What an amazing season of Wimbledon this year, with big names from the past and prospects for the future lighting up the courts. Here is a round-up of the major moments of the tournament that spanned from the 1st to the 14th July 2019!
Men’s Singles
First up we’ll start with the men’s singles! It was probably the most thrilling and exciting season of men’s tennis that I have ever watched! We saw the supreme Serbian, Novak Djokovic, power his way to the final to beat his Swiss counterpart Roger Federer over five sets; 7-6 1-6 7-6 4-6 13-12 to lift the Wimbledon title in the longest final in Wimbledon history!
The journey for both of them to get to the final was as follows:
Novak Djokovic
Round 1: (GER) Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3 7-5 6-3
Round 2: (USA) Denis Kudla 6-3 6-2 6-2
Round 3: (POL) Hubert Hurkacz 7-5 6-7 6-1 6-4
Round 4: (FRA) Ugo Humbert 6-3 6-2 6-3
Quarter Finals: (BEL) David Goffin 6-4 6-0 6-2
Semi Finals: (SPA) Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2 4-6 6-3 6-2
Roger Federer
Round 1: (RSA) Lloyd Harris 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-2
Round 2: (GBR) Jay Clarke 6-1 7-6 6-2
Round 3: (FRA) Lucas Pouille 7-5 6-2 7-6
Round 4: (ITA) Matteo Berrettini 6-1 6-2 6-2
Quarter Finals: (JAP) Kei Nishikori 4-6 6-1 6-4 6-4
Semi Finals: (SPA) Rafael Nadal 7-6 1-6 6-3 6-4
It was an incredible match to watch, with both playing at their best! Djokovic also posted on social media that it will be a match he will always remember and that he’s got major respect for Roger Federer. He went on to say that self-belief, resilience, dedication and major support from the closest people around him allowed him to be where he was today.
One of the other interesting stories around the men’s singles was Paul Jubb, a 19-year-old originally from Kingston, now a member of the tennis squad in South Carolina, U.S.A. He won his first two qualifying matches but was then beaten by Taylor Fritz in the first round. He had previously won a title at the 2019 NCAA Division. Growing up he had a difficult life after receiving news that his dad committed suicide, but that made him more determined to compete in tennis competitively. Although he didn’t get through the first round, there’s a high chance that this isn’t the end for Mr Jubb…
Women’s Singles
One of the biggest stories of the entire tournament surfaced in the women’s singles when a 15-year-old Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff beat Venus Williams in the first round 6-4 6-4. To qualify she played and won against; (SPA) Aliona Bolsova, (RUS) Valentyna Ivakhnenko and (BEL) Greet Minnen in straight sets and made it all the way to the fourth round where she was finally beaten by Romania’s Simona Halep.
In the end it was the favourite, Serena Williams against Halep in the final, and the underdog triumphed in style and won her first ever Wimbledon title 6-2 6-2! It was a very fast game as Halep capitalised on Williams’ mistakes to take the trophy within an hour of play!
Here’s how both players made it to the final:
Simona Halep
Round 1: (BEL) Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-4 7-5
Round 2: (ROM) Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-3 4-6 6-2
Round 3: (BEL) Victoria Azarenka 6-3 6-1
Round 4: (USA) Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff 6-3 6-3
Quarter Finals: (CHI) Shuai Zhang 7-6 6-1
Semi Finals: (UKR) Elina Svitolina 6-1 6-3
Serena Williams
Round 1: (ITA) Giulia Gatto-Monticone 6-2 7-5
Round 2: (SLO) Kaja Juvan 2-6 6-2 6-4
Round 3: (GER) Julia Goerges 6-3 6-4
Round 4: (SPA) Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 6-2
Quarter Finals: (USA) Alison Riske 6-4 4-6 6-3
Semi Finals: (CZE) Barbora Strycova 6-1 6-2
Men’s Doubles
Moving onto the doubles! First, we’ll start with the men’s doubles. It was a short-lived campaign for UK representative Andy Murray and his French companion Pierre Hugues-Herbert as they were beaten over 5 sets.
They won the first set 7-6 and then went on to lose the next three sets 6-4 6-2 6-3, sending their Croatian rivals Nikola Mektic and Franko Skugor through to the third round. Mektic and Skugor were then beaten by Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek in straight sets…so that was good karma for us? In the end it was the Columbian pair Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah who took the trophy against Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
Here is how both pairs made it to the final:
Juan Sebastian Cabal & Filip Polasek
Round 1: (UK) J Draper/P Jubb 6-1 6-4 6-2
Round 2: (KAZ) A Bublik/M Kukushkin 4-6 6-2 6-2 6-1
Round 3: (CZE) R Jebavy/P Oswald 7-6 7-6 7-5
Quarter Finals: (NED/ROM) J Rojer/H Tecau 6-3 3-6 6-7 6-4 11-9
Semi Finals: (SOA/NZE) R Klaasen/M Venus 6-4 6-7 7-6 6-4
Nicolas Mahut & Edouard Roger-Vasselin
Round 1: (UK) L Broady/S Clayton 6-1 6-4 6-2
Round 2: (ARG/POR) L Mayer/J Sousa 6-1 5-7 6-4 7-5
Round 3: (USA) B Bryan/M Bryan 7-6 6-2 4-6 7-6
Quarter Finals: (POL/BRA) L Kubot/M Melo 7-6 6-7 6-3 6-3
Semi Finals: (CRO/SLO) I Dodig/F Polasek 6-2 7-6 7-6
I watched the men’s doubles final between Cabal/Polasek and Mahut/R-Vasselin and although the French pairing didn’t win, they definitely had some interesting and rather unfortunate gameplay during the match. Firstly, Nicolas Mahut, one of the French players had a ball that hit him straight in his face, and once he had help from the doctor and physicist, there was another incident where the ball went straight between his legs…a place which many of us can admit to being a painful and unfortunate situation to be in…and during the end of the match in the final set, Mahut’s partner was also hit somewhere on his leg…making it a trio of incidents in one singular match. I would have liked to see them walk away with the trophy to be honest, after all that effort to continue playing! Maybe Wimbledon 2020 will see them taking the title?
Women’s Doubles
Watching the women’s doubles tennis definitely makes it look important to see more women becoming professionals! Some of the players hit the ball so hard, can run around the court like a machine and have some of the most powerful serves. It is clear they have the power to inspire anyone!
My favourite match to watch was most certainly the final between Barbora Strycova and Su-Wei Hseih and Gabriela Dabrowski and Yifan Xu. During the first set, Strycova and Hseih took the lead 6-2, but during the second set they struggled to seal the victory. In the end, they won the match in straight sets, 6-2 6-4, but there were so many powerful shots from all four of the women that it made the tennis even more entertaining to watch!
Here’s how both pairings made it to the final:
Barbora Strycova & Su-Wei Hsieh
Round 1: (GER/SWI) M Barthel/X Knoll 6-2 6-1
Round 2: (RUS/SWI) E Alexandrova/V Golubic 6-2 6-2
Round 3: (ROM) I Begu/M Niculescu 6-3 6-4
Quarter Finals: (BE/BEL) E Mertens/A Sabalenka 6-4 6-2
Semi Finals: (HUN/FRA) T Babos/K Mladenovic 7-6 6-4
Gabriella Dabrowski & Yifan Xu
Round 1: (TUN/HUN) O Jabeur/F Stollar 6-1 6-3
Round 2: (UKR/AUS) K Koslova/A Rodionova 6-2 6-1
Round 3: (CHI) Y Duan/S Zheng 7-5 6-3
Quarter Finals: (USA) D Collins/B Mattek-Sands 6-1 6-3
Semi Finals: (CZE) B Krejcikova/K Siniakova 6-1 3-6 6-3
Mixed Doubles
Last but most certainly not the least was the mixed doubles. Unfortunately, we saw the power couple of Andy Murray and Serena Williams fail in their attempt to conquer the competition, losing to the top seeds Bruno Soares and Nicole Melichar 6-3 4-6 6-2 as both players returned from their respective injuries.
Soares and Melichar were then beaten by Matwe Middelkoop and Zhaoxuan Yang who made it all the way to the semi-finals.
In the end it was Ivan Dodig and Latisha Chan who took away the mixed doubles title, beating Robert Lindstebt and Jelena Ostapenko 6-2 6-3!
Here’s how the final took shape:
Ivan Dodog & Latisha Chan
Round 2: (CHI) C-P Hsieh/S-W Hsieh 6-3 6-2
Round 3: (FRA/SLO) E Roger-Vasselin/A Klepac 2-6 6-3 6-4
Quarter Finals: (UK) E Hoyt/E Silva 7-5 7-6
Semi Finals: (NET/CZE) W Koolhof/K Peschke 7-5 6-4
Robert Lindstebt & Jelena Ostapenko
Round 1: (UK/USA) J Clarke/C Gauff 6-1 6-4
Round 2: (ARG/JAP) A Molteni/M Ninomiya 6-3 6-1
Round 3: (AUS/CHI) J Peers/S Zhang 2-6 7-5 6-4
Quarter Finals: (CRO/ROM) F Skugor/R Olaru 6-7 6-3 7-5
Semi Finals: (NET/CHI) M Middelkoop/Z Yang 7-5 6-2
Youngster Jay Clarke competed with Coco Gauff, who gained so much attention in the singles, but they lost in the first round to Robert Lindstedt and Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets. Maybe, as they gain more experience, they can come back next year and smash the competition out of the park!
Overall, the Wimbledon tournament this year was fantastic! So many new young tennis professionals took centre stage including Paul Jubb, Jay Clarke and most notably, Coco Gauff as the big names of Djokovic, Federer, Murray and Williams entertained throughout. Hopefully next year’s Wimbledon finals will be even better!
By Brandon Boyd