The world No1, who came back from two sets to level his match before bad light stopped play on Monday night, frequently ranted in the direction of his backroom staff – coach Boris Becker appearing to take the brunt – while he shouted angrily in close proximity to a visibly unsettled ball girl and furiously demanded his towel in between points.
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Djokovic has denied shouting at the girl and revealed he has spoken to her in order to clear the air.
“I didn’t direct anything to her. It was in a moment of a battle”. “Of course that leaves less margins for error, but that’s the way I was playing a year ago”.
Murray was hardly troubled at all by a tired Vasek Pospisil of Canada and won 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 in a match that finished with the retractable roof closed at Center Court, in front of an audience that included Prince William and his wife Kate. I have to go out there and play to the best of my abilities. I’m only half kidding about that.
Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic says he has apologised to a ball girl left “trembling” after his outburst during a tense match. “You know, when I felt like it wasn’t being reciprocated, that’s when I spoke with the umpire for her to deal with”. I just don’t like him on grass against someone like Roger Federer who has looked extremely good thus far. He was asked if the one-set he played against Anderson could be used as a high intensity “warm-up”, similar to a training session the day before the quarterfinals. Federer is 9-0 at that stage at the All England Club.
Radwanska, the 2012 runner-up, eliminated No. 21 Madison Keys of the United States 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-3.
The Johannesburg-born player continued to dominate in the early part of the second set as he broke the number one seed and, despite seeing his own serve falter, the 6ft 8in player was able to secure another tie-break success to move into a 2-0 lead. By virtue of a single break, he squeaked through the fourth set 6-4.
While Simon, who beat sixth seed Tomas Berdych in the last round, has given Federer a tough ride in their two previous Grand Slam meetings, he has not beaten Federer since 2008.
Djokovic’s win completed the men’s quarterfinal lineup.
The holder made it into his 27th grand slam semi with his 50th win at Wimbledon, only the seventh man to reach that number of victories, and was surely relieved to have an easy time of it.
ESPN will begin coverage of Wimbledon men’s quarterfinal at 7:00 a.m (US EST) with the first match starts at 8:00 a.m United States (EST). ESPN Watch and Sports Stream will provide live streaming feed, while real-time commentaries, updates, scores and results are available on ESPN Tennis Courtcast.
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That scare aside, Djokovic has been in stunning form and comfortably saw off ninth seed Marin Cilic on Wednesday to book a semi-final showdown with Richard Gasquet, where the Serb wants to hit new heights.
