Wimbledon, Day four highlights: Rybarikova’s giant-killing act and Mattek-Sands’ horror injury

It was a day marred marred by the horrific knee injury that USA’s Bethanie Mattek-Sands suffered at Wimbledon on Thursday, which left her screaming and crying in pain in the middle of the court. The 32-year-old collapsed to the ground after damaging her right knee as she approached the net in the first game of the deciding set against Romania’s Sorana Cirstea.

There has been plenty of scrutiny over the incident ever since as the medical staff have drawn some flak for arriving late on the scene. The tennis world, meanwhile, sent out messages of support to Mattek-Sands and wished her a speedy recovery. Her opponent, Cirstea, said that she had never come across such her injury.

Meanwhile, Wimbledon title favourite Karolina Pliskova crashed to a shock second round defeat against world no. 108 Magdalena Rybarikova. The Slovakian battled back from a set down to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 on Centre Court, earning her a last 32 clash with Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko. Meanwhile, there were no such problems for top seed Angelique Kerber, who beat Kirsten Flipkens 7-5, 7-5. The German, though, was still far away from being her fluent self.

There were no visible struggles for previous winners Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, who eased to the next round with facile wins.

Djokovic’s cruise

Djokovic shrugged off sweltering 30-degree heat to breeze past outclassed Adam Pavlasek 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 and reach the third round. The three-time champion brushed aside the 136rd-ranked Czech on Court One to make the last-32 for the ninth year in succession.

Djokovic, the second seed whose shock third round loss to Sam Querrey at Wimbledon 12 months ago precipitated a worrying decline in form, will next face Ernests Gulbis.

Tomic fined for comments

Wimbledon bad boys Bernard Tomic and Daniil Medvedev were fined for “unsportsmanlike conduct” at the All England Club. Tomic was hit with a £11,600 ($15,000) fine after the temperamental Australian claimed he was “bored” during his lacklustre Wimbledon first round defeat against Mischa Zverev.

In an astonishingly frank press conference, Tomic also admitted he called for the trainer even though he was not injured to try to disrupt his opponent’s momentum. Medvedev, on the other hand, was penalised for his violent outburst against the umpire after losing to Ruben Bemelmans in the second round. Tomic’s woes didn’t end there as his sponsor too, pulled out of their contract later in the day.

Other highlights

• Israel’s 1.79-metre tall Dudi Sela got the better of US 23rd seed John Isner in a five-set thriller, despite being 29 centimetres shorter than his towering 2.08-metre tall opponent.   
• Grigor Dimitrov sealed his match with Marcos Baghdatis with a spectacular diving volley. “The last point was just great,” the Bulgarian 13th seed said. “You dive and you pray.”  
• As temperatures reached 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), a lady collapsed in the stands on Court Three during the match between Juan Martin del Potro and Ernests Gulbis, holding up play for 25 minutes while paramedics waited for a stretcher.  

Royal Box watch

In the posh seats on Centre Court were Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the Qatari chairman of Paris Saint-Germain football club; Roger Federer’s parents; top chef Michel Roux; Australian tennis great Rod Laver, and former British finance minister George Osborne.

Meanwhile the red carpet welcome extended to the Middleton family knows no bounds. Prince William’s wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge was in the royal box on Monday; her brother James and sister Pippa were in on Wednesday; while her parents Michael and Carole Middleton completed the set on Thursday.

Quotable quotes

“He made another reference just now in the gym about Starvin Lee Marvin or something like that. I’ve heard of Starvin Marvin. He references some more ‘80s bands, stuff like that.” – Coco Vandeweghe on learning from her new coach Pat Cash, the 1987 champion.

“I always see the board out there and see my name. Every year I take a picture and every year my coach goes, ‘Grigor, you take the same picture every single year’. I say, ‘I don’t know. I think it’s cool’.” – Grigor Dimitrov on the ninth anniversary of him winning the Wimbledon juniors.

“I was just being honest with myself. I think I’m a good tennis player, and I’ve never had great result on grass.” – Gael Monfils, into the third round, still thinks he has not played a decent game on grass.

Number crunching

589 – Gulbis becomes the lowest-ranked player in the third round of a Grand Slam since Richard Krajicek (number 1093) in 2002

24 – men aged 30 or over competing in the second round, equalling the Open-era record at Wimbledon set last year