I am still in awe by the performance of Carlos Alcaraz yesterday, beating one of the three best tennis players of all times handily on the way to his second Wimbledon title. But the two weeks of prestigious grass court tennis had so much more to offer, from surprises and underdog stories to the return and goodbye of many champions. Let’s rewind and look back at the best from this year’s Championships and its results.
Men’s singles – has everybody a bad knee these days?
The story of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships surely was Carlos Alcaraz winning back-to-back Grand Slam titles, with an ever-improving level throughout the weeks. He not only returns as a champion, but also as a clear contender for World No.1, after many experts had focused solely on his Italian rival Jannik Sinner in past months. Alcaraz seems like he is back to stay and will surely attack the top spot now. But the final also seemed like another step towards the end of an era. Granted, Novak Djokovic wasn’t at the peak of his powers after knee surgery, but he was completely outplayed again by a next-gen player. A healthy Sinner and Alcaraz seem to be the dominating couple for years to come now.
Speaking of knees – the wet weather and slippery courts claimed a couple of players throughout the tournament. Hurkacz and Zverev both had injuries to their knees, while Alex DeMinaur injured his hip during the tournament and Frances Tiafoe came into Wimbledon with a sprained knee already. Jannik Sinner obviously didn’t look fit in his quarterfinal, even though he stated fatigue as the reasoning behind his performance. Parts of these injuries were due to bad luck, but it also seems that the stress on players is mounting, with increased schedules and decreased time to recover. And the retirements, or weak performances resulting of these, surely played a role in the outcome of the Championships.
The Djokovic part of the draw was hit with Hurkacz retiring, Zverev being limited and finally DeMinaur giving Djokovic a walkover. In the end, Lorenzo Musetti faced Novak for their semifinal, where he seemed a bit tired and overwhelmed with the situation. On the other part of the draw, Jannik Sinner missed the long-awaited matchup against Alcaraz, and Daniil Medvedev advanced to the semifinal, where he could not give Alcaraz too much work to do. With several players injured and fatigued now, it seems that the Spaniard is also the top-favorite to take the Olympic gold medal in Paris.
Women’s singles – an expert’s nightmare
In comparison, the women’s draw was as hard as ever to predict. We were expecting an uphill battle for Iga Swiatek on grass, and with Aryna Sabalenka pulling out due to injury, the way for Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina seemed prepared. But the women’s tournament was full of surprises, such as Emma Navarro taking Gauff out of the tournament clearly or defendant champion Marketa Vondrousova exiting in Round one. Of course, the biggest surprises went straight to the final with Jasmine Paolini and later champion Barbora Krejcikova.
The Italian hadn’t even won a match at Wimbledon coming into this year and I was personally amongst the pundits, who did say she was rather a good draw to face. Krejcikova herself hadn’t shown a strong singles performance at a Slam since her win at Roland Garros and especially at Wimbledon, her previous outings did not lead her very far. The two had their respective lucky moments, with Paolini almost losing to Madison Keys before she got injured and Krejcikova facing a limited Danielle Collins in the round of 16. But they took all of their chances and played amazingly in semis, with the lucky end to the Czech, who won her second singles Slam.
Also on the women’s field, some hopeful players will now have to recover for the Olympics, where World No. 1 Swiatek will be the player to beat again. It is her favorite surface, her favorite court and she had time to prepare now, given her early Wimbledon exit. Sabalenka had already pulled out before her injury, so it leaves Gauff and Rybakina as the main challengers alongside Paolini, who won’t be too sad to see clay again either.
Other stories – King Andy, British drama and the weather
One of the main storylines next to actual tennis was Andy Murray in his last appearance as a player at Wimbledon. It is still not 100 percent confirmed that this was his last match, or at least the last Wimbledon, but in any case, it was less than ideal. He had to pull out of singles due to a cyst next to his spine, lost in the first round of doubles and was then ditched by his Mixed partner Emma Raducanu. The latter pulled out of Mixed doubles due to a stiff wrist, which sounds logical to do so, but obviously brought her a lot of criticism from fans and Judy Murray. The British tabloids were filled with stories about Andy’s mum being unhappy with Emma, but ultimately no further drama could be spotted.
The weather made an extra British appearance, which once more highlighted the necessity of closing roofs at the Majors. Obviously, you can have a debate about the “indoor” matches and their effect on the outcome of a tournament, but you just have much more predictable schedules with those roofs in place. Overall, the organizers only had to shift their mixed doubles timings, which with the given weather was a partial success. But in Britain, you just must expect this kind of weather, no matter the time of the year honestly.
At the end of it all, we have seen some great tennis for two weeks, a few too many injuries unfortunately and two deserving champions. It will be interesting to see, how Alcaraz can transport his level through the season this time around, after struggling last year towards the end. And on the women’s side, expect Swiatek to bounce back quickly on clay and hardcourts, alongside Coco Gauff, who probably can’t get to American hardcourt tennis fast enough.
What were your Wimbledon highlights this year? Comment below!
