THE RACQUET There are lots of GIFS & images in The Racquet. You may need to give it a bit of time to load depending on your Wifi/4g. I promise it's worth it 😅 SPOILER FREE ZONE 🙅‍♂️ If you don't want to see todays scores yet, and instead want to catch up with the highlights first, stop here. Here are links to todays match highlights. Some may get removed.



Kyrgios vs Lopez



Mannarino vs Djokovic



Federer vs Ebden QUEENS & HALLE - 1/4 FINAL RESULTS 🎾 QUEENS: Featured Matches:

Kyrgios d Lopez 7-6(5), 7-6(3)



Always SUCH an interesting matchup. I sometimes feel that many players don't exploit Kyrgios' weaknesses as much as they should. Feli, the wily old dog that he is, does. He knows that if he knifes deep, low slices to Kyrgios' backhand, which is incredibly flat and can be static, preparation and footwork, wise, he'll get some errors or short balls. All the best points in this match followed this dynamic and forced both players to dial-in and produce their best tennis.



Feli and Nick both served strongly with a slight edge to Kyrgios who finished a 2nd match in a row with 32 aces 😳. Nick stepped up, looking really focused, in both tiebreakers and was just too good in the big points despite Lopez playing at a high level. Brilliant performance from Kyrgios.



Djokovic d Mannarino 7-5, 6-1



Another really interesting battle of game-styles and tactics. Mannarino started brilliantly, breaking Novak early with his flat, taking-the-ball-early style which is so well suited to grass. Djokovic then cleverly countered by using far more slice backhands to Adrian's weaker BH corner to take the rhythm, and time on the ball, away from him. This is exactly the kind of match that Novak would have lost, or at least lost sets in, a few months ago. Another very encouraging win for Djokovic. Should cruise to the final vs Cilic/Kyrgios.



Also:

Cilic d Querrey 7-6(3), 6-2

Chardy d Tiafoe 6-4, 6-4

HALLE:



Featured Matches:

Federer d Ebden 7-6(2), 7-5



A slightly improved performance from Federer vs his match yesterday with Paire. He'll still want to get his 1st serve in (55% today) up, but his 1st serve points won was nice and high, especially in the 1st set: 94% or 16/17. Like yesterday, Federer had a wobble in the 2nd set where Ebden fought well to go a break up and serve for the 2nd set. But that seemed to wake Fed up and he reeled off 4 straight games to close out the match. In his interview after the Paire match, Roger said he needed to be more aggressive on the 2nd serve return. This showed in todays match with an improved 55% of 2nd serve return points won.



Bautista Agut (RBA) d Khachanov 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3



A gutsy win from RBA who at one point was down a break in the 3rd set and staring defeat in the face. The real difference came in the form of return of serve. Both guys absolutely teed off on their opponents 2nd serves today (KK was at 86% of 2nd serve return points won in the 1st set😳), but it was RBA who did it more consistently with 2nd serve return points won at 75%+ in both the 1st and 3rd set. Khachanov's serve really should be more of a weapon on this surface given his height.



Also:

Kudla d Sugita 6-2, 7-5

Coric d Seppi 7-5, 6-3 INTERVIEW/PRESS TL;DR 🗣 Andy Murray has accepted a wild card into Eastbourne next week. Lineup is stacked (Wawrinka, Murray etc.) for a 250.



"It was good to get back to competition at Queen's and I'm hoping to building on that next week."

Source

Kyrgios on going for big 2nd serves:



“For some it’s not (percentage tennis) but for me I feel like I can’t miss the same serve twice so I got for it, and if I make it, I make it. If I miss it, I miss it.” And on todays win vs Lopez:



“I thought I focused really well. He played really, really well today, he served well. I’m just really happy to get through.”

Source

Cilic on Kyrgios' behaviour ahead of their match tomorrow:



“It’s difficult to go into those details. He has done a couple of things that he probably regretted, but we are all human. We all make mistakes.”



And on Kyrgios' potential:



“I think he’s showing throughout the years that he’s an amazing player and that he can be extremely dangerous whoever he pays.” I think he’s got the game. He has a great serve, great athleticism, great shot-making. I think he’s got all different things to be able to win grand slams.'

Source

Nadal on his preparations for Wimbledon and the No.1 ranking (translated):



- "Everything went well and I thank the organizers of the Mallorca Open who allowed me to train here. I had a very intense clay season and my body needed a little rest. As I always say, the drastic changes of surface are not positive for my body, although from time to time you have to do something because there is no other choice."



I thought that last part was interesting. Rafa doesn't see missing the grass season as an option.



- "The dynamics and confidence I have for Wimbledon is very high"

- "I'll play two exhibition matches (in London)."

- "I will not chase number one. At this point of my career the goal is to be healthy as many weeks as possible, be happy in what I do and have the option to compete every week".

Source SHOTS OF THE DAY 😮 Federer with an outrageous flick on the run 🔥 This looks like he's going down the line until the last second... Decides to go down the line this time. Ebden just guessing both times❓ Kyrgios' serve follow through left him in no-mans-land. No problem for Nick though...

Kudla with the rarely seen slice backhand running pass.🔥 Soft hands from Seppi today. TOMORROW'S OOP ⏰ 🔥 = match to watch



Queens (1pm Start):



Centre

Cilic vs Kyrgios (H2H 1-1) 🔥



Prediction: Cilic in 3



Djokovic vs Chardy (H2H 10-0)



Prediction: Djokovic in 2



Halle (11:30am Start):



Stadion

Federer vs Kudla (H2H 1-0)



Prediction: Federer in 2



Bautista Agut vs Coric (H2H 4-2) 🔥



Prediction: Coric in 3

EXTRA'S...🔍 Dan Evans d Marcus Willis 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4) in the Wimbledon pre-qualifying today. Stuart Fraser was court-side and hilariously recorded the two players, who are known to be particularly vocal, play by play:

Check out the full thread



Highlights: Evans *1-1 Willis



Evans to press: "You know there's a professional tournament down the road, you could watch that."



Evans *4-4 Willis



Willis saves BP with shot that trickles off net cord.



Willis: "Sorry"

Evans: "You're not sorry, don't say it"



Evans 6-6 Willis



Evans: "It's got to be the hottest morning in Britain. How f*cking hot is it?"



Evans 7-6 *1-2 Willis



Evans takes a fall



Umpire: "All good?"

Evans: "Not particularly but I'm going to carry on."



Willis: "Banana please".

Umpire: "No bananas available."



Evans 7-6 2-2* Willis



Evans passes Willis



Willis: "Did you feel me coming?"



Evans slips again



Willis: "Did you trip over a cabbage?" Source

A new study on Wimbledon mens/womens court scheduling:



"...from 1993 to 2017 more men’s than women’s matches were scheduled on Centre and No 1 courts with an average of 61% men’s and 39% women’s matches."

Source

In, what is possibly the most irrelevant piece of news on tour, the US Open have announced that ball boys/girls will no longer throw overhand because it's too hard 🤦‍♂️

Source

Nick Kyrgios has hit 82(!) aces in Queen's so far this week.

After his win today, Federer now has 19 consecutive wins on grass.

After his win today, Novak Djokovic now has 800 match wins on tour. Joins good company:



Connors, Federer, Lendl, Vilas, Nadal, McEnroe, Agassi, Nastase & Edberg.



Only Roger, Rafa, Novak, McEnroe, Connors and Lendl have 80% or better win/loss in this group. Great slow-mo of Federer's BH punched return of serve today. Perfect visualisation of why a single hander can be advantageous on grass: it's easier to punch serve's like this away from your body, being a more compact stroke than a double-hander. You don't have the 2nd hand getting in the way. Denis Kudla looks like he's seen some sh*t in his ATP headshot. LOL 😂 Querrey on grass & Bambi on ice.

#iconicduos Mannarino nearly going full Youzhny. Kyrgios with even worse footwork than usual 😜 Kyrgios impersonating Federer's serve.

Source Andy Murray riling up Argentinians since 2018

(talking about the ARG 0 - 3 CRO WC match)

Source

Novak has been spending too much time with Stan 👉😀 GAME, SET & MATCH 👋 Thanks for reading! You early subscribers (Beta testers) get access to 'The Racquet' Discord. Tap/click the Discord button below so you can give some feedback (or just spam Dolgopolov emojis 🤷‍♂️) You can also follow me on Twitter here: If you know anyone who would like 'The Racquet' here is the link to send them so they can sign up: https://theracquet.carrd.co See you tomorrow for Semi-Finals day at Queens and Halle !