Key events
Preamble
Hello there and welcome to Wimbledon 2023 – day 10!
And what a day it is. We begin proceedings on Court 1, where frankly you feel for the balls, who are in for a painful afternoon. In her fourth-round match against Marra Andreeva, Madison Keys found herself just in time, adapting tactics on the fly to overpower her brilliant opponent and dodge the embarrassment of being the person whose defeat allowed a 16-year-old into the last eight. But today, she meets the player most similar to herself who is also better than she is – Aryna Sabalenka hits it even harder, has an even better touch, and in Melbourne, finally held it down when it mattered to win her first Slam. However, her semi-final collapse at Roland-Garros reminded us that, despite her progress, she is who she is, so a battle of devastating power, beauty and frailty awaits.
Opening up on Centre, meanwhile, we have a repeat of last year’s final that is so enticing it’s almost obscene. Elena Rybakina, the champ, perpetrates some of the most ludicrous hitting we’ve ever seen and, just as importantly, knows she can because she has. Ons Jabeur, on the other hand, remains absolutely desperate to and, fired not just by the intensity of her own desire but by who she represents, has augmented her beguiling array of angles and spins with yet more pop, her fourth-round destruction of Petra Kvitova suggesting a player totally at one with herself. Anyone who thinks they know how this’ll go is deluding themselves.
Turning to the men, our first quarter of the day looks to be between the also-rans: no one thinks either Daniil Medvedev or Christopher Eubanks will be dancing about with a shiny pot come Sunday evening. Which is a strange thing to say given a) the world’s third-best player can serve well enough to give anyone a problem and has beaten Novak Djokovic in a major final, and b) his unseeded opponent is on a tear, and when that happens, anything can happen.
Then, we end our day with a brute. Carlos Alcaraz is, quite simply, the future of tennis, a bouncing bundle of joy and violence improving on grass with every set. But Holger Rune is not dissimilar, processing information like a computer and using it to fire a personality which believes that, at 20, he’s already the best player who ever lived. He won’t want to win, he’ll expect to win, and he has all the weapons to make it happen. So, stick with us, because this is going to be glorious.
Play: 1pm BST Court 1, 1.30pm BST Centre Court