Welcome to the Wimbledon briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.
On day 11 of Wimbledon 2024, a women’s semifinal day for the ages, the challenge of being in control — and a dog in the Royal Box?
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A pair of women’s semifinals that made unlikely history
The women’s semifinals were still going on at after 7pm on Thursday, and the first of them, Jasmine Paolini against Donna Vekic, was the longest semifinal in Wimbledon history. It was the first time since 2004 that both had gone to three sets — which is a pretty extraordinary length of time for something that really shouldn’t be that unusual.
There are a few reasons for this. One is that there have been quite a few surprise semifinalists over the past few years, who appeared pretty overwhelmed by the time they got there. Elena Vesnina and Magdalena Rybarikova both won just two games in 2016 and 2017 against Serena Williams and Garbine Muguruza respectively; Lucie Safarova in 2014 and Kirsten Flipkens the year before had similar experiences. Williams herself is another big factor in all of this given she would routinely thump opponents in straight sets at this stage of the tournament.
The scoreboard tells the story (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Another is that players can freeze a little bit at this stage if they get to the semifinals on the back of runs that are physically or emotionally exhausting — and often, they can be both. Elina Svitolina last year is one such example — ditto home hope Johanna Konta in 2017.
All of which made Thursday’s two lengthy and exciting matches all the more welcome after a long period of underwhelming closing stages of Wimbledon on the women’s side.
Looking ahead to Sunday, another three-setter would make it two three-set semis and a three-set final for the first time in slightly longer. It was 2001 when Venus Williams beat Justine Henin in the final, and after some quick finals in recent years, most of the Centre Court crowd would sign up to that for Paolini vs Barbora Krejcikova, whatever the outcome.
Charlie Eccleshare
What does it mean to have a match on your racket?
Tennis is full of little bits of lingo and phrases that try to encapsulate the complicated dynamics that develop between two players on either side of a net.
One of those is “having a match on your racket.” Both players have rackets and both players are playing the match — so how can that match be on just one?
Well, today’s Wimbledon women’s semifinals were a pretty good example. Donna Vekic and Elena Rybakina both streaked away with the first set against Jasmine Paolini and Barbora Krejcikova respectively. They asserted their game style and played the match how they would like it to be played. This isn’t the same as when a player beats another player 6-0, 6-0 or similarly; that can happen because of form, injury, mood, good days and bad days, or, most often, when one player is just better than the other.
Vekic was unable to convert her chances against Paolini (Shi Tang/Getty Images)
“Having the match on your racket” tries to explain a slightly different phenomenon, when even in a closer match-up one of the two players is more able to decide its course — provided, that is, that they hold up their part of the bargain. Vekic broke Paolini’s serve twice in the third set and had two chances to have a three-game lead; Rybakina could have broken Krejcikova on three occasions at the start of the second in their match to have the same. None of this means they would have won, necessarily; they just had the chance to do so before their opponents did.
In both cases, it meant nothing. Krejcikova served an ace at 2-3, 40-30 and broke Rybakina the next game. Paolini broke back twice and forced Vekic to a tiebreak.
Tennis. What a sport.
James Hansen
The dog of the Royal Box?
Who is and who is not in the Royal Box on Centre Court is a daily topic of conversation at the All England Club.
Visitors this year have included Billie Jean King, Judy Murray, Sir Trevor Nunn, and Dustin Hoffman, who loosened his necktie and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt during the final match of his afternoon last week.
On Thursday, for the women’s semifinals, there was a dog: a beautiful, peaceful, golden retriever (we think).
It’s not often that four-legged animals visit the Royal Box. Some intrepid reporting revealed the dog to be a service animal belonging to the visually impaired partner of a government official. There wasn’t a peep out of the pooch, who appeared to sleep throughout the riveting first match between Jasmine Paolini and Donna Vekic, which was decided in a third-set tiebreak.
We believe the dog to be deserving of many treats.
GO DEEPER
Beckham, Guardiola and the Princess of Wales: Welcome to Wimbledon’s Royal Box
Matt Futterman
Shot of the day
From looking devastated and deflated at the end of the previous game, to saving match point in a Grand Slam semifinal with impeccable point construction.
Recommended reading
Wimbledon men’s draw 2024
Wimbledon women’s draw 2024
Tell us what you noticed on the 11th day…
(Top photo of Jasmine Paolini and Donna Vekic: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)
