Surprising Coco Gauff Joins Top Players in Wimbledon’s Second Week - Mondays with Bob Greene

Mondays with Bob Greene

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Wimbledon – First Week

Yulia Putintseva beat second-seeded Naomi Osaka 7-6 (4) 6-2

Guido Pella beat fourth-seeded Kevin Anderson 6-4 6-3 7-6 (4)

Barbora Strycova beat fourth-seeded Kiki Bertens 7-5 6-1

Sam Querrey beat fifth-seeded Dominic Thiem 6-7 (4) 7-6 (1) 6-3 6-0

Lauren Davis beat fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber 2-6 6-2 6-1

Jiri Vesely beat sixth-seeded Alexander Zverev 4-6 6-3 6-2 7-5

Thomas Fabbiano beat seventh-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 3-6 6-4 6-7 (8) 6-3

Mikhail Kukushkin beat ninth-seeded John Isner 6-4 6-7 (3) 4-6 6-1 6-4

Johanna Konta beat ninth-seeded Sloane Stephens 3-6 6-4 6-1

Roberto Bautista Agut beat 10^th-seeded Karen Khachanov 6-3 7-6 (3) 6-1

Magdalena Rybarikova beat 10^th-seeded Aryna Sabalenka 6-2 6-4

SAYINGS

“I hope I can live up to the hype.” – Serena Williams, talking about playing mixed doubles with Andy Murray.

“I never thought this would happen. I’m literally living my dream right now. Not many people get to say that.” – Cori Gauff, a 15-year-old American after beating her childhood idol, 39-year-old Venus Williams.

“Can we stop now? I think I am going to cry.” – Naomi Osaka, cutting her post-match news conference short following a first-round loss at Wimbledon.

“I’m not going to tell you my secrets.” – Yulia Putintseva, who has never lost to Naomi Osaka in their three career matches, after beating the Japanese player.

“Pressure got to me, and it got to a point where it was a bit embarrassing.” – Felix Auger-Aliassime, following his 6-4 7-5 6-3 third-round loss to Frenchman Ugo Humbert.

“My confidence is below zero right now.” – Alexander Zverev, who said his first-round loss to Jiri Vesely showed he has to become mentally stronger in Grand Slam tournaments.

“If I won today, I would not have deserved it. It should have been over in three sets.” – Stefanos Tsitsipas, after losing in the first round to Thomas Fabbiano of Italy.

“I think people have to relax. I mean, I’m 18. It’s not like it’s been a long time. I played main draw US Open, had to withdraw. Had to withdraw French Open, lost in qualies Aussie [Open]. For me it’s not a long time.” – Felix Auger-Aliassime, after winning his first Grand Slam tournament match.

“No, I never thought that.” – Giulia Gatto-Monticone, a 31-year-old qualifier from Italy when asked if she ever thought she had a chance against Serena Williams in their first-round match.

“He made life really difficult for me.” – Kevin Anderson, after losing to Argentina’s Guido Pella 6-4 6-3 7-6 (4),

“You trust that it tells you the right thing. Sometimes you do see the balls a little differently than Hawk-Eye.” – Caroline Wozniacki, who claimed the Hawk-Eye line call review system made a number of poor calls in her 6-4 6-2 loss to Zhang Shuai.

“I’m healthy. I’m happy. It’s just a match. It’s OK. If you have any other attitude, you’re going to dig a mental hole for yourself that you are not going to get out of.” – Ernests Gulbis, after losing his first-round match at Wimbledon.

“There have been tears for the last two weeks. It is happy tears and I wish I could take all these fans with me because they gave me something special.” – Marcos Baghdatis, a former Australian Open finalist who retired after a second-round loss to Italy’s Matteo Berrettini.

“It’s not all butterflies and rainbows.” – Amanda Anisimova, on the challenges of a life in tennis.

“Flashy is not our style – Heaven forbid.” – Richard Lewis, All England Club chief executive.

SECOND WEEK

The Big Three of men’s tennis – Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal – have to share the headlines with the youngest player in the women’s field, 15-year-old Coco Gauff, as Wimbledon’s second week begins.

The youngest player to ever qualify for the singles main draw at Wimbledon, Gauff is the youngest to make it to Week 2 since Jennifer Capriati in 1991. And in her debut match, she beat one of her idols, fellow American Venus Williams, a five-time Wimbledon champion. Gauff won her next match in straight sets, then had to stave off two match points to stop Slovenia’s Polona Hercog in three sets. “You can kind of fake it ‘til you make it,” said Gauff. “But I’m not faking it, at least right now.”

Tracy Austin can relate. She turned pro at age 15 and won her first professional singles title within a month. At age 16, Austin reached the semifinals at Wimbledon and later became the youngest US Open champion in history. She says “this is the easy part” for Gauff, noting that now everybody wants her autograph. “Now come all the expectations,” Austin said of the newest teenage star.

Between them, Djokovic, Federer and Nadal have won 14 Wimbledon titles and appear to be in form to add one more. All three have lost only one set each in their three first-week rounds. If they continue to win, Federer and Nadal would meet in the semifinals. The only other man seeded in the top 10 to reach the second week is Japan’s Kei Nishikori.

SLIP, SLIPPIN’ AWAY

Naomi Osaka found the Wimbledon grass as slippery as the Paris clay. The 21-year-old second seed was crying as she left the court after losing her first-round match against Y8ulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 7-6 (4) 6-2. The was the first top-two women’s singles seed to lose in the first round at Wimbledon since Martina Hingis in 2001. “The key for me was having fun. I guess learning how to have fun, kind of taking pressure off myself,” Osaka said. “I hope I can somehow find a way to do that.” Putintseva’s victory wasn’t a huge surprise. After all, Osaka has never beaten Putintseva in three career meetings. “I did a good joy out there and I was fighting great,” the 24-year-old said. “It is amazing.”

With Djokovic in the men’s field and Australia’s Ashleigh Barty in the the women’s singles, both world number ones are still in contention at Wimbledon. Both Barty and Nadal are seeking their second consecutive Grand Slam tournaments crowns, both having won at Roland Garros.

SWINGING TOGETHER

Two former world number ones joined forces in this year’s Wimbledon mixed doubles. Andy Murray and Serena Williams won their first-round match, beating Germany’s Andreas Mies and Chile’s Alexa Guarachi 6-4 6-1. “At some point I started feeling a lot of pressure,” said Williams, who also reached the second week in singles. “Oh, my God, I have to do well because this match is so hyped that I want to see it,” she said. “I didn’t even want to be in it, I kind of just wanted to watch it.” Williams is seeking a record-equaling 24^th Grand Slam tournament singles title, while Murray has won seven major singles titles. Williams said she demanding to play the forehand side, while Murray said there was a reason neither player was the boss of the team. “I said to Serena before the match we are the younger siblings so we are used to being bossed by our older brother and sister,” Murray said. Serena still is the youngest player to win a mixed doubles title at Wimbledon. She was 16 when she and Max Mirnyi captured the crown in 1998.

STILL BREAKING RECORDS

Whenever Roger Federer takes to a court, he makes changes to the record book. By beating Frenchman Lucas Pouille 7-5 6-2 7-6 (4) in the third round, the Swiss great advanced to the second week of Wimbledon for the 17^th time. That breaks a tie Federer held with Jimmy Connors. And the win made Federer the first player in history to have 350 Grand Slam tournament singles victories. He also is in the Round of 16 at a Grand Slam tournament for the 65^th time, extending his record for most trips to the fourth round of a major in the Open era.

When Kei Nishikori beat American Steve Johnson 6-4 6-3 6-2 in the third round, it was the Japanese star’s 400^th career victory. It didn’t start off that way as Johnson won the first three games of the match. Nishikori recovered to win five straight games as he dominated his opponent the rest of the way. Going into Wimbledon’s second week, Nishikori has a career 400-186 match record.

SHARAPOVA HURT

Mara Sharapova was unable to even make it to end of her first-round match at Wimbledon this year. A left wrist injury forced the Russian former world number one to retire while trailing 5-0 in the third set. The Wimbledon winner in 2004, Sharapova served for the match at 6-4 5-3 before losing the Pauline Parmentier of France 4-6 7-6 (4) 5-0. Sharapova was unseeded at Wimbledon for the first time since her debut in 2003. She called for a medical timeout after losing the second-set tiebreak and had her wrist taped. She called for the trainer a second time in the third set and stopped after Parmentier held for the 5-0 lead.

STOPPING PLAY

Frenchman Gael Monfils retired because of an injury in the fifth set of his first-round match. Seeded 16^th, Monfils won the first two sets before an ankle injury forced him to stop while trailing Ugo Humbert of France 6-7 (8) 3-6 6-4 7-5 3-0. It was Humbert’s Wimbledon debut.

Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo had a perfectly streaking Wimbledon before departing. She won the first four games of her first-round match against Caroline Wozniacki before the Dane ripped off the next five. That’s when Sorribes Tormo retired with an undisclosed injury.

SANS TITLES

No longer are Wimbledon umpires referring to women players by their marital status in announcing scores. Since women first played on the grass courts of the All England Club, they were referred to as Miss or Mrs. “The only change is to remove the use of prefixes when announcing the score at the end of each game and at the end of each match, an All England Club spokeswoman told AFP. The prefixes will continue to be used for code violations, medical announcements and player challenges, as they are for women’s and men’s matches throughout the year. And the women’s honors board will stay the same, so that underneath “2018 Miss A. Kerber” the 2019 winner will be noted by either Miss or Mrs. “It’s just being consistent with what is done for the men’s matches,” the spokeswoman said. Heather Watson of Great Britain said she didn’t even notice the change in her first-round victory. Equality is always good,” she said. “I didn’t even notice out there.”

SURPRISED SANDGREN

Tennys Sandgren didn’t come to Wimbledon in an optimistic frame of mind. The American’s AirBnB’s rental ended before his stay in the Wimbledon men’s singles draw. “I ran out of my reservation because I didn’t want to overbook my stay. I’m not going to plan for the two-week experience,” Sandgren said. “So now I’m in a hotel and it’s good, it’s comfortable. As long as the weather stays cool, then my room will be cool, and that’s a big deal. When the sun gets out and the room gets hot, it’s tough.” Ranked 94^th in the world, Sandgren had lost nine consecutive first-round ATP Tour matches going into the year’s third Grand Slam tournament. But when he upset 10^th-ranked Fabio Fognini of Italy in the third round, Sandgren was in the second week of Wimbledon for the first time. “I didn’t expect to really be in this position,” he said. “It’s been a tough few months. I’ve been playing some better tennis recently, but I had a tough stretch in there when I wasn’t winning many matches.” It’s not his first second week at a major. He reached the Australian Open quarterfinals in 2018.

SORRY

Although Italy’s Fabio Fognini has apologized, his verbal outburst still could be very costly for the world’s 10^th-ranked player. During his loss to American Tennys Sandgren, a visibly frustrated Fognini bloodied the knuckles on his right hand after punching his racquet. Speaking in Italian, he said, “I wish a bomb would explode on this club. A bomb should explode here.” At his post-match news conference, Fognini said he made his comments in the heat of the moment because he was upset about not playing well and the condition of the court’s grass. “If I offended anyone, I apologize, Fognini said. “That definitely wasn’t my intention.” More than 1,000 bombs fell on Wimbledon during World War II, destroying thousands of homes. Sixteen bombs actually fell on the tournament grounds, one damaging the Centre Court roof. While there was no immediate comment from tournament officials, the episode will be investigated to determine whether it rises to the level of a major offense. Fognini is still under a two-year probation stemming from his insulting a female chair umpire at the 2017 US Open, an action that got him kicked out of that tournament. The Grand Slam board later ruled that Fognini would be suspended for two major tournaments if he commits another major offense before the end of 2019.

SMASHED AGAIN

Bernard Tomic says he will appeal the fine levied against him for not playing to “required professional standards” in his 58-minute thrashing by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a first-round Wimbledon match. The 26-year-old Australian was fined USD $56,349 by tournament organizers for the shortest Wimbledon men’s match in 15 years and the second shortest men’s singles match at the All England Club since they began keeping records in 2002. Tsonga, pointing out that Tomic has put up a fight in the third set, said he felt his victory was tarnished by the Wimbledon action. “I competed with one of the top five players on grass, losing 6-2 6-1 6-4,” Tomic said. “I didn’t lose 6-0, 6-0, 6-0.” Tomic has failed to win a match in Grand Slam tournament play this year, losing all three times in straight sets.

SHE’S PREGNANT

Lucie Safarova, who retired after Roland Garros in May, announced she is expecting. According to Czech sources, the 32-year-old Safarova knew about her pregnancy when she reached the doubles final in Stuttgart in April. She and partner Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova lost in Stuttgart 2-6 6-3 10-6 (match tiebreak) to Mona Barthel and Anna-Lena Friedsam. The father-to-be is Tomas Plekanec, who played in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens. “When I finished my career, I was thinking if I would miss the happiness of winning,” Safarova said on social media. “Now I know there is a much greater happiness in life. When I first saw the pumping heart of our baby on ultrasound it beat everything.”

SLOANE NOMINATED

American Sloane Stephens is in the running for the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian of the Year Award. Stephens has been working “to change the outlook for underserved kids through ‘Love, Love Compton,’ a program that provides tennis and education programming for children in the Compton, California, USA, Unified School District. Others nominated for the award include baseball player Yadier Molina for his work in aiding Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria; retired NFL player Chris Long, whose “Waterboys” initiative has resulted in the building of 61 water wells in East Africa, allowing more than 225,000 people to access clean drinking water; and the NBA’s Reggie Bullock, who has campaigned for LGBTQ rights. Previous winners of the award include Kevin Durrant, Mark Giordano, Chris Paul and Tamika Catchings.

SURFING

Wimbledon: https://www.wimbledon.com/index.html

Båstad: https://women.swedishopen.org/

Contrexeville: www.grandest-open88.fr

Newport: https://www.halloffameopen.com/

Umag: https://www.croatiaopen.hr/

Båstad: https://men.swedishopen.org/

Nur-Sultan: https://ktf.kz/

Bucharest: http://www.brdbucharestopen.ro/en/

Lausanne: https://www.ladiesopenlausanne.ch/

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

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