Wow! A fantastic 2 weeks of Wimbledon comes to a close. My predictions were wrong all around and that made for a more exciting, less predictable tournament. So much to discuss. Let’s jump right in – Congrats Marketa Vondrousova, 2023 Wimbledon Champion! Well done! Well deserved!
Unexpected every step of the way!
I have to admit, I predicted her demise every round. Stearns-one of my young U.S. favorites? Kudermetova? Vekic? Bouzkova? Surely Pegula? Svitolina’s on a roll? No one will stop Jabeur now? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Very wrong. Even more wrong. Unbelievably wrong. You have to give all the credit here to Vondrousova. She’s never had success on grass, almost no prior wins even on grass. In every way, each of these match-ups did not look good for her. She showed fantastic heart, determination, poise, and the ability to play well when it mattered. That’s the key. Across both the men’s and women’s game, the margins are so slim. The difference between winning and losing comes down to a point here and there at the right time. Vondrousova showed she had what it takes and that’s no easy feat. It’s no easy feat to do it 7 matches in a row. Now, add it in playing on center court with the whole world watching. Who would’ve blamed her to be “happy to be there?” Walk away a with runner-up. Everyone wanted Jabeur to win. She’s such a nice person and a finalist last year. No way!!
Vondrousova knows how to win and it showed. You don’t make a run to a major final as she did in 2019 Roland Garros without learning something. I read some of her quotes and how she cried afterwards. She didn’t enjoy it and wanted to change that this time. However she did it, she managed to take the weight of the world off of her and put it squarely on her opponents. She showed fantastic instincts knowing when to push and when to let her opponent beat themself. I loved her ability to step in against Jabeur and be a bit more aggressive turning around from being a break down in each set. Each time she was able to apply just enough pressure to let Jabeur know she wasn’t going away and that Jabeur was going to have to consistently play at a high level to beat her.
Historic
Not that winning Wimbledon isn’t history enough, but how about a shout out for being the first unseeded player in the open era to win Wimbledon? How about taking out 5 seeded players? How about two in the top 10? How adbout three within top 15? Add in Svitolina who is a former top 5, former Wimbledon semi-finalist and was on fire after beating Swiatek? Unbelievable accomplishment!! So well-deserved. Congrats Marketa Vondrousova, 2023 Wimbledon Champion!!
Jabeur Heartbroken
I don’t want to take credit away from Vondrousova. I hate when folks do that. I do want to take a minute to talk about Ons Jabeur. I’m certain this loss was devastating for her. Ons had a fantastic tournament. She single-handedly blew up my predictions because I did not feel she had shown the form needed coming off of injury to challenge here this year. People will pound her for this loss, but let’s think of where she was coming from. She’s been returning from injury, working her way back, but wasn’t nearly having the same results as she had before her injury yet. It’s remarkable that Ons even made the finals. Let’s talk about who she beat. Andreescu, Kvitova, Rybakina, Sabalenka – four slam winners? Wow! Two Wimbledon champions. Three current top 10. That’s quite a run. At the end, people will talk about her nerves. This was a winnabe match for her. You could feel it was on her strings. When she played well, it worked. Her errors were crushing. Not simply because they were errors, but because they seemed to happen when she was dictating the point, clearly in charge, and just needed to hit that last finishing shot. It just seemed like every error was a “Oh noooo, she had her!” The naysayers will now say Jabeur can’t win a big match. They’ll point to three finals losses. My message to Ons is don’t listen. You beat players in this tournament no one expected you to beat. You were not the favorite in this tournament coming off injury. You’ve proven that in form you can beat anyone on a world stage. Take that forward and know your time is coming.
Where does Vondrousova go next?
That’s always the question when a lower ranked player makes a run like this. Is this a one-hit wonder? Players like Ostapenko and Krejcikova have stayed in the hunt, stayed in the top 20 for the most part. Others like Radacanu are still struggling. I think Vondrousova will hang around the top 10. She’s a lefty. She’s solid all around. She plays an all-court game and doesn’t rely on blasting the ball to win. That’s going to keep her in many matches. With her mental toughness and rock solid instincts, look out!!
That wraps it up. Final Congrats Marketa Vondrousova, 2023 Wimbledon Champion. Unbelievabe accomplishment!! Be on the lookout for a men’s recap coming out next.
What do you think?