Category News

Wimbledon 2025

Venue: All England Club Dates: 30 June-13 July

Two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz produced a Wimbledon masterclass to end British hope Cameron Norrie’s run and move into the semi-finals once again.

Second seed Alcaraz underlined why he is the tournament favourite with a scintillating 6-2 6-3 6-3 win.

The Spaniard will face Taylor Fritz – the American fifth seed bidding for a first major title – in the last four.

Fritz secured his place in the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time with a 6-3 6-4 1-6 7-6 (7-4) victory over Russia’s Karen Khachanov.

Alcaraz is seeded behind Italian rival Jannik Sinner because of their respective world rankings, but his superior record on grass courts – and current hot streak – makes him the man to beat.

Victory over Norrie marked a 23rd win in a row for Alcaraz, who is bidding to become the fifth man to win three successive Wimbledon titles in the Open era.

“I’m really happy. To play another Wimbledon semi-final is super special,” said Alcaraz, who secured victory in one hour and 39 minutes.

Norrie’s defeat signals the end of British interest in the Wimbledon singles for another year.

But, when the dust settles on a brutally one-sided result, the 29-year-old left-hander will take positives from his run after a difficult 18 months.

After saving four break points in his opening service game, five-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz quickly upped his level and wowed the Centre Court crowd with his all-court ability.

With Alcaraz serving strongly, hammering groundstrokes and moving elegantly around the court, 61st-ranked Norrie had little chance of causing a shock.

“His level was unreal. I felt if I didn’t do enough with the ball, he was going to punish me with a lot of his different options,” he said.

Many British tennis fans may have thought they would not see Norrie playing at this level again.

A forearm injury last year contributed to his ranking plummeting towards the bottom of the top 100 but, after soul-searching talks with his team after the Miami Open in March, he has rediscovered his form.

Since then, Norrie has reached the French Open fourth round before forging another deep run at Wimbledon – having followed Alcaraz’s lead of a short Ibiza break between the Grand Slam events.

“I’m enjoying my life on the tour, enjoying off the court as much as I can,” he added.

“I think just having a good perspective of just not putting too much pressure on yourself.”

Heading to party island is a strategy which has also served Alcaraz well.

He plays at his fluent best when completely relaxed and barely thinking about the shots he is producing – although he can be prone to occasionally losing concentration.

Alcaraz found the perfect balance against Norrie.

His deft touches at the net brought gasps of appreciation, and the explosive power and pinpoint accuracy of his baseline strokes were met by exhales of breath.

Norrie, simply, had no answer. Alcaraz lost just nine more points after seeing off the four break points and clinched the opening set after only 28 minutes.

Even when the Briton earned a break-back point at 3-2 in the second set, there was no mercy.

Alcaraz upped his serve and battered down three deliveries over 130mph to hold, breaking again to clinch the set and refusing to let his level drop in the third.

“When you’re serving great, you’re playing from the baseline and playing the return games with more confidence,” he said.

Fritz had to work hard to beat Khachanov, having looked on course to wrapping up the match in straight sets.

But things suddenly fell apart as he struggled to land his first serve while sending more shots beyond the baseline.

The 27-year-old then had a medical timeout to address some taping on his foot as he looked to avoid being taken to five sets for the third time in five matches at Wimbledon.

There was a bizarre incident at the start of the fourth set when a malfunction by the electronic line call system meant ‘fault’ was called during play, and the point was replayed.

But it didn’t impact Fritz’s return to form as he dug deep to come out on top of a tie-break.

“I’m feeling great to get through it,” he said in his on-court interview.

“I’ve never had a match really just flip so quickly, so I’m really happy with how I came back in the fourth set and got it done.

“I felt I couldn’t miss and then all of sudden I’m making a ton of mistakes. Momentum was definitely not going to be on my side going into a fifth.”

When England and Wales were drawn together in Group D of Euro 2025, many fans and pundits would have circled the fixture between the home nations as a key date in the competition.

However, after both sides lost their opening games in Switzerland, there is real fear the match will be a dead rubber.

If, on Wednesday, England lose to the Netherlands and Wales are beaten by France, both will be eliminated before their final game.

They are fighting for their Euro lives – and both know improved displays are required to avoid the worst-case scenario of a double elimination after two matches.

England v Netherlands at Euro 2025

Venue: Stadion Letzigrund, Zurich Date: Wednesday 9 July, 17:00 BST

Defending champions England face Euro 2017 winners the Netherlands and, following their 2-1 defeat by France on Saturday, they will be knocked out if they lose and France are not beaten by Wales.

The Netherlands have won two of their last three meetings with England – but the Lionesses have never lost back-to-back matches under Sarina Wiegman.

If teams finish on the same points after three matches, it will come down to head-to-head records to decide the two qualification spots.

“Ultimately we don’t like losing but when a result like that happens you have to reflect and come together as a team,” said England striker Alessia Russo.

“We have bounced back before. We know we weren’t up to it against France. For our own standards, we want to be better. That sets the bar for us.

“We’re our own biggest critics as players so we’re all ready to get out there and have another good game.”

Manager Wiegman, who won Euro 2017 as Netherlands boss, said England have “not talked about consequences” but admitted it was a must-win game.

“We lost [against France] and we play against a very good opponent again, but we’re really good too,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“It’s a final for us, we will do everything to win. Every game is must-win. We’ve experienced that before.”

Wiegman was captain under Netherlands boss Andries Jonker for the national team and they have been friends for almost 30 years.

Asked how Wiegman will handle the pressure, Jonker said: “She is very experienced and she knows you cannot always win.

“She will not panic and her experience will help her. It is not a problem for her – but more for everyone around her.

“If you win, there is a party. If you don’t win, then you have a problem. In football you have to play against each other and you want to win.

France v Wales at Euro 2025

Venue: Arena St Gallen, St Gallen Date: Wednesday 9 July, 20:00 BST

Manager Rhian Wilkinson has urged her side to “show Wales how proud we are to represent our country” when they face France.

Wales’ 3-0 defeat by Netherlands means they must earn at least a point in St Gallen against a team they have never beaten before to avoid elimination from their first major tournament.

Having had less than ideal preparation for the daunting contest with France after their team bus was involved in a crash that saw their training session at Arena St Gallen cancelled, Wilkinson says her squad will focus on football with everyone on the bus thankfully uninjured.

“I think football is secondary and I think, yes, we are shaken,” she told BBC Sport Wales. “We’ve practised for the unexpected, I think that’s what we can call this.

“This is a fantastic opportunity, this is another good team, we’ve talked about that enough that these are three strong teams in our group, it’s another opportunity for us to show up and to play to the best of our ability.

“Everyone’s aware of what it means if we don’t get a point, but equally it’s about delivering as strong a performance as we possibly can to have another opportunity to show Wales how proud we are to represent our country.”

Captain Angharad James feels confident that Wales, who are yet to win a match in all competitions in 2025, can produce an improved performance now that the emotional burden of playing an historic first major tournament match is behind them.

“Emotions were obviously high in the first game. We’d waited a very long time for that moment,” she said.

“To run out of the tunnel and experience that was maybe an experience that a lot of us hadn’t experienced before. Now we know what to expect, now we know what’s in front of us.”