Latest news with #ex-RafaelNadal
Daily Mirror
08-07-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Aryna Sabalenka interrupts Wimbledon interviewer after 'annoying' accusation
Aryna Sabalenka halted BBC interviewer Lee McKenzie after her win on Centre Court as the World No 1 was accused of calling her opponent Laura Siegemund "annoying" Aryna Sabalenka was quick to stop BBC interviewer Lee McKenzie in her tracks after she accused the World No 1 of labelling her opponent as "annoying" before the Belarusian explained her side of the story. The three-time Grand Slam winner came through an epic encounter to advance into the semi-finals at Wimbledon. After losing the first set to Laura Siegemund Sabalenka had to dig deep in what was an emotional display before winning 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. She's yet to make a Wimbledon final and had to fight against the World No 104 from Germany, who confessed she has an annoying style to play against. That quote was attributed to Sabalenka during her post-match interview on Centre Court as she quickly butted it to make sure she wasn't being false accused. She said: "No, no, no - I didn't say that. They asked the question saying that she says she has an annoying style. I didn't say that, just to make it clear." Sabalenka laughed as she detailed the story but wasn't laughing at stages on Tuesday afternoon. She said on her opponent's style: "It is a smart game. She is really making everyone work against her, you know you have to work for every point." READ MORE: Ex-Wimbledon finalist sacks coach and ex-Rafael Nadal ally after three months together Siegemund broke twice early on and took the first set. The two players continued to trade breaks of serve before the World No 1 eventually got the job done. On numerous occasions she vented her frustration at her team box and claimed they may as well have booked their tickets home when she was struggling. Sabalenka said: "That was a real test. I need some time to cool down and recover after this. She pushed me so much. After the first set I was looking at my box and thinking, 'book the tickets, we are about to leave this beautiful place'. She played an incredible tournament and match. I'm just super happy with the match and win. "The atmosphere was another level. Thank you guys for your support, you don't understand how much you helped me to stay in the game and enjoy playing in front of you all." Sabalenka was beaten in the recent French Open and hasn't yet claimed a Grand Slam this year. She recently took herself into London to let her hair down and admitted down time is vital for her headspace heading into the crunch matches. "It is about balance - hard work is hard work but also you have to do things you enjoy outside of the court and that has helped me enjoy these battles," she said.
Daily Mirror
08-07-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Wimbledon humiliation as major technology failure causes controversy again
Wimbledon bosses are likely to face more question over their electronic line calling technology with a "fault" incorrectly called during Taylor Fritz's quarter-final Wimbledon endured more electronic line call controversy on Tuesday as a point during the quarter-final featuring Taylor Fritz had to be replayed after the technology suffered a "malfunction". The American was taking on Karen Khachanov Court 1 when "fault" was mistakenly called during play early in the fourth set. The umpire was quick to get on the phone and later told the crowd the point had to be replayed due to a glitch in the system. She said: "Ladies and gentleman we will replay the last point because of a malfunction. The system is now working." The All England Club also said in a statement: "The player's service motion began while the BBG was still crossing the net and therefore the system didn't recognise the start of the point. As such the Chair Umpire instructed the point be replayed." Fritz was able to book his semi-final spot in four sets, but Wimbledon's electronic line calls were again under the microscope after the huge blunder at the weekend, which saw the system on Centre Court being turned off by mistake and missed three calls during Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova's match with Britain's Sonay Kartal. The decision was made after last year's tournament to rid of line judges and go down the technology route, which has proved divisive, and the organisers have had a number of teething problems. READ MORE: Ex-Wimbledon finalist sacks coach and ex-Rafael Nadal ally after three months together The All England Club said after the error in the Pavlyunchenkova-Kartal match that they "continue to have full confidence in the accuracy of the ball-tracking technology". Wimbledon bosses claimed they had made changes and were strong in their wording as they said in a statement to the BBC: "Following our review, we have now removed the ability for Hawk-Eye operators to manually deactivate the ball tracking. While the source of the issue was human error, this error cannot now be repeated due to the system changes we have made." Whilst Fritz did not suffer from the same issue - another type of glitch with the technology has now emerged which will raise yet more questions as players and organisers do not appear totally aligned. Tim Henman, who is a senior figure at the All England Club, claimed that accusations of accuracy from Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper's were "utter garbage" and the system was "100 percent accurate". Last week Draper claimed: 'I don't think it's 100% accurate'. Raducanu was asked if she trusted the electronic line calls and said: "No, I don't - I think the other players would say the same thing, there were some pretty dodgy ones but what can you do?" Swiss player Bencic said she was usually a fan of electronic line calling but that at Wimbledon "it's not correct". She added: "We players talk about it and I think most of us have the same opinion."
