Bill Simons
Wimbledon
SOFIA’S CHOICE: Sofia Kenin’s world fell apart. The 2020 Australian Open champion, who also reached the Roland Garros finals and was world No. 5, suffered from injuries and a dreadful loss of form. She parted ways with her coach and father Alexander Kenin and saw her ranking plummet to No. 426.
Critics howled. But Sofia made a choice. She was determined to come back and prove the naysayers wrong. This year she’s staged an epic, heartwarming comeback.
She beat No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in Rome, and here at Wimbledon she sprinted through qualifying without losing a set. Then she downed her fellow Floridian, the far more celebrated Coco Gauff, who’s No. 7 in the world. And today she dismissed China’s Xinyu Wang 6-4, 6-3. Now No. 128, Kenin said, “I’m just trying to prove some people wrong. Just super proud of myself with the way I really fought through to get here.”
Sofia, who is of Russian heritage, will next play Ukrainian Elina Svitlona.
KASATKINA’S COURAGE: Daria Kasatkina is courageous. Last year she came out as gay and opposed the Ukrainian war. She’s chosen to leave her native Russia. Now many in tennis have shown little courage or insight about sportswashing, dark money and unsettling issues relating to Saudi Arabia and the possibility of their playing a significant role in tennis. And while Kastakina didn’t go into any detail about issues pertaining to Saudi Arabia and its treatment of women, its policies relating to gays, an assassination of an outspoken journalist, harsh crackdowns on dissidents and reported links to terrorism, she did say, “Money talks in our world right now. For me, I don’t think that everything is about the money. Unfortunately not everything is dependent just on us, and particularly me, for example. It’s in the hands of the bigger people, unfortunately.”
WAWRINKA NOT EXACTLY BRIMMING WITH CONFIDENCE: Sometimes in press conferences, you just shake your head. For instance, today a reporter had this exchange with Stan Wawrinka, who next plays Djokovic.
QUESTION: Are you surprised that Novak’s managed to accumulate so many Wimbledon grass court titles?
WAWRINKA: No. Have you seen him play? Give me one weakness. He’s been amazing…He’s the perfect player. Everything is so clean. He plays the perfect shot at the right moment. I love to watch him play, as much as I loved to watch Roger. He’s serving amazing, he’s returning everything. He can do everything. I’m not surprised at all…
“There’s zero opportunity for me to win Wimbledon…I don’t really stand a chance…So I’m going to be playing tomorrow and then watching the rest of the tournament.”
THE ANGST OF STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: At times it seems that Stefanos Tsitsipas is a mix. In part he’s a wannabe bard. After his epic win over Dominc Thiem, he said, “There is poetry on grass.” But existential crises seem to be woven into his fiber. After his victory he said, “I haven’t [ever been] this empty after a win. It’s joyful – but a little bit empty.”
REFLECTIONS ON HARMONIC AND INDUSTRIALIZED BACKHANDS: Stefanos Tsitsipas has one of the most flowing and powerful one-handed backhands in the game. When asked about other top one-handed backhands, he took himself out of the equation and then offered a fascinating commentary. “I really like Stan Wawrinka’s backhand…It’s very harmonic. It has a very nice flow. It feels industrialized – it feels compact. Not loose, but it has a very nice rhythm and flow to it.
“In terms of elegance and beauty, Gasquet’s is a beautiful backhand. Otherwise Roger’s. Stan’s single-handed backhand down the line is much better…but Roger’s has a very nice flow as well. It’s poetry. He can mix up the slice, which makes it an interesting combination.”
BROOKSBY SUSPENDED: Californian Jenson Brooksby has accepted a provisional suspension from the International Tennis Integrity Agency after being accused of missing three doping tests in a 12-month period. The 22-year-old, who’s had two arm operations, plans to go to arbitration about the case. Brooksby, who once was No. 33, is now No. 101.
VICTORIA’S SECRETS: The Belarusian-American Victoria Azarenka told the media, “I came from a place where you didn’t show your feelings and weaknesses…Now I keep asking questions, never stop learning, and never forget why I started playing tennis.”
NOT ENOUGH TIME TO FALL IN LOVE: When asked to talk about playing on grass, Victoria Azarenka answered, “There’s not enough time to adapt and fall in love with grass. All the grass courts on the circuit are different and all the courts here at Wimbledon are different. Tennis is about adapting and grass court tennis is adapting day to day.”
WIMBLEDON TENNIS IS PUZZLING, BUT NOT ANY MORE: Just Stop Oil protesters, who somehow eluded Wimbledon’s beefed-up security, twice ran out on Court 18 and disrupted play. They scattered confetti and hundreds of pieces of a Roger Federer jigsaw puzzle that they’d bought in the Wimbledon store onto the court. A bit too late, officials removed the puzzle from the shelves.
FAREWELL FRITZ: Despite being up two sets, the No. 1 American Taylor Fritz fell to No. 59 Swede Mikael Ymer, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Last year, the Californian almost made it to the Wimbledon semis, but in the four majors since, he hasn’t gotten past the third round.
POWER COUPLES SURGE: Yesterday both Stefanos Tsitsipas and his new girlfriend Paula Badosa won. Today Alex de Minaur and Katie Boulter, who are also a duo, both won their singles matches. Both couplea are paired as mixed doubles teams.
REVELATION OF THE DAY: Badosa revealed that before she met her current boyfriend Stefanos Tsistsipas, she dreamt of the two of them winning the Australian Open. (Tsitsipas reached the final this year and Badosa has gotten to the fourth round.)
THAT’S AN OPTION: Frances Tiafoe reflected on all the different courts he’d had to play on at Wimbledon. Then he had a brainstorm: “Or I can be Novak Djokokic and play on Centre Court all the time!”
RUUD RESULT: The popular 29-year old Brit, Liam Broady, No. 142, beat the No. 4 seed Casper Ruud. It was his first ever win over a top ten player.
TENNIS CAN BE CRUEL: It’s hard to win a Grand Slam and then to have to struggle mightily. As mentioned above, the 2020 Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin at last is coming back from extended injuries and a perplexing slump. Three-time Slam winner Stan Wawrinka is amazingly into the third round, where he’ll face Djokovic.
But the free-falling Emma Raducanu seems to have been in a continuing slide since she won the 2021 US Open title (well, except for all the incredible endorsements she signed). And then there’s Austrian Dominic Thiem, the 2020 US Open winner, whose comeback has seemed so ill-fated.
GOOD NEWS FROM DOWN UNDER: Ash Barty has given birth to a son, Hayden.
FROM THE COURT TO THE EXECUTIVE SUITE: Todd Martin, who was once No. 4 in the world and went on to become the Executive Director of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, is the new tournament director of the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati. And, in the Bay Area, Cici Bellis, who rose as high as No. 35 in the world, is the co-tournament director of the exciting new Golden Gate Open, which will be held at Stanford in August.
Other former players who are now tournament directors include Tommy Haas, James Blake, Amelie Mauresmo, Feliciano Lopez and Richard Krajicek.
AMERICA WATCH: Today’s American winners included Jessica Pegula, Sofia Kenin and Frances Tiafoe, while losers included Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, Sloane Stephens, Danielle Collins, Michael Mmoh, Alycia Parks, J.J. Wolf, and Marcos Giron.
Also reporting: Lucia Hoffman