Live from Wimbledon Day 11 - Muchova edges Gauff in classic

**Catherine** (0:10)
Hello and welcome to The Tennis Podcast, live from Wimbledon and presented by Barclays, the official banking partner of Wimbledon. It is day 11 of the championships Women's Semifinals Day, which has become a bit of a banker for good matches in recent times. And boy, did we get that today. Two good semifinals won by two Czech players, Linda Noskova and Karolina Muchova. But the match that today will be remembered for is the first of the two semifinals between Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova. One by Muchova, 7-6 in the third, 12-10 in the tie break after two hours and 35 minutes, and saving a match point along the way.
People don't beat Coco Gauff, David, in majors in this kind of match. It doesn't happen. How did Karolina Muchova do it?

**David** (1:09)
It's a great question. I find myself wondering that, because Coco Gauff kind of had her right where she wants her in that scenario.
I'm sure she didn't want to lose the first set 6-2, and she was getting comprehensively outplayed in that. But once she'd leveled, once she'd got it into the meat of a third and deciding set, and Matt had provided me with a stat a few days ago to say that she'd won 18 of the most recent 21 three-set matches at Grand Slam Tournaments. That had gone up to 19 out of 22 following the Pugula win. At that point, I feel like really Gauff should be a heavy favorite, really, because you could tell the effects it had been having on Muchova, trying to carry on and continue executing this incredibly expressive game that she has. She was doing a great job of it. Obviously, the second set was 6-1 and one-sided, but when it went into a real throw-down affair at the end of the match, I was in awe of Muchova for keeping up with her, frankly. But when it was in the match tiebreak and there was a time violation at 8-1, and I realize I'm jumping ahead here, but this is what really sticks with me. There was a time violation on Muchova's serve at 8-1, and she seemed to just go at that point. And the point she played was she just about rolled a serve in, and her immediate backhand sailed a mile long. She's match point down. I thought the match was over even before the next point. And then when the match point took place, and Gauff hit pretty much the perfect serve, and had a mid-court forehand to put away, to put her in the final, and hit a drop shot from shoulder height into the bottom of the net.
I don't think I've probably been more shocked in a commentary box than that, and that's where I had the privilege of watching this match on BBC Radio. But enormous credit, I think, needs to go to Muchova for hanging in, giving herself the chances, and eventually taking them. And I just loved this match so much. I loved the sporting nature between the two of them. Gauff must have applauded Muchova's shots three or four times in the match. There were lots of nods of the head from Muchova, and sort of wry smiles at the extraordinary things Gauff was doing. And it genuinely was one where I felt sorry that there had to be a loser in it. And I think that that is what Gauff takes away from this as well. She's sad, she's disappointed, but she knows what she was part of today.

**Catherine** (3:50)
Two grownups on the court, as well as two brilliant tennis players. Cameraman Matthew was en route to Wimbledon during this match and didn't get to watch it live. He knew who the winner was, but didn't know about the fun and games along the way, say. So we just got to show him the sequence of points from a tool and got to experience Matthew's live reactions, which really was quite a cathartic experience, actually, and really summed up the whole occasion, which is still Matt rattling around in my brain, that sequence of points, and I think will be for a very, very long time.

**Matt** (4:35)
Yeah, Matthew definitely had more of a look of disgust than I had on my face at the time, I suppose.

**Catherine** (4:42)
Oh Lord, that's what we got from Matthew.

**Matt** (4:45)
But, you know, it was actually like the whole tie break was a bit of a fever dream. I mean, I thought it started with tremendous quality actually. And by this stage, we should say that Muchova was feeling it physically. She was clutching at her right side, I believe Laura Robson Quartzside felt that it was a stitch, and Muchova has confirmed that in press. So it's a great observation from Laura there. But we weren't really sure what it was. We knew she was feeling it physically. But at that moment, she stepped up her aggression and played the tiebreak much more aggressively than she played a lot of the rest of the match. And she was pulling it off. I mean, there was a serve volley early in the tiebreak from Muchova off her toes with a volley onto the line. And then there was a diving volley to win the point as well. And it was just so good. The quality was so high. But Gauff was staying with her.