This year’s Championships at Wimbledon took place between July 2 and July 15 in London, England. Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and has been accredited as the most prestigious tennis tournament for professional tennis players. Te tournament was filled with surprise upsets and thrilling matches.
On the men’s side, Roger Federer, the top seed in the tournament, was defending his Wimbledon title from last year and hoping to win an unprecedented ninth Wimbledon. He ultimately fell short of this goal, bowing out to South Africa’s Kevin Anderson in a spectacular five-set thriller in the quarterfinals. On the women’s side, top-seeded Simona Halep was hoping to follow up her first Grand Slam win in the French Open with another Grand Slam title, but fell in the third round to Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei. Early upsets proved to be a common theme on the women’s side, as eight of the top ten players were out by the third round. Tis year’s victors, Novak Djokovic and Angelique Kerber, both represented a resurgence of players that had a significant decrease in their level of play in the last two years.
Te men’s semifunals made for exceptional entertainment at this year’s Wimbledon. John Isner faced Kevin Anderson in the semifinals, and their match was a clash of extremely tall men with huge serves and forehands. Te match served to be the longest semi-final in Wimbledon history, and the longest match in Wimbledon second to only the marathon, three day match between Isner and Nicolas Mahut in the first round of Wimbledon in 2010. This semifinal brought up a contentious debate at Wimbledon: the absence of a tiebreak in the last set. Not having a tiebreak in the fifth set has been a tradition for Wimbledon since the introduction of tiebreaks to professional tennis in 1970. However, this rule has become increasingly problematic due to the rise of big servers in professional tennis. Kevin Anderson won his semifinal match against John Isner 26-24 in the fifth set. Tis match lasted longer than six hours, and essentially crushed Anderson’s chances of winning the final due to the sheer exhaustion and fatigue from his semifinal match.
In a BBC interview, Anderson stated that, “I personally don’t see the added value or benefit compared to, say, at the U.S. Open where we’re playing tiebreaks in the fifth set.” Isner voiced similar opinions, adding that “I personally think a sensible option would be [to start the tiebreaker] at 12-all. If one person can’t finish the other of before 12-all, then do a tiebreaker there. I think it’s long overdue. I’m a big part of this discussion, of course.” Numerous other players voiced displeasure over this rule, due to its unfair and archaic founding in an era of a different type of tennis.
In the other men’s semifinal, Rafael Nadal faced Novak Djokovic, and this match epitomized the high quality of play in present-day men’s tennis. In a dramatic match that finished 12-10 in the fifth set, Djokovic narrowly defeated Nadal and went on to win the title in the final against Anderson. Te final was very anticlimactic compared to the two semifinal matches, and served to be a disappointment for tennis fans around the world. Nadal and Federer were the early favorites to win this tournament, and personally, I would never have expected Djokovic to come back and win this tournament due to his history of injuries and his recent lackluster performances.
On the women’s side, the tournament was marked with unexpected upsets early on, and the rise of Angelique Kerber. Garbiñe Muguruza, the defending champion and a favorite for this tournament, fell in the second round to Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium. Kerber’s defensive game style lent her the upper hand against the 21-year-old French Open champion Jeļena Ostapenko in the semifinals, and against 23- time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams.
Wimbledon was Williams’ first Grand Slam after having a baby and facing severe complications while giving birth, which included a surgery for blood clots in her lung. While Williams did not appear to be in top form, and although her movement appeared to be sluggish compared to her previous Wimbledon performances, it was astonishing to see her sheer athleticism and champion mentality, both of which allowed her to advance all the way to the finals of a Grand Slam.
Overall, this year’s Wimbledon was characterized by upsets of high ranked players on the women’s side, and the dominance of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal being overshadowed by the resurgence of Novak Djokovic on the men’s side. As the US Open approaches, Djokovic’s performance begs the question of whether he is really back in top form, or if his performance was merely the lucky result of extraneous circumstances.