Wednesday, July 19, 2023

New Wimbledon Champions!

 Congratulations to Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa Vondrousova, our 2023 Wimbledon singles champions!

Carlos won his first Wimbledon title by defeating Novak Djokovic in 5 sets, 1-6 7-6 6-1 3-6 6-4. Carlitos - I believe this is how he prefers to be called - has been doing incredibly well in the last two years, achieving the #1 ranking and winning his first major title at the US Open last year. However, prior to this year, he hadn't really done that well on grass. Given this, and considering Novak's recent win at the French Open that would surely have buoyed his confidence, I thought Novak was going to win. When Novak won the first set 6-1 and the 2nd set was very tight, I thought he would take the match in straight sets. Somehow, Carlitos steadied and steeled himself and in the end, he notched what is arguably the biggest win of his career so far - a Wimbledon trophy against arguably the greatest ever tennis player (or well, greatest so far). I already had a very high regard for Alcaraz but this win and this fightback just made me that much more impressed in his talent and his potential. He now has two Grand Slam singles titles and he's only 20 years old. I am really intrigued to see what else he can achieve in the future and how much more success he can attain. 

On the women's side, history was achieved when Marketa Vondrousova became the first female player to win Wimbledon. She defeated crowd (and heavy) favorite Ons Jabeur to win her first Grand Slam singles title. While this seem like she came out of nowhere, Vondrousova has actually been knocking on the door of the top tier of women's tennis for a while now. She made the final of the French Open in 2019 and she won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Her career has been hampered by injuries, so much so that last year, she went to Wimbledon as a spectator. I think Ons succumbed to the pressure while Market played a lot more freely and that determined the winner of this match.

I also feel compelled to write about Diede De Groot, who won the women's wheelchair singles title. This is her 5th Wimbledon overall and, even more impressively, her 12th Grand Slam women's wheelchair singles title. 12th! She has now won two consecutive Grand Slams - not the title but the actual Grand Slam where you win all four major titles in the same calendar year - and is on track to win her third. That's just crazy. I'm a fan now and I am really interested to see what kinds of records she will continue to set. 

Congratulations Carlos Alcaraz, Marketa Vondrousova, and Diede De Groot!

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