Wimbledon 2019: Roger Federer breaks record, Nadal beats Tsonga, Fognini bomb

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Wimbledon 2019 is in full swing as the top 3 men including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic continue moving forward some making good news while another created a little controversy with their choice of coach. Nick Kyrgios continued his bad boy play in his match against Rafa where he intentionally hit the Spanish tennis star.

Here are the Wimbledon 2019 highlights so far:

Roger Federer breaks history again

Roger Federer broke yet another Wimbledon record by reaching the fourth round for the 17th time.

The eight-time Wimbledon champion beat Lucas Pouille 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (4) on Centre Court to eclipse Jimmy Connors’ mark of 16 fourth-round appearances at the All England Club.

Federer also became the first player — man or woman — to reach 350 match wins in Grand Slam tournaments.

Federer saved a break point at both 3-3 and 5-5 in the first set, then won six straight games to take a 4-0 lead in the second. Pouille managed to hold serve throughout the third set, saving a match point at 6-5. But in the tiebreaker, he netted a backhand on Federer’s third match point.

Federer will next face 17th-seeded Matteo Berrettini, who defeated Diego Schwartzman 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2), 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

Nadal Knocks Out Tsonga

Rafael Nadal drew level with Bjorn Borg with his 51st victory at Wimbledon, beating two-time semifinalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in the third round.

Nadal beat Tsonga on Centre Court in a match that wasn’t nearly as taxing as his second-round victory over Nick Kyrgios. He never faced a break point, broke Tsonga five times, and served out the match with an ace.

It was their first meeting at a Grand Slam tournament since the 2008 Australian Open, when Tsonga beat Nadal in the semifinals.

Nadal is now tied for eighth with Borg on the men’s all-time list of most match wins at the All England Club, where he won the title in 2008 and 2010. It was also his tour-leading 35th match win of the season. That number could be matched by Roger Federer, who was up next on Centre Court against Lucas Pouille.

Andy Murray Doubles Out

Andy Murray is out of the men’s doubles tournament at Wimbledon.

Murray and partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert lost to sixth-seeded Nikola Mektic and Franko Skugor 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 in the second round on No. 2 Court.

Murray is skipping the singles tournament this year after having hip surgery. But the two-time singles champion still has a chance to lift another Wimbledon trophy because he is set to play his opening match in mixed doubles with Serena Williams later in the day.

Murray missed Wimbledon last year because of his hip injury.

Fabio Fognini Heated Bomb

Top-10 player Fabio Fognini said during his third-round loss at Wimbledon that he wanted a bomb to explode at the All England Club.

Later, the Italian player said his comments came in the heat of the moment. He said he was upset about not playing well and the condition of the grass at Court 14.

At his news conference, Fognini said in Italian: “If I offended anyone, I apologize. That definitely wasn’t my intention.”

An All England Club spokeswoman said there was no immediate comment from tournament officials.

Fognini is in a two-year Grand Slam probationary period after getting kicked out of the 2017 U.S. Open for insulting a female chair umpire. He also was fined $27,500 at Wimbledon in 2014 for outbursts during a victory.

Djokovic Draws Serbian Ire

Novak Djokovic is again under scrutiny in his native Serbia — this time because of inviting Goran Ivanisevic to join his coaching team at Wimbledon.

Serbia’s state-controlled tabloids called it a “scandalous” partnership between the top-ranked Serb and the former Wimbledon champion from Croatia.

Croatia fought a bloody war for independence from Serb-led Yugoslavia in the 1990s and nationalist sentiments still run high in both countries.

“Goran comes from Croatia, I’m from Serbia. We both come from the country that was once called Yugoslavia,” Djokovic said, explaining his decision to recruit Ivanisevic. “When I was small and started watching tennis, I watched his match against (Pete) Sampras. Everyone in the region supported him (Ivanisevic).”

Djokovic, whose mother was born in Croatia, had faced similar public criticism when he said he would support Croatia after Serbia exited last year’s soccer World Cup at the group stage. Croatia went on to the final where it lost against France.

Pro-government Belgrade tabloid Informer quoted former NBA center Darko Milicic as saying that Djokovic’s move to hire Ivanisevic is “an insult to his fans.”

Milicic said that whenever Djokovic “displays outbursts of love for Croats” he should think of his Serbian fans “who have gone through harassment, expulsions and loss of their loved ones during the war.”

The tabloids printed an interview Ivanisevic had with the New York Times during the war in which he was quoted as saying he wished “to have some Serbs standing in front of me” while he had shooting practice with a machine gun.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, a former ultranationalist, took a softer line: “It is good for our country that Novak Djokovic has good relations with Ivanisevic so that the past clashes are overcome.”

Ivanisevic, who won the men’s singles title in 2001, has told Serbian media he received “a rather unexpected call” from Djokovic ahead of the grass court tournament.

“It’s all unusual,” Ivanisevic said, adding he was trying to postpone some obligations that may force him to leave Wimbledon in the second week.

Nadal Takes Out Nick Kyrgios

Rafael Nadal was up near the Centre Court net when Nick Kyrgios smacked a booming forehand directly at the guy’s midsection — right at him, on purpose — and earned a lengthy staredown in return.

Kyrgios didn’t apologize, at the time or at his news conference — for that or for berating the chair umpire or for spending time at a local pub the night before the match.

Rarely does Kyrgios offer regrets, for much of anything. Instead, he tends to double down. He is nothing if not fascinating. He is talented, too. And yet it was Nadal who emerged from all of the tumult Thursday at Wimbledon to beat Kyrgios 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) in a second-round match boasting plenty of dramatics, a dose of animosity and delightful play by both men.

“I’m always willing to go out there and try and put on a show. I know people that bought a ticket today probably had a great day,” said Kyrgios, a 24-year-old Australian who is ranked 43rd. “At times today, I was looking around: This is Wimbledon, playing Rafa. … But I’ll probably wake up tomorrow (and) there will be something negative about it, for sure.”

Kyrgios is capable of being as entertaining and befuddling a player as there is and showed why throughout this 3-hour-plus contest that overshadowed everything else going on around the grass-court Grand Slam tournament on Day 4.

Defending champion Angelique Kerber was upset by Lauren Davis, an American who lost in qualifying but got into the main draw when someone else withdrew. Seven-time champion Serena Williams needed a comeback to win in three sets against an 18-year-old qualifier.

Williams’ partner for mixed doubles, two-time Wimbledon singles winner Andy Murray, won his first-round match in men’s doubles as he returned to the tournament for the first time in two years following two hip operations. Marcos Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open runner-up and a fan favorite, played what he says will be the last match of his career. Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion and a 2017 Wimbledon finalist, lost, too.

None of that really mattered, in the end.

Everything was rendered secondary to Nadal vs. Kyrgios.

Part of that is because a 19-year-old Kyrgios beat then-No. 1 Nadal at the All England Club in 2014.

Part of that is because they traded barbs away from the court recently in a spat that also involved Nadal’s uncle, Toni.

In the leadup to this meeting, Kyrgios joked that he didn’t think “me and Rafa could go down to the Dog & Fox and have a beer together,” referring to a nearby bar where Kyrgios was spotted Wednesday night. The 33-year-old Nadal, meanwhile, observed that he was “too old for all this stuff.”

They could hardly be more different, something Kyrgios underlined after he lost despite producing a 58-44 advantage in winners, including 29 aces — one a second serve at a tournament-high 143 mph and a pair that he hit with an underarm motion.

These two couldn’t even agree on whether Kyrgios is capable of winning major championships.

Nadal’s take? “With his talent and with his serve, he can win a Grand Slam, of course.”

And Kyrgios’ self-assessment? “I know what I’m capable of. Just depends. I’m a great tennis player, but I don’t do the other stuff. I’m not the most professional guy. I won’t train day in, day out. I won’t show up every day. So there’s a lot of things I need to improve on to get to that level that Rafa brings. … But, no, at the moment I don’t think I can contend for a Grand Slam.”

He is ranked 43rd, and hasn’t been past the quarterfinals at a major. But against Nadal, he displayed boundless power, guile, touch and athleticism.

Kyrgios, his shirt collared popped just so, seemed to act at times as if it were more important to look cool than to play well. The between-the-leg shots, the unnecessary leaping backhands and all the rest. On the initial point of the pivotal fourth-set tiebreaker, he jumped high for a showy overhead instead of making a safer putaway. The result? He deposited his shot ball in the net, then rolled his eyes and chucked away a ball. Soon, the match was over.

Much earlier, he had several loud arguments with chair umpire Damien Dumusois, complaining about all sorts of things, including how long Nadal took between points and whether the official was seeking too much attention. During the match, Kyrgios earned a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct after calling Dumusois a “disgrace.” At his news conference, Kyrgios’ insults of choice were “horrendous” and “terrible.”

In the third set, there was that “dangerous” ball — Nadal’s word — he sent toward the Spaniard, who blocked it with his racket at the last second. Perhaps startled, Nadal double-faulted on the next point. But he wound up holding serve, then celebrating like he’d won the match, leaping and yelling and punching the air. When he eventually did seal the victory, Nadal wagged a finger and shouted and fist-pumped some more.

Asked by a reporter why he didn’t say sorry at the time, Kyrgios replied: “I didn’t hit him. Hit his racket, no? Why would I apologize? I won the point. … I mean, the dude has got how many Slams, how much money in the bank account? I think he can take a ball to the chest, bro.”

Fabio Fognini Out

Tennys Sandgren extended his Wimbledon run by upsetting 12th-seeded Fabio Fognini 6-3, 7-6 (12), 6-3 in the third round.

Sandgren had not earned a tour-level victory since Auckland in January coming into the tournament but beat a top-10 player at a Grand Slam for the third time. He knocked out both Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem en route to the Australian Open quarterfinals last year.

Against Fognini, he saved four set points in the tiebreaker before converting his fourth, which he set up with a running backhand winner following a long rally.

The 10th-ranked Fognini was trying to reach the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time. Sandgren lost to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the first round last year in his debut.

Serena Beats Julia Goerges

Serena Williams beat Julia Goerges at Wimbledon for the second year in a row.

The seven-time champion defeated the 18th-seeded German 6-3, 6-4 on No. 1 Court. Williams beat Goerges in straight sets in the semifinals at the All England Club last year before losing to Angelique Kerber in the final.

The 11th-seeded Williams will next play Carla Suarez Navarro on Monday in the fourth round.

Top-seeded Ash Barty also advanced, beating Harriet Dart 6-1, 6-1 on Centre Court. The Australian will next face another unseeded player on Monday, Alison Riske of the United States.

Nishikori Hits 400

Kei Nishikori recorded his 400th career tour-level win to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon.

The former U.S. Open finalist beat Steve Johnson 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 on No. 3 Court to make it into the second week for the third time in four years. He reached the quarterfinals last year for his best result at the All England Club.

Sam Querrey also advanced to the fourth round. The unseeded American, who reached the semifinals in 2017 after beating Andy Murray, defeated John Millman 7-6 (3), 7-6 (8), 6-3.

Querrey will play in the second week at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament for the fourth time.

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