The shock defeat of title favourite Karolina Pliskova, the players’ insatiable appetite for sushi and Bethanie Mattek-Sands’ knee injury take centre stage in the world’s media.
With the two-time winner Petra Kvitova and the third-seeded Pliskova now both out, this leaves Britain’s Jo Konta as the new favourite for the women’s title, according to The Guardian.
“There remain five matches between Johanna Konta and the Wimbledon title, a long road filled with plenty of trouble and one well beyond anything she has achieved here before,” the paper said. “But 40 years on from Virginia Wade’s victory the Briton, at least in the eyes of the bookmakers, is now the clear favourite to win the title.”
ESPN, of the US, reports on the reaction of fellow players to the serious knee injury the top-ranked American doubles player Mattek-Sands sustained on Court No. 18 in her singles match against Romania’s Sorana Cirstea. "It's the peak of her career right now," said Bob Bryan, who won the 2015 French Open mixed-doubles title with Mattek-Sands. "She's a fun-loving girl. She doesn't have any enemies in the locker room."
The 15th-seeded Gael Monfils gives French sports newspaper L’Equipe an honest assessment of his three-set defeat of Briton Kyle Edmund on Centre Court. The popular Frenchman said he could have done “much better,” before adding: “I got a little bit tired as the match went on and I should have been more aggressive, taken more risks with my cross-court backhand. Without a doubt I could have returned better.”
Bernard Tomic once again dominates the headlines in Australia after he was dropped by his racket sponsor Head yesterday for his controversial comments following his first-round loss. After losing to Germany’s Mischa Zverev, Tomic told reporters he felt “bored” and had called a medical time-out to try to stop his opponent’s momentum.
“Head's decision comes three years after management giant IMG cut ties with the former teenage prodigy who was earmarked for superstardom after winning the Australian Open junior titles at just 15 and the US Open boys' singles at 16,” wrote the West Australian newspaper.
The Guardian’s Wimbledon diary reports on the players’ eating habits, with Wimbledon marathon man John Isner ordering 36 salmon nigiri rolls after his first round. Sushi is so popular, sales in the players’ restaurant have seen a 306% increase in the past three years to a whopping 54,784 pieces in 2016.
Tatjana Maria talks to Germany’s Der Tagesspiegel about combining a tennis career with having children. The 74th-ranked Maria, mother of a three-year-old daughter, is calling for better childcare on the women’s tour and is hoping the arrival of high-profile players tennis-playing mothers such as Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams (due to give birth later this summer) may lead to changes. “We also need creches on the women’s tour, the men’s tour have had those for years,” she said.
