Starting in 1877, Wimbledon is one of the oldest tennis tournaments and is widely regarded as the most prestigious in the world. It is one of the four grand slam tournaments in tennis and is held annually in London. There are 128 men and 128 women competing individually, 64 pairs of men and women in doubles, and 32 pairs of mixed doubles. They battled their way to the finals through the other top players and up and coming players throughout the globe for a chance to raise one of the most iconic titles in the sports world.
Kicking off championship weekend was the Women’s singles final between #31 Barbora Krejcikova and #7 Jasmine Paolini. To reach the finals, each player won 6 other games to reach that coveted seventh game of the tournament. In a tournament full of upsets, Krejcikova had to overcome four higher ranked players, including Paolini, to earn the title. Paolini’s path was a bit easier, but still took a challenge to reach the finals.
In the first round, Paolini beat world ranked #55 Sara Sorribes Tormo in two sets 7-5 and 6-3. She then beat #80 Greet Minnen in two sets, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2. Unranked Bianca Andreescu was Paolini’s third round opponent. Giving her a challenge in the first set where Paolini survived a tiebreak 7-4, Paolini then dominated the second set 6-1. Paolini’s highest ranked opponent was #12 Madison Keys in the 4th round. Paolini took the first set 6-3, but then fell to Keys in a tiebreak the second set 6-8. The pair battled in the third to 5-5 before Keys had to retire from the tournament due to injury. Paolini faced #19 Emma Navarro in the quarterfinals. Navarro was coming off of a huge upset where she took down #2 Coco Gauff in two sets. Navarro couldn’t keep up that gameplay in the quarterfinals losing 6-2 and 6-1. In her semifinals match, #37 Donna Vekic gave Paolini her biggest test. Vekic took the first set 6-2, before Paolini took the second 6-4. The third went to a tiebreak with Paolini overcoming Vekic 10-8.
#31 Krejcikova started the tournament with a tough battle against #38 Veronika Kudermetova. It went 3 sets with the first two ending in tiebreaks and the 3rd 7-5. Her second match was a 2-setter against #69 Katie Volynets with both sets also going to tiebreaks. Krejcikova only played to 4-3 in the first set when her opponent #83 Jessica Bouzas Maneiro retired. Next up was #11 Danielle Collins, whom she beat 7-5 and 6-3. Heading into the quarterfinals, she was matched up against #13 Jelena Ostapenko where she won in two sets 6-4 and 7-6 (7-4). In the semifinals Krejcikova faced #4 Elena Rybakina. After going down in the first set 3-6, Krejcikova battled back to win 6-3, 6-4 to advance onto the finals.
In the finals, Krejcikova and Paolini played a tough 3-set battle. Krejcikova jumped out ahead to take the set lead 1-0 in dominant fashion winning it 6-2. She then struggled in the second to lose that one 2-6. In the third, she battled back to win the title 6-4, earning her second Grand Slam title.
The next title played at stake was in men’s doubles where #15 Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson played against unranked Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten in the finals.
Patten and Heliovaara had a tough challenge to start the tournament. They were matched up against #5 Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori, beating them 6-3, 6-4. They then faced unranked Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar. They won in two sets, with the first going to a tiebreak 7-5. Next was a matchup against the unranked team of Rafael Matos and Marcelo Melo who lost in two sets 7-6 (7-1), 6-2. Their quarterfinal matchup was their toughest test before the final. They played against #4 Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic. This match went to three sets with both the second and third going to tiebreaks. They lost 4-6, and then came back 7-6 (7-5), and 7-6 (10-7) to advance. In the semis, they defeated #9 Neal Skupski and Michael Venus 6-4, 7-6 (7-1) to reach the finals.
Purcell and Thompson had a bit easier path to the finals with only one set going to a tiebreak before the finals. They started the tournament against Jay Clarke and Marcus Willis beating them 6-4, 6-2. Followed by Fabrice Martin and Matwe Middelkoop 6-4, 7-5. They then went on to beat Andreas Miles and John-Patrick Smith 6-4, 6-3. They were challenged in the quarters going to three sets against #11 Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni, and won 6-4, 6-7(8-10), 6-3.In the semis, they took down on #1 Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 6-4, 6-4 to reach the finals.
In the finals, it was an absolute dogfight. Purcell and Thompson took the lead after a 7-9 tiebreak to go up 1-0. Then Heliovaara and Patten fought their way to a tiebreak that went to extra points at 10-8. All for the final set to be decided in another tiebreak at 11-9 for Heliovaara and Patten to take home the trophy.
To conclude the first day of the finals weekend, the women’s doubles title was played between #2 Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe against #4 Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend. Compared to the mens bracket, there were far fewer upsets and unranked teams making a run with only one unranked team making the quarterfinals and only five reaching the round of 16. With the 2 and 4 seeds making the finals, neither had outrageously difficult paths.
For Dabrowski and Routliffe, the tournament started with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Mirra Andreeva and Anastasia Potapova, Followed up by a 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 7-5 win over Irina Khromacheva and Kamilla Pakhimova. They then had a dominant 6-3, 6-1 win following against Marta Kostyuk and Elena-Gabriela Ruse. Where they finally faced a ranked opponent in the quarters against #8 Barbora Krejcikova and Laura Siegemund won 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4. In the semis, they faced #7 Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk and completed a strong 6-4, 6-3 win to punch their ticket to the finals.
Similarly, Siniakova and Townsend started with unranked opponents until the quarters. Starting with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) win over Rebeka Masarova and Linda Noskova, they then had three set win over Olvia Gadecki and Elixane Lechemia 6-4, 2-6, 6-1. With a third round victory of Leylah Fernandez and Ena Shibahara 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), they met their first ranked opponents in the quarters and then semis. First facing #9 Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko, they had a convincing win at 6-1, 6-3. Next, they faced top-ranked Su-Wei Hsieh and Elise Mertens taking them down 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to make the finals.
While this finals match only went to two sets, both sets were back and forth battles reaching tiebreaks in both. The first set went to a 7-5 tiebreak and the second set went 7-1 tiebreak to earn the title for Siniakova and Townsend.
To kick off the second day of finals weekend was the men’s singles title. #2 Novak Djokovic faced off against #3 Carlos Alcaraz in an attempt at history. Djokovic was playing to earn the most grand slam titles ever and Alcaraz was defending the title from the previous year.
Alcaraz started the tournament off against Mark Lajal with a slow start. He won in three sets with the first going to a tiebreak, but closed out the third strong at 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, 6-2. Alcaraz then took Aleksandar Vukic down 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 6-2. Next up was his toughest challenge score wise in the tournament against #29 Frances Tiafoe who took Alcaraz to a fifth set. Alcaraz took all the momentum for the fifth with a score of 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2. In the fourth round, he faced #16 Ugo Humbert where he won 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5. In the quarters, Alcaraz took down #12 Tommy Paul 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 and took down #5 Daniil Medvedev in the semis 6-7 (1-7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the finals.
Heading into the tournament, it was unknown if Djokovic was even going to compete after having knee surgery just a few weeks prior. He started the tournament facing a player who came up through the qualifying bracket, so he had an expected easy start to the tournament. He looked a little tentative through this match, but won convincingly at 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. He became more and more comfortable throughout the tournament. In the 2nd round, he beat Jacob Fearnley 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 and Alexai Popyrin in the third round 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3). In the fourth, he beat #15 Holger Rune 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 before #9 Alex De Minaur withdrew before the quarters and gave Djokovic a day off in a walkover. Heading into the semis, Djokovic faced #25 Lorenzo Musetti beating him 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 to make the finals.
In a rematch of the 2023 Wimbledon finals this was a possibly historic matchup with Djokovic chasing his 25th Grand Slam title. As this match started, Djokovic for the first time this tournament looked like a person who had recently had surgery. While he typically elevates his game during the finals, this match was all Alcarraz, proving he is one of the top guys on the tour and, at 21 years old, will be for a long time. Alcaraz dominated the first two sets 6-2, 6-2 heading into the third. While Alcaraz let off the gas a bit in the third, he still secured the win in a 7-4 tiebreak to take home his second consecutive Wimbledon trophy.
To close out the tournament, the mixed doubles final was played between #7 Su-Wei Hsieh and Jan Zielinski and unranked Santiago Gonzalez and Giuliana Olmos. The mixed doubles bracket is the shortest of all 5 adult brackets at Wimbledon with only 5 rounds of play. Each match is also shorter than typical matches. It is the best of three sets, with the third played only a tiebreak with first to 10 and win by two.
To reach the finals, Hsieh and Zielinski first played Demi Schuurs and Hugo Nys, beating them 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). Followed by beating Joe Salisbury and Heather Watson 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 to take them to the quarters. Taylor Townsend and Jamie Murray took them to a third 7-6 (7-2), 6-7 (7-9), 1-0 (10-5), but failed to win. In the semis, they took down #2 Erin Routliffe and Michael Venus 7-6 (7-0), 6-3.
For Gonzalez and Olmos, the tournament started against Luke Johnson and Freya Christie 6-4, 6-0. In the second round. They then beat Andrew Molteni and Asia Muhammas 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 1-0 (10-8) and earned a quarterfinal victory over Marcus Willis and Alicia Barnett 6-3, 7-5 and a semifinals victory over Ulrikke Eikeri and Maximo Gonzalez 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).
In the finals, Hseih and Zielinski proved why they were the #7 ranked pair and showed they should be ranked higher than that with a very strong performance. They won convincingly 6-4, 6-2 to take home the trophy.
The conclusion of Wimbledon typically signifies the conclusion of the grass season and the move to the hardcourt system. In this special year, with the Olympics being played in Paris, the next couple weeks will be an extension of the clay court season before the hard court season begins. Using the facilities for the French Open, it should feel like an extra Grand Slam for 2024. While there won’t be any Grand Slam winners this year, we are certain it will be a terrific event.
