Carlos Alcaraz took on Taylor Fritz for a place in the Wimbledon final on Friday afternoon, less than 24 hours after Centre Court saw some controversy involving Aryna Sabalenka
Carlos Alcaraz complied with Wimbledon’s unwritten rule, the day after Aryna Sabalenka was furious with her opponent for not doing so. Alcaraz took on Taylor Fritz on Centre Court on Friday afternoon less than 24 hours after Sabalenka crashed out of the tournament to Amanda Anisimova.
Sabalenka was beaten 6-4 4-6 6-4 by the No.13 seed in a match which contained a small amount of controversy. The No.1 seed was furious after Anisimova refused to apologise having won a crucial point via a fortuitous net cord.
She appeared to mouth ‘you are supposed to say sorry’ to her Anisimova after she pumped her first in celebration. She later explained: “I just looked at her and, I mean, for sure she didn’t hear me. I was like, ‘you don’t want to say sorry?’ She just wanted, I guess, badly to win this match.
“It’s on her. If she doesn’t feel like saying sorry, like she barely got that point and she didn’t feel like saying sorry for that tricky situation, that’s on her.”
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There has been some debate over the unwritten rule of tennis, which is based on etiquette rather than an actual law of the sport. Martina Navratilova backed up Anisimova, claiming she was “was just so concentrated” on the match that she forgot.
Alcaraz underlined the usual process in the first game of his crunch match against Fritz. The American went a break down in his first service game as Alcaraz came out firing.
The defending champion broke at the second opportunity, but needed some luck to do so. His shot cannoned into the net and just crept over, leaving Fritz no chance of returning it. Alcaraz immediately put his hand into the air to acknowledge his good fortune as he headed to change ends with a 1-0 lead.
He came into the semi-final on a 23-match winning streak and is aiming to win at Wimbledon for the third straight year. But the 22-year-old knew he was in for a stern test against the No.5 seed.
“Well, as I said on court, his grass season this year, it’s been really successful so far,” Alcaraz said. “He’s playing such a great tennis. I think his game is pretty well on grass, playing flat, playing aggressively, big serve.
“I will try to be focus. I will try to show my best tennis. I’m going to try to play at the same level or even higher than today. If I play like today’s match, I will get a chance, for sure. So I will try to do it. I will try to play aggressively. I will not let him playing aggressively or dominate the game. We will see.
“But I’m excited about that match because I think I have to raise my level if I want to beat him.”
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