Post-Wimbledon 2022 Discussion

General

  • Regardless of the politics surrounding the situation, the Russian/Belarusian player ban was harmful for the tennis of the event. However, I did not miss seeing some players of said nationalities on-court. 

  • I have learned to never make a bracket until the day before the tournament’s main draw begins. Matteo Berrettini did not reach the finals.

  • It’s time to establish a Masters/WTA 1000 tournament on grass! The season flies by too quickly for a surface that is so fun to watch.

  • Wimbledon and Mallorca grass looks HIDEOUS by the final matches – they may need to start taking notes from Eastbourne!

Men’s Draw

Novak Djokovic was looking sharp and proving once again that it will take the next-NEXT generation to worry him. Jannik Sinner’s effort was commendable and the closest anyone has come to beating Djokovic at Wimbledon since the infamous 2019 final.

Nick Kyrgios has repeatedly been a disappointing singles player. There were points during the final where it looked like there was nothing he could do to win a point against Djokovic. I would also add that Kyrgios’ lack of variety past the first set allowed Djokovic to find a strong rhythm, and there was no possible way for Kyrgios to beat Djokovic in a match entirely consisting of baseline rallies. 

Just like in everything else, Carlos Alcaraz has a bright future on grass. This was arguably his first big shot at making a run on the Wimbledon grass, and he gave us the second-most entertaining match of the men’s draw.

The first would be the dramatic match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Kyrgios (of which I predicted the outcome!!) that demonstrated what the tennis world has known for a while at this point: beyond the stolen, “wise” social media mantras, he is not very zen.

I was really pulling for Taylor Fritz to make the semifinals! I love Rafa, but by that point (especially with how visibly injured he was) there was no way he could play two back-to-back best of five matches and come out on top. A Fritz win in the quarters may have changed the entire outcome of the tournament.

I was quite delighted to not see Alexander Zverev at Wimbledon. I find his style of play to be very boring! I missed Medvedev though.

Overall, not a very surprising tournament outside of COVID-caused withdrawals for the men.

Women’s Draw

Unsurprisingly, the women’s draw was full of surprises. Let’s go through the biggest upsets one at a time.

Iga Swiatek has some big (but not huge) adjustments to make to be good on grass. Kick serving and heavy topspin groundstrokes are ineffective on the surface. This all could have been remedied by playing a tune-up, but no blame to her for wanting to protect her shoulder.

Serena Williams cannot expect to win a main-draw slam match coming off a year of zero singles matches and two doubles matches. She has had several opportunities to win her 24th major title. She must make a change if she wants to make history (again). Despite what many commentators said, I felt her movement seemed labored and her stamina was the worst we have seen in a while. She has always had the tools to win another major, even after giving birth – this could have been her shot with an absent Naomi Osaka on Swiatek’s worst surface after a change in coaching for Halep in one of the weakest top ten players the game has seen in a while.

Ons Jabeur didn’t really seem to bring it to the final, which was personally disappointing to watch. This really felt like her slam to win.

Elena Rybakina has been a strong competitor for a while now. Her relaxed response to winning a slam was pretty amusing.

Simona Halep needs to maintain her first serve percentage. I enjoy seeing her hit an ace every now and then, but eight double faults in her semifinal against Rybakina is too costly (especially in comparison to zero aces). Patrick Mouratoglou seems to be radically altering her playstyle to mixed results.

I really thought Petra Kvitova was a contender for the title this year. She has been very streaky over the grass season! 

On a related note, Paula Badosa has to be the least entertaining player in the top ten right now. It is frustrating how infrequently she hits any kind of angle on any shot – and it seems like she frequently loses to players who can exploit that weakness.

I have no idea how Garbiñe Muguruza is still in the top ten. She seems lost on the court whenever she plays. It would be nice to see her back in top form!

Amanda Anisimova and Coco Gauff are both huge talents. One or both will win a slam in the next ten years. They are the future of American women’s tennis. 

I was sad to not see Azarenka at Wimbledon, but honestly not all too disappointed to miss Aryna Sabalenka. This is a tired topic, but her grunting is really bad. 

Overall, I would say the biggest surprise of this slam was Swiatek’s streak being broken (even if grass is her worst surface). No major grass contenders besides Rybakina and Jabeur really showed up to play (an effect of Barty’s retirement). 

Thanks for reading.

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