Cape Argus E-dition

Wimbledon looks ahead with main courts used as practice courts

DEBORAH CURTIS-SETCHELL deborahsetchell@me.com

IN AS much as the All England Lawn Tennis Club are nostalgically looking back in celebrating 100 years of Wimbledon, they appear equally keen to use the occasion to showcase their eagerness to move forward.

A new precedent has been set, in an effort to mitigate the number of injuries players suffer from falling on the grass, as they did in the early rounds of last year’s tournament, not least of all Serena Williams.

The two main courts have been allocated as practice courts for players “to play them in”, and Rafa Nadal had the honour of being the first player in history to step onto the Centre Court for a hit, rather than an official match.

British No 1, Emma Raducanu, was equally privileged to be given a practice bout with former Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza on Court No 1, on Friday.

However Raducanu cancelled, still nursing her “freak” injury acquired at Nottingham, when forced to retire in Round One a week ago.

This doesn’t bode well for Raducanu’s AELTC campaign, where she is due to play Alison Van Utyvanck tomorrow.

Fortunately for British tennis, two other British teenagers have received wild cards.

Both Jodie Burrage and Katie Boulter performed admirably at Eastbourne, Burrage beating fourth seed Paula Badosa and Boulter conquered former Australian Open semi-finalist Katerina Pliskova’s while serve volleying like demons and showing the killer instinct reminiscent of Raducanu.

Even more progressively, since 2021 a new seeding system has been introduced based on current world rankings, as opposed to the old surface-based system.

Interestingly, since 1927 no unseeded player has won the ladies’ singles, whereas two unseeded players have won the men’s singles – Boris Becker (now in jail for hiding financial assets) in 1985 and Goran Ivanisevic (now coaching defending champion Novak Djokovic).

SPORT

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2022-06-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-06-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

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