Ajla Tomljanovic had the Grand Slam run of her life a year ago at Wimbledon, beating Jelena Ostapenko and Emma Raducanu on the way to the quarterfinals.
But this year her father, Ratko, in the familiar, conservative manner of dads everywhere, scheduled the family’s rental home only through the first Friday. When the 29-year-old Australian advanced to the third round, Ratko scrambled to land a pricey spot in a boutique hotel closer to the site. London, this time of year, as Tomljanovic pointed out, is packed.
“You thought I’d lose second round,” Tomljanovic said to her father. “At least book it till like Sunday so it’s a good problem to have. I gave him a lot of crap yesterday. He didn’t take it well.
“Funny enough, today when I finished [Saturday], he’s like, `Oh, I have to book again.'” I’m not going to give him too much trouble because he’s been a great dad that way. But he stitched it up a little bit this week.”
It’s been that kind of fortnight at Wimbledon so far. The World No.1 Iga Swiatek saw her 37-match win streak end at the hand of Alizé Cornet and four former champions – Serena Williams, Garbiñe Muguruza, Angelique Kerber and Petra Kvitova – failed to reach the second week.
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The top half of the draw features four Monday matches where half the players – including Tomljanovic – are unseeded. An accounting:
No.4 Paula Badosa vs. No.16 Simona Halep
This is one of the rare matchups we actually expected – and can’t wait – to see.
Badosa defeated the No.25-seeded Kvitova, a two-time champion here, 7-5, 7-6 (4) in the third round. This was huge for Badosa. It was the first time in seven grass-court matches that she prevailed over a seeded player.
She gets another one in Halep, who was a 6-4, 6-1 winner over Magdalena Frech. Halep, 30, is making her 10th appearance at the All England Club – and the first since winning the title in 2019. After her worst professional year, she’s in fine form, after reaching the grass semifinals in Birmingham and Bad Homburg.
“I’ve been struggling with the confidence lately,” she told reporters afterward. “But it’s normal after last year when I was injured and I didn’t win much. Tennis will come. If I keep doing every day what I have to do, I’m really confident that it’s going to come at the highest level.”
Their only meeting came…