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There’ve been some interesting choices made as regards which matches are on Centre today. Usually, the decision looks an obvious one, but today, I might well have picked the two which are on No 1: Swiatek has won five majors and faces a seed, whereas Andreeva has won none and does not; Sinner is the top seed and Shelton is 10th, having reached previously semis in Melbourne and New York, whereas Djokovic hasn’t won a slam since 2023 and Cobolli has never reached this stage of one. Happily, it’s a win-win situation, and we get to enjoy all four.
Badabing! Patten plays a return-game from the gods, he and Heliovaara break to win the second set 6-4, and when Cash departs to take a medical timeout, Patten wonders of the umpire whether that’s allowed as regards a pre-existing injury. The sense in comms is that once, that wasn’t permitted, but now it is – though it’s also worth noting that, though Cash has been treated for similar knack through the tournament, he did roll his ankle earlier in the match.
Word to the wise: currently on No 2 Court, we’ve got a seriously high-level men’s doubles quarter between Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara, the defending champions, and Julian Cash and Lloyd Glaspool, their respective former partners; Cash and Glaspool lead 6-4 4-5.
Preamble
Wotcha one and all and welcome to Wimbledon 2025 – day 10!
If the joy of week one is brilliant matches everywhere, all the time, tickling the part of our brain that enjoys chaos, variety and surprise, week two is all about satisfying our yen for focused immersion, specific matches at specific times that we can be certain are consequential. Week one for having fun, week two for getting it done.
Today’s selection offers us a bit of everything. We open on No 1 Court, where Iga Swiatek, on the way back following a miserable year, takes on Liudmila Samsonova, no one’s idea of a quarter-finalist two weeks ago.
In theory, Swiatek should already be a force on grass, given her eminence on clay, tennis’ other moving surface, and two majors won on hards, the surface most similar to Wimbledon’s grass. She’s comfortable with a low bounce, moves beautifully, and competes with such intensity you worry she’ll do herself a mischief. Watching seeds fall while others struggle will have convinced her that this is her time.
However even if she wins today – and that’s no gimme, given an opponent playing as well as she ever has – lurking in her half of the draw is Mirra Andreeva, at 19 somehow both fully-formed and still improving. She takes on Belinda Bencic in our opening match on Centre and, for the first time, her belief that she can lift this title, this year, is as palpable as her her certainty that she’ll get to it at some point.
Meantime, in the men’s competition, Jannik Sinner returns after his narrow escape against Griggzy Dimitrov. It’s not that he was two sets down when fortune intervened on his behalf, rather there was no sense he was likely to come back – the match was being taken from him and he looked powerless to respond.
The question now, then, is whether his brush with unexpected fallibility affects his confidence, or sends him in into the last eight with the lightness of a man reprieved. Ben Shelton, though, could care less* either way. He’s growing into the tournament beautifully, his creativity, unpredictability and competitive charisma the inverse of Sinner’s dependable, mechanical clean lines – the battle is classic lefty v righty and, for the first time, he looks ready for it.
Finally, the fantastic Flavio Cobolli takes on Novak Djokovic. If Djokovic plays as he did against Dan Evans and Miomir Kecmanovic, it’s hard to see Cobolli beating him because it’s hard to see anyone beating him, but if he produces the form we saw in his last match, against Alex de Minaur, he is vulnerable.
And make no mistake, Cobolli has what it takes to take advantage, absurdly quick, powerful enough, and absolutely loads of fun; he doesn’t yet know he can win, but we can be sure he’s not expecting to lose. This is going to be great.
Play: 1am BST No1 Court, 1.30pm BST Centre Court.
*couldn’t care less
English (US)