British tennis cries the fall of its current symbol at home. And Jack Draper, the boy called to collect, has a hard time articulating a word because nobody expected him. Of course, not himself. The 23 -year -old, cannot with a veteran who has foot and three quarters of the other already stepping on the happy retirement, Marin Cilic, who at 36, continues to give himself to his sport despite having had to pass several times through the operating room to repair his knee. The Croatian, finalist in 2017, then defeated by Roger Federer, stars the great bell of the fourth day in Wimbledon, where he does not rain but a tremendous jug of cold water falls on the local fans.
“It is one of the hardest defeats I have suffered. He has played an incredible game, but I am very disappointed. It has not been a matter of pressure, but simply today I have not played well enough. What should I improve? In grass, everything,” says English, surpassed by 6-4, 6-3, 1-6 and 6-4. The local public El Batacazo digests, since he trusted the progression of his player and that, now, he was able to go far in the Green Temple. It won’t be so. As a year ago, Draper, fourth in the world, yields on the second scale and fails to consolidate the leap he had hinted during spring, when he triumphed in Indian Wells and wore on the earth tour.
However, in front of the Norwegian Casper Ruud, his game has been losing bellows and now theirs fear staying too soon without representatives. Cameron Norrie, Emma Raducanu and Sonay Kartal resist, although none looks like a reliable letter. In the blink of an eye, Draper is out and the tournament continues to lose referents. A total of 36 of the 64 series heads that had begun the competition between the two paintings will not play the third round; 19 of them in the masculine and 17 in the female. Spanish tennis, however, smiles: for the first time since 2013, six assets appear in that station.
To the advances on Wednesday of Carlos Alcaraz and Cristina Bucsa, those of Alejandro Davidovich (6-1, 4-6, 6-3 and 7-6 (5) are added to Botic Van de Zandschulp), Jaume Munar (6-2, 6-3 and 7-6 (8) to Fabian Marozsan), Pedro Martínez (7-5, 7-5 and 7-6 (6) to Mariano Navone) (6-1 and 7-6 (4) to Sofia Kenin). The latter, 22, repeats the escalation of last year, when he showed his letter of introduction, and will face Dayana Yastremska on Saturday. They also match their best record in London Malaga Davidovich and Valencian Martínez, who will be measured respectively with Taylor Fritz (Friday) and number one, Jannik Sinner (6-1, 6-1 and 6-3 to Aleksandar Vukic).
Munar, on the other hand, savors his best English tour, although already thinking about something else. The barrier of the 50 best is on his career for the first time, but he does not conform. From a time here, he is another player. “It’s fine, but now you have to go for the following,” he says. And that is Cilic. “I believe more and more in me,” he says to special envoys, specifying that for less than a year he works with the psychologist Lorena Cos; “I have won a little more maturity and trust in specific moments, and in the end that shows.” Now, he hopes to erase the bad memory he has of his first appearance in the central, in 2019.
There parades with good step Novak Djokovic, superior to Daniel Evans (6-3, 6-2 and 6-0) and present for the 19th time in the third round. More than Roger Federer. “That means that I have played here a long time … it is a very good statistic; almost the age of Sinner and Alcaraz …”, jokes the champion of 24 greats, who will meet his compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic, while the mood tank is recharged. That nobody discarded it, comes to say. “If I play as I have done today, I feel that I have many possibilities against anyone. I feel great physically, mentally very clear,” says Belgrade, which with the latter pissing (6-0) Equal the Andre Agassi brand in the majors.
