Monday, July 2nd
This story seems to be coming straight out of a movie but it is real. In South Africa, a victim of a car crash was found alive at the morgue, a few hours after being pronounced dead by the doctors. Incredible news which didn’t stop the competition from starting at Wimbledon. With Roger Federer, of course, who easily defeated Dusan Lajovic (6-1, 6-3, 6-4). However, other favorites like Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric (who recently won the Halle Open), Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elina Svitolina all lost in the first round against Stanislas Wawrinka (6-1, 6-7, 6-7, 4-6), Daniil Medvedev (6-7, 2-6, 2-6), Barbora Strycova (6-7, 5-7) and Tatjana Maria (6-7, 6-4, 1-6). And there you go, we already have met our quota of surprises.
Tuesday, July 3rd
But the quota blew up on the following day. This Tuesday, the top-seeded players all seemed to be cursed. Careful, the list is as long as John Isner’s arm : David Goffin, Marco Cecchinato, Jack Sock, Dominic Thiem, Petra Kvitova, Caroline Garcia and Maria Sharapova were knocked out by Matthew Ebden (4-6, 3-6, 4-6), Alex De Minaur (4-6, 7-6, 6-7, 4-6), Matteo Berrettini (7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 5-7, 2-6), Marcos Baghdatis (withdrawal), Aliaksandra Sasnovich (4-6, 6-4, 0-6), Belinda Bencic (6-7, 3-6), and Vitalia Diatchenko (7-6, 6-7, 4-6). Boom. Rafael Nadal didn’t have that sort of problem, as he defeated Dudi Sela (6-3, 6-3, 6-2). On his side, Feliciano Lopez broke a world-record by taking part in his 66th consecutive Grand Slam tournament. Enough to mess with Ernests Gulbis’ head, as he sat in the wrong chair during a change of sides. But also confuse this Ukrainian man who jumped over the fence of an airport to board a plane that he had just missed. Broken wings everywhere…
Wednesday, July 4th
This day was a carbon copy of the previous ones, with a few different details. This time, a Romanian man came back to life as a judge canceled his death certificate after his family intervened. And as usual, the underdogs are killing it : Denis Novak crushed Lucas Pouille (6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 3-6, 6-2) and Ekaterina Makarova defeated Caroline Wozniacki (6-4, 1-6, 7-5). However, the big dogs still remain, like Federer, who destroyed Lukas Lacko (6-4, 6-4, 6-1) or Serena Williams who knocked out Viktoriya Tomova (6-1, 6-4). Careful however, all these underdogs’ feats’ are becoming standard.
Thursday, July 5th
Did you know ? The Brazilian Neymar has spent approximately fourteen minuted on the ground during the World Cup. Nadal needed a little morte time to defeat Mikhail Kukushkin (6-4, 6-3, 6-4), and Novak Djokovic as well, to crush Horacio Zeballos (6-1, 6-2, 6-3). But this 2018 edition of Wimbledon is full of surprises. Therefore, Thomas Fabbiano destroyed Wawrinka (7-6, 6-3, 7-6), Guido Pella stun Marin Cilic (3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6, 7-5), Alison Van Uytvanck froze the title-holder Garbine Muguruza (5-7, 6-2, 6-1), and Dominika Cubulkova crucified Johanna Konta (6-3, 6-4). What the hell is happening ?
Intégrer Vidéo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN1jfy3ADsU
Friday, July 6th
As Wimbledon and sport madness have decided to turn the world into an absurd place, everyone is starting to act strangely. Even animals. A lama was seen walking in the streets of Cahors, France. As if nothing happened. Andrew Feustel, an astronaut who is keen on tennis, was seen watching the tournament from space in the International Space Station. Normal. A nice way to see Federer destroying Jan-Lennard Struff (6-3, 7-5, 6-2) and Williams knocking out Kristina Mladenovic (7-5, 7-6). Without missing the feat of the day, as Evgeniya Rodina qualified after defeating Madison Keys (5-7, 7-5, 4-6). Crazy, we tell you. But will it be crazy until the very end ?
Saturday, July 7th
And there goes the world number one ! Despite the warning signs, Simona Halep was surprised by Su-Wei Hsieh in the third round (6-3, 4-6, 5-7). As a result, Nadal played very seriously against De Minaur (6-1, 6-2, 6-4). But the Spaniard won’t face Fabio Fognini in the next round : the Italian was the favorite, but was hit by this year’s curse and lost against Jiri Vesely (6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6). Just like Alexander Zverev, who was destroyed by Gulbis (6-7, 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 0-6). A bit of buzz to finish with : Hana Michels, a writer and comedian from Los Angeles, shocked the Internet. Why ? Because the artist published a picture of her…where we can see her toilet paper being set up in the wrong way ! And some men are getting annoyed by this, apparently.
Sunday, July 8th
Phew, Wimbledon is taking a break. Just like the World Cup in Russia. And the rest of the world. Even Billie Jean King and Rod Laver, who posed to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of their respective triumphs in London.
