The top seeds continued to impress at the lawns of Wimbledon as Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal posted comfortable wins to seal their passage to the third round. However, there was no fairytale comeback for two-time Wimbledon champion and knife-attack survivor Petra Kvitova as she crashed to a defeat against USA’s Madison Brengle.
While Bernard Tomic became the cynosure of all attention on day two with his “I’m bored comments”, Russia’s Daniil Medvedev let his frustrations get the better of him as he threw coins at the umpire’s chair after his exit. Frenchman Jo-Wilfred Tsonga had other problems and was visibly annoyed with flying ants swirling around him.
No hiccups for Nadal and Murray
Two-time champion Rafael Nadal reached the Wimbledon third round with a 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 win over Donald Young of the United States. Fourth seed Nadal will face Russian 30th seed Karen Khachanov for a place in the last-16.
“I played a solid match, serving well,” the Spaniard said after his victory on Centre Court. “I’m happy now, it’s great to be back in the third round without losing a set. “I’m just trying to go day by day”. Meanwhile, Defending champion Andy Murray stormed into the Wimbledon third round with a ruthless 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 demolition of Dustin Brown.
‘Felt like a slow animal,’ says Kvitova after defeat
Alas, there was a feeling of anti-climax as Kvitova’s dream ended on Wednesday. This was simply not a part of the script. The 27-year-old, who battled all odds after surviving a knife-attack in her hometown in December, was widely tipped to write one of the greatest chapters in Wimbledon’s history. Sadly, that was not the case as she lost 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 to USA’s Brengle, who made it to the third round for the first time in her career.
After her defeat, the Czech revealed that she was grappling with illness during the game, “I just couldn’t breathe, and I was feeling a bit sick, as well,” Kvitova. “That sometimes happens. But, yeah, unfortunately it happened at Wimbledon, which is not nice.
However, Kvitova mentioned that at some level, she was glad that the tournament was over, having raced against time despite barely feeling two of her fingers before entering the tournament, “I know my body, it’s not great, but mentally I’m really glad that it’s over. It was a kind of fairy tale, but on the other hand it was very tough.
“I just need to, you know, look forward and look to the future how everything will be, be focusing on the next tournaments. I wish I was playing longer here, for sure. But on the other hand, I have time to get prepared for everything what will be coming next.”
Tsonga’s flying ant fury
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was incensed by flying ants bothering him during his 6-1, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Simone Bolelli, and claimed that they had entered his eyes and ears. “But this was a little bit different, because these ones was very small but a lot. So it was special sometimes, it was in my nose and in my ear.”
Tomic’s motivation issues continue to be debated
Bernard Tomic’s comments post his Wimbledon exit continues to be be a key topic of conversation, especially in the 24-year-old’s home country. The Western Australian police took a dig at the one-time prodigy on their Twitter account while urging people to join the police force.
Hit it like Beckham, says Dimitrov
Bulgarian star Grigor Dimitrov said he was impressed by the tennis skills of Romeo Beckham, the son of the former England football captain when he hit with him at the Queen’s Club tournament.
“He’s a very talented kid. I think he hasn’t played tennis for that long, but he sure showed a lot of potential,” Dimitrov said. “I just wanted to do something nice for him. He came to quite a few of my matches. I was glad also to spend also some time with Victoria and get to know the family from close,” the former semi-finalist added.
On and off the field, it’s a piece of cake for Konta
Johanna Konta forgets about the pressures of tennis by baking cakes and testing their flavour on her coaching team. “It was the second time I have ever made muffins in my life. I was really, really looking forward to trying it out on my guinea pigs. It came back positive, so that has given me that much more confidence to search for and make some more creations. Maybe not just vanilla, maybe chocolate chip or banana muffins,” she said.
Mirza’s gets off to solid start, Jeevan runs out of luck
The Indo-Belgian team of Sania Mirza and Kirsten Flipkens moved into the second round at Wimbledon on Wednesday. The duo, who are seeded 13th in the draw, defeated the Japanese-Chinese team of Naomi Osaka and Shuai Zhang in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3 in 72 minutes.
Meanwhile, Nedunchezhiyan, who was playing in his first Wimbledon lost a tough encounter in the first round of his men’s doubles match. Nedunchezhiyan and his American teammate Jared Donaldson were leading two-sets-to-love, before their all-British opponents Jay Clarke and Marcus Willis mounted a comeback to take the win, 6-7(4), 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-0, 6-3 in three hours and 15 minutes.
The Indo-American team won 74% of their first serves to Clarke and Willis’ 84%. They also won a relatively lower percentage of second serves as compared to the eventual winners – 43% to 57%.
Quotable quotes
“I don’t see myself being back on tour after baby and not even so soon like she did.”
– Dominika Cibulkova on her admiration for Victoria Azarenka coming back on tour after giving birth to her first child in December.
“If my leg was broken, I’d be crawling to the next ball. That’s just me, though. I just can’t retire.”
– Heather Watson finding it impossible to imagine that she’d ever quit a match through injury.
“If I do, my coach said he’d shave his head. But I said, No, your girlfriend will kill you. You can shave your legs.”
– Heather Watson on what lies ahead if she reaches the second week of a Grand Slam.
”They were in my nose and my ears.”
– Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on battling flying ants at Wimbledon.
Number crunching
11 – successive grass court matches lost by Paolo Lorenzi, stretching back over three years, before the Italian halted the run with a first round win over Horacio Zeballos of Argentina.
97 – number of main draw matches Venus Williams has played at Wimbledon, surpassing Serena on the list for active players. In the Open era, only Martina Navratilova
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