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So, we finally made it. After a maddening week of wet weather and some rare Sunday fare, Wimbledon is back on its traditional track, having won its game of catch-up and being now ready to embrace one of the most captivating days of the sporting calendar.
Manic Monday, Magic Monday or even the 10th Murray Monday, depending on your preference, this is the day when all 16 fourth round singles matches are played and, wherever you turn, there are matches to luxuriate in.
Of particular note, as we welcome our many pilgrims from the United States on this Independence Day, is that half-a-dozen American players will be featuring in the last 16 draws, headed by Serena and Venus Williams, who can boast 11 singles titles between them.
As Madison Keys, the young No.9 seed who plays Romania’s No.5 seed Simona Halep on No.1 Court in one of the most exciting ties of the day, smiled when asked about the current state of US tennis after years of supposed under-achievement: “Well, it’s not dead…”
Ladies’ champion Serena Williams must beware a thorn on the fourth of July, though. Not many players can boast they’ve beaten her three times, but two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova can and the Russian shouldn’t be fazed by the champ’s aura on Centre Court, her enduring quality having been evidenced once again by her defeat of Williams in March’s Miami Masters.
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After Novak Djokovic’s sensational dethronement by Sam Querrey on Saturday, Serena too knows the perils of being a supreme champion with a target on her back. It wasn’t a burden, she tells us, but just something “awesome”.
That’s the word that actually describes her perfectly but it could be equally applied to her big sister. For, 17 days after her 36th birthday, Venus sets out against Spain’s doughty Carla Suarez Navarro on No.1 court as the oldest ladies’ singles competitor to feature in a Grand Slam last 16 tie since Martina Navratilova here 22 years ago. Meanwhile, over on No.3 Court, Dominika Cibulkova, on a scorching streak, will aim to repeat her recent upset triumph in Eastbourne over former finalist and No.3 seed Aga Radwanska.
On the gentlemen’s side, a new Stateside hero – and perhaps the hero of an entire locker room infused with new belief – has emerged in the 6ft 6in form of Querrey, perpetrator of one of Wimbledon’s more startling recent upsets.
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Everybody seemed agreed that it couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke than the 28-year-old oak from Thousand Oaks, California, who once crashed through a glass table in a freak accident that could have ended his career and has never since quite managed to crash through the glass ceiling separating the good from the elite.
If Querrey wins today, he’ll reach his maiden Grand Slam quarter-final. He’s up against Nicolas Mahut on the rectangle where the Frenchman lost that 138-game final set against John Isner in 2010. A big American server? On Court 18? Poor old Mahut must feel he’s been sent back to Room 101.
Talking of which, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga can feel mighty grateful it took him a mere 36 games to win the final set against Isner on Sunday to set up a Gallic swashbuckler on No.1 Court against fellow musketeer Richard Gasquet.
Somehow, Roger Federer made it feel as if he had sleepwalked over a couple of British dreams in slippers and a silk dressing gown last week, so preposterously simple did he make his progress seem, but world No.29 Steve Johnson, a steely, dead-eyed American who keeps rising up the rankings, has the ammunition to wake up the master first up on Centre.
There then follows a mouthwatering re-run of the 2014 US Open final between Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori. At least, the Croat victor hopes it will be a re-run.
Yet there’s no question about the match of the day to British eyes. Andy Murray, through to the round of 16 for a 22nd consecutive Grand Slam, has never lost at Tour-level in 18 matches with Australian opponents but Nick Kyrgios, touched with a bit of moodiness, mischief and magic, is equipped to end that streak.
It says much about the sort of good egg Murray is that though Kyrgios has had to endure criticism for some of his on-court behaviour – he incurred two fines last week – the Scot has been steadfast in his vocal belief that his young Aussie pal has been receiving a raw deal.
“It was love at first sight,” teased Kyrgios, when asked about their friendship. We trust that the special relationship will not be strained should Nick end up incurring the displeasure of the entire Centre Court today, not just the odd umpire.
