Wimbledon briefing: Day 10 recap and order of play for women's semi-finals
Here, the PA news agency looks back at Wednesday's action and previews day 11 of the Championships.
Novak Djokovic reached a men's record 14th Wimbledon semi-final by overcoming the spirited challenge of Flavio Cobolli 6-7 (6) 6-2 7-5 6-4.
He will next face world number one Jannik Sinner, who shrugged off any concerns about his injured elbow as he dismantled Ben Shelton in straight sets.
Carlos Alcaraz is the only player to beat Djokovic at Wimbledon since 2017 but, while Sinner has lost both their previous meetings at the All England Club, the Italian has already knocked the 24-time grand slam champion out of the Australian Open and French Open this season.
Iga Swiatek smashed through her grass ceiling as she made the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time.
The 24-year-old, a four-time French Open champion, swept aside Liudmila Samsonova 6-2 7-5 on Court One to complete the set of grand slam last-four appearances.
She will next face 2021 Olympic champion Belinda Bencic, who ended the teenage dreams of Mirra Andreeva to reach her first Wimbledon semi-final in her first year back in SW19 following the birth of daughter Bella in April 2024.
Britain's Joe Salisbury will bid for a seventh grand slam title when he teams up with Brazilian Luisa Stefani in the mixed doubles final on Thursday.
The pair, who will take on Sem Verbeek of the Netherlands and Czech Katerina Siniakova, only entered at the last minute after Salisbury's original partner, Jodie Burrage, suffered an ankle injury.
Salisbury has trophies from all the other slams across men's and mixed doubles but is yet to lift silverware at Wimbledon.
'It would be amazing,' he said. 'For me it's the main one. To win Wimbledon is the biggest tournament.'
Aryna Sabalenka is one win away from reaching the final of a fourth straight grand slam but her first at Wimbledon.
The three-time major winner must overcome a player who holds a winning record against her in Thursday's first semi-final.
Amanda Anisimova has been victorious in five of their eight meetings, but has never reached the final of a grand slam.
The big-hitting duo are sure to provide plenty of thrills in the first match on Centre Court.
Centre Court (from 1.30pm)Aryna Sabalenka (1) v Amanda Anisimova (13)Iga Swiatek (8) v Belinda BencicSalisbury/Stefani v Verbeek/Siniakova (mixed doubles final)
Court One (from 1pm)Arevalo/Pavic (1) v Hijikata/Pel (men's doubles)Cash/Glasspool (5) v Granollers/Zeballos (4) (men's doubles)Hewett/Reid v Caverzaschi/Oda (wheelchair doubles)
Sunny, with highs of 32C, according to the Met Office.
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South Wales Argus
35 minutes ago
- South Wales Argus
Wimbledon briefing: Day 12 recap and women's final preview
Amanda Anisimova and Iga Swiatek will face each other in the women's final at 4pm on Saturday, after Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool look to make British history in the men's doubles. Here, the PA news agency looks back at Friday's action and previews day 13 of the Championships. Djokovic dismantled on Centre Court Jannik Sinner eased past Novak Djokovic (John Walton/PA) Jannik Sinner ruthlessly ended Novak Djokovic's title dreams, beating the seven-time champion 6-3 6-3 6-4 in just an hour and 55 minutes. It had seemed like Wimbledon would be Djokovic's best hope of winning a 25th grand slam title, but Sinner produced a machine-like display of brilliance against an ailing opponent. Djokovic said: 'I want to congratulate Jannik for another great performance. He was too strong. I do feel disappointed that I just wasn't able to move as well as I thought or hoped that I would. 'I don't think it's bad fortune. It's just age, the wear and tear of the body. As much as I'm taking care of it, the reality hits me right now, last year and a half, like never before, to be honest.' Alcaraz eyes hat-trick Carlos Alcaraz is through to a third successive final (Adam Davy/PA) Awaiting Sinner in the final is Carlos Alcaraz, who expects another blockbuster clash in the pair's gripping rivalry. The two dominant players in men's tennis over the past two years finally met in their first grand slam final at the French Open last month, where Alcaraz saved three championship points before winning an epic five-setter lasting five hours and 29 minutes. 'I'm still thinking about that moment sometimes,' said Alcaraz, who beat Taylor Fritz in four sets to reach his third successive Wimbledon final. 'It was the best match that I have ever played so far. 'It's just going to be a great day, a great final. I'm just excited about it. I just hope not to be on court for five hours and a half again. But if I have to, I will.' Doubles expectations Julian Cash (left) and Lloyd Glasspool are looking to make British doubles history (Mike Egerton/PA) Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool are bidding to become the first all-British winners of the men's doubles title since 1936. They take on Australia's Rinky Hijikata and Dutchman David Pel in Saturday's final, which for the first time takes place at 1pm before the women's singles. Glasspool said: 'I don't think at all about the two Brits winning it, it's more just Wimbledon for me. But, if I take a step back and look at the bigger picture of it then, yeah, it would be an amazing achievement.' Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid go for another men's wheelchair doubles crown while Oliver Bonding plays in the boys' doubles final alongside American Jagger Leach, who is the son of former women's champion Lindsay Davenport. Match of the day One hand on the Ladies' Singles Trophy. Centre Court awaits a spectacle 🌱#Wimbledon — Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 10, 2025 Amanda Anisimova will face Iga Swiatek for the first time as a professional in the Wimbledon final – but she has known for a decade that the Pole is a formidable foe. Their only meeting on court came nine years ago in the Junior Fed Cup, which Swiatek won. 'She was a great junior,' said Anisimova, who took an eight-month break from the sport in 2023 to prioritise her mental health. 'I remember a lot of coaches were saying that she's going to be a big deal one day. Yeah, obviously they were right. 'Iga is such an unbelievable player. She's also been an inspiration to me. Her work ethic and all of her achievements have been really inspiring. I'm sure it will be an amazing match again. Swiatek is happy to see her former junior rival back in the big time, saying: 'Anybody who struggles and gets back at a better level deserves a lot of respect.' Order of play Centre Court 1pm: Cash/Glasspool (5) v Hijikata/Pel – (men's doubles final) 4pm: Iga Swiatek (8) v Amanda Anisimova (13) – (women's singles final) Court One – from 11am Hewett/Reid (1) v De La Puente/Spaargaren (2) (men's wheelchair doubles final Bonding/Leach (8) v Paldanius/Wazny (4) (boys' doubles final) Julieta Pareja (6) v Mia Pohankova (girls' singles final) Weather watch Sunny, with highs of 31C, according to the Met Office.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Awful look for Wimbledon to have two players who served drugs bans in the finals
There will be twin elephants in the room when Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner walk out on Centre Court to contest their first Wimbledon finals this weekend. For the first time in the Championships – and in grand-slam history – two players who have served drugs bans will compete for the men's and women's singles titles. That they are also both multiple major winners and were ranked world No 1 when they failed their doping tests last year has only made it more controversial that they may lift tennis's biggest prize. For some of their rivals, they are lucky to be at Wimbledon at all after avoiding lengthy exiles from the game over the discovery of banned substances in their systems. Unrest over their respective three-month and one-month suspensions has also been compounded by the manner in which each of their cases was resolved. That includes the fact that their sanctions were offered to – rather than imposed upon – them, and that they effectively got to serve bans when it suited them, with neither missing a grand slam event as result. The Sinner saga dates back to March last year, when he failed a drugs test for the steroid clostebol six weeks after winning his maiden major title at the Australian Open. The Italian tested positive both during and after the Masters 1000 at Indian Wells. As a result, he was automatically stripped of the 400 ranking points and £250,000 prize money he earned at the event, where he had been beaten in the semi-finals by Carlos Alcaraz. He was also provisionally suspended but news of this was not made public following an appeal that was accepted after he convinced the International Tennis Integrity Agency he had not knowingly doped and had a credible case for not being at fault for the failed test. That case centred on massages provided by his physiotherapist, Giacomo Naldi, who was said to have applied an over-the-counter spray containing clostebol to his own skin – unbeknownst to Sinner – to treat a small wound. The amount of clostebol found in Sinner's system was not deemed performance-enhancing and the ITIA accepted his explanation and that he personally bore 'no fault or negligence'. Sinner played at the French Open and Wimbledon after the case was referred for a final decision to an independent panel convened by Sport Resolutions, which agreed with the ITIA's verdict and ruled he should serve no ban. It was only then – less than a week before the US Open – that the matter was made public. Sinner, who according to his coach, Darren Cahill, had become so ill as a result of the drugs case that he missed the Olympics with tonsillitis, said: 'I will now put this challenging and deeply unfortunate period behind me.' But despite sacking Naldi and fitness coach Umberto Ferrara, who had provided the banned steroid, Sinner was unable to simply move on. 'Ridiculous,' raged Nick Kyrgios on X before calling for a two-year ban to be imposed on the Italian. Denis Shapovalov and fellow one-time top-10 player Lucas Pouille also hit out, with the former posting: 'Different rules for different players.' Those other players include former Wimbledon champions Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep, and ex-finalist Marin Cilic, all of whom were hit with drugs bans that saw them miss at least one grand slam. Britain's Tara Moore, who served a provisional suspension spanning 19 months before a panel ruled contaminated meat was the source of a failed doping test, wrote: 'I guess only the top players' images matter.' Sinner went on to win the US Open before the World Anti-Doping Agency announced it would appeal the decision that he bore 'no fault or negligence' and would seek a ban of between one and two years. Tennis was still reeling from all this when the ITIA dropped another bombshell in November by announcing Swiatek had accepted a one-month drugs ban. The four-time and then-reigning French Open champion was revealed to have tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) – commonly used to treat angina and other heart-related conditions – around a week before the US Open. Like Sinner, she was provisionally banned after the tournament but that sanction was not made public after she, too, appealed and convinced the ITIA she had a credible 'no fault or negligence' case. Her case focused on medication the Pole had been taking for 'jet lag and sleep issues', which she was able to demonstrate had been contaminated with 'low levels' of TMZ. She was found not to have taken all possible precautions to avoid contamination and was offered a one-month ban, most of which she had already served. She said on Instagram: 'I have a sense this situation could undermine the image I've been building for years, which is why I hope you will understand I had no control over it and could do nothing to prevent this unfortunate turn of events.' Kyrgios did not pull his punches when discussing the Sinner and Swiatek cases. 'Two world No 1s both getting done for doping is disgusting for our sport,' he said. 'It's a horrible look. Tennis integrity right now – and everyone knows it but no one wants to speak about it – it's awful.' Both Sinner and Swiatek were able to play at January's Australian Open – the former pending the outcome of Wada's appeal and the latter while waiting to hear if the agency would also seek to extend her own ban. Sinner went on to retain his title before striking a deal with Wada days later that would see him serve a three-month suspension. 'I have always accepted that I am responsible for my team and realise Wada's strict rules are an important protection for the sport I love,' he said. His ban provoked even more debate than his earlier exoneration. 'It's not a good image for our sport, that's for sure,' Novak Djokovic said. 'There's a majority of the players that I've talked to in the locker room, not just in the last few days, but also last few months, that are not happy with the way this whole process has been handled. A majority of the players don't feel that it's fair. A majority of the players feel like there is favouritism. It appears that you can almost affect the outcome if you are a top player, if you have access to the top lawyers.' Similar sentiments were expressed by Jessica Pegula and Britain's Liam Broady, while Kyrgios took to X to lament a 'sad day for tennis'. Three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka also posted: 'I don't believe in a clean sport anymore…' Daniil Medvedev, who Sinner beat in last year's Australian Open final, said: 'I hope everyone can discuss with Wada and defend themselves like Jannik Sinner from now on.' Tim Henman told Sky Sports the timing and duration of the ban seemed 'a little too convenient' and had left 'a pretty sour taste for the sport'. Serena Williams joked in a later interview with Time magazine that she would have been 'in jail if she had failed a drugs test like Sinner'. But she also added: 'If I did that, I would have gotten 20 years. Let's be honest. I would have gotten grand slams taken away from me.' Sinner has repeatedly responded to all this by stressing he is unable to control what people think or say. Neither he nor Swiatek have faced any public backlash from opponents or spectators since returning from their bans and neither have they suffered any discernible dip in form. Sinner reached his first French Open final last month, although he blew a two-set lead and three championship points in an epic defeat to Alcaraz. Swiatek has suffered agonising semi-final defeats at both the Australian and French Open but is the hot favourite to win her first Wimbledon crown on Saturday. She has not faced as many doping-related questions as Sinner, who was asked about his ban again after his Wimbledon first-round win over fellow Italian Luca Nardi. 'People kind of have forgotten already a little bit what happened,' he said. 'I have good relationships with more or less all [of the] players like I had before. Of course, in the beginning it was a bit different. People saw me in different ways. But I think they all saw that I'm a very clean player. I was never with intention to do anything bad. I always try to be the best I can, having a good team around me. That's exactly what I try to do in the future.'
Spectator
an hour ago
- Spectator
Wimbledon's Royal Box has become naff
As Wimbledon reaches its climax this weekend, those of us neither interested in tennis, nor in taking a fortnight off work for solid perving purposes, are delighted it will soon be over. I couldn't care less about the tennis, but the comings and goings in the slightly obscene-sounding 'Royal Box' are impossible to escape from. The comings and goings in the slightly obscene-sounding 'Royal Box' are impossible to escape from This year has provided a bumper bonanza: Rebel Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Celia Imrie, Rory Kinnear, Nick Jonas, Bear Grylls, Hugh Grant, Olivia Rodrigo, Priyanka Chopra, Gary Lineker, John Cena, Dave Grohl, Dominic Cooper, Judd Apatow, Leslie Mann, Russell Crowe, David Beckham, Eddie Redmayne, Ronan Keating and Tom Daley have all shown up. As for 'Royalty', Fergie has made an appearance. You can't win 'em all; some déclassé types are bound to be there. As a meritocrat, I should be pleased that self-made types are now making it into this hallowed hutch. Why then does it give me the utter ick? The Royal Box, which seats around 80 people, is intended for the ruling family and guests variously described by media as 'distinguished' and 'illustrious' to watch the action on Centre Court. You can't buy your way in; you need to be invited by the Chair of the All England Club Deborah Jevans, a former junior Wimbledon champion. Should you be amongst the anointed – actors, musicians and athletes usually make the cut – food, drink and 'goodie bags' may also come your way, as well as the homage of the toilers on the courts. Gushed Emma Raducanu: 'Occasionally [I look at the Royal Box], so I'm very aware of who's watching. I saw David Beckham was there watching Carlos [Alcaraz]. So that was pretty cool. But last year, I think David Attenborough was there, which was also pretty amazing.' You can't really blame the thespian crew for strutting their stuff in the Royal Box. Princes and showgirls have long mixed and matched, and acting has now been so colonised by the posh that it's entirely plausible that the likes of Redmayne – at Eton, naturally – were at school with minor members of the ruling dynasty. But there is something rather pathetic about musicians being there; one might shrug off Keating, Jonas and Rodrigo as candy floss. But one does wonder what poor Kurt Cobain would make of his erstwhile bandmate, the obviously rocker-identified Dave Grohl, OD-ing on strawberries, cream and syncopated sycophancy. I suppose I'm showing my age (66) by thinking that there's something risible about popular musicians wanting to hobnob with royals; music, too, has been taken over by public schoolboys and girls including the likes of Lily Allen (Bedales). But I guess it's the feeling that these celebs could be anywhere so long as it's 'exclusive' that makes them seem so insecure and insubstantial. How many of them are even tennis fans? It's a long way from the unashamed glee displayed in photographs of Noel Gallagher when he first started being asked into the directors' box of his beloved Manchester City. (A cab driver once told me that his daughter had been a hostess there on one such occasion, and reported NG as easily the most courteous celebrity she had ever encountered.) The Oasis star was also spotted standing on the terraces with Manchester City fans at an away game against West Ham last year, having seemingly shunned the posh seats. There's something very attractive about discrimination on a basis other than: 'Ooo, will I be only with other famous people, 'cos I'm so special?' Tennis is a strange beast. For a long time Wimbledon especially was archaic; when Billie Jean King won three titles there in 1967, she received a £45 gift voucher. Until relatively recently, married women who won Wimbledon were listed under their married names, hence Evonne Goolagong, after she married a Mr Crawley, being 'Mrs R. Crawley.' In 2009, the titles 'Miss' and 'Mrs' were removed from the scoreboards, and the female players referred to simply by their surname, as the men always had been. Until 2003, players would have to curtsey or bow (one almost wishes this rule was still in place, in order to see how the more Woke of the young players would deal with the gender-binary choice) to the Royal Box when entering or leaving Centre Court; since then it's 'only' to the monarch or their spouse. Some of the players couldn't get enough of the previous set-up; Tim Henman snarked to the Performance People podcast: 'There was one element that I used to absolutely love and it doesn't exist anymore and I think it's a little bit of a shame, but my opponents really disliked it. When we walked onto Centre Court, you came through the door, you turn left, you then turn right to walk down the side of the court and when you got perpendicular to the service line, we turned around and bowed to the Royal Box. And the overseas players and players that hadn't really played much on Centre Court, they were petrified of getting that wrong, so they were completely distracted. They weren't worried about the match, they were like, 'I've got to get into Centre Court, I've got to bow correctly' – and so for me, I always felt like that was worth a break of serve because they were just terrified of getting that wrong. It was probably three love or four one in the first set – I definitely enjoyed that element.' Now the Box is stuck between two hard stools. When it was rigidly royal, it was fun for republicans like me to point and snigger at. If today's Box was full of people who'd performed acts of heroism or contributed consistently to the community – like the majority on the monarch's honours list – it would have merit. But, as it is, it's become just another holding-pen for assorted has-beens and hangers-on to be spotted by the paps. They look like they are there to be seen, not to watch. At the risk of being a forelock-tugger, that's why it's always so pleasant to see the Princess of Wales arrive at Wimbledon; not only is she an actual fan, but she seems so genuinely pleased and surprised by the crowds reaction to her – unlike the narcissistic numpties there to have their picture taken. As I said, I'm no fan of tennis and I'm not really fussed about how Wimbledon conducts itself. But the Royal Box in its current incarnation – even without the presence of Fergie and the blackamoor-brooch-wearer, Princess Michael – is a trashy eyesore which would be missed by no one.
