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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Sport
Eleanor Crooks

Wimbledon diary: Stars mix in the Royal Box and Sonay Kartal gets her tattoo

Stars of sport and screen mixed in the Royal Box as Wimbledon reached the semi-final stage.

Sir Stephen Fry, Rob Bryon, Sir David Suchet and Ben Whishaw rubbed shoulders with Bjorn Borg, Emma Hayes and Oliver Bearman, among others.

The luminaries watched Amanda Anisimova and Iga Swiatek reach their first Wimbledon finals, with the women’s winner to be crowned on Saturday.

Lightning strikes

Sonay Kartal has wasted no time keeping her promise to immortalise her Wimbledon run in ink.

After asking fans for design ideas, Kartal appears to have settled for a reminder of her Centre Court debut.

The 23-year-old walked out for her fourth round clash against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to a bolt of lightning and crash of thunder.

Rafa still hitting aces

Not all memorable sporting moments on grass occur at Wimbledon this fortnight.

Rafael Nadal appears to be enjoying his retirement, with the Spaniard taking a leaf out of Andy Murray’s book by working on his golf game.

And the two-time former Wimbledon champion celebrated a hole in one on Thursday.

Mum’s the word

Belinda Bencic with daughter Bella (Ben Whitley/PA) (PA Wire)

Belinda Bencic had a special warm-up buddy at the Aorangi Park practice facility.

The Swiss combined preparing for her clash with Swiatek by hanging out with baby daughter Bella.

Final celebrations

The happiest winners of the day were Australian Rinky Hijikata and Dutchman David Pel after they won a nail-biter in the men’s doubles semi-finals.

Picture of the day

Iga Swiatek celebrates victory over Belinda Bencic (Ben Whitley/PA) (PA Wire)

Quote of the day

“You’re not going to see a Roland Garros press conference, so anyone who was waiting for that, you can leave right now” – No sour grapes this time from Aryna Sabalenka.

Friday’s weather forecast

Sunny with highs of 33C, according to the Met Office.

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