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Alex de Minaur has enjoyed the best season of his career and he can make it even better at Wimbledon.

When Lucas Pouille withdrew ahead of their third-round match on Saturday due to an abdominal injury, it put De Minaur in position to break new ground in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.

The Australian, who is currently live No. 9, will surge to No. 6 if he wins his fourth-round match against Arthur Fils. That would position him to move to a career-high PIF ATP Ranking (currently No. 7) on 15 July if he is able to maintain that spot.

Live No. 6 Hubert Hurkacz, No. 7 Andrey Rublev and No. 8 Casper Ruud all lost before the third round of The Championships, providing the opening for De Minaur.

Only six Australians in the history of the PIF ATP Rankings (since 1973) have reached a career-high ranking better than No. 6: Lleyton Hewitt (No. 1), John Newcombe (No. 1), Patrick Rafter (No. 1), Ken Rosewall (No. 2), Rod Laver (No. 3) and Pat Cash (No. 4).

Vic Seixas, the winner of 15 major titles and a Davis Cup champion, died on July 5 at the age of 100. Seixas, who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1971, had been the oldest living Hall of Famer.

Fitness, foot speed and superb volleys were the cornerstones of Seixas’ lengthy career. As just one example of his longevity, Seixas played the U.S. National Championships (now the US Open) a record 28 times from 1940 to 1969.

Of Seixas’ 15 major titles, two came in singles, with Seixas winning Wimbledon in 1953 and the U.S. Championships one year later.

In doubles, Seixas captured five men’s majors — two apiece with Tony Trabert at the U.S. Nationals in 1952 and 1954 (later the US Open) and Roland-Garros (1954 and 1955), as well as one at the Australian Championships alongside Mervyn Rose in ‘52. Seixas also excelled in mixed doubles, earning eight majors — four straight at Wimbledon from 1953-56, a three-peat at the U.S. Nationals from 1953-55 and one triumph at Roland-Garros in 1953. All but one of those mixed doubles titles were won with Doris Hart, the lone exception coming at Wimbledon in 1956, Seixas that year partnering with Shirley Fry.

Davis Cup was a Seixas priority. Compiling an overall record of 38-17 (24-12 in singles, 14-5 in doubles), Seixas played on U.S. teams that reached the Davis Cup final seven straight years between 1951-57. All of these were against the mighty Australians. America’s lone championship run in that stretch came in 1954, Seixas contributing significantly with an opening day singles win over Ken Rosewall and a clinching victory in the doubles with Trabert.

It took two days and plenty of stops and starts, but Daniil Medvedev finally finished off Jan-Lennard Struff on Thursday at Wimbledon.

The fifth seed battled past the big-hitting German 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(3) in two hours and 17 minutes to reach the fourth round at The Championships for his third consecutive appearance. He will play 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov for a place in the quarter-finals.

MARVELLOUS MEDDY ?

He moves into the fourth round after taking down Struff 6-1 6-3 4-6 7-6(3) @wimbledon | #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/0apyZtGkPB

Medvedev, a semi-finalist at SW19 one year ago, has been tested in two straight rounds after being pushed to a fourth-set tie-break by Alexandre Muller. But the former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings is safely through to the second week.

On Friday, Medvedev moved to within a set of victory. Play was suspended at 1-1 in the fourth set.

Arthur Fils extended his best Grand Slam run to the fourth round on Saturday at Wimbledon, but only after pulling off a strong finish to overcome Roman Safiullin in five sets.

Fils prevailed 4-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 against the 2023 quarter-finalist Safiullin to reach the second week on just his second appearance at SW19. The #NextGenATP Frenchman outhit his opponent by 57 winners to 30 to set a fourth-round meeting with ninth seed Alex de Minaur.

"Really happy. It's been a tough match with tough conditions. We stopped twice. There was a lot of wind," Fils said. "So I'm really happy about how I managed my emotions because after the third set I was very down, but I managed."

? ARTHUR FILS ?

He makes his mark with a 4-6 6-3 1-6 6-4 6-3 win against Safiullin ?@Wimbledon | #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/eIlTKRlYHF

Safiullin appeared to have taken control on Court 15 when he raced to the third set, but the No. 34 in the PIF ATP Rankings Fils held his nerve across sets four and five to seal a three-hour, 18-minute triumph. At 20 years and 32 days old, Fils is the youngest Frenchman to make the last 16 at Wimbledon since 2005, when Richard Gasquet reached the same stage as a 19-year-old.

Alexander Zverev took a nasty tumble midway through the second set of his match against Cameron Norrie but recovered to defeat the home hope 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(15) on Saturday at Wimbledon. The German tweaked his left knee and twice required treatment on Centre Court, but steadied to see off the British No. 2 following a marathon tie-break.

Zverev converted on his sixth match point of the tie-break after saving five set points. Just three points went against serve in the tie-break, but Zverev was perfect on his deal after he fell behind 0/2.

While Zverev was concerned about his knee and appeared slightly hampered in his movement for a stretch, his consistently brilliant serving allowed him to swing freely on return and threaten throughout the two-and-a-half-hour match.

"My knee went too straight. I overstretched it," Zverev said. "I do have pain right now. I will check it. I will see what the MRI says. But I personally don't think that it can be anything too serious because I still played. Of course, I was limited, I feel like, in some of the movements.

"If you're breaking a ligament or breaking something else, the meniscus or something like that, I don't think you can continue playing even the way I did, so... We'll see what it is. Hopefully I'll be fine in two days' time."

Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu have withdrawn from the mixed doubles draw at Wimbledon on Saturday due to a Raducanu right wrist injury.

After an emotional match with brother Jamie Murray on Centre Court Wednesday evening, the Scot was down to the mixed doubles for his Wimbledon career. But his match with his brother was his last at SW19, where he won two singles titles.

According to the Lawn Tennis Association, Raducanu said: "Unfortunately I woke up with some stiffness in my right wrist, so therefore I have decided to make the very tough decision to withdraw from the mixed doubles tonight. I’m disappointed as I was really looking forward to playing with Andy but got to take care."

Raducanu is scheduled to face Lulu Sun in the fourth round of the women's singles draw.

Murray and Raducanu are replaced in the draw by Rajeev Ram and Katie Volynets of the United States.

Play is suspended at Wimbledon early on Saturday due to rain.

The first two men's singles matches scheduled are Emil Ruusuvuori against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and 16th seed Ugo Humbert against Brandon Nakashima. In the second of those matches, play will resume with the start of the fourth-set tie-break, with Humbert leading 7-6(9), 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-6.

Ninth seed Alex de Minaur has advanced to the fourth round by walkover. Lucas Pouille, the former No. 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings, has withdrawn due to an abdominal injury.

De Minaur has matched his best result at The Championships, having also made the fourth round at SW19 in 2022. The Australian will next play Arthur Fils or Roman Safiullin.

Centre Court and No. 1 Court will both have action beginning in the afternoon regardless of the rain. Fourth seed Alexander Zverev faces Cameron Norrie on Centre Court at 1:30 p.m. The German leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head series 5-0.

A tall, thin teenager by the name of Alexander Zverev stepped onto home soil at the 2014 Braunschweig Challenger. Crushing hefty first serves and blistering the ball with his two-handed backhand, the German earned a career-igniting victory in front of a packed crowd.

The 17-year-old with wavy, blonde hair lifted his first ATP Challenger Tour title that July afternoon, 10 years ago Friday.

Then-ranked No. 665 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Zverev had just one ATP Challenger Tour main-draw win under his belt entering Braunschweig. Tennis fans were becoming more familiar with Zverev that year, when in January the teen won the Australian Open boys’ singles title.

A wild card competing 200 kilometres from his hometown Hamburg, Zverev went on a dream run on the red clay of Braunschweig. A decade later, Zverev’s first title at that level is still etched in a piece of Challenger history. Zverev is the third-youngest Challenger champion since 2010. Only Felix Auger-Aliassime has claimed a title at a younger age in that time period.

Youngest ATP Challenger Tour champions since 2010

Dustin Brown won a doubles match on Friday at Wimbledon alongside Sebastian Baez. But beyond the surface of the match result in his first appearance at The Championships since 2019 lay plenty of pain and wondering whether the fans’ favourite would ever compete again.

“I was literally struggling to walk. I was going outside walking with my dog and my dog was looking at me like, ‘Oh, can I please go?’ My wife normally walks the dog too, so the dog was probably looking at me thinking, ‘Please can I go with mom?’” Brown recalled to ATPTour.com. “I would walk three, 400 metres, I had to take a break [because of] the nerve pain, the pulling. Then the back, everyone that has a disc issue knows when the back is not straight, you're not sleeping and after not sleeping for a couple of days, you're also irritated and not very nice to be around. So yeah, it was definitely very likely [I would never play again].”

Brown has struggled with back issues since February 2017, when he first felt it in Montpellier. He has had a bulged disc among other problems and has not played a full season since.

One year ago in Stuttgart, Brown was told that his disc had ruptured on the inside and the fluid inside leaked into the spinal cord, which did not allow much space for the nerve.

“It's not a nice feeling, so that was a lot of pain. No sleeping, I was having issues walking,” Brown said. “So to be here a couple of months later, and being able to play and also play on this level and for the body to allow me to do this — because that's the thing where sometimes you have the best ideas, best plans, but the body just says no, no further — I'm very happy that it all worked out and that I'm here now.”

On Wednesday evening, before Lucas Pouille played his second-round match at The Championships, he enjoyed a video call with his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter Rose.

“She told me 'Dad, you have to stop. You lose, you win, you lose, you lose, you lose. Stop putting the ball in the net!'” Pouille told ATPTour.com. “She told me that and I was like, 'Yeah, you will understand later. But that will happen again and again'.

'Yeah, but when you do that you lose!'

“It was funny. We spent 20, 25 minutes talking and she was talking alone about this. It's great.”

Pouille took his daughter’s advice to heart. On Thursday, the Frenchman advanced past Thanasi Kokkinakis, who retired in the third set, to reach the third round at a major for the first time since Wimbledon in 2019.

Jannik Sinner is through to the Wimbledon fourth round for the third consecutive year after a clinical 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 win over Miomir Kecmanovic under a closed Centre Court roof Friday night.

The top seed and World No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings needed four sets to defeat Yannick Hanfmann in the first round and fellow Italian Matteo Berrettini in the second round, when he needed to produce some of his best tennis to move past the former Wimbledon finalist.

But strong serving and measured play from the baseline was enough to take Sinner to a routine win over Kecmanovic in one hour, 37 minutes. After dropping serve three times against Berrettini, the Australian Open champion didn’t face a break point until the final game of the match and dropped just six points on his first serve.

“It’s been a very, very busy day here on the Centre Court so I’m glad to finish it off and now get some good recovery,” Sinner said. “It feels great to be back here… I love the atmosphere here.

“Me and my team are working very hard to be in this position. My game has improved but we still keep making sacrifices to improve more. I feel the combination with me and my team, we try to get better each day as a player and a person.”

With victory over Frances Tiafoe on Friday at Wimbledon, Carlos Alcaraz improved his standout fifth-set record to 12-1.

When pushed the distance, the Spaniard is used to coming out on top, highlighted by his five-set victory in last year’s final against Novak Djokovic at The Championships. The 21-year-old’s only fifth-set defeat came to Italian Matteo Berrettini at the Australian Open in 2022.

“In the fifth set, I think I increase my tennis, my level,” Alcaraz said in his post-match press conference. “I feel great physically and that helps a lot to play more calmly than the opponent. I feel much better than the opponent physically and mentally. I know that the other guy has to play at a really high level of tennis and intensity in the fifth set if he wants to beat me. That helps me a lot to deal much better with those difficult situations in the fifth set.

“I'm playing with the stats that I just lost one match in the fifth set. That's an advantage for me. That's why I am feeling really, really well physically and in those situations I play at my high level.”

Alcaraz has demonstrated his mental toughness during the early stages of his career, winning 14 tour-level titles, including three majors. The former No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings thinks the belief he has in his game is crucial to his impressive record when it comes to the crunch.

Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen advanced to the second-round at Wimbledon on Friday when they moved past Facundo Diaz Acosta and Alexandre Muller 6-2, 6-3.

The Belgians, who are chasing their second title of the season together, will next play Lloyd Glasspool and Jean-Julien Rojer after the British-Dutch team beat Guido Andreozzi and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela 6-0, 6-3.

Sebastian Baez and Dustin Brown overcame 13th seeds Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(10-5) and meet Sebastian Ofner and Sam Weissborn in the second round. The Austrians downed Diego Hidalgo and Alejandro Tabilo 7-5, 6-4.

Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten defeated Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar 7-6(5), 6-3, while Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni sunk Stefanos Tsitsipas and Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6(3), 6-3.

Germans Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz became the first team to reach the third round when they overcame Yuki Bhambri and Albano Olivetti 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Wimbledon play on outdoor courts has been cancelled for the rest of Friday, including Daniil Medvedev’s match against Jan-Lennard Struff, Ben Shelton’s clash against Denis Shapovalov and Ugo Humbert’s battle against Brandon Nakashima.

Medvedev, who was facing Struff on No. 2 Court, led 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 1-1 before play was suspended. The 2023 semi-finalist is trying to make another deep run at The Championships.

Fourteenth seed Shelton and Shapovalov only managed to play five games on No. 3 Court. When play resumes, Shapovalov will serve at 2-3. Both men have advanced to the semi-finals at a Grand Slam tournament before.

Sixteenth seed Ugo Humbert and Brandon Nakashima were locked in a tight match on Court 12 when play was suspended. Humbert leads 7-6(9), 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-6. The action will resume Saturday with the critical fourth-set tie-break. It is the pair's first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.

Another match in the fourth set is a battle of former Top 10 players Fabio Fognini and Roberto Bautista Agut. Fognini leads Bautista Agut 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-5, 4-5.

The stakes were a little lower than when they last faced off on the grounds of The All England Club, but Nick Kyrgios and Novak Djokovic still drew a crowd at SW19 Friday when they stepped out for a light-hearted practice session.

Djokovic is chasing a record-tying eighth Wimbledon singles title this fortnight, while Kyrgios' presence has been limited to the commentary booth. Nonetheless, the pair enjoyed a light-hearted hit on the practice courts in front of delighted fans.

Djokovic defeated Kyrgios in the 2022 Wimbledon final.

The players engaged in friendly banter, with Djokovic imitating Kyrgios' serve and grunt at one point.

"Feel like a little kid again," Kyrgios wrote on X ahead of the session. "Feeling excited. Long way back from this surgery!"

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz survived a major scare on Friday at Wimbledon, where he rallied from the brink against Frances Tiafoe to win a third-round thriller 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2.

At the US Open in 2022, the Spaniard clawed past Tiafoe in a five-set epic en route to the US Open title. Meeting for the first time since in west London, both players once again put on a show in one of the matches of the season.

Under the roof on Centre Court, both produced moments of magic, with extended cat-and-mouse rallies the order of the day. With little to separate them, Alcaraz raised the tempo and power off his groundstrokes in the closing stages to seal victory in three hours and 51 minutes, improving to 12-1 in fifth sets at majors.

"It is always a big challenge playing against Frances," Alcaraz said. "He is a really talented player and tough to face and we saw it once again that he deserves to be at the top and deserves to fight for big things. It was really difficult for me to adapt my game, find solutions and try to put him in trouble, but I am really happy to do it at the end of the match.

"There were a lot of difficult moments in the fourth set. All I was thinking was 'OK, fight one more ball'. I was just thinking about the next ball and the tie-break I told myself I had to go for it. If I lose it, I lose it. I went for it all the time and it is good for myself to get through once again."

Grigor Dimitrov and Tommy Paul both took a fast pass to the Wimbledon fourth round Friday.

One day after rallying from two sets down to fend off #NextGenATP star Shang Juncheng, 10th-seeded Dimitrov raced past French veteran Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in a battle between two former Wimbledon boys’ champions, who had not met for eight years prior to today.

”Good match. Much better than yesterday,” Dimitrov said. “Obviously it's never easy when you have to come back to play the next day after playing five sets. But I'm just glad the way I played, I put the match together, and also the way I recovered. I think that was the key.”

Advancing to the fourth round for the second straight year - but just the fourth time in 14 appearances at The All England Club - Dimitrov will next play the winner of fifth seed Daniil Medvedev and German Jan-Lennard Struff.

Dimitrov said that he was happy with the state of his game and is fully onboard with the game plan devised by his team, which coach Dani Vallverdu said this time last year at Wimbledon needed to focus on Serve +1 forehands and using more slice on the backhand.

In the wake of an emotional tribute to Andy Murray following his men’s doubles defeat Thursday evening at Wimbledon, Serena Williams has headlined a group of current and former WTA stars who have praised the Scot for his career and support of women.

“Congratulations to you, Andy Murray for such an incredible career. I have to say, I've always enjoyed watching you. One of the main reasons [is] because you were one of the few players who would be more angry than me on the court, which is a hard thing to do. And you may have [had] a little [of] an attitude just like mine, let's just say," Williams said, cracking a laugh. “But to me, it was the most exciting thing to watch. And I had the pleasure of playing mixed doubles next to you by your side, which was such a fantastic experience to do that at Wimbledon nonetheless, and it was really one of the highlights of my life.”

[ATP APP]

Murray and Williams teamed in mixed doubles at The Championships in 2019, when they reached the third round. Serena added that Murray holds a special place in her heart because of how much he speaks out in support of women.

“You were the leader in that and the things you spoke up about, the things you said about myself and Venus, so many things about how we were always so inspiring and what we meant to you, it really went such a long way in my heart and I will always be grateful for that," Williams said. “I’ll always be grateful for the support you gave myself the support you gave women and the excitement that you brought and bring to tennis. I feel like watching you win Wimbledon and the US Open and those gold medals was so exciting, and I just truly enjoyed it. So I've always been such a fan as you already know, and I will always be cheering for you and rooting you on in whatever you decide to do next. So congratulations on such an amazing career.”

It was a moment nobody in the tennis world will soon forget. Everything at Wimbledon came to a standstill Thursday evening when Andy Murray was honoured on Centre Court following his men’s doubles loss alongside brother Jamie Murray.

Novak Djokovic, John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, Lleyton Hewitt and Tim Henman were among the stars who joined the Scot on court to pay homage to the two-time Wimbledon champion. But many more players were glued to television screens around the grounds to hear Murray’s typically witty, emotional and heartfelt remarks.

One of those players was defending men’s doubles champion Neal Skupski. The Briton finished his college career at Louisiana State University in 2012, the year Murray won the gold medal at the London Olympics and then claimed major glory at the US Open.

At the time, Skupski looked up to Murray and followed his rise from a young talent to a national icon. Now they have become friends and play fantasy football with one another.

“It was very emotional. Andy's done so much for the sport, not just in Britain, but all around the world and he's a true champion. He works so hard just to kind of get back onto the court. So many times, his body breaks down, but he'll have surgery. He had surgery 10 days ago on his back and he's already back playing on Centre Court,” Skupksi told ATPTour.com. “That just shows the person that he is. But people don't see the other side of Andy, off the court. He's an unbelievable person. He's very caring, he likes to joke around, he's fun. He is an amazing person.”

If you saw a 6’3” man wearing a white “Strawberries & Cream” hat roaming the Wimbledon grounds on Thursday, you came across more than the typical hardcore tennis fan. Aleksander Barkov loves tennis, but he is also one of the best ice hockey players on the planet.

Barkov, the captain of the Florida Panthers, recently helped his team become the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup Champions. Now he is at Wimbledon to watch his girlfriend, Marie Bouzkova, compete in the grass-court major.

It is not his first time at The All England Club, though. Barkov, who is Finnish, has visited often in recent years and hit with several players, including Sebastian Korda and John Isner.

“I know a bunch of players like Sebi Korda. I met him many times and Emil Ruusuvuori for sure, I met him a few times. I like to watch him,” Barkov told ATPTour.com of his countryman. “I just like literally everyone! There is not one player that I don't like, so I just like to watch good tennis.”

Tennis is Barkov’s favourite sport outside of hockey. He was thrilled to make a stop at the Tennis Channel desk at Wimbledon, where he spoke to Panthers fan Martina Navratilova and host Steve Weissman. Before heading to SW19, Navratilova actually had the chance to enjoy a drink out of the Stanley Cup.