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With that unseemly promotional jag out of the way … let’s string some sentences together off notes from a wet and wild Wimbledon 2024.
1. Carlos Alcaraz saved the best for last, defending (and aggressing, volleying and drop shotting) his Wimbledon title with a 6–2, 6–2, 7–6 defeat of Novak Djokovic. For all the pyrotechnics, the most impressive aspect? He squandered three match points, on serve, late in the third set. That could have been catastrophic. He reset and won 20 minutes later.
2. Playing such comprehensive and unflustered tennis, Barbora Krejcikova is your 2024 women’s champion—yet more Czech representation. She has made the passage from one-major-winner to two-major-winner, and into the Hall of Fame she goes.
3. In the final, Djokovic looked like … well … a 37-year-old man with a compromised knee competing against a live arm. But barely a month ago, suggesting he might play Wimbledon would have drawn laughter. For him to get to his 37th major final tells you everything you need to know about his persistence, sensibilities and impulses.
4. Winsome (lose some) Jasmine Paolini, the Italian sprite, reaches yet another major final. In Paris, she was overwhelmed by a superior clay player. On Saturday, she was on the threshold of victory and simply lost a few critical points. Still, she is now a top-five player, winner of 12 matches in the last two majors and the WTA revelation of the year.
5. Another Italian, Lorenzo Musetti was the men’s revelation. He has such a fluid game and impressive durability, but could not and did not overcome Djokovic in the semifinals. For a player younger than Jannik Sinner, mamma mia, is the future bright.
6. Daniil Medvedev … well, what, exactly? He is a prince of a guy, his habit of mid-match outbursts—wildly out of proportion with the situation—notwithstanding. He is to be credited for his sui generis game and general reliability at big events. And yet, three years since his major win, it’s been a lot of close-not-quites. Here, he beat Sinner in the quarterfinals, took a set off Alcaraz and then turned into the Homer Simpson meme, retreating literally and figuratively.
7. Donna Vekic lost the match of the tournament—even without accounting for the stakes. She fell in a semifinal third-set tiebreak to Paolini. Some close matches you lose because you retreat. Others are simply coin flips, a few points here and there. This was the latter and she ought to leave with her head high.
8. In an absolutely wild men’s doubles final, former IBM courtside statistician Henry Patten of Britain and Harri Heliovaara of Finland staved off a match point and beat Aussies Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell in a three-set match tiebreak.
9. In the women’s doubles final, Katerina Siniakova and Tennis Channel’s Taylor Townsend beat Canada’s Gaby Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand. Townsend’s post-title self-interview is quite something.
10. Nicolai Budkov Kjær became the first Norwegian to claim a major singles title at any level, defeating Mees Rottgering 6–3, 6–3 to win the boys’ singles final. In the girls’, Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia—the Australian Open winner—beat Emerson Jones of Australia 6–4, 6–4. As ever, Colette Lewis has you covered like the ubiquitous (at this event, anyway) tarp.
11. If you come to an event and don’t watch some wheelchair action, you have committed an unforced error. Extraordinary shotmaking. Shrewd tactics. Ferocious competition. And then there are the backstories. (Someone make this documentary already.) You can check the results here.
12. Thanks to the relentless rain, the schedule got shuffled and the mixed doubles final was bumped from Thursday to Sunday. In the end, Jan Zielinski and Su-Wei Hsieh—the reigning Australian Open champions—beat Michael Venus and Erin Routliffe for the title.
13. Comeback player of the year candidate: the Premier Tour. Remember the Premier Tour? The Tennis Australia and USTA-catalyzed idea proposed as a streamlined, less-is-more approach, pruning the calendar to 14 events? It was trotted out as a defensive maneuver against the Saudis possibly taking Week 1 of the calendar—to the detriment of the Aussie swing—but grew into an entirely new approach to change the sport foundationally. It was dismissed by several factions. Now it’s retrenched, and a number of models are on the table. This is all at the PowerPoint stage, but the most intriguing iteration/proposal we heard featured private equity funding—potentially multiple billions—offering players a guaranteed $1 million to those ranked 1–100 and a guaranteed $500,000 to those ranked 101–200. The 1–100 players would play for enhanced prize money at the 14 events. The second tranche would play for zero prize money, but an opportunity for promotion. This is all hearsay, but discussions are underway and consultants are still billing. Stay tuned.
14. Speaking of politics, remember Jose Higueras’s open letter to the USTA a few months ago? Based largely on his public cry for help, a U.S. women’s delegation—led by Lindsay Davenport and including Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys and Townsend—approached the board and pleaded for more investment. Largely because of this appeal, USTA player development had some of its funding reallocated and now reports to CEO Lew Sherr, not community tennis. Who says it doesn’t pay to stand up for what you believe in?
15. What is Taylor Fritz’s takeaway from this event? Is it his defeat of Alexander Zverev down 0–2 sets, one of the signature wins of his career? Or the opportunity that went unseized when he faded in the fifth and lost a highly winnable quarterfinal against Musetti?
16. One last thought about Djokovic and gooood night: He is to be commended for taking on trolls and disrespectful fans who pollute the pool. You wonder if some of his less civil fans—who go after other players’ family members, and who have more blocks than followers—appreciated the irony. That is, that they are acting in a way completely inconsistent with the player they purport to represent. (And Hans Moleman wants you to know, he was not saying Rune or boo. He was saying “Boo-urns.”)
17. She came out board-game flat against Paolini in the quarters, but on balance, what a breakout event for Emma Navarro, who brought such professionalism to bear. She’s supremely fit and wasted nothing—motion, emotion, energy, movement. She could easily be in the top 10 by the U.S. Open.
18. One big, multi-national revelation: quarterfinalist Lulu Sun. What a graceful step up for the 23-year-old. The No. 3 player at Texas three years ago, she qualified, won four matches and, above all, showed that her aggressive lefty game is built for this level. Expect to see more of her. Meanwhile, she more than doubled her career prize money. She came to Wimbledon with $313,832 and left the All England Club with approximately $480,000. And she got to meet Martina Navratilova.
19. Spare a thought for Alex de Minaur. Even by tennis standards (see below) there is something almost unendurably brutal about this sport. Here is a player, at a career-high ranking, winning his fourth-round match and injuring himself in the final game. We talked about this on Tennis Channel: If de Minaur hadn’t won that final point, might his opponent (Arthur Fils) have won the match?
20. From the ATP Board meetings last week: “The Board approved a rule change to permit players to request and be handed towels between points, as was customary before the COVID-19 pandemic. All ATP tournaments must accommodate this provision. This rule change will take effect starting after Wimbledon.”
Future ball kids, take note. As discussed in this week’s mailbag, this will help players save a few seconds of time, but what a short-sighted decision. It’s bad optics and bad hygiene.
21. Only the hatest haters ever to hate (and be assured they exist) are not awed by Elina Svitolina. Another major, another deep run. All while her country fends off a barbarous invasion. All while she wants to use her platform to highlight this, and bring a sliver of joy to Ukraine. All while she quietly funds Ukrainian players.
22. It was a nice tournament for a pair of young French players. Fils, 20, and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, 21, reached the fourth round. It didn’t win them an extra point on the court, but both are so amiable and expressive and, for lack of a better word, cool.
23. A secret hiding in plain sight: college tennis. It’s not just the experience it provides. ( Navratilova’s theory: College players play doubles so they work on their lobs and overheads.) It’s not just the legion of players now populating the draws—though, on Wimbleon’s middle weekend, three alumni from one school (University of Virginia) were in action. It’s also college tennis’s far-reaching effects. Agents come out of college tennis. So do tour employees, significant others and coaches. A few weeks ago, someone wrote into the mailbag asking who was coaching Bianca Andreescu. It’s J.T. Nishimura, who played at the University of California, Berkeley. Speaking of …
24. Peter Ayers played at Duke University in the 1990s. He became a tennis coach in the Carolinas and, nearly a decade ago, began working with Navarro. As she ascended in the juniors, then in college and then in the pros, he remained the chief aide-de-camp. It says a lot about Navarro that she would stick with him. A lot of players similarly situated would have left their coach once they hit the big time.
25. Emma Raducanu did—and does—so much right. But whoa did she commit an unforced error when asked if she planned on voting in the UK general election last week. “I haven’t given it much thought … I think I’ll [sleep in], then I’ll come to practice. I didn’t even know it was tomorrow, to be honest! Thanks for letting me know,” said Raducanu. You’re in the middle of the tournament and don’t have time to get to your local polling center? Understood. But this dismissiveness was, as the kids say, oof. This may sound harsh and patronizing, but a new rule for all players: Though the agent won’t get a commission, if you endorse products, you must also, when asked, endorse … democracy. That would be a real brand-builder.
26. Few players move the social media needle quite the way Jelena Ostapenko does. She attracts Lil Wayne. She dances. She doesn’t trust technology. Opponents have been known to take issue with her mode of being. But—owing to the interviewee, not the chucklehead interviewers—I defy you to watch this Tennis Channel interview and not find her endearing. Beyond the yuks, the discussion of her handshake etiquette was revealing and self-aware, no?
27. Word is getting out. A royal box invitation is extraordinary, but guests are required to put away their phones and are strongly encouraged to stay in their seats while play is ongoing. They may be caught on camera at any time. As a result, a number of guests (Patrick Mahomes, Roger Goodell and allegedly Ashton Kutcher) come either incognito as a common fan or go to a suite inside Court 1.
28. The unfairness and gaucherie of wild cards was thrown into particularly sharp relief at Wimbledon. These aren’t victimless crimes. There are really good players—like Mpetshi Perricard and Sun—denied spots in the main draw when the locals get to jump the line. The majors hold great power. And this little wild card honeypot of inequity is likely to remain in perpetuity. But we ought to shine a light here and call out the—for lack of a better word—ickiness of the host nation giving golden tickets to so many ill-deserving (and often ill-serving) players.
29. Cringiest exchange? How about Fritz beating Arthur Rinderknech in a rematch of their 2023 French Open kerfuffle and sniping, “Have a nice flight.” (Oh, sick burn!) Rinderknech befuddled, then responded, “I’m still in the doubles.” (Oh, snap!). And as a French player, wouldn’t Rinderknech be more inclined to take the Eurostar train home, anyway? So the whole debate premise, as it were, was flawed. This is the tennis equivalent of two presidential candidates discussing their golf handicaps during a live debate.
30. We have entered the era of the shadow coach, the additional voice in players’ ears (or text chains). More and more players are hiring and consulting former players as advisors to assist, sometimes on-site and sometimes remotely. Medvedev has Gilles Simon. Denis Shapovalov has James Blake. Vekic, of course, has Pam Shriver. Coco Gauff has sought the counsel of Andy Roddick. Steve Johnson, who was missed on Tour, will assist an American player this summer. Marion Bartoli has done stints with Ostapenko. And keep an eye on Frances Tiafoe’s personnel moves this summer.
31. Much as April is the cruelest month, tennis is the cruelest sport. Apart from the inherent barbarism that all players, save one, head to the next event on a losing streak, there are oh so many other indignities. Players like Keys are injured on the threshold of victory. Chris Eubanks—a top bloke, as they say, and last year’s darling—lost in Round 1 and tumbled outside the top 100. Former quarterfinalist Lucas Pouille, admirably open about his confronting alcoholism and depression, qualified, won two rounds and then took ill. David Goffin was a lucky loser and then his luck turned, as he lost a 5–0 fifth-set lead against Tomas Machac. We can keep going, sadly …
32. Retirement ceremonies are inherently awkward. They tend to be occupational funerals for people who are young, wealthy and have another career ahead of them. But Wimbledon nailed the Andy Murray event after his first-round doubles loss. It was poignant without being sentimental. Big credit to Iga Swiatek and Djokovic—both of whom played earlier that day—for showing up. And is there anyone voting who doesn’t miss universally admired Sue Barker, wisely brought back to officiate the Murray proceedings?
33. One could (and some will) write an entire book about Murray, a man of complexity. One top-line thought: It’s hard to imagine many other athletes spending an entire career in the shadow of three immense pillars and still making this profound of an impact on a sport and the public.
34. At the end of Week 1, the ITF released the Olympic entry list for Paris 2024. We already knew the opt-outs. Some interesting notes …. Serbia has no eligible women’s tennis player, so Djokovic—who has been so outspoken about his Olympic ambitions—will have no shot at a mixed doubles medal. Russians will play as Individual Neutral Athletes, but not Dasha Kasatkina, who told Tennis Channel: “The Olympics, you have to go there with all your heart … and at this time, I don’t see the point.” (Read between the lines there.) Players from Lebanon and Tunisia who did not qualify based on ranking were given special entry, and let us debate whether the Olympic field ought to have the equivalent of wild cards. There will be coaching. There will not be electronics on the net. And there will be on-site mental health care providers.
35. Thank heavens (or curse heavens) for the roofs. They enable play to continue on two courts while it rains, to the delight of fans and networks. But, wow, is indoor grass a problematic surface. On the middle Sunday, hours after Keys retired with a groin injury, both Raducanu (Centre) and Grigor Dimitrov (Court 1) slipped and were injured. Grass is slick. Wet grass is a backyard slip-and-slide.
36. Note to selves: In the future, prognosticators and oddsmakers ought to bake in the British hype factor. There’s nothing wrong with backing players who will goose interest with the local fans and boost the tournament, but it’s not predictive of success. Katie Boulter, the top British woman, barely won her first match, beating a 37-year-old opponent, and then lost (to fellow Brit Harriet Dart) as she committed 75 unforced errors. Jack Draper—the fifth-highest pre-tournament favorite with the oddsmakers—lost in the same round with a flat performance against Cam Norrie.
37. Five players who didn’t escape Week 1 and didn’t escape our eye:
38. We discussed this a bit at Roland Garros. And to traffic in corporate speak, the obvious answer is it’s an ‘and’ not an ‘or,’ or two things can be true at the same time. But how do we apportion data versus anecdote? How much do fans want the stories of matches told through analytics and X’s and O’s and whose average mph on forehand returns dropped in the decisive set? How much do they want, This player’s dad left his shift at the tavern to travel to Wimbledon to watch?
39. With Federer, Nadal and Djokovic no longer battling each other, what is the great Wimbledon rivalry these days? It might be the All England Club versus the neighbors. In particular, the bid to expand the property and footprint, manifest destiny, into the adjacent golf course. It seems reasonable for a sports property to seek expansion. It also seems reasonable for a major to hold qualifying on-site. It also seems reasonable for the neighbors to object.
40. One of Wimbledon’s macro goals is expanding grass court tennis, which attacks this foundational (no pun intended) anomaly: The sport’s most prestigious event is played on its least common surface. One tactic is to expand and improve artificial grass since most clubs can’t afford a horticulturist or greenskeepers. To that end, a few of the practice courts contained a 5% blend of artificial turf. As it was explained to me, the players weren’t informed which courts had this placebo effect, and few seemed to notice.
41. Flush as it is with cash (and good taste), Wimbledon makes annual upgrades, large and small. These extend to the locker rooms. Our moles tell us that the gentleman’s general locker room features an ongoing putting contest. And the competition was so fierce the club replaced the putters for 2024.
42. One of the few gripes about Wimbledon … We are all on the side of the planet. We all want to do our part to help the environment. We all know that there is an unspoken rule against issuing a modern-day press release without using the word sustainability. If Wimbledon wants to go paperless and cashless and serve tofu tempeh one day and tempeh tofu the next, great. But it all chimes rather hollow when set off by the phalanx of tournament Range Rovers transporting players and staff to their homes a short walk away, when Emirates is a sponsor (now with Centre Court signage) and when so many patrons arrive by private jet.
43. We all love athlete autonomy. We all love empowered athletes devising their own timetables and charting their own courses. But there was something … what? Poignant? Bittersweet? Magical thinking … about seeing Ash Barty at 28 years old—three removed from an exquisite title run—commentating and playing in the legends event. (When it was suggested she could have contended for the women’s title this year, she categorically denied any interest in another comeback.)
44. Shoutout to …
A) Liz Smylie, commentator and former Aussie player, whose son Elvis qualified for the British Open.
B) Enric Molina, who made a graceful (and unprecedented) transition from chair umpire to player agent and will now be tournament director for the Hamburg 500 event.
C) Mark Hodgkinson, on the publication of his new book Searching for Novak: The Man Behind the Enigma.
D) Jay Kang, whose Michael Chang documentary American Son premieres July 27 on ESPN.
45. Two years after he reached the finals, when he wasn’t Djokovic’s practice partner, Nick Kyrgios returned to Wimbledon as a commentator. At least in my zone of interest, the reviews were generally quite positive, stressed that he was understated-verging-on-boring and noted that, especially for a guy who often played with no coach, he was shockingly perceptive. Reminder: It is the rare professional athlete who conducts themselves in competition the way they do in real life, or as a civilian. (Hot take: Kyrgios is, temperamentally, better suited for broadcasting than he is for an individual sport.)
46. Thanks for all your notes, thoughts and critiques with regard to Tennis Channel throughout the tournament. As ever, A) know they are read and considered and, B) know that commentator types have nothing to do with technical issues, including ESPN’s apparent delays, pricing, Wimbledon’s in-house producers’ inexplicable habit of failing to show the handshake and replays of extraordinary shots.
47. I have come to learn that the burial site of Arthur Ashe has fallen into disrepair. From the team: “In 1993, 6000 mourners attended the funeral of Arthur Ashe. He had requested to be buried alongside his mother Mattie, at Woodland Cemetery. Efforts were made to clean up the cemetery due to wide news coverage. But when the cameras left, so did the clean-up efforts. Woodland Restoration Foundation was formed as a non-profit that owns and runs Woodland Cemetery … making the stories come alive for future generations. We hope over the next three to five years Woodlands will be a must-visit site for anyone coming to the Richmond area.” There is allegedly a crowd-funding effort underway and we will provide more information as we get it.
48. This is a Roland Garros redux, but Steve Weissman, Martina and I worked the studio desk for Tennis Channel here and one of the chief duties was interviewing winning players. Both winning and Wimbledon are mood elevators, true. But from giddy teenagers to Djokovic … male, female … rookies, veterans … introverts, extroverts, Ostapenko … collectively and overall, what a strong, cool and wildly diverse cast of players. You hope the suits and the hairsprays do right by them.
49. Who remembers sniglets? We need a word for players winning matches and then, reflectively, reaching into their bags to fasten their fancy watches before being interviewed.
50. As far as majors go, the U.S. Open is next, and it starts Monday, Aug. 26. Except it doesn’t. The qualifiers start the week prior. These sessions are free for fans and chock full of talented players, many of whom will ascend. Consider the 2018 Aussie Open qualies. In Round 1, Krejcikova defeated Paolini. Six years later, they meet in a Wimbledon final.
BACK TO THE DAY JOB. BUT WE’LL DO IT AGAIN IN NEW YORK. ENJOY THE OLYMPICS AND SUMMER EVENTS, EVERYONE!
