Quick Served: Wimbledon Day 7

Wimbledon will crown a first-time women's champion

Jul 06, 2026

Context-free soundbite: “The old choppy magoo in the middle of the court and defend wasn’t going to work. She volleyed like a wizard in the third set.”

Struffy? Evidently we’re going with that nickname for Jan-Lennard Struff, one of eight fourth-round winners Andy, JW and Producer Mike discuss as Wimbledon reaches the halfway point and is guaranteed a first-time women’s champion. Novak Djokovic had a chippy, ugly win, Felix Auger-Aliassime showed some rare aggro, Aryna Sabalenka is out of the tournament and hungover by now, and Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff both reached their first quarterfinal here.

Make sure to follow Served on socials for updates throughout the day, and join us for daily live chats on Substack.

Watch Quick Served Day 7 on YouTube

The Rundown

Perk Up. Coco Gauff [7] and Naomi Osaka [14] are new members of Wimbledon’s Final Eight Club. This was news to Osaka in the press conference. A reporter clued her in that she now gets two credentials and guest passes for life. “For free?” said the woman with $25 million in prize money.

Aryna Sabalenka (Photo credit: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian)

Mean Streaks. Osaka ended more than top seed Aryna Sabalenka’s title hopes. She stopped two of the most insane streaks in tennis: Sabalenka’s six years without losing a Slam match in straight sets and her run of 21 consecutive tiebreaks at the majors. Osaka ended two of her own—going for 0–13 against Top 10 players off hard court and her “one-sided beef” with Chris Eubanks.

🎤 Naomi Osaka
“He got to the quarters [at Wimbledon] way before me and I was upset for the longest time, and I’m glad to finally join him.”

Jessica Pegula (Photo credit: Hannah Mckay/Reuters)

Serving Notice. Jessica Pegula [4] has been working on serving more aggressively since last fall, and it’s paying off. She’s getting more free points with it, nearly doubling her number of aces per set and increasing her first-serve-winning percentage by 4% this year. But in the first set against Iva Jovic [16] today, Pegula looked up at the stats displayed and saw she was landing only 38% of her first serves.

🎤 Jessica Pegula
“I cannot end the match on that. I don’t care what happens. I’ve got to change that stat immediately. You’ve been breaking the whole match, you’re not playing that bad, just focus on the serve, win some extra points there, and play a bit more aggressively, too.”

Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina after their match

Pure Theater. Felix Auger-Aliassime [3] is the last player you associate with drama, but it found him today. With FAA serving for the match at 5-4, 15-40, in the fourth set, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina [22] took a medical timeout for an ankle injury. FAA later called the rule allowing an opponent to—effectively, if not intentionally—ice a server “disgraceful.” Davidovich Fokina got treatment and wound up breaking FAA (the first time the Canadian was broken in the tournament). He also won the set. FAA won in five; otherwise, the handshake might have been more tense than it already was. Andy breaks it all down in the episode.

Luckily, FAA has a fonder memory of the match, and not just the win. He called the point below the best one of his life, never mind that he lost it.

🎤 Felix Auger-Aliassime
“I’m actually laughing as I’m running to the ball. I felt my face relaxing and laughing because the crowd was on their feet as the point was still going on, and in my head I was thinking, This is too good. And then I missed the open shot. I think that’s the definition of enjoying the moment.”

Bracket Challenge Update

Andy changed his women’s pick in the redraw just in time to avoid the Aryna Sabalenka bandwagon crash. Here are Team Served’s redraws.

Served Bracket Challenge Leaderboard

Perfect Delivery: Wrong Idea

A reporter in Aryna Sabalenka’s press conference asked whether it feels worse to lose a match that was on your racket or to get outplayed and overpowered, like she did today against Naomi Osaka.

🎤 Aryna Sabalenka
“Both suck. I prefer winning.”

She added that she planned to deal with the disappointment by getting “completely drunk” and forgetting about tennis, then getting back to work. We’ve all been there.

36

Jan-Lennard Struff’s age as the oldest man to reach his first major quarterfinal in the Open Era

It almost didn’t happen. Struff was down two sets to love against Hubert Hurkacz. “Something about staying on the court long enough, weird shit happens,” Andy said in the episode. Struff also had five-set wins in the first two rounds.

Hurkacz retired with Struff leading 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 7-5, 4-2.

🎤 Jan-Lennard Struff
“It’s just incredible. Thirty-six years old. Fourth round [for the] first time. Quarter-finals of a Grand Slam [for the] first time. You should never give up.”

Jump to Stat of the Day

Tiebreak Trivia

If Jessica Pegula wins Wimbledon, she will become the oldest WTA player to win her first major. Who currently has the record? Hints: It happened this millennium, and she beat a compatriot.

💡 The answer will be in Day 8’s Quick Served newsletter.

Day 6 answer: In 1947, Jack Kramer was the first player to win a major wearing shorts instead of flannel trousers.

Quick Hits

Roger Federer (Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Roger Federer will be in the Royal Box tomorrow.
Holger Rune is switching racquets from Babolat to Wilson. We hope that means he’s coming back soon.
Reilly Opelka took another swipe at doubles on social media as news of potential cuts circulated this week. Henry Patten, co-No. 1, bit back. (Clay Magazine)
Serena Williams’s coach, Rennae Stubbs, talked to the AP about what went wrong (and right ) in her singles match and why she didn’t have more prep. Stubbs expects Williams to keep playing.
Novak Djokovic extended his Open Era record of major quarterfinals to 66 today. That’s 80% of the Slams he has played.
Coco Gauff has now reached the quarterfinals of all four Slams.