Alcaraz brushes off 'spying' controversy

LONDON — Carlos Alcaraz insisted his father was just "a huge fan of tennis" after he reportedly filmed Novak Djokovic in a training session at Wimbledon.

Spanish top seed Alcaraz, who beat Denmark's Holger Rune in his quarterfinal on Wednesday, admitted "probably it is true" when asked about the spying allegations in his postmatch press conference.

"My father is a huge fan of tennis," he said after his impressive 7-6 (3),6-4, 6-4 victory on Centre Court.

"He doesn't only watch my matches. I think he gets into the club at 11 am, gets out at 10 pm, watching matches, watching practice from everyone.

"Being able to watch Djokovic in real life, yeah, probably it is true he's filmed the sessions."

US Open champion Alcaraz, who is through to his first Wimbledon semifinal, remains on track for a potential title showdown with defending champion Djokovic on Sunday.

But he denied any filming would give him a competitive advantage.

"I don't think so," he said. "I mean, I have a lot of videos from Djokovic on every platform. I think it's not an advantage for me."

Alcaraz admitted it had been tough to face his friend and fellow 20-year-old Rune.

"It's not easy to play against someone that I've played so many times," he said. "When we were younger, we grew up together, same age. For me he's not really easy to play against."

The world No 1 said he was looking forward to his last-four clash against Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev.

"He's playing great here on grass," he said. "He has had a great, great year as well... but I am going to enjoy the semifinal.

"I think I'm playing great, a lot of confidence right now. So it's going to be a really good match I think."

Alcaraz was in imperious form as he swept aside his friend Rune to set up a semifinal against Medvedev.

Alcaraz faced just one break point in the entire quarterfinal, which he snuffed out, hitting 35 winners against 13 unforced errors.

"Honestly, it is amazing for me," said Alcaraz. "It's been a dream since I started playing tennis."

The US Open champion, who now has 10 straight wins on grass, was delighted with his performance against Rune.

"I am playing at a great level. I didn't expect to play a great level on this surface," he said. "For me, it is crazy."

He said he found it tough at the beginning of the match, especially with Rune on the other side of the net.

"But once you get into the quarterfinals there are no friends," he added. "You have to be focused on yourself and I think I did great in that part."

Alcaraz is the youngest semifinalist at Wimbledon since Djokovic in 2007 but next up on Friday is a tough-looking encounter with third seed Medvedev.

The Russian saw off a feisty challenge from unseeded American Christopher Eubanks to win 6-4, 1-6,4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1.

Eubanks, who had shocked fifth-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas in the previous round, was attempting to become just the third man to reach the semifinals on debut.

However, the 27-year-old's challenge fizzled out in the final stages of a big-hitting contest.

Medvedev said he was wary of the power of Alcaraz.

"If you give him one easy shot, you can be in trouble," he said.

"There are big chances you're going to get a winner with, let's say, Novak (Djokovic) or Rafa (Nadal) — you kind of feel like you can have a chance to get to this shot.

"But with Carlos, you're not going to get this one. One shot sometimes is brutal."

Jabeur's revenge

In a repeat of the 2022 title match, Tunisian sixth seed Jabeur came from behind to beat defending champion Elena Rybakina 6-7 (5),6-4, 6-1 in their quarterfinal.

Both players broke twice in the first set before the Kazakh third seed took the tiebreak.

But Rybakina cracked in the 10th game of the second set, allowing Jabeur to level the match and the Tunisian maintained her momentum to storm to victory.

"Crazy match, difficult match but I'm glad that I got the win this time," said the 28-year-old, who admitted she had not been able to watch her defeat last year because it was too painful.

"I wasn't ready to play this kind of match (last year)," she said. "I don't regret last year. It happened for a reason. I always say it.

"It was meant to be this year. It was meant to be in the quarterfinals. I have learned a lot from the final last year. Definitely very proud of myself for the improvement that I did mentally, physically, and with the tennis racket."

Jabeur will face world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka in Thursday's women's semifinals.

The Belarusian powered into a second Wimbledon semifinal with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Madison Keys of the United States.

A double break secured the first set and Sabalenka, who was defeated by Karolina Pliskova in the last four in 2021, dug herself out of a deep hole at 4-2, 40-0 down in the second set.

Sabalenka was banned from the 2022 tournament due to the conflict in Ukraine, along with all Russian and Belarusian players.

Belarus is a key ally of Moscow.

"When I was a little girl I dreamed of winning Wimbledon," she added. "It's something special here."

Ukrainian wild card Elina Svitolina will meet unseeded Czech player Marketa Vondrousova in the other women's semifinal on Thursday.

AFP