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This is a national programme. Now we're going to take you over to | :00:11. | :00:14. | |
Wimbledon... MUSIC PLAYS Wimbledon is a place | :00:15. | :01:07. | |
that just drips with history. Even when you've played your part | :01:08. | :01:12. | |
over the years, you know it's like laying a tile in a much bigger | :01:13. | :01:17. | |
mosaic. I guess some just have a few more tiles. | :01:18. | :01:25. | |
That is it, she has won it! What a lovely moment visits. Venus | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
Williams, crowned supreme. Elite Shield came wings. Venus Williams is | :01:30. | :01:37. | |
the champion again. -- Billie Jean King wins. | :01:38. | :01:42. | |
This game toughens you up, physically, emotionally and | :01:43. | :01:44. | |
mentally. When you have lifted the trophy | :01:45. | :01:48. | |
before, you know what it takes to get it done on the biggest stage. | :01:49. | :01:55. | |
She seems unstoppable. Coming up firing. Don't get me | :01:56. | :01:59. | |
wrong, this is no foregone conclusion. We have all been young | :02:00. | :02:07. | |
once. Fiercely ambitious, keen to accept the establishment and make | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
our first mark on history. Nothing is stopping her now. | :02:12. | :02:18. | |
Muguruza has won it. It will be quite a battle, and another tile in | :02:19. | :02:23. | |
the mosaic of Wimbledon history. We are just waiting to find out who | :02:24. | :02:25. | |
will lay it. Billie Jean King ? one | :02:26. | :02:28. | |
of the legends of Wimbledon. And this weekend another two legends | :02:29. | :02:35. | |
could achieve the incredible and become the oldest champions | :02:36. | :02:37. | |
in the open era. Tomorrow, 35-year-old Roger Federer | :02:38. | :02:40. | |
will play for an eighth men's singles title, | :02:41. | :02:42. | |
and today 37-year-old Venus Williams goes for a sixth ladies' crown, | :02:43. | :02:46. | |
nine years after her last. Standing in her way | :02:47. | :02:56. | |
is Spain's Garbine Muguruza. The number 14 seed was a finalist | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
in 2015 when she was beaten But Muguruza became a grand slam | :03:02. | :03:04. | |
champion with victory in Paris last year, and she's played some | :03:05. | :03:11. | |
brilliant tennis on her Williams first played | :03:12. | :03:13. | |
here in 1997 and it's 17 years At times in the past fortnight she's | :03:14. | :03:20. | |
looked back to her very best, not least in the semifinal victory | :03:21. | :03:27. | |
over Britain's Jo Konta. It's Williams against Muguruza in | :03:28. | :03:38. | |
the Wimbledon ladies' singles final. The players will walk | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
onto centre court at 2pm, You probably saw that the roof is | :03:44. | :04:00. | |
closed, the umbrellas are up so we are in the safety of the studio. It | :04:01. | :04:06. | |
could be an indoor final, and I am delighted to say that Billie Jean | :04:07. | :04:08. | |
King and Martina Navratilova are with me. They have won so many Grand | :04:09. | :04:14. | |
Slams between them that I gave up counting at 95. Why?! My pen was | :04:15. | :04:23. | |
running out. Martina has 58, I know that. 40 between us for Wimbledon. | :04:24. | :04:32. | |
It was 50 years ago that I won the triple here. 50 years ago. It brings | :04:33. | :04:39. | |
back memories. That opening brought back memories for me. I did not know | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
that you guys were going to do that with the old footage. You were an | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
inspiration, Billie Jean, to both of us. You know I had an Afro in 75. | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
Not one media person noticed or asked me why. Because Black is | :04:56. | :05:01. | |
beautiful was in that year. You remember Arthur Ashe won, he had his | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
Afro. I kept waiting for somebody to ask me why I was wearing an Afro, | :05:07. | :05:12. | |
that is why. I am big on inclusion and all that. I was trying to make a | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
statement, even though I was a white girl. I thought you just had a bad | :05:17. | :05:26. | |
hairdresser! And that was a bad day, right?! I did that on purpose, it | :05:27. | :05:30. | |
was shocking, you have to per your hair. I said to Arthur, yours is | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
natural, mine is not. Martina, you know all about final day. Every | :05:37. | :05:40. | |
player says take one match at a time, this is more than a match. | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
This is the one. These two players treat every much like a Wimbledon | :05:46. | :05:57. | |
final. You have to do that mentally, physically and emotionally, treat | :05:58. | :06:00. | |
them as if it is the one, so when you get there you have played 100 | :06:01. | :06:03. | |
matches like it before. Even if it is your first final. It is | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
Muguruza's seconds. I realised it was the final this morning, and I | :06:09. | :06:11. | |
thought about what it felt like for real. He was so excited, you can't | :06:12. | :06:17. | |
wait to get out. It is a very different feel, the whole day, in | :06:18. | :06:22. | |
the locker room. It is very quiet here near the end. In the beginning | :06:23. | :06:26. | |
there are so many people and players and chaos, all of a sudden as the | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
fortnight goes by it gets less and less. On the final day for me, | :06:32. | :06:37. | |
personally, and I have listened to others, you think of when you are a | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
child and you always wanted to win Wimbledon, it is always a goal, you | :06:42. | :06:45. | |
realise the hard work you put in and it is a moment of truth. For me it | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
used to be OK, this is it, I have always dreams about this. I will | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
either execute properly or not. It gets down to execution. The top | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
players know how each other play, they know exactly. Can I execute | :07:01. | :07:06. | |
properly, stay focused, not let up for even two points, because those | :07:07. | :07:18. | |
two points usually make the difference. The Konta match with | :07:19. | :07:20. | |
Venus, 30-40, second serve, Venus served at 106 mph. Those are the | :07:21. | :07:22. | |
moments of truth, and when you are in a match... I am sure that Venus | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
is new in the semis that she could not let the first set go. Konta has | :07:27. | :07:33. | |
a big serve, that is dangerous. So you really have is to make sure that | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
you are bringing all of yourself, I mean all of yourself, and stay in | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
the moment, stay in the now if you want to win. And it is can I do it | :07:44. | :07:50. | |
when it counts? I mentioned the weekend of history, 35-year-old | :07:51. | :07:55. | |
Roger tomorrow, 37-year-old Venus Williams. Incredible. Looking at | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
older players that have won, Serena is the oldest champion that has won, | :08:01. | :08:07. | |
35 years at the Australian Open, 34 when she was here. Grand Slam finals | :08:08. | :08:18. | |
as well. Martina, you are one of the oldest, you played the final at 37. | :08:19. | :08:24. | |
Was it different? About it was different from Venus because I knew | :08:25. | :08:27. | |
it was my last year and I did not want to play any more. I would not | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
have said that all made it public, even though you know. But you know | :08:33. | :08:38. | |
you'll time is running out regardless. Venus might have two or | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
three years, you don't see it going past 40. Tennis is too explosive, | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
everybody is hitting harder. Everything takes longer, the | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
recovery, the preparation. You maybe lose a little bit. It amplifies. | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
Venus get away with it more than others because of her long reach. | :09:00. | :09:03. | |
One step is still one step for her. It is when you had to take three or | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
four that you lose speed, but she is covering the ball as well as | :09:09. | :09:12. | |
anybody, maybe not as well as she used to but it is good enough. But | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
it is the self-imposed pressure of knowing your time is running out, | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
that is when the nerves kick in, a little or remote depending on how | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
you play. We could have the rid the champions that we had in 2007. It is | :09:26. | :09:31. | |
incredible how the game moves on -- we could have the repeated | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
champions. It is the information available, and it is the money, they | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
have unbelievable people around them. The support makes a huge | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
difference, they know how to take care of themselves. And it helps | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
financially, let's face it. My generation wanted to make a living. | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
I see the living they are making and I think, gosh, I would play until... | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
I played until I was 40 because it was so much fun and the money kept | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
going up every year. What an opportunity. And I love the | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
lifestyle, tennis people my friends. It is about relationships. What | :10:08. | :10:11. | |
Martina said was interesting, when you won you were not sure... We were | :10:12. | :10:20. | |
talking earlier in the year and you said I don't know if I have it any | :10:21. | :10:23. | |
more and I said your 90% is better than everybody else's 100%, and it | :10:24. | :10:26. | |
was. Sometimes you have to understand that when you are older | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
you will not run as fast, but is your 90% is good or better than the | :10:31. | :10:37. | |
others' 100%? Roger is running like a 27-year-old, to me. I cannot | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
believe he is not in his 20s. His position and technique, he sees the | :10:43. | :10:47. | |
ball early, his contact point, he keeps his head still. He watches the | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
ball better than anybody have seen my life. Anybody who wants to make | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
it in this board should watch him. As far as the day goes, you start | :10:57. | :11:01. | |
with a practice session. Venus was out there today. Is it different for | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
a final? It is the same routine, when you need to play, how long, | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
went to finish so you can take a shower, recover, eat, recover again. | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
The weather throws it a little bit. If you need to practice indoors or | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
shorten its because it starts raining. But champions are just, as | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
Billie Jean says, you adapt. You have your routine, if you need to | :11:28. | :11:32. | |
adapt it, you do. Her mum is coming in as well. How many matches has she | :11:33. | :11:38. | |
watched? She deserves a plaque, a trophy or a statue. I was speaking | :11:39. | :11:49. | |
to her, because of the syndrome it has changed Venus and how she thinks | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
about things. Her mother says, you know how stubborn she is, she has | :11:55. | :11:58. | |
decided should... Decided to really work on her serve. I have never seen | :11:59. | :12:04. | |
her serving this fluid. She has lots of believers, she needs to keep it | :12:05. | :12:11. | |
in order. Her serve is the best I have seen it in years. Oracene, her | :12:12. | :12:16. | |
mum, say she has been working very hard. Go fight we are in for a great | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
final, great first strike tennis. Her backhand has been doing better | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
than her forehand. They have been playing big, big tennis. Her | :12:27. | :12:34. | |
forehand has not been as good, but it has been proved. Garbine will | :12:35. | :12:45. | |
want backhand crosscourt rallies, Venus will once the other. This is | :12:46. | :12:53. | |
her third Grand Slam final, it is not an issue? Venus has an issue, | :12:54. | :12:59. | |
winning five times here. Being in nine finals, unbelievable. She keeps | :13:00. | :13:06. | |
her eyes on the ball, the contact point, that is what you want. It is | :13:07. | :13:11. | |
very interesting to see how it will play out. It will be very mental, | :13:12. | :13:18. | |
very emotional. If you can get the five shot long rallies, Muguruza has | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
a definite advantage. Venus likes to win the points within the first five | :13:23. | :13:28. | |
shots, first ball, really. If I were Muguruza I would want to get her to | :13:29. | :13:32. | |
five plus. We will talk more in a moment, but Tracy Austin has been | :13:33. | :13:36. | |
looking at how this final might be decided. | :13:37. | :13:48. | |
We have a 13-year-old five-time Wimbledon champion against a | :13:49. | :13:50. | |
one-time Wimbledon finalist, who is 23-year-old. Both playing extremely | :13:51. | :13:52. | |
well and both have only lost once said. -- we have a 37-year-old | :13:53. | :13:56. | |
five-time Wimbledon champion. You need to find your strength and | :13:57. | :14:02. | |
exploit your opponent's weakness. One of Williams' big strengths has | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
been her return positioning. 85% of the time she is on the baseline or | :14:07. | :14:12. | |
inside when she is returning serve, even more impressive it was 88% | :14:13. | :14:19. | |
against Jo Konta in the semifinals. What that does, the visual is still | :14:20. | :14:24. | |
intimidating, to have it returned to that close to the server. When Venus | :14:25. | :14:31. | |
makes contact here it rubs her opponents of time to react to the | :14:32. | :14:34. | |
second shot and pushes them on their heels. One of the biggest strengths | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
for Venus Williams is her serve. She has been using the body serve | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
extremely well during the Championships. In the semifinals | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
against Jo Konta, she served 62% of her serves down the T. Very | :14:49. | :14:54. | |
effective. Venus' least favourite serve is the one out wide on the | :14:55. | :15:01. | |
outside. She likes to slice the ball which comes around the right side, a | :15:02. | :15:07. | |
serve like that becomes too predictable and Muguruza can sit on | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
that T serve and get ready for the return. | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
One of the major strengths and Muguruza during the Championships is | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
her ability to hit the ball early. 36% of the time it is on or inside | :15:22. | :15:29. | |
the baseline when she is striking ground strokes, that is an | :15:30. | :15:32. | |
outstanding number. She has hit the ball so early, rubbing her -- | :15:33. | :15:38. | |
robbing her opponent of time. Another acids and Muguruza is her | :15:39. | :15:41. | |
ability to redirect the ball the line. -- another asset for Muguruza. | :15:42. | :15:53. | |
With accuracy. Fabulous shot. We talk about Garbine's backhand being | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
a major strength. A slight weakness would be her forehand. Chewing the | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
tournament she has hit 27 winners on that side, but also 51 unforced | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
errors. That might be something about Venus wants to talk about. Oh, | :16:08. | :16:15. | |
my gosh! The players will have sat down with their coaches and support | :16:16. | :16:19. | |
teams and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. And now it comes | :16:20. | :16:23. | |
down to handling that nerves and execution. Good luck, ladies. | :16:24. | :16:29. | |
I think the cameraman has just recovered now from that. It's | :16:30. | :16:35. | |
interesting, the forehand errors from Muguruza can't afford that | :16:36. | :16:38. | |
today, it's going to be one or two points that's going to really swing | :16:39. | :16:47. | |
this match. You know Venus will do that. When you get older, Roger | :16:48. | :16:51. | |
Federer is even using it. He never use today before. But it's useful, | :16:52. | :16:54. | |
particularly on the grass, particularly against a tall player, | :16:55. | :16:57. | |
it's hard to get out of the way. Same thing goes for Muguruza. She | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
has to use the body serve against Venus. Nobody wants to move away | :17:02. | :17:04. | |
from the ball, especially with such long arms. It's a tricky | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
proposition. The key will be if Muguruza can hold the forehand | :17:10. | :17:12. | |
together. She missed some easy shots with that. On the big points she | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
cannot afford those mistakes. Just show the body serve of Venus. | :17:17. | :17:20. | |
Because this is second serve at 106mph. That was brave on break | :17:21. | :17:26. | |
point. I think her serve is better, it's improved in the last few | :17:27. | :17:29. | |
months. I've been in shock and her forehand. This is the best I've ever | :17:30. | :17:35. | |
seen her hit her forehand. The body serve, that's how high it's coming | :17:36. | :17:38. | |
up and the reaction time that Jo had. Why didn't Konta hit body | :17:39. | :17:44. | |
serves? You're playing against the top player, as soon as you know | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
that, you hit body serve. Venus has been using that successfully now. | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
She likes to slice her serves. She will go to the forehand more often. | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
It's more natural. The body serve is effective against tall players and | :18:00. | :18:02. | |
people that are standing inside the baseline. The only way to get them | :18:03. | :18:06. | |
off being so close is to go right at them. It makes them back up. Again | :18:07. | :18:10. | |
Konta never did that. I'm expecting that mewing pewing will do that | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
today. Both -- Muguruza will do that today. Their positioning, both of | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
them are inside the baseline. That's a huge difference. People don't | :18:19. | :18:21. | |
realise when someone is behind the baseline how much more time you | :18:22. | :18:24. | |
have. They're not going to give each other any time. They're going to | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
keep - it's all math any way. You're going to keep shortening the time | :18:29. | :18:31. | |
factor to get ready and prepared. You're going to feel rushed. You | :18:32. | :18:34. | |
feel like someone is in their face, like boxing, when they're pounding, | :18:35. | :18:39. | |
just keep pushing you back. You have to pay attention, positioning, you | :18:40. | :18:46. | |
know, where am I winning? Where am I not winning? Usually the better the | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
player, the better they hit down-the-line off crosscourt, change | :18:53. | :18:55. | |
the direction of the ball. I look for those things in players as well, | :18:56. | :18:58. | |
how well are they doing that on that given day. That's really important | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
as well. It's going to be a great advert tore women's tennis. Muguruza | :19:03. | :19:08. | |
the aggression in the semifinal, she didn't let her in at all. She was | :19:09. | :19:12. | |
aggressive from the get go and she didn't let up. She didn't give her | :19:13. | :19:18. | |
much to be scared of on that day. But so much inside the court, it was | :19:19. | :19:22. | |
ridiculous. She's been at the net more during the tournament per point | :19:23. | :19:27. | |
than Venus Williams. Venus has been coming to the net less and less with | :19:28. | :19:32. | |
each match. Thinking, I can win from the baseline. I wish Venus would | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
come in more. With that wing span. If they get into longer rallies | :19:37. | :19:39. | |
she's going to have to pay attention to that. Muguruza's chances go up in | :19:40. | :19:44. | |
long rallies. She will have to think, how can I shorten the rally? | :19:45. | :19:48. | |
When I go to four hits of the ball that's when I usually win the point. | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
The backhand down-the-line, that's Muguruza's go-to shot. Venus likes | :19:54. | :19:59. | |
to guess crosscourt. If that backhand down-the-line pays off | :20:00. | :20:02. | |
today, also another key to that match up. Venus won't be able to | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
cheat that much because she will be beaten to the line. I think Garbine | :20:08. | :20:14. | |
Muguruza is six foot and Venus is 6'1". They're pretty much the same. | :20:15. | :20:17. | |
One is thicker than the other, but you know, Venus has lost weight. | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
When we see them standing in, taking it inside the baseline, have you to | :20:23. | :20:25. | |
have the most incredible eye and timing to do that. It's not easy. | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
Kids seeing it at home, don't try it. It's not easy. It's a great idea | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
if you can manage to get the ball back. Yeah the timing and reaction | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
and the decision making and that's another reason why the body serve is | :20:40. | :20:42. | |
so effective. Have you to decide whether you're hitting a forehand or | :20:43. | :20:45. | |
backhand. When you hit off here, you go to the ball. When it's coming at | :20:46. | :20:50. | |
you, that split second can be crucial. People are ducking because | :20:51. | :20:56. | |
they make the wrong choice. Well, Muguruza is coached by Conchita | :20:57. | :20:59. | |
Martinez. She is the only Spanish woman to be a winner of the title | :21:00. | :21:06. | |
when she won in 1994 against oops - awkward -- Martina! | :21:07. | :21:16. | |
UMPIRE: Game, set and match. How much do you enjoy being back at | :21:17. | :21:27. | |
Wimbledon? Pretty much before Wimbledon, all of the press reminds | :21:28. | :21:33. | |
us, you know, you won over there. They want an interview, so yeah | :21:34. | :21:37. | |
those memories come back and to be here at Wimbledon, the first week, | :21:38. | :21:40. | |
when nobody's here, to see how beautiful the grass is, how | :21:41. | :21:43. | |
beautiful the flowers, everything is perfect. So it's very special. It's | :21:44. | :21:52. | |
very special to come back. Your charge, Garbine Muguruza, is doing | :21:53. | :21:57. | |
sow well. You must -- so well. You must be really proud? Yeah, yeah I'm | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
very proud of her. She's having a great attitude here. She's, | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
obviously, when you're playing great, it's easier to have the right | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
attitude. I think she's got a great game, suited for grass. I mean grass | :22:11. | :22:14. | |
is a difficult surface. I think she's very open about trying to be | :22:15. | :22:20. | |
OK on grass this year. She's doing a great job. From what you know and | :22:21. | :22:27. | |
your experience of Venus, are you surprised that she's still going how | :22:28. | :22:31. | |
she is? You know, yeah, I mean you look at her age, and to play and | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
move that well and to recover, because when you get older, recovery | :22:37. | :22:42. | |
is a big part. But she's very powerful. Every time she plays on | :22:43. | :22:48. | |
grass, she plays pretty much her best tennis. She's going to be a | :22:49. | :22:52. | |
very difficult opponent regardless of her age. You know better than | :22:53. | :23:00. | |
most, Conchita learned how to play on grass and how to win on grass. | :23:01. | :23:03. | |
It's not ease why I to make that adjustment. I think clay is a great | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
surface to learn tennis on. You have to learn how to construct points, | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
how to think, Plan A doesn't work, Plan B, maybe even Plan C. So then | :23:14. | :23:18. | |
you can adapt to grass easier than a grass court person can adapt to | :23:19. | :23:22. | |
clay. Because you just have more weapons, more tools. She's making | :23:23. | :23:27. | |
Garbine Muguruza come in more. I've watched her practising, she won't | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
let her behind the baseline. Chnchts is really funny. Conchita was a | :23:32. | :23:36. | |
baseliner. But she won against me at the net. Maybe the only time she was | :23:37. | :23:40. | |
there. She knows when the right time to come in. She's been a good | :23:41. | :23:47. | |
influence on Garbine. Before I felt like if things don't go her way she | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
panics. You see the nerves on her. I haven't seen that at all. I think | :23:53. | :23:55. | |
that's got to be Conchita's influence, giving her that | :23:56. | :23:58. | |
confidence. Because she's been there. You don't just say, you need | :23:59. | :24:02. | |
to do this. I know what it feels like. This is what it's going to be | :24:03. | :24:05. | |
and how you deal with it. It's nice to see that another woman coach made | :24:06. | :24:12. | |
such a difference for a player. Kudos to Conchita and Garbine that | :24:13. | :24:18. | |
she can do it. It's days like today that the super coach comes into | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
play. You still have to execute. You may know exactly what you're going | :24:24. | :24:26. | |
to do, but in that moment, but that's what athletes live for. Those | :24:27. | :24:31. | |
are the moments we live for. You just hope you have the guts and the | :24:32. | :24:35. | |
determination and the execution that day. Some days are good days. Some | :24:36. | :24:39. | |
days are bad days at the office. You don't know what's going to happen. | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
But the best ones come through percentage wise more often than the | :24:44. | :24:46. | |
others. That's the difference. Because everybody chokes. Champions | :24:47. | :24:50. | |
just choke fewer times. Everyone gets tight. I don't care, if anybody | :24:51. | :24:55. | |
says they never get tight, you know they're lying. Even Roger said he | :24:56. | :25:00. | |
was nervous the other day. Of course, because it's exciting. How | :25:01. | :25:05. | |
excited must he be and Venus and Garbine, it's a great for the night | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
of tennis so far. I just hope that these finals end up being terrific | :25:11. | :25:14. | |
finals. Sometimes they're not. It looks like this one - This could be | :25:15. | :25:18. | |
unbelievable, the way it's matching up with all the stats, for the for | :25:19. | :25:22. | |
the night. I'm looking forward to it. It could be really close. It's | :25:23. | :25:26. | |
not fair to ask you who is going to win. What will be the deciding | :25:27. | :25:31. | |
factor? I think the key is more for Muguruza to get off to a good start | :25:32. | :25:35. | |
than for Venus. Venus has been here. It's more likely that nerves will | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
come into play for Garbine. It's essential for her to win the first | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
set more than Venus. If she wins the first set, she has a chance. If | :25:45. | :25:47. | |
Venus wins the first set, she'll feel it and you can feel the | :25:48. | :25:49. | |
momentum and the confidence growing in her within the match. First set | :25:50. | :25:55. | |
is vital. They've proven in matches, it's like an 80% if you win first | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
sets. Even three out of five sets, it's important. I think, I agree, | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
also Venus can be a slow starter. I'm going to look for that as well. | :26:05. | :26:08. | |
Billie Jean king, Martina Navratilova, thank you so much for | :26:09. | :26:11. | |
joining me. It's been a pleasure. Really looking forward to the final. | :26:12. | :26:13. | |
The tournament, So many stories have come out | :26:14. | :26:17. | |
of this year's ladies singles. Here's Clare Balding | :26:18. | :26:20. | |
with the best of them. when they published the account of | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
Wimbledon 2017, the women's section will have the title "wide-open". In | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
the absence of the defending champion, anyone could draft their | :26:30. | :26:40. | |
name into the record books. Serena still sending subliminal message | :26:41. | :26:43. | |
that's she will be back. There were romantic and dramatic stories. | :26:44. | :26:51. | |
Two-time Wimbledon champion, Petra Kvitova making her appearance after | :26:52. | :26:54. | |
a knife attack in her home. She made it to the second round and then her | :26:55. | :27:00. | |
chapter ended. Creating her own postnatal literature, Victoria | :27:01. | :27:03. | |
Azarenka returned to the tour with baby Leo in toe. She eraised home | :27:04. | :27:09. | |
grown Heather Watson in the third round, but went no further. Losing a | :27:10. | :27:16. | |
tennis match was put firmly into contest when Bethany Matic Sands had | :27:17. | :27:23. | |
a horrible fall. She faces major surgery on a raptured knee cap. The | :27:24. | :27:27. | |
support has been amazing. I will get through this. Top of the charts, | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
Angelique Kerber had the number one by her name. The top seed found the | :27:32. | :27:35. | |
power and pace of Garbine Muguruza too much in the Fourth Round. She | :27:36. | :27:40. | |
wasn't the only one. Muguruza is trying to rewrite Spanish history, | :27:41. | :27:44. | |
so it makes sense to have the original author on her side. | :27:45. | :27:50. | |
Drafting her way into her second Wimbledon final, Muguruza accounted | :27:51. | :28:01. | |
for the Cinderella story of Rybarikova. She was making her first | :28:02. | :28:08. | |
Grand Slam semifinal at the age of 28. Maggie made miracles happen. But | :28:09. | :28:13. | |
when the clock struck one hour, her time on Centre Court was over. The | :28:14. | :28:19. | |
women's game is used to the fairy-tale Princess, in Paris, | :28:20. | :28:22. | |
Jelena Ostapenko had landed from nowhere to win her first tour title | :28:23. | :28:26. | |
and first Grand Slam all in one go. She made a few waves here on the | :28:27. | :28:32. | |
grass. But she was sunk by the serenity of Serena's big sister. By | :28:33. | :28:38. | |
the Fourth Round, Venus was the only former champion left and in an | :28:39. | :28:43. | |
age-deifying era, she was trying to become the oldest winner in modern | :28:44. | :28:48. | |
times. Venus has read and probably written every book on the shelf. She | :28:49. | :28:54. | |
has five titles in the bag but is almost out of print. The last of | :28:55. | :28:57. | |
them was nine years ago. Could she turn back the pages? In the | :28:58. | :29:05. | |
self-help section, we come to the concentration, the composure, the | :29:06. | :29:09. | |
courage of Konta. A thriller with Donna Vekic ended in a hug of | :29:10. | :29:14. | |
empathy. I know what it's like to be on the other side, she said. Konta | :29:15. | :29:22. | |
got the better of another long read against second seed Simona Halep. | :29:23. | :29:25. | |
Despite a stray scream on match point. For British fans, there has | :29:26. | :29:32. | |
been plenty of thumbing through the history books. Thoughts have gone | :29:33. | :29:39. | |
back to Jo Durie, the last women to reach the quarter finals in 1984. | :29:40. | :29:43. | |
Then Virginia, the last British woman to make it to the semifinals | :29:44. | :29:49. | |
in 1978. Would it be shades of Wade again? Staying in the present is | :29:50. | :29:53. | |
Jo's greatest weapon. She doesn't think of yesterday or tomorrow, it's | :29:54. | :29:58. | |
today that matters. She can focus on the moment. She can play the ball, | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
not the occasion or the opponent. They say that 90% of tennis is | :30:04. | :30:07. | |
played between the ears. COMMENTATOR: Venus Williams back in | :30:08. | :30:11. | |
the Wimbledon final after so many years, for Konta it ends here. | :30:12. | :30:14. | |
Though Venus made sure she didn't get to the final, in the mind, Jo is | :30:15. | :30:19. | |
already the big winner at Wimbledon this year. And so we come to the | :30:20. | :30:25. | |
last two women standing. An American classic versus a Spanish novella. | :30:26. | :30:28. | |
A best seller is guaranteed. It is still drizzling at Wimbledon. | :30:29. | :30:42. | |
Sue has made her way to Centre Court. The roof is still on. Players | :30:43. | :30:48. | |
suspended around Wimbledon for the moment, including what is happening | :30:49. | :30:53. | |
on the final of the men's wheelchair doubles on Court three, where Alfie | :30:54. | :30:56. | |
Hewett and Gordon Reid are currently is set down. | :30:57. | :31:01. | |
Here on the hill it is a sea of brollies, where I have been joined, | :31:02. | :31:05. | |
near to the hill, by Annabel Croft and Sam Smith. Just reflecting on | :31:06. | :31:10. | |
what has happened in the ladies singles tournament this year, | :31:11. | :31:14. | |
leading up to this year's event seemed like all the chat was about | :31:15. | :31:19. | |
who was not going to be here. Obviously Serena, the big name. Has | :31:20. | :31:24. | |
her absence been positive or negative for the tournament? It has | :31:25. | :31:29. | |
been different, hasn't it? Everyone was so worried, but the strength and | :31:30. | :31:34. | |
depth in women's tennis, we are in a transformational period because so | :31:35. | :31:37. | |
many matches have gone three sets, the top players know they can just | :31:38. | :31:41. | |
waltz through. No mention of equal prize money, which has been great, a | :31:42. | :31:50. | |
great advert for the women's game. What have you found? Serena is such | :31:51. | :31:53. | |
a great icon of the sport but it is great to see her, we are not sure | :31:54. | :31:56. | |
how long either Williams sister will play for. The fact she was 90 gave | :31:57. | :32:01. | |
hope to other players in the draw. Looking at the French Open, who | :32:02. | :32:05. | |
would have predicted that a 20-year-old who had never won a tour | :32:06. | :32:09. | |
title would win her first Grand Slam title in Ostapenko. When she win | :32:10. | :32:17. | |
that -- won about, the others in the drawer where saying any of us can | :32:18. | :32:19. | |
win these championships, they feel they can beat the top names as well. | :32:20. | :32:25. | |
The big British story has been Jo Konta Opal is two weeks, has she | :32:26. | :32:31. | |
established herself as somebody who will get deep into the Wimbledon | :32:32. | :32:34. | |
ladies singles tournament every year? Can we look forward to that? | :32:35. | :32:41. | |
Have you seen her again? She has a great serve, first and second, | :32:42. | :32:46. | |
excellent athlete, pretty much the hardest hitter in women's tennis | :32:47. | :32:50. | |
apart from Ostapenko and mentally she is a top, top player. The match | :32:51. | :32:55. | |
she played against Venus in the semifinals, if I know anything about | :32:56. | :33:00. | |
Chow she will learn so much from it, I can't wait to see her in 12 | :33:01. | :33:06. | |
months. She will improve on the few little things that Venus exposed. | :33:07. | :33:11. | |
The fans now believe we could possibly have a ladies champion. No | :33:12. | :33:16. | |
question, she was phenomenal during the Championships. She needed a | :33:17. | :33:20. | |
championships like this where she played some epic matches, three | :33:21. | :33:24. | |
sets, roller-coaster rides of emotion which brought her closer to | :33:25. | :33:28. | |
the public and Centre Court. What she might be working on with her | :33:29. | :33:33. | |
team is to add more variety, maybe more of the slice backhand. One | :33:34. | :33:37. | |
thing Venus did exceptionally well against which she needs add to her | :33:38. | :33:45. | |
game was use the body serve. She used it so cleverly are much return | :33:46. | :33:48. | |
of serve. Jo Konta has such a fantastic return of serve. We will | :33:49. | :33:52. | |
see more variety from Jo when she returns next year. 23-year-old | :33:53. | :33:58. | |
Garbine Muguruza against 37-year-old Venus Williams, who will come on top | :33:59. | :34:03. | |
and what will win it for them? I don't think the final should be all | :34:04. | :34:07. | |
about age, when Venus gets out there it is not about her physicality, we | :34:08. | :34:12. | |
are not questioning if she is fit or strong enough, she is certainly fast | :34:13. | :34:17. | |
enough and hitting better than ever. For me, she edges likely because it | :34:18. | :34:24. | |
is a grass court and her game is a bitter... Better fit. Annabel? I | :34:25. | :34:29. | |
think it is youth against experience. How Venus played against | :34:30. | :34:33. | |
Jo Konta is what she will do against Garbine Muguruza. In Jo's first | :34:34. | :34:41. | |
service game, Venus stood inside the baseline, struck the first return of | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
serve, charge the net. It was so intimidating and it was almost like | :34:47. | :34:50. | |
she had already won the battle psychologically. It is about first | :34:51. | :34:55. | |
strike tennis but I agree that the grass will slightly favour her, and | :34:56. | :34:56. | |
the course experience. And as you probably know, | :34:57. | :34:58. | |
we're celebrating 90 years of Wimbledon coverage | :34:59. | :35:06. | |
here on the BBC. So it's rather apt that in 1927 | :35:07. | :35:07. | |
we also had an American against a Spaniard in the final | :35:08. | :35:10. | |
of the Wimbledon singles. Now we are going to take you over to | :35:11. | :35:37. | |
Wimbledon for a running commentary on the all English championship. | :35:38. | :35:41. | |
Here we are again in the Centre Court of Wimbledon. The right shots, | :35:42. | :35:48. | |
perfectly played. The men's singles championship. He is standing to | :35:49. | :35:52. | |
receive the service right inside baseline. | :35:53. | :36:02. | |
Things have changed a little bit since then, but in some ways the | :36:03. | :36:06. | |
history of the Championships has not changed. So much tradition at | :36:07. | :36:11. | |
Wimbledon. My day gets better and better, I am joined by Chris Evert | :36:12. | :36:15. | |
and Tracy Austin. Chris, you have to go to work on American TV, we only | :36:16. | :36:21. | |
happy for a few minutes. Talk about the Wimbledon final, the occasion | :36:22. | :36:25. | |
and what it means. The Gulf Festival, you are a nervous wreck. | :36:26. | :36:30. | |
It is the one tournament that every young player dreams about, playing | :36:31. | :36:34. | |
in a Wimbledon final. I did when I was younger. The players are feeling | :36:35. | :36:43. | |
the butterflies, they want to get out there, warm up, run around and | :36:44. | :36:46. | |
try to take care of the nerds. All the focus is on you, especially the | :36:47. | :36:51. | |
Centre Court. There is such a reference and respect when you walk | :36:52. | :36:55. | |
out there. The tennis fans here are so lovely and educated and they know | :36:56. | :37:01. | |
protocol, when to club, where not a club, there is never any booing, | :37:02. | :37:06. | |
Tracy, like we have heard in some other places, it is special. | :37:07. | :37:11. | |
This match looks really good on paper. Hardly anything between them. | :37:12. | :37:17. | |
They both have the same styles, in your face, they both play | :37:18. | :37:23. | |
aggressive, they both have won more points in the first zero to four | :37:24. | :37:27. | |
shots, which is interesting. They are not great in the long rallies, | :37:28. | :37:33. | |
they want to make a dent in the first four shots. Venus has played | :37:34. | :37:37. | |
unbelievable. I have never seen her play so well. Moving well, getting | :37:38. | :37:41. | |
big serves in. Muguruza is the surprise to me. We saw her fighting | :37:42. | :37:46. | |
with her coach, crying on the court, she has not had the results but she | :37:47. | :37:51. | |
has turned to run. She has always had the power and the weapons, most | :37:52. | :38:01. | |
of us saw that when she got to the final couple of years ago, we said | :38:02. | :38:04. | |
she would be number one soon. She won the French Open last year, she | :38:05. | :38:07. | |
has not been consistent enough. She has the power, but you need the | :38:08. | :38:09. | |
consistency. May be having Conchita Martinez coming has given her more | :38:10. | :38:13. | |
belief, somebody who has been here before, in her corner. Conchita has | :38:14. | :38:20. | |
a way, we know her, of making you feel really relaxed and I think they | :38:21. | :38:25. | |
are having fun. Muguruza does not need intensity from somebody else, | :38:26. | :38:29. | |
if anything she needs somebody to relax and calm her down, Conchita | :38:30. | :38:34. | |
has been great. Venus has been serving so well, back to her best? | :38:35. | :38:41. | |
She is. It is incredible that she is serving so big, at almost 37 years | :38:42. | :38:46. | |
old, and so accurate. She has used the body serve, we talked about that | :38:47. | :38:51. | |
prior to this match. So many players heads to the corners, Venus is used | :38:52. | :38:57. | |
to her serve so powerfully against Konta. Sometimes her second serve... | :38:58. | :39:02. | |
She is throwing the ball high and really reaching, but I think the | :39:03. | :39:06. | |
body serve win her the match against Konta. Don't be surprised if we see | :39:07. | :39:12. | |
it. Muguruza is a big lady and is strong but you might have trouble | :39:13. | :39:16. | |
getting out of the way of the ball, I think the body serve is a good | :39:17. | :39:22. | |
tactic. Serena is nuttier than Venus has taken on. What is the | :39:23. | :39:29. | |
significance in American sport for the Williams family and Venus? They | :39:30. | :39:33. | |
have dominated, carried the torch. Whenever we think a young player | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
will come up, like Ostapenko at the French Open or Muguruza two years | :39:38. | :39:42. | |
ago, Venus Williams surprises us. They are in their middle to late | :39:43. | :39:47. | |
30s. I think it will encourage athletes to prolong their career, | :39:48. | :39:52. | |
encourage and motivate them to play longer and longer. You don't have to | :39:53. | :39:58. | |
retire at 30, that was the age. Now they are playing well into their | :39:59. | :40:03. | |
30s, I think it is wonderful. People are taking better care of their | :40:04. | :40:06. | |
bodies now and able to afford to have a train and a physio, Lauren, | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
so every day you were getting the recovery process. -- able to afford | :40:13. | :40:17. | |
to have a trainer and a physio come along. With so much money Macron the | :40:18. | :40:21. | |
rights they want to extend their career. Roger does not need to play | :40:22. | :40:26. | |
for money, but he has really taken care of his body with managing his | :40:27. | :40:32. | |
schedule, this is only Venus' nines tournament this year, she has been | :40:33. | :40:36. | |
smarter about scheduling. With everything that she has gone | :40:37. | :40:42. | |
through, the autoimmune disorder... Her sister was murdered ten years | :40:43. | :40:48. | |
ago, her parents have split up. The adversity this young woman has gone | :40:49. | :40:53. | |
through. The real championship qualities are coming out. That is | :40:54. | :40:57. | |
perseverance. And compartmentalised thing. -- compartmentalised thing. | :40:58. | :41:05. | |
Out on the court has been her safe haven. The blood and even on June | :41:06. | :41:10. | |
nine she was an eight car accident, the man in the other car passed | :41:11. | :41:15. | |
away. She has been able to block that out. A lot has been going on. | :41:16. | :41:22. | |
And she has the aura of a champion, Venus. She looks like a champion. | :41:23. | :41:27. | |
Yes, she is very stately and graceful. She has been on the tour | :41:28. | :41:35. | |
for 23 years, when it is four on the third set she is like, I have been | :41:36. | :41:39. | |
there so many times and is comfortable with the pressure, it is | :41:40. | :41:44. | |
not new to her and it is new to other players, the experience gives | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
her the advantage. Is it unfair to Ascari you see this going? Very, you | :41:49. | :41:54. | |
are always unfair to me. If they both have their eight games I would | :41:55. | :41:59. | |
give it to Venus. The way that Venus played against Konta was very | :42:00. | :42:04. | |
impressive, and Ostapenko -- if they both have their A games. This is a | :42:05. | :42:10. | |
copout, but if Venus is a little off with her serve with nerves or | :42:11. | :42:14. | |
whatever, Muguruza is very capable of winning Wimbledon. How much value | :42:15. | :42:19. | |
do you put on Venus' experience? The girl she has the edge in experience, | :42:20. | :42:25. | |
but Muguruza is fearless. If she plays fearless, bold, no pressure | :42:26. | :42:29. | |
tennis like Ostapenko at the French Open, there is experience and there | :42:30. | :42:34. | |
is the fearless factor also. And she has won a slam. Chris Evert, you are | :42:35. | :42:40. | |
needed for American television, but thank you for joining us. | :42:41. | :42:50. | |
Let's hear from Garbine Muguruza, she was a finalist here in 2015 and | :42:51. | :43:03. | |
she has been speaking to Clare Serena Williams, match point. She | :43:04. | :43:10. | |
has done it. Serena Williams, Wimbledon champion for the sixth | :43:11. | :43:14. | |
time. I love to play in big courts, a | :43:15. | :43:19. | |
Grand Slam finals for me is a dream come true. Garbine, she played so | :43:20. | :43:25. | |
well. Don't be sad, you will be holding this trophy very, very soon, | :43:26. | :43:29. | |
believe me. What are the moments that you | :43:30. | :43:33. | |
remember from the final against Serena? Everything went very | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
quickly. I didn't realise it. I was in the trophy ceremony. | :43:39. | :43:44. | |
For me, it is incredible to be in another final. It means a lot at a | :43:45. | :43:49. | |
Grand Slam. I lost one or two years ago, I look forward to try to change | :43:50. | :43:53. | |
that. I will take my time and really breathe out there and just enjoy, | :43:54. | :44:00. | |
because it is very fast. A fabulous shot. Muguruza has won it. Garbine | :44:01. | :44:06. | |
Muguruza is into her second Wimbledon semifinal. | :44:07. | :44:09. | |
Would you give your semifinal ten out of ten? I always think I can | :44:10. | :44:15. | |
perform better. You never know how it will go at semifinal. I am not | :44:16. | :44:20. | |
thinking about the result, I am thinking keep playing like this | :44:21. | :44:23. | |
until you shake the hand and the match is over, you never know if the | :44:24. | :44:26. | |
other one can come back and put you in trouble. | :44:27. | :44:32. | |
She is through to the final again. What is it like to be in a Wimbledon | :44:33. | :44:37. | |
final again for you right now? About all the great champions have won | :44:38. | :44:42. | |
this tournament, I stare at the wall where the previous winners are, I | :44:43. | :44:46. | |
would like to see my name there. You reach the last round to you feel | :44:47. | :44:49. | |
like what you are doing is right, it is like a big payoff and you feel | :44:50. | :44:51. | |
good with yourself. Venus and the sort of game she has | :44:52. | :45:02. | |
an the presence she has on court, is that something that you can just | :45:03. | :45:06. | |
handle? I played against her a lot of times. Both of us, it feels like | :45:07. | :45:10. | |
a very important match because it's a final. We all know Venus. She's an | :45:11. | :45:15. | |
historic player. But it's 50/50 the chances. I'm not thinking to change | :45:16. | :45:20. | |
a lot of things. My game is my game. I think it's works well. So, yeah, | :45:21. | :45:24. | |
that's my plan. Do you feel, because it seems that the crowd here are | :45:25. | :45:28. | |
very much taking you to their hearts? I don't know, for me, this | :45:29. | :45:34. | |
tournament will be always special since I kind of breakthrough in the | :45:35. | :45:38. | |
final a few years ago. I feel a lot of support, even though I was | :45:39. | :45:41. | |
playing Serena, one of the best players. Hopefully they can cheer | :45:42. | :45:50. | |
for me. We're hearing from Garbine, we | :45:51. | :45:54. | |
wondered two years ago how she would deal with her first Grand Slam | :45:55. | :45:57. | |
final. We found out a lot about her that day. She wasn't demolished bier | :45:58. | :46:03. | |
is evenament She wasn't -- Serena. She wasn't overwhelmed. Serena | :46:04. | :46:07. | |
flipped a switch and clicked it up another notch. You know, it is | :46:08. | :46:12. | |
nervewracking. Everyone remembers their first Grand Slam final and | :46:13. | :46:15. | |
playing someone that is so good and has such a record as Serena. She | :46:16. | :46:20. | |
certainly took her game toer is evenament This was amazing -- to | :46:21. | :46:26. | |
Serena. This is amazing because Garbine had barely won matches on | :46:27. | :46:31. | |
grass. She won against four top-20 players to get to the final. That's | :46:32. | :46:35. | |
when she realised I can play on this surface. My game matches up really | :46:36. | :46:40. | |
well to this surface. That's when right there, everybody was saying | :46:41. | :46:43. | |
wow, this is going to be a world number one in the future. She has | :46:44. | :46:50. | |
such big weapons. She's tall, 6 foot tall. She can finish points off at | :46:51. | :46:54. | |
the net. Seems to be a hard worker. She moves so well for someone so | :46:55. | :47:00. | |
large as well. Also, what she proved there, what a great backhand she has | :47:01. | :47:03. | |
and how many points she's going to win on this and what a great shot | :47:04. | :47:07. | |
it's going to be in years to come. Yes, her backhand is absolutely | :47:08. | :47:12. | |
incredible. This was the semifinals. Throughout the tournament, 36% of | :47:13. | :47:15. | |
the shots she's hitting inside the baseline. That's more than a third | :47:16. | :47:21. | |
of her shots, being that aggressive. It just really takes your opponent | :47:22. | :47:24. | |
out of the points, because they don't have as much time. She's more | :47:25. | :47:29. | |
than willing to come to the net, more than 100 times. She really | :47:30. | :47:32. | |
steps in and gives that backhand a wallop. She has a great backhand | :47:33. | :47:36. | |
crosscourt that sets up the Bertie Aherned down-the-line. It's -- the | :47:37. | :47:41. | |
backhand down-the-line. It's tough to defend against. It's tough to do, | :47:42. | :47:44. | |
to have the timing to do that. When her game is on, she can beat anyone. | :47:45. | :47:48. | |
But there is a tendency, sometimes it can go off, as we've seen before. | :47:49. | :47:52. | |
It can be erratic. That's been the problem. Believe it or not, Garbine | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
Muguruza, 23 years old, has only won three titles in her entire career. | :47:58. | :48:01. | |
One of those was a Major. She seems to be either off or on. Certainly at | :48:02. | :48:05. | |
this Wimbledon, she's been on, but we've seen in the past, that's been | :48:06. | :48:09. | |
the trouble. Since the French Open last year that she won, she hasn't | :48:10. | :48:13. | |
been to another final, at any event, not a major, small event, until this | :48:14. | :48:16. | |
Wimbledon, when everything is starting to click, because she has | :48:17. | :48:19. | |
the power, but without the consistency the power is useless. | :48:20. | :48:23. | |
You make too many unforced errors. Maybe she just believes more now. I | :48:24. | :48:26. | |
think it was the pressure and expectation, a bit like Jo Konta, | :48:27. | :48:31. | |
being the next Spanish superstar as such. She dipped after the final at | :48:32. | :48:34. | |
Wimbledon. She dipped after winning the final at the French. That's not | :48:35. | :48:38. | |
easy to deal with. Absolutely. That's a really good point. After | :48:39. | :48:43. | |
she lost in the French Open in the Fourth Round, she was very tearful. | :48:44. | :48:48. | |
Seemed like she was almost liberated because the pressure was off, | :48:49. | :48:51. | |
defending the French Open coming up and the expectations. So people | :48:52. | :48:54. | |
weren't talking about her quite as much. A little more under the radar | :48:55. | :49:00. | |
coming into this Wimbledon. Of course, Conchita Martinez, someone | :49:01. | :49:04. | |
new in her camp, who has won here before in 1994, knows how to play on | :49:05. | :49:08. | |
grass is more mellow than her normal coach. It seems like everything is a | :49:09. | :49:14. | |
perfect storm and has come together beautifully. It seemed to come | :49:15. | :49:17. | |
together in the Fourth Round against Angelique Kerber, because this felt | :49:18. | :49:21. | |
like a make or break match, for both of them, whoever was going to come | :49:22. | :49:24. | |
through. Yes, Angelique Kerber was going to lose her number one ranking | :49:25. | :49:28. | |
if she lost this match. This was so hotly contested. It went to a tight | :49:29. | :49:33. | |
three setter. It was back-and-forth, back-and-forth. The quality of the | :49:34. | :49:37. | |
tennis, it took my breath away. It was. The way that Muguruza was a bit | :49:38. | :49:42. | |
more aggressive. She had more fire power. She was able to finish points | :49:43. | :49:47. | |
off at the net. Funny enough, Kerber said after she was still happy, | :49:48. | :49:50. | |
after this loss because that's the best tennis she had played in a | :49:51. | :49:54. | |
while. She's had a difficult year. She subpar year by number one | :49:55. | :49:59. | |
standards. I think as you say, this was the match, the tipping point for | :50:00. | :50:02. | |
Muguruza, because since then, she's played so much better. She's so much | :50:03. | :50:06. | |
more confident out on court. Interesting, just watching that, I | :50:07. | :50:09. | |
was seeing how far Kerber was running from side to side. I just | :50:10. | :50:13. | |
wonder whether Venus might just maybe concentrate a bit - she won't | :50:14. | :50:18. | |
want to run too wide. No, Venus does not want long points. That's the | :50:19. | :50:22. | |
key. As soon as she walks into the All England Club, she instinctively | :50:23. | :50:27. | |
becomes more aggressive. Her game is tailor made to this surface, with | :50:28. | :50:31. | |
the flat serve. But she can slice around it, which she predominantly | :50:32. | :50:34. | |
does. The slice holds true through the grass and stays down low. Venus | :50:35. | :50:38. | |
likes to take that first strike, the first hit and go for it. That's | :50:39. | :50:41. | |
actually what Konta said afterwards in her press conference. My gosh, | :50:42. | :50:46. | |
that first ball was coming at me so hard and so deep, so I felt like I | :50:47. | :50:50. | |
needed to neutralise all the time. That's the kind of mind set that | :50:51. | :50:53. | |
Venus needs to continue to have today. We know how they need to | :50:54. | :50:58. | |
play. They both need to be ultra-aggressive. They need to serve | :50:59. | :51:01. | |
well. Surprisingly, both are winning more than 50% of their second | :51:02. | :51:05. | |
serves. Venus' second serve can be particularly attackable. She needs | :51:06. | :51:08. | |
to keep that number up. It's all about execution. There's no secrets | :51:09. | :51:14. | |
out here today. It's maybe picking on Muguruza's forehand, Venus' | :51:15. | :51:16. | |
forehand can be more Brittle as well. It's all about handling the | :51:17. | :51:19. | |
situation and this court right here is where Venus has had her most | :51:20. | :51:24. | |
success in her career. BBC celebrating 90 years of covering of | :51:25. | :51:27. | |
championships, one of the best innovations has been this room. It | :51:28. | :51:31. | |
is raining outside. But the good news is that the roof is closed. The | :51:32. | :51:36. | |
referee's office are planning to keep the roof closed. It means that | :51:37. | :51:40. | |
we will start on time at 2pm. Less than ten minutes. There's already a | :51:41. | :51:43. | |
buzz around here. There is a buzz. This is a big match. Sometimes you | :51:44. | :51:47. | |
come into a final and you think, oh, someone is the clear favourite. | :51:48. | :51:51. | |
There's a real underdog here. I'd say it's 50/50. Because of the | :51:52. | :51:55. | |
experience of Venus, you've got to remember she's 37. If this goes deep | :51:56. | :52:01. | |
into a third, will she get a little more fatigued than Muguruza? | :52:02. | :52:04. | |
Muguruza, yes, she won that major last year and she's been to the | :52:05. | :52:06. | |
finals at Wimbledon, that will help an awful lot. But is it enough? Does | :52:07. | :52:11. | |
Venus have that extra level to go to, particularly here on this | :52:12. | :52:14. | |
surface? Indeed. Let's hear from her, Venus is looking for her sixth | :52:15. | :52:19. | |
Wimbledon title. Here she is in her own words. Yeah, I've played a lot | :52:20. | :52:29. | |
of finals here. I couldn't have asked for more. I love the big stage | :52:30. | :52:37. | |
and it's about dealing with it. I think you grow and you learn. I | :52:38. | :52:41. | |
think you become more aware of what's going on around you. So it's | :52:42. | :52:46. | |
different. But it's still a passion. It still drives me. | :52:47. | :52:55. | |
COMMENTATOR: Williams first time ever here at Wimbledon. | :52:56. | :53:06. | |
I'm sure I said that to make myself feel better. I was probably really | :53:07. | :53:13. | |
upset about losing. But thankfully those words rang true. Maybe there | :53:14. | :53:20. | |
was some wisdom in my 16-year-old body. Here we are, 20 years later | :53:21. | :53:25. | |
and still a good time. The names and the faces have changed, but the | :53:26. | :53:30. | |
whole tournament is definitely very much the same. I think there's a lot | :53:31. | :53:38. | |
of awesome things about that. COMMENTATOR: Venus Williams back in | :53:39. | :53:40. | |
the Wimbledon final after so many years. I don't really think about my | :53:41. | :53:46. | |
age. I know I have a lot to give still. | :53:47. | :53:51. | |
COMMENTATOR: Williams in full flight. I don't feel any particular | :53:52. | :53:55. | |
age. So, you know, it's not a factor. | :53:56. | :53:59. | |
COMMENTATOR: On the court she seems unstoppable. At this point in time, | :54:00. | :54:04. | |
I definitely am focussed on what I can achieved. I'm definitely a glass | :54:05. | :54:08. | |
half full kind of person. COMMENTATOR: That's great racquet | :54:09. | :54:12. | |
work from Williams. There's only a handful of players each year who can | :54:13. | :54:16. | |
push through and deal with all the pressure of playing your best | :54:17. | :54:19. | |
against the best players. COMMENTATOR: She's through to the | :54:20. | :54:28. | |
final again. The last time she played Serena. I will have to ask | :54:29. | :54:34. | |
for pointers. Serena is always in my corner. Usually she's in these | :54:35. | :54:39. | |
finals. I'm trying my best to represent Williams as best as I can. | :54:40. | :54:42. | |
I have to sleep at night and look at myself in the mirror, and I couldn't | :54:43. | :54:47. | |
do that if I just left. There will come a day when I can and then I'll | :54:48. | :54:52. | |
leave, but it's not yet. I have another opportunity and I have to do | :54:53. | :54:55. | |
my best with it. Other people fall in love with other parts of their | :54:56. | :54:59. | |
life, but I'm still in love with this part of my life. I don't want | :55:00. | :55:04. | |
that part to end, so, it's not over till it's over. We have just been | :55:05. | :55:12. | |
joined by John McEnroe. Jonny Mac is here! What timing. Did you dodge the | :55:13. | :55:20. | |
rain? Not totally. But I forgot how much louder it is when the roof is | :55:21. | :55:24. | |
closed. So it's exciting. There's going to be a lot of energy for | :55:25. | :55:27. | |
this. I mean there would have been a lot any way, but it feels like - | :55:28. | :55:32. | |
There's an echo. It's very cool. It will be the first ladies final ever | :55:33. | :55:35. | |
under the roof. It's difficult to see who it might favour. I don't | :55:36. | :55:38. | |
think it's going to favour either. I think that we could pick any | :55:39. | :55:43. | |
scenario, whether it was outdoors, indoors, hot, not that hot, windy | :55:44. | :55:46. | |
and you could make arguments for both players. That's why this final | :55:47. | :55:53. | |
is so particularly interesting. The upside is so tremendous for either | :55:54. | :55:57. | |
one of them. You have two Americans here, Sue so... We're thinking that | :55:58. | :56:03. | |
the biggest boost or shot in the arm for the sport, unquestionably | :56:04. | :56:07. | |
Garbine is only 23, I believe, and Venus is going to be 38 soon. I | :56:08. | :56:10. | |
think it would be a heck of a story if she won. Heck of a story for all | :56:11. | :56:17. | |
of sport. Absolutely. 37, just to be interested, John, motivated for 20 | :56:18. | :56:20. | |
years. More than that. I was interested, I just couldn't walk, | :56:21. | :56:25. | |
that's all! I'd still be interested. She is incredible, Venus. As you | :56:26. | :56:28. | |
say, she's got it all. She doesn't need to be out here. Just her love | :56:29. | :56:32. | |
and passion for the game shines through. Absolutely. It is the | :56:33. | :56:34. | |
passion. It's something that she loves. You know, when you look at | :56:35. | :56:39. | |
it, she's probably never going to be as good as anything else in her | :56:40. | :56:42. | |
life, this good at something. She can still play at this level. She's | :56:43. | :56:46. | |
going to be back in the top five in the world. That's just amazing. If | :56:47. | :56:50. | |
Venus does win today, she'll be the oldest Grand Slam champion in the | :56:51. | :56:55. | |
open era on the women's side. It's a phenomenal sports story, after all | :56:56. | :56:58. | |
she's been through and then throw the Serena story in there, winning | :56:59. | :57:02. | |
the Australian Open, when she was pregnant, beating Venus in the | :57:03. | :57:06. | |
finals, you could make a movie about that. I think they will make one. | :57:07. | :57:12. | |
What we used to criticise her for, some did, you know, she was thinking | :57:13. | :57:16. | |
too much about other things. Whether it was the clothing line or her | :57:17. | :57:22. | |
interests in other endeavours. Now all of a sudden, it's turned out | :57:23. | :57:26. | |
that's a blessing and a shot in the arm for her. It took her mind off it | :57:27. | :57:31. | |
for a while. I think that as she got away from it a little bit, she | :57:32. | :57:35. | |
realised how much she did love it. And I think the biggest reason, if | :57:36. | :57:41. | |
you had a point to one, is Venus is in the finals today and Roger | :57:42. | :57:44. | |
tomorrow is how much they absolutely love to play this game. They're able | :57:45. | :57:49. | |
to shrug off the losses and move forward and learn from them. That is | :57:50. | :57:53. | |
exceptionally hard to do. I can tell you from experience, as you get | :57:54. | :57:56. | |
older. I stopped learning from my losses at about 26. I'm not kidding. | :57:57. | :58:00. | |
I wish I could have learned something. Sadly, it didn't happen. | :58:01. | :58:05. | |
I tell you, it's a real buzz. You heard that great applause for the | :58:06. | :58:08. | |
ball boys and girls and the umpires and linesmen. The stage is set. This | :58:09. | :58:12. | |
is a stage that has graced so many great champions over the years. | :58:13. | :58:26. | |
I grew up dreaming about Wimbledon all my life. Wimbledon is the Golden | :58:27. | :58:36. | |
Globe you are aiming for. Immediately fell in love with it. I | :58:37. | :58:40. | |
thought, this is just heaven. The whole tournament is very much the | :58:41. | :58:44. | |
same as a lot of awesome things about that. This tournament will be | :58:45. | :58:49. | |
always special. I feel a lot of support. I love the big stage. You | :58:50. | :58:56. | |
walk out on Centre Court, there's such a hush, before everybody | :58:57. | :58:59. | |
explodes. CHEERING | :59:00. | :59:06. | |
It's quite a fairy-tale. COMMENTATOR: In a class of her own. | :59:07. | :59:10. | |
I'm still in love with this part of my life. I don't want that part to | :59:11. | :59:14. | |
end. Hopefully I can win the Wimbledon trophy. | :59:15. | :59:18. | |
Who will be lifting that beautiful trophy at the end of the afternoon? | :59:19. | :59:22. | |
I think the players here, I was talking to Andy Murray, he said that | :59:23. | :59:25. | |
walk is not easy. You just want to get out there. You doubt yourself | :59:26. | :59:29. | |
when you're walking, you want to get out there and get on with it. Yeah | :59:30. | :59:32. | |
and apparently it's a longer walk now. So there's more time to think | :59:33. | :59:35. | |
about it. This is the moment, any Grand Slam, but I think Wimbledon in | :59:36. | :59:40. | |
particular, most people as kids dream about playing a Wimbledon | :59:41. | :59:43. | |
final. They hit against the back board thinking they are playing in | :59:44. | :59:46. | |
the Wimbledon final. It's this moment here, you're trying not to | :59:47. | :59:49. | |
get overwhelmed by the situation. You're trying to stay clear with | :59:50. | :59:52. | |
your strategy. Of course, Venus has done this so often. I like the | :59:53. | :59:56. | |
longer walk. We had that at the US Open. You felt a little bit like | :59:57. | :00:01. | |
gladiators walking into the Colosseum. That was different | :00:02. | :00:04. | |
though, you walk through the fans. I love that. Me too. This is great | :00:05. | :00:08. | |
too. You get a little more chance to strut your stuff. We are ready for | :00:09. | :00:11. | |
this ladies final. Here they come. Seeing Billie Jean King, Martina | :00:12. | :00:51. | |
Navratilova up there, looking down on the final. They know what it is | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
like. Garbine before said when she is going on Centre Court I don't | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
want to look at the trophies or the roll of honour, I want to treat it | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
as just another match. Easier said than done. It is obviously personal | :01:04. | :01:09. | |
preference but, to me, I would not treat it like any other match. How | :01:10. | :01:16. | |
often too many players get out there? Zero. I would say VH1. It | :01:17. | :01:24. | |
will be tight and it will be tough. But it is an absolutely awesome | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
feeling, I would want to enjoy it and Maku was watching. She has had | :01:29. | :01:34. | |
nerves before? Good god yes, that is probably why she wants to stay so | :01:35. | :01:42. | |
focused. She only looks at her support box, otherwise down at the | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
court, down at her strings. John, you did a really good job of getting | :01:48. | :01:52. | |
the crowd involved. Not voluntarily, half of the time! But when you think | :01:53. | :02:02. | |
of somebody like Konta, it becomes too Murch and you get out of your | :02:03. | :02:08. | |
zone. Venus is making her way to join Garbine and the tournament | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
referee. Each year for the finals the charitable arm, the Wimbledon | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
Foundation, chooses a charity to perform the pre-match coin toss. It | :02:18. | :02:23. | |
is the turn of BBC Children in Need, which supports disadvantaged | :02:24. | :02:27. | |
children of Dune people across the UK. Representing BBC Children in | :02:28. | :02:30. | |
Need is 12-year-old Rebecca Jones who lost her father in 2016, | :02:31. | :02:36. | |
together with her sister Katie they have been supported by services are | :02:37. | :02:42. | |
run by The Brain Tumour Charity and Princess Alice Hospice, supported by | :02:43. | :02:45. | |
Children in Need. I spoke to Rebecca earlier, she was so excited. I asked | :02:46. | :02:52. | |
if she had practised her coin toss and she said yes. We will see, a | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
huge moment for Rebecca. Look out all these players are. I was just | :02:58. | :03:03. | |
thinking the same. I think Venus is slightly taller than Roger Federer. | :03:04. | :03:09. | |
She is six foot one, and her hair makes her book about six foot three. | :03:10. | :03:15. | |
Garbine is around six foot or close to, this is the equivalent of the | :03:16. | :03:19. | |
giants we saw yesterday in the men's game. They are getting taller and | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
can move quick, that is the tough part. Spot-on, John. In my mind, | :03:24. | :03:29. | |
Venus was the first player this to all who was our jail. We had players | :03:30. | :03:35. | |
in our generation that were tall, they had that change, but they were | :03:36. | :03:38. | |
not able to change direction on a dime like Venus -- the first player | :03:39. | :03:44. | |
this tall who was agile. We have been talking about how they take the | :03:45. | :03:48. | |
ball so early, there will be incredibly fast rallies today. No | :03:49. | :03:54. | |
question. I have been impressed with Muguruza that she has adapted her | :03:55. | :04:01. | |
game enough. I am not sure if that is Conchita Martinez. I know Sam has | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
done a good job but is not here for personal reasons. She has not come | :04:06. | :04:11. | |
out guns blazing on everything she does. She has attacked way more than | :04:12. | :04:17. | |
I have seen her and become pretty good at volleying. Clearly both of | :04:18. | :04:20. | |
these ladies will take the short ball went given the opportunity. | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
That is why you think the first serve percentage will be so | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
important, but I think she has become a more consistent player and | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
more confident and better because she has added more variety. Garbine | :04:34. | :04:39. | |
Muguruza, we will see some of her career statistics, her forehand has | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
been up and down, 51 unforced errors so far. Maybe Venus will target bad? | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
I think so, I think you target that site because it is not as solid. She | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
will make more errors on that side, and also because the backhanded such | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
a weapon. You want anything you might be able to break down when | :05:00. | :05:07. | |
your opponent shows nerves. The backhanded Muguruza is so | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
technically sound. -- the backhand of Muguruza. When she gets the ball | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
down the middle of the court, she is a rare player who will run around a | :05:17. | :05:21. | |
forehand to strike a backhand. That is how much she prefers it. Isn't | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
Venus the same type of player. Muguruza's backhand down the line is | :05:27. | :05:32. | |
critical. But it could also be with Venus. They are both more consistent | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
on their backhand and go bigger on the forehand. That is the style of | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
tennis you see in general in the women's and men's side these days. | :05:42. | :05:47. | |
One of the reasons I think Venus is back-up in the top ten, 11 now but | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
back in the top ten as of last year, is that her forehand is more solid. | :05:52. | :05:57. | |
For a few years, her contact point where she strikes the ball was not | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
as accurate as before. Only dropping one said, she has really cruised | :06:03. | :06:11. | |
through. Yes. Unexpectedly easy. The match with cellar Angelique Kerber | :06:12. | :06:18. | |
was huge for her for obvious reasons, mainly because kerb is | :06:19. | :06:21. | |
trying to get the respect that she still deserves to be number one, she | :06:22. | :06:26. | |
got out of jail in the previous round. Shelby Rogers had had beaten. | :06:27. | :06:32. | |
So you think, Kerber, she was down much point in Australia, won the | :06:33. | :06:38. | |
Open and won the finals here. So that was a point for Muguruza to | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
establish itself as among the top couple of women in the world. The | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
players Venus has beaten along the way, they are mostly heavy hitters, | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
the same style of play she will face against Muguruza. Muguruza, she beat | :06:53. | :06:59. | |
Rybarikova in the semifinals. I think Venus has a slight advantage | :07:00. | :07:05. | |
in that area. Osaka hits the heck out of the ball, Ostapenko, who won | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
the French Open. And Hunter hit so hard. There are two young ladies | :07:12. | :07:17. | |
here who were not even born yet when Venus played her first Wimbledon, an | :07:18. | :07:23. | |
incredible story. Looking at the statistics, the Williams family, | :07:24. | :07:26. | |
Venus and Serena, this would be the 13th title they have won in 18 years | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
on this court. An incredible achievement. Amazing. I cannot | :07:32. | :07:38. | |
believe a sister combination from where they started from have | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
dominated the sport, particularly Serena. Venus is the best thing that | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
ever happened to Serena, as I have said. The support system she has | :07:48. | :07:53. | |
had. It is apropos that when she is nuttier than a Venus, I believe she | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
will win this. -- it is apropos that when she is not here. I believe | :08:00. | :08:03. | |
Venus will win this for the six time. They are both playing so well, | :08:04. | :08:09. | |
it feels like a great advert for women's tennis. I will go with Venus | :08:10. | :08:15. | |
for experience, she looks ready. I would say 51/49 for Venus. It is so | :08:16. | :08:23. | |
tough to pick. Muguruza will not be overawed, she played well in her | :08:24. | :08:29. | |
first final and won the French Open. She is better than she was, no | :08:30. | :08:36. | |
question. That is why it is a tough call, but I think experience will be | :08:37. | :08:41. | |
to youth in this match. There are other teams, they are in place, I'd | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
better let you guys go in place. Tracy and John are on their way to | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
the commentary box to join Andrew Cotter for the ladies final. ANDREW | :08:51. | :09:04. | |
COTTER: the roof will remain closed. Sometimes that helps the atmosphere. | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
I know the purists will say it is an outdoor tournament and they do | :09:10. | :09:13. | |
everything they can to have it open, but the echoing sounds of the ladies | :09:14. | :09:20. | |
final and a Centre Court today. -- under the roof of Centre Court. | :09:21. | :09:24. | |
Muguruza will be helped by her match a couple of years ago against Serena | :09:25. | :09:31. | |
Williams. All of those watching in Centre Court, the greats of tennis | :09:32. | :09:37. | |
and beyond. Venus Williams maintains this outwardly placid air, but she | :09:38. | :09:42. | |
will be churning inside because it has been a long time since she has | :09:43. | :09:48. | |
been in this position at Wimbledon. Her last finals in 2009, her last | :09:49. | :09:51. | |
victory in 2008. Again, just letting Muguruza await | :09:52. | :10:14. | |
for a final few nervous moments. She has her thigh heavily strapped. | :10:15. | :10:19. | |
Centre Court welcomes Venus Williams out again. | :10:20. | :10:32. | |
Chris and John McEnroe are inside. We are ready. The ladies singles | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
final. Chris, you were saying that is | :10:37. | :12:00. | |
Muguruza has one slight weakness it is a few loose forehands in this | :12:01. | :12:02. | |
championship? But, again, she is not afraid of | :12:03. | :12:28. | |
power. JOHN MCENROE: She has two mis-hit returns and won both the | :12:29. | :12:29. | |
points. A bit unfortunate, though. That was definitely work a | :12:30. | :12:53. | |
challenge. It may have caught the backside, looked along. -- that was | :12:54. | :13:00. | |
definitely worth a challenge. That was even longer than I thought it | :13:01. | :13:01. | |
was. Again with that forehand, Muguruza. | :13:02. | :13:22. | |
103 seconds serve by Venus. Brutal backhand to close it out. | :13:23. | :13:59. | |
Started with an ace. A hold to start. | :14:00. | :14:08. | |
When the roof is closed it sounds even more fearsome. The sound of the | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
ball coming off the racket of both players. It makes it easier for them | :14:13. | :14:18. | |
both to serve well, no elements to content with, the sun and the wind. | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
And the lighting is done anyway that it is not an issue, which is nice | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
for the players. -- turn in our way. They have to be loving this. The | :14:29. | :14:34. | |
roof is transparent. The light comes through. | :14:35. | :14:54. | |
Williams started with an ace. Muguruza with a double fault. She's | :14:55. | :15:02. | |
only served four double faults in six matches. | :15:03. | :15:36. | |
She's settled after that double fault. Starting to loosen up. That's | :15:37. | :15:44. | |
been her go-to serve, down the T on both sides. | :15:45. | :16:03. | |
That's what she's done better in this event than ever seen her | :16:04. | :16:09. | |
before, her willingness to move forward. | :16:10. | :16:48. | |
That's a good service game. Great service game after that early | :16:49. | :16:51. | |
jitter. Interesting that we saw the body | :16:52. | :17:00. | |
serve right there from Muguruza. Venus Williams has been using that | :17:01. | :17:03. | |
so successfully throughout the Championships. | :17:04. | :17:08. | |
As close as these two like to stand on the return, that will be an | :17:09. | :17:12. | |
important serve to utilise. Three times now. Not out by a small | :17:13. | :17:27. | |
margin. What a return from Muguruza. It's | :17:28. | :18:20. | |
taking some pace off that first serve, though. Only 95mph. | :18:21. | :18:37. | |
Oh, that's good from Venus Williams. We will see a lot of that in this | :18:38. | :18:47. | |
final. You think, whoever is more consistent on the forehand side is | :18:48. | :18:48. | |
going to have a decided edge. Her coach and hitting partner | :18:49. | :19:01. | |
alongside. Not by much this time. Just checking | :19:02. | :19:31. | |
if she is sure and doesn't challenge. So Venus Williams holds. | :19:32. | :19:38. | |
Again if you're looking at it from Garbine Muguruza's point of view, | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
this has been a pretty positive start. It's been a pretty positive | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
start. Her forehand is off. That's a little worrisome. She came out, I | :19:48. | :19:53. | |
can only imagine, how could she not be tight. I think Conchita Martinez | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
has settled her down this tournament, got her thinking - I can | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
do more than just go after balls and try to hit winners. That's been | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
quite successful. That change in the coaching situation, at least accept | :20:08. | :20:12. | |
prayer, has helped. -- temporarily has helped. She believes and trusts | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
her in what she's got to say. It's going to be interesting when they | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
settle and get their A game going what happens. Conchita beat Martina | :20:24. | :20:38. | |
Navratilova in 1984. Martinez seems to have a bit of a difference. Sam | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
is pretty untense and Conchita is more relaxed. Conchita and Sam are | :20:44. | :20:48. | |
in contact constantly, discussing game plans. | :20:49. | :21:10. | |
Both these women have first serve percentages in the high 60s for most | :21:11. | :21:13. | |
of the Championship. Because of that Muguruza has only | :21:14. | :21:33. | |
been broken four times. And Venus only six. | :21:34. | :21:53. | |
Adding them up. When does that officially get in your head. They | :21:54. | :22:04. | |
might be starting to seep in. You can guarantee Venus will have | :22:05. | :22:05. | |
noticed. Wins that point, but even the | :22:06. | :22:34. | |
forehand in there was a little bit too close for comfort. | :22:35. | :22:57. | |
Mistake this time from Venus Williams. So it's a reasonably | :22:58. | :23:02. | |
comfortable hold from Muguruza. Just those errors on the forehand to | :23:03. | :23:03. | |
concern her. I thought it might be a closely | :23:04. | :23:20. | |
contested final, nothing to suggest otherwise so far. | :23:21. | :23:34. | |
Her forehand is working OK. It's really important that Venus has a | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
little bit of spin on that forehand and she can feel like free to swing | :23:40. | :23:41. | |
through it. Venus is drchl got at least 10% more | :23:42. | :23:58. | |
on her serve and as close as Muguruza is standing, if she | :23:59. | :24:00. | |
continues to stand there, I believe she's going to get a lot of free | :24:01. | :24:02. | |
points. She realises the payoff, even if she | :24:03. | :24:22. | |
has some double faults, the payoff for going for more on the second | :24:23. | :24:23. | |
serve is important. We've talked about it before, does | :24:24. | :24:41. | |
not want too many points to last too long. Conservation of energy for | :24:42. | :24:43. | |
Venus Williams. One more time the forehand strays | :24:44. | :25:12. | |
long from Garbine Muguruza. A hold for Williams. I'm pretty sure that's | :25:13. | :25:19. | |
what Muguruza will be thinking about it, this sit down. So what can you | :25:20. | :25:24. | |
do? When you're losing one particular shot, how do you change | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
it? What do you do? She's naturally so aggressive. She likes to attack | :25:29. | :25:32. | |
the ball. You could take a slight step or so backwards. You could use | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
more spin. I think the spin is crucial. Just adding a little bit | :25:38. | :25:43. | |
more topspin, so you have to work the hand a bit. She's still going to | :25:44. | :25:47. | |
have to be aggressive in order to win this match. I bet she thinks | :25:48. | :25:51. | |
right now it's more nerves than technique. She's just going to try | :25:52. | :25:55. | |
to hit her way out of this. I think Conchita Martinez has talked to her | :25:56. | :25:58. | |
frequently about the need to mix up your shots. And not just be out | :25:59. | :26:05. | |
there going as big as possible. That's the reason, one of the big | :26:06. | :26:09. | |
reasons she's in the final again. She should be able to make the | :26:10. | :26:12. | |
adjustment. The difficult part is the ball's coming at her so fast. | :26:13. | :26:15. | |
You don't have a lot of time to think about these adjustments when | :26:16. | :26:18. | |
you play Venus Williams, particularly on this court. | :26:19. | :26:22. | |
Apart from the three setter against Kerber, such a straightforward | :26:23. | :26:31. | |
passage to this point. Facing power she hasn't before in this | :26:32. | :26:32. | |
Championship. The body serve this time from the | :26:33. | :26:59. | |
Spaniard. We always talk about Venus' wing span. That's the perfect | :27:00. | :27:02. | |
serve, especially if she's standing in close. That is a good job by | :27:03. | :27:05. | |
Garbine there. That's something we haven't seen | :27:06. | :27:25. | |
much this championships. Missing a backhand down-the-line, | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
that's really her big weapon. All you can do is give yourself a | :27:32. | :28:03. | |
little more margin, safer shot. Obviously crosscourt is easier to | :28:04. | :28:06. | |
execute over the lower part of the net. | :28:07. | :28:31. | |
Average first serve speed for these two, Venus is up a little. Garbine | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
down a little. That, to me, is nerves. She hasn't quite settled | :28:37. | :28:38. | |
down here yet. Oh, what a shot! What a shot from | :28:39. | :29:01. | |
Venus Williams. Muguruza did so much right. Started with the body serve | :29:02. | :29:06. | |
again. But Williams what a response. This is incredible movement from the | :29:07. | :29:10. | |
37-year-old on the full stretch. She backed up a little here to give | :29:11. | :29:14. | |
herself more time. Got it on the outside of the ball. The first break | :29:15. | :29:18. | |
points. Missed opportunity there for | :29:19. | :29:45. | |
Williams. Good defence by Muguruza. Venus knows she should have done a | :29:46. | :29:47. | |
lot better. A little puff of white, and the | :29:48. | :30:05. | |
perfect serve. What a hole that is for Garbine | :30:06. | :30:43. | |
Muguruza. -- what a hold that is. First signs of danger and she was | :30:44. | :30:51. | |
equal to it. It is wanting to be a big server, it is very important to | :30:52. | :30:56. | |
be a correct server. -- it is one thing to be a big server. They have | :30:57. | :31:01. | |
both been doing a good job of it this Championships, big serves when | :31:02. | :31:04. | |
they need it most. I bet she is still thinking a bit | :31:05. | :31:21. | |
about that forehand she missed to get the break. | :31:22. | :31:38. | |
She said, why didn't I do that break point?! Hanging on for as long as | :31:39. | :31:44. | |
she could. Penetrating blows. That is a nice point. The point of | :31:45. | :32:25. | |
the match so far. Other Oracene can smile at the efforts from her | :32:26. | :32:34. | |
daughter. -- mother Oracene. You don't see many points like this | :32:35. | :32:39. | |
these days. Great reaction from both. Good versatility. | :32:40. | :32:58. | |
There it is, down the line from the Garissa. Pressure coming in the | :32:59. | :33:16. | |
serve of Williams. -- down the line from Muguruza. She left the court | :33:17. | :33:18. | |
wide open. Double fault number two for | :33:19. | :33:58. | |
Williams. They are tied in that statistic. It came down a little too | :33:59. | :34:04. | |
quickly. Down to the left. The first successful catch of the | :34:05. | :34:21. | |
day in the crowd. UMPIRE: Correction, ball is good. | :34:22. | :34:53. | |
You can understand the frustration for Muguruza, with Williams on the | :34:54. | :34:57. | |
back foot. They will replay the point. And the return rate in the | :34:58. | :35:03. | |
brown patch. It gave a very awkward bounce. | :35:04. | :35:39. | |
Paire let, first service. The crowd gasped. Just a clip away from in and | :35:40. | :35:55. | |
return to serve. -- from an unreturned serve. Just lost a little | :35:56. | :35:58. | |
bit of her first serve percentage in this game. | :35:59. | :36:11. | |
And as giving Muguruza and opening. -- and is giving Muguruza and | :36:12. | :36:21. | |
opening. A chance for Muguruza. Didn't click at the 106 mph second | :36:22. | :36:55. | |
serve pace, but it was steep. -- deep. | :36:56. | :37:09. | |
The first serve returns for Williams. | :37:10. | :37:44. | |
What a mixture in this came from Venus Williams -- in this game from | :37:45. | :37:56. | |
Venus Williams. She gets out of rhythm. | :37:57. | :38:06. | |
It tells you something about somebody who serves three doubles | :38:07. | :38:13. | |
and might pull out the game in a fault. She has to commits to her | :38:14. | :38:15. | |
serve. Eventually for Venus Williams, both | :38:16. | :38:36. | |
of these players have had one and have failed convert them. So little | :38:37. | :38:39. | |
between these two. That is what is so interesting, | :38:40. | :38:51. | |
there is so little between them, it is so tough to predict what will | :38:52. | :38:57. | |
happen. We'll experience or youth prevail? Who will be overwhelmed? | :38:58. | :39:02. | |
Neither, it would seem. They both seem extremely focused, settling in. | :39:03. | :39:07. | |
There is a buzz in the crowd because they realise it will be a very close | :39:08. | :39:12. | |
match. We talk about the experience of Venus Williams standing her in | :39:13. | :39:17. | |
good stead, the final samba titles, but they were long time ago. This | :39:18. | :39:22. | |
will not feel like her first, but it will not feel a long run of finals. | :39:23. | :39:28. | |
She has been a long time away. 2008 was the last title she won here, the | :39:29. | :39:35. | |
last major that she won. In 2011 she told us she had Sjogren's syndrome. | :39:36. | :39:45. | |
Her serve is so fluid. I was always taught if your head comes down the | :39:46. | :39:49. | |
ball is going into the net, see you make the quick adjustment. Should | :39:50. | :39:54. | |
she keep even playing after some of the results? Now look. She dropped | :39:55. | :40:00. | |
out of the top 40. Muguruza with the new balls. | :40:01. | :40:23. | |
It is effective. Talk about having to get her to draw those large wins | :40:24. | :40:46. | |
in. She does not hit it as big or as hard as Venus, so the body server is | :40:47. | :40:48. | |
key for her. Beating Williams down with those | :40:49. | :41:16. | |
backhands, Muguruza. She has done that so well this Championships. | :41:17. | :41:24. | |
Coming to the net more than 120 times, she is just a threat. Always | :41:25. | :41:28. | |
looking to move forward, hit the ball early and on the rise. | :41:29. | :42:00. | |
That 40 has been getting away from Venus as well. | :42:01. | :42:23. | |
Another impressive game from the Spaniard. | :42:24. | :42:33. | |
They have been impressive at times, resilient at others. Inconsistent | :42:34. | :42:44. | |
and certain moments. -- in certain moments. But you can see all the | :42:45. | :42:52. | |
elements of a long final year. -- a long final, here. | :42:53. | :43:21. | |
Just caught the line of the second serve. Catches the line just a | :43:22. | :43:29. | |
little, slows down. Muguruza and this timing it. -- miss timing it. | :43:30. | :43:45. | |
It makes life difficult for these two out here. Made to look a little | :43:46. | :43:52. | |
bit foolish, but look at it dying on the line. She dealt with two | :43:53. | :44:04. | |
completely opposite things when it hit the line. Muguruza asking the | :44:05. | :44:09. | |
question of Hawk-Eye. While, she lost that game. So much | :44:10. | :44:57. | |
pressure on the serve of Garbine Muguruza. | :44:58. | :45:04. | |
Always chasing it likely in this set, with Williams serving first. I | :45:05. | :45:10. | |
think this is still the only show in town around the old England could -- | :45:11. | :45:16. | |
All-England Club, under the roof here. I can see an edge van | :45:17. | :45:23. | |
uncovered court down here. They are a little bit soggy. Spirits are | :45:24. | :45:28. | |
still high. A strange and happy breed. | :45:29. | :45:32. | |
We're watching an intriguing final here as well. So difficult - well, | :45:33. | :45:36. | |
it has been throughout the Championship to pick a winner from | :45:37. | :45:40. | |
any of the players. Once Serena Williams was elsewhere, it was who | :45:41. | :45:43. | |
was going to win this Championship. In this final we are still none the | :45:44. | :45:48. | |
wiser really. Absolutely. As soon as Serena was not in the draw, on | :45:49. | :45:53. | |
maternity leave, really there's a long list of players that can win | :45:54. | :45:59. | |
the title. Always surprised - Ten or 15 at the beginning of the | :46:00. | :46:10. | |
tournament. Venus is still not the favourite. Never has been a | :46:11. | :46:13. | |
favourite at any point. She stands there now with Muguruza | :46:14. | :46:15. | |
serving to stay in this first set. Again, come the big moments and big | :46:16. | :46:39. | |
games, the noise increases and the power lifts. Decibel level went up | :46:40. | :46:45. | |
quite a bit that point. Great hitting from both. | :46:46. | :47:27. | |
Well long and she's just trying to impose her will, her presence here. | :47:28. | :47:35. | |
Williams knows the pressure that Muguruza is under. | :47:36. | :47:51. | |
Forehand error again from the Spaniard. Williams two points away. | :47:52. | :48:34. | |
And the mistake again. But it's the first serve of Muguruza which is | :48:35. | :48:41. | |
disappearing here and gives Williams two set points. | :48:42. | :49:32. | |
What a rally! She couldn't quite do it at the end. Muguruza holds firm. | :49:33. | :49:41. | |
Still one more to go. Venus was targeting that forehand. As she | :49:42. | :49:50. | |
should. Muguruza impressively held steady. | :49:51. | :49:55. | |
Centre Court comes to life. One more set point. | :49:56. | :50:09. | |
What a time to find that first serve again from Muguruza. There's a sigh | :50:10. | :50:13. | |
of relief. Forehand works so well in that rally | :50:14. | :50:57. | |
for Muguruza. That is how to stand up to set | :50:58. | :51:36. | |
points. Garbine Muguruza playing so well. They know how important that | :51:37. | :51:47. | |
was. That was absolutely huge, showing a lot of character. Digging | :51:48. | :51:53. | |
deep to pull out of that game. Easily could have been the first set | :51:54. | :51:57. | |
for Venus. That first set point, when Venus was really just trying to | :51:58. | :52:01. | |
break down the Muguruza forehand. Longest rally of the match. She gets | :52:02. | :52:04. | |
herself back on serve. Not afraid of a double fault or two, | :52:05. | :53:07. | |
it's part of her game. It puts the pressure on | :53:08. | :53:21. | |
I think she is going to challenge. Yes. | :53:22. | :53:27. | |
UMPIRE: The ball was called out. A big moment. That's worth | :53:28. | :53:35. | |
challenging. Oh, my goodness. That's not even close. | :53:36. | :53:40. | |
UMPIRE: Replay the point. Linesmen today are tighter than the players. | :53:41. | :53:45. | |
Fell on her heels there and lost her balance. When you get nervous, your | :53:46. | :54:08. | |
feet sometimes get tangled up. That's what happened there. | :54:09. | :54:40. | |
Both players struggling on that forehand side. So suddenly from | :54:41. | :54:50. | |
having two set points in the previous game, Williams facing break | :54:51. | :54:51. | |
point. Wow, this is a nervy game for both | :54:52. | :55:16. | |
players. They both have that same weakness at the moment as well, the | :55:17. | :55:18. | |
fragility in that forehand. There will be another chance for | :55:19. | :55:46. | |
Garbine Muguruza. Oh, no. First blood to Garbine | :55:47. | :56:39. | |
Muguruza. Williams suddenly looks just a little bit weaker. Muguruza | :56:40. | :56:46. | |
still has to serve it out. But what a position she is in now in this | :56:47. | :56:56. | |
final. Both players have battled extremely hard. So, it is a tough | :56:57. | :57:01. | |
one to predict. I was surprised in that set point, the first set point | :57:02. | :57:06. | |
Venus had in that extended rally, you could hear the grunting level | :57:07. | :57:09. | |
and suddenly Venus stopped completely. First three, four shots, | :57:10. | :57:14. | |
she was super into it. Complete silence. I thought that was strange | :57:15. | :57:18. | |
and weird that she would do that. I don't know. Totally wrong, | :57:19. | :57:25. | |
contributed to her losing that. Then she's lost her way. The forehand has | :57:26. | :57:36. | |
really gone off for her. Conchita Martinez her temporary coach | :57:37. | :57:40. | |
stepping in, might be a more permanent thing. Sam better watch, | :57:41. | :57:42. | |
if she wins this, Muguruza. There's a job to be done in this | :57:43. | :57:55. | |
first set. Muguruza steps out in this final to serve for the first | :57:56. | :57:56. | |
set. Wow, that is tremendous pass from | :57:57. | :58:42. | |
Venus and the movement to get up to that quickly. | :58:43. | :58:49. | |
And time it so well. Indecisive on this one. It was very tough. It was | :58:50. | :58:52. | |
tough. Right at Muguruza's feet. Well the crowd gasped. They thought | :58:53. | :59:33. | |
Muguruza had gone long, but gets away with it. | :59:34. | :59:39. | |
Venus had her forehand under control for the first part of the set. Now | :59:40. | :59:43. | |
it's, hers has gone off. Went for it in that final forehand, | :59:44. | :00:14. | |
Williams. But it is Muguruza getting closer. | :00:15. | :00:20. | |
Very physical rallies. The movement, the explosive first step. | :00:21. | :00:56. | |
How did she get that ball? That could be the shot of the set. Venus | :00:57. | :01:08. | |
Williams bowed her head as she watched this one land right in the | :01:09. | :01:17. | |
corner. Two set points for Garbine Muguruza. | :01:18. | :01:42. | |
Still fighting. Venus had two set points earlier, and Muguruza now has | :01:43. | :01:56. | |
one left. No! And Muguruza has the first set | :01:57. | :02:42. | |
in this final! The effort put in by both players, extraordinary. And how | :02:43. | :02:50. | |
this sport can swing. Two set points for Williams, two for Muguruza, and | :02:51. | :02:57. | |
she finally took it. The margins are just so small in a set like that. It | :02:58. | :03:02. | |
was Muguruza who just to cross the finish line once, and converted. All | :03:03. | :03:09. | |
credits to her for hanging in there in that set. And we talk about the | :03:10. | :03:16. | |
physicality of this as well, and yes, Venus Williams had 13-set match | :03:17. | :03:20. | |
earlier in the tournament, but this is a different level of physicality. | :03:21. | :03:27. | |
Can she now come back, 37, all the owners problems she has had? Well, I | :03:28. | :03:34. | |
certainly hope so. Because what we have seen so far has been quite | :03:35. | :03:42. | |
exciting, it is the type of thing you hope for in a final like this, | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
and I believe she can step it up. She has been here a lot more often | :03:48. | :03:54. | |
than Muguruza has. I think she will be able to take a couple of minutes | :03:55. | :03:57. | |
here to re-evaluate what happened in the last couple of minutes, where | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
let's face it, she should have won that set. It was there for the | :04:03. | :04:08. | |
taking. And sometimes, whoever you are, I don't care how many times | :04:09. | :04:11. | |
you've been there, when something's slipped away from you, emotionally, | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
you get a little flat for a couple of minutes, and it can cost you. | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
Muguruza, she really believes in herself, she's extremely confident, | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
she's a butler, that's a big reason why she was able to pull that set | :04:29. | :04:35. | |
out. She's been here before, in a final, a couple of years ago against | :04:36. | :04:38. | |
Serena Williams. She's won the French Open, and she's taken a step | :04:39. | :04:41. | |
here towards this title. TRACY AUSTIN: I'm so impressed with | :04:42. | :05:02. | |
the way that Muguruza was able to stay so positive and find her | :05:03. | :05:06. | |
forehand again, because that's what she's been struggling with since | :05:07. | :05:12. | |
winning the French. That's what has stood out during these Championships | :05:13. | :05:17. | |
- much more reliable groundstrokes. ANDREW COTTER: No sign of any lack | :05:18. | :05:36. | |
of power at the start of this second set! | :05:37. | :05:55. | |
I'm sure a very interested observer, somewhere, is Serena Williams. | :05:56. | :06:13. | |
JOHN MCENROE: Supposedly can't bear to watch it live, has to watch it on | :06:14. | :06:25. | |
tape. Might not end up watching the tape if it continues to go the way | :06:26. | :06:26. | |
of the Spaniard. Just cannot afford to miss neutral | :06:27. | :07:17. | |
balls like that. Oh! So, right at the start of this | :07:18. | :07:38. | |
second set, Venus Williams in all sorts of trouble. | :07:39. | :08:06. | |
Blistering backhand saves Venus Williams on that occasion. Some | :08:07. | :08:17. | |
heavy hitting from both players here at the moment. Venus would be better | :08:18. | :08:24. | |
served to slow herself down here. Too many mistakes from Venus | :08:25. | :08:43. | |
Williams at the moment. Muguruza, controlling court position here, | :08:44. | :08:46. | |
somewhat surprisingly. As hard as Williams is hitting it. | :08:47. | :08:57. | |
Challenge from Garbine Muguruza. I thought it was in. Again, a big | :08:58. | :09:11. | |
decision for our virtual friends. She shook her head emphatically. | :09:12. | :09:31. | |
So, broken, and Garbine Muguruza is firmly in control of this final now. | :09:32. | :09:40. | |
Smiles all round from her support crew just the crowd were stunned | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
there, they couldn't quite work out what had happened. That's why they | :09:45. | :09:54. | |
have a challenge system. Gives them an opportunity to take a second | :09:55. | :10:00. | |
look. And Muguruza can't believe how good fortune, when it was 4-5, | :10:01. | :10:08. | |
15-40. And this is a woman who has been broken only four times in the | :10:09. | :10:11. | |
Championships. Wow! The wheels starting to come off | :10:12. | :10:32. | |
for Venus Williams. Against Jo Konta, in the semifinal, | :10:33. | :11:25. | |
she was making those. Getting inside the baseline, it's so intimidating. | :11:26. | :11:41. | |
Mentally, she's just lost it here. Can she pull it together? Of course, | :11:42. | :11:51. | |
but she'd better do it soon. There's something for Williams. She | :11:52. | :12:25. | |
does cut a rather tired looking figure. | :12:26. | :12:47. | |
Oh, brilliant. And as we know in tennis, sometimes it can only take a | :12:48. | :12:56. | |
couple of shots, and you're right back in it. | :12:57. | :13:06. | |
It's the moment here for Williams to stop the momentum. | :13:07. | :13:33. | |
Having worked so hard to get herself back into that game, Williams with | :13:34. | :13:39. | |
the mistake again, and Muguruza holds. That's why it's so important | :13:40. | :13:54. | |
to get the lead of 40-0. You're able to drop a couple of points and still | :13:55. | :13:56. | |
keep the pressure on. That's lovely from Venus Williams. | :13:57. | :14:28. | |
Dog that out, that was a very difficult volley. Great feel. Lost | :14:29. | :14:44. | |
some sting on her serve. Something's going on here. I don't know if it's | :14:45. | :14:56. | |
physical, or she's lost a little bit of spirit. Muguruza with some far | :14:57. | :15:04. | |
more comfortable speeds to deal with. | :15:05. | :15:17. | |
The winners, the energy, coming from Muguruza now. At the moment, I don't | :15:18. | :15:33. | |
see a whole lot emanating from the American's side. | :15:34. | :15:42. | |
Got to think this is a must hold here for Williams. Can't go down a | :15:43. | :15:52. | |
double break. She has to keep her foot in the door in this set. | :15:53. | :16:01. | |
This match slipping away from Venus Williams. Garbine Muguruza is | :16:02. | :16:12. | |
playing wonderful tennis. Break point. | :16:13. | :16:22. | |
And Muguruza has it. She has the double break. Surely has one hand on | :16:23. | :16:58. | |
this trophy. Spain, you fancy, may have another winner of this title. | :16:59. | :17:04. | |
Venus Williams is fading fast. A couple of things have happened. | :17:05. | :17:08. | |
Venus, frankly, has gotten a little bit tired, a little bit fatigued. I | :17:09. | :17:12. | |
think Muguruza got used to the pace. At the beginning of this match, she | :17:13. | :17:17. | |
hadn't played anybody leading into the finals that had played and hit | :17:18. | :17:23. | |
with this much power. Now she's striking the ball much more cleanly. | :17:24. | :17:31. | |
And she sensed, to me, that Venus Williams got a little desperate | :17:32. | :17:33. | |
there. She came in on three, four balls that game. Where, OK, you want | :17:34. | :17:40. | |
to be aggressive and attack the net. She didn't get herself in position | :17:41. | :17:44. | |
to even volley. That made the passing shots reasonably easy. | :17:45. | :17:51. | |
Muguruza is just feeding off that. Coming in to try and shorten the | :17:52. | :17:58. | |
points, Venus. Yeah, is it discouragement? Is it actual | :17:59. | :18:03. | |
fatigue, mental fatigue? Probably a combination of that 4-0, 15-40 | :18:04. | :18:11. | |
stage. -- 4-5, 15-40 stage. Venus Williams has to find something | :18:12. | :18:19. | |
magical here on Centre Court. Garbine Muguruza is a set up, and a | :18:20. | :18:21. | |
double break up. There is a start. Crowd certainly | :18:22. | :19:04. | |
going to encourage Venus Williams now. I thought the previous shot was | :19:05. | :19:10. | |
going on. Chose to hit it, gave Muguruza another opportunity to hang | :19:11. | :19:11. | |
in there. Playing some excellent defence is | :19:12. | :19:33. | |
Garbine Muguruza. Really nice job. It's not often you can take the | :19:34. | :19:46. | |
baseline away from Venus Williams. Put Williams on her heels. That | :19:47. | :20:01. | |
little extra pace on her serve, a little less on Venus' is adding up | :20:02. | :20:02. | |
to a pretty dominating lead. Forehand has let her down, as this | :20:03. | :20:24. | |
match has progressed as well. Trying to get some life in those legs. | :20:25. | :20:45. | |
Really nice to see Muguruza miss there. But making better shot | :20:46. | :20:55. | |
selection throughout the championships. | :20:56. | :21:18. | |
Wow. Williams hitting it with ferocity. But Muguruza again stands | :21:19. | :21:24. | |
firm, finds the winner. Great job from Muguruza, handling | :21:25. | :21:40. | |
the power. She game guns blazing, Venus Williams. Hand it to Muguruza | :21:41. | :21:45. | |
there, incredible point. Good Marge gin on her shots. -- margin on her | :21:46. | :21:51. | |
shots. She's flying now. Venus trying to come in from behind the | :21:52. | :21:54. | |
baseline, just didn't get far before the passing shot. She's hitting it | :21:55. | :21:58. | |
so hard, she can't even get in position. | :21:59. | :22:01. | |
Suddenly this court, where she has had so much success, must be a very | :22:02. | :22:22. | |
dark place. Unforced errors starting to mount | :22:23. | :22:54. | |
up. It is painful to watch if you're a | :22:55. | :23:11. | |
supporter of Venus Williams, but she is wilting here. Rudi Harelson | :23:12. | :23:21. | |
watching on. Any way three break points for Garbine Muguruza. The | :23:22. | :23:28. | |
crowd trying to lift their favourite, this great champion, who | :23:29. | :23:29. | |
is in a very deep hole. And the end surely is coming | :23:30. | :23:50. | |
quickly. Muguruza with a strangle hold on this match. It's not over | :23:51. | :23:57. | |
yet, but Williams already looks a beaten figure. Boy, this is an | :23:58. | :24:04. | |
amazing turn of events. 30 minutes ago. 4-5, 15-40. A great rally, | :24:05. | :24:11. | |
Venus should have won. It's like she got punched in the gut. It's like | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
she has no energy left from that point forward, it's not even been | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
competitive. Again we're looking at it from Venus Williams' point of | :24:21. | :24:25. | |
view. So many here were hoping Venus would win. But a great performance | :24:26. | :24:29. | |
from Garbine Muguruza. Absolutely. She didn't start off totally | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
convincing. Her forehand wasn't finding its mark. But she hung in | :24:35. | :24:42. | |
there mentally. Just a point or two to just turn this match around. | :24:43. | :24:47. | |
You've got to feel sorry for Venus at this moment, at 37, you wonder | :24:48. | :24:50. | |
whether she'll have another opportunity, certainly here at | :24:51. | :24:53. | |
Wimbledon. But Garbine Muguruza has played outstanding. This is what she | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
has trained for and practised for and Williams will try to come back. | :24:59. | :25:03. | |
For Garbine Muguruza to step out onto Centre Court, to serve for the | :25:04. | :25:06. | |
Ladies' Singles Championship. You want to see this title taken. | :25:07. | :25:37. | |
You don't want to see a meek surrender. | :25:38. | :25:42. | |
I think we're seeing both. We're seeing her take the title and a meek | :25:43. | :25:51. | |
surrender. That combination will make it 6-0. | :25:52. | :26:04. | |
Everything is with her now. There is noise inside Centre Court. But just | :26:05. | :26:13. | |
one more point for Garbine Muguruza. And it will all be hers. | :26:14. | :26:24. | |
UMPIRE: Correction. It might end on this. The umpire steps in. Says that | :26:25. | :26:36. | |
it was good. So the challenge. Let's hope it doesn't end this way. | :26:37. | :26:41. | |
It does not. UMPIRE: Replay the point. | :26:42. | :27:06. | |
You have to wait a little bit longer. Two more chances. | :27:07. | :28:06. | |
There's a challenge. It might end this way. We look to the challenge. | :28:07. | :28:16. | |
Look to the screen. Garbine Muguruza, if it is long, she is the | :28:17. | :28:22. | |
champion. And it is. It is a sorry way for this final to end. But what | :28:23. | :28:31. | |
a victory for Garbine Muguruza, who is the Wimbledon champion and tears | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
of despair a couple of years ago, as she lost to Serena Williams. | :28:37. | :28:40. | |
Whelming joy now Over. She is the champion. A sad end for Venus | :28:41. | :28:47. | |
Williams, who played so well throughout this Championship and | :28:48. | :28:54. | |
promised so much. All the smiles belong to Garbine Muguruza, the | :28:55. | :28:59. | |
moment is hers. The title belongs to the Spaniard. When a win. What | :29:00. | :29:08. | |
happened in that second set? First of all, congratulations to Garbine | :29:09. | :29:15. | |
Muguruza. It's well deserved. She's become a much better player. She's | :29:16. | :29:21. | |
learned from her loss here, her struggles at other events and the | :29:22. | :29:26. | |
expectations. So well, well done. As far as Venus, I would have to think | :29:27. | :29:31. | |
that the syndrome, she suffers from, I don't know if that reared its ugly | :29:32. | :29:37. | |
head on some level, or B, emotionally the accident she was | :29:38. | :29:40. | |
involved in three, four weeks ago, in the States, suddenly just hit her | :29:41. | :29:44. | |
like a ton of bricks, some of it had to do with her opponent's playing, | :29:45. | :29:50. | |
for whatever combination of things it was, or turned out to be, we'll | :29:51. | :29:53. | |
see if she even addresses any of that. But that was unexpected to see | :29:54. | :29:58. | |
it just completely go away that match. All sorts of thoughts going | :29:59. | :30:06. | |
through her head now. She'll not use any excuses when we hear from her | :30:07. | :30:10. | |
shortly. But the contrast again, Garbine Muguruza, she has a French | :30:11. | :30:14. | |
Open title and now she is Wimbledon champion. We talk about the players | :30:15. | :30:19. | |
who might fill the gap, after the Williams sisters depart, there are | :30:20. | :30:23. | |
so many, but Muguruza at 23 now, she has many years to go and could be, | :30:24. | :30:27. | |
well is, one of the stars of the game going forward. Wow, this is | :30:28. | :30:30. | |
just an incredible moment for this young lady right here. After winning | :30:31. | :30:34. | |
the French last year. Everybody was thinking, wow, she's going to ascend | :30:35. | :30:38. | |
to the top of the game. Because she has so many weapons. She struggled | :30:39. | :30:42. | |
for the year. That's just what makes this even sweeter. There's the | :30:43. | :30:49. | |
support team of Garbine Muguruza. Thal be for Sam. Thal be face timing | :30:50. | :30:57. | |
Sam. Again, the emotions at this stage, John, you've been here and a | :30:58. | :31:01. | |
winner, and you've been a loser, the contrast is stark. To sit there now | :31:02. | :31:04. | |
and wait for everything to come out, it must be a magical moment. | :31:05. | :31:14. | |
It certainly is and a very proud one for both players. Ladies and | :31:15. | :31:21. | |
gentlemen, please welcome on to Centre Court, His Royal Highness the | :31:22. | :31:33. | |
Duke of Kent, the chairman of the All England Club and the president | :31:34. | :31:38. | |
of the Lawn Tennis Association. ANDREW COTTER: The ball boys and | :31:39. | :31:44. | |
girls have done such a fantastic job throughout these Championships. | :31:45. | :31:55. | |
A strange atmosphere inside Centre Court, because it threatened to be | :31:56. | :32:05. | |
one of the great finals, so little to win these two players in the | :32:06. | :32:10. | |
first set. Two set points for Venus Williams and, but once that first | :32:11. | :32:16. | |
set went, she visibly wilted. SUE BARKER: First, please show your | :32:17. | :32:20. | |
appreciation for the chair umpire. Now, to the runner-up, Venus | :32:21. | :33:01. | |
Williams! Such a favourite and a great of the game, not the | :33:02. | :33:04. | |
silverware that she would have wanted, and we hope that she's back | :33:05. | :33:05. | |
again. She remains on five ladies singles | :33:06. | :33:28. | |
titles. And the winner of Wimbledon 2017, Garbine Muguruza! Only the | :33:29. | :33:37. | |
second Spanish winner, following that woman there, Conchita Martinez, | :33:38. | :33:41. | |
in 1994. And Spain can celebrate again. | :33:42. | :33:58. | |
And now, for Sue Barker to ask the two for a few words, Venus Williams, | :33:59. | :34:05. | |
first of all, a very difficult interview to give, but the smile is | :34:06. | :34:10. | |
there. You see, they love you, Venus. You are not only a great | :34:11. | :34:15. | |
champion, but showing such great sportsmanship at the end of that | :34:16. | :34:28. | |
match as well. Well, congratulations to Garbine Muguruza, I know how much | :34:29. | :34:33. | |
this means to you and your family, so well done today, Garbine, | :34:34. | :34:40. | |
beautiful. Also, Venus, well done to you, because you have had a great | :34:41. | :34:45. | |
tournament. Yeah, thank you to my team who has been with me day in, | :34:46. | :34:49. | |
day out, and to my family as well. I love you guys, a lot of beautiful | :34:50. | :34:54. | |
moments in the past couple of weeks. And a message for Serena? Oh, I miss | :34:55. | :34:59. | |
you! I dried my best to do the same things that you do, but I think | :35:00. | :35:04. | |
there will be other opportunities! There certainly will! | :35:05. | :35:06. | |
Congratulations! Ladies and gentlemen, Venus Williams! | :35:07. | :35:15. | |
ANDREW COTTER: Well, she's not done yet, and she will be back. This has | :35:16. | :35:26. | |
not come easy, to lift that trophy, you have had to beat a great | :35:27. | :35:31. | |
champion? Yeah, definitely. I had the hardest match today against a | :35:32. | :35:35. | |
Venus, she's such an incredible player, I grew up watching her play, | :35:36. | :35:39. | |
so it is incredible to play the final! Sorry! But she was an | :35:40. | :35:49. | |
inspiration? Definitely, and it is incredible to play her here. And | :35:50. | :35:56. | |
also, you showed no sign of nerves? Well, inside, of course I'm nervous, | :35:57. | :36:01. | |
I always dream to be here. So I was composed, I guess! And the first set | :36:02. | :36:08. | |
was crucial? Yeah, it was very, very tough and we both had a lot of | :36:09. | :36:12. | |
chances, so I'm glad that I made them. And what about your team, your | :36:13. | :36:18. | |
coach, Sam, cannot be here, so do you have a message? Yeah, well, here | :36:19. | :36:35. | |
it is! I want to thank my team that is here, Conchita Martinez, my | :36:36. | :36:37. | |
physio, my fitness trainer, everybody. Because this is not only | :36:38. | :36:46. | |
me, it is all the team. Finally! You said that two years ago, when you | :36:47. | :36:50. | |
were in the final, you said you wanted to come back and win? Yeah, | :36:51. | :36:55. | |
two years ago, I lost in the final against Serena, and she told me one | :36:56. | :36:59. | |
day, I was going to win, so two years later, here I am. Will you be | :37:00. | :37:05. | |
having a big party, do you think somebody will be organising a | :37:06. | :37:11. | |
celebration? For sure! The Wimbledon champion, Garbine Muguruza! Sue | :37:12. | :37:19. | |
Barker, angling for an invitation to the celebration party! Venus | :37:20. | :37:26. | |
Williams at this point wants to be anywhere else, but these are magical | :37:27. | :37:31. | |
moments for Garbine Muguruza, holding one of the most beautiful | :37:32. | :37:34. | |
trophies in sport. JOHN MCENROE: Venus, getting to the | :37:35. | :37:45. | |
Wimbledon final again, at her age, I think she wants to be there, too. | :37:46. | :37:52. | |
You could say it was youth over experience, and the legs finally | :37:53. | :37:56. | |
gave out at 37, the mind, the body, just wasn't up to the task. A | :37:57. | :38:01. | |
23-year-old with a lot of energy and intensity prevailed. It has been a | :38:02. | :38:05. | |
rather dark and gloomy day outside here at Wimbledon. The smile and the | :38:06. | :38:15. | |
flashbulbs lighting up Centre Court. What can she achieve now? French | :38:16. | :38:19. | |
Open champion last year, Wimbledon champion this year. There have been | :38:20. | :38:24. | |
mentions of inconsistency during her career. Wang on her game, she is as | :38:25. | :38:31. | |
we saw today unbeatable. She's got to find that consistency, and she | :38:32. | :38:36. | |
can win however many more Grand Slams. When I first saw her win the | :38:37. | :38:42. | |
French, I thought she had half a dozen in her. I had my doubts when I | :38:43. | :38:50. | |
started to watch her and the way she was handling it, it was tough. But | :38:51. | :38:55. | |
she's back on track to do that very thing. She's added to her game, I | :38:56. | :39:01. | |
think Conchita Martinez has been a blessing for her. She's certainly a | :39:02. | :39:05. | |
better player, a more consistent player. She's improving and | :39:06. | :39:11. | |
learning. A lot of good signs for her. She goes around Centre Court, | :39:12. | :39:18. | |
and they will be watching this keenly I'm sure in Venezuela as | :39:19. | :39:25. | |
well. Caracas-born, her mother is from Venezuela, father from Spain. | :39:26. | :39:29. | |
Neither parent is here, they can't bear to watch. They'll be watching | :39:30. | :39:38. | |
perhaps in Spain. Considering how tough things are in Venezuela, I'm | :39:39. | :39:43. | |
sure this is a breath of fresh air. She has that dual nationality, but | :39:44. | :39:51. | |
Spain is her home now. Both players walking around the court. You wonder | :39:52. | :39:58. | |
what the future might hold now for Venus Williams had. She has said she | :39:59. | :40:07. | |
will be back. She played well throughout the Championship. But | :40:08. | :40:12. | |
she's 37 now, we shall see what the future holds for her. Obviously, the | :40:13. | :40:22. | |
combination of the emotional aspect of this great game and the physical | :40:23. | :40:29. | |
one go hand in hand. We don't know which one hit her first. Did she | :40:30. | :40:37. | |
suddenly get physically tired, was there something going on the entire | :40:38. | :40:43. | |
match was? Was it the emotion of what happened in her accident weeks | :40:44. | :40:49. | |
ago? Was it the syndrome which she has been battling for the past five | :40:50. | :40:52. | |
or six years? I don't know if we will ever know, because I doubt she | :40:53. | :40:58. | |
will tell us. But these are the moments any champion will remember | :40:59. | :41:06. | |
for years and years to come, and even those in the Royal Box have the | :41:07. | :41:12. | |
camera phones out. Garbine Muguruza, not done yet. Just put that there | :41:13. | :41:19. | |
for a moment. I'm sure somebody will watch it! Yeah, someone will keep on | :41:20. | :41:23. | |
eye on it! Serena Williams is targeting a | :41:24. | :41:45. | |
return in the Australian Open. The former king of Spain is watching on, | :41:46. | :41:48. | |
his son now the reigning monarch, not here. Dennis Williams takes her | :41:49. | :41:58. | |
leave of Centre Court, the covered Centre Court which has seen a, in | :41:59. | :42:08. | |
the end, one-sided final of the ladies Championship. And she | :42:09. | :42:10. | |
probably doesn't want to leave at all. She has blown away Venus | :42:11. | :42:18. | |
Williams in the second set. Careful...! Just a reminder of how | :42:19. | :42:29. | |
the match was won. It was won on a challenge. And the moment of | :42:30. | :42:32. | |
realisation. Just maintained her consistent | :42:33. | :42:45. | |
levels, is Venus Williams made a few more mistakes in that second set. | :42:46. | :42:49. | |
JOHN MCENROE: I'm really surprised that it became so one-sided, I've | :42:50. | :42:56. | |
got to say. It looked for all the world like we would be out there at | :42:57. | :42:59. | |
least a couple of hours. Two set points for Venus Williams, it could | :43:00. | :43:03. | |
have been an entirely different match. After she lost the first set, | :43:04. | :43:09. | |
though, you thought it might be difficult for her to come back, | :43:10. | :43:15. | |
given her fitness, her age, I don't know. People will read different | :43:16. | :43:21. | |
things into that. Conchita Martinez, who won this in 1994, beating | :43:22. | :43:25. | |
Martina Navratilova. Then, it was the younger woman, the Spaniard, | :43:26. | :43:31. | |
over the much older rival opponent, and again it was today. | :43:32. | :43:46. | |
You can see the stark contrast of it all. You have none these moments of | :43:47. | :43:57. | |
celebration here, John, and Muguruza has won this final in straight sets | :43:58. | :44:01. | |
over Venus Williams. SUE BARKER: What a match, what a | :44:02. | :44:10. | |
tournament she has played, Garbine Muguruza. She tries to avoid that | :44:11. | :44:17. | |
Hall of Honour, because it makes her nervous, but now, it is her name | :44:18. | :44:21. | |
that goes up as the champion of 2017. It is what she has dreamed | :44:22. | :44:26. | |
about, what she promised Reiff years ago, and now, her name is on that | :44:27. | :44:31. | |
board and it will be there for ever. Tracy Austin is with me here in the | :44:32. | :44:36. | |
studio. Tracy, what a match, can she play any better than that? She | :44:37. | :44:39. | |
played extremely well. What I was most impressed with is that she | :44:40. | :44:44. | |
seemed a little nervous in the beginning, she was missing on the | :44:45. | :44:48. | |
forehand side, just misfiring, and some of them were going away long. | :44:49. | :44:52. | |
But she was able to withstand that, get over the nerves and get the | :44:53. | :44:56. | |
forehand back in place. There she is with the chairman, showing her her | :44:57. | :45:02. | |
name. It must be a proud moment, she's won the French Open, but | :45:03. | :45:06. | |
there's something about the history at Wimbledon which is quite magical. | :45:07. | :45:11. | |
Absolutely. To see her name on that must we so special for her. She was | :45:12. | :45:19. | |
one among a long list of players who could have won it, once Serena was | :45:20. | :45:24. | |
not going to be here, but I don't know that she was near the top. She | :45:25. | :45:30. | |
lost at Eastbourne, it didn't really seem like she was playing fantastic. | :45:31. | :45:32. | |
It's just a beautiful moment. And a picture to treasure as well. | :45:33. | :45:42. | |
These are memories she's going to want to look back on. At the moment, | :45:43. | :45:45. | |
I'm sure, she probably doesn't even know where she is or what she's | :45:46. | :45:50. | |
doing. You talk to champions and they say, "It went by in a blur." It | :45:51. | :45:56. | |
was a strange ending. It ended on a challenge. Cheated of the | :45:57. | :46:01. | |
celebration. She looked up. Looked shocked, is this really true? Did | :46:02. | :46:05. | |
this happen? This is a dream for any player, when they start to play and | :46:06. | :46:08. | |
make that commitment to play at this level. It's to be a Wimbledon | :46:09. | :46:14. | |
champion. This is beautiful to be able to share with her. Her life | :46:15. | :46:19. | |
will change forever. Absolutely. The king of Spain has been here. | :46:20. | :46:25. | |
Alongside the Duke of Kent and what special, special day this will be. | :46:26. | :46:30. | |
King Juan Carlos of Spain. He is here to watch. It is so special. The | :46:31. | :46:34. | |
second Spanish woman to win here and the other one was sitting watching | :46:35. | :46:38. | |
her, Conchita Martinez. Just shows, playing on these grass courts, it | :46:39. | :46:42. | |
doesn't mat whaer you're brought up on, you can adapt, you can learn and | :46:43. | :46:47. | |
grow from it. Absolutely. Isn't it ironic that Conchita is in the box | :46:48. | :46:51. | |
and maybe it was the right thing that Sam Sumic's wife is having a | :46:52. | :46:56. | |
baby. Her usual coach is back home. Conchita stepped in. And Conchita is | :46:57. | :47:00. | |
mellow and calm. Maybe that's what Garbine needed at this moment in her | :47:01. | :47:04. | |
career. Absolutely. As far as the match goes, when she had taken the | :47:05. | :47:10. | |
first set, I've never seen a player - Another Spanish champion, Arancha | :47:11. | :47:22. | |
Sanchez-Vicario. I feel like we're eavesdropping somehow here. There's | :47:23. | :47:28. | |
Virginia Wade saying, "well done". This is the bit she'll like. Heading | :47:29. | :47:32. | |
out to the members' balcony to show the fans outside the trophy. It's | :47:33. | :47:38. | |
such a beautiful trophy. It's really a nice moment to be able to see the | :47:39. | :47:44. | |
walk hire. It really is. Ah, Manuel Santana there as well. From Spain. | :47:45. | :47:58. | |
And here she goes out and a huge cheer because she's become such a | :47:59. | :48:03. | |
popular player here at the tournament. Just the manner in which | :48:04. | :48:07. | |
she plays. Wonderful. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | :48:08. | :48:16. | |
What about Spanish tennis then with Rafael Nadal winning his tenth at | :48:17. | :48:25. | |
the French Open and now Garbine Muguruza, a real celebration in | :48:26. | :48:28. | |
Spain that is for sure. It is lovely for these fans who have queued and | :48:29. | :48:32. | |
waited and they've been on the Hill watching to get a glimpse of the | :48:33. | :48:37. | |
champion and take a photo home. She played so well in that final. We | :48:38. | :48:42. | |
wondered whether she would be intimidated. She had to come back | :48:43. | :48:45. | |
from a couple of break points, severely tested. She had all the | :48:46. | :48:48. | |
answers. She really did. It's amazing how the match turned. It was | :48:49. | :48:54. | |
Garbine Muguruza serving at 4-5, 15-#40, down two set points against | :48:55. | :48:57. | |
Venus Williams, who was playing really terrific tennis. Venus was | :48:58. | :49:01. | |
targeting the Muguruza forehand on that point. Garbine had to hit about | :49:02. | :49:07. | |
six or seven strong forehands that set point down in order to hang in | :49:08. | :49:10. | |
the point and that, to me, was the critical point. Then the next point | :49:11. | :49:14. | |
she served a big serve to get herself out of that position, of | :49:15. | :49:20. | |
trouble. Then from there on, she won nine consecutive games. It's amazing | :49:21. | :49:23. | |
how, I don't know, I can't explain that second set. Garbine, yes, she | :49:24. | :49:28. | |
played phenomenal tennis. But where did Venus go? She seemed to have all | :49:29. | :49:32. | |
the air out of her. Her legs didn't seem to have enough energy. Only won | :49:33. | :49:38. | |
12 points. This is a lovely moment too, her team hopefully have made it | :49:39. | :49:45. | |
up here. They're all there. Her physio. It's just wonderful. As she | :49:46. | :49:49. | |
said on court, this is a team effort. Everybody plays their part. | :49:50. | :49:55. | |
Absolutely. It's not only on the court, but it's off the court. You | :49:56. | :50:00. | |
rent a house, spend time together. Where's Conchita. That's her agent. | :50:01. | :50:04. | |
He's going to be busy. There she is! She just shouted "equipo" which is | :50:05. | :50:24. | |
team. They are an incredible team. At the tocht team a special player | :50:25. | :50:28. | |
-- at the top of the team, a special player, who you get the feeling will | :50:29. | :50:38. | |
be at the top for a long time. When she lost in the Fourth Round this | :50:39. | :50:41. | |
year, she was so emotional in the press. She didn't like, she felt | :50:42. | :50:45. | |
almost liberated to have to handle all that. At 23, a lot more | :50:46. | :50:50. | |
experience under her belt. Two majors as well, one at the French | :50:51. | :50:55. | |
and one at Wimbledon. Really, when you have two Majors, ties Hall of | :50:56. | :50:59. | |
Fame -- it's a Hall of Fame career. Conchita has been such a calming | :51:00. | :51:05. | |
influence. We've talked about it. She was as a player. She was very | :51:06. | :51:09. | |
relaxed. A lot of people said that maybe Garbine needed that. She used | :51:10. | :51:13. | |
to be racing all the time. Look, Spanish tennis royalty right there. | :51:14. | :51:18. | |
Wonderful. You're exactly right. Conchita Martinez was so thoughtful | :51:19. | :51:22. | |
on the court as well. She used a lot of variety, the spin, the slice, the | :51:23. | :51:26. | |
heavy topspin. She really used all of the court and knew which shot to | :51:27. | :51:32. | |
hit when. Garbine this Championships has been much more consistent. | :51:33. | :51:35. | |
That's really been the word that's been so important in these matches, | :51:36. | :51:40. | |
because she's just been a little too erratic in so many of her matches | :51:41. | :51:43. | |
before. A shot would go off and she couldn't find the way to get the | :51:44. | :51:47. | |
margin back in play. It's not only the shot selection, the consistency, | :51:48. | :51:51. | |
I think she's been a little more relaxed. Conchita there, always | :51:52. | :51:54. | |
making her laugh. They're having fun together. It really is a nice | :51:55. | :52:02. | |
partnership. It really is. Now she's got to go through the long | :52:03. | :52:06. | |
interviews, the press conference and just really, just got to eneye this | :52:07. | :52:11. | |
moment. -- enjoy this moment. We talk about tennis, the triumph and | :52:12. | :52:15. | |
disaster, the famous saying, because it is. One walks off a winner and | :52:16. | :52:18. | |
you feel for Venus and everything that she's going through right now. | :52:19. | :52:22. | |
Absolutely. You wonder whether Venus at 37, whether she'll ever have an | :52:23. | :52:25. | |
opportunity certainly here at Wimbledon, she'll be 38 next year. | :52:26. | :52:29. | |
Whether this was a lost opportunity because I think there were some | :52:30. | :52:33. | |
points in that first set where she had an opportunity to really close | :52:34. | :52:37. | |
it down, because she was playing better at the beginning of that | :52:38. | :52:42. | |
first set. Muguruza again with a little bit nervous. I'm really | :52:43. | :52:46. | |
curious to see what Venus says about what happened in that second set, | :52:47. | :52:51. | |
where she just deflated emotionally? Everything came crashing down, when | :52:52. | :52:54. | |
she wasn't able to convert on the two set points? Garbine was playing | :52:55. | :52:58. | |
so much better as well. She got that first set under her belt and seemed | :52:59. | :53:03. | |
to free up. You have never seen that happen with Venus before. Not to | :53:04. | :53:07. | |
fall apart in a Major final. The first time she's ever also a set | :53:08. | :53:12. | |
here 6-0. It's just unheard of. It seemed to go by so rapidly. The | :53:13. | :53:16. | |
errors came so quickly in points. It didn't seem like she was thinking | :53:17. | :53:19. | |
clearly. All the tactics, all the strategy just went completely out | :53:20. | :53:22. | |
the window. And things, the points were just racing by. Let's go | :53:23. | :53:26. | |
through the story of the match. First of all, we start with the | :53:27. | :53:33. | |
saving of the set points at 4-5. You know, here was her big chance. That | :53:34. | :53:39. | |
really was. It was this point where Venus immediately started targeting | :53:40. | :53:43. | |
the forehand from Garbine. It's a 19-shot rally this. She tested her. | :53:44. | :53:49. | |
She did. That's four already to that forehand side. Not going to the | :53:50. | :53:52. | |
backhand wing. She was a little bit late there. Back to the forehand | :53:53. | :54:00. | |
again. Garbine was spraying a few forehands, but she was so sure, so | :54:01. | :54:05. | |
steady. It was Venus finally blinked there. One set point still. She came | :54:06. | :54:13. | |
up with a big serve here. That's the combination of being able to serve | :54:14. | :54:17. | |
in clutch moments for Garbine throughout the tournament. She'd | :54:18. | :54:21. | |
only been broken four times going into the final. That says a lot | :54:22. | :54:24. | |
about big serving, but also during those crucial moments to be able to | :54:25. | :54:28. | |
be calm, to be clear on what you need to do and handle the nerves. | :54:29. | :54:35. | |
Having watched that, at 15-ho, you think you -- at 15-40, you think, | :54:36. | :54:40. | |
maybe I missed my chance. She was never really the same after that. | :54:41. | :54:43. | |
She played a messy next game on her own serve. Kind of quickly was | :54:44. | :54:47. | |
losing the points. Then everything started to just fall into place for | :54:48. | :54:50. | |
Muguruza. She started playing better and better. It was honestly, it was | :54:51. | :54:56. | |
tough to watch Venus just disintegrate like that, so quickly, | :54:57. | :55:01. | |
on a court you know she's had her best success and this was such an | :55:02. | :55:04. | |
important moment for her. After she had saved the set points, Muguruza | :55:05. | :55:09. | |
really did up the gears and produced some wonderful tennis to break | :55:10. | :55:13. | |
Venus. She did. I think she felt liberated that she had saved those | :55:14. | :55:18. | |
set points. She played so well. Then she really started to find her | :55:19. | :55:21. | |
targets again. That's what we've seen the entire championships is | :55:22. | :55:25. | |
Muguruza pretty much hanging close to the baseline, not here, because | :55:26. | :55:29. | |
Venus did a great job of keeping her moving, but Muguruza to be able to | :55:30. | :55:35. | |
hang in those points six, seven, eight shots, maybe that's the | :55:36. | :55:38. | |
Conchita Martinez effect right there, just to hang in. Give | :55:39. | :55:42. | |
yourself a little more margin, more spin on the forehand so you get over | :55:43. | :55:46. | |
the net. Good margin. Over the net and inside the lines as well. As you | :55:47. | :55:51. | |
were saying, before this match, how she needed to attack. Muguruza was | :55:52. | :55:54. | |
always prancing along the baseline trying to move forward, trying to | :55:55. | :55:58. | |
hit the ball back as fast as she could to Venus. It was great | :55:59. | :56:03. | |
movement from Muguruza as well, that lob, that last point. This lands on | :56:04. | :56:08. | |
the line. You're thinking OK, Venus great job, great defence, then | :56:09. | :56:12. | |
Muguruza gets right back to moving Venus around. This is where Venus | :56:13. | :56:16. | |
just started to get a little tired, in my opinion. The legs didn't seem | :56:17. | :56:21. | |
quite as strong. Is that the syndrome she's dealing with? | :56:22. | :56:25. | |
Sometimes that's often overlooked. Is it being 37? Is it the | :56:26. | :56:29. | |
disappointment of not converting the two set points. In the second set, | :56:30. | :56:34. | |
we'll show Venus errors, I think it's a bit of a horror show. We | :56:35. | :56:38. | |
haven't seen these sort of mistakes before. Not so quickly in points. | :56:39. | :56:43. | |
That's where Muguruza just ho to stay focussed and not think of the | :56:44. | :56:46. | |
finish line. If you start to think of that beautiful trophy you might | :56:47. | :56:51. | |
start to lose your way. Credit for Muguruza, she just stayed so | :56:52. | :56:55. | |
focussed. Kept with the game plan. Kept with the great foot work and it | :56:56. | :56:59. | |
was Venus Williams who - look at, that she's missing the second shot | :57:00. | :57:02. | |
of the point. From the middle of the court. Yes, just lost her way | :57:03. | :57:08. | |
completely, mentsly. She's not -- mentally. She's not moving as well. | :57:09. | :57:12. | |
I wonder if she had an injury or something happened. I didn't notice | :57:13. | :57:16. | |
anything, but I've never seen her move so slowly around the court. | :57:17. | :57:20. | |
Really struggling. She became sluggish. That's something she | :57:21. | :57:24. | |
really relies on is that great movement to keep that ball back in | :57:25. | :57:27. | |
play until she can control the point again. I mean that is, I mean - 99 | :57:28. | :57:34. | |
times out of 100 she would make that shot. Then it got more wild. When | :57:35. | :57:43. | |
your heart is out of it, and you've gone, it's very difficult. Your | :57:44. | :57:46. | |
brain is racing and your feet is slowing down. It's a horrible | :57:47. | :57:49. | |
combination. We've both been there I'm sure. I have! But you have to | :57:50. | :57:55. | |
wonder, she loses the first set, she's thinking do I have enough gas | :57:56. | :57:59. | |
in the tank to go three? Then thoughts start to go. She's down the | :58:00. | :58:02. | |
double break. You start thinking, can I really do this? Then maybe the | :58:03. | :58:06. | |
tremendous disappointment comes into play. Because it's Venus, who has | :58:07. | :58:13. | |
been the last five years watching younger siser Serena win Grand Slam | :58:14. | :58:16. | |
after Grand Slam and be so sturdy in those situations. She maybe even | :58:17. | :58:20. | |
thinking - is this the last time I'll be in a final of a Major. Who | :58:21. | :58:25. | |
knows what she was thinking. It clearly wasn't purposeful. The | :58:26. | :58:28. | |
points at that point were just hitting balls without purpose and | :58:29. | :58:31. | |
that's what you hate to see in a Wimbledon final. If she could have | :58:32. | :58:35. | |
said to herself, I was in the final of the Australian. To be in two | :58:36. | :58:39. | |
Grand Slam finals at the age of 37 is tremendous. She should be | :58:40. | :58:44. | |
positive really about that. I think it's because she built up this was | :58:45. | :58:48. | |
the dream comeback, the fairy-tale. She hadn't won since 2009, as it was | :58:49. | :58:52. | |
being taken away. I don't think she had answers in the second set to | :58:53. | :58:57. | |
Muguruza. Absolutely. This would have been a fairy-tale, one of the | :58:58. | :59:00. | |
biggest sports stories of the year for Venus Williams to come back this | :59:01. | :59:03. | |
many years later and to win the Wimbledon title, her sixth. She | :59:04. | :59:11. | |
would have tied Billie Jean king. Just to come back from everything | :59:12. | :59:17. | |
that she's had to deal with. We've talked about it, the syndrome, the | :59:18. | :59:21. | |
accident, little sister winning her 23 rd Major in January and little | :59:22. | :59:24. | |
sister being away now. It seemed like it was all the pieces of the | :59:25. | :59:28. | |
puzzle were coming in place for Venus. It was Muguruza would came | :59:29. | :59:33. | |
through and really changed it. You've got to give her credit as | :59:34. | :59:37. | |
well, to step up in this moment. She's really struggled. You look at | :59:38. | :59:41. | |
how her results, she hasn't been to any final at all since winning the | :59:42. | :59:45. | |
French Open. Not even any of the small you vents she's played. Now | :59:46. | :59:51. | |
she's won a grand total of four tournament titles and two Majors? | :59:52. | :59:54. | |
That's a terrific strike rate. Absolutely. The way she won, it that | :59:55. | :59:58. | |
second set, I mean, some of the shots she was pulling off were just | :59:59. | :00:03. | |
incredible. She plays with such freedom and fearless tennis. She | :00:04. | :00:09. | |
plays with aggression. That's key. That was worrisome when Venus was | :00:10. | :00:14. | |
coming in on shots. She really was coming in the baseline. She couldn't | :00:15. | :00:17. | |
get close enough to the net. You felt she was trying to make the | :00:18. | :00:22. | |
points quicker. She's coming back, coming in from too far behind the | :00:23. | :00:25. | |
baseline there. That's where you really start to wonder OK, what's | :00:26. | :00:29. | |
Venus thinking. Really doesn't want the long points. Thb fair to | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
Garbine. She had to keep her focus. It's ease why I to look down the | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
other end and think, "I've got this." You mustn't get ahead of | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
yourself. You must stick to your game plan and execute it to the end. | :00:43. | :00:45. | |
That's so right. You've got a Wimbledon title on the line and a | :00:46. | :00:48. | |
player on the other side who's won it five times. This is a dream come | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
true for you. You know it's just three games away, two games away. | :00:53. | :00:55. | |
You can't be thinking about the end. You've got to clearly just stay in | :00:56. | :00:58. | |
your little bubble and that little bubble is what Muguruza has done so | :00:59. | :01:03. | |
well. She seems to have managed, she even talks about that. Conchita has | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
helped her with the stress. To win a Major you have to be on for two | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
weeks, seven matches. That's a long time to dole with everything, | :01:12. | :01:14. | |
whether it's any anythingling injuries. We didn't see the wrap on | :01:15. | :01:18. | |
Muguruza's leg in the first week. First time I saw it was the middle | :01:19. | :01:23. | |
Sunday, a brown patch down the front part of her leg. Then she started | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
wrapping the whole leg. So it started to bother her more. Then you | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
deal with the press and then the final, a second Wimbledon final | :01:33. | :01:35. | |
against another Williams sister. So there's a lot you have to manage and | :01:36. | :01:41. | |
control physically, emotionally. She did that extremely well, with the | :01:42. | :01:44. | |
help of Conchita Martinez who has done it herself. That was really | :01:45. | :01:45. | |
important. What also impressed me, when she had | :01:46. | :02:01. | |
a break point either for or against, she opt the pace by five miles per | :02:02. | :02:09. | |
hour on her crown is strokes, that's champion's mentality, isn't it? | :02:10. | :02:21. | |
Absolutely. That's what you really want, and that's why it is not a | :02:22. | :02:30. | |
coincidence that these are the champions we see in the late stages, | :02:31. | :02:34. | |
they're able to come up with a better shot at crucial moment, | :02:35. | :02:37. | |
somehow they're able to elevate, to calm their nerves and be really | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
clear on what they're able to do, the athleticism comes into play, | :02:44. | :02:46. | |
whatever it is, they're able to come up with something better. I think | :02:47. | :02:53. | |
for Muguruza, it was really the Kerber match which turned everything | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
around for her. And Kerber lost the number one ranking with that match. | :03:00. | :03:05. | |
I really feel this could be her real breakthrough now, because she got to | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
the final, dipped, won the French Open, dipped, but I think now we | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
will see her at the top for a while. I hope so. Tracy, thank you so much | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
for your comments, it's lovely to see you here at Wimbledon again. So, | :03:18. | :03:29. | |
the ladies' final is over, but it is time for the men's doubles final | :03:30. | :03:39. | |
now. Let's join our commentators out on Centre Court, John Lloyd, Peter | :03:40. | :03:40. | |
Fleming and first, Mark Petchey. MARK PETCHEY: Just about to get | :03:41. | :03:57. | |
under way here on Centre Court for the men's doubles final, and what an | :03:58. | :04:04. | |
epic semifinal these two had. It has been a solid route through but they | :04:05. | :04:07. | |
have not played any seeded pair at all, as you can see. Coming through | :04:08. | :04:16. | |
17-15 in the fifth, in that semifinal, I wonder whether that | :04:17. | :04:19. | |
will have an impact here, given the route that Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
Melo have had. Also, the number one pairing in the semifinals, John | :04:25. | :04:30. | |
Peers and Henri Kontinen, who won the Australian Open, who went down | :04:31. | :04:36. | |
9-7 in the fifth. Fergus Murphy, from Ireland, in the chair. They say | :04:37. | :04:41. | |
the art of good doubles is to choose a good partnership, and the art of | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
good doubles commentary is to get two partners, clearly. And I've been | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
doubly blessed today, with John Lowe and Peter Fleming in the boot. | :04:50. | :04:53. | |
Welcome, guys. PETER FLEMING: Thank you. Looking | :04:54. | :04:58. | |
forward to this match. Probably because we have no idea who might | :04:59. | :05:06. | |
win this one. I think Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo are the favourites. | :05:07. | :05:09. | |
They have been perhaps the form team this year. But grass court doubles | :05:10. | :05:17. | |
is really a great leveller, isn't it? And so we have no idea. | :05:18. | :05:26. | |
JOHN LLOYD: I agree with that, I think the favourites are Kubot and | :05:27. | :05:29. | |
Melo, just by their rankings and Grand Slam stature. They've both | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
done well, but I think it's a tough match to call. Just looking at the | :05:35. | :05:43. | |
comparisons there, the one thing which stood out in the semifinal for | :05:44. | :05:49. | |
Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic was the 74% first serves in which they made | :05:50. | :05:55. | |
in that clash. Anyone who can serve at that kind of level consistently | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
is going to be difficult to break. It will be interesting to see if | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
they can sustain that, because in the previous round, they were only | :06:05. | :06:09. | |
at 57%. You get the feeling, if there are too many second serves, | :06:10. | :06:12. | |
they will be in a lot of trouble. And of course, something to look out | :06:13. | :06:29. | |
for is, how will both teams react to the environment? It can be daunting | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
if it's your first time in a Wimbledon final. Next week's world | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
number one to begin. Kubot, 6ft 3 himself. Nice move. The | :06:39. | :07:35. | |
most important thing in doubles, I think, is, avoid the net man. Hit a | :07:36. | :07:47. | |
little dink volley. That time he tried to hit it a little deep, right | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
into the path of his opponents. Fantastic return. Yes, beautifully | :07:53. | :10:19. | |
timed, this one coming in at 119mph. He did a nice job getting out of the | :10:20. | :10:21. | |
way of it! It's obviously a good serve coming | :10:22. | :10:38. | |
in from that was look, but it does not necessarily move as much as some | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
serves, it is a pure delivery. Does not have a big kick for somebody who | :10:45. | :10:55. | |
is 6ft 8. That one had depth as well. And they've got a spring in | :10:56. | :11:03. | |
their step as they take the opening game. You're right, he doesn't do a | :11:04. | :11:09. | |
lot with the serve, it doesn't have a lot of swing or kick to it. But | :11:10. | :11:16. | |
he's very accurate with it. It's strange to look at a guy, 6ft 8, but | :11:17. | :11:25. | |
he's a very consistent player. I know that guy in the blue! Voitech! | :11:26. | :11:45. | |
And in fact, the very first match that John and I played on Centre | :11:46. | :11:52. | |
Court was the semifinals in 1978, we lost the first set in 12 minutes, | :11:53. | :12:00. | |
6-1. I've never been more nervous in my life walking out onto the Centre | :12:01. | :12:01. | |
Court that day! A lot of power on this forehand. You | :12:02. | :13:18. | |
cannot have any backswing whatsoever on that volley, with the ball coming | :13:19. | :13:23. | |
at you that fast. Did he flagged that one, was it going long? I think | :13:24. | :13:26. | |
it was. Good serving from Pavic, who's | :13:27. | :14:27. | |
looking to become the second Croatian man to win a major title. | :14:28. | :14:36. | |
Goran is a visit -- Goran Ivanisevic made a couple of finals in doubles. | :14:37. | :14:38. | |
Ivan Dodig is the first. Interesting motion, isn't it, | :14:39. | :15:17. | |
Kubot's? It is, he doesn't really get the racket down behind his head, | :15:18. | :15:18. | |
that will rob him of a bit of power. You can see what Peter is talking | :15:19. | :15:34. | |
about, barely any bend in the elbow. It gets down behind his back, but | :15:35. | :15:36. | |
very late. It will be interesting to see if the | :15:37. | :15:52. | |
court is just a little slippery, because of the humidity in the air. | :15:53. | :16:00. | |
It was going long, but Melo decided he would just finish it off any way. | :16:01. | :16:28. | |
SUE BARKER: We'll be right back with this final on Centre Court. Another | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
final taking place outside on court number three, the men's wheelchair | :16:33. | :16:36. | |
doubles final. It's a repeat of last year's final. Alfie Hewett and | :16:37. | :16:47. | |
Gordon Reid just served for the match. They have another break point | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
now. It looks like a real battle out on court number three. That match is | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
live on BBC Two, if you want to watch it. That's over on BBC Two. | :16:57. | :17:00. | |
Here, we're heading back to Centre Court. | :17:01. | :17:07. | |
That is Marach and Pavic, who are playing in just their tenth tour | :17:08. | :17:14. | |
level event, having teamed up in Miami of this year. | :17:15. | :17:34. | |
As teams they've never played against each other. Interestingly, | :17:35. | :17:40. | |
Marach and Kubot were a partnership for a couple of years. They won five | :17:41. | :17:47. | |
tour events together. So they know each other very well. Yeah, in fact, | :17:48. | :17:55. | |
Kubot-Marach beat Melo-Saub in 2009, in Barcelona. That's how long these | :17:56. | :17:58. | |
guys have been around. That second serve was 71mph. It | :17:59. | :18:12. | |
basically said, "Hit me." Continuing the trend from their | :18:13. | :20:28. | |
semifinal with plenty of first serves, eight out of ten landed from | :20:29. | :20:32. | |
Marach and Pavic. They've won all eight when the first serve has gone | :20:33. | :20:37. | |
in. I have a feeling we may be here for a while. | :20:38. | :21:05. | |
His foot work is very sharp. Especially when you consider he's | :21:06. | :21:14. | |
6'8". This pairing obviously the tallest one in the tournament. Kubot | :21:15. | :21:18. | |
is 6'6". There's that flat, out wide serve | :21:19. | :21:48. | |
that he's able to hit courtesy of his height. Just skipping off the | :21:49. | :21:52. | |
surface. Didn't even flinch there! Melo | :21:53. | :22:29. | |
really sat on the ball down the middle. He took a full swing at that | :22:30. | :22:34. | |
forehand volley. Right through Pavic. He did well there though to | :22:35. | :22:41. | |
mask the pain. That hurt. He stood there as if to say, "No big deal." | :22:42. | :22:49. | |
Smashed off his leg. Look at where both players are, both | :22:50. | :22:50. | |
on the same side of the court. How much has doubles changed in that | :22:51. | :23:03. | |
regard? You said you came out here for your first time and you see | :23:04. | :23:09. | |
these guys just literally ever sing the point, popping up the whole | :23:10. | :23:13. | |
time. Was any of that used in your day, Peter? You mean that I | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
formation? Yeah. No. We didn't use it at all. The only team that used | :23:18. | :23:25. | |
that was Villas and Tiriac. He had a good serve, even though he was like | :23:26. | :23:30. | |
90 years old. And Villas was very quick. He would be like a | :23:31. | :23:33. | |
jack-in-the-box trying to take everything. They were the only team | :23:34. | :23:38. | |
that used that strategy. It's amazing how it's grown over the | :23:39. | :23:40. | |
years. What do you think the reason is? I | :23:41. | :23:46. | |
think it's an intimidating formation. You don't know where the | :23:47. | :23:53. | |
guy is going to be. It puts off the returner. | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
You know you can hit the ball to a spot and the opponents aren't going | :23:59. | :24:06. | |
to put it away, it gives you a lot more conviction. John, what's the | :24:07. | :24:12. | |
best way to approach it as the returner? I think you've got to make | :24:13. | :24:18. | |
your mind up whether you're going to hit it. If you - you have to guess | :24:19. | :24:24. | |
really. If you spend too much time worrying about where they're going | :24:25. | :24:27. | |
to go, it puts off your return. Pick a target and hit it. | :24:28. | :24:39. | |
I think that formation has really changed doubles fundamentally. It | :24:40. | :24:46. | |
takes away the chip return. You can't chip or it's very difficult to | :24:47. | :24:48. | |
chip returns now. The doubles game is now a game of | :24:49. | :24:55. | |
power. The other thing is, where the | :24:56. | :25:08. | |
person's serving, where his partner is up at the net, even when not | :25:09. | :25:12. | |
doing the I formation how close they are to the net. They don't believe | :25:13. | :25:16. | |
someone can get over their heads for a lob. They're prepared to stand | :25:17. | :25:18. | |
almost right on top of the net. Dead volley there. Going back to the | :25:19. | :25:54. | |
lob, a lot of people say to me, well, why don't people lob them, | :25:55. | :25:57. | |
they're right on top of the net. It's not easy. The only one that | :25:58. | :26:01. | |
really does it raegly is Jamie Murray. He has a fast lob, if you | :26:02. | :26:05. | |
know what I mean. It's not floating. He can get up and over the net | :26:06. | :26:10. | |
player. If you hit ate floater, they're -- a floater, they're too | :26:11. | :26:20. | |
good of athletes. Still yet to drop a point. When they | :26:21. | :26:29. | |
make a first serve, 11 for 11. Locking things up nicely on their | :26:30. | :26:31. | |
own service games. A deep second serve. It shot through | :26:32. | :27:51. | |
the court. It's not just serve that the height | :27:52. | :28:22. | |
helps. There's the reach as well. You could see there Melo able to | :28:23. | :28:26. | |
poach that one, it looked as though maybe it got enough angle on it. | :28:27. | :28:34. | |
Precious few points against the serve so far. | :28:35. | :29:04. | |
SUE BARKER: We'll be back on Centre Court. We'll take you out to Court 3 | :29:05. | :29:11. | |
and this thrilling match out here in the men's wheelchair doubles final. | :29:12. | :29:19. | |
Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid have had three match points. They're in | :29:20. | :29:22. | |
the third set tie-break. Tremendous scenes there. That's now over on BBC | :29:23. | :29:30. | |
Two. We will be heading back to Centre Court right now. | :29:31. | :29:40. | |
So far so good for both teams. Arguably slightly better for the | :29:41. | :29:51. | |
Australian and Croatian duo, who many felt were the underdogs for the | :29:52. | :29:55. | |
title, given perhaps the route through, the newness of their | :29:56. | :30:00. | |
partnership. But they have settled exceedingly well out here. Both | :30:01. | :30:06. | |
teams have. We've only seen five points against serve in the first | :30:07. | :30:12. | |
seven games. Two against Marach and Pavic. Only three against Melo and | :30:13. | :30:22. | |
Kubot. Tie-break might be out of the frame. | :30:23. | :30:30. | |
that one bidding to become the third Austrian man to win a Grand Slam | :30:31. | :30:38. | |
title, his compatriot winning the US Open ten years ago. Jurgen Melzer as | :30:39. | :30:45. | |
well. So close to the net, he just blocks | :30:46. | :31:41. | |
it, there's no backswing. He just lets the pace of the ball take over, | :31:42. | :31:43. | |
and just guides it. Great angle a couple of times in | :31:44. | :31:54. | |
this game already, from the Austrian. | :31:55. | :32:20. | |
Well, that's what it takes to win a point against the serve. That was | :32:21. | :32:36. | |
meant to be a forehand drive rather than a lob. | :32:37. | :33:17. | |
John Newcombe, six time doubles champion here. | :33:18. | :33:42. | |
In fact, did John Newcombe and Ann Jones both win the singles in the | :33:43. | :34:22. | |
same year? John Newcombe won in 1967... | :34:23. | :34:29. | |
He didn't get in too close after that one. I think we will see a few | :34:30. | :34:42. | |
more returns coming into play, as the players get their eye in. And | :34:43. | :34:52. | |
the answer to that previous question was, no. | :34:53. | :35:03. | |
The answer for Kubot and Melo was in the affirmative, that was another | :35:04. | :35:05. | |
comfortable hold. SUE BARKER: We're going to take you | :35:06. | :35:20. | |
straight back to Court No. 3, because now, Alfie Hewett and Gordon | :35:21. | :35:24. | |
Reid have match point. They've already had four, this is 6-3 in the | :35:25. | :35:41. | |
tie-break... What a rally! And they defend their title! Well done to | :35:42. | :35:50. | |
Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett. Just short of three hours. The crowd out | :35:51. | :35:57. | |
on Court No. 3 really appreciating such a wonderful match, so | :35:58. | :35:59. | |
competitive, wonderful tennis. Incredible scenes. So popular and a | :36:00. | :36:06. | |
British title here at Wimbledon once again for Alfie Hewett and Gordon | :36:07. | :36:10. | |
Reid, successfully defending their title. A few souvenirs for those | :36:11. | :36:16. | |
that have waited and cheered them on. They really were very vocal out | :36:17. | :36:26. | |
there. Big celebrations out on Court No. 3. Well done to Alfie and | :36:27. | :36:31. | |
Gordon. Back we go. JOHN LLOYD: They're all so sharp at | :36:32. | :36:45. | |
the net at the moment. MARK PETCHEY: He's got hold of that | :36:46. | :37:20. | |
for the first time, and that's what shot brings to the doubles court, | :37:21. | :37:30. | |
electrifying pace reseller return. Pavic was unable to get even close | :37:31. | :37:32. | |
to the service line there. Good return again. That's what you | :37:33. | :37:57. | |
hope, to get that combination of the 1-2 punch. Now, they've got a slight | :37:58. | :38:08. | |
opening. PETER FLEMING: Yeah, for the first | :38:09. | :38:14. | |
time in the match, Pavic hitting a conservative second serve, didn't | :38:15. | :38:14. | |
really do a lot. Perfect volley. That's the second or | :38:15. | :38:53. | |
third one he's than, where he's dropped it short. Yeah, and Melo's | :38:54. | :39:02. | |
return was hit hard but not placed especially well. | :39:03. | :39:36. | |
There was a small window of opportunity, but it was pretty | :39:37. | :39:46. | |
quickly closed. Yes, and Pavic has been pretty impressive with how he | :39:47. | :39:55. | |
has remained cool. At 15-30, 4-5, easy to get tight. | :39:56. | :40:17. | |
It's all about timing the move at the right time. If you move too | :40:18. | :40:33. | |
early, he has an easy target down the line. You have to move across | :40:34. | :40:38. | |
just as the returner is about to return. | :40:39. | :41:08. | |
Not sure he needed to make that much noise on that forehand, but... The | :41:09. | :41:23. | |
players' reactions are so good that it has to be struck with that kind | :41:24. | :41:25. | |
of venom to get past their defences. Really nicely played. All over the | :41:26. | :43:37. | |
second serve! Quick as a cat, into the net behind it. It looks as | :43:38. | :43:44. | |
though this opening set, it looked as though it was heading towards a | :43:45. | :43:47. | |
tie-break, but all of a sudden, a break point opportunity. | :43:48. | :44:08. | |
He's made it. There's a challenge coming, but... He's not hanging | :44:09. | :44:24. | |
around, Kubot. This is out of desperation, and that's why. That | :44:25. | :44:28. | |
could not have been struck more perfectly. And it could not have | :44:29. | :44:37. | |
been timed more perfectly, either. And as you might expect, break | :44:38. | :44:44. | |
point, second serve, had a bit of pace to it, it is not as if he just | :44:45. | :44:49. | |
rolled it in a, but it was right down the middle of the box, quite | :44:50. | :44:55. | |
easy for Marach to get around it, and he drilled that return. Nice | :44:56. | :45:07. | |
shot as well, calm as you like! He hit it so blisteringly hard. He was | :45:08. | :45:14. | |
about 4ft outside the tramline when he hit that. So, the unfancied duo | :45:15. | :45:22. | |
with the advantage here in the opening set. The 14th different team | :45:23. | :45:36. | |
to win the men's doubles title out of the last 16 Majors. It's | :45:37. | :45:41. | |
remarkable just how open men's doubles has become. Hilary Swank, | :45:42. | :45:53. | |
the actress, she does love her tennis as well. She has been seen at | :45:54. | :45:58. | |
a few events, particularly Indian Wells. | :45:59. | :46:41. | |
Nothing given on that return from Kubot. | :46:42. | :46:47. | |
Just can't get hold of that when you're almost inside the baseline, | :46:48. | :46:51. | |
coming through at 126 as well. That's interesting, Marach, the most | :46:52. | :47:07. | |
diminutive player, OK he's not short, he's 6'1", but also the most | :47:08. | :47:09. | |
powerful server. Thanchts was an impressive service | :47:10. | :47:56. | |
set. There's a real buzz around the Centre Court there. Look at the | :47:57. | :47:57. | |
first serve percentage. Second service in a bit of trouble, | :47:58. | :48:14. | |
but they hardly miss a first serve, so what does it matter. It's very | :48:15. | :48:20. | |
impressive. You hear the noise when the crowd, a lot of people, the | :48:21. | :48:24. | |
majority in this crowd are doubles players, but can they really relate | :48:25. | :48:28. | |
to this type of doubles? And the answer is no. They're used to | :48:29. | :48:32. | |
chipping the ball around, having rallies. This is just incredible | :48:33. | :48:39. | |
tennis for what it is. But it's just one, two-strike tennis in the | :48:40. | :48:40. | |
majority of the rallies. There he is. Tony Roach, one of the | :48:41. | :49:00. | |
great teams. Didn't hit over a lot of returns did they? No chip and lob | :49:01. | :49:06. | |
on his backhand side. Exactly, Nuke might have been effective. Because | :49:07. | :49:09. | |
his lob was so good. It was actually. He might get a few over | :49:10. | :49:17. | |
these guys. Yeah the man who won all the four Major titles on the doubles | :49:18. | :49:20. | |
court, three of the singles ones as well. Just came up short at the | :49:21. | :49:24. | |
French Open a couple of times, in the quarter finals. Ranked world | :49:25. | :49:28. | |
number one in both singles and doubles, one of the few men to have | :49:29. | :49:29. | |
done that. When it is this fast, Peter, I mean, | :49:30. | :49:48. | |
do the tactics simply come down to where you're going to hit your serve | :49:49. | :49:52. | |
rather than anything else, into somebody's backhand that maybe they | :49:53. | :49:56. | |
feel is getting strong on a potentially big point? Do you get | :49:57. | :50:01. | |
away from Marach's forehand, give them what they produced on the break | :50:02. | :50:05. | |
point. If you have a second serve, is it as simple as that? Yeah, I | :50:06. | :50:11. | |
think perhaps on big points, maybe you kick a serve in first, so you | :50:12. | :50:14. | |
don't have to deal with the second serve, because you know Marach's | :50:15. | :50:20. | |
forehand is deadly. He's really good at bringing it into play. He's | :50:21. | :50:21. | |
quick. Break point down, don't even give | :50:22. | :50:27. | |
him a sniff of that shot. In a best of five set doubles match | :50:28. | :50:59. | |
can be long. Lots of ebbs and flows to come. | :51:00. | :52:14. | |
Bit of lazy skills there from Pavic picking that ball up off the | :52:15. | :52:22. | |
overhead. It was coming at a fair rate of knots, but just caressed it | :52:23. | :52:26. | |
back. Had it been a bigger point, he might have been more disappointed | :52:27. | :52:29. | |
with his partner's offering afterwards. | :52:30. | :52:42. | |
Pavic a former junior world number five. He won the boys doubles here. | :52:43. | :52:49. | |
He's looking to do the double with the British player George Morgan in | :52:50. | :52:51. | |
2011. Title came with another Brit Dom | :52:52. | :53:08. | |
Inglot. That was a good win there for them. | :53:09. | :53:09. | |
He's won five other doubles titles. It's got to be disheartening for | :53:10. | :54:00. | |
Kubot and Melo how secure these guys have been on serve. | :54:01. | :54:16. | |
That was a nice little point there. From the outside edge of the ball | :54:17. | :54:21. | |
here, Pavic. They want to keep this wonderful | :54:22. | :54:43. | |
serving profile going, not giving Kubot/Melo a chance. | :54:44. | :54:44. | |
It's incredible. 85% Didn't need such a big follow | :54:45. | :54:50. | |
through on that volley. Nicely played. That was not an easy | :54:51. | :55:49. | |
shot. He was almost on his knees. The number of those shorter volleys | :55:50. | :57:49. | |
have been dying on the grass and staying low. Marach got up to that | :57:50. | :57:53. | |
one. He had options. He could have dip today crosscourt again or could | :57:54. | :57:57. | |
have gone over the top, which is a bit a risky ploy against two fairly | :57:58. | :58:01. | |
tall guys. He went for the hit down the T and caught the tape. Right | :58:02. | :58:06. | |
now, you can see, just trying to skim it hard. Just got his elevation | :58:07. | :58:16. | |
wrong. Must be for players that come here to this Grand Slam they must | :58:17. | :58:20. | |
love Wimbledon, because it's the only really tournament, the only | :58:21. | :58:23. | |
slam that gives them a lot of respect to play five sets and on the | :58:24. | :58:30. | |
regular circuit, they play one set all and play no ads and then a | :58:31. | :58:34. | |
tie-breaker. They're trained these days, other than Davis Cup, of | :58:35. | :58:38. | |
course, they're trained for really an hour match, perhaps an | :58:39. | :58:41. | |
hour-and-a-half is a marathon in the regular doubles. They come in here | :58:42. | :58:44. | |
and you could have matches for four sets. Then you have concentration | :58:45. | :58:48. | |
issues, to a certain extent. Because the rest of the year they don't have | :58:49. | :58:53. | |
it. It's a different type of event for them. They like the fact that | :58:54. | :58:59. | |
the crowd is pretty full and at a lot of events it isn't. | :59:00. | :59:44. | |
That was a bad error there from Kubot. Should have been 0-15. | :59:45. | :59:54. | |
This ball, should have put that away. Tried to bounce it over. | :59:55. | :59:59. | |
Playing on the wrong surface for that. Hard court it might have gone | :00:00. | :00:01. | |
over his head, but not that one. He had a good look at that down the | :00:02. | :00:43. | |
line. Pavic had a Grade 1 terror of his hamstring earlier in the season. | :00:44. | :01:00. | |
-- tear. Maybe just starting to get his eye in a little bit. There's | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
been a couple of decent returns in this game. | :01:06. | :01:37. | |
I wonder if the players took just a little pace off their returns... I | :01:38. | :01:48. | |
was thinking the same thing! And got a few more in, because they're | :01:49. | :01:54. | |
drilling it so hard, it's not easy to hit it exactly where you want to. | :01:55. | :02:05. | |
Yeah, my memory might be incorrect, but I do remember watching some of | :02:06. | :02:10. | |
the greats in doubles, in more recent times, Peter, don't get me | :02:11. | :02:17. | |
wrong, the likes of Woodbridge and Woodford, and I remember doubles | :02:18. | :02:20. | |
finals where they were getting something like 90% of returns into | :02:21. | :02:27. | |
court. But at the moment today, we've got Kubot and Melo at 55% and | :02:28. | :02:33. | |
Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic at 66% only in terms of returns in the | :02:34. | :02:37. | |
court, as you say, highlighting that point. | :02:38. | :02:49. | |
Nicely done, around the outside of the ball. Exactly right, and this is | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
what we're talking about, just block it back, really, and charged. Gets | :02:55. | :03:03. | |
in there pretty quickly, he's a good athlete. | :03:04. | :03:15. | |
JOHN LLOYD: That ball just checked the bit on that serve. | :03:16. | :03:57. | |
There you go, another blocked return back into play. That's how it | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
started. That was a shaky second serve, 80mph | :04:03. | :05:07. | |
on a big point. PETER FLEMING: This could get away | :05:08. | :05:11. | |
from them right here. That was a really nervy looking serve, first | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
time we've seen that kind of pressure on the serve - there was no | :05:16. | :05:18. | |
acceleration on it. MARK PETCHEY: Well, matches can | :05:19. | :05:32. | |
change on just one point, can't they? Interesting that he still | :05:33. | :05:42. | |
tries to drive the return, on that one, a first serve! OK, second serve | :05:43. | :05:50. | |
am a drill it, but first serve, just get it back anyway you can. | :05:51. | :06:19. | |
MARK PETCHEY: Huge hold. Kubot helped him out a little bit there, | :06:20. | :06:40. | |
didn't he? He was getting a little bit shaky. Kubot had the guts to | :06:41. | :06:51. | |
cross on that 30-40 point and help his partner out, when he was just a | :06:52. | :07:05. | |
little wobbly. Kubot and Melo, who scoop up their partnership last year | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
in Beijing. They've continued it with great success so far this | :07:12. | :07:20. | |
season. Looking to win their third straight tour level title if they | :07:21. | :07:35. | |
won on the grass in Germany, twice. They had not got past the third | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
round at the other two slams earlier this year, heading into Wimbledon. | :07:40. | :07:48. | |
A couple of Masters thousands titles in Miami and Madrid to go with those | :07:49. | :07:58. | |
two grass court titles as well, so they are the form team so far in | :07:59. | :08:07. | |
2017. But in the first hour here, honours have gone to their | :08:08. | :08:08. | |
opponents. That was a fine volley right there. | :08:09. | :10:17. | |
Because that came at him fast and low, and he managed to get good | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
depth on it as well. It was a tough volley to hit. That's a great | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
volley. Good change-up. And you can see | :10:26. | :10:44. | |
Marach, not nearly as happy returning on the backhand. | :10:45. | :11:54. | |
Not the simplest of games, although a simple overhead. | :11:55. | :12:46. | |
SUE BARKER: And we will be right back with this final on Centre | :12:47. | :12:49. | |
Court. We are in joining the final weekend here at Wimbledon, but the | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
world athletics Championships are not far away. It's another big event | :12:55. | :12:55. | |
on the BBC. Mo Farah wins the gold! It's a | :12:56. | :13:11. | |
mammoth jump! David Rudisha is going to win the world title! Dafne | :13:12. | :13:13. | |
Schippers! Usain Bolt! It should be magnificent, in the | :13:14. | :13:33. | |
London Stadium, that's from the 4th of August. Here, everyone enjoying | :13:34. | :13:40. | |
the tennis bottle up on the hill, with two more finals to come, the | :13:41. | :13:44. | |
men's doubles, followed by the ladies doubles, on Centre Court. | :13:45. | :13:45. | |
Let's get back to Centre Court. Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic will be | :13:46. | :14:07. | |
pretty keen to keep the aspirations of their higher ranked opponents | :14:08. | :14:11. | |
down in this match, and they've done a great job of it so far. Marach | :14:12. | :14:18. | |
knows what it's like to lose in a Wimbledon final, it happened to him | :14:19. | :14:26. | |
in 2013, losing to the Bryans on that day. | :14:27. | :14:36. | |
And again, just dropped it too short. You should be aiming those | :14:37. | :14:45. | |
volleys always at the opponent's feet. He's had a lot of success with | :14:46. | :14:57. | |
that serve, hasn't he? I wonder whether Kubot needs to just make a | :14:58. | :15:01. | |
bit of a move and take that avenue of success away from Marach. | :15:02. | :15:40. | |
Nice idea! A very difficult shots to execute. A lob volley. | :15:41. | :16:14. | |
Therein lies the problem. It is a good return but it is not directed | :16:15. | :16:24. | |
the right way. He is so far behind the baseline that any volley short | :16:25. | :16:30. | |
and it is a winner. Sometimes you have to go up the line to keep the | :16:31. | :16:31. | |
net man on it. He took away that serve and got a | :16:32. | :17:31. | |
good play on it, but could not find the lines. | :17:32. | :17:40. | |
So far the script has not played out the way that many thought it would. | :17:41. | :19:27. | |
Quick hands, quick thinking and a quick old. -- quick hold. | :19:28. | :19:44. | |
Nice rally to finish off, and a nice catch in the crowd. Oh, he got up | :19:45. | :19:55. | |
early as well, he knew it was coming his way. No hanging about. | :19:56. | :20:06. | |
No slip-up from him, although there was one from Kubot and Melo in the | :20:07. | :20:14. | |
opening set. They have put that to rights so far in this second set. | :20:15. | :20:27. | |
We thought this match might be serve dominated. We have certainly been | :20:28. | :20:37. | |
correct in that regard. Marach and Pavic still dominate, put 79% of | :20:38. | :20:48. | |
their first serves in play. It is not like they have just been rolling | :20:49. | :20:56. | |
them in. Anything over 65 is excellent. Marion Bartoli, the | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
former Wimbledon champion, in the Royal box. | :21:01. | :21:30. | |
Plenty of legends of the court watching the Wimbledon finals today. | :21:31. | :21:37. | |
There is one of the greatest of all time, Martina Navratilova. | :21:38. | :22:24. | |
That is fierce. A fine return. She has -- he has headed to a number of | :22:25. | :22:37. | |
them, but that is the best by some margin. He has connected with that | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
one beautifully. Went back there again, had a bit of | :22:43. | :23:17. | |
a safety margin built in and Melo was unable to connect with it. | :23:18. | :23:27. | |
It looks impossible for there to be a break of serve, but we thought | :23:28. | :23:34. | |
that in the first set and one appeared out of the blue. Completely | :23:35. | :23:44. | |
not in the script. You never know. And, of course, Kubot dropped serve | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
in the first set. The exact same situation. | :23:50. | :23:55. | |
That is genuine power, when he has time of the ball. A former top 100 | :23:56. | :24:33. | |
player in singles, peaked at 82 in the world. He might be peaking at | :24:34. | :24:34. | |
the right time in this one. That was a well played point from | :24:35. | :24:51. | |
Pavic. Very smart. Did not overplay. Oh, amazing! The best point of the | :24:52. | :25:55. | |
match, by a long way. Pavic did really well to reflect that one | :25:56. | :25:56. | |
back. From here on it was all Melo. That landed directly on the centre | :25:57. | :26:36. | |
service line. Pavic had no chance. Equal fastest for their team, that | :26:37. | :26:42. | |
one from Kubot. Adrenaline pumping, trying to salvage this game. | :26:43. | :27:06. | |
He came up with a couple of delightful touches in that game. It | :27:07. | :27:14. | |
is 6-5. SUE BARKER: Such a competitive match on Centre, we will | :27:15. | :27:21. | |
be back with it. We will take you to another final, an American winner of | :27:22. | :27:25. | |
the girls singles for the first time in 25 years. The last one was in | :27:26. | :27:33. | |
1992. 17-year-old Claire Lu from Thousand Oaks California, the | :27:34. | :27:43. | |
hometown of Sam Querrey. She defeated and unseeded 17-year-old | :27:44. | :27:48. | |
from Pennsylvania. Emotional scenes. Probably more so because she was | :27:49. | :27:51. | |
runner-up at the French Open last month. Here she comes to take the | :27:52. | :27:59. | |
trophy. Well done to Claire Lu, a Wimbledon champion, and a bright | :28:00. | :28:04. | |
future for American tennis. That happened earlier, back we go to | :28:05. | :28:13. | |
Centre Court. COMMENTATOR: Good hold from Kubot, that was a quality game | :28:14. | :28:18. | |
from their opponents, which builds them a bit of momentum as we head | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
towards a potential tie-breaker. Kubot will be delighted he managed | :28:23. | :28:28. | |
to come up with some nice touches which would keep the pressure on | :28:29. | :28:33. | |
their opponents. Momentum shift. Is it? Melo | :28:34. | :29:15. | |
certainly believes it. That was another to rip pixel on return. | :29:16. | :29:23. | |
Swivelled out of the way nicely. It is a good start. The first point is | :29:24. | :29:28. | |
so important for establishing the returning pair in the game. | :29:29. | :29:52. | |
They have made less than half of their returns in this set, Kubot and | :29:53. | :30:10. | |
Melo, that they have had two is flush as you can try them. -- but | :30:11. | :30:15. | |
they have had two is flush. And a third in a row, unbelievable | :30:16. | :30:26. | |
turn of events here. Break points that of course are set | :30:27. | :30:38. | |
points. Mr Marach is challenging the call, | :30:39. | :30:53. | |
the ball was called out. He made up his mind, he was going | :30:54. | :31:35. | |
crosscourt with the return. Pavic is doing a great job at the | :31:36. | :32:57. | |
net here, made a couple of well-timed moves. | :32:58. | :33:25. | |
They're not out of trouble yet, Marach and Pavic. This was a searing | :33:26. | :33:40. | |
backhand return. Yes, this time, the return didn't find its target. Down | :33:41. | :33:47. | |
the middle of the box, not a lot of pace to it - easy return for Kubot. | :33:48. | :33:56. | |
It's in. UMPIRE: Game and second set, Kubot | :33:57. | :35:03. | |
and Melo. That has been a dramatic development in the men's doubles | :35:04. | :35:07. | |
final, just when it looked as though the chances had come and gone for | :35:08. | :35:13. | |
the number four seeds, Kubot really does catch alight in terms of his | :35:14. | :35:17. | |
returns and his vision and his ability to do something just a | :35:18. | :35:20. | |
little bit out of the ordinary. And here, you can see him setting, | :35:21. | :35:26. | |
waiting, and the Croatian just unable to get anything on that ball. | :35:27. | :35:31. | |
Fantastic turn of events at the end of the second set for this team, as | :35:32. | :35:38. | |
it was for Pavic in the opening set as well. And it's perfectly poised | :35:39. | :35:42. | |
now. It's not about winning all the | :35:43. | :36:09. | |
points, it's about winning the right one's, and Kubot and Melo certainly | :36:10. | :36:16. | |
proved that in that second set. It was just when it really mattered | :36:17. | :36:20. | |
that they found something a little special. And perhaps at times, | :36:21. | :36:26. | |
Marach and Pavic missing a few first serves in that set. And that is what | :36:27. | :36:35. | |
cost them in the end. Allowing Kubot and Melo to see a few second | :36:36. | :36:37. | |
deliveries. That actually wasn't a bad game from | :36:38. | :38:57. | |
the Croatian-Austrian partnership there. But good defence at the net | :38:58. | :39:05. | |
from Kubot and Melo, and they're up and running and they will be looking | :39:06. | :39:10. | |
to build on what they did in the second set. The confidence is so | :39:11. | :39:14. | |
high for that team, with the wins coming in here in grass court | :39:15. | :39:25. | |
events. Although, some good matches won of course by Oliver Marach and | :39:26. | :39:30. | |
Mate Pavic coming in, losing in the final Stuttgart to Murray and | :39:31. | :39:35. | |
Soares, Antalya as well, they were runners-up. So they also had | :39:36. | :39:37. | |
momentum. It's not easy to control those, when | :39:38. | :40:20. | |
they're coming at that sort of pace. PETER FLEMING: As you were saying | :40:21. | :41:19. | |
before, this is where the mental stamina comes into it. Because these | :41:20. | :41:27. | |
guy la just about at their limit now, Ofwat they're used to playing, | :41:28. | :41:42. | |
two sets and a match tie-break. A couple more hours at least on the | :41:43. | :41:46. | |
horizon. They could start to fatigue a little bit now. That's when first | :41:47. | :41:49. | |
serve percentage is will come down. Marach just checking whether that | :41:50. | :42:04. | |
first serve was in or not, with Fergus Murphy in the chair. | :42:05. | :42:20. | |
That's a good angle, considering the motion that he has, Kubot, on that | :42:21. | :42:31. | |
first delivery out wide. Numerous times he's got it short on the | :42:32. | :42:33. | |
sideline. JOHN LLOYD: Different type of | :42:34. | :42:54. | |
forehand there from Marach. Normally, he's been hitting them so | :42:55. | :42:57. | |
hard, that one, he just got it low and set himself up for the winner. | :42:58. | :43:23. | |
Marach, who has picked up 15 career doubles titles, and he's done that | :43:24. | :44:11. | |
with eight different partners as well, which is a credit to him in | :44:12. | :44:14. | |
terms of his flexibility with different partners on a doubles | :44:15. | :44:27. | |
court. For his partner, just the six titles, with two different partners, | :44:28. | :44:30. | |
but as we have seen today, he's certainly capable of a lot more in | :44:31. | :44:38. | |
this form of the game. Not quite getting it going on the singles | :44:39. | :44:40. | |
court, but he's certainly got a lot of talent, a lot of power. | :44:41. | :44:51. | |
One more good service game, you feel, from Marach, and you feel | :44:52. | :45:01. | |
whatever momentum Kubot and Melo might have got from the second set | :45:02. | :45:02. | |
you feel will be stemmed somewhat. That is extraordinary! What talent | :45:03. | :47:37. | |
displayed by all four men out here. Amongst the huge power hitting and | :47:38. | :47:41. | |
big serving but we have seen, certainly we get a rally with so | :47:42. | :47:52. | |
much finesse. -- suddenly we get. It was almost parallel to the net. So | :47:53. | :47:55. | |
sharp. If that had gone in it would have | :47:56. | :48:57. | |
deemed the shot of the championship. -- it would have been. This guy hits | :48:58. | :49:03. | |
a lot of highlight shots, Marach. Powders the forehand. | :49:04. | :49:33. | |
Things just got a little interesting here. More interesting than Kubot | :49:34. | :49:36. | |
and Melo would have liked. What reactions from Kubot. That may | :49:37. | :49:52. | |
have been the hardest forehand of the day, and that is saying | :49:53. | :50:01. | |
something. Really nice reactions. Obviously he was very close to the | :50:02. | :50:05. | |
net, which has made the volley a little easier. | :50:06. | :50:59. | |
Struck well, but just struck a little too long. The game does not | :51:00. | :51:10. | |
go on any longer. That was a hard-fought hold of serve for Kubot | :51:11. | :51:16. | |
and Melo. Very little in it. Just one beautiful reaction volley from | :51:17. | :51:22. | |
Kubot really saved the day, you felt. If we were to make one | :51:23. | :51:29. | |
constructive criticism, as you said, Marach struck that backhand well. / | :51:30. | :51:35. | |
it too well. The margin for error was minute. The ball was below the | :51:36. | :51:40. | |
height of the net, he had to get it up over the net and bring it back | :51:41. | :51:46. | |
and you cannot do that if you hit it that hard. He needed to put more | :51:47. | :51:52. | |
top-spin on it. Just not go for a winner. Keep the ball though, force | :51:53. | :51:57. | |
your opponents to reflex the volley back at you. It seems as though it | :51:58. | :52:07. | |
could... I think have a little more joy on returns if they play the | :52:08. | :52:16. | |
percentages are I guess the proof is a little bit in the numbers. Is it | :52:17. | :52:22. | |
successful strategy for Kubot and Melo at the moment, they are the 7.1 | :52:23. | :52:28. | |
out of 55, returning the first serve, and for Marach and Pavic, 12 | :52:29. | :52:38. | |
of 58. We are talking 21% and 38% respectively for points won behind | :52:39. | :52:41. | |
the first serve. It is not huge numbers. | :52:42. | :52:48. | |
As you say, maybe just using the pace you are given from the first | :52:49. | :52:57. | |
serve and trying to direct and utilise its a bit better might be | :52:58. | :53:03. | |
more profitable for both teams. It does not really seem as if the net | :53:04. | :53:05. | |
man has been that imposing. Once again, Kubot drilling the | :53:06. | :53:21. | |
return. That time is paid off. -- it's paid off. | :53:22. | :55:10. | |
A clinical finish. Taking a familiar path. | :55:11. | :55:59. | |
Ouch! I think that might have caught him on the Achilles. I think he is | :56:00. | :56:15. | |
OK. Oh, no. A lot higher up the map. It was more the back of the knee. -- | :56:16. | :56:19. | |
a lot higher up than that. He has a memento of this final, no | :56:20. | :56:34. | |
matter what. We talked a little bit about the | :56:35. | :57:58. | |
number of different teams that have won the doubles titles in the last | :57:59. | :58:03. | |
16 majors, including this. It was 14. Why is it? Is it mainly because | :58:04. | :58:09. | |
the teams do not seem to be staying together as often as in your day? | :58:10. | :58:14. | |
You guys seems to hang around longer with each other. Or is something | :58:15. | :58:24. | |
more? I don't know why it is that guys are switching as often as they | :58:25. | :58:29. | |
are switching partners. I can't explain. I think because now we have | :58:30. | :58:39. | |
the doubles players virtually just doubles players and not singles | :58:40. | :58:44. | |
players, their livelihood is just doubles. And the pressure to make a | :58:45. | :58:50. | |
living, it is OK, the prize many years pretty good, but if there is | :58:51. | :58:54. | |
not success very quickly than the partners dump each other and move | :58:55. | :59:00. | |
on. There is not much loyalty. If they do not feel like they are | :59:01. | :59:03. | |
blending well very soon, they look for the next partner. It is amazing | :59:04. | :59:10. | |
how quickly. People who have won Grand Slams together, one year later | :59:11. | :59:15. | |
they have gone to somebody else. There is no surprise that partners | :59:16. | :59:19. | |
do not stick together if they do not gel immediately. It is more | :59:20. | :59:22. | |
surprising when they do well and win. And then switch. That is a | :59:23. | :59:35. | |
great cross right there. I would be surprised if this pairing does not | :59:36. | :59:40. | |
stick together for a bit longer. Of course, they are both pretty long in | :59:41. | :59:45. | |
the tooth, so... They won't be together that much longer! | :59:46. | :00:18. | |
Melo, to be fair, has at least another 11 years to go. Daniel | :00:19. | :00:24. | |
Nestor is still playing at 44 years of age! Is he 44?! I thought he was | :00:25. | :00:40. | |
46. No, definitely 44. Looking at it logically, most of the year they are | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
playing two sets, the matches are over in an hour. It is not like you | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
had to be in unbelievable shape to do that. You can play forever. | :00:50. | :01:00. | |
That it is not a question of stamina, it is a question of | :01:01. | :01:08. | |
quickness, flexibility, eyesight, even. But he is still playing at 44 | :01:09. | :01:19. | |
is pretty impressive. No kidding. UMPIRE: Mr Melo challenging the | :01:20. | :01:22. | |
call, write service line. Ball was called in. | :01:23. | :02:02. | |
He covered a lot of ground, and just kept running. Unlucky with the net | :02:03. | :02:12. | |
cord. Yes, very unlucky. We've just had two service breaks in | :02:13. | :02:56. | |
two-and-a-half sets. This point was just about having fun | :02:57. | :05:09. | |
for Oliver Marach. I'm going to hit the forehand return as hard as I | :05:10. | :05:15. | |
can, and the next one... Just as hard. | :05:16. | :05:26. | |
Again, another set of tennis train these two teams which is bringing up | :05:27. | :05:55. | |
a scarcity of chances, in terms of break points on offer. And you asked | :05:56. | :06:03. | |
why it is before that 14 different pairs have won the last 16 Majors. | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
And I think it's what we've been saying. No teams make enough returns | :06:08. | :06:17. | |
to become dominant. A team will get hot, and they'll win a major. But to | :06:18. | :06:30. | |
win Major after Major, look at the would -- the Woodies, you were | :06:31. | :06:44. | |
always under pressure when you were serving against them, that's why | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
they won multiple Majors. Today, these two teams are the two form | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
teams, both of them are very difficult to break. We haven't seen | :06:55. | :07:09. | |
a lot of returns at into play. -- put into play. | :07:10. | :07:20. | |
JOHN LLOYD: I agree, there's no pattern to this match, you can't | :07:21. | :07:24. | |
really say, they're targeting this side or that side. It's almost as if | :07:25. | :07:30. | |
they're just waiting for them to combine in one game, where they both | :07:31. | :07:34. | |
get streaky and hit some winners - which is what's happened in both | :07:35. | :07:36. | |
sets. He just guided the ball down the | :07:37. | :08:41. | |
line, and it work to treat. -- it worked a treat. | :08:42. | :09:00. | |
Kept going, Kubot, just kept moving forward. And finished it off nicely. | :09:01. | :09:08. | |
Pressure building here. Excellent second serve - not only | :09:09. | :09:49. | |
did it have depth, but it had a lot of sides pinned that kept it low, | :09:50. | :09:55. | |
and Kubot was unable to get hold of that one. | :09:56. | :10:11. | |
Interesting, when you consider that neither of these pairs are doing | :10:12. | :10:22. | |
much against the serve, we haven't seen one point today whether | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
returning pair have stayed back on the first serve. Because if you do | :10:28. | :10:34. | |
stay back, you take away the target for the net man and have a chance to | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
get in the rally. Unlucky. The net cord decided that | :10:40. | :10:49. | |
point. A bit like that, you mean? A simple | :10:50. | :11:31. | |
put away. Yes, any volley Melo gets at the net is a simple put away, | :11:32. | :11:34. | |
because he's so close to the net. You kind of feel that this time, | :11:35. | :12:48. | |
surely, we have to get to the tie-break. It's amazing that we | :12:49. | :12:55. | |
haven't been in one so far. Sometimes you have an instinct, | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
where you're watching a match and you think, this pair, it's only a | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
matter of time, you feel they're going to break... You have | :13:05. | :13:08. | |
absolutely no idea who's going to win this match. You mean those | :13:09. | :13:18. | |
finely honed instincts of yours, they're not happening today? They're | :13:19. | :13:24. | |
not happening, I have no idea. Around the grounds, if you have not | :13:25. | :13:30. | |
been fortunate enough to grab a Centre Court ticket today, there's | :13:31. | :13:38. | |
still plenty to do just the pace some of these balls are coming, we | :13:39. | :13:42. | |
could do with that racket out here, I think! In Melo's hand, that would | :13:43. | :13:53. | |
probably look normal size, to be fair. As it is, it's going to be | :13:54. | :13:59. | |
Marach to serve to take this third set into a tie-break. | :14:00. | :14:43. | |
He loves that serve. It's brought a lot of success to him, and he's very | :14:44. | :14:57. | |
accurate with it. Tie-break time it is. It will be | :14:58. | :15:42. | |
interesting, because just ten points against the serve by both teams | :15:43. | :15:48. | |
combined in that third set. Just one single mini-break may well security | :15:49. | :15:49. | |
here. -- secure it here. That was a little more complicated | :15:50. | :16:26. | |
to hold onto, Melo's serve in the opening point of this tie-breaker, | :16:27. | :16:30. | |
than they would have liked. But it was accomplished in style in the | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
end. It was perhaps an opportunity for Marach, after he hits the first | :16:36. | :16:38. | |
volley, if he'd kept moving in that direction he might have swallowed | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
back the next one, instead of retreating back to cover his ally. | :16:44. | :17:26. | |
I know we have talked about it a bit recently, if you just take the place | :17:27. | :17:38. | |
of the return... If you make it, the opponent has gone anyway. It is not | :17:39. | :17:42. | |
like he will have time to get back and cut that ball. Just make the | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
return. It was tough to get a clean winner straight off that serve. | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
Pete, this is what you have been looking for. First time today. It | :17:54. | :18:05. | |
forced Kubot, or induced him, to roll the first serve. Which has been | :18:06. | :18:07. | |
a change. Oh, no. What an end to a rally which | :18:08. | :18:32. | |
looked like it was going to go the way of marathon public. That was a | :18:33. | :18:40. | |
good example of how thinking can inhibit you. -- it looked like it | :18:41. | :18:44. | |
was going to go the way of Marach and Pavic. | :18:45. | :19:08. | |
Up, up, up! At six foot aids, you are already up! Exactly. -- at six | :19:09. | :19:24. | |
foot eight. Flexibility for the first volley, got himself out of the | :19:25. | :19:26. | |
way. Kubot has got hold of that. When he | :19:27. | :20:01. | |
gets hold of it, it stays fit. Just unable to contain the power, Marach. | :20:02. | :20:06. | |
He went back to the forehand side, overplayed that particular serve. | :20:07. | :20:18. | |
Such fine margins in this match. One mini-break, will back decide this | :20:19. | :20:19. | |
set? -- will but decide? Let's have another look at this. | :20:20. | :21:09. | |
Almost impossible to hit that body. How close it came to going back | :21:10. | :21:15. | |
over. -- almost impossible to hit that volley. | :21:16. | :21:32. | |
Miller and Kubot can seal a two set advantage here. Four set points. | :21:33. | :21:55. | |
SUE BARKER: They take the third set to go up two sets to one. We are | :21:56. | :22:03. | |
leaving the coverage on BBC One but will start up in just a moment on | :22:04. | :22:09. | |
BBC Two, so it will continue in just a moment on BBC Two. It is available | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
on the red button as well. Just before we leave, the news today is | :22:15. | :22:19. | |
that we have a new ladies champion, Garbine Muguruza, a free hitting | :22:20. | :22:24. | |
fearless player. She was unstoppable on Centre Court against Venus | :22:25. | :22:28. | |
Williams. She said two set points in the opening set, which she took 7-5. | :22:29. | :22:36. | |
And a Hawk-Eye challenge on match point in the second. Emotional | :22:37. | :22:40. | |
scenes on Centre Court is Garbine Muguruza defeated the player who | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
inspired her as a youngster, five-time champion Venus Williams. A | :22:46. | :22:49. | |
very warm embrace from the former champion, Venus, at the net. A new | :22:50. | :22:55. | |
star is born on Centre Court. Garbine Muguruza racing up the | :22:56. | :23:00. | |
rankings, a big smile today. Well done to her. I don't think she can | :23:01. | :23:06. | |
believe it. Britain has a champion, the men's | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
wheelchair doubles champions, Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid. They | :23:11. | :23:15. | |
successfully defended their title in thrilling scenes on Court three, | :23:16. | :23:19. | |
defeating the top seed Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer. 6-7, 7-5, | :23:20. | :23:29. | |
7-6. They had quite a view match points earlier in the set but came | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
through a very tense tie-break. Fabulous scenes on Court three. Well | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
done to Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid. That is it on BBC One, but a | :23:39. | :23:46. | |
lot to look forward to on BBC Two. The conclusion of the men's doubles | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
final and the ladies doubles final. But today on Centre Court we had a | :23:52. | :23:58. | |
new ladies champion, Garbine Muguruza. From all of us here, | :23:59. | :23:59. | |
goodbye. Join us live, and follow | :24:00. | :24:10. | |
the world's wildest animals... | :24:11. | :24:14. |