Changing of the guard?
Let us rummage through the bag of clichés (the journalists’ friend). “Taking it one match at a time.” Yes, I suppose we had better take that.
“A Grand Slam cannot be won it the first week but it can certainly be lost." Oh, yes. We will definitely have that one. We can add that one to: “I’m just concentrating on my side of the net."
Right, armed with these old favourites, let us look at the cast list for the coming week.
As dawn broke over the middle Saturday, there were 23 names spread across both draws who could, potentially, reach the second week of The Championships. Of those, nine had booked their tickets on Friday, four played each other on Saturday (which whittled the final tally down by two) but there were still heaps of newbies - freshers in a new world of Wimbledon expectation.
But if you think the pressure is mounting on these young (and in some cases, not so young) shoulders, spare a thought for the poor workers in player services, the nice people who look after the players’ practical needs.
They have spent the past 48 hours cancelling and rebooking flights, sweet-talking hotels and landlords to extend the stays of these second-week debutants. “But, just think: he/she might win Wimbledon. And do it while staying in your hotel/back bedroom.” “I don’t care, I’ve got a charabanc of plumbers coming down from Macclesfield on Sunday. They’re here for the week for the tap fitters’ convention.” But we digress…
Serving machine
This vast band of second week newcomers split themselves neatly across our chosen clichés. Leading the “you can only win it in the second week” brigade was John Isner (pictured above).
The 6ft 10in (2.08m) serving machine already stands head and shoulders above all but two men on the ATP World Tour (only Ivo Karlovic and Reilly Opelka, both 6ft 11in (2.11m), are taller) and he is far above any rival in the aces count at The Championships so far – 113 and counting.
Isner already has his place in history, having been one half of that 11 hour, five minute first round epic against Nicolas Mahut in 2010 but he wants more. He won that one (and lost in the next round) but he has never done himself justice in SW19 until this year. He made sure that he had done everything possible to get through the first three rounds so that the real work could start in the second week.
“I made a decision not to play any warm up events prior to Wimbledon,” Isner said. “I think the most important thing I do is keep taking care of my body and make sure I'm physically fresh, more importantly, mentally fresh.
“So I came into this tournament very eager and wanting to do well and gave myself five, six days of practice on these courts to get acclimated to them and get used to the conditions.
“I certainly embrace this position. I'm seeded ninth for a reason. So I think I can definitely do better than the round of 16, but it all starts on Monday, because I have a very, very tough match.”
A Greek Boris Becker
Trying to stop him is the 19-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas who has been flinging himself around the courts this past week like a Greek Boris Becker. He, too, sits with Isner in the camp that divides the Fortnight into two distinct halves.
“I need to stay grounded,” he said, sounding a good deal older than 19. “The tournament is not over yet. It's just half of the tournament that I have played.”
Then there is Karolina Pliskova who, although she is a former world No.1 and the No.7 seed here, had never got beyond the second round until this year. Suddenly thrust under the Wimbledon microscope, she sounded as cool as could be now that she had finally pushed open the door to the second week. She is definitely one of those who focuses on her side of the net and has not a care in the world about the opposition.
Pressed on the point that she could face Serena Williams in the semi-finals, she simply shrugged. “She's not in my next round, so far I don't care about her,” she said. “I know she's been winning also a couple of matches, tough one today [against Kristina Mladenovic]. I beat her in US Open [in 2016], so there is no reason why I should be worried.”
That’s the spirit, Karolina. But is that philosophy strong enough to beat the “one-match-at-a-time” theory, the one espoused by her opponent on Monday, Kiki Bertens? The awfully likeable Dutchwoman is better known for her clay court prowess but slowly she is learning to love grass. To get to the fourth round was a huge achievement – but she was not going to look any further than that.
“I'm not really looking, like, further in the tournament,” she said. “For me it's just, like, I'm really happy to be in this fourth round. Of course, I'm going to do anything to play well again. But then we see after.”
Secret weapon
But Bertens has a secret weapon, a secret tactic. “I have to make more mistakes,” she announced, having beaten Venus Williams, although that may have lost a little something in translation. What she actually meant was that she needs to trust herself to take a few more risks and then not punish herself if they do not come off.
But we like that idea. “I need to make more mistakes” is definitely going into the cliché bag (after all, the world needs some new clichés). These second week newcomers are proving to be a breath of fresh air in so many different ways.
