Wimbledon
2018 is over ~ not many would have guessed its winners ! Epic semifinals, marathon matches, the return
of the legends, World Cup drama -- Wimbledon 2018 had it all and more ~ here is a photo of Single champions dancing
together !
In the Women’s
section, Angelique Kerber was so steady, so patient, so accurate throughout the
Wimbledon final. She never really gave Serena Williams much of a chance. Kerber won her first championship at the All
England Club and third major overall by playing cleanly as can be and picking
her spots for big shots, beating Williams 6-3 6-3. "I knew that I had to
play my best tennis against a champion like Serena," said Kerber, the
first German woman to win Wimbledon since Steffi Graff in 1996. Kerber made
only five unforced errors the entire match, 19 fewer than Williams. Perhaps
more impressive was this: She broke Williams in 4 of 9 service games.
The
30-year-old German lost to Williams in the 2016 Wimbledon final. She beat
Williams in the Australian Open final that year, then won that year's US Open
to briefly replace her at No. 1 in the rankings. Kerber addressed Williams during the on-court
interviews, saying: "You're such an inspiration for everybody, for all of
us. I'm sure you will have your next Grand Slam title soon. I'm really, really
sure." The final started more than two hours late, because they had to
wait for the end of Novak Djokovic's five-set victory over Rafael Nadal in a
men's semifinal that was suspended the night before.
It is so
famous that the balls are known World over as Tennis balls. Part of the longest partnership in sporting
goods history, Slazenger has been the Official Supplier of tennis balls to The
Championships since 1902. Yellow balls
used for first time in 1986. 53,000 used during The Championships’ period.
Stored at 68 deg F. New balls after first seven games (to allow for warm-up),
then after every nine games. Subject to availability used balls are sold daily.
£2.50 per can of three. Proceeds go to the Wimbledon Foundation. At start of
day 48 tins are taken onto Centre and No.1 Courts and 24 on all outside courts.
In the Men’s
– it took Novak Djokovic five minutes to
break Kevin Anderson’s serve, but he could not break his admirable spirit over
two hours and 19 minutes in a Wimbledon final memorable only for the South
African’s dogged but doomed fightback. Anderson, troubled early in the match by
a sore right elbow, was forced to endure one of the most gruelling afternoons
of his career but Djokovic suffered too, swearing at the crowd as his
frustrations consumed him before he secured his 13th grand slam title, his
fourth here, winning 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (3).
The
sun-bathed Centre Court audience can hardly have imagined when they bought
their tickets that they would not be seeing either or both of Roger Federer and
Rafael Nadal contest the final. Anderson beat Federer in an excellent
quarter-final, Djokovic saw off Nadal over two days in the second semi-final. Shattered
after surviving six hours and 35 minutes against John Isner in the first
semi-final on Friday, Anderson – the 2017 US Open runner-up – refused to surrender
in his second major final and dug deep to make a fight of it in the third set,
although it was still a poor spectacle. The longest rally of the match lasted
15 shots, as Anderson strove to hold serve at 0-2 in the second set. There were
the usual sympathetic cheers when he managed it, but pointlessness and
inevitability hung heavily in the suffocating air.
In our
school days, the fighter John McEnroe not only played Singles, but soon after
the finals would be in action pairing with Peter Fleming in the doubles finals
as well. Peter
Blair Fleming won 52 titles, of which
seven were at Grand Slams (four at Wimbledon, three at the US Open). Then there was Peter McNamara and Paul McNamee, the
Australian Wimbledon champions and delightful pair.
It is the
era of Bryans ! ~ as is his habit, Mike Bryan walked into a news conference at
Wimbledon on Saturday and identified himself to the stenographer, so he could
be distinguished from his partner. The
Bryans have spent their career setting doubles records together, Bryan played 76 consecutive Grand Slam events
with his twin brother, Bob, and won 16 of them. but with his victory alongside
Jack Sock at Wimbledon, Mike Bryan now finds himself sharing one with someone
else.
Mike Bryan and Jack Sock
This year’s win was Mike's 17th Grand Slam doubles title,
his first since 2014 and his first with a partner other than twin brother Bob
Bryan. This time, however, it was in
jest. Bryan had just won the men’s doubles title with Jack Sock, and it was his
first major championship in that event with a partner other than his identical
twin, Bob.
Bryan and
Sock defeated Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus, 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-3, 5-7, 7-5. It
was Bryan’s 17th Grand Slam men’s doubles title, and his first since the 2014
United States Open. At 17, Mike Bryan now sits in a tie with John Newcombe for
most Grand Slam titles in men’s doubles.
Mike has had
to find other partners since Bob has been off with a hip injury, and had been
unsure whether he would even play Wimbledon. After a first-round loss at the
French Open with Sam Querrey, Mike had rued playing without Bob, and spoke as
if he might have just played his last match, saying farewell to reporters. He
said the opportunity to play Wimbledon for what could be his last time kept him
going.
In the Women’s
Doubles - Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, both 22 from the Czech Republic,
won their second successive Grand Slam title with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 victory over
Kveta Peschke and Nicole Melichar. As
well as becoming the first pairing since 2003 to win the French Open and
Wimbledon back-to-back, they also became the first to claim both the girls' and
women's doubles titles at the All England Club, after winning as juniors in
2013.
In the mixed
Doubles, it was not quite the ending Jamie Murray and Victoria Azarenka wanted
but they enjoyed their run to the final of the mixed doubles so much they might
just do it again. The unseeded pair, who decided only at the last minute to
play together at Wimbledon, were beaten 7-6 (1), 6-3 by Alexander Peya of
Austria and Nicole Melichar of the United States, the No 11 seeds, who each won
their first grand slam titles of any kind.
Interesting !!
With regards
– S. Sampathkumar
17th
July 2018.
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