After 2020 shortened most tournaments due to the pandemic, fans received Wimbledon’s return at SW19 with an emotionally charged welcome, just as the world’s greatest graced one of the most celebrated and oldest tournaments in tennis.
Thanks to the organizers’ months of no-nonsense planning, the courts were prepared just in time for the players’ return, even though schedules had to be made in the middle of British summer, which is not preferred by all. Still, Wimbledon opened with a bang this year making it truly one for the books.
Welcome returns
As the Grand Slam tournament’s history dictates, the defending champion opened the matches, only this time with National Health Service (NHS) staff in attendance. Novak Djokovic played on center court, shocking many with a first set loss to 19-year old hometown hero Jack Draper of Britain but eventually winning the match in four sets.
Another welcome return to the grass courts of Wimbledon was that of Roger Federer who was previously plagued with another knee injury that seemed to threaten his career. In his 22nd Wimbledon appearance, Federer had great difficulty against ATP world number 22, Adrian Mannarino, before the Frenchman retired after two sets, also due to injury, advancing Federer to the second round.
Meanwhile, French Open finalist and world number 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece shocked his fans when he lost to Francis Tiafoe of the U.S. in three straight sets. The American world number 3 had won the grass-court warm-ups in Nottingham and was able to maintain his game by not dropping a serve throughout the match against the Greek star, ending it with a 6-4, 6-4, 6- 3 win. British Andy Murray also returned to the grass courts after last appearing in 2017, with a win against Nicoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.
Girl power
In women’s singles, ATP world number 1 Ashleigh Barty of Australia defeated Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro in an emotional match that capped an illustrious career for the Spaniard despite battling cancer the previous year. Barty won in three sets to advance, but not without honoring her opponent and dismissing doubts about her hip injury that pulled her out of the French Open.
American Serena Williams, on the other hand, had to retire early due to an injury as her 41-year old sister, Venus, struggled with a hard-fought match against Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu 5-7, 6-4, 3-6 to advance to the second round and win her first victory in over four months.
British sensation and wildcard Emma Raducanu then went on to display a dazzling performance against Russian Vitalia Diatchenko whom she defeated in two straight sets in her first-ever Wimbledon match. The teenage star then advanced to her maiden round of 16 by winning against the likes of Czech Marketa Vondrousova and Romania’s Sorana Cirstea to claim the record of being the youngest British woman to reach the second week in the tournament during the Open Era.
Succeeding rounds
Favorites Matteo Berrettini of Italy, Alexander Zverev of Germany, and Daniil Medvedev of Russia registered wins in the second round, while Andy Murray had to go five sets against German qualifier Oscar Otte. Murray had to dig in deep from his bottomless reserves to win the match and advance to the third round despite playing with a metal hip that initially threatened the former number 1’s career in 2017.
On the women’s court, Barty and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus easily defeated their opponents as German Angelique Kerber battled it out in an epic match that went on for three hours against Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo.
By the third round, the men from Britain had bowed out of the tournament with Cameron Norrie bowing out to Federer, and Murray easily losing to Canadian Denis Shapovalov in three straight sets 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. Raducanu was the lone Brit who was in contention in the third round but had to retire from the tournament due to breathing problems.
Another notable women’s feat was that of Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur who forced the deepest Grand Slam run of any woman of Arabic origin in Wimbledon history when she defeated Spain’s Garbine Muguruza.
Meanwhile, strong contenders like Zverev, Medvedev, and Rublev bowed out, while men’s world number 1 Djokovic, along with Berrettini and Federer, continued with their respective wins.
The finals
Djokovic maintained his fine form by defeating Marton Fuscovics of Hungary in three straight sets, as Federer lost to Polish Hubert Hurkacz in similar fashion, giving the former number 1 his first 6-0 defeat at Wimbledon.
Djokovic then defeated Shapovalov in straight sets to advance to the men’s final against Berrettini whom he previously defeated in the French Open.
In the women’s semi-finals, Barty defeated Kerber in two sets as the two fought off every point with great tenacity from both sides of the court. Plíšková defeated Sabalenka in a two-hour match to advance to the final against Barty which the Aussie eventually won in three sets 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3 earning her a second Grand Slam title after winning the French Open in 2019.
As Djokovic and Berrettini faced off, the current world number one was on track to tie Federer and Nadal’s 20 Grand Slam singles titles in a career which he did in four sets 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. The Serbian held off the Italian throughout the match to capture his 6th Wimbledon title, sprawling on the ground as Berrettini hit the net on the final point. Berrettini was able to save two match points earlier in the game but they weren’t enough to stop Djokovic from taking the title.
As Wimbledon came to a close, fans were treated to great performances from the Brits, particularly the promising star that is Emma Raducanu, as well as consistent power performances from the current number 1’s, Barty and Djokovic. While it was indeed a long wait since 2020, the return of Wimbledon this year truly marks one of the best in the tournament’s history and there’s so much more to look forward to in the future.
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