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- ⛴️ British hopes sink
⛴️ British hopes sink
British men lose, Murray's last Wimbledon? and is Novak the GOAT on grass?

Hey hey, the daily serve here. The daily tennis newsletter hitting more winners each day than an Alcaraz forehand.
Here’s what we’ve got today:
British hopes sink: Murray, Norrie & Broady out 🛟
Murray no more: Murray hints that this could be his last Wimbledon 👋
Grass GOAT: Is Novak the greatest on grass? 🐐
British hopes sink 🛟
Thursday it was the women’s seeds, Friday it was the top British men. Yesterday left the British crowds leaving SW19 in silence as their hopes of another British men’s winner faded. Former champ Andy Murray, Brit no.1 and last year’s semifinalist Cameron Norrie and Ruud killer Liam Broady were all sent packing.
Andy couldn’t seal the deal vs Tsitsipas
2 sets to 1 up, Murray had all the momentum before Wimbledon curfew stopped play on Thursday. Unfortunately, to the disappointment of a nation (that’s used to it btw), he could’t carry it through to Friday, with Tsitsipas winning the final 2 close sets, 7-6, 6-7, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4.
Norrie knocked out by inform Eubanks
American Chris Eubanks continued his good form on grass, beating 12th seed Cam Norrie in 4 sets, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 . Norrie was defending a lot of points and since his big win on clay against Alcaraz in Rio, his form has been missing. We’re sure he will be going away in search for some ahead of the hardcourt season.
Broady’s dream ends
Liam Broady was on cloud 9 after taking out Casper Ruud. But was quickly Shlapovalov’d awake as the dream run ended for the Brit in the 3rd round. The Canadian continued his own mini-resurgence winning 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, 7-5.
Boulter still in
The Brits still have some to cheer for…Katie Boulter is still in the women’s draw, but has a tough task to stay in, as she plays reining champion and world no.3 Elena Rybakina in the 3rd round. And there are still a handful flying the Union Jack in the doubles draws. God save the Brits!

Murray no more 👋
An emotional Andy Murray hinted at his possible farewell to Wimbledon after a heartbreaking defeat by Stefanos Tsitsipas.
‘Next year? I don’t know’
Disappointed and uncertain, the two-time champion expressed his doubts about returning next year, citing waning motivation due to early tournament exits.
“I’m obviously very disappointed. Obviously, you never know how many opportunities you’re going to get to play here. The defeats maybe feel a bit tougher…Hopefully I find the motivation again to keep training, keep pushing, try and keep getting better.”
His run this year was short but bittersweet, and as Murray waved to a cheering crowd on centre court, his future at the prestigious event remains shrouded in uncertainty.
Andy Murray last Wimbledon? …
Andy Murray last Wimbledon not? …

Is Novak the GOAT on grass? 🐐
Novak Djokovic continued his perfect record at Wimbledon on Friday when he moved past Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (5) to reach the last 16 in London. Even before this win, everyone has been asking, should we now consider Novak as the greatest grass court player of all time?
From serve volley to baseline grind
It’s hard to think that a just over a decade ago we were saying Pete Sampras was the best player on grass ever. His big serve and long ranging arms at the net made him almost unstoppable at Wimbledon, even amongst a field deploying the serve volley strategy. We saw a shift when Roger Federer became an 8-time Wimbledon Champion blending a mix of silky baseline movement with deft touch at the net. But today, as we see Daniil Medvedev having 42 shot rallies from the baseline, the grass court tennis game has definitely changed.
So with Novak going for 8 titles and having not lost at Wimbledon in 2,184 days, surely there is a case for him being the best on the lawn. Former top ten player Mardy Fish thinks so…
Who is the greatest Grass Court player ever? Djokovic hasn’t lost on Centre Court at Wimbledon in 10 years! Gotta be him, right??
— Mardy Fish (@MardyFish)
4:46 PM • Jul 5, 2023
And so does fellow baseliner Medvedev: “If we talk about the best players in history on grass, I would place him at the top, although I have not seen Borg or Sampras play.”
He hasn’t lost a match in over a decade
The last loss he had on Centre Court came to Andy Murray on July 7, 2013, which was the final that year. Since then he’s won 42 matches in a row on the world’s most famous tennis court. It’s the longest winning streak for any player, male or female, since Centre Court opened in 1922.
But Djokovic is well behind on grass court titles won
The big thing everyone is forgetting is that Federer has 19 grass court titles to his name. That is 11 more than Djokovic. And his match wins are more than Novak and Nadal’s combined at 187. So purely on those stats Fed has to have a claim at being the best on the surface. In fact the Serb is well down the list, tied with Murray on 8 wins (7 of those at Wimbledon).

So who is it then? Well it seems to depend on what you take as your leading marker, Wimbledon win streak- Djokovic, titles - Federer, or game style - Pete Sampras? 🤷♀️
Minis 🎾⏰
Kevin Anderson, the 37 year old and former two-time Grand Slam singles finalist, will return to tour level tennis this summer at Newport 🇿🇦
Get to know leading American Tommy Paul a little better as he shares his nomadic lifestyle travelling favourites 🛫
Wimbledon qualifying first round loser and former world no. 5 Eugenie Bouchard shows off new dress at “party of the year” 👗
Holger Rune shares how he reacted to Caroline Wozniacki's proposal to play doubles at the Paris 2024 Olympics 🥇
Want to know how much does Namoi Osaka will earn in 2023, even though she doesn't play? It will shock you. 💰💰💰
Lesia Tsurenko wins record broken breaking 38-point match tie-break over Ana Bogdan in the third round 😱
Andy Murray’s Wimbledon tennis data transformed into NFT artwork. Is it an unfinished piece? 🎨
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