It is, to be sure, the stuff of movies: An oft-injured guy ranked outside the top 100, making his Grand Slam debut thanks to a wild card, knocks out two seeded players on his way to a fourth-round matchup at Wimbledon against none other than No. 1 Novak Djokovic, the three-time defending champion.
We can guess what Hollywood might do with that script. Tim van Rijthoven, a 25-year-old Dutchman, earned the chance to see what will happen in real life across the net from Djokovic after both men won in straight sets on Friday at the All England Club.
“Before the tournament started, it was a dream for me to play him, basically. So to be able to have that chance, and to maybe even play on Centre Court or Court 1, is beautiful and magical,” Van Rijthoven said after beating No. 22 Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 on Court 12, with its capacity of 1,736, to become the first wild-card entry since 2015 to get to the round-of-16 at Wimbledon.
Photo: AFP
“I go into every match thinking I can win the match,” said Van Rijthoven, whose baseline-based style eliminated No. 15 Reilly Opelka earlier in the week. “Also, against Djokovic, I’ll go into that match thinking I can win that match.”
Actually, until last month, the backward-ballcap-wearing Van Rijthoven had not won a match on the ATP Tour.
Since then, he has not lost one, going 8-0, including a victory over current No. 1 Daniil Medvedev to claim the trophy at a grass-court event in the Netherlands.
“It’s been a long one. I’ve had my ups and downs, injuries here and there. Also struggled mentally,” said Van Rijthoven, whose health issues included wrist surgery, a procedure on a vein in his right arm because of thrombosis and nine months healing from “golfer’s elbow” that he noted with a smile he incurred from playing tennis.
“I’m just happy to be in the place I am right now,” he said. “I hope to be there for a couple more years — or a lot more years, actually.”
Djokovic advanced after a 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 22 Miomir Kecmanovic on Centre Court, which has nearly 15,000 seats.
“His game, from what I’ve seen, is quite suitable to this surface. His big serve, one-handed backhand. Uses the slice well. He’s an all-around player. He can play fast, he can also stay in the rally and come to the net,” Djokovic said of his opponent today.
Other’s to play in the fourth round of the men’s singles today are Carlos Alcaraz against Jannik Sinner; Frances Tiafoe against David Goffin; and Tommy Paul against Cam Norrie.
In the women’s singles, Maria Sakkari became the sixth of the top 10 seeded player to crash out before the end of the third round.
The fifth-seeded Greek lost 6-3, 7-5 to German world No. 103 Tatjana Maria, who returned to the tour last year after maternity leave.
Maria, in the fourth round of a Slam for the first time, faces former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko for a place in the quarter-finals.
Ostapenko, a semi-finalist in 2018, took her winners count to 102 over three rounds by defeating Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.
Germany’s Jule Niemeier followed up her win over second seed Anett Kontaveit by seeing off Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko in three sets.
Also exiting Friday was 2018 champion Angelique Kerber, with the German 15th seed beaten 6-4, 7-5 by Elise Mertens.
The Belgian next faces world No. 2 Ons Jabeur, who breezed past French teenager Diane Parry 6-2, 6-3.
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, Jabeur, Paula Badosa and Jessica Pegula were the only top-10 seeds left, with Swiatek, Badosa and Pegula to play after press time last night.
In the second round of the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and partner Shuko Aoyama of Japan advanced with a 6-1, 6-4 win against Maia Lumsden and Naiktha Bains of Britain.
In the mixed doubles, Chan and Japan’s Ben McLachlan were eliminated in the second round by Colombia’s Robert Farah and Ostapenko 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.
Chan’s sister, Latisha Chan, and partner Ivan Dodig of Croatia were to play their second-round mixed doubles match against Germany’s Andreas Mies and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand after press time.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Taiwanese infielder Chang Yu on Saturday made his major league pitching debut when he was pulled off third base in the bottom of the eighth to preserve the Tampa Bay Rays’ bullpen in their 9-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers. Chang’s chance to take the mound came as the Tigers’ scoring was already out of hand for the Rays. Detroit mounted a rare offensive outburst, leading Rays manager Kevin Cash to preserve his pitchers by allowing Chang to throw an inning. He retired Willi Castro on what the scoreboard called a 40mph curveball, but Detroit’s Jonathan Schoop hit the next pitch for
Taiwan yesterday outlasted the Dominican Republic 9-5 in a rain-soaked slugfest in Tainan to take home the bronze medal in the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup. Taiwan, who won the previous edition of the tournament in 2019, were eliminated from gold medal contention on Friday with a loss to the US, and needed a comeback win over South Korea a day later to reach yesterday’s third-place playoff. The US and Venezuela were playing for gold in a game that started at 7:45pm. The US were leading 7-2 at the bottom of the fifth inning as of press time last night. In what was
Tuesday night was another home run, another pitching win, another spot in the history books — just another night for Shohei Ohtani. The two-way sensation from Japan withstood another injury scare and pitched six scoreless innings to go with his team-leading 25th home run, reaching yet another monumental milestone as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Oakland Athletics 5-1. Ohtani joined Babe Ruth (1918) as the only players in major league history to have at least 10 home runs and 10 wins in the same season. The Angels said that two players from the Negro Leagues also did it: Bullet Rogan of the
A tearful Naomi Osaka on Tuesday retired injured and US Open champion Emma Raducanu fell at the first hurdle as the top women’s players continued their preparations for Flushing Meadows at the Canadian Open in Toronto. News of the pending retirement of Serena Williams overshadowed proceedings at the tune-up for the year’s final Grand Slam, but there were no shortage of first-round upsets for fans to enjoy, including one by local Bianca Andreescu. Twice US Open champion Osaka, in only her second tournament back from an Achilles injury, battled on gamely before retiring while trailing Kaia Kanepi 7-6 (7/4), 3-0. “I felt my
RSS