By Rosangel Valenti, TW Contributing Editor
Good morning. This is the Tribe's daily place for discussing the tennis that's going on in Wimbledon, or match-calling. Today is quarterfinals day for the women. The Order of Play can be found here.
Yesterday at Wimbledon:
I was there, seated on Court 1. There's no point in rehearsing the matches here, other than to say that, after calling the trainer early during his match against Youzhny, Nadal did not appear to be significantly impaired, movement-wise. The result of his slip looked alarming at the moment when it occurred, and I'm sure, from my pictures taken during his treatment on court, that he felt some pain, but it didn't seem to have much influence on the outcome of the match. If anything, it helped him focus on ending points faster, which was generally the theme of yesterday's match.
During the match between Marat Safin and Stanislas Wawinka, the Murray factor kicked in, big-time. Just outside Court 1 is Henman Hill. For the uninitiated, that's the substantial area sloping down to the big screen, which, especially during matches involving British players, is packed with highly-involved fans. You'd be lucky to find a bare space, once play is under way. If you're out on Henman Hill, don't expect the crowd there to do the polite thing, and applaud the "other guy" when he makes great shots - the reaction there will be an exasperated groan. What this meant for watchers on Court 1 was that the crowd noises from Henman Hill were to the forefront. At each change of ends, the current scores from the main show courts flash up on the scoreboard on Court 1. When Marat Safin was near to closing out his match against Stanislas Wawrinka, on Court 1 we heard the "Come on!" shout of Murray over the loudspeakers, and the applause that followed.The crowd on Court 1 had seen from the occasional scoreboard updates that Murray was close to defeat, when Gasquet served for the match during the third set, and had been anticipating a loss, so when Murray came back, the attention of many in the crowd wavered. We were watching Safin-Wawrinka, but wondering about Murray and Gasquet. The players managed not to be distracted, but it must have been tough. Safin had huge crowd support inside Court 1, though, and this may have helped him. He wasn't exactly exuberant in his behaviour after he won, but at least somewhat jaunty and animated.
When I left Court 1, I joined the crowd watching Murray and Wawrinka. It was an amazing experience. I have no idea how many people were on Henman Hill, but it looked like thousands, packed like sardines, and it's not a small space. After leaving Wimbledon (I arrived home close to midnight, after wandering over to the Press Center to greet Miguel Seabra, and then waiting patiently to get out of the crowded car-park), it took me hours to wind down. The adrenaline is still buzzing a little - what a day of tennis! Plenty of pictures to come from yessterday, including my first ones of Marat Safin abusing his racquet.
Daily Weather Report:
Outside it's clear and sunny, and that's the prediction for the rest of the day at Wimbledon. Rain is expected tomorrow, for men's quarerfinals day, though.
Match of the Day:
Agnieszka Radwanska versus Serena Williams. The Eastbourne winner versus the two-time champion. Serena Wiliams won their only encounter to date, earlier this year in Berlin, on clay.
Player of the Day:
From yesterday, Andy Murray, for defeating Richard Gasquet after Gasquet served for the match with two sets already in the bag. Agnieszka Radwanska also deserves a mention, for defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in three sets. Both Murray and Radwanska reached their first Wimbledon quarterfinals.
As always, enjoy today's tennis.