Messy Matteo

How come the messiest man on tour – who leaves a hotel room looking as though it has just been trashed and turned inside out by a police raid – has such clarity of thought on a grass court?

One of the most alarming discoveries in Break Point, Netflix's tennis docu-series, is just how untidy Matteo Berrettini is.

In one episode, the floor of his hotel room is covered with discarded clothes, shoes, rackets and the other detritus of life on the tennis road.

This Fortnight has brought confirmation of something we already knew about the unseeded Italian: he adores playing on the lawns of London.

With his progress into the fourth round, where he will play world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz, he has won 19 of his last 20 matches on grass courts in this city.

In 2021, Berrettini powered to the title at Queen's Club and then reached his first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon, where he was the runner-up to Novak Djokovic.

After landing the title again at Queen's in 2022, it had looked as though he was primed for another deep run at the All England Club. But just days before The Championships he tested positive for COVID-19 and was so distraught about missing out that he cried in his bed for days.

This summer, he didn't play at Queen's because of an abdominal injury but he has been producing some punchy tennis at Wimbledon, with a game built around a serve that fizzes through the air at more than 130mph.

There's something else that Berrettini could make a mess of: Alcaraz's plans to reach the last eight for the first time.

Fan favourites

Two of the most likeable characters in the women's game play for a spot in the quarter-finals, a reminder that being good natured is no barrier to success in elite sport.

Ons Jabeur versus Petra Kvitova also promises to be an enjoyable contrast in styles with Jabeur's creative and expressive game coming up against Kvitova's power.

While Jabeur is hoping to go on to become the first Arab and first African woman to win the Venus Rosewater Dish, Kvitova has ambitions of adding to her 2011 and 2014 titles.

Just champion

For the first time in seven years – or almost half of Mirra Andreeva's lifetime – the women's defending champion has reached the second week of The Championships.

Until Elena Rybakina's advance into the fourth round, it hadn't happened since Serena Williams progressed that far in 2016. Undefeated in her last 10 matches at the All England Club, the Kazakh now plays Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia.

TV judge

Tennis players tend to wait until they have retired before making the move from the court to the television commentary booth. It's potentially awkward offering opinions on your peers.

And they want to keep their full focus on their own tennis and career trajectory. But Christopher Eubanks, an unseeded American, has already built up considerable experience behind the microphone, a side-hustle that has actually benefited his tennis as it has helped him to be more analytical.

He has also received advice from Kim Clijsters – after he messaged her that "grass is the stupidest surface to play tennis on", the former women's world No.1 gave him some strong tips.

Now, at his very first Wimbledon, Eubanks is on a roll, playing Stefanos Tsitsipas for a place in the last eight.

Fun-time for Rune

Sometimes described as 'the bad boy of tennis', the combative Holger Rune has been having some fun making progress through the draw.

The 20-year-old No.6 seed from Denmark, who had never previously even won a match at the All England Club, is into the last 16 after saving a couple of match points against Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

Rune plays Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, a former semi-finalist.

New this year:

See the draw like never before, with interactive Path to the Final view of the draw by clicking a player’s name on the draws page

See the projected Path to the Final of every player in the Gentlemen’s and Ladies’ singles draws with IBM Likely to Play

View how favourable or difficult a player's draw is, with IBM AI Draw Analysis