On one side of the net was a woman who has only just got over her fear of grass: Naomi Osaka. On the other was an athlete who says she’s not that keen on the surface: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Together these grass court sceptics produced one of the most entertaining matches of The Championships so far, with more than two hours of compelling lawn tennis in the sunshine of No.2 Court, which ended with Pavlyuchenkova going through to the last 16 of the ladies’ singles for the first time in nine years.
Watching this, it was hard to understand why these two women could possibly have any kind of aversion to green tennis courts. If ever there was an occasion to persuade Pavlyuchenkova of the joys of grass court tennis it was this one, as she came from a set down to beat Osaka and block the Japanese from going deeper into the Fortnight than ever before.
There was one gentle moment – when Osaka rescued a ladybird from the baseline – along with some delicate touches from Pavlyuchenkova’s racket and in between a lot of powerful hitting from the baseline.
“I’m usually not so good on grass,” Pavlyuchenkova said after beating Osaka 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to go through to play Britain’s Sonay Kartal, who is also unseeded.
Maybe this will be the Fortnight when Pavlyuchenkova grows to love the grass. With so many top seeds already out of the ladies’ singles, there are opportunities for anyone still around at the All England Club.
Pavlyuchenkova’s best Grand Slam result to date was reaching the 2021 final on the Roland-Garros clay, and she has played in four quarter-finals on the hard courts of the Australian Open and made one appearance in the last eight on the cement of the US Open.
But it’s not as if she has never previously gone on a run on a surface she says she doesn’t love.
Pavlyuchenkova is already a member of Wimbledon’s Last 8 Club, by virtue of reaching the quarter-finals in 2016. That didn’t convince her that grass was a good surface for her but perhaps this summer will be different.
Just last week in Eastbourne, she reached a first tour-level semi-final on grass and now she is back in the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time in almost a decade.
Be in no doubt, Pavlyuchenkova, who turned 34 this week, has the game for the sport’s original surface. She can smack the ball. She has touch, as shown with the drop shots she played against Osaka.
Just as importantly, the world No.50 has the nerve for the grass, keeping her focus here when facing break points deep in the second and third sets.
Osaka was down on herself afterwards, saying she was “going to be a negative human being today”, but she couldn’t be “too mad” about the break point chances as Pavlyuchenkova played some strong tennis in those moments.
Most of the crowd were cheering for Osaka, a former world No.1 who has four Grand Slam titles, all won on hard courts. That included Nick Kyrgios, the 2022 gentlemen’s singles finalist.
But that didn’t disturb Pavlyuchenkova. In fact, it helped her.
“A majority of you were cheering for Naomi, but that’s OK,” Pavlyuchenkova told the crowd. “I’m mentally tough, so that didn’t bother me at all. The opposite: it gave me energy.”
Has Osaka ever been more apologetic on a tennis court? She was having some trouble with her toss. Many times she caught the ball, called out “sorry” and started again (which was in some ways reminiscent of former gentlemen’s singles finalist Pat Rafter, who used to shout out “sorry, mate” in his Aussie accent when doing the same).
I’m incredibly happy because I was mentally tough in the three matches that I have won.
When Osaka got the ball toss right, her serve was often highly effective as she produced 15 aces. But Pavlyuchenkova held it together.
There’s a mental toughness to Pavlyuchenkova this summer. “It was a very tough match in general,” she said. “I felt like I was behind for the majority of the match, so I played point by point.
“It’s actually very slow out there but maybe that helped today. I’m incredibly happy because I was mentally tough in the three matches that I have won.”
Pavlyuchenkova helps to design the outfits she wears on court, which allows her to express her creativity. Earlier this season, she wore a denim skirt on court, which attracted some interest among her colleagues on the tour. She loves fashion. Maybe grass will grow on her.
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