Djokovic, Federer and teenage hope top Wimbledon bill on final ‘Manic Monday’

Serbia's Novak Djokovic in action during his third round match against Denis Kudla of the US on July 2, 2021. (REUTERS/Paul Childs)
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Updated 05 July 2021
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Djokovic, Federer and teenage hope top Wimbledon bill on final ‘Manic Monday’

  • World number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia chasing a sixth Wimbledon
  • Eight-time champion Federer is in the Wimbledon last 16 for the 18th time

LONDON: Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer headline the final ‘Manic Monday’ at Wimbledon with the two Grand Slam heavyweights looking to edge closer to a dream title showdown.
World number one Djokovic, chasing a sixth Wimbledon and record-equalling 20th major, is already halfway to becoming just the third man to complete a calendar Grand Slam.
“I look to peak at the biggest tournaments in our sport. At this stage of my career, Grand Slams are the ones that matter the most,” said Djokovic who can reach the quarter-finals of a Slam for the 50th time.
The Serb faces Chilean 17th seed Cristian Garin who had never previously won a main draw match at the tournament before this year.
Eight-time champion Federer, who takes on Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego, can become the oldest quarter-finalist at Wimbledon in the Open era.
Federer, just five weeks shy of his 40th birthday, is in the Wimbledon last 16 for the 18th time.
In all, it will be his 69th appearance in the fourth round of a Slam but he was quick to salute Djokovic’s achievements.
“It’s just very, very impressive to see what he’s doing this year,” said Federer whose third round win over Cameron Norrie gave him the 1,250th victory of his career.
’Manic Monday’, when the entire men’s and women’s fourth round is played out, will not exist from next year as Wimbledon will stage matches on the middle Sunday.
There will be a further tweak in the schedule this week with the All England Club announcing that they will move to full capacity crowds from Tuesday’s quarter-finals onwards.
Meanwhile, second seed Daniil Medvedev, who staged a comeback from two sets down for the first time in his career to beat 2017 runner-up Marin Cilic, faces Hubert Hurkacz.
Polish 14th seed Hurkacz is the only player in the fourth round not to have dropped serve.
Sebastian Korda, whose father Petr made the quarter-finals in 1998, celebrates his 21st birthday on Monday.
He can reach the quarter-finals of a Slam for the first time by beating Russian 25th seed Karen Khachanov.

Denis Shapovalov, the Canadian 10th seed who put out two-time winner Andy Murray in the last round, faces Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut, a semifinalist in 2019.
Meanwhile, Italy will have two men in the last 16 for just the third time and first time since 1955.
While Sonego faces Federer, seventh seed Matteo Berrettini faces Ilya Ivashka of Belarus, the 27-year-old world number 79 who had only previously won one match at a major before this Wimbledon.
Women’s world number one Ashleigh Barty, trying to win the title 50 years on from fellow indigenous Australian Evonne Goolagong Cawley’s maiden crown, tackles French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova.
The only British player left in the singles draw is 18-year-old Emma Raducanu who has defied her ranking of 338 to make the second week where she meets Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic.
Raducanu has only just completed her final school exams and has attracted a host of new fans, including rock star Liam Gallagher, the former frontman of Oasis.
“BIBLICAL,” Gallagher tweeted in response to Raducanu’s third round win over Sorana Cirstea.
Germany’s Angelique Kerber, the only former champion left in the women’s event, takes on Coco Gauff.
Gauff, 17, is bidding to become the youngest woman to reach a Wimbledon quarter-final since Maria Sharapova in 2004.
Big-hitting will be a feature of the lower half of the women’s last 16 draw.
Belarus second seed Aryna Sabalenka faces 18th seeded Elena Rybakina.
Sabalenka, yet to make a quarter-final of a Slam, had 21 aces over three rounds, one fewer than Russian-born Rybakina.
Rybakina has won a tournament-leading 96 percent of her service games in the opening three rounds.
Former world number one Karolina Pliskova, the eighth-seeded Czech has also fired 22 aces and faces unseeded Russian Liudmila Samsonova.
Samsonova, ranked 65, has made the most of her wild card to register her best ever performance at a Slam.
Having won the Berlin grass court tournament as a qualifier in the run-up to Wimbledon, the 22-year-old is on a 10-match win streak.
Former French Open champion Iga Swiatek, the seventh seed who had won just one match in grass on the main tour before Wimbledon, takes on Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, the 21st seed.
Jabeur can become the first Arab woman to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals with victory.


Smylie wins on LIV Golf debut, leads Ripper GC to team title in Riyadh

Updated 08 February 2026
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Smylie wins on LIV Golf debut, leads Ripper GC to team title in Riyadh

  • Jon Rahm and Torque GC finish second in the individual and team competitions respectively

RIYADH: Ripper GC captain Cameron Smith believes his new teammate Elvis Smylie can one day become the best golfer in the world. After the 23-year-old Australian produced four sizzling rounds to win on his LIV Golf debut, the rest of the league may very well share the same sentiment.

Smylie capped off an impressive first week under the lights at Roshn Group LIV Golf Riyadh, shooting a final-round bogey-free 8-under 64 on Saturday to hold off a hard-charging Jon Rahm by one stroke. He also led the Rippers to the team title, as the Aussies swept both trophies going into their biggest tournament of the season at LIV Golf Adelaide next week.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Smylie, who officially joined the team last month. “I really didn’t know what to expect this week. Playing at night is obviously a whole different ballgame out here. I wanted to come out here and make a statement. I wanted to prove that I’m one of the best out here, and I feel like I’ve done that. It’s only up from here.”

Smith agreed. “The crazy thing is I still think he’s got a lot of improving to go, which is pretty scary, really, for the rest of us, because he waxed us this week. I genuinely think he can be the best golfer in the world. He’s got all the tools of the trade. He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing and knuckle down.”

With the win, Smylie earns the projected points allotted by the Official World Golf Ranking to the winner of this week’s LIV Golf tournament. The OWGR announced earlier this week that points will be awarded for LIV Golf tournaments this season to the top 10 and ties. Smylie entered the week ranked 134th and is expected to move up significantly with the victory.

Smylie’s winning score of 24 under is the lowest in league history, a byproduct perhaps of the league’s adjusted format from 54 to 72 holes. He also beat the biggest field in LIV Golf history after an increase from 54 to 57 players this season.

But more impressive than the raw numbers was Smylie’s sublime play, especially with a new blade putter. “Everything looked like a bucket for me, which is nice,” said Smylie, who ranked third in the field in strokes gained putting.

He needed a hot putter down the stretch to create some separation from the field, then withstand the last-ditch rally by Rahm, the Legion XIII captain and two-time LIV Golf individual champion.

Rahm started the day two shots behind co-leaders Smylie and Peter Uihlein and was three strokes behind when Smylie birdied the par-4 12th. But the Spaniard closed fast with birdies on five of his last six holes, including the last four.

He drove the green at the 396-yard par-4 18th but could not convert the eagle putt. Still, his final birdie put the finishing touches on a 9-under bogey-free 63, the lowest round of the week, and reduced Smylie’s lead to one.

Smylie, however, was not aware of the slim margin until hitting his approach shot at the 18th that left him on the edge of the green.

“I actually didn’t know that I had to two-putt the last green,” he said. “I thought I would have had a two-shot lead going into 18. But as soon as I was walking up the green, I saw that I only had one, so I’m like, I’ve got to clutch up here and make sure to get this up-and-down.”

Rahm, who shot a final-round 11-under 60 in his last regular-season LIV Golf tournament in Indianapolis last year to clinch his second consecutive season-long title, pointed to his failure to make birdie at the par-5 sixth and a poor approach shot at the par-4 11th as missed opportunities. Even so, he was pleased with making a run to earn his fifth runner-up finish and 25th top-10 result in 27 regular-season LIV Golf appearances.

“It was a fantastic round of golf, shot 9-under,” he said. “Elvis had a great day and a two-shot lead. If anything, if there’s one or two shots to look at, I’ve got to go to earlier in the week.”

RangeGoats GC’s Uihlein finished third after shooting a 67 for 21 under, while Fireballs GC’s David Puig and 4Aces GC’s Thomas Pieters shot 65s to share fourth place with Torque GC’s Abraham Ancer.

The team competition turned into a battle between Ripper and Torque. The Australians started off fast, with Marc Leishman beginning his round with four straight birdies; the team collectively was 11 under through their first six holes.

Torque responded with Ancer, making his first start for his new team after four years with Fireballs GC, and Sebastian Munoz each shooting 66.

But the 64s by Smylie and Lucas Herbert were supported by Smith’s 65 and Leishman’s 69 to produce a fourth-round team score of 26 under, the third-best single round team score in league history. Ripper’s tournament total of 69 under is a league record as they won their fifth regular-season team title by three shots.