05/07/2025

SPORTS SATURDAY | JULY 5, 2025

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Swiatek fights back to down McNally

Cilic takes Agassi’s route back to winning ways CATCHING a millionaire Grand Slam champion in action on the second-tier Challenger Circuit is a rare sight, especially since cheering fans and creature comforts are in short supply when compared to the glitz and glamour of the main ATP Tour events. Yet this is the world that Marin Cilic, who has amassed a fortune of almost US$32 million (RM135m) in prize money alone, has been circulating in for most of this year after his ranking nosedived to outside the Top 1000 following knee surgery in 2023. With his ranking, which stood at 1092 last August, no longer high enough to gain entry into the ATP events, the Croatian opted to get back to basics at the Challenger level in order to obtain some much-needed match practice. It was a strategy that worked wonders for Andre Agassi way back in 1998 when he found himself in a tennis rut – and within a year the American had won two Grand Slam titles. But whereas Agassi was aged 28 at the time, with years of tennis still left in him, Cilic decided to go down the rough road to tennis redemption in his mid 30s. Yesterday, all the pain and strain he endured to get back to top-level tennis paid off when he marked his Wimbledon comeback with a 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 win over British fourth seed Jack Draper in the second round. “Considering everything that happened in last two, three years. If even I look at situation where I was, how my knee was in February ‘23, lots of rehab, lots of unknowns. “Even coming back, the knee wasn’t good. What to do then? New surgery?” the 2014 US Open champion explained after returning to the All England Club for the first time since 2021. “Then all the time there was this spark of desire and feeling that my level is still there. Let me give myself another opportunity. “Last several weeks I’ve been playing really well. These kind of matches, they challenge you to perform better because the opponent on the other side of the net is going to challenge you with his own game. But I’m aware that my level is very high. Can I go further? I feel I can.” Draper summed up what it felt to be on the receiving end of an in-form Cilic. “I don’t play many people on the tour that I feel like they completely bully me and take the racquet out of my hand,” said the British No. 1. – Reuters

IGA SWIATEK may not love the grass but relishes a battle whatever the surface and showed all that fight and bullish determination as she recovered to beat American Caty McNally 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 and reach the Wimbledon third round yesterday. McNally, the world No. 208, looked poised to cause an upset when she clawed her way back from 4-1 down to take the first set against the five-times Grand Slam champion. At that point Swiatek’s mediocre record at the All England Club, where the Pole has never gone past the quarterfinals, seemed to be weighing heavily on her shoulders. But rather than shy away from the scrap, the former world No. 1 flicked a psychological switch that saw her come out for the second set

to reach the third round in 22 consecutive women’s singles Grand Slams after Amelie Mauresmo and Serena Williams. Whether such milestones are enough to persuade Swiatek she can excel on a surface that has so far proven difficult to master is yet to be determined. As well as earning her spot in the next round, the match against her old playing partner offered a pleasing trip down memory lane. “It’s pretty funny because I remember these matches pretty well,” she said of her junior days. “We know each other pretty well… She’s one of the people who make you feel like you are not only rivals on tour but that you can also respect each other and like each other.” – Reuters

transformed, upping her aggression and playing with a ferocity McNally simply could not handle. She broke early in the second set and never looked back, losing only three more games to set up a clash with another American Danielle Collins. “I started the match well so I knew that my game was there” said Swiatek. “I knew that at the start of the second set I had to be more accurate. “I just tried to improve and I’m happy it worked.” The eighth seed may have her sights set far higher than the third round, but by reaching the last 32 she underlined her consistency on the big stage. The 23-year-old is the third player this century

Flawless Djokovic Djokovic Serb sweeps Evans aside to lay down title marker S OMETIMES Novak Djokovic doesn’t need a miracle to win at Wimbledon. There’s enough inspiration, divine or otherwise, playing quite a long time! “I still enjoy it. This court has given me so much. Wimbledon has a special place in my heart. Any history made here is obviously extra special.”

Novak Djokovic plays a forehand return to

from his racket to easily swat away those who have the misfortune to cross his path. That was the situation Dan Evans found himself in on Centre Court as he watched the winners, all 46 of them, fly past him. Fresh off a confidence-boosting straight-sets win over fellow Brit Jay Clarke in round one, Evans simply couldn’t compete in a 6-3, 6-2, 6-0 defeat that took just one hour and 47 minutes. 48 hours after Djokovic’s four-set victory over Alexandre Muller that was harder than he would have liked it to be, even requiring some “miracle pills” to get through a stomach issue, this was exactly what the doctor ordered – no tablets required. If the 38-year-old’s body is more fragile and unreliable than it used to be, then saving as many bullets as possible for the potential Draper, Sinner and Alcaraz-shaped tests to come is a useful strategy in the quest for that record-breaking 25th grand slam. What’s also a useful strategy is playing almost flawless tennis. He gave the impression of a man easily shifting through the gears for the challenges ahead, with consistently sublime shot making while exuding calm control. “I knew exactly what I needed to do and I executed it perfectly,” admitted a quietly content Djokovic in his post match interview. “Sometimes you have these kinds of days where everything goes your way.” When told he had just secured his 99th Wimbledon match victory, Djokovic said: “It means I’ve been

Djokovic is dreaming of putting an exclamation point on his incredible career by becoming the most successful singles player in tennis history. The 38-year-old has been tied with Margaret Court on 24 Grand Slam titles since winning his most recent major prize at the 2023 US Open. And despite losing the last two Wimbledon finals against Carlos Alcaraz, Djokovic believes the lawns of south-west London provide his best chance to win that elusive 25th major. “I’m aware of the history on the line. I’m thinking about the big things I can do in this tournament,” he said. “I don’t reflect on it for now. I think that will come when I sip a margarita on the beach with (Roger) Federer and (Rafael) Nadal!” Dismantled by Djokovic on Centre Court, Britain’s Evans found solace in what could be his final bow on tennis’s most famous stage. “When you’re 35, you’ve got more perspective than when you’re 21,” he said. “I wanted to win the match. I believed I could win the match. I felt confident going into the match. It’s just such a hard task at hand, and that’s it. “I’m not going to say I enjoyed it or didn’t enjoy it. I understand the occasion and what a moment it was for myself to go out there and experience everything today. “I felt like I was always on the back foot,” he said. “I’d say, if I had to sum it up, it felt the tennis balls were back in my pocket very quickly and never stayed in there a long time.” – AFP/Reuters/The Independent

Daniel Evans during their men’s singles match. – AFPPIC

Walk in the park for world No. 1 Sinner

JANNIK SINNER swept into the third round of Wimbledon yesterday as the world No. 1 thrashed Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic 6-1, 6-1, 6-3. While several of Wimbledon’s top stars have suffered shock exits, including third seed Alexander Zverev and world No. 4 Jack Draper, there has been no hint of an upset in Sinner’s opening two matches. The 23-year-old has dropped just 12 games in demolishing Vukic and Luca Nardi to make the last 32 at the All England Club. Sinner’s biggest struggle came in the final

four previous visits. But the Italian is back in the groove and is on course for a blockbuster clash with world number two Alcaraz in the final on July 13. The reigning US Open and Australian Open champion next faces another Spaniard Pedro Martinez today. “Every opponent is very difficult, third round matches in Grand Slams are something special,” said Sinner. “As we saw, there have been many upsets this tournament, so we try to stay focused and raise our level.” – AFP

my racquet which somehow made it to put the ball in court. I’m very happy to win in straight sets.” After blowing a two-set lead and three match-points in his agonising French Open final defeat on clay against Carlos Alcaraz in June, Sinner is on a mission to make amends on grass in London. The three-time Grand Slam champion has never been past the Wimbledon semifinals in

game as he had to wait until his sixth match point to serve it out and saved a break point with a sensational cross-court forehand winner. “I enjoyed it because I won the game! If not, I don’t know,” said Sinner after an unusual show of flamboyance as he whipped up the crowd’s adulation on saving the break point. “The match can change very, very quickly. If he breaks me there it can go long distance. “I was lucky with that shot so thank you to