Blow by blow account from Wimbledon

By Alex P. Vidal

“It’s good when you’re out there on a tennis court. There’s nowhere to hide. It’s all you, tactically, physically, mentally.”—Nick Kyrgios

FOR two consecutive years now, I was brought directly to the 2024 Wimbledon championship match “live” courtesy of my daughter, Sharmane, who watched the match where it unfolded at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London on July 14 (Sunday).

A registered nurse in U.K., Sharmane roused me from sleep early morning in New York to deliver the blow-by-blow account of the men’s singles final match between defending champion Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and seven-time champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

Sunday morning the United States was still agog over the failed assassination attempt on the life of former President Donald Trump on Saturday evening in Pennsylvania.

Since almost all media networks were glued on the hot Trump story, only tennis enthusiasts watched the Wimbledon event “live” on TV (afternoon in London, morning in the United States).

“The pre-championship match press conference is about to start, and I am here in the gallery where the reporters are positioning,” Sharmane started her conversation while beaming the event “live” via video Messenger.

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After several minutes when Alcaraz and Djokovic started their championship hostilities in the Center Court, Sharmane reported that the 21-year-old Alcaraz pulled ahead by a mile, 6-2, 6-2, after two sets.

“Alacaraz is comfortably ahead right now,” she enthused. “It seems there’s no more thrill.”

Tennis is played in points: Four points win a game, six games win a set, and two or three sets win a match. Players can decide how long they want their game to be, but most matches are played as best-of-three or five set contests.

And finally, Alcaraz bundled out the erstwhile world No. 1 Djokovic in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (4) to retain his crown in just under three hours. The young Spaniard has now become only the sixth man to win the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back.

The who also faced each other in the 2023 men’s single final in the same court with Alcaraz pulling off a cliffhanger, 1-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 3-6 6-4 in a match that lasted nearly five hours.

“Both of them are the best this year by far, I feel like I’m not at that level,” said 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic.

“In order to really have a chance to, I guess, beat these guys in Grand Slam latter stages or Olympics, I’m going to have to play much better than I did today and feel much better than I did today.”

Yet to win a title this year, it has been Djokovic’s worst start to a season since 2006.

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The 37-year-old was outplayed by Alcaraz, with the young Spaniard reeling off deft drop shots, hefty serves and thunderous forehand winners.

“Just overall the way I felt on the court today against him, I was inferior on the court,” Djokovic said in his news conference. “That’s it. He was a better player. He played every single shot better than I did.”

When Djokovic fell a break down in the fourth set of last year’s final, he took out his frustrations by smashing his racquet against the net post.

However, there was barely a flicker of emotion from the seven-time Wimbledon champion when he found himself two sets to love down on Sunday.

Nick Kyrgios, a runner-up to Djokovic in 2022, described him as being “so flat”.

“I would have liked to have seen – whether it was a racquet smash or a roar or something – after Novak went down those two sets, I needed to see an outburst to kind of reset his energy,” Kyrgios told BBC TV.

“He was so flat for so long and then there was a game at 3-2 in the third set where he really came alive, but it was a bit too late.”

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)