10 h. ago Anisimova endures a hot Wimbledon nightmare after entering the Swiatek bakery | Jonathan Liew

American’s double bagel defeat was a meltdown that nobody saw coming but she can come back from heartbreakThis is what a scream with no vowels sounds like. This is the weight of the soul leaving the body. The arms are no longer connected to the legs, the legs have been severed from the lungs, the lungs have lost contact with the heart and the heart is getting ghosted by the brain. Amanda Anisimova sits on her chair, baking in the heat, stewing in sadness. She dabs her face with a towel and hopes people won’t notice she’s wiping away tears.A faint voice from the outer edge of the universe calls time. She still has to go out there. She takes a deep breath. Lifts herself from her seat and takes the 18 long steps to her mark just behind the baseline. Ever found it a struggle getting up to go to work? Try summoning the strength to face Iga Swiatek when you’re losing 6-0, 5-0 in a Wimbledon final. Continue reading...

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32 h. ago No one ever got rich writing off Novak Djokovic, but even he can’t stretch time for ever | Jonathan Liew

We can’t tell how much is left for tennis’s ultimate champion, but semi-final defeat by Sinner could be the moment Project 25 was buried for goodThe Moment comes at the start of the third set. Nobody in tennis can spot a Moment like Novak Djokovic. The Moment is where he lives, breathes, puts gluten-free food on his family’s table. What happened before was irrelevant. You can rattle and bully him. You can pummel him off Centre Court for an hour, as Jannik Sinner has done. Djokovic will still prowl the chain-link fence all evening, probing it, waiting for the one gap wide enough to let him squeeze through. The point of greatest weakness is where he finds his greatest strength.Sinner’s at 30-30 on his own serve. A defensive backhand from Djokovic sits up invitingly in mid-court, pleading to be dispatched. The world No 1, utterly impeccable to this point, swings a giant fist at the ball and somehow sends it flying in the vague direction of Tooting Broadway. The crowd yelps in shock. Ne...

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38 h. ago Anisimova’s resurgence adds extra layer of mystique to Swiatek final

After taking converging paths following teenage breakthroughs, the two stars realign in SW19 showpieceOn a quiet outside clay court at the Hungarian national tennis centre in Budapest nine years ago a pair of outstanding 15-year-olds tussled in front of a few dozen spectators. Although the duel offered glimpses into the potential from both sides of the net, Iga Swiatek defeated Amanda Anisimova 6-4, 6-2 en route to Poland’s triumph over the US in the Junior Fed Cup.Even though Anisimova endured a difficult afternoon, memories of those days immediately drew a smile to her face. “I used to enjoy those Fed Cup trips a lot,” she says. “We had a lot of fun. Continue reading...

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5 d. ago Playing loose with virtue wins no hearts, and Arsenal should know better | Jonathan LIew

There were plenty of legally unproblematic options available to the club before their former midfielder was charged with rape “We are courageous in the pursuit of progress.” “We champion our community and each other.” Continue reading...

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5 d. ago Playing loose with virtue leaves questions for Arsenal to answer over Thomas Partey | Jonathan Liew

There were plenty of legally unproblematic options available to the club before their former midfielder was charged with rape “We are courageous in the pursuit of progress.” “We champion our community and each other.” Continue reading...

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5 d. ago Tension and tedium: welcome to the Wimbledon press conference room | Jonathan Liew

Anyone can ask any question of the players, leading to absurd inquiries, but it can sometimes serve a useful purposeTo spend even a little time at Wimbledon is to drown in the sheer scale of things. This is a place of mind-boggling numbers: the 40 miles of racket string, the 55,000 balls, the 300,000 glasses of Pimm’s, the 2.5m strawberries. But Wimbledon’s true staple good is none of these. The most abundant product every Wimbledon fortnight is the word. And even on a rain-affected, slow news day, the words must keep coming.As with everything else, Wimbledon procures its words with a suitable reverence. Post-match interviews, in contrast to the more informal on-court setup at Melbourne and New York, are conducted at a respectful distance in front of a microphone stand, as if Jannik Sinner were actually a high-school student about to spell a very difficult word. But of course the majority of Wimbledon’s bluff and bluster takes place in a small windowless upstairs chamber that most t...

Events

7 d. ago Wimbledon 2025: Meet the hot young tennis couples finding love within their sport

Tennis players love to date each other. Here, we run you through three of the sport’s hottest couples

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8 d. ago Raducanu justifies primetime billing even as Sabalenka’s superpower wins out | Jonathan Liew

Britain’s No 1 was outpointed when her opponent raised her game but showed why she merits the hype and spotlight that surrounds herIt’s a little after 8pm by the time the first ball is tossed. Karen Khachanov has just beaten Nuno Borges on No 3 Court and so even before it has started Emma Raducanu v Aryna Sabalenka is the last game on anywhere at Wimbledon: a standalone attraction, the roof not so much closed as hermetically sealed. We are locked in, under these hot lights, until nightfall.And of course this is not simply a third-round game. At the behest of the broadcasters this is also a primetime television product, an item of light entertainment. Raducanu isn’t just battling the world No 1 here, she’s up against Gardeners’ World on BBC Two. The hill is packed. Brian Cox and Mary Berry in the Royal Box are transfixed. And to think Roland Garros would probably have put this match on in mid-morning. Continue reading...

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9 d. ago Bear Grylls' son serves up to 5,000 hot dogs a day at Wimbledon

British adventurer Bear Grylls beamed with pride while explaining what his sons were up to at Wimbledon

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1 week ago Carlos Alcaraz shakes off Tarvet from his back without inhibitions or regrets | Jonathan Liew

Defending champion is essentially a magic-eye puzzle you can read any way you want but has the inconsistency all but one of his rivals would dream ofThere were negatives, of course. Shall we focus on the negatives? Shall we dwell on the frailties a little? The uncharacteristic errors, the double faults, an occasional scruffiness at the net, the frequent slumps in intensity? Shall we marvel at the fact that the lowest-ranked player in the tournament earned more break points (11) than one of the greatest players of his generation (10)? Shall we warn, in a tone of affected sternness, that the defending champion will have to raise his game on this evidence?Of course we shall, because this is Carlos Alcaraz, and because there is an entire cottage industry built around maintaining the idea that Alcaraz is in a state of crisis at all times, a state of crisis so acute that it is necessary to feign round-the-clock concern for him. We just want to see all that rich talent fulfilled. That’s al...

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1 week ago Wimbledon grass hack makes water 'wetter' and keeps courts green at SW19

The summer heat has led to an extremely hot opening few days at Wimbledon and stars have been worried about drying out courts - but they needn't worry according to the All England Club's Head of Horticulture

Events

1 week ago Emma Raducanu hopes a new approach and hot yoga can help her to Wimbledon wins

Niki Cottrell talks training schedules, recovery and finding balance with the Tennis star at Wimbledon

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1 week ago What is too hot for tennis? Wimbledon's break rule explained

Air temperature on the grounds on the first day at Wimbledon reached 32.3C

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1 week ago Wimbledon 2025: Thousands of tennis fans swelter in queue as hottest

London is expected to be hotter than Barbados and Jamaica as thousands of tennis fans descend on SW19 for the start of Wimbledon

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1 week ago Wimbledon 2025: Heat forces tennis fans to leave queue as temperatures to hit 34C on hottest

London is expected to be hotter than Barbados and Jamaica as thousands of tennis fans descend on SW19 for the start of Wimbledon

Events

1 week ago Wimbledon 2025: Tennis fans queue through night as temperatures to hit 34C on hottest

London is expected to be hotter than Barbados and Jamaica as thousands of tennis fans descend on SW19 for the start of Wimbledon

Events

2 w. ago Delap is Chelsea’s shiny new toy but uncut gem Jackson offers rare point of difference | Jonathan Liew

While battle lines are drawn between the two strikers with very different journeys to the top, there is a way both can thrive“They are quite similar,” Enzo Maresca said last week of Liam Delap and Nicolas Jackson, but of course nobody wanted to take any notice of that bit. Already battle lines are being drawn, positions entrenched. Delap or Jackson. Jackson or Delap. One must survive. One must go reluctantly on loan to Serie A. Those are just the rules.On these terms alone, it’s been a very good week for Delap. Against Flamengo in the Club World Cup on Friday, he was preferred up front, and played with bristling, controlled aggression for more than an hour before making way for Jackson. He then watched as his replacement lost possession with his first touch, went studs‑up with his second, was sent off and scapegoated for Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat, and later issued a grovelling apology on social media for his actions. Continue reading...

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