Live from Wimbledon Day 6 - Eala lights up Centre Court

0:10Hello and welcome to the tennis podcast live from Wimbledon and presented by Barclays, the official banking partner of Wimbledon. Happy 4th of July to everybody that celebrates. Happy birthday, Pam Shriver. Happy birthday, my niece Nina, who one day will understand why I always miss her birthday. and happy absolutely incredible day of tennis to everybody that loves tennis which I assume is everybody that is watching and listening right now the sort of day of sport that makes you feel truly alive David oh it's been one of the great days that I've had at Wimbledon ever right from the very first match that you and I watched together with Marta Kostiuk and Emma Navarro, Catherine, right through the centre court programme that we sat through at the start there with Ayala against Svantec.

1:05I know there will be a lot of Svantec fans sad tonight, but just as a sort of spectacle and an occasion and a match and a story and everything, it had everything. And then all the way through the day, there hasn't been a dull moment and it's just been exhilarating from start to finish and I feel really lucky that this is a sport that I love and get to work in. Yeah, if Matt and David sound a little bit breathless right now it's because they have pretty much sprinted here from centre and number one courts. David, you were on court number one? I was, yeah. Matt was on centre watching Grigor Dimitrov get through against Berrettini?

1:43I was on both. Wow. I don't know you did that. If you were both there, should we start with what we've just seen on court number one? David, I know this is tough for you. Let's get it out the way early. Francis Tiafoe, David's pick for the final out in five sets. Four hours and eight minutes. Look, one of mine lost in the first round. I got off very lightly that night. Alexander Bublik, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6. That was the 13-11 tiebreak that third set. 4-6, don't know how Francis Tiafoe came back from losing that 13-11 tiebreak. should get sort of a mini trophy for coming back and winning the next set I think but then ultimately losing the fifth set 6-3 in the fifth I know that's not how sport works he gets the was it worth all that effort exactly uh yeah nine set points for Tiafoe in that third set tie break I really do think it was extraordinary to come back from that and win the following set but ultimately for nothing.

2:42David, do you feel this is one that got away for your man Tiafoe? Yes and no. Yes and no. And I know that's not really a satisfactory answer. I think if you have nine set points in a third set when it's one set all, you have to regard it as one that got away from your own standpoint. But just as much as it was extraordinary that Tiafoe came back from that and won the fourth set, I think it's then extraordinary that Bublik came back and won the fifth set. And he deserves enormous credit for that. I do think Tiafoe will be spending his summer, obviously working incredibly hard, hoping that the US Open will be the one that he can actually convert.

3:28But he'll be thinking that that's twice now. Twice that he should have beaten Matteo Arnaldi at the French Open. He should have beaten Alexander Bublik. He's a set-up. He's got nine set points at one set all in the third set. And if he goes up two sets to one, I think he gets over the line. The issue is trying to do it against a guy like Bublik when it's two sets all and Bublik just goes into casino mode. I mean, the guy is so dangerous and he plays his own percentages. His way of playing is to try to hit clean winners and outrageously audacious shots for a game or two. And then he just basically has a couple of games off and serves his way through to win the match.

4:16And it's very clever. It must be enormously unsettling for a guy like Tiafa. but he had some points on his racket in some of the some of the set points in that incredible tie break in the in the third set he had four hands that he either put wider in the net and you just can't do that and I mean look at a big word that he would probably use to to explain the importance of of winning the big points is to be clutch and he wasn't clutch in the French open and he wasn't here. Bublik was and you've got to give him enormous credit for that. Yeah we kind of were debating which Bublik was going to show up in this one weren't we and I know Tiafoe won that first set but you could kind of tell early here that Bublik was into this match.

5:08Locked in. Absolutely like and becomes a problem like Bublik playing like that and with that attitude is a real issue for everyone. We've seen him when he plays a Yannick Sinner and he just very quickly has a, oh, I can't beat this guy and falls flat and it's really disappointing. We've seen him have real expectation on him coming into Wimbledon last year and he plays Munai in the first round who was a tough draw at that time, but he was disappointing. But this kind of match is kind of the public sweet spot and he was just a problem. them I mean 47 aces in the match and so many of them timely and yeah as as as David's described there were definitely set points that Tiafoe had in that third set that he will want back but given he had nine of them I'm not sure that that many were actually on his racket like it was probably three so many of them Bublik slammed down serves and just ripped it from him so absolutely Tiafa will have regrets about that period but nine kind of makes it sound like you know every single one he had a shot at if he'd only lost three set points it wouldn't feel quite as bad maybe and we have to credit Bublik there for for ripping that from him at times and yeah his recovery in the fifth set was was good I thought I thought Tiafa was a bit flat in that fifth set and he missed a lot of just like rally ball backhands I think one of the tough things for Tiafoe was that he lost that third set.

6:39That was one of the best sets he played. He was playing well at that time. He really was. He was really feeling it. Middle in the ball. So good. He just couldn't get over the line. Do you know, Public only broke him once in the entire match and that was the one in the fifth set. You know, he's up two sets to one and yet he still hasn't broken the guy's serve. It was amazing, really. But a great example of how there are different ways to win tennis matches and to be playing the percentages your way. And he knows his game. And when he's locked in like that, really dangerous. Matt, I do not know how you managed to cover Dimitrov, Berrettini and Bublik, Tiafoe, given that they were happening simultaneously.

7:22But given that you did, tell us about Dimitrov beating Berrettini in five sets. Berrettini coming back, but not all the way back. Indeed. and Dimitrov was you know really good those first two sets takes the two set lead and then kind of he realizes that if he doesn't win it in three sets he's going to be back in the situation where he was in a couple of nights ago and with the roof coming on and you could feel him fear that and the conversation he had with with uh denise the tournament referee at the at the end of the third set was kind of like well why can't we put the roof on while play is happening why do we need to have this break and i need to get i'm going to get cold and all of it that we kind of thought he'd got over because he had this situation uh just a couple of days ago he's ever getting over it i think this was confirmation that he's never getting over it and it's always going to be a thing for him as long as he keeps being in that situation because last year was just so brutal you can't really get over that um anyway he then loses that fourth set under under the roof and by this point berrettini is playing so well he is finding the forehand it's pinging off his strings he's playing the points on his terms and i actually thought berrettini was going to come all the way back and and win this in five I was so impressed with his level at the end of that fourth and I got out there for the fifth and well what a reset from Dimitrov because he played the most spectacular return game to get the break and in these sorts of matches one break is so often enough threaded a backhand pass down the line for that break of serve the yeah the joint as Mary Corello would call it on centre court just went mad for him I think I think they were torn they like both of these guys there's both of their stories are incredible and you know so much sort of injury heartbreak in their careers you want it for both of them but I think in that moment when Dimitrov hit that backhand down the line to get it it was kind of like all of centre court went with him and were like okay let's try and get Grigor over the line now and he was very good in the last few games served incredibly well and didn't really give Berrettini much of a chance and And in his on-court interview afterwards, he was talking about how he felt good physically as the match went on and how he found his groove.

9:57And yeah, he even used the words, I would never know when referring to last year and that opportunity that got taken from him with the injury. And now here he is back getting another shot and trying to find out what he could have done in that draw. he kind of gets to find out now because here he is through to the fourth round. Did the fact that he was taken to five sets tonight and stood up to it physically very well seemed pretty fresh at the end quite frankly. Did that build your confidence at all in his body and his physicality? Because two nights ago we were in a very similar situation with Grigor having won and we were all daring to dream for him right.

10:43we were doing the you never know thing and you were the voice of reason saying we cannot trust his body and the same goes for Matteo Berrettini and look I'm not saying you'd want your mortgage on Grigor Dimitrov's body holding together but has tonight built your feeling of trust in it and you're feeling maybe that this run could really be something this fortnight at Wimbledon? I don't know it's tough to say it has when he's got an extra five sets in his legs like you know uh but I was impressed with how he was feeling at the end he did look totally fine um I think the I think the draw is the most helpful thing right like does it pretty good it looks pretty good for him I know there's there's still a lot of good players in this in this half but no one he can't beat i would say and i think the more the bigger point is he should beat arthur ferry as good as ferry was today and we'll we'll we'll discuss his match and his really significant achievement but he he should win that and if he can win it comfortably efficiently he could preserve a bit of energy and then it's the winner of Dimonor and Kabbali, which both of those guys would be the favourite, I think, whoever it is, but it's not Yannick Sinner, is it?

12:09You'd give him a chance. I would... Look, I know this is throwing it ahead a lot, but I would make Dimitrov the favourite against Kabbali on grass, personally. I think his know-how on the surface should make him the favourite. I think Dimonor's a different matter. It's tantalising. You're starting to believe, David. When did I ever know? But believe in all the way, I think, is the question. Rather than quarterfinals, semifinals, that's not a fanciful thing to be discussing now, I don't think. But semifinals, finals? Yeah, I mean, I think, like I said, I think Dimitrov would be the favourite against Dimitrov.

12:58that's what I'm feeling right now and I think Fritz or Zverev would be the favourite against him as well but you never know does it feel at all similar to the Goran year no no it doesn't but it might a few other people have to lose first right when I was watching Goran go through I mean, he went through an extraordinary draw of people to win that title. I'm trying to remember exactly who he beat. I remember he beat Moyer and Safin and Roddick and Henman and Rafter. You know, it was just incredible what he did. But he didn't have to beat Sampras? No, he didn't. And I don't really think after the third round, I'm thinking Goran's going to win Wimbledon.

13:56yeah okay so tune in to future episodes there's time folks for him to he'd need Sinner to go out right for it to feel different and probably Djokovic as well oh you know I think listen we're talking about the final surely here well of course and you're talking about winning it yes I'm talking about all of it I'm having all the fun with the Grigel Dimitrov story good job we don't get ahead of ourselves on this show look so Dimitrov to play Arthur Ferry and Bublik to play Taylor Fritz we will talk about those two later on in the show I just realized it's all wildcard clash Catherine tough tough fourth round for for you it's fine I'm comfortable with my position you're not into Dimitri at all are you because of bloody wildcards I think two things can be true I think I that he shouldn't shouldn't be here but I can enjoy the fact that if there are going to be wild cards i've never supported one more than that one yeah i'm gonna message goryn after this and say katherine didn't think you should have a wild card in 2001 those are the types of wild cards that voice now you get back and get on board with oh god okay right let's go back in time shall we and take you to center court and the first match of the day and a quite extraordinary story and one that makes it very difficult to avoid cliches like a star is born and that sort of thing because look this was a star we all already knew about but it's different when you do a thing against a defending champion on the most famous court in the world and that is what Alexandra Eala did today 7-6-6-2 against the defending champion Iga Sviantek becoming the first filipina uh the first player from the philippines to reach reach the second week of a slam and she said for me this is everything uh but she also said just because i'm emotional doesn't mean that i'm satisfied which is what i love to hear she said next round let's go and she said of the support that she receives from everybody in the philippines and i've heard that there are already watch parties planned for two days time and her her round of 16 match she said we're all in this together and David we were out there on center court watching this match and yes look the the representation of a previously unrepresented nation and region in this sport will always be a huge story with Alexandra Ayala and the support she receives will always be a feature of her matches but actually just because of how it works here there weren't that many Filipino flags waving there wasn't that much it was actually probably the least partisan support she's walked out to in a couple of years quite frankly since people really became aware of Alexandra Ayala the fan most of the fans that she had out there on centre court today were people that she won over with her tennis and her performance because it was that good and that electrifying.

17:16And her personality. She made that crowd fall in love with her today. She has that ability. She has something truly special, magnetic. She makes you feel all the feelings when she's playing the sports because she's clearly into it so much and she loves it and she's playing fearlessly, really. She goes for it. And there she is playing the defending champion on centre court. You know, she had to save a set point in that first set. I mean, I think Shantaka will have regrets that she put a backhand return in the net from a 79-mile-an-hour serve on set points. But when Ayala had her chances, she didn't take them all, but she just kept on going for it.

18:04and she's a lefty and she's going after that forehand relentlessly. She dares to dream on a tennis court. And the moment that she went 9-8 up with the sort of fearless hitting that she likes to do in tyre break, I mean, there was the most incredible roar. And then she asked for more. She asked for more noise. And people are going just wild in that stadium. And she had them in the palm of her hand. I mean, and I think a lot of people in that stadium maybe didn't know that much about her. You know, there's a lot of people that come to Wimbledon not necessarily knowing players that aren't the big names, but they will have left remembering Alexandra Ayala.

18:53You know, it's just a wonderful performance from her. And she doesn't put any limitations on herself. She will see no reason why she can't go and keep going. Do you see any reason why she can't? No. No, she's got a great game for grass. She's dangerous. I do think she's playing Jasmine Paulini next, and I tell you, she's playing well. And you're going to have two just wonderful personalities on the court against one another. But if you go and knock out the defending champion, and it happens to be Igor Svante, you need to be taken seriously. She was on that stage, and she owned the place. I think she's better than I realized.

19:35I had the same thought. We've obviously known about her for a while and seen her talent and been aware of it. But, God, the way she packaged her game today was so impressive. And it was interesting how Svantec actually talked about how the serve being slow, she actually found difficult to return. And there is such an element here of it's not only a good game, it's an awkward game. You don't see it a lot. And I think she can use that to her advantage, the leftiness, the fact that the serve isn't all that big, but she backs it up so well. She takes the ball early. She keeps coming. She's a threat of forehand and backhand.

20:16Like, it's all there. And she's intense. She plays such intense tennis and doesn't let it go and scraps and fights. It's a really hard thing to come up against. I felt like when she beat Svantec last year, I sort of thought that was mostly Svantec playing quite badly. This time, I actually thought that first set was so high quality. Absolutely. You know, there's obviously stuff to be concerned about for Svantec, but this was by no means a bad Svantec performance at the start of this match and for the first set. I think she did a lot of things quite well. And Ayala went toe-to-toe with her, and that was not what I was expecting.

21:07I thought if Ayala were to win this, Svantec would have to be really off it in a way that we have seen quite a lot this year. but I didn't feel like that was the story of this match, to be honest. I think Schiontek really had a poor start to the second set and dropped serve very quickly a couple of times, and that was disappointing for her. And then even she got one of the breaks back and then immediately just sort of gave it up again. And that resistance wasn't quite there. But yeah, I thought basically she was outplayed by Ayala. And I wasn't really expecting that, even though I gave Ayala a big chance in this one.

21:43She was very critical of herself, Chante, for how she dealt with Eala's serve, which she kept on calling slow. She wasn't trying to disrespect it. She was trying to say, look, just because it's slow doesn't mean it's easy. But, you know, her serve is very, very attackable. And Eala did a fantastic job of that. I mean, that return performance today was stunning. absolutely stunning and and i didn't realize she could hit the ball that hard i know it's because she seems to be a master of absorbing power i i didn't know she had the strength to to do that she was very rarely getting pushed behind the baseline i think it works well on the grass her hit you know versus the top spin yeah of of shvantek who by the way fluffed a couple of dry She did.

22:39She really shanked a couple. There are some things in the Shanta game that are just unrecognisable from the player a few years ago. And it's, while on the one hand, you know, we were both in her press conference, David, while on the one hand it's nice to hear her sort of clearly trying not to beat herself up too hard over this. You don't want that. I worried that she'd be a state, quite frankly. I think so much of her, I mean, her ranking, for one thing, she's going to drop out of the top 10 after this for the first time since May 2021. But I think a lot of her self-esteem as a tennis player was propped up by having the Wimbledon in her bag because she hasn't really been eager Shvantec since winning Wimbledon here last year.

23:32But for that full 12-month cycle of not playing that well, she's been Wimbledon champion and she's had that. Now she doesn't. So I did worry about her press conference today and was sort of on one hand relieved that she was saying the right things in terms of processing the defeat and taking it on the chin. But on the other hand, it was kind of sad hearing her so resigned to defeats like this and resigned to her place in the tennis world and talking about not having any right to expect more of herself. Like, it's all still there for Iga Schwantek. She's still so young. And she seems lost, quite frankly.

24:18It's quite a thing to see and hear somebody sound so world-weary of the sport a little, or of her own performances when she's that age. but then you're talking about somebody who's had many years of success real top level dominance and i suppose anything that's comparable to that doesn't feel great really um and and like you say lost is a good word really because she's searching she's searching for whatever it was and she's she's sensibly trying to distill it down into process and in terms of what she can control all i understand that i think it's probably the right thing to do i'm just not entirely sure that the methods are the right ones the people may be not the right ones i don't know i'm not i'm not qualified to say for sure of course not but i mean what we do know is the results aren't coming i wanted to share a message that we received from our editor jib in the philippines I've been dying to talk about Jib all day.

25:25Who wasn't into tennis at all when he started editing the tennis podcast. Definitely was thinking, what is this nonsense that I'm having to listen to every night now? He plays tennis. He sure does. He was playing tennis today. He travelled three hours to play tennis today. I love him. Jib's tennis journey is incredible. And at the same time he's going on this tennis journey, Alexandre Ayala is emerging as a force in the tennis world and the biggest superstar in the Philippines. The country's going on a tennis journey with Jib. It cannot be more perfect. And we love Jib so much. And he bought a subscription to some sort of streaming service this afternoon so that he could watch Ayala in a parking lot.

26:14He had it up on his phone, and the second he got up the live stream, a group of kids emerged around him, like the Pied Piper. Which was so perfect, because the commentator literally after the match had finished said, and there will be lots of little girls and little boys watching in the Philippines. And we were like, yes, we've got a photo of them watching over Jib's shoulder. it was magical yeah really magical and we're very lucky to have that sort of window onto the onto the world of what's happening over there and jib sent this message to us earlier and i asked if he would mind us sharing it and he said no absolutely go ahead he said with all the fucked up things happening in our country right now alex's win tonight on center court even for a moment makes being filipino something to be proud of i'm so happy to see people i know who have different political stances different religions living in different walks of life sharing one singular thing tonight and that is that's the beauty of sport isn't it and i'm so glad jib is experiencing that and i'm so glad alexandre is bringing that to so many people in in a part of the world that hasn't had that before it's so powerful and so brilliant and i know we always say it but the way she handles it is absolutely magnetic sort of the way she handles everything is absolutely magnetic i've never seen anyone really tread the line of being respectful and humble whilst also being totally fearless and feeling like they're born to be here and not having any imposter syndrome at all like that's a fine line to tread and she's she's just on it right on that line and it's perfection it's like the whole I'm thrilled but I'm not satisfied thing which is the perfect state of mind and in terms of leaning into playing for something bigger than herself like what a special moment that she then meets Billie Jean King today at Wimbledon and and I think that happened quite organically yeah and that was lovely and wonderful to see and and i just had a chat with the bbc floor manager that was floor managing at the time that that happened and i said she did know who billy jean king was and everything right because she's 21 like they don't all and she absolutely did and was thrilled to bits to be meeting her which is love that wonderful i could talk about alexandra eala all night david a word on jasmine paulini her next opponent you were watching her defeat of maria sacchari on the screen while we were on center court watching alexandra eala 6162 in 66 minutes yeah i sort of turned this one on she went full of up in about 15 minutes and i thought well that's not like a scoreline I've seen from Jasmine Paolini so far this year and I was wondering whether you know sometimes Zachary can can really make scorelines like that happen when she has a bad day so I wanted to turn it on but this was I'm look I'm sure Zachary had a bad day but Paolini was was like the Paolini a couple of years ago and it was just joyous to watch you know There was a conviction about her.

29:44There was a spring in her step. The body language was back. The positivity was there. I mean, I think these things all go hand in hand, don't they? Of course you feel more positive when you're playing like that. But maybe as well the game comes from the positivity as well. They're probably impossible to separate. Then I went to her press conference afterwards and I asked her, you know, you've not had the best of times the last couple of months. how does it feel and when did it change you know what were you going through at the time when when it when results weren't there she said i had doubts i had a lot of doubts you know i mean she'd had some physical problems but but but just generally she didn't and and she said those doubts stopped me from expressing myself on the court yeah which i thought was a a great explanation of how it all becomes a vicious circle and i think it's that much more meaningful to her it's a little bit like what I was saying with Fiontech is you must just get used to your reality being I win, I play well of course I do because why wouldn't I you know and suddenly you might stop playing well and winning and it must be really disconcerting and I think probably that's happened to Paolini because one of the things of the joke of underestimating Jasmine Paolini is because I kept expecting her not to be able to produce it after a while and she kept on doing it and it was it was amazing to witness and then finally she did hit the wall and for whatever reason the injuries the the self-doubt but yeah there's a there's a player who's bouncing again there now and the thought of her playing against Ayala is is really something to to cherish I hope they both have a good day like I hope they both play well I don't want to see a one-sided match in which one of them really struggles have you got any physical concerns about Ayala.

31:39There was a little sign of it maybe towards the end of the match. She's got big, heavy strapping on her leg. She does, yeah, and she was sort of just tapping at her thighs a bit to get them going. I didn't think her level of play dropped at all, but it wasn't tested by Shontek down the stretch. I think another reason why Shontek kind of let it get away today, like there was a question there to be asked of Ayala that Shontek kind of threw away the opportunity to to ask yes i think it's a question i it's not a massive concern but a question yeah for sure but i think she's had the strapping on right the way through the tournament it looks alarming but hasn't hampered her thus far there's also a question about navigating a grand slam tournament because she hasn't done this before to this to this level to this far so we'll find out and and always say it but backing up a big moment like that it's it's hard very hard to go again after after that i mean that had the feel of yeah like final scenes when she won the first set when she won the first set you know the image that went through my mind when she hit the she won the point and several set points threw her arms into the air and walked towards her team i thought of Andy Murray winning the 2013 Wimbledon when he walked shaking his fists, you know, and threw his hat off.

33:05But both of them reacted to the end of the first set like the match was over. Shontek devastated, marching towards her chair, threw her racket in her bag and then walked off the courts kind of shouting at herself and then at her box. And yeah, Ayala with the arms in the air, celebration directed at her box. It was like, I can't believe there's more. That was one set in the third round. And all the while that that was happening, over on number one court, which is where Matt was, Elena Rabatkinner, the former champion here, was being taken out by an absolute masterclass from Elisa Mertens. 7-6-6-1.

33:42Again, David was somehow watching this on one of our many screens. He described it as a beatdown. Second set. Second set was. Yeah, I mean, in the early stages here, there was no real sign that this was going to be a big upset. You know, like Rabatkinner was the one creating the chances. Mertens was hanging on a bit in the early stages. But then actually Mertens twice managed to get a break in the first set and immediately got pegged back. And we found ourselves in a tie break. And Rabatkinner's ahead in that tie break. And I was thinking, OK, it's been a little bit of a wayward set. or certainly the latter half of the set, but she's going to get through it.

34:22She'll be fine. She always beats Mertens. She was 7-1 in the head-to-head, you know, like it's been a good matchup for her. But then the things we've started seeing from Rabatkinow in the last few months start happening and one error leads to another and, you know, wayward forehands, forehands in the net, double folds even in the tie break and Mertens pinch is that first set. And then, absolutely, David's right, races through the second set. As soon as she got the break, Mertens, she was pretty comfortable in this one. She played well, Mertens, I want to say that. There were a couple of points back-to-back towards the end where, for once, Rebecca actually was constructing a point quite nicely rather than just going for broke on the ball and missing.

35:11But Mertens was in her backhand corner defending and chipping with the slice, throwing up the moon ball, every type of defensive shot you can come up with Mertens had it and causing Rebecca problems and then turning that defense into attack and winning it and he thought wow that's like it's a brilliant point then she did it again on the very next point and finished it with her own great backhand and it was really good for Mertens for someone who has had this ceiling really on her game and on how far she progresses in slams normally this is a really big deal for her to to beat Rebecca but you know it was tough from a Rebecca perspective because that that consistency that she had from the end of our season through to kind of the sunshine double of this season has gone I mean completely gone she she now is vulnerable every time she steps on court for this kind of thing happening where the game just kind of deserts her and she deteriorates and the it's it's tough to watch because for someone so good it becomes so error strewn and yeah Mertens took advantage of that she was asked in the encore interview how the nerves were after the final game when she was trying to serve it out and there was a she was very tight trying to serve it out Mertens there were there were double faults there were misses but she had such a big lead I never really thought she was in trouble but she was asked for the nerves and she was like, well, I think you could see that the nerves were pretty bad.

36:43David, watching that final game, gestured at the screen and said, one of them can't play tennis and one's having a nervous breakdown. She was going through turmoil, wasn't she? She was. Totally understandably. Yeah, but no, a heck of a win. And honestly, like such a weird feeling. I don't know whether you had this as well, but like we lost, were back in Sviantec from the draw, back to back, you know, in very quick succession. And those are huge defeats, you know. But I wasn't that confident about either of them this tournament. You know, like, it feels like the draw's changed massively. And I think it has, because you have to respect the fact that they're former champions and they've won multiple majors.

37:25They were the big names in this half. But at the same time, it didn't quite feel like it had the same effect on the draws it might have done in previous years, with Fiontech and Rabacchina going out. I don't think Rabacchina hadn't been in a quarter-final, I don't think, since Stuttgart. Certainly hadn't been winning. She'd lost up earlier everywhere in the grass court season. I chose her for my final because I couldn't see obvious alternatives in that half the draw. And to me, well, the pedigree's there. To me, she's got the most perfect game for grass of anybody in women's tennis. And she looked like a bit of a ghost, I'm afraid, out there.

38:09And in the press conference, too. I mean, it's, you know, what do you do? I said to her, what do you think has happened between that great start to the year and then this fall off? She says, if I knew that, I'd have done something about it, wouldn't I? Basically, and I totally understand that. It must be horrible to just feel lost like that. It's a brutal sport, isn't it? Six months, less than six months after winning a slam, you can look completely lost. It's tough out there. She plays Marie Buskova next, does Elisa Mertens. She beat Ludmilla Samsonova, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4. Also happening this match.

38:50Well, in fact, this match seemed to be happening while most other things were happening. because it went on forever. Incredible win for Buzkova, who has come into this Wimbledon with form. This is not out of the blue, her reaching this round of 16. She saved 15 out of 16 break points in the second and third sets. Nails from Buzkova. Yeah, and Hannah was watching this one and described it as a masterclass in weaponised defence of how to win by bringing a bag of knives to a gunfight. Because, you know, like Samsonova has power and can just overwhelm you and Buzkova doesn't have that she has to dig in and she does that so well and Hannah said this wasn't the story this wasn't Samsonova imploding and hitting unforced areas as she can it was Buzkova getting getting everything back putting it in awkward places and actively tormenting Samsonova was how Hannah described it and went love 40 down when serving for the match and then won five points in a row to get out of it.

39:55And yeah, Sander actually played the big points just so much better. So Eala Paolini and Samsonova Buzkova. More matches in both the men's and the women's from today to talk about. Pam is in the chat. Pam is here live, everyone. Happy birthday, Pam! Wish Pam a very happy birthday. We love you, Pam. OK, Madison Keys, Amanda Anisimova on the 4th of July, 2nd on centre court. Amanda Anisimova returning to that court for the first time since her double bagel in the final here last year. Matt, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 for Madison Keys and perhaps a scoreline that makes it sound closer than it was? yes perhaps i look i do think anisimova deserved to win the first set it was actually it caught me by surprise the first set because i've watched her previous two matches and she's not been playing well we talked about it and she said that actually that was the reason she was nervous going back to center court it wasn't anything to do with last year's final it was the fact that she wasn't playing that well and she knew it and she was worried about showing up on center court with not much form but the first set okay it was a slow start but the the game she played to to win the first set was really good and as I said it caught me by surprise I wasn't expecting it but she was definitely the better player at the end of that first set doing the things we know she can do really well but from that point onwards yeah 6-2 6-3 for Keyes is is absolutely a fair reflection of this match.

41:34Keys was more in control of her game I would say quite frankly. Anissa Mova has lost her forehand completely. And she knows it. She knows it. Unfortunately she was she was very upset in the in the press conference and talked a lot about how she's been putting in the work but she just can't find her game at the moment and she talked about how she feels like she's playing at sort of one two five level rather than Wimbledon level and how it's not enjoyable out there on the court when you're playing like that and even during the match you could hear you every time she missed the forehand she would turn to the box and I think she was picked up by saying I've tried 20 different forehands and it's just not working and it as I said it feels like she's tried to change the tape back make it make it look to me it looks bigger I imagine she's trying to get a bit more shape on the ball and make it a bit more reliable but unfortunately the total opposite has happened and every time she goes to hit her forehand at the moment she's really not confident with it and making a lot of errors and then that then seeps into the rest of the game as well and yeah it's it's tough right now to be honest and honestly it kind of feels better that Madison Keys goes on in this draw if you know what I mean she absolutely knew her tennis wasn't in the place to have a run here totally not I think she was she's upset about where her game is at more than losing today right and it does sound like she's going to do some serious soul searching now I wouldn't be surprised if she makes a coaching change and as a matter of fact I know she hasn't been with Sebastian Sachs very long and I'm generally sort of not in favour of chopping and changing too quickly and not giving coaches a chance but it doesn't look great does it?

43:36It might just not be the right fit she said I need to go home I need to take some time and figure out how I can fix this so I really hope she does ahead of the US hard courts but there's just not much time is there no and she said she also said hopefully everything will click but it's hard to see that coming right now you know like it was a it was a tough press conference this one it's like you were saying earlier what a brutal sport this is i mean it's wonderful we've had the best day we weren't losing out there you know it must it must be our heart a hard feeling well david you did lose two of your final picks today yeah but the you know one of the beauties of you never know is you can confidently say stuff's gonna happen but you never know by the way that was madison keys's first match on center court unbelievable and and she said that she had been offered by laura robson who she's who she's very friendly with in the past to like go on center court and have a bit of a tour of it and make the walk and all that kind of stuff and she said no i don't want to do that i only want to do that oh yeah i wouldn't want to do that either that's a bit like do you want to sit at the kids table at a wedding you can come but you'll be on your own at the kids table i'd love to be on that imagine the fun there that's the best table but i found it interesting that like she wanted to experience it playing there you know and i think that was you know she said that was maybe part of the reason for her slightly slower start in this one adjusting to those surroundings but she is playing better than anisimova right now she looks a lot more in control of her game and reminders in this one of just how dangerous she can be and she broke serve in the final set with an amazing backhand up the line she looks to be moving well i think and she's she's just getting enough of her big shots in to to sort of make the difference in these matches at the moment and look she now plays Noskova who is the highest seed remaining in the bottom half of the draw and the one within in form you know having having just won a title and has a very very dangerous grass court player but honestly like Keys and Isimova coming just after Svontek Rabatkinet it felt big it felt like these are two players with real pedigree in this bottom half of the draw and it's not there's there's a lot of good players there's we've got 14 seeds left in the draw, which is the most in the fourth round of Wimbledon since 2007.

46:14And that's part of why those losses for Svantec and Rabatkin are not impacting things as much. There's a lot of good players left. It doesn't feel like anything's blown wide open. But Keyes-Noskova, to me, is a huge match. Do you think the finalists are coming from that match, most likely? I think I do, yeah. I think in terms of like Noskafer's game really suits the grass and Keyes, it does suit the grass and she's got the Grand Slam experience, you know, like I think that's a huge match. The last round of 16 match set up today is Marta Kostrick against Ashlyn Kruger. This was the first match of the day Kostrick's win over Navarro on court number 262-4661.