Wimbledon Court Report: A doping ban for US rising star Brooksby and enjoy Stan while you still can!

There were plenty of thrills and spills on the fourth day of the famous Wimbledon tournament.

It was joy for Brits Liam Broady, who beat world No 4 Casper Ruud on Centre Court, and Katie Boulter, who held on against Viktoriya Tomova to progress to the third round.

Swiss veteran Stan Wawrinka then set up a third-round clash with hot favourite for the men’s singles Novak Djokovic and joked he had no chance of beating the Serb. 

There were plenty of things that we learned from day four, too, with many coming off the court.

Here’s Mail Sport’s Court Report from Wimbledon, by Kieran Gill.

The single-handed backhand of Wawrinka remains one of this sport’s most beautiful sights 

The green, green grass of SW19

Thursday was ‘Environment Day’ as All England Club chiefs promoted their push for sustainability, with a panel involving Heather Watson and Lord Coe and hosted by Gary Lineker.

It came a day after Just Stop Oil protested Wimbledon’s tie-in with Barclays, who are accused of ‘green-washing’ their investment in fossil fuel companies. 

Crowd trouble

There were worrying reports of potential crowd crushes around the All England Club. 

Mail Sport was caught up in one in the chaotic corridor between Courts No 3 and No 4, with a line of schoolchildren clinging to each other’s backpacks to stay behind their teacher. 

At 1.08pm, finally, the last of Wimbledon’s first-round matches got going for Alex Zverev (left)

Longest round

At 1.08pm, finally, the last of Wimbledon’s first-round matches got going as Alex Zverev defeated Gijs Brouwer 6-4, 7-6, 7-6 after a rain-disrupted week. 

Enjoy Stan while you still can

The single-handed backhand of Stan Wawrinka remains one of this sport’s most beautiful sights. At 38, he is now in the third round, but said: ‘There is zero opportunity for me to win Wimbledon.’ 

Maybe that is because he faces Novak Djokovic next as he added, laughing: ‘I’m going to play tomorrow and then watch the rest of the tournament.’ 

Jenson Brooksby accepted a provisional ban from the International Tennis Integrity Agency

Doping ban for rising star Brooksby

Jenson Brooksby, 22, has accepted a provisional ban from the International Tennis Integrity Agency after being accused of missing three doping tests in a 12-month period. 

Formerly world No 33, the American said: ‘The provisional suspension is not an admission that I have done anything wrong. To the contrary, I have denied this charge and am waiting for an arbitration with an independent tribunal.

‘I have never failed a drug test and I have never taken any substances that I was not allowed to take.’

Good day for Ukraine

It was a strong day for Ukraine’s women as Elina Svitolina, Lesia Tsurenko and Anhelina Kalinina all won. 

Svitolina, a semi-finalist in 2019 who is a wildcard here following maternity leave, beat Belgian 28th seed Elise Mertens 6-1, 1-6, 6-1.