The All England Club was strangely silent on Sunday as Wimbledon took a pause for breath before the most intense day of the tournament — Manic Monday.
But just as a fine bottle of wine benefits from being given time to breathe, the Wimbledon vintage is just that little more special after a day off.
Every player remaining in the tournament now takes to the court to fight for a place in the quarterfinals. “Wimbledon is unique because it’s not played on middle Sunday, ” said Novak Djokovic, who takes on France’s Adrian Mannarino. “So Monday is a big day for all the players, both men and women.”
“It is even more so for the tournament and fans. Monday is one of the days on which you can get probably the most quality matches, both singles and doubles, men and women, of the entire tournament,” said the Serb, a three-times Wimbledon winner.
Eleventh seed Tomas Berdych meets Austria’s rising star Dominic Thiem, the beaten finalist in 2010, on court 3, while French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko takes on fourth-seed Elina Svitolina on court 12 Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov has a prime billing with seventimes Wimbledon champion Roger Federer on, of course, centre court.
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