At the end of a busy day at Wimbledon, Catherine, David and Matt react to Iga Swiatek’s loss to Yulia Putintseva, Elena Rybakina’s flawless performance, Ons Jabeur’s return to Centre Court which ended in defeat, late night wins for Novak Djokovic and Holger Rune, the setting up of Jannik Sinner vs Ben Shelton, and Emma Raducanu’s withdrawal from the mixed doubles.
Related Posts
36 Comments
She has won 22 titles in her short career but has never won a grass tournament. 125,250,500 etc. why was she the favorite. And trust me, I love me some Iga! Except when she’s playing OSTEPANKO. I watch every alonna match. I was hoping Iga would win 🥇 so that she’d end up playing OSTEPANKO! OSTEPANKO is the best
Andy could have partnered with Katie Boulter… British no.1 …..
Stop trolling and gossiping about Emma
The thing about Rybakina looking that good on the grass and her opponents feeling hopeless; Vondrousova felt that exact same way against Rybakina …on clay in Rome(despite Vondrousova considering herself more of a clay court specialist)and Sabalenka felt that way at Brisbane on a fast hard court. It is no longer strange to see Rybakina destroying even the best opponents with ease and even her worst most disappointing losses are extremely close compared to what they used to be.
Rybakina can play this way on every surface but she just doesn’t know how to do it consistently yet. If it weren’t for Rybakina losing her form and all of her points constantly from illness she would be the clear front runner just from her improvements on returns, on volleys, on her movement and her drop shots alone and she still has so much more room to grow.
As much as you all think Iga should win Wimbledon and everything else I think a Rybakina that continues to improve should win Roland Garros quite a few times even against Iga. Rybakina should have beaten Paolini in Roland Garros despite 50 UE and despite losing form from missing Rome, she was serving for a 5-4 lead in the 3rd with momentum, and if she wins that match she definitely beats Andreeva and all of the sudden Rybakina is playing Iga in the final when Rybakina is unbeaten by Iga on clay.
This year was actually Rybakina’s best year on clay and she is basically matching her best year on hard courts already, she is STILL getting better despite constant set backs. Once the set backs start to go away she is going to start dominating the WTA and Iga won’t have a prayer of winning Wimbledon or the Australian Open.
Rybakina may be older than Iga but she is not as weathered as a normal 25 year old, she is going to catch Iga.
Perhaps when you think about it, it was appropriate that Andy Murray’s last ever match was with his brother, a bittersweet moment. We’ll never see his like again, feeling wistful…
Dead at Matt's pronunciation of Bendigo 😂 I wouldn't expect anyone outside of Australia to know how to pronounce it but I had never heard it said that way before
I was hugely dissapointed hearing that Emma had pulled out of her Wimbledon mixed doubles with Sir Andy Murray which would have been his last at Wimbledon but one shouldnt forget that Sir Andy only asked Emma at the last minute to play mixed doubles because he and his brother were unceremoniously knocked out in R1 of the Mens doubles. You guys know as do I that Emma stated during a Covid interview that playing a mixed doubles with Andy one of her hopes and despite any reservations she said she felt honoured and happily accepted at equally short notice. The scheduling of their mixed doubles R1 match was awful, although I am certain Emma would have played so long as it didnt jeopardize her own 4th Round singles match today as the only British Tennis player left standing, male or female which is reminiscent of 2021. Of course Andy would be devastated but his mother being astonished is lacking in empathy knowing that 9 Months ago Emma underwent surgery on both wrists and an ankle and acknowledge the decision made by Emma was not an easy one and simply a shame, a shame for Emma, for Andy, for Tennis and fans of both camps as this was a dream pairing that so many one day hoped to see and thought they were, but sadly not.
i honestly don’t think that this has anything to do with ‘priorities’. the technical /physical comes ^first, if you are a player.
i think that Iga cares, she just doesn’t have the self-belief that comes from winning on this surface.
she struggles to make the adaptations— the takeback has to start *a *lot *earlier on grass (— early preparation bring essential), you have to load quickly to offset irregular bounces. most importantly the bounce is a lot lower, so the contact point is nearly always lower, compared to playing on other surfaces …. that means the grip ^has to change. there is no way around this.
i am not a pro but i change from western to semiwestern, playing on grass — if i didn’t the ball would be flying off the strings because the racquet face would be too closed on contact …. you just can’t hit like that on balls that bounce below waist height.
there are lot of features [that people that don’t really play] are not seeing here. i think that Iga can do it but it will require a lot more work and belief in herself that she can do it.
Wondering to what extent the Penko effect played in the result today. She woulda been Iga's next opponent
The mistake was Andy asking her in the first place and putting her in an invidious position. Why choose Emma? Why not choose Heather W? Out of the singles and the same age and a m/d winner. Why choose someone who needs to manage her game time and still in the singles? The blame if there is blame is on Andy. Andy did not see this through. An older male putting pressure on a younger female – not a good look. Catherine clearly blaming Emma, poor.
Seriously, could Wimbledon official channel post Swiatek's press conference?
Andy Murray, againnnnnnnnnn…please stop this agony that has been ongoing for months.
Andy Murray needed to stop playing years ago,. We had to look at him playing horrible tennis for over 2 years to this point. Yet, we are still talking about his "last cigarette" after he had a farewell ceremony.
At this point, it has become a Jason Friday 13th scenario. He keeps on coming back after he is gone.
Leave Emma in peace. Emma has an ongoing career, and she doesn't have to risk jeopardizing her chances to honor Andy, whose career truly ended in 2019.
Andy Murray's goodbye is as long as Elton John's farewell tour.
I'm sorry that this young Gen Z kid is getting stick when she was entrapped by adults who should've known much better and appreciated how delicate her comeback was, and not complicated matters for her in this way. I know who I think should be showing some contrition.. those who have given so much and taken so much
I’m disappointed in Judy for doing that. I get it but I agree with what Catherine said. I’ve always respected Judy and I think of her as a smart and decent person but it was immature to make that post about Serena. Heat of the moment I’m guessing. Overall I agree with David on the situation. He’s had his send off and it was amazing and befitting of his brilliant career. Good luck to Emma in the rest of the tournament
I think the fact that the Murrays have reacted this way publicly makes me sad. They know what sort of pressure Emma is under from the public – they could have spared her from the onslaught she would have received by not commenting about the outcome. There are a handful of other UK WTA players that he could have asked instead of feeding the flames.
Mafia boss Don Raducani, who regularly disposes of her consiglieri has to break the news to wise guy Murroni, that he's now surplus to requirements. 'Sorry kid she says, nothing personal, it's just business' 🙂………. Now let's let Emma get on with what she was doing before someone dropped oil on the floor right in front of her, she was providing fun and great entertainment to so many tennis fans worldwide.
So, Judy Murray's twitter post was mocking the original tweet she was replying to, hence her repetition of the word 'astonishing'. I didn't see it as a criticism of Raducanu, though it was of course a silly thing to tweet all the same in the circumstances. Raducanu was obviously extremely naive to agree to play in the mixed given her list of recent health issues, but when she signed up for that, knowing at the time that Andy had recently had back sugery and in all likelihood it was going to be his last match at Wimbledon, i think a lot of negative publicity was inevitable. She must surely have recognised this and while wrist stiffness is a legit issue for her – she's had sugeries on her wrists after all – it just won't fly with a lot of people who won't recognise it as anything other than an excuse. It's a pretty sad situation all round really and i fear it will derail her week at Wimbledon as she appears to be somebody who is very much reliant upon momentum and heavily feeds off the support of the crowd. I wonder whether some of the online uproar will adversely affect her confidence and damage that momentum. A smarter way to handle this would have been if Andy announced the decision. I am sure he would be very disappointed, but i am also sure he would have completely understood it. Although i of course don't know what went on behind the scenes, i think this could have been handled a lot better.
It’s not up to Emma Raducanu to facilitate Andy Murray’s goodbye. Why go out to play an exhibition style late at night when you’ve got the most important singles match of your year the next day? She shouldn’t have said yes admittedly but they weren’t going to win and it feels like with the scheduling she’s been put in a position where she couldn’t win either way. Let’s not pile on Emma for this.
I think the Raducanu/Muarry thing comes down to how the initial agreement went down – and how she handled it with him in declining it.
Just get over it and I don’t think it really a big deal for Andy Murray. Please don’t criticize Emma and it’s not fair to her.
Raducanu has probably made a mistake in withdrawing from the mixed doubles with Murray. It must be a relief to each of the vitriolic sad sacks on social media that they never have never made a mistake.
I just cant help thinking that she pulled out of the match so she could watch the England game, mean spirited of me, probably, but it just seemed to convenient.
Emma’s an adult, and she made her own decision. That decision affected someone else in a way that cannot be rectified. You can want people “not to pile on Emma”, but sometimes it’s valid to say what she did wasn’t cool. I’m in that column. Not cool.
I am absolutely loving the end of day live shows, it's perfect.
I agree with all the points on Emma Raducanu's withdrawal, but as others have said it's worth also highlighting how Emma was asked to take part in the first place. A text at 9-10pm was not appropriate. It should have at the very least been a phonecall in the morning, if not an inperson discussion with both teams in attendance. There is blame on all sides.
Absolutely love the pod but damn is this harsh on Swiatek! If it were to happen that she would never win Wimbledon, she would be far from being the first major player that was never really able to master a surface. And yet, if I had to bet money on it, I would say that she eventually does. She is 23 and so far does not seem to be particularly injury prone. She has time.
Also, if there was a year when she would try to make that push to find her grass court game it would obviously never be this one, not when there is a chance for an olympic medal just after wimbledon on her surface, on a court where she by now feels completely at home. You get 4 chances at a slam in a year and a chance at an olympic medal every 4 years.
Finally, I find your british bias relatable and quite funny and I understand the history of Wimbledon, its prestige and the fact that it is now the only slam played on the sport's original surface. This is surely very meaningful for many players. For others probably not as much. I am pretty sure that for Swiatek "peak tennis" means Roland Garros.
He put her in an invidious position and befuddled and confused her. Late in the evening being tired, euphoric after her victory and away from her team was not the time for her to make a logical decision. Disagree entirely with Catherine.
Oh wow that was harsh on Iga. Harsher than commenting Marketa’s loss this Wimbledon …
Emma Raducanu making women's tennis look real good with that stunt.
”This might be British bias but… It’s Wimbledon”.
How is that anything but bias?
Well said about Iga. She disrespected Wimbledon. She first said she was well prepared and rested (after winning 1st round), then after losing she said she had no energy..
It's unfair to compare Andy Murray pulling out of a Davis Cup tie against Argentina. John Lloyd chose Murray, whoever was number 2 in the UK and one doubles player and made winning and losing the tie all about Andy playing and winning him 3 matches
They seem almost as bored discussing as I feel watching.
I think you guys interpreted Iga’s presser wrong
Matt please do not call it “X” ever again
Iga doesn't want to adapt to grass surfaces — Iga wants her clay court tactics to work at grass. For now it doesn't work, or works partially — he has 40 winners, but also 40 unforced errors.
We'll see what it will be like in the future. If she can do this, it will be something special.
Of course, it is true that his focus is not on Wimbledon and it will never mean as much as Rolland Garross or even Madrid and Rome. But it's the calendar's fault.