It was impossible not to be moved by Elina Svitolina's tearful outpouring of emotion when, sporting a black ribbon, she defeated China’s Xinyu Wang in the last round, having had the hardest time trying to concentrate amid the news in her Ukrainian homeland.
Nobody needs to tell Svitolina that these are mere tennis matches, but she prays that she can still provide “a small light that brings a happy moment for Ukrainian people”.
She’s a win away from matching her similarly heart-rending run to the semi-finals last year but she today faces the favourite and one player left in the ladies’ singles draw who knows what it’s like to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish.
Indeed, Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina is beginning to resemble the player who swept majestically to unexpected victory at the age of 23 in 2022, even if she feels like a very different, more relaxed performer these days.
“I’ve changed a lot, much more experience. Before going further in the draw I was pretty nervous in 2022 but now I feel just more confident playing match by match,” she says. “Now with all the experiences I just enjoy much more on the court.”
Serving remains Rybakina’s most devastating weapon, but Svitolina is actually surpassing her in that department, having won all but four (91%) of her 45 service games. “She’s been going big for her shots. That’s what I will expect and try to make her feel uncomfortable,” says the Ukrainian.
Talking of going big, no-one goes all in, all of the time, quite like Jelena Ostapenko. “I mean, I have the ability to hit the ball hard, so why I shouldn’t use it?” shrugs the Riga heroine, loved throughout Latvia as ‘Alona’.
Barbora Krejcikova, set for this fascinating duel between two former Roland-Garros champions, knows what’s coming. “She’ll just pretty much be hitting every single shot…very, very hard.” It’s always been a difficult match-up for the Czech, who’s lost three of her five Tour-level meetings with the 2014 Wimbledon junior champion.
Following Alex De Minaur's withdrawal from his match with Novak Djokovic, there's just one gentlemen's quarter-final on Wednesday - a scintillating match-up on No.1 Court. Taylor Fritz, still on a high after coming from two sets down to oust Alexander Zverev, is pitted against Lorenzo Musetti, the Queen’s Club finalist who’s decorated our tennis summer as the most elegant artist among the glorious Italian renaissance.
As the toughest man to break in the entire tournament – it’s happened just twice in 76 service games – the Californian also feels perfectly comfortable with being considered a serious threat for his first Grand Slam triumph, after coming here as Eastbourne champion.
But the 22-year-old Musetti is flourishing with every outing on the grass, having just negotiated the booming serves of Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, and can glance at one of the tattoos he sports which tells him, Il meglio deve ancora venire – the best is yet to come.
There's still a Murray out there on the grass. Jamie Murray and his American partner Taylor Townsend play Germany's Kevin Krawietz and Alexandra Panova in the second round of the mixed doubles.
