Emptying the notebook and notes app from Wimbledon 2023….
1. What is sweeter than a sporting event lives up to its hype?… There are tennis matches. There are classics. Then, there is whatever today was. In a spellbinding five-act theatrical of a men’s final, Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic 1-6, 7-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. Barely five weeks ago in Paris against Djokovic, Alcaraz was undone by “tension.” Today he took the pressure and—with all sorts of stress, with supremacy on the line, with his king watching—he won in five sinuous sets. It’s the second major of his career. And Lord knows how many more are coming?
2. All hail Markéta Vondroušová, the first unseeded women’s champion. The casual fan might not have heard of her. Seasoned tennis fans know better—she’s long been a vexing opponent, a clever and deceptively powerful lefty who reached the Roland Garros final in 2019 and won an Olympic silver medal in Tokyo in 2021. Despite the most modest of track records on grass—heading into the season she had a 2-10 career with green blades underfoot—she mastered the stuff this summer. The No. 42—and No. 7 Czech player!— to start the tournament, is now in the top 10.
