Live from Wimbledon Day 7 - Will Naomi Osaka win Wimbledon?

**Catherine** (0:11)
Hello and welcome to The Tennis Podcast, live from Wimbledon and presented by Barclays, the official banking partner of Wimbledon. Day seven has just concluded once again in absolutely thrilling fashion. This time, as I'm sure many of you have just seen, with Coco Gauff winning the race against time and squeaking in her victory 90 seconds before the clock struck curfew here at Wimbledon. Coco, thank you. Lots to discuss tonight. I'll be doing it with David and Charlie Eccleshare of The Athletic. We are learning from past experience and mistakes, David.
Last year, we very famously made Matt podcast through the Lurgy on Women's Finals Day and he ended up having, for various reasons, one of the most traumatic days of his life. Matt is resting up today. Get well soon, Matt, and this could not be a more perfect night to get bonus Charlie Eccleshare on the show because Charlie, and we have the receipts for this, Charlie, since the start of this tournament has been big on Coco Gauff, would it be right to say predicted a Coco Gauff Wimbledon victory?

**Charlie Eccleshare** (1:23)
Very much so.

**Catherine** (1:24)
How smug are you feeling right now?

**Charlie Eccleshare** (1:25)
I'm relieved because I was, well, firstly, when I made that prediction, I was like, at least last a little bit, a bit like with David Sasalquan at the US Open. And now I feel like it's got beyond, it's not silly now. And if I'd come on and she'd just gone out, I wouldn't have even had the chance to build it up as a thing. Whereas now it's got 48 hours or just under.

**David** (1:44)
Like my Giaffo one.

**Charlie Eccleshare** (1:46)
Exactly. It's got a little under 48 hours to at least percolate with the listeners and viewers. And I think it's credible at this point.

**Catherine** (1:53)
Look, this is already new ground, isn't it? She's never been to a Wimbledon quarterfinal before. 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 over Belinda Bencic. We were introduced to Deadline Coco tonight. I loved, we did have time for a very quick on-court interview and she knew she was right up against Deadline. I always wonder sort of how in the zone they are. Are they aware of Denise Parnell loitering in the corner of the court, pretty much tapping her watch, but she did the tapping her own wrist celebration, did Coco Gauff.
David, what do you think of Charlie's prediction on the back of what you've seen throughout the tournament and tonight?

**David** (2:32)
I was quite shocked by that prediction when you first told me about it, Charlie, just because of how sort of uncomfortable she's often seemed on grass over the last few years, and because when you told me about it a couple of two or three days ago, and I realised you'd made it earlier than that, but when you told me about it, there were still some serious grass court players in this draw who were Grand Slam champions. Rebacchina was still in at that point. Swiatek was still in at that point.
Obviously Sabalenka, maybe not a grass court specialist, but every single one of those I think I would have identified as maybe certainly having more grass court pedigree and comfort than Coco Gauff does. I think if you ask me which is Coco Gauff's weakest surface, I would say grass. But when you explained your reasoning to me, I thought, okay, I get where you're coming from actually. I mean, look, it's not my pick, it's all yours and if you get this one right, hats off. As the person who likes to make loud, proud predictions and then have to just walk them back at the end of the tournament.
I mean, you get a lot of this stuff right, so I like the fact that you've gone for it and I like your reasoning. You better tell us your reasoning.

**Charlie Eccleshare** (3:50)
Yeah, I mean, the logic is in a way that it's illogical. I mean, if you're trying to pick a Wimbledon winner on the women's side, well, there's always been a different one now for basically a decade, so you're picking a new winner and you're picking someone who's therefore gonna surprise you. I mean, I guess the sort of conservative play in that regard would be someone like Sabalenka, who's the world number one and you could say, well, eventually she's just surely gonna win one. I mean, it was partly because of, well, in large part because of Swiatek last year, because I just remember how much that seemed like a ludicrous proposition. You know, Swiatek was never gonna win on the grass, you know, the forehand wouldn't work, all of that sort of stuff. And exactly the same conversations we've had about Coco Gauff.