Bill Simons
WIMBLEDON
BIG BEN IN A BLUR: London boasts the most famous timepiece in the world – Big Ben. And today at Wimbledon, big Ben Shelton clocked it. He came back to complete his match against Rinky Hijikata and finished off the Aussie in just 69 seconds. When asked about his quick work today, Shelton tapped into his July 4th spirit and quipped, “I guess I’m the opposite of Isner, right? He got the longest. I got the shortest. USA!” Ben will face Hungarian Marton Fucsovics in the fourth round.
TENNIS IS THRIVING: TNT’s ratings for the French Open were through the roof. ESPN’s coverage figures are surging too. Their viewership was up 37% on Day One and 42% on Day Two.
THE MAN WHO CANNOT HELP MAKING RECORDS: Novak Djokovic won his record 99th Wimbledon win, and after reaching the third round for the 19th time said, “I have almost as many years into the third round as Sinner and Alcaraz have in their years.”
QUOTEBOOK:
“Madison Keys is trying to deal with someone who is very annoying.” – Chris Fowler on power-hitting Madison Keys’ futile effort to deal with the crafty 37-year-old German, Laura Siegemund, the oldest player left in the draw
“Siegemund spun Maddy Keys into a web she couldn’t get out of.” – Mike Monaco
“Anyone can argue that Djokovic is the best all-around returner the game’s ever seen.” – John McEnroe
SPREADING HER WINGS ON GRASS – NOT: Naomi Osaka confided: “When you are young, you fear nothing…but, with age, fear kind of crept along and, I guess, paralyzed me in a way. Now I’m kind of…trying to spread my wings on grass.”
She won the opening set 6-3, but then the Russian Anastatia Pavlyuchenkova counterattacked and won, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
After her loss at the French Open, Osaka was gutted and wept. Today, she said she wasn’t feeling anything. But that wasn’t so. Again she felt her loss deeply. “I’m just going to be a negative human being today,” confided Naomi. “I’m so sorry. I have nothing positive to say about myself, which is something I’m working on. It was my daughter’s birthday, so I was happy about that this week…
When asked what kind of an inner dialogue was going on today, Naomi replied, “Every player talks to themselves. That’s why we’re all kind of crazy…For me, it’s not like I can really even be mad at myself…[But] obviously I’m still going to beat myself up a little bit.”
Inside Tennis then asked, “You feel these losses so strongly. Do you ever think, maybe, ‘I can live my life without tennis and just enjoy other things?’”
She replied, “I feel like I’d be kind of crazy to not, but I think right now I have so many…things I want to attempt to achieve…I feel while I still have the opportunity to try to do it, I want to, even though I get very upset when I lose, but I think that’s my competitive nature. That’s also the younger sister syndrome. I mean, no person wants to feel this way multiple times throughout the year, but tennis players are crazy.
HOW DO YOU SPELL CILIC BACKWARDS? The name of Croatia’s most famous active tennis player is Cilic. When you spell his name backwards it’s Cilic.
Yesterday, tennis simultaneously made a move backward and forward. A considerable, but largely forgotten star lingered in the shadows.
Marin Cilic had become a forgotten man. Yes, during the height of the Big 3 era he was, with Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem, one of the few to have had the audacity to win a Slam. He beat Roger Federer en route to his 2014 US Open title and rose to No. 3.
But age and two major surgeries took a serious toll. The 36-year-old saw his ranking tumble below 1000. But he fought back and broke into the Top 100. Then, after winning the pre-Wimbledon Nottingham Challenger, he made his way to the second round, where he faced Britain’s brightest star.
Jack Draper, who won Indian Wells, is seen as the man to carry on Andy Murray’s tradition of excellence. The world No. 4 is the son of a former top English tennis boss. One commentator recalled, “I always remember this little boy on the hot chocolate machine at the National Tennis Center.” But Draper has never gotten beyond the second round here, and Cilic bashed him, 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 to score his first win in a major since 2022.
Tennis-wise, Croatia has long languished in the shadow of its neighbor Serbia. But Cilic is now continuing his nation’s long, sometimes quirky history. Marin, who was coached by Goran Ivanisevic, the only male wildcard to have won Wimbledon and, like Cilic, we love that his entire last name alternates between vowels and consonants.
More to the point, like Cilic, Goran was a dream killer. He beat Britain’s beloved Tim Henman in the 2001 Wimbledon semis. On the women’s side, world No. 129 Jelena Dokic beat No. 1 Martina Hingis in 1999.
But that was then, and now Cilic will go forward. Saturday he’ll face Spain’s Jaume Munar.
McNALLY HIGH – IT’S A 18O FOR CATY: Just a few years ago, Caty McNally was in the limelight. She and a young player named Coco Gauff were a giggly doubles duo who fearlessly battled their way to three titles and reached the 2021 US Open final.
They were media darlings. But then Coco teamed up with others, and, despite making the US Open doubles final again with Taylor Townsend in 2022 and reaching No. 54, McNally receded to the shadows. She suffered a devastating elbow injury, and her ranking dipped to No. 397.
Many dismissed her, but Caty didn’t dismiss herself. She found herself in the second round against her former Wimbledon juniors doubles partner, Iga Swiatek, the five-time Slam winner. Though only ranked 208, McNally, who is coached by her mother Lynn, volleyed crisply and pressured Iga as she fought back from a 4-1 deficit and grabbed the first set 7-6.
But the Pole reset and showed her mettle, winning 12 of the next 15 games, to prevail 7-5, 6-2, 6-1. Still, back at McNally’s home venue, Cincinnati’s Club at Harbor Point, there was little sorrow.
One observer wrote Inside Tennis, “Caty moved better and had a plan. Iga showed why she’s a Champion and made the adjustments! A good step back for Caty Proud.”
AMERICAN WATCH: Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton and Amanda Anisimova won their matches. Madison Keys lost.
TAYLOR FRITZ – 316 WORDS THAT PROVE THIS GUY KNOWS HIS STUFF: With just a glance you know the guy has Hollywood good looks. We’ve long realized that Taylor Fritz is good at tennis. And at his press conference the other night he made clear that he knows a thing or two about his trade.
When asked a simple question about his return of his serve, he offered this mind-boggling, deep-dive answer: “I have an extremely western grip on my forehand. On the ad side, hypothetically, I probably could stand back and return more normally. On the deuce side, if someone can get a cutter, like a slice off the court away, it’s pretty tough for me to hit the ball back in that direction with my grip. It is very tough to do. You see other players with my grip struggle with the same thing.
“I think there’s just too much court to cover with these guys. I’d rather stand in, cut the p or anything. I’m holding a slice forehand and a backhand grip.
“It’s just reflexes and “handsing” it. That’s what I’m good at, is if I don’t need to change grips or anything, being handsy with it, reflexing, and putting my racquet out.
“I feel like I can cover a lot more with the chip forehand and put a lot of returns in play when I get my racquet on it. I feel like it’s really threatening if they serve it in my reach on my backhand side as well.
“I feel like the serves that are going to beat me are the ones that are really well-hit spots. The way I look at it, if I stand back, I’m not going to return those ones either. That’s kind of my philosophy on it.
“I also think if you’re going to chip, you should be as close as possible, to use the pace. I think when people are chipping from five feet behind the baseline, it makes no sense. You are giving your opponent so much time to set up for the next ball. You have to actually swing as well when you chip because the ball loses so much speed when the ball gets to you.
“It’s just something I’ve found I have success with from big servers for a couple years now.”
