a settled system. And I need to definitely see what looks like a plan.
It doesn't feel like there's a great plan at the moment. I think there's a big difference between where Sina was when he lost to know about Jokavitch last year and where Hulgaruna is today. I know we weren't impressed at all with that performance by Janik Sina last year. If you remember, Sina was actually like OK about it. And now in hindsight, I remember feeling gaslit at the time. What? Right. They'd tell me I watched something different when I just... We were out, right?
But in hindsight, you kind of have to say that he knew that he was on the right path. As David said, he already had that team in place. There was stability around him. And there's not around Hulgaruna. And I think that is quite a big difference between them. In terms of Jokavitch's situation with the Wimbledon crowds now, he is next playing Alex Domenore who received the question that I knew he was going to receive in his press conference that I after his full set victory over Arthur Fees.
There are no Brits left in the tournament. Says the British journalist. We're looking for somebody to support. Given you have a British girlfriend, Katie Bolter, of course, can we have you? Now, I was expecting him to go, nah, mate, I'm Aussie through and through. Wip out is tattooed. Right. That he's got from the table. He goes, yeah, OK, then. He said, I'm happy to be embraced as an honorary Brit. And I'll take all the proud support I can get.
So we have a Brit against good night, no doubt Jokavitch. Which sounds really fun. That would all be lovely. And I could get right into that and look forward to it. If Alex Domenore on Matchpoint didn't look as if it's seen a ghost. And that ghost being an injury concern. Because he looked action-faced at the end. He looked shell-shocked by the fact that he'd finally found a way past Arthur Fees. He's finally gotten to a Wimbledon quarter final.
Don't forget, he was too set to love up against Christian Greene a couple years ago, and he lost. And yet, it wasn't somebody who was relieved or happy or joyous. It was somebody who is looking at his team, shaking his head as if to say, I'm crocked, I'm done. I don't know what I'm scared scared because I've really hurt myself. And I don't know the exact details of it, but I fear the worst for him. Jod his hit, he said, on his first matchpoint.
Now, he was very, very keen to play this down, impress afterwards. He said, I'm feeling decent, just a bit ginger generally with my body. But I'll be fine, he said, honestly, I didn't believe him. I think that was a guy thinking, I'm playing there at Jokovic most likely. In the next round, I cannot afford to give him an inch here. And I think that's the right thing to do, by the way. I really hope I'm wrong, but in that moment, he took a long time to come to press.
He was clearly having major treatment. He said he'd been having treatment and assessments on the hip. I didn't believe him, I think it's a problem. I agree. I think that was the face of a man that knew. It was upsetting, wasn't it? We were watching it together and watching the TV pictures. And it just got you, really, because he's worked so hard for this. And I mean, it ended up being a fun match. I mean, I'm all over watching any Art of Feast match. And I enjoyed his brief comeback.
But Alex Dimonore was in a different class to him, really. And a fully fit Alex Dimonore against Snowvac Jokovic, on grass with Jokovic, you know, still a couple of question marks over this knee. I'd have really looked forward to that match. And now I really, I'm not that infused about it. I hope that he is better than he looked. Yeah. It was the way that, as you said, it was the look on his face. He was walking gingerly, kind of, to use his word.
But it was the way he looked over at his team and just shook his head. And what was a euphoric moment of victory, which in the end had to work pretty hard for. It was a look of someone who thought they'd done something pretty serious, really. He was haunting, like, the dry weather position over there. Yeah, it was a really tough scene. I really, really hope it's not what I fear. And he's able to show up and give a good account of himself.
We know what happened two years ago to Alex Dimonore when he will feel that he should have reached the Wimbledon court of finally was playing Christian Green. And it felt like that was definitely in his head today. He was pretty emotional about being on the brink of reaching a Wimbledon court of final. It's huge for him. It's validation for everything that he's been doing. I don't think anyone works harder than Alex Dimonore and is maximising what he's got more than Alex Dimonore.
And I've fingers crossed for him, but I fear the worst. He was asked about the bizane, so the match today it was fun, particularly for David. But... So, set three in a half. Set's one and two. Yeah, set's one and two. I didn't want to look. Right. And he was kind of asked about winning ugly today, really. It was less ugly than feasts on aggregate, but it still wasn't Dimonore's cleanest performance. And he said, at the end of the day, I'm winning tennis matches.
Doesn't matter if it's perfect or if it's pretty, if I'm winning the last point. And I felt like, if you've been watching England play football... You probably has, or if you're 80. Right. Spoken like Gareth Southgate. Go on, Gareth. Go on, Jude. So, Alex Dimonore against Snowbatte Jocovic, one of the men's quarterfinals that was set up today. The other is Taylor Fritz against Lorenzo Musetti. Taylor Fritz coming from two sets down to defeat Alexander Zvera. 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-3.
Zvera very much joining the knee sleeve gang. It's the... He couldn't find a white one either. No, only a rainbow. Oh, you're a vulnerable engraver. Apparently so. He said he had a bonedema in the knee and a tear in the knee capsule that he sustained against Cameron Norrie. In the previous round, he said he knew he wasn't risking doing further damage by playing. But it was a factor today. How much of a factor? Zvera will tell you a lot.
And his movement certainly was hampered, particularly back and forth, rather than side to side. Yeah, there were a number of occasions where he wasn't chasing down drop shots properly. You could tell that he was just sort of ambling towards him a bit. And Zvera is a good mover. And today he wasn't. And I think, you know, that was the difference. It affected him, I would say, side to side, more in the fifth set as a few times, so I noticed that.
But yeah, like, generally, his movement was definitely compromised. And I think by the end of the match, his serve speeds were down as well. He wasn't really sort of pushing off quite as he normally would. And yeah, it was definitely a factor in the match. He was asked about Fritz's Grasco tennis and his prospects for the rest of the tournament, Zvera, for us, impressed afterwards. And he goes, yeah, you know, Fritz is a good Grasco player. He showed good resilience to come back.
And then there was a pause and he goes, but I was on one leg today. And then he goes, credit to him that he came back. But it was not a high level today, overall, he said. And look, I think that's fair. It wasn't the best tennis match I've ever seen. There was some aggro here, though. I mean, it's been totally gizamped by no-vat drop of it. So this feels like a small fry now, but I was very excited about it at the time. It's a very animated match in terms of the two players' boxes.
I didn't think there was anything on towards as I was watching the match as it went along. Alexander Zvera, obviously, did. There was a very extended exchange at the net between Fritz and Zvera. It looked fairly amicable, but it was extended. There was a clear back and forth. And both players were asked about it in their post-match press conferences. It was very of that came in first. And he said that he was upset with some of the noise coming from Taylor Fritz's player box.
He said, his team is extremely respectful. I think his coach, his physio, also his second coach, they're extremely respectful. I think there's some other people that are maybe in the box that are not maybe from the tennis world, that are not maybe particularly watching every single match. They were a bit over the top. Now, in potentially unrelated news, Taylor Fritz's girlfriend, Morgan Riddle, who is an influencer and tennis vlogger, with a good following.
It's not content for everyone, but I think there's a real place for it in the tennis world. And I think she, she and Paige Lorenz, Tommy Paul's girlfriend, it does a similar thing. I think they get a lot of misogynistic hate for what they do from people that, yeah, it's not for you. It's fine. But there's value to it and leave them alone, personally. Anyway, Morgan Riddle posts a message before the match, picture of Centre Courts.
She obviously just sat down in the players' box and she writes cheer-loud ladies. And after the match, she posts a picture of herself at a sort of little video, boom, ring of herself, celebrating. And it says when the caption is, when your man does it for the girls. It's possible Alexander's Vera had seen one or both of those posts. The second one's been taken down. Has it? Oh. Yeah, but I thought they were iconic. I did too. Oh, that's a real shame.
I wonder if Taylor Fritz got involved there because he clearly wanted to keep the peace in his press conference. There was no leave my girl alone, energy. Now, maybe there was behind the scenes, but not outwardly. She's taken it down. Only the second one. Cheer-loud ladies. It's still up. Or it was when I left off the barricade. It's been up. And it's been seen. And it's been seen. It's been judged.
It would appear she's either thought again about it and thought, probably, I shouldn't do that for whatever reason or she's been told, please take it down. There's the two options, you would think. But the fact that she posted it in the first place, does she know how she initially thought? Or at least how she was feeling after that victory? OK. Well, it's very ever is enjoying his flight home. Yes. Good or nice?
Yeah. Taylor Fritz threw to the quarterfinals here for the second time where he'll face Lorenzo Mazzetti, who it feels like an age ago. Lorenzo Mazzetti got to play his match outside in the dry. It's truly extraordinary scenes. He beat Giovanni Pesci Perica 46336262, multiple breaks of the Pesci Perica serve here. I was seriously impressed by Mazzetti's there. And no Mazzetti Perica hit the wall. This was his seventh match in 10 days, something like that.
Because of course, he was a lucky loser, came through qualifying, and he had hit the wall by the end. But I felt like Mazzetti really kind of presented him with that wall and said, do you want to hit this? And he went, yeah, OK. I was seriously impressed with Mazzetti. Yeah, Mazzetti kind of broke him, didn't he? Because he was reading his serve so well and diffusing it, blocking it back, shipping it, getting into rallies.
And actually, for most of the match, it was Mazzetti who was holding a lot more easily, even though he doesn't have such a big serve. And it was Pesci Perica who was fighting to hold more. And that was also the story of their match in Stuttgart. I think Mazzetti has really got some hand skills there to be able to diffuse these big servers. And I think that's something that he's always had, but has got better. Like I remember you watched him, David Lasty, against Hercatch.
And Hercatch, I think, was serving incredibly well in this tournament last year. And Mazzetti wasn't able to diffuse it the same way. I don't think Pesci Perica had his best serving day. He was actually only positively plus two in terms of like 10 Aces. But he also hit eight double faults. That ratio wasn't great. And generally, I don't think he was serving at his best because he did seem pretty spent, certainly in the last two sets.
But yeah, Mazzetti, you've got to concentrate so hard against a big server like that. And I've not always maybe trusted that side of Lorenzo Mazzetti's game. You know, he's got all the shots. He's incredibly talented. But does he have it mentally? And today he really did. He was locked in the whole match and only hit eight unforeseen errors in the whole match. He just took control of his own game, really.
And yeah, it was really emotional in the encore interview in tears and talking about what has struggled its been in terms of on call in the last year or so. A lot of good things in his life have happened in terms of he's become a father. But that has changed his circumstances quite a lot. And I think his tennis had suffered, probably, whereas this last month he's been fantastic, really, in terms of his way pushing out of the Jacović in Paris.
And then all of his results on the grass really impressive. And he's got a very good grass court record in the last few years. It's only been really top players who've been beating him. So yeah, big moment in the career of Mazzetti reaching the last eight. And look, he's got a shot against Taylor Fritz for short. Look, I think. How big a shot? I think Fritz is the favorite. But it's a big match for Fritz.
All the other American men at the top, Shelton, Paul, Tiafow, have all reached the Grand Sam semifinal. And he hasn't yet, even though in other areas, he's been the number one for quite a while. That will be a pressure in itself, I think, for Fritz. He'll be Fritz will be the favorite in a Grand Sam quarter final for the first time, which is what he wants. He doesn't want to have to play never at the Jacović or at the Raffa on the Dali. He wants that. But it does come with its own pressure.
And I think Mazzetti's slice can cause some real problems. I think that's a pretty close match, I would say. An attractive one, too. I think there could be some wonderful rallies. Maybe more for the connoisseur. People who are real tennis fans who just love watching constructed rallies. But I'm looking forward to that.
He was asked, but at the time that he came into press, he didn't know who he'd be facing in the next round out of Fritz and Zarev, and he was asked to, you know, one of those questions where you're asked a comment on both potential opponents. And he went, probably, Zarev. Oh, did he? Yeah. So he's upset. Oh, no, he's upset Fritz. He's going to lose. I think you said it. Fritz, I know what you did. I've changed the intonation for comedy effects. But yeah, it was fun.
He has three tattoos around Zarev and Zarev. Do we know what they are? He's got his heart beat and tennis racket. Yes. He's got a quote. Yeah. Don't know what it is. That's kind of the point of my question. The second one is he has an anchor that says family. Very sweet. We all like our families, well, most of us. And then the third one is the quote says, the best is yet to come. Oh, well. Optimism. Good for you. Good for you, Lorenzo. Good for you, Lorenzo. OK, so.
Got such a tattoo as a permanent. Like, your best won't always be yet to come. It's not always. There comes a point where it is. He's going to be in the care home, looking at it going, well, I'm not sure that's true anymore. You better off sort of hope for the best, even if it looks terrible as well. Bless him, though. It's very. It's very Lorenzo. It's very Lorenzo, Missette. Yeah. And I'm looking forward to that much. Yeah. Really. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They say opposites attract.
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In four weeks, the typical new user can expect to lose one to two pounds per week. Individual results may vary. So those will be in a couple of days time. We of course have two women's quarterfinals that will be that have been set up today. The first, Elena Rebacchina, will face Alina Svitalina, Rebacchina, getting the better of Anna Callins Skyer today, Callins Skyer retiring. It's becoming a bit of a feature of this Wimbledon.
I think we have to acknowledge that retiring with a wrist injury, three love down in the second set, clearly compromised by that injury. It was particularly affecting her serve. And she said the first shot after the serve as well, it couldn't deal with power coming at her today. And well, she was getting a lot of that from Elena Rebacchina. So we had sad Anna Callins Skyer. We had sad Yannick Sinner in Alakana Skyer's box. And he does do for lawn, for lawn boyfriend, well, doesn't he?
Yeah. No, he's gutted. She was, I was commentating the first set of that match. And the thing is, Callins Skyer made an amazing start. She broke for two love. She was sort of, you know, when I think that Caroline wasn't actually, didn't manage to get two games out of 13, 14. She couldn't, she just couldn't get anywhere near Rebacchina. And then Callins Skyer was absorbing it and sending it back. She was really time in the ball back really effectively.
And I thought, you know, this is going to be a really interesting match. And then just dramatically, it turned. And I'm not exactly sure at which point Callins Skyer started to feel the pain, but it wasn't long. And yeah, big turn around. And Rebacchina remains the player, I think. And yet there are still doubts. I don't think you can just wipe those doubts away until she's won this tournament, given the year she's had. And look, she should be the favourite against Fitterlina.
I think she'll be the favourite in every match she plays from now on, if there are matches beyond Fitterlina. But do you think Fitterlina will take her into the trenches in a way that nobody has yet? Yeah, I mean, Laura Seagman really did push Rebacchina in the second round. And that was a rare match that was played outdoors, you know, on court too, I think it was. And look, back in the day. Yeah, look, I mean, the point here is that that match was played indoors today.
It didn't start raining here until 6 p.m. That's when play was suspended on the outdoor courts. There was no rain here until then. Like, play continued on the outside courts until then. And yet they played the first match on both centre and what, well, all matches on centre and one today were under the roof. They definitely have an anticipatory roof policy, right? If there's a risk of rain and it was like, it was in the air before 6 p.m. but it didn't actually break through.
They don't want matches to be interrupted for sure. I know. I just don't know if I'm comfortable with that as a policy. Really considering it's an outdoor tournament. And... Mount wants to sit in the rain, I suppose. But no, because it's not really. It wasn't raining. And yet we played indoors, like all day. And that has just become accepted now. And I do understand the point about anticipating rain and maybe not wanting to change conditions during the match. I do get that.
But I think that would be preferable than what we had today, which is just an indoor tournament on the two main show courts. The roofs are so quick to close now. It isn't that much of a delay. It's just about the change of conditions, which is a factor. And they consider that more important. But I just think it's bizarre that... It was perfectly dry here today for... What could have been four and a half, five hours of play on the main show courts and we were indoors. I just think that's odd.
Rebecca and I liked it. They didn't show you. She loved it. She said there's no conditions indoors. It was a good summation, actually. It was a really good turn of phrase. Svitterlina, as you said, played outdoors today. It was an incredibly emotional match this. 6261, I mean, just a demolition job, really, of Wong Jin Yu from Svitterlina.
She was wearing a black ribbon on her chest, which had been approved by the club today, to mark the atrocity overnight in Kiev, whereby a children's hospital was struck by Russia missiles, and there have been fatalities, and it's just just horrendous what is happening, and obviously, is continues to be an enormous feature of Ukrainian players' lives. And they're also acutely aware of how lesser feature it is of everybody else's life.
Now, we have all just kind of absorbed into our consciousness that this war is going on. It's terrible. It's not going to change. Let's sort of keep it on the back burner. Well, Ukrainians don't have the luxury of doing that. They've got friends and family back homes. Svitterlina is in touch with them all the time. She said she speaks to Surg, Surg, Surg is the Kowski, daily former Ukrainian tennis player, who's now joined the serving in the Ukrainian military. This is in her life all the time.
She said she felt in a fog this morning. But the fact that she kind of didn't have an opportunity or the headspace to analyze the match made her looser. She said and simplified things for her today. And it did. She made tennis looks so simple today. It was business like it was extraordinarily professional and pretty gut-wrenching. Yeah, just as a tennis performance, I commented or at least reported the second set.
And it was the first time this year that it felt like this time last year, the way she played. You know, you some didn't very well. Really solid, but also just pretty awesome. The way she was hitting the ball. And she was playing a player who I think has had a good run here and ran into just a better player who was playing very well.
And yes, it was one question really asked in the on-court interview that immediately, I guess, opened the floodgates for the emotion that she's been feeling to come out. And yet she still spoke through it and spoke so powerfully and movingly. And I feel terrible for her. And yet I couldn't be more in admiration of her in every way, really. She's so, so aware of the power and reach of her platform as a tennis player, which is incredible to hear really.
She talked about the guilt of feeling happiness in her life. On the tennis court, off the tennis court, there's so much complicated stuff going on for a few Ukrainian players, because she was happy today. She was thrilled. Her life is really good. And that comes with an awful lot of guilt. And that's so much conflicting emotion to accommodate in one human being. And I think she's absolutely incredible, actually. And these things can power people and athletes to extraordinary things.
And I think it probably will take something extraordinary to be Elena Rebacken. She's the heavy favorite. There's the potential that she hits Vittelina off the court. But I wouldn't put anything pass Elena off the court. Not many do these days hit this particular player off the court. She's always been a good retriever and mover. But she's tended to just not have anything to counter attack with that is hurting them. And that has changed in the last year.
And I think at least from the way I saw it today, I remember last year she was playing up. So brilliantly she took out Igor Shferntek. So she was getting more headlines for her player, a lot earlier on in the tournaments. And obviously, the ongoing story of Ukraine, meant that she was a talking point and she was getting listened to and speaking a lot. But she was also expending a heck of a lot of physical energy on the court to get those wins. She hit it. Was it Asarenko?
She had that match against. And then she eventually ran into Von Drosva, who was excellent on the day. And there wasn't enough left in the tank. It felt to me. Well, I think at least physically, she looks like she's going into this one fresh, mentally and emotionally, I couldn't begin to imagine. So yeah, we'll just have to wait and see. Yeah, because they did play Roland Garros, didn't they?
That was quite a comfortable win for Rebecca, but I agree with David in that the Spitalina we saw tennis-wise at Roland Garros was not like the Spitalina we saw today and had seen this one. No, I don't think so. This has been more like what she was producing last year here at Wimbledon. It's been much more of that level. So I would expect her to tennis-wise do better than she did at Roland Garros. I guess the flip side of that is Rebecca.
I think loves the grass even more than she loves the clay. So it's going to be on Rebecca and her racket. The other quarter final set up today, Barbara, Craig Chicaver, remember her? Folks, she's reached two grand sem finals. Oh, quarter finals this year. Doesn't feel like it. So under the radar. Yeah, and I was there today for the second set of her match with Daniel Collins and watching it closely and it was fascinating opening set because it was only 7-5 to Cretigua.
And yet she set up in that set 12 break points. She only took one. Collins had none at all. It was one of the closest one-sided matches you'll ever see. She was really struggling on serve throughout Daniel Collins. And I don't know how much the injury was a factor in that. She went off court for a medical time out early in the second set. By the time she came into pressure, she hadn't had a full medical assessment so she didn't know exactly what the injury was, but she said the back of her leg.
But yeah, her back was against the wall throughout this match. And Cretigua for serving really well. It's going to take a good performance to beat her, I think. But enter Yelena Ostapenko. 6-2, 6-3 for her today over Yelia Putin's saver. And let me tell you, in the context of Ostapenko's Wimbledon, that is a good result for Putin's saver because Ostapenko hasn't dropped to more than three games in a set all tournament. She is sweeping all before her. You guys went out to watch this.
She was fall of up after 11 minutes. That was so funny. I mean, I've never seen that on a scoreboard before. 11 minutes, fall of. I mean, there's a sit down of a couple of minutes. In that, they count that. So it's fall of in nine minutes. And then, I mean, fair play to Putin's saver. She didn't give up. She didn't stop scrapping. She made it sort of respectable, as you said. But that shows how well Ostapenko's playing. She just kind of doesn't matter.
I'm just going to keep going for these shots. And so many of them came off. It was, I think it's one of the first times I've ever seen her in the flash, not on TV. And the body language is even more pronounced when you see her in the flash because you've got time. If you just watch her, every single line call. If the balls come into her baseline, she's lifting her finger to show it out before it's even landed. And it's very funny to watch. Before it's even landed, in verybly about a foot out.
There were two comical challenges. One that her shot was called out, and she thought it was in. And it was one of those where, like, the line wasn't even in the graphic. You know, so far out. And then on Max Point as well, she challenged. And it was in so far inside the line. And she thought it was out, like hilarious. But yeah, she's playing so well. I think she had dropped the fewest games to reach the fourth round that Wimwooden in 10 years, just in terms of her scorelines.
And she's just hitting blazing winners all the time. There was one moment where Pooce and Slavik just gave up and did an underarm serve at level 40. And Ossipenko did not move for it. It was like, my game's not about running. We didn't get close to going over the net. It was a terrible underarm serve. So, yeah, she's just so dismissive. Right. Ossipenko, just, I'll just hit a winner off that ball, off this ball, you know.
From when she said last year that I really need to start being more aggressive. Well, she treats her words, she's doing it somehow. And there was a point in the match. It was like, well, Ossipenko is obviously going to win this. I'm just here for the handshake now. And like... It was good, wasn't it? I feel like... Reenactment. Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who do you want a bit? Putin Sava. OK, so you've got to look away then. Yeah. Yeah. Putin Sava says she didn't... She did the drive by...
Yeah. Like... Yeah. I think by their standards, it was... It was an OK. It was warm. It was warm, yeah. I do like a no-look drive by... I do. I do it so pathetic. It's very funny. Yeah. Yeah. I had a lot of fun following this match. Ossipenko's second favourite for the title. After Rebecca and him. Discuss. Yeah, I would say so. Considering her form and considering she's won a Grand Sam title, I think the fact that she's in the same half as Rebecca and her maybe makes it...
That's a problem because... It's tricky. Rebecca and her always beat her. That's... She's never been able to deal with it at all. OK. It's great to have Ossipenko. It's awesome playing well and feeling really meaningful in her own style. Right, it's tricky, random, but... Two matches I really look forward to as well. Because Krishie give us a bit different as well. She gives you a different trajectory of more. She's not going to enjoy Ossipenko's stuff. Is she? Not at all.
I think she'll get a bit eggy about it. Excellent. And I think she'll do some stuff herself. Yeah. Yeah, she just does quite different stuff, doesn't she? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I think that's going to be fun. OK, that'll be in a couple of days time. What have we got coming up tomorrow? Interesting order of play tomorrow. Starting at 130, just two matches now on Century Number One Court.
We start with men's singles tomorrow, Yannick Sinner, against Daniel Medvedev on Centre, followed by Jasmine Paulini up against Emma Navarro, which means on Number One Court tomorrow, starting at 1. Luliesson against Domovekic, followed by Carlos Alcaraz, taking on Tommy Paul. I mean, look, I think it's a 50-50, isn't it, which of those men's matches you put on Centre and which on one. But you'd be pretty thrilled if you've got a Number One Court ticket for tomorrow, wouldn't you?
And you get both of those matches. Yeah, I think they've got it right in terms of Medvedev and Sinner on Centre Court, the World Number One, against a Formula One, and a Grand Sam Champion, I think, on paper. And yet, probably the match I'm looking forward to watching more is the Alcaraz Paul one, because I think Paul is... Well, he outlined his status by winning Queens and we've seen him against Alcaraz, causing problems before. So, and I think the dynamic of that is really interesting.
It does even Sinner and Alcaraz up in terms of how many they've had on Centre and how many they've had on one. That's important. Yeah, it looks, it's two great tickets. Does anyone foresee any upsets tomorrow, because it has been an upset, heavy few days, to be clear, I would consider an upset Medvedev winning, Navarro winning, Sinner winning or Paul winning? Well, I think the Vara... Do you think the Vara is an upset? Well, on paper, yeah. 19th seed, again, 7th seed. Yeah, so I think...
It's tight, though. I don't think there's a favourite in that. I bet it, but I think given what Pauline has done of late, you know, but I think four-wise, this tournament. I think to us, who's seen Navarro beat Asaka and now Golf and Handlely, I mean, look, I think Navarro is going to win that match. But, yeah, given the recent format, I can understand, I definitely feel like that still would be a bit of an upset. Everyone thinks Vecchic is winning? Yeah. Yeah. Not sure.
Not that confident, to be honest. I hope she does. I mean, look, I like Lou Wilson. I like watching her, but I'd love Donner to do it. But I'm not confident. Is it the lefty element? Yeah, and she's really, really good the other day, yesterday. I will still say Vecchic because I'm a real believer in that servant forehand combo. And I'm a real believer in Pam as a coach. I think she's been there as a player.
And I know that's not everything, but she's an invaluable experience because she has a way to present it to Donner that really sticks, I think. And I do think that that is going to be a difference maker, so I'm going Donner Vecchic. And I think we learn a lot tomorrow about Sun. If Sun plays a great match tomorrow, I will be so impressed because her circumstances have changed now. Good point. People know who she is. She's had the big press conference.
If she's able to block all that out and just keep playing her game, that will, to me, show that she's really serious. She could be even if she has a bit of a wobble tomorrow. That would be totally understandable. But it's kind of a lot for her in the last 24-48 hours. I don't know. Vecchic is, because she hasn't won a grand sample quarter final, but she's been in a couple of them. And as you said, Pam in the box with all that experience, I think Vecchic can do it.
But game-wise, I do think the match-up with that leftiness and that Sun forehand is tricky for sure. Could be a nervy one, couldn't it? I think there's going to be a lot of nervy ones over the next few days because you've got some surprising people and a lot of shocks have already happened. I mean, I do think that that makes for an absolutely tantalizing prospect. I'm really looking forward to the next few days. Me too. Do you like and subscribe, folks?
Ahead of the next few days. You wouldn't want to miss any of our upcoming live shows, podcast, coming out of you from the remaining six days of Wimbledon. We've got our mascot, Maverick, with us all the way. We have our mascots, the dearly departed Darwin, Francis, Hyder and Soma. We have Billie Jean's Billie Jean content on our Instagram today. Our Maverick content. Billie Jean is sponsored by Billie Jean King and Alana Kloss. We saw Billie Jean King in the media cafe yesterday.
And I saw Alana Kloss today. Oh, holding three tennis rackets, having just had a hit. Lovely stuff. Hello to our top folks and executive producers, Jamie Jeff Chris and Greg and Matt. Let's have some shout outs. I do want to start the shout outs with two apologies. Oh, okay. One is for forgetting Nicholas Jarry the other day. Yes. Come on, that was hilarious. It was a bit of a storm. Look. Unforgivable for me. It's pretty bad. You chose Nicholas Eskidae. You chose Nicholas Mou.
We had another one as well. Nicholas Le Penz. Yeah, Nicholas Keifer. Yeah. Yeah, man. He's already been in such. He's outraged. It's got nothing else to do. So I do want to apologize about that. I also want to apologize to the people of Bendigo. Oh, Australia. Look. Correspondence about this. I give so many tennis takes on this podcast. And yet the thing I've had the most messages about is that I booked the pronunciation of this place in Australia I've never heard of. What did you call it?
Bendigo. For the fact, it's Bendigo. Bendigo. Hello to the citizens of Bendigo. Yeah, so I just want to put that on the record. Good. Justice for Bendigo and for Jerry. Yes. And we start the shout outs with Karen Maybom. Oh. Well, in Luzanne, Switzerland, but originally from Denmark. We've had Karen before. Oh, tough day for Denmark. Yes. Karen says, good luck finding a tennis player with my name. Thank you for wishing us luck. How are we spelling, Karen?
Karen, I think Karen has a lot of things to say, A-I-N. No, I don't think I can. Karen, Hashanov is springing to mind, but it doesn't feel helpful. No, it's the closest we're going to get now, I think, Karen. But thank you so much for being a friend. Yes. Sorry. That's terrible, isn't it? Maybe someone in the chat will come up with it. Well, it's not terrible, it's an unexixed. It's not an awful thing. Karen, nap. Oh, for all of the... Italy? Yeah, nap with a K. I have taken that from the chat.
That's amazing. I think she was Italian? Yeah. Maybe David, you can call it. That is from Vicki's breadberry in the chat. Well done, Vicki. Well done, Vicki. Well done, Vicki. Yes. See, Karen, very good. Don't doubt us. Wow, wow, wow. Thank you, Karen. We've also got Gail Nell in Madison, Wisconsin. That Madison Keys. Yeah. I'm going to confidently tell you that Madison is the capital of Wisconsin. You would know. Yeah. Yeah, but I have been getting these wrong.
Thanks, Gail. Well, Gail. Well, Gail. Well, Gail. Well, Gail. Well, Gail. Yes, different spelling. We've got an eye here, rather than an e. But yes, I think one piece. Gail, Bradshaw, used to be an ATP supervisor. However, that was also not the right spelling, because that was G-A-Y-L-E. Long time ATP supervisor used to do all the rules. So I don't have a G-A-I-L spelling. It is indeed the capital of Wisconsin. Thank you, Gail. And finally, we've got Alec Mills in Bristol. Alec?
Like Alan Mills, the former referee. Well, the referee. Yeah, he sadly passed away earlier this year, and who was a feature of the tennis podcast. In our archives, if you want to go back and listen to it, when Catherine and I did our end of season awards, and got Alan Mills to judge it. That was at the Albert Hall, wasn't it? Yeah, that was one of my favourite episodes. Any Alex? I suppose Alec is short for Alex, or Alexander, isn't it? My granddad was an Alec to his friends.
So, do you do Minor? Yes, get well soon. Alex, do Minor. I hope you're okay for the match. He's going to have the whole of Britain behind it. Yes, David. But he's also going to have good night, no, not chocolate. Before we say good night, please do like and subscribe. Please do subscribe to the newsletter for King of the Noughties coverage and much else besides. They've both still got to answer today's question. Excited about it. This is my chance to close the gap, folks.
Matthew's nodding like a man that's freezing cold and wants to get home and that's thinking that's the most freaking last day I've wanted to do. Join the barge. But that's what you sign up for, Matthew. King of the Noughties in full flow updates in our newsletter. So do subscribe to that.
The link in our show notes, as is the link to become a friend of the tennis podcast and get access to all of the bonus fun that you get by being a friend, including the barge where it truly is rocking at the moment. And that's where you can find Hannah all day long and why wouldn't you want to spend all day with Hannah quite frankly. Folks, it has been a fun one today. I wish I could think of a more predictable or less predictable way to end this show.
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