Give Uncle Toni credit for honesty. Toni Nadal, Rafael’s uncle and coach, watched Wimbledon’s defending champion put in about an hour of practice on a left foot that’s not as seriously injured as first feared, then offered this assessment to a handful of reporters Tuesday: “Even if he was 50 percent, I would tell you he’s 100 percent.
Fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka beat Tamira Paszek 6-3, 6-1 Tuesday at Wimbledon to reach the semifinals at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. The match began on Court 1 but play was suspended after one game because of the damp conditions. They completed the match under the roof on Centre Court.
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Rafael Nadal says that an MRI on his injured left foot showed no significant damage and that he will be able to play his Wimbledon quarterfinal against Mardy Fish on Wednesday. Nadal injured his foot late in the first set of his four-set win over Juan Martin del Potro on Tuesday, and later said he thought it might be broken.
“Yesterday after the match I went to take an MRI at a London hospital,” Nadal said on Facebook. “During the match I thought I had something serious but as the match went through the pain got better and thankfully the tests don’t show an injury. Today I will practice at 4.30 pm and I’ll play tomorrow.”
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Novak Djokovic says he will play will for Serbia in its upcoming Davis Cup quarterfinal in Halmstad, Sweden. Top Swede Robin Soderling has decided not to play, which will make defending champion Serbia a heavy favorite. Djokovic did not play in Serbia’s win over India in the first round.
“I am on the team,” Djokovic said. “But for Soderling, I’ve heard, yes, that he has pulled out. I mean, regardless if he’s playing or not, we will come as the strongest team, the team that has won the Davis Cup title last year, because we are aware that we are going away from home. I wouldn’t be surprised if Robin still plays on that match. He’s not in the tournament [Wimbledon]. He has still chance to be in the team. But we are not looking at their squad. We are just trying to be the best squad we can.”
Juan Martin del Potro will also return to Davis Cup when Argentina faces Kazakhstan in a World Group quarterfinal in Buenos Aires. Roger Federer will be part of the Swiss team that plays Portugal next month in Berne, in Europe/Africa Group I play. Federer has not played Davis Cup since 2009. Rafael Nadal has opted out of Spain’s quarterfinal tie against the United States in Austin, Texas.
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Australian 18-year-old Bernard Tomic says he enjoys a close relationship with No. 2 Novak Djokovic, whom he will face in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Tomic’s parents are Croatian and Djokovic is Serbian, and they share a common language. Tomic is the youngest male to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals since Boris Becker in the 1980s.
“I’ve hit with him a lot of times. He’s a cool guy,” Tomic told reporters. “One of the nicest guys out there on the tour. I think he has a respect for me. I’ve got a much bigger respect for him because he’s obviously, played at that big of a level the last five years. He’s always said good words about me, then I’ve hit with him at least a dozen times now. I think he likes having me around.”
Djokovic said that Tomic is showing great potential. “He believes that he can win against the top players, and he was doing that very comfortably in last couple of rounds here in Wimbledon,” he said. “He loves playing on grass. If you analyze his game, he loves playing on the fast surfaces. He just has these flat shots. He doesn’t give you a lot of time. He serves really well. He doesn’t make many unforced errors. It’s going to be exciting match for both of us.”
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Serena Williams says she could care less about the theory that if she or her sister Venus won the Wimbledon title after being out of the game for so long with injuries, that it would reflect poorly on the WTA,
“Yeah, I’m super happy that I lost. Go, women’s tennis,” defending champion Serena said sarcastically after her 6-3, 7-6 (6) loss to Marion Bartoli in the fourth round of Wimbledon. It’s the first time since 1913 that that the Wimbledon women’s quarterfinals will consist entirely of Europeans.
Serena’s older sister Venus also went down, failing for the third time at a major to Tsvetana Pironkova. It was the first time since 2008 Roland Garros that both sisters have lost at a major on the dame day. “We both want each other to win,” Venus said. “But unfortunately since we weren’t able to, we’ll both be able to train together, I suppose. Obviously it’s not something planned.”
Serena’s next tournament will be at Stanford during the last week of July. She is also planning on playing Toronto and Cincinnati prior to the U.S. Open. Venus does not have Stanford on her schedule, but says she will ask for a wild card. She also plans on competing at Toronto and Cincinnati.
Serena will plunge to around No. 175 in the rankings when they are released next week; Venus will be ranked no higher than No. 34.
Serena, who suffered a pulmonary embolism in February, says that her doctors have cleared her to practice as hard as she wants to. ”It will probably be even more intense because I practiced harder here than I did even coming here,” she said. “It will be more intense, which actually is going to give me a better chance in future tournaments.”
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