Four Britons carry hopes of tennis fans into Wimbledon’s third round
Written by News on 07/07/2017
They make an odd foursome, the Britons who have lit up the Wimbledon lawns this week.
But together they have given the nation’s once-a-year tennis fans something to cheer about in a year that can use some happy news.
Sir Andy Murray and Aljaz Bedene, Jo Konta and Heather Watson: all feature on the famous manicured show courts on Day Five of Wimbledon.
They are, respectively, a Scot schooled in Barcelona, a converted Slovene who wanted to be a ski-jumper, another Barcelona graduate who was born in Sydney to Hungarian immigrants and a Guernsey girl whose mum took her "travelling over to England aged nine or 10" for tournaments.
Murray has seen it all before, and despite playing through hip pain, has it in him to emulate Fred Perry eight decades ago by winning a third title.
"If he has a problem with his hip, I don’t want to play against him when his hip’s good," said Dustin Brown, after Murray thrashed him in round two.
He is heavily odds-on to beat Italy’s 28th seed Fabio Fognini, likewise Konta against the world number 101 Maria Sakkari of Greece.
Konta’s epic three-hour triumph over Donna Vekic has been Centre Court’s top nerve-shredder so far this week – the moment perhaps that the armchair audience really switched on to the steely-willed sixth seed, who became a British citizen in 2012.
Bedene went through the same process only two years ago but has a growing band of fans who will back him to knock out a second big-serving seed in Giles Muller, having seen off the giant Croat Ivo Karlovic 10-8 in the fifth set.
And two years on from her glorious defeat against Serena Williams, Love Island devotee Watson aims to down another former world number one, Victoria Azarenka, and reach the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time. "That’s been a goal forever," she admitted.
Murray would approve. In the grilling heat, he had some cold water to spray in typically honest fashion when asked about Britain having four players in the third round for the first time in 20 years.
"I’d rather set the goal at reaching second weeks and quarter finals and contending for slams," he said.
Fair enough. And France and Spain both have more players in round three.
But if the British quartet, inspired perhaps by each other, the momentum, the crowds and the sun, are all still involved come Monday, we really will need a cold shower to calm us down.
(c) Sky News 2017: Four Britons carry hopes of tennis fans into Wimbledon’s third round
