Wimbledon 2024: Sinner v Medvedev, Sun v Vekic in quarter-finals – live
Key events
I blogged about this match and I have to say I didn’t notice anything unusual. There are sonic similarities between Ruuuuuune and booooo, true, but Ruuuuune seems like a fairly obvious way to support a player named Ruuuuune – especially in England, where chants of Ruuuuuuud and Rooooot have been commonplace for decades. It may be that those involved enjoyed the opportunity to boo without actually booing – as if they were saying boo-urns – but I’m not sure how anyone could know for sure. I suppose if I thought I was being booed, I’d like to think I’d ask why – Novak Djokovic is the greatest player of all time, but not everyone can relate to his personality. Then again, I’m sure it makes him play even better, so.
Naturally, we are still processing yesterday’s controversy…
Preamble
The great Mike Costello says that after his first boxing commentary, he was given some advice by an old pro: always have somewhere to go. Or, in other words, if you get too excited too early, when the really big stuff happens, it will by definition sound like everything that came before it.
Easier said than done: the last eight days have seen fantastic matches, incredible comebacks and ridiculous shocks. But now, as we enter our quarter-finals, we can let it all out because the really big stuff is just around the corner.
As is often touted on these pages, women’s tennis is the most unpredictable sport in the world. So just as it would have been impossible to predict that Jasmine Paolini would face Emma Navarro and Lulu Sun would face Donna Vekic, it is impossible to guess which pair would reach the semifinals.
We’ll get into the how and why later, but for now we have four players in great form who know these are the days of their lives. They may or may not reach this stage again, and that brings pressure, intensity and emotion – for our pleasure. So we can expect these games to be moving, affirming and – since two of them have to lose – painful. What more could we want?
Meanwhile, on the men’s side, we’re starting a repeat of the Australian Open final, the last thing Daniil Medvedev wants to remember. He played like a champ for two sets, but Jannik Sinner stole the title – his first major – to add confidence and legitimacy to an already brilliant match. It’s going to take something special to stop him not just today, but between now and Sunday afternoon.
To call Carlos Alcaraz anything special is an insult to one of the most inspiring talents in the game. The energy, creativity and aggression he brings to the court is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, but there’s a sense that he’s not quite at his best – unlike Queen’s winner Tommy Paul, who is in the form of his life. Like Taylor Fritz yesterday, if he stays calm and in the moment – easier said than done! – then he’s got a chance.
Play: 1pm BST on court #1, 1.30pm BST on centre