Wimbledon briefing: Day seven recap, Monday order of play and technology woe
The singles quarter-final line-up will be completed on Monday, with Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek all on the schedule.
Here, the PA news agency looks back at Sunday's action and previews day eight of the Championships.
Cameron Norrie kept the British flag flying at Wimbledon by taking down qualifier Nicolas Jarry in a five-set marathon to reach the quarter-finals.
The 29-year-old had a match point in the third set, but was taken to a fifth by the towering Chilean before getting over the line after four hours and 27 minutes.
Norrie, a semi-finalist in 2022, is only the third British man to reach the last eight more than once in the last 50 years, after Tim Henman and Andy Murray, and is the last home hope remaining in singles after Sonay Kartal was beaten in straight sets by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
'They stole the game from me' 😠
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova wasn't happy when #Wimbledon's electronic line-calling system failed ❌ pic.twitter.com/JA0WIYSccD
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 6, 2025
Wimbledon officials had to apologise to Pavlyuchenkova and Kartal after an embarrassing malfunction of the new electronic line-calling system on Centre Court.
Organisers admitted the technology was turned off in error on a section of the court for a game, with the mistake only becoming apparent when a shot from Kartal that clearly missed the baseline was not called out.
Had the call been correct, it would have given Pavlyuchenkova a 5-4 lead in the first set, but instead umpire Nico Helwerth ruled the point should be replayed, with Kartal going on to win the game.
A Wimbledon spokesperson later said the technology was 'deactivated in error on part of the server's side of the court', the 'chair umpire followed the established process' and both players had received an apology.
Women's world number one Aryna Sabalenka beat Elise Mertens in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals for an 11th successive grand slam appearance.
The victory was her 46th of the season – way ahead of any other player, with only four women managing more wins in the whole of 2024 – but having lost in the Australian Open and French Open finals so far this year, she is desperate to win Wimbledon for the first time.
Meanwhile, reigning men's champion Carlos Alcaraz remains on course for a third successive SW19 title.
The Spaniard dropped the opening set against Russian 14th seed Andrey Rublev, but he fought back to extend his winning streak to 22 matches.
Alex De Minaur has been forced to wait for a crack at seven-time champion Djokovic.
The pair were scheduled to meet in the 2024 quarter-finals before a devastated De Minaur withdrew ahead of play due to a hip injury sustained in his previous round win over Arthur Fils.
Twelve months on, the Australian has an opportunity a round earlier.
Centre Court (from 1.30pm)Novak Djokovic (6) v Alex De Minaur (11)Mirra Andreeva (7) v Emma Navarro (10)Jannik Sinner (1) v Grigor Dimitrov (19)
Court One (from 1pm)Ekaterina Alexandrova (17) v Belinda BencicBen Shelton (10) v Lorenzo SonegoIga Swiatek (8) v Clara Tauson (23)
Heavy rain changing to sunny intervals by late morning, with a maximum temperature of 23C, according to the Met Office.
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Leader Live
21 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Umpire given a rest while Wimbledon officials insist tech fail can't be repeated
Officials blamed human error for the incident at a crucial stage of the fourth-round match between Sonay Kartal and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, with the system inadvertently turned off and not flagging that a shot from the British player was out. Pavlyuchenkova, who would have moved 5-4 ahead, was furious with umpire Nico Helwerth for ordering the point to be replayed rather than making the call himself, accusing him of stealing the game and the tournament of home bias. German Helwerth, who had officiated at matches on each of the first seven days and is one of the sport's leading umpires, was notably absent on Monday, although organisers insisted it was a regular day off rather than a reaction to Sunday's events. Wimbledon officials apologised to both players, and chief executive Sally Bolton said: 'It was important for us to to explain as much as we could at that point in time what we believed had happened, and to apologise to the players for it happening in the first place. 'We're deeply disappointed that this has happened in the Championships. It was a human error. The ball-tracking technology is working effectively.' The system has replaced line judges for the first time this year and such a high-profile malfunction is hugely embarrassing for the All England Club. Bolton refused to go into the details of how the error had happened, or to explain what safeguards had been put in place during a briefing with reporters on Monday morning. 'They stole the game from me' 😠 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova wasn't happy when #Wimbledon's electronic line-calling system failed ❌ — BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 6, 2025 'I wasn't sat there, so I don't know what happened,' she said. 'It was clearly deactivated in error, because you wouldn't ordinarily deactivate a set of cameras mid-match intentionally. 'Once this happened, we did a full review of all of our systems and processes to check all of those kinds of things and to make sure that, both historically and moving forward, we have made the appropriate changes that we needed to make. So we're absolutely confident in the system.' Organisers later clarified the changes that have been made, with a spokesman saying: 'Following our review, we have removed the ability for Hawk-Eye operators to manually deactivate the ball tracking. This error cannot now be repeated.' Pavlyuchenkova, who went on to lose the game in question but won the match, was critical of Helwerth in her post-match press conference. 'I just thought also the chair umpire could take initiative,' said the Russian. 'That's why he's there sitting on the chair. He also saw it out, he told me after the match. He probably was scared to take such a big decision.' Bolton cited a breakdown in communication between the review official and the umpire, with Helwerth unaware the system had not been working previously during the game. It is also a big week in a different type of court for the All England Club, with a judicial review into the decision to grant planning permission for its expansion into neighbouring Wimbledon Park taking place at the High Court on Tuesday and Wednesday. There has been vehement local opposition to the scheme, which will see 39 new courts, including an 8,000-seat show court, built on the site of a former golf club. Wimbledon chair Debbie Jevans will be at the High Court on Tuesday, and Bolton said: 'We remain really confident that we'll make the progress we need to make.'
The Guardian
24 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Cameron Norrie vows to stay vocal as Carlos Alcaraz awaits at Wimbledon
Cameron Norrie said he relishes playing Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Tuesday and will continue to compete with the competitive energy that has driven his success, regardless of what other people think. 'I'm excited to play against him and I'm going to have to play my best level, and even better, to have a chance because he's got such a diverse game,' Norrie said. 'I'm going to have to be tough and bring more energy to have a chance.' Norrie reached the quarter-finals by holding his nerve in a bruising five-set battle with the Chilean qualifier Nicolás Jarry on Sunday. Jarry complained afterwards to Norrie about his tendency to cheer loudly after most points. 'He said I was a little bit vocal and I think: 'That's my energy,'' Norrie said. The competitive drive and relentless positivity that the left‑hander displays have been key factors in his success over the years. Some players, however, are less enthused by opponents who cheer their unforced errors or after less important points. Asked last week about the impact of the crowd on their second-round match, Frances Tiafoe focused immediately on Norrie's cheering: 'He was super‑amped,' Tiafoe said. 'He was saying 'c'mon' from the first game, which is definitely annoying, but that part bothered me more than the crowd.' Norrie also tends to encourage himself in French and Spanish, which led to a tense moment with the Spaniard Roberto Carballés Baena in Metz last November after the British player recovered to seal a three-set win: 'You say 'vamos!' all the time, looking right in my face,' Carballes Baena said. Norrie then offered a self-deprecating response: 'A couple of 'vamoses' and you get pissed off?' he said. 'I'm playing so bad, so I had to fire myself up.' As he looked to his upcoming match against Alcaraz, Norrie, 29, took these criticisms in his stride: '[When] a couple of people have not been too happy with it, I think it's been in a big match. I think they want to win the match as well, so it's understandable to maybe take it personally. But for me, I'm just aiming it at my team and aiming it at some people and some friends in the crowd. 'I think [against Jarry] it was a match where there's some moments with not a lot happening. I think some of the points are maybe not worthy of saying 'vamos' or saying 'c'mon' but it was a match that I really had to do that, because those points that don't mean a lot, if you lose those ones, you can get broken, and the match can go away from you very quickly.' To his credit, Norrie keeps the same energy regardless of his opposition. After their match at the Italian Open in 2023, Novak Djokovic also took issue with Norrie's frequent fist‑pumping. As he faces off against Alcaraz, the two-time defending champion and French Open champion who is on a 22‑match winning run, Norrie vowed that he will not shy away from the occasion. 'There's a lot of big matches, and we're playing and we're competing for [our] livelihood out there. So I want to compete as hard as I can, and I'm not going to tank matches and roll over matches for someone else. I'm doing it for myself, I'm not doing it to make someone else feel bad, or not doing it for that. If they take it personally, it's nothing to do with me.' Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Despite the gulf between their achievements, tennis is a game of match-ups and Norrie has at least caused Alcaraz trouble. The Spaniard has won four and lost two against Norrie but the Briton has won two of their past three meetings. At times, Norrie has been able to wear the world No 2 down with his shot tolerance and physicality, luring him into lengthy rallies and exposing Alcaraz's lack of patience. The pair have a great relationship and train together frequently at tournaments. 'Facing Cam is always really, really difficult,' Alcaraz said. 'We have really difficult battles. For me facing him is almost a nightmare, to be honest. Really tough from the baseline. I'm not surprised he's in the quarter-final playing great tennis because I've seen him practising. When he lost at Queen's [Club], he stayed for five days practising morning, afternoon and night. I saw him. So I'm not surprised at all seeing his level.' Alcaraz, though, has improved dramatically since Norrie won their most recent meeting, in the 2023 Rio Open final. He presents a completely different challenge across best-of-five-sets at grand slams and the grass courts only accentuate his complete game. The Spaniard will enter Centre Court as the clear favourite in his pursuit of a third Wimbledon title .
The Guardian
27 minutes ago
- The Guardian
One-click operator error led to Wimbledon line-calling failure
Wimbledon's electronic line-calling failure on Sunday came after an operator unintentionally switched off a set of cameras on Centre Court with one computer click, it is understood. Bosses earlier defended the new system as they continued to blame Sunday's seven minutes of chaos on human error. Sally Bolton, the chief executive of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, rejected the suggestion that human line judges should have been brought back in when the system was 'inadvertently deactivated' for six minutes and 49 seconds, missing three calls in one game. It can now be revealed that the embarrassing failure came after an operator unintentionally unticked on a computer screen one set of cameras that monitored a part of Centre Court. The Hawk-Eye technology at the centre of the controversy has now been overhauled so that cameras cannot be turned off when the system is operational. Sunday's malfunction came at a crucial stage of the fourth-round match between Sonay Kartal, 23, and the Russian veteran Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 34, when the system did not flag that a shot from the British player was out. Bolton told reporters on Monday morning that the club was 'deeply disappointed' by the incident but retained confidence in the technology. 'The system was functional,' she said. 'It had been deactivated. We didn't need to put line judges back on the court again. We needed the system to be active.' Bolton refused to go into detail about how the system had become deactivated, saying: 'In between matches, the system is deactivated, so it's not functioning when there isn't a match on court. So there is a process in place for activating and deactivating the system, and the humans are the people that need to do the activating and deactivating. 'So the way the system works is camera tracking of the ball. That system has been working optimally and effectively and was functioning. 'The issue was it was deactivated for a period of time on a portion of the court. But the way it works is that the camera tracking technology works in tandem with some humans, so the Hawk-Eye operator and the review official and all those things have to function effectively for it to work.' The system replaced line judges, who had been a staple on court for more than a century, for the first time this year and such a high-profile malfunction is hugely embarrassing for the All England Club. Multiple players including Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu, the British No 1s, have complained about the new technology and questioned some its calls. On Sunday, Pavlyuchenkova was furious with the umpire, Nico Helwerth, for ordering the point in question to be replayed rather than calling the ball out. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion 'I don't know if it's in or it's out. How do I know? You cannot prove it, because she's local they can say whatever. You took the game away from me,' Pavlyuchenkova said after Kartal won the point and went on to break for a 5-4 lead. 'They have stolen the game from me, they stole it.' Belinda Bencic, a Swiss player in the women's draw, joined the discussion on the system's accuracy. 'Of course, the incident on Centre Court yesterday was tough for Pavlyuchenkova. She definitely won the game,' Bencic said, adding that she had doubted some calls in her own matches. 'I don't trust it. I don't want to talk about it too much, but it's really stressful. 'Maybe I'm wrong … but I also see a lot of bad calls in other matches.' Helwerth was absent from the umpire rota on Monday and Bolton told the BBC he was 'having a rest day'. A Wimbledon spokesperson said: 'What is clear is that the ball-tracking technology has been working optimally during the championships. In this instance, there was a human error which deactivated the ball-tracking cameras on part of the server's side of the court. 'Following our review, we have removed the ability for Hawk-Eye operators to manually deactivate the ball tracking. While the source of the issue was human error, this error cannot now be repeated due to the system changes we have made.'
