logo
Wimbledon star wears black ribbon in poignant tribute to Diogo Jota as SW19 chiefs relax strict dress code

Wimbledon star wears black ribbon in poignant tribute to Diogo Jota as SW19 chiefs relax strict dress code

The Suna day ago
PORTUGUESE Wimbledon star Francisco Cabral wore a black ribbon in memory of Diogo Jota.
The Liverpool forward, 28, sadly passed away in a car crash in the early hours of yesterday morning.
5
5
5
Cabral, who partners Austrian Lucas Miedler, took to the court today for his second-round doubles clash against Petr Nouza and Patrik Rikl.
He was seen wearing a commemorative black ribbon on the sleeve of his shirt to mark Jota's death.
Cabral and Miedler saw off Jamie Murray and Rajeev Ram on the day of the footballer's passing.
In an emotional post-match interview, Cabral said: "I didn't know him personally. But I know a friend who knew him. A great guy.
'Obviously, very, very sad news. Not only in the sports world but in Portugal overall.
'He's such an idol. Such an icon. Such a good person. I am very sad to hear what happened.
'I got the news when I was driving to Wimbledon. I wish all the best for his family.
"He had great people around him. I hope they can get through it.
5
Wimbledon 2025 LIVE - follow all the latest scores and updates from a thrilling fortnight at SW19
'He was really hard working, what he had come through, what he had conquered in his career and life. Very inspiring for me.
'He plays in the national team. One of the best teams in the world. I followed the games and when he scored, I was happy for him.
'In the back of my head while I was playing, I was sad as everyone is in Portugal. I had to play the game. I had to focus on my game. I'm sad, of course.'
Cabral added that he was hoping someone could arrange a "black strip" for him to wear today.
The Porto-born star said it would make him "very, very happy to do it".
Wimbledon chiefs gave players permission to wear black armbands in tribute to the footballer.
That is despite the tournament's strict all-white dress code.
Jota passed away alongside his brother Andre Silva, 25, when the tyre on their Lamborghini suddenly burst in northern Spain.
They were on their way to catch a ferry back to the UK as the Premier League winner could not fly due to recently undergoing lung surgery.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Novak Djokovic joins Roger Federer in exclusive Wimbledon men's club
Novak Djokovic joins Roger Federer in exclusive Wimbledon men's club

South Wales Guardian

time12 minutes ago

  • South Wales Guardian

Novak Djokovic joins Roger Federer in exclusive Wimbledon men's club

The 38-year-old eased past fellow Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 6-3 6-0 6-4 on Centre Court. Djokovic is now just five wins behind Wimbledon's only other male centurion, his great rival Roger Federer on 105 match victories. Milestone met. The journey continues… Novak Djokovic has become just the 3rd player to record 100 match-wins at Wimbledon, after 9-time champion Martina Navratilova and 8-time champion Roger Federer 🌱#Wimbledon — Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 5, 2025 'Very historic, it sounds very nice,' he said. 'Tennis made me who I am, it has given me incredible things in life so I try not to take anything for granted, especially at my age and trying to compete with the younger players. 'Wimbledon is a favourite tournament, not just for myself but for most players. Any history I make at my favourite tournament, I'm blessed.' Apart from being broken when he served for the match, it was a pretty routine display for the seven-time champion, although one spectacular diving backhand volleyed winner after a lung-busting rally will make the highlights reel. That shot thrilled the Saturday SW19 crowd and a host of sports glitterati in the Royal Box including Sir Geoff Hurst, Sir Steve Redgrave and Lord Botham. The Centre Court punters could be forgiven for feeling a little short-changed, however, after three one-sided contests. Certainly the 11pm curfew was never in danger after Jannik Sinner dropped just five games against Pedro Martinez and Iga Swiatek beat Danielle Collins in straight sets, before Djokovic disposed of his 25-year-old countryman in an hour and 47 minutes. Djokovic, bidding for a record 25th grand slam title, will face Australian 11th seed Alex De Minaur in his 17th appearance in the last 16 at Wimbledon.

Iga Swiatek's Wimbledon run fuelled by strawberries mixed with pasta
Iga Swiatek's Wimbledon run fuelled by strawberries mixed with pasta

South Wales Guardian

time12 minutes ago

  • South Wales Guardian

Iga Swiatek's Wimbledon run fuelled by strawberries mixed with pasta

The Pole's less-than-stellar record on grass and a disappointing year thus far meant she arrived at the All England Club as something of an also ran. But being under the radar is suiting the former world number one just fine, and she progressed to the last 16 with a 6-2 6-3 victory against fiery American Danielle Collins. Pasta with strawberries 🍓@iga_swiatek's favourite meal is an interesting one 😂#Wimbledon — Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 5, 2025 Afterwards, Swiatek revealed her diet this fortnight has included strawberries and pasta, a childhood favourite in Poland. The 24-year-old was perplexed by the attention given to her culinary choices, saying: 'Why is it such a big thing? Everybody should eat that. I think in summer kids are eating it a lot. It's just a perfect mix of tastes. We have great strawberries in Poland, as well. 'My dad adds the cream. And some sugar. I try to eat with yoghurt to at least pretend that it's a good meal.' Asked which country's strawberries were better, Swiatek admitted her answer might get her in trouble. 'I think Poland,' she said. 'Because we have a better climate for strawberries, right? Now Wimbledon is probably going to ban me from answering these questions. The strawberries are great here, as well. They are different. But they are great.' Swiatek is a former junior champion but she has often cut an uncomfortable figure at Wimbledon, weighed down by the pressure of expectation on a surface that is not natural to her. But this year the Pole is only seeded eighth, while she found her feet on grass by reaching the final of the warm-up event in Bad Homburg last weekend. She never looked in the slightest trouble against Collins, who has beaten her twice in the past, including on her favoured clay this year in Rome. There is little love lost between them, with Collins, who reversed a decision to retire at the end of last season and start a family because of fertility issues, criticising Swiatek for 'fakeness' in her reaction after pulling out injured during their clash at the Olympics last summer. Collins is renowned for her feisty attitude on court and earned headlines around the world at the Australian Open in January when, after beating home hope Destanee Aiava in a hostile atmosphere, she blew kisses to the crowd and slapped her bottom. 'Every person that's bought a ticket to come out here and heckle me or do what they do, it's all going towards the Danielle Collins Fund,' she said. 'Me and my group of girlfriends love a five-star vacation.' A mid-afternoon Centre Court crowd in SW19 is about as big a contrast as it is possible to get, and Collins simply did not play well enough to apply any psychological pressure to Swiatek. 'I was just in the zone. I knew how I wanted to play and I knew I needed to be brave,' said the five-time grand slam champion, who was particularly effective on serve. 'You can't let Danielle play her winners. I'm really happy with the performance, it was a good match. It's much more fun this year. I had some practices where the ball was listening to me, which was pretty new on grass.' This is only the third time Swiatek has reached the fourth round at Wimbledon, with her best run so far a quarter-final appearance two years ago. She faces a dangerous opponent next in 23rd seed Clara Tauson, who defeated former champion Elena Rybakina, but, with so many big names already out of the tournament, Swiatek appears to have a good chance of going all the way.

Poignant scenes at Diogo Jota's funeral cut through traditional football tribalism
Poignant scenes at Diogo Jota's funeral cut through traditional football tribalism

Telegraph

time16 minutes ago

  • Telegraph

Poignant scenes at Diogo Jota's funeral cut through traditional football tribalism

Sunglasses concealing his tears, Virgil van Dijk carried a wreath of flowers artfully sculpted into a replica of Diogo Jota's Liverpool '20' shirt, a jersey so freighted with pain that it would never be worn again. Beside him Andy Robertson offered an identical tribute marked '30', the squad number that Jota's brother, Andre Silva, made his own at Portugal's FC Penafiel. The juxtaposition, reflecting the close fraternal bond that endured until the night they died together on a remote Spanish highway, felt almost unbearably poignant. 'Força!' cried one woman outside the little Baroque church in Gondomar, seeking to give the players strength on a day when they looked ready to dissolve. The desolation that assailed Van Dijk was acute. Captaincy of Liverpool confers many heavy responsibilities, but none so sorrowful as attending the funeral of a team-mate five years your junior. Twenty-eight years old: it is no time to die. Silva, who like Jota began playing at their hometown club within walking distance of the church, was just 25. The magnitude of the tragedy was such that even Manuel Linda, the bishop of Porto, acknowledged as he addressed the brothers' mother, Isabel, that no words of consolation were adequate. Faith is supposed to offer a blessed sanctuary at times like these. But Jurgen Klopp, a devout Christian and the man who brought Jota to Anfield, has expressed the prevailing sense of numbness, reflecting: 'There must be a higher purpose – but I can't see it.' These agonies were expressed most starkly by the sight of those left behind. Just two weeks earlier, Rute Cardoso had been at church in Porto to marry Jota, her childhood sweetheart, in a ceremony watched by the couple's three children, all under the age of five. On Saturday she was his widow, trailing behind his coffin, rosary beads hanging from her wrist and a photograph of the man she had lost clutched tightly in her hand. 'My dream came true,' she had written, excitedly posting a few pictures of her wedding dress. Just two days later, that dream would be destroyed in the most violent fashion on a dark road in remote northwestern Spain, where the car containing Jota and Silva veered out of control from a tyre blow-out before exploding in flames. It was the cruellest reminder of the ephemeral nature of hope, of the arbitrariness with which an entire family could be shattered. Visibly traumatised, Jota's peers travelled across the oceans to converge in solidarity. Ruben Neves, his closest friend in football, had been playing for Al-Hilal in a Club World Cup quarter-final in Orlando 13 hours earlier. But no sooner were his team eliminated by Fluminese than he and Joao Cancelo scrambled 4,000 miles east as Neves assumed his duties as pallbearer, the only non-family member to be given such a role. Bruno Fernandes, the Manchester United captain, was also present, alongside Manchester City's Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias, exemplifying the connections they had built across club lines with the Portuguese national team. The shattering impact of Jota and Silva's deaths so young has cut through the typical parameters of football tribalism. Even Oasis, a band so synonymous with City that they performed the opening concert of their reunion tour in Cardiff with a cardboard cut-out of Pep Guardiola on stage, felt compelled to honour Jota, beaming an image of his Liverpool strip on the giant screens over the closing strains of Live Forever. The tribute was wordless, but still genuinely affecting. For at a moment of shock so inexplicable, the best response is not rationalisation but simple respect. As Jose Mourinho put it: 'Three kids without a dad, a young woman without her husband, parents losing both sons? It's difficult to understand. Maybe one day we will, but not now.' A plangent Ave Maria, often chosen for Catholic funeral masses, hung in the air as the guests filed out of church into the mid-morning sunshine. It would be sure, in any circumstances, to make even the most stoic observers cry. But this time the significance of the musical choice was almost too much to absorb: it had, after all, been performed for Jota and his wife at their wedding a fortnight before. This time the same ensemble, from the Our Lady of the Lapa church, were back to recite it as he lay in a wooden casket. It was little wonder the Liverpool players in the congregation looked so bereft. One moment, they had been waiting to welcome him back for pre-season training. The next, they were assembling for his last goodbye.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store