Federer hints at Wimbledon comeback on surprise visit

LONDON, July 3

A gaping hole was left at Wimbledon this week when Roger Federer’s name was missing from the men’s draw for the first time since 1998 but the Swiss great hinted he could be back at his favourite hunting ground when he made a surprise appearance at the All England Club.

“This court has given me my biggest wins and my biggest losses. I hope I can come back one more time,” a beaming Federer told the 15,000 capacity crowd who hollered in approval.

Wimbledon’s favourite son swapped his usual tennis whites for a dark suit and tie and was given a rousing standing ovation as he joined a number of Wimbledon champions dating back to the 1960s for Centre Court’s centenary celebrations.

The eight-time champion was the last to stride into an arena that had already welcomed the great and good of tennis, including Billie Jean King, Bjorn Borg, Chris Evert, Stefan Edberg, Venus Williams as well as the Swiss’s Big Four rivals Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.

While loud cheers could be heard as the champions paraded into Centre Court one-by-one, a deafening roar resounded around the vast grounds of the All England Club when the man considered as Wimbledon royalty made an appearance to greet his grateful subjects. — Reuters

Goffin, Sinner make it to last-8

Unseeded David Goffin came through a gruelling encounter against Frances Tiafoe to win 7-6(3) 5-7 5-7 6-4 7-5 in four hours 36 minutes. Italian 20-year-old Jannik Sinner beat teenager Carlos Alcaraz 6-1 6-4 6-7(8) 6-3 to become the youngest man to reach the quarterfinals since 2014. Ninth seed Cameron Norrie reached the last-8 of a Grand Slam for the first time with a 6-4 7-5 6-4 victory over Tommy Paul. In women’s singles, unseeded German Jule Niemeier beat Britain’s Heather Watson 6-2 6-4. Germany’s Tatjana Maria, the oldest player left in the women’s draw at 34, continued her dream run with a hard-fought 5-7 7-5 7-5 win over Jelena Ostapenko to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Mirza in mixed doubles quarters

The Indo-Croatian pair of Sania Mirza and Mate Pavic advanced to the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles after their second round opponents Ivan Dodig and Latisha Chan gave a walkover.

Tsitsipas slams ‘bully’ Kyrgios, Australian hits back

Greek fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas labelled Nick Kyrgios a “bully” with “an evil side” to his character after losing a bad-tempered third-round clash yesterday. The 23-year-old Tsitsipas was booed by the crowd at one stage after losing his composure in what he described as a Kyrgios circus. “Yeah, it’s constant bullying, that’s what he does. He bullies opponents. He was probably a bully at school himself. I don’t like bullies,” Tsitsipas said. ...he also has a very evil side to him.” Kyrgios, fined $10,000 after his first-round match for spitting towards a fan, said: “I’m not sure how I bullied him. He was the one hitting balls at me, he was the one that hit a spectator.” Agencies

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