ROGER FEDERER MAKES FIRST APPEARANCE AT THIS YEAR'S WIMBLEDON TO PAY TRIBUTE TO ANDY MURRAY, MADISON KEYS TAKES A POP AT THE CROWD - AND BBC MAKE NOVAK DJOKOVIC BLUNDER: COURT REPORT

• It was another busy day at Wimbledon, including two all-British singles ties 

It was an emotional day at Wimbledon as Centre Court celebrated the legacy of Andy Murray.

Murray and his brother Jamie were beaten by Rinky Hijikata and John Peers in the men's doubles before a series of tributes were paid to the two-time champion, who is playing his final Wimbledon.

Elsewhere, there were two 'Battles of Britain' as Harriet Dart overcame Katie Boulter and Cameron Norrie swept aside Jack Draper.

Mail Sport's JAMES SHARPE was on hand to recap some of the things you may have missed from the third day of the championships. 

 

Roger Federer made his first appearance at this year’s Wimbledon yesterday to pay tribute to Andy Murray. While the eight-time king of Wimbledon surprisingly played no part in the post-match celebrations of Murray’s career, it’s understood Federer met with his old rival before the match to give Murray his support on an emotional day. 

 

MADISON'S CHAMPAGNE MOMENT 

Just days after Harriet Dart saw her opening-round match briefly suspended due to a champagne cork flying on to the court, US star Madison Keys was the next to take a pop at the Wimbledon crowd. Asked if she preferred playing on the outside courts to the main show courts, Keys replied: ‘The show courts are definitely a lot quieter. There's still champagne corks popping, though, so that's happening everywhere.’

 

KATIE FIRST, MEDIA SECOND 

Alex de Minaur arrived at No1 Court just 45 minutes after wrapping up his second-round victory against Jaume Munar to cheer on girlfriend Katie Boulter.

Just one problem: the Australian was due for his media conference at 3.15pm. As the clock struck half past, Boulter broke back to level in the decider with De Minaur still courtside. He finally walked in for his media duties at 4.30pm after Boulter lost a thrilling final-set tie-break to fellow Brit Harriet Dart. ‘I'm glad everyone knows there's priorities,’ he said.

 

BEEB'S DJOKOVIC BLOCKOUT 

Bungling BBC bosses mixed up their Wimbledon schedule and left Novak Djokovic off the airwaves.

Just before 2pm, both BBC One and BBC Two were showing the Boulter-Dart match on No1 Court while Djokovic was playing Brit wild card Jacob Fearnley on Centre.

By the time bosses clocked the blunder and put the Centre Court action on BBC 2, Djokovic was 20 minutes into his match.

 

HUBERT'S UNTIMELY EXIT 

No 7 seed Hubert Hurkacz crashed out in bizarre fashion – as he retired hurt on match point against Arthur Fils.

Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Hurkacz injured himself attempting a diving volley at 7-7 in a fourth-set tie-break but made the shot to bring up set point to force a decider.

After a nine-minute delay receiving treatment on his knee, Hurkacz hobbled back to court to soldier on only to attempt ANOTHER diving volley as Fils won the next two points to set up match point.

Instead of serving to stay in the contest, Hurkacz limped to the net to concede the match. So much for fighting until the end.

 

YES, MINISTER! 

Ons Jabeur showed once again why she’s such a favourite among the Wimbledon crowds as she rushed to a stricken fan’s aid.

The 2022 and 2023 finalist, known as the Minister of Happiness, raced over to help after a supporter fainted in the blistering heat on day four.

Jabeur passed two bottles, one filled with water and another with an electrolyte drink, to a pair of fans over barrier to the applause of everyone on No 2 Court.

 

SERVICE WITHOUT A SMILE 

Daria Saville and Marta Kostyuk gave a masterclass in how not to serve in their three-hour marathon on Court 14.

Sixteen games ended in a break of serve while the pair racked up 24 double faults between them. Only two games in the entire second set went with serve.

Aussie Saville served for the match three times in the second set and spurned a match point in an epic 20-minute service game that Kostyuk eventually won on her eighth break point.

Kostyuk, of Ukraine, finally wrapped up the contest on her sixth match point in a decider where four of the first five games went against serve.

 

There’s still no love lost between Taylor Fritz and Arthur Rinderknech.

Fritz angered fans at the French Open last year when he ‘sushed’ the booing crowd after knocking out Rinderknech, the last remaining Frenchman in the draw.

Ahead of their second-round clash at Wimbledon, Rinderknech said: ‘He won't cry as much. I have nothing against him, but he was wrong if he expected the French public to give him kisses between points.’

After Fritz’s four-set victory yesterday, the two exchanged another war of words on the court.

‘You know what you did,’ said Fritz. ‘I know what I did?’ replied Rinderknech. ‘Yeah, you know what you did,’ responded Fritz.

Fritz elaborated in his post-match press conference: ‘When we shook hands, I just said ‘Have a nice flight home.’

‘He asked me what I said. I told him what I said. He told me he was in doubles still. I said “Oh, congrats, good for you”. Then he started acting like “Why are you blah, blah, blah?”

‘I'm like, dude, you know what you said. Don't disrespect me before the match and then expect me to be all nice after the match. That's not how it works.’

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2024-07-04T22:21:04Z dg43tfdfdgfd