Early departure: Russians have completed their Wimbledon performance

Russian tennis player Roman Safiullin lost to Serbian Novak Djokovic in the fourth round of Wimbledon. The native of Podolsk fought on equal terms with the seven-time British major champion for three and a half hours, but eventually lost in four sets. Such an inspired game and reaching the 1/8 finals deserve great respect and should give strength to 28-year-old Safiullin. Unfortunately, our other tennis players will not be able to make this Wimbledon their asset.

The Djokovic Trial

Safiullin won the decisive qualifying match in a five-set match with Swiss Jerome Kim, and participated in two more thriller matches in the main draw. In the first round, he sensationally knocked out his compatriot, the 13th racket of the world Andrey Rublev. The match lasted more than four hours, and the winner was determined by a dramatic tie-break of the fifth set (14:12). In the second round, Roman faced a similar scenario. In four hours, the Russian coped with the representative of the Netherlands, Botik van de Sandshulp. It came down to the championship tiebreak again (10:5). So Safiullin won three five-setters in a row.

After such a crazy physical exertion, Roman was considered the undisputed underdog in the match against Joao Fonseca. Safiullin was given a coefficient of 4.1 to win, and 1.2 to his opponent. At Wimbledon, the 19-year-old Brazilian defeated Spaniard Roberto Bautista-Agut and Dutch Jesper De Jong in three sets. Many experts believed that the Russian would not be able to withstand Joao's pace, but the opposite happened. Roman put the ball in the corners with jewelry, tortured the opponent with serves to the body, brilliantly went to the net and played the match in one go, without slumps. As a result, it was an easy victory in three sets.

Safiullin's triumph turned out to be very emotional — during an interview on the court, the tennis player could not hold back tears, admitting that six months ago he was thinking about ending his career. The breakthrough at the British major brought the Russian dividends — after the tournament he will definitely return to the top 100 (after only five matches in the main round). However, given the form of a native of Podolsk, the fans were waiting for a new sensation from him. Even despite the status of the next opponent, the Wimbledon record holder Novak Djokovic.

Safiullin has already had wins over top ten players, including Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas. But it didn't work out with Djokovic, although there were chances. In the first set, Roman led 5-2 and had a set point at the reception. But having won it back, Novak became fully active. He equalized the score, brought it to a tie-break, which he won in a tight fight (8:6).

In the second game, Djokovic continued to bend his line. He easily picked up his serve and forced a serious fight at the reception. In the sixth game, he easily managed to make a break (4:2) and did not miss this advantage. After losing two sets, Roman shrugged off the burden of responsibility and started playing again, as in the first half of the opening game. He made two breaks and extended his stay at Wimbledon.

Unfortunately, Safiullin was unable to build on his success in the fourth set. In the first game, he was very close to taking the opponent's serve, but missed two break points. This gave additional strength to the Serbian, who five minutes later was already leading 3-0. At that moment, the Russian did not give up, but continued to fight in every game. In the sixth, he even got to "even", but he couldn't get to the break points. Roman then earned another opportunity to win back a break, but Novak overconfidently served for the match.

It should be noted that Safiullin served better with the first ball (82% and 80%) and scored only 10 points less than the great Djokovic (124:114). A very worthy defeat for a Russian leaving his beloved Helmet with his head held high.

Lawn factor: Medvedev moves on, Andreeva drops out

Six Russian tennis players continue to compete in the third round of Wimbledon

The tragedy of Medvedev

A day earlier, Karen Khachanov left the tournament. The Russian lost in the five-set match of the third round to the Italian Flavio Kobolli. At the same time, the match started well for the Russian: for the first time in his career, he won a set with a "steering wheel" from a player from the top 10.

Daniil Medvedev left the tournament the loudest. Jan-Lennard Struff is a pretty convenient opponent for Medvedev. They played each other 10 times, but the German won only twice. Yes, Jan-Lennard won on grass, but it was a tournament in Halle where he had the support of the home stands. At Wimbledon, the tennis players crossed paths twice: in 2021 and in 2024. These meetings turned out to be similar, with the same ending: the Russian took the first two sets, then Struff won 6-4, and in the fourth game everything was decided in a tie-break, where Medvedev was stronger — 7-3.

This time, Daniel could extend this series. The Russian led with breaks in each of the sets, but at the crucial moment he seemed to be eclipsed. As a result, Struff won two tiebreaks and took the third set with a score of 7-5.

There are also no representatives of our country left in the women's singles. Anastasia Zakharova and Alina Korneeva completed the performance in the first round, Anastasia Hasanova, Mirra Andreeva, Anna Blinkova and Diana Schneider — in the second, and Ekaterina Alexandrova, Anna Kalinskaya and Lyudmila Samsonova — in the third.