Key events
In the meantime: if you’ve got any questions for our tennis correspondent Tumaini Carayol – from Fery’s ridiculous run to predictions for the final weekend and whether Britain (Fery aside) is underachieving in the game – he’s online right now:
Preamble
Hello! And welcome to women’s semi-finals day, where it’s a case of no Sabalenka, no Rybakina, no Swiatek, no Andreeva, absolutely no problem, because we’ve got two absorbing match-ups: Coco Gauff v Karolina Muchova and Marta Kostyuk v Linda Noskova.
Gauff’s Wimbledon history is a story well told – bursting on to the scene as a 15-year-old in 2019 and taking out Venus Williams en route to the last 16, but never going further until this year, despite titles at the 2023 US Open and 2025 French Open – and while Muchova, Kostyuk and Noskova have never previously generated the headlines Gauff has on these courts or fully found their feet on them before this year, their presence in the last four is no real surprise, given they have momentum to burn in this Wimbledon heatwave and games made for the grass.
Muchova, the Bad Homburg champion just before Wimbledon, and Noskova, the Berlin winner, both boast 10 wins out of 11 on the surface this summer, while Kostyuk, who reached the French Open semi-finals last month, has carried over her career-best form from the clay on to grass, winning 21 of her past 22 matches.
Predicting how today’s matches will go is a perilous business. Yes, Gauff has the most experience of going deep in slams and is Serena-like in her ability to compete and find a way to win even when she’s not playing well – four three-set wins in a row is evidence of that – but Muchova’s mix of power and touch is such a lethal combination on grass. Kostyuk v Noskova is pure power v power and while Kostyuk should win if she plays to her highest level, she froze in the Roland Garros last four, and Noskova will likely capitalise if she does so again.
What is certain is whichever way this all works out – with an American superstar in the final, or one Czech or even two a win away from joining the long line of Czech Wimbledon champions, or the emotional landmark of a first Ukrainian reaching the final after yet more Russian attacks in Kostyuk’s home city of Kyiv this week – we have two semi-finals to savour, even without Sabalenka and rest.
Play gets under way at: 1.30pm BST. Don’t be late!
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