Wimbledon 2023: Veteran Wawrinka and new star Andreeva united by love for the sport

By James Toney at Wimbledon

They say with age comes acceptance, which is perhaps why Stan Wawrinka rates his chance of winning Wimbledon as 'zero'.

Wawrinka should be more famous than he is, winning every Grand Slam bar this in a career that coincided with the greatest era of men's tennis.

Novak Djokovic lies in wait in the third round, an opponent the Swiss has played 26 times but never at the All England Club.

Wawrinka has won just six of those matches but two were in Grand Slam finals, in both New York and Paris and Djokovic doesn’t forget.

“There’s zero opportunity to win Wimbledon for me," said the 38-year-old, after a hard-fought 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-2 win over 29th seed Tomas Etcheverry.

“I’m happy to have won again, I’m playing better each match and it’s an honour to play Novak here.

“I was missing that in my career to play him in a Grand Slam at Wimbledon. It’s going to be a difficult challenge. Hopefully I can make it a competitive match but if you will look at recent results, I don’t really stand a chance do I?

“I have to play my best tennis and it’s been a long time since I’ve really been at that level.

“Novak is the perfect player. If you look, everything is so clean. He plays the perfect shot in the right moment. I love to watch him, as much as I loved to watch Roger Federer. He’s serving amazing, he’s returning everything and he can do anything at the moment."

You have to admire Wawrinka's pure love for the sport - he could have quit with millions in his Swiss bank account but he just loves putting himself out there.

Djokovic, 36, is on a 30-match winning streak at Wimbledon and their combined age of 74 is the oldest for a men's singles match at SW19 since Ken Rosewall faced Barry Phillips-Moore in 1974.

"He's not got zero chance, this guy took two major titles away from me," said Djokovic.

"He had a fantastic career - won three Grand Slams, gold at the Olympics and a Davis Cup. He's still got that one-handed background and he's still a complete player, who is strong on all surfaces.

"You have to be impressed by how he keeps going strong, especially after all these injuries and surgeries. He's still going because he wants to make more history for himself."

Mirra Andreeva is too shy to speak to Andy Murray but increasingly right at home on Wimbledon’s big stage.

The 16-year-old is the third youngest women’s qualifier to reach the third round, after Kim Clijsters 24 years ago and Coco Gauff in 2018.

Ranked just outside the world’s top 100, there was never a prospect of a wildcard as a Russian player, meaning three matches at Roehampton last week, her first experience of playing on grass.

Arguably it’s the best thing that could have happened to her, her confidence surging as she beat No 10 seed and 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova, winning the first set 6-4 before her opponent retired when 4-0 down in the second.

“I've met Andy Murray this week but I'm too super shy to talk to him,” said Andreeva, whose every move is being followed by Netflix cameras.

"Before I would be definitely scared to play on Centre Court but it's also kind of a dream to play there, so you can dream.

"On the first day I went in there and took about 15 pictures on my phone, even with no tennis you can feel the atmosphere.

"I'm just trying to enjoy it, I want to win but I don't have any goals, I just want to play."

Ons Jabeur promised to teach Elena Rybakina how to celebrate after her stunned and muted celebrations when winning their final last year.

This unsmiling assassin is never going to give you a killer quote to match her killer forehand but she's looking every bit the defending champion.

Alize Cornet made her fight though, the 11th game of their second set lasting over 15 minutes before Rybakina closed out a 6-2 7-6 win to set-up a clash with British No.1 Katie Boulter.

"I don't think I'll have too many supporters but that's okay, I'm just excited to play," she said.

Karolina Muchova, beaten by Iga Swiątek in the recent French Open final, lost 4-6 7-5 6-1 to Jule Niemeier while Marie Bouzkova got the better of Anett Kontaveit, who was seeded second last year but is competing in her last tournament after a debilitating series of back injuries.

"There’s sadness, there’s happiness, there’s a bit of everything," she said.

Elsewhere, Sofia Kenin - who beat Gauff in the first round - progressed against Wang Xinyu while Bianca Andreescu finally completed her first round match with a 6-3 3-6 6-2 win against Anna Bondar.