Sinner on song
“Talent doesn’t exist – it has to be earned,” Jannik Sinner says in one of the spoken verses of ‘Polvere e Gloria’, which translates as ‘Dust and Glory’, his duet with Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli that was released just before The Championships.
Set against Bocelli’s rich and operatic voice, Sinner was even-toned and blunt with his message about the importance of improving every day: “If you work, you will rise higher. The one who works is the talented one.”
The world No.1 found collaborating with Bocelli to be very moving and if other players have listened to this music, it’s possibly bringing out an emotion in them too: dread. How can the Italian possibly get any better on the grass?
Sizzling Sinner eases past injured Martinez
Sinner is yet to drop his serve at The Championships – saving all eight break points that he has faced – and has lost just 17 games on the way to the last 16 of the gentlemen’s singles, which equalled a record for the Open era. Will Sinner be operating at an even higher level when he plays Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov for a place in the quarter-finals?
Sinner vs Dimitrov is scheduled third on Centre Court
Iga eager to win
If there’s going to be a new winner of the Venus Rosewater Dish this summer – with all former champions already out of the ladies’ singles – then why not Iga Swiatek?
Businesslike Swiatek cruises into last 16
She has already lifted a trophy once before at the All England Club – she’s a former girls’ singles champion – and she’s the only woman left in the bottom half of the draw who knows what it takes to win a Grand Slam title, which she has done five times.
Four of Swiatek’s Slams came on the clay of Roland-Garros, with the other on the hard courts of the US Open, but the Pole feels as though the ball is listening to her more on the grass this summer. Beating Denmark’s Clara Tauson would take her into the last eight.
Swiatek vs Tauson is scheduled third on No.1 Court
Dancing Djokovic daring to dream
Diving volleys in the style of a teenage Boris Becker. A willingness to slide around the grass and to do the splits, which would show far younger players that he’s still the most rubbery and flexible man in tennis. Post-match dancing inspired by ‘Pump it Up’, a house music track by Belgian artist Danzel. Novak Djokovic’s 38.
But he’s a young 38.
Everything about Djokovic has been more athletic and explosive and energetic this summer than it was here last season, when he celebrated his victories by pretending to play the violin and he wore a grey knee support after having an operation between Roland-Garros and Wimbledon.
Djokovic eases through for 100th Wimbledon match win
Reaching last summer’s final, when he was 37 years old and only had one strong knee, and there had been some doubt whether he would even play at all, was a fine story. But as the Serbian moves through the rounds, is he building towards something even more remarkable this Fortnight?
Djokovic plays Australian Alex de Minaur in the fourth round, but if he ends up winning this Wimbledon he would be the oldest Grand Slam singles champion in the Open era. If Djokovic is ‘pumping it up’ on the Centre Court grass on the second Sunday that would mean he has won an eighth title at the All England Club and has extended his Grand Slam collection to 25 titles.
De Minaur vs Djokovic is scheduled for 1.30pm on Centre Court
Mirra to smash grass ceiling?
The fastest way to tennis superstardom?
That hasn’t changed since Maria Sharapova was the Ladies’ Singles Champion in 2004:
lifting the Venus Rosewater Dish as a teenager is a life-altering moment beyond all
others.
Victory over American Emma Navarro would take Mirra Andreeva, who is just 18 years old, into the quarter-finals of Wimbledon for the first time.
Andreeva vs Navarro is scheduled second on Centre Court
Marin on a mission
Djokovic isn’t the only man deep into his thirties who has had knee problems and who
has been showing that he still knows what he is doing on the grass.
Marin Cilic is unseeded, 36 years old and playing at the All England Club for the first time
in four years. But the 2017 Wimbledon finalist hasn’t forgotten what to do on this
surface, with his run to the last 16 including a second round victory over Britain’s
Jack Draper, who had been seeded to reach the semi-finals for the first time.
It helps if you can serve at almost 140mph. The Croatian, whose best Grand Slam result was winning the 2014 US Open, plays Italy’s Flavio Cobolli, with a place in the last eight on the line.
Cilic vs Cobolli is scheduled first on No.2 Court
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