With Wimbledon now behind us, it is time for me to recap the two weeks that were at the All England Club. Enjoy!
#1. The GOAT discussion is very much a debate on the men's side: Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer 7-6, 1-6, 7-6, 4-6, 13-12 in an epic final that had huge ramifications on the all-time grand slam singles title race. Instead of having a six title cushion on Djokovic, Federer now only has a four title lead, raising serious questions about who will walk away with the most grand slam titles.
At the moment, Federer is #1 all-time with 20 grand slam singles titles, Rafael Nadal is #2 with 18, and Djokovic is #3 with 16. Personally, I think it is still too early to say who the greatest of all-time is and that we'll probably have to wait until all three of these guys are retired before we can weigh in with a final judgment. Even then it will probably still be a hotly contested debate.
Regardless of how things shake out in the future, I think we can all agree that Djokovic is making a very strong case to be the greatest ever. In an era with Federer and Nadal dominating the sport, he has found a way to gain ground on both of them in the race for most grand slam titles. It's insane.
#2. Simona Halep has arrived: After going through a period where she couldn't get over the hump, Simona Halep now has two grand slam titles under her belt, dominating Serena Williams 6-2, 6-2 in the ladies' final. Even more impressively, Halep has won a grand slam both on the clay courts of Roland Garros and the grass courts of Wimbledon. That just goes to show how versatile her game is.
Given how wide open the women's game is, there's no reason to doubt Halep's ability to win several more grand slams before all of this is over. She's only 27 years old and appears to have finally "figured it out" so to speak. In a post-Serena Williams world, it could be Halep that reigns supreme over women's tennis.
#3. Roger Federer still has a lot of tennis left in him: As disappointing as it was to see Roger Federer blow two match points on his serve, the silver lining for Fed fans in all of this is that their man still has plenty of high level tennis left in him despite turning 38 next month. So long as he wants to keep playing at a high level and put himself in positions to extend his grand slam record, Federer will be able to do so.
What a lot of people wonder is how Fed is able to keep playing at such a high level. The answer seems to lie in his conditioning and playing style. He takes really good care of himself and his strokes are so fluid that they don't take much of a toll on his body. He's sort of like Tom Brady that way. While it's hard to predict how much longer Fed will be playing, I think it's safe to say that he'll play for as long as he wants to. I don't see any reason to doubt his ability to play when he's 40 and possibly beyond that. It's truly remarkable what he's doing.
#4. Serena Williams needs to play more tournaments: So far this year, Serena Williams has only played the Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami, Rome, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon. Indian Wells, Miami, and Rome were all early exits, so it's really just been the grand slams where she's made any sort of push.
It's no secret that Serena is dealing with a lot of different things at once. She's a mom, newly married, and also trying to be a voice for social change. This is why Billie Jean King suggested she just focus on the tennis for now. Personally, I don't think those other things are a problem for Serena so long as they don't keep her away from playing more tournaments.
Right now, Serena Williams is still chasing Margaret Court's all-time grand slam singles titles record of 24 and time is not on her side. If she wants to pass catch Court's record and pass it by the end of 2020, she'll have to start playing more tournaments. Prior to this year's US Open, she will be playing Toronto, so hopefully that will help her get more comfortable playing in finals against some of the top players on tour. Not having played a seeded player until the final against Halep seemed to really hurt her.
#5. The rest of the men's tour has a lot of catching up to do: We are truly living in a golden age of tennis as we watch Djokovic, Federer, and Nadal all duke it out for all-time great supremacy. The only downside of this era is that the rest of the ATP World Tour isn't giving them much of a challenge. Alexander Zverev doesn't seem close to winning a grand slam, Kei Nishikori doesn't seem to have enough weapons, and world #8 Karen Khachanov along with #9 Daniil Medvedev and #10 Fabio Fognini seem to be pretty irrelevant despite their lofty rankings.
If there were two guys on tour who give me any sort of hope it's #4 Dominic Thiem and #6 Stefanos Tsitsipas. Both aren't afraid of the big moments and seem to have the right mentality. I wouldn't be surprised to see one of them break through relatively soon, but the rest of the tour really needs to wake up.
#6. Naomi Osaka needs to figure out how to do well away from the hard courts: Naomi Osaka's struggles away from the hard court have been well documented on here as of late. After a 3rd Round exit at Roland Garros, Osaka followed that up with an even bigger dud at Wimbledon, losing in the 1st Round. Even though she is ranked #2 in the world, it's clear that Osaka needs to figure out how to be better on both clay and grass. She has a lot of points to defend as the defending US Open and Australian Open champion and with better results at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, she wouldn't have so much pressure to deliver at those two events.
#7. Novak Djokovic is the best in the world right now: While the GOAT debate is very fluid and ever changing, one thing that is certain is that Novak Djokovic is the top men's tennis player in the world right now. He's won two grand slams this year and has effectively been the top player since his dominating season in 2011 in which he won three out of the four grand slams. If he keeps at the pace he's on, it's hard to not see him winning the most grand slam titles when it's all said and done.
#8. Coco Gauff could be the next star of American women's tennis: American women's tennis has a lot of up and coming talent to get excited about and Coco Gauff is one of them. At just 15 years of age, Gauff reached the 4th Round of Wimbledon, knocking off Venus Williams in her opening round match. Gauff had a fantastic breakthrough tournament and looks to make even more noise at the US Open.
Personally, I think the hype is a bit premature and that she needs more seasoning before she can become a consistent presence in the second week of grand slams. That said, I don't see any reason to doubt that that seasoning will come. It's going to be fun to follow her in the coming years.
#9. Rafael Nadal can still hold his own on the grass: Given that he hasn't won Wimbledon since 2010, it's fair to question how big of a threat Rafael Nadal is at this event. He's dominant on the clay and has found better success on the hard courts. Especially at the US Open, which he has won three times. After his run to the semis at Wimbledon this year, I think he proved himself to still be a threat. I don't know if he'll win another Wimbledon or not, but given the right breaks and opportunities, I don't see why not.
#10. Women's tennis is wide open: I've always said predicting women's tennis results is as easy as throwing a dart on a board and seeing which name you randomly hit. So far, no one has been able to prove me wrong. The only real consistent force on the women's side has been Serena Williams, though as I mentioned above, Simona Halep is starting to establish herself as well. Everyone else has been very up and down. It's tempting to pick the most recent non-Serena grand slam winner to catch fire and start to dominate, but every time someone else comes out of nowhere to take their place.
E.g. I thought Victoria Azarenka would go on to dominate the tour after she won her second Australian Open, but she instead fell off the map. Her whole situation is kinda weird, though. LOL
This isn't all bad as it makes for some very interesting tournaments. Especially since the men's game is so top heavy with very few instances of someone breaking through to take out Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic. Personally, I would like to see the men's game become a bit more like the women's game in terms of having more upsets and the women's game become more like the men's and have more consistency at the top, but this is the world we live in, so we might as well enjoy it.
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