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Emma Raducanu continues to improve.

Sean Regan said:
I think she's just fine with this one.

It'll take a while for her to get back to match fitness and those in the know were impressed by her performance.
I just hope she does not enter too many WTA 500 tournaments before the French, although her many sponsors may wish differently.
Not much was said about her 2021 USA final opponent Leylah Fernandez, who was dumped out by Alycia Parks on Wednesday. Even when you've no medical issues, you can have an off day.

Jelena Ostapenko entertained the spectators today, (again) this time by chucking her team out of their box, (rather than just blaming them) when things weren't going well against Ajla Tomljanović, with whom she has history.
Ajla accused her of cheating, at Wimbledon in 2021, when Jelena took a long medical timeout between games when she wasn't playing well, not as would be usual, at the end of a set. She went on to lose to the Australian.

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‘Worst player on tour': Why all eyes will be on Aussie as wild tennis feud to take centre stage

‘Worst player on tour': Why all eyes will be on Aussie as wild tennis feud to take centre stage
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But Ostapenko got her act together and came through, 6-0, 3-6, 6-4.
She now faces Victoria Azerenka, who sported yellow knickers over her black, "Max Wall tights." A most odd combination.
If she keeps it together, I think Jelena will win.
Click to expand...

What is it about Emma that you think will propel her to another major (or even minor) tournament victory?
 
Emma showed yesterday glimmers of how well she can play. If she could play like that every point that match would have been over very quickly. However, she’s clearly struggling either physically or mentally in pressure situations and requires support to resolve these issues.

I don’t agree it was purely a fitness issue. She’s a professional tennis player, training hours a day and should be able to play for 2-3 hours, irrespective of whether she’s at a major open or playing with her hitting partner. I thought maybe it was the heat, but on court yesterday it was only 18 degrees.

Not sure what’s wrong but for me there have been too many matches before/after her injury break, where she’s struggling to stay physically/mentally healthy for the duration of the match. I hope she’s able to regain her form because she’s a joy to watch.

The most exciting British prospect for me at the moment is Jack Draper. I hope he can stay out the media/endorsement circus and continues to improve.
 
In football parlance she's an under 21 player.

She said afterwards that it was a stomach upset. It's well-known that athletes become more susceptible to these types of issues when they over-exert.
 
It seems that the players have pretty much fully accepted electronic line judging. Far fewer calls questioned by the players.
It's standard here and at the US Open and many other tournaments. They can occasionally request to see it, but this some suggest, it's to learn how close they are hitting the ball and make adjustments..


Tim Henman, interviewed last year on TV, said he preferred having line judges, but as a member of Wimbledon he would, as they still have them.

They have had the electronic system for several years, but it's only used as a back-up. Players are allowed to dispute up to three calls.
But the Hawkeye, or whatever system, is going to come fully on stream there in 2025.

The problem is with the French, where they've got the umpire forever up and down off their chair pointing out particular marks in the clay, when a call is disputed. The makers of electronic systems say it's accurate on clay. But it won't be used this year.

The electronic system, certainly speeds up the game, "and there's no longer the possibility of a line judge getting an on-court death threat," from an angry player.

It must be a logistical nightmare, training and organising the number of officials required for the old system.

I wondered how they did it.

Now I know,

How To Become A Line Judge At Wimbledon in 2023
 
But another Brit, Noddy Norrie, is through to the 4th round. Where he meets 6th Seed, Zverev, so I expect that will be that. But well played.
 
Noddy Norrie took it to 5 sets so terrific gutsy effort. Just lost his nerve a bit in the tie-break against a big server.
 
She had flashes of brilliance and clearly acclimatised to Sabalenkas game as it progressed, in the second set you could see Sabalenka realising that Raducanu was reading her game and beginning to return her shots with interest.

Raducanu needs a better and more consistent serve but that she is clearly playing top 50 tennis so soon after surgery and a long time out, bodes well for the future.
 
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