Bill Simons and Vinay Venkatesh
A BELOVED BRITISH PRINCESS SUFFERS TWO GRIEVOUS ERRORS
Jolly old England is about nothing if not etiquette, protocol, rules, form, tradition, and all that sensible stuff that built good ol’ civilization.
Every duke worth his dukedom and every earl who rises early knows that royals love rules. They’re the centuries-old glue that keeps the empire – oops, we mean the commonwealth – together. Bend, bow, curtsy – for goodness sake, know the drill!
But, sadly, during a pitch-perfect pre-Wimbledon hit-and-giggle outing with young ballpersons, a lovely British princess suffered two shocking missteps.
First, Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, strode onto court in a flawless white tennis dress and unleashed a flowing forehand passing shot on the line, past tennis’ most hallowed Ambassador of Good – Roger Federer.
OMG – you don’t pull on Superman’s cape! And you certainly don’t humble Mr. Perfect on his flawless green blades. All Roger could do was offer one of his rather bemused Federerian chuckles.
And then, while taking an impromptu lesson on how to be a ball girl, the Princess of Wales spotted a ball that was innocently flying her way. Drawing on her royal instincts, she had the audacity to casually snatch the ball out of the air – nice left-handed snag, Your Highness.
But – say it isn’t so – that was actually a jaw-dropping violation of Wimbledon protocol. Every good student of British ballpersoning knows that at the All England Club you don’t catch balls in the air. You have to patiently let each one fall to the ground.
But the princess didn’t.
Of course, the ever vigilant Federer immediately noted the mistake and sheepishly asked Kate: “Are you allowed to do that? In Australia they would catch it, but at Wimbledon they don’t.” Kate’s young teenage ballgirl Hollie gently whispered, “You are not meant to catch it. You are meant to let it drop and bounce and then get it back.”
Kate (who seemed to offer a bit of a royal blush) was left to contemplate her error, which would soon reverberate in proper tea rooms and shaded gardens throughout the kingdom. In the end, Kate offered a lovely, just slightly dismissive royal shrug of the shoulder and soldiered on.
Royals always do.
MEN’S PREVIEW:
CARLOS ALACARZ: Some might think tennis’ 20-year-old phenom is fragile. He was injured last year, missed the Aussie Open, had to pull out of the Rio Open and was hobbled in his French Open semi showdown against Djokovic who was sixteen years older than he was.
And some say the Spaniard is not much of a threat on grass. He lost last year in the fourth round to Yannick Sinner.
But beware, Prince Carlos is a King in the making. It’s no accident this kid became the youngest ever ATP No. 1 and recently regained his top spot. As for his grass court credentials, he just won the Queens warm-up tourney in London. The reigning US Open, Indian Wells, Barcelona and Madrid Champion is the first player outside of the Big Four to be seeded No. 1 at Wimbledon since Hewitt in 2003. Alcaraz first faces the aging Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, 36. But the last time Alcaraz faced a 35-year old he lost, but that old guy’s name was Novak.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Novak is the No. 2, yet is the prohibitive favorite. Goodness, the last time the Serb lost on Centre Court was a decade ago in the 2013 final against Andy Murray. The defending champion has won the last three Slams he’s played – the 2022 Wimbledon and the Australian and French Opens this year. And they were on three different surfaces.
The wondrous Serb is again cozying up to history. He now has a Serena-like 23 Slams, a total that gives him a lead over Nadal. And if he claims his fifth Wimbledon title in a row and eighth overall, he would do something Serena never did in 15 different tries: he’d tie Aussie Margaret Court for the most ever singles Slams ever. Plus, he would again be in position to become the third-ever man to win a calendar Slam. If he wins he’ll equal Roger Federer’s and Bjorn Borg’s record of five consecutive Wimbledons and will become the all-time men’s Wimbledon leader along with Federer with eight titles. Martina Navratilova has won nine. Novak and Murray are the only two men in the draw to have won Wimbledon. Novak will first meet No. 54 Pedro Cachin from Argentina.
DANIIL MEDVEDEV: The Russian, who was banned last year, made the final at Indian Wells on slow hard courts and the Italian Open on clay and he has more wins this year than any other man and, with Alcaraz, has claimed the most titles this year. But grass is his weakest surface and he’s a considerable longshot. Medvedev, who so often seems to go up against hostile crowds will face local favorite Arthur Fery, who is actually from Wimbledon and is a Stanford product. Medvedev suffered a shock upset in the first round of the French Open to Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild, who was ranked in the 150’s. Fery is No. 386.
CASPER RUUD: The Roland Garros finalist also reached the French and US Open finals in 2022. But the quiet Norwegian has had quiet results at Wimbledon. The 24-year-old has never made it past the second round.
STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: The Greek has had fabulous Slam runs, but hasn’t yet captured a major or become No. 1. The two-time Slam finalist was a set away from winning the 2021 French title, but fell to Novak. He’s never made it past the fourth round at Wimbledon and just suffered a shock loss to No. 48 Yannick Hanfmann in Mallorca.
HOLGER RUNE: The great Dane has not been so great at Wimbledon. He’s never made it past the opening round at Wimbledon.
JANNIK SINNER: Has made the quarters of all four Slams and was up two sets against Djokovic last year before Novak roared back. The Italian is now dealing with injuries.
AMERICAN MEN: Wimbledon is the last chance an American will have to stave off the 20th anniversary of a US man not winning a Slam. America’s previous men’s victory in a major came in 2003, when Andy Roddick lifted the US Open trophy.
There is some hope. America has two top-ten ATP players for the first time since John Isner and Mardy Fish in 2012.
No. 8 seed Taylor Fritz came within two matches of reaching last year’s final. He’s won a Masters tourney, the 2022 BNP Paribas Open and he took the Eastbourne warm-up title on grass in 2019 and 2022. With his huge serve and power groundies, he loves grass and has a fabulous tennis IQ. He’s gone step by step in his career and, at 25, seems poised to win a huge title. Taylor’s opening match is against Yannick Hoffmann, a USC product who just beat Stefanos Tsitsipas and is No. 48.
With Arthur Ashe and James Blake, No. 10 seed Frances Tiafoe is the third African-American to reach the Top Ten. Flash Quiz: Is MaliVai Washington, who reached No. 11 and is the last African-American man to reach the Wimbledon final, the best American guy to never reach the Top 10? “Foe’s” first foe is China’s Yibing Wu.
Tiafoe made it to last year’s US Open semis and just won the third title of his career, at the Stuttgart Open, which was on grass. So beware of Frances – the man could strike.
Other American men in the draw include Tommy Paul, No. 17, who reached the Aussie Open semis and had modest results on clay.
No. 25 Seb Korda had a good grass court run at the Queen’s Club, where he beat Cam Norrie, and he reached Wimbledon’s fourth round in 2021. The trendy long shot with the beautiful strokes and great pedigree first battles the dangerous Czech vet Jeri Vesley.
Other Americans in the draw include Ben Shelton, Max Cressy, Brandon Nakashima, JJ Wolf, Mackie McDonald, Marcos Giron, Christopher Eubanks and former semifinalist John Isner.
ANDY MURRAY: The beloved Scot is the only other active player to have defeated Djokovic at Wimbledon. The two-time champion has the most wins on grass amongst active players. The 36-year-old has one metal hip, but he recently won two Challengers – Surbiton and Nottingham. Ranked No. 34 and unseeded he’ll first play his fellow Brit, Ryan Peniston, who is ranked No. 267.
(Note: to learn more about McEnroe’s African Safari from Dec. 1-8, click here: https://insiderexpeditions.com/safari-inside-tennis/)
NICK KYRGIOS: What to say about the rarely dull, mercurial Aussie? Last year, he took a set off of Djokovic in the Wimbledon finals. But he’s been recovering from his knee surgery in January and has only played one match this year, when he lost to China’s Yibing Wu on grass at Stuttgart. Now ranked just No. 33, he has to be one of the more feared floaters in Wimbledon history. He’ll first face the Belgian veteran Davide Goffin.
LONGSHOT ALERT: What longshot man will make a splashy run? Alexander Bublik, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev or even possibly Andy Murray?
WOMEN’S PREVIEW
We could be coming into an era of a women’s Big Three: Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina.
No. 1 Swiatek is coming off another stunning run to the French title and now, at just 22, has won four Slams. She has the longest stretch of weeks at No. 1 of any active WTA player – 65.
But her play on grass is a work in progress. In three Wimbledon outings, she’s never gotten past the fourth round and last year she fell to Alize Cornet in the third round. She first plays the highest ranked unseeded player, China’s considerable Lin Zhu, No. 33, and could face Coco Gauff in the third round. She withdrew from the semis of the Bad Homburg warm-up due to a GI illness.
No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka won the Aussie Open and reached the finals in Indian Wells and the semis at Roland Garros. The powerful 25-year-old would dearly love to win Wimbledon. In 2021 she reached the semis but, as a Belarusian, was banned last year.
Last year’s Wimbledon winner, Rybakina, also won Indian Wells and the Italian Open, and reached the Miami Open final. But the Kazakh, (who was only seeded No. 17 in 2022 and didn’t gain any ranking points for winning) has been fighting injuries and recently pulled out of Roland Garros and Eastbourne. There could be a replay of last year’s Rybakina-Ons Jabeur final in the quarterfinals.
But this year’s women’s tourney could be wide open and reminiscent of 2013, when longshot Marion Bartoli prevailed.
Certainly, two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova is a threat. The powerful left-handed 33-year-old won Miami on the hard courts and Berlin on grass, and is always feared at Wimbledon, having won twice before (but not since 2014).
The uber-consistent American Jessica Pegula is the No. 4 seed. But at Roland Garros she lost in the third round and similarly, she’s never gotten beyond the third round at Wimbledon or past the quarters at any Slam.
The No. 5 seed, France’s Caroline Garcia, twice has reached the fourth round. The pride of Africa, No. 6 Ons Jabeur, reached both the Wimbledon and US Open finals in 2022. She won Charleston and reached the quarterfinals at the French Open. But she’s had lukewarm grass court results prior to Wimbledon.
Again this year, Coco Gauff was the last American in the French Open singles draw. All three times she’s played Wimbledon, she’s at least reached the third round. Can the No. 7 seed, who is the youngest player in the top ten, reach the quarters? She first faces her gutsy fellow-Floridian Sofia Kenin. The former Aussie Open is staging a gutsy comeback and battled her way through the qualies. And Madison Keys has blasted her way into the final in Eastbourne where she won her first title in 2014.
VENUS SIGHTING: An early popcorn match is the opening round face-off between 43-year-old Venus Williams and Mrs. Gael Monfils, that would be the popular Ukrainian mama Elina Svitlona. After being sidelined since January, Venus lost in the Netherlands to the 17-year-old Swiss Celine Naef, who’s 26 years younger than Venus. But so what? She turned around and beat Italian Camila Giorgi in Birmingham. Venus joins the following women who were 43 or older and won a tour-level match in the Open era: Dodo Cheney, Renee Richards, Judy Dalton, Martina Navratilova and Kimiko Date Krumm.
LONGSHOTS: Birmingham winner Jelena Ostapenka, finalist Barbora Krejcikova and French Open finalist and two-time Wimbledon quarterfinalist Karolina Muchova and Eastbourne finalist Madison Keys.
THE DJOKOVIC SURGE: At the start of 2011 Novak Djokovic had won one Slam, Roger had 16 and Rafa had 9. Now it’s Novak 23, Rafa 22 and Roger 20.
CRAZY FACTOID: The last time someone outside of the the Big Four – Novak, Rafa, Roger and Andy Murray – won Wimbledon was in 2002 when Lleyton Hewitt prevailed. Carlos Alcaraz wasn’t even born then.
MOCKING MISS EMMA: Emma Raducanu won the 2021 US Open to gain huge wealth and fame as an 18-year-old. But since then there have been many defeats, many coaches, many injuries and much sorrow. The 20-year-old, who’ll miss Wimbledon due to surgery on both wrists, opened up to London’s Sunday Times and confided, “Sometime I think to myself I wish I’d never won the US Open, I wish that didn’t happen.”
But Raducanu’s candor didn’t draw any sympathy from France’s Corentin Moutet. The Frenchman, No. 79 in the ATP rankings, mercilessly mocked Emma on Twitter, saying, “Sometimes I wish I never won the Brest Challenger.”
