The Championships, Wimbledon 2024

[Alan Stallion]

Seven days of the fortnight have concluded.

Thoughts on the earlier round:

A large number of withdrawals before play began on Day One dominated the first round. Withdrawals brings in a lot of lucky losers who otherwise would have not played in singles competition.

Alejandro Davidovich was replaced by the very impressive Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, a tall young man with a huge serve.
Pablo Carreno Busta and Dominik Koepfer were other withdrawals.

Ekaterina Alexandrova was replaced by Renata Zarazua.
Victoria Azarenka was replaced by Elsa Jacquemot.
The highest seed on the ladies' side was Aryna Sabalenka, replaced by young Erika Andreeva.

And the biggest withdrawal was Andy Murray pulling out of singles to concentrate on doubles. More on Murray later. He was replaced by David Goffin.

Other lucky losers: James Duckworth, Olga Danilovic.

----

Another story of week one was the rain. Except for Thursday, rain plagued week one competition and cause much reshuffling and postponements.

When I went in 1999, I didn't have to deal with rain during my eight days in London, with the exception of a Sunday morning before the tournament. And those were the days before roofs were put on Centre Cout and No. 1 Court.

 

[Alan Stallion]

Notable Round One upsets:

Francisco Comesana defeated Andrey Rublev (seeded 6)
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard defeated American Sebastian Korda (seeded 20)
Thanasi Kokkinakis defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime (seeded 17)

Defending Ladies' Champion Marketa Vondrousova (seeded 6) lost to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, the first since since Steffi graf a defending champion has lost in the first round.
Qinwen Zheng (seeded 8) lost to Qualifier Lulu Sun.
In a battle of 17-year-olds, Mirra Andreeva (seeded 24) lost to Brenda Fruhvirtova. Both of them have older sisters on tour (age 20 and 19 respectively).

Notable Round Two upsets:
Fabio Fognini, who doesn't like grass at all and is much more comfortable on clay, easily dispatched Casper Ruud (seeded 8)
Stefanos Tsitsipas lost to Emil Ruusuvuori, a guy with way to many "u"s in his name.
Hubert Hurkacz (seeded 7) lost to Arthur Fils.

The most notable upset on the ladies' side was Jessica Pegula (seeded 5) losing to Xinyu Wang.

---

All-British matchups took place on Thursday with British #2 (Harriet Dart) winning in a final set tiebreak against British #1 (Katie Boulter). Later, current British #1 (Jack Draper) lost to former British #1 (Cameron Norrie)

And speaking of former British #1s, this brings us back to Andy Murray, who pulled out of singles, but played with his brother Jamie Murray and lost a featured Centre Court match to Rinky Hijikata and John Peers of Australia. A nice ceremony followed with the surprise return of legendary Sue Barker to conduct the interview.

---

Anyhoo that's my update for now. Still catching up on Round 3 action.
Stay dry if you're in London.

 

[Alan Stallion]

And for my latest retro pic from 1999, at Aorange Terrace watching a late evening match featuring Boris Becker on the old Court 2 after my matches on Centre Court concluded for the day...

 

[luiza]

Increasingly it looks like the Men's big three will dominate as Djoko , Alcarez and the Sinner have progressed without too much trouble .
Although on one of my other screens I see Medvedev holding up againsrt the Italian after two sets .

Am not a huge fan of the Serbian legend but he is playing well and his right knee appears sound .

No hard forecast for the final winner . All three are fantastic when in the meat grinder zone .

 

[Fiero425]

Increasingly it looks like the Men's big three will dominate as Djoko , Alcarez and the Sinner have progressed without too much trouble .
Although on one of my other screens I see Medvedev holding up againsrt the Italian after two sets .

Am not a huge fan of the Serbian legend but he is playing well and his right knee appears sound .

No hard forecast for the final winner . All three are fantastic when in the meat grinder zone .

Well Medvedev & Sinner are in a 5th set! Alcaraz down a set and a break in his match vs Paul!

 

[luiza]

Well Medvedev & Sinner are in a 5th set! Alcaraz down a set and a break in his match vs Paul!

Alcaraz should be OK but Medvedev looks to have Sinner by the throat .
But relative surprises are good for the game and Russia are winning most things these days --- on and off the courts .
Remember he was the number one in the world for a short time in 2022 .

 

[Fiero425]

Alcaraz should be OK but Medvedev looks to have Sinner by the throat .
But relative surprises are good for the game and Russia are winning most things these days --- on and off the courts .
Remember he was the number one in the world for a short time in 2022 .

Not a big fan of Daniil's tennis! It's not the prettiest style out there w/ limbs going all over the place, but I'm glad Medvedev was able to take this match after dropping his last one to Sinner in 5 sets "down under!" Jannik was getting too much praise; as if he'd been on top for ages! Novak's still there and kicking! This might be his last chance to get that 8th Wimbledon title to tie Roger!

 

[Fiero425]

Djokovic got a quarter-final "walk-over" as Alex de Minaur was unable to go after injuring hip in his previous match win over Fils! Nole has 3 days off waiting for completion of Fritz/ Musetti match! ATM Musetti's up 2 breaks in the 3rd, each w/ a set apiece!

 

[lantern2814]

A walkover at this stage is a big plus for Djokovic. Now Alcaraz and Medvedev in one semi and Djokovic gets (on paper) a much easier matchup with extra rest.

 

[Alan Stallion]

Ladies' Semifinals about to begin

First up - Jasmine Paolini (Italy) vs. Donna Vekic (Croatia)

 

[Alan Stallion]

Both women's semifinal matches went to three sets (first time since 200), with the earlier match of Jasmine Paolini and Donna Vekic going to a 10-point deciding tiebreak.

Congratulations to Paolini for making her second straight grand slam final.

Barbora Krejcikova came from a set down to defeat the former champion Elena Rybakina. Krejcikova mentioned her mentor Jana Novotna, Wimbledon champion in 1998.

Paolini will face Krejcikova on Saturday in the Ladies' Final.

 

[Alan Stallion]

Speaking of the late Jana Novotna, here is when she opened proceedings on Centre Court in Day 2, as is tradition with the defending ladies' champion...

Jana Novotna vs. Shi-Ting Wang
1999 Wimbledon

Of course this was the time before the Centre Court roof was built.

 

[lantern2814]

Both women's semifinal matches went to three sets (first time since 200), with the earlier match of Jasmine Paolini and Donna Vekic going to a 10-point deciding tiebreak.

Congratulations to Paolini for making her second straight grand slam final.

Barbora Krejcikova came from a set down to defeat the former champion Elena Rybakina. Krejcikova mentioned her mentor Jana Novotna, Wimbledon champion in 1998.

Paolini will face Krejcikova on Saturday in the Ladies' Final.

The women's game has been unpredictable. Just when you think somebody is stepping up to solidify a hold on #1, they hit a slump and another woman steps up.

 

[Alan Stallion]

The Gentlemen's Semifinal #1 is about ready to begin
Carlos Alcaraz vs. Daniil Medvedev

Following that match will be Lorenzo Musetti vs. Novak Djokovic.

 

[Tommy Tainant]

Its over in a few days thank god. Another BBC effort at helping us all enjoy middle class culture. Like the boat race. There were no tennis courts on my estate.

 

[Fiero425]

Alcaraz took out Medvedev in 4 sets, then Djokovic dismissed Musetti in straights! They play/rematch Sunday for Carlito's 2nd or Novak's 8th Wimbledon to tie Federer!

 

[Mr. Friscus]

Alcaraz took out Medvedev in 4 sets, then Djokovic dismissed Musetti in straights! They play/rematch Sunday for Carlito's 2nd or Novak's 8th Wimbledon to tie Federer!

Novak may have as many Wimbledon's as R-Fed, and may have more total majors than R-Fed, but he'll never be able to claim to be better than Federer.

When Federer and Nadal were in their Prime, they dominated Djokavic. Novak only truly prospered as Federer and Nadal aged out, and no new dominant figures arrived.

 

[Alan Stallion]

Daniil Medvedev almost got himself disqualified in the first set, yelling/cursing at the umpire for a "not up" call. Medvedev ended up with a code violation: unsportsmanlike conduct.

 

[Alan Stallion]

Here we go! Three championship matches on Centre Court...

 

[leftwinger]

Its over in a few days thank god. Another BBC effort at helping us all enjoy middle class culture. Like the boat race. There were no tennis courts on my estate.

Nobody cares about your lentils and curried goat Ackmed.