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The snack was pizza and Strawberries & Cream. For any wondering, yes, I ate the famous Strawberries & Cream first to get the pure experience. They were delightful. My theory is that after that many hours of waiting, and being that hungry, carrot sticks and olive oil could be there calling card and fans would still consider it a treat. But yes, the Wimbledon treat did not disappoint. The pizza was terrible....very hard crust...oh well, you pay for the tennis.
Onto Court 1 and the heat was building. So now back to the FSU prof connection from his missed 4 am cab. Turns out his area is sports administration and he taught at USC for 6 years. Yes, the same USC where one Stevie Johnson dominated and built possibly the most impressive US collegiate tennis career going. Jason was an instructor of Steve's. After the match they caught up, giving Jason a chance to ask if he could get his name onto Sam Querrey's player box list for later on. Steve and Sam paired up many times for doubles and know each other well. Steve's guy says he will try, he's not sure.
Anyway, that meeting with Steve and Jason didn't take place until a bit after Steve gave his best to try to bring down the giant....but it just wasn't meant to be. Cilic was playing brilliantly. His serve is tremendous people. It's insane. Johnson played brilliantly just to push him, but Cilic was not losing people. It had a feeling like they could have played 10 sets and Cilic wins all 10, he was just in control. Even when Johnson got up 2-0 in the third, it still just had a feeling like Cilic owned that match. To Johnson's credit, as I write this report, Cilic is tearing through Bautista Agut convincingly.
To get away from the heat, I tore away from the action a few times during that match and the next one (Konta, coming up soon), to wander around where the matches were being played on courts 14-19. The highlights were getting glimpses of Mladenovic & Kuznetsova, and Sloane Stephens. I never did get to see the Sock-Keys team, a missed chance.
OK, match 2 brings out the local hero, Jo Konta. She had the crowd from the start and the savvy helped as well. What was clear is that the power and the pure tennis aptitude were not. Sakkari is a hitter, FTLers. Daughter of a former tennis pro, this girl can put a hurting on a ball. The 6-1 score from the second set was misleading, and there were points in the first set where I thought Sakkari had what it took to pull the upset. Her big serves were less accurate than Konta's though, and Konta survived. That's been the story for Konta and Wimbledon, survival. Long close matches, the British press, you name it. As I write this she seems to be struggling in another close one with Caroline Garcia. I hope she wins.....this could get really fun if she and Murray stay alive to the bitter end...
Speaking of sentimental favorites....we are up to mine - Venus Williams. They gave her the court 1 evening match and she delivered. The young up and comer Naomi Osaka (a name you will want to remember, because she gave Venus all she could handle and then some), just didn't quite have the luck that day. Osaka had all the skills, and to be honest, Venus looked overwhelmed on some of the points that became quite physical and "scrambled". But her serve and her ground-strokes are just a thing of beauty. Looks like after holding onto this one (which easily could have gone either way), she thrashed Konjuh pretty easily. So this FTLers is reporting that Osaka quite definitely has the game to make future deep runs in major events.
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Well, that's all for today, FTLers. Great reporting, as always, Greg! We end today's segment with a super fantasy tennis tip. But stay tuned because there's more to come! Will Greg get to sit in Sam Querrey's player box? Find out the answer to this and a whole lot more when FTL presents the final installment of Greg Burge's award-winning field piece, Strawberries and Cream, this Saturday!
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