This summer, world tennis had record-breaking wins and some new faces shocking older ones, starting with Wimbledon. Novak Djokovic made the finals for the second straight tournament after his French Open victory that gave him a record 23 Grand Slam titles. However, it was Carlos Alcaraz, the No. 1 ranked men’s tennis player in the world, who took home the silverware. He beat Djokovic in a five set thriller, 1–6, 7–6 (6), 6–1, 3–6, 6–4, to claim his first Wimbledon title and his second Grand Slam. On the women’s side, Markéta Vondroušová, who came into Wimbledon unseeded, became the lowest ranked individual to win Wimbledon in the Open Era. She defeated another unseeded woman in the final, Ons Jabeur.
In the U.S. Open, hosted in New York City, Djokovic was dominant once again. He defeated Russian Daniil Medvedev in the final 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3. Notably, ESPN continues to show a gray box instead of the Russian flag due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
On the women’s side, it was the up-and-coming American Coco Gauff (ranked sixth in the world) who emerged victorious in the final by a score of 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 over the second seeded Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka. While looking shaky and nervous in the first set, the fans kept her in the match as she roared back to win 12 of the last 15 games of the match. At only 19, she has set herself up for a bright and illustrious career already.
In other news, tennis veteran Venus Williams, sister of Serena Williams continues to play at age 43. The 29 year veteran was ranked 533rd in the world and had not beaten a top 20 ranked player in over four years, but she shocked everybody when she beat Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 7-5 in August. World tennis continues in January with the Australian Open.
