1. Novak Djokovic, the overwhelming favorite on the ATP side, has handled business well so far. Though the only set he lost in Week One was against Jack Draper, his most interesting match was against Denis Kudla in the third round. Djokovic had a less-than-ideal serving day, landing 55% of first serves and hitting six double faults, but managed to win in straight sets anyway. Kudla lost just two points on serve in his first four service games, had a 4-1 lead in the third set, and held multiple leads in the eventual tiebreak, but couldn’t win a set.
All this is a stark highlight of how much it takes to even win a set against Djokovic. He was far from his best against Kudla, who actually played quite well. But the difference in base level was such that the outcome of the match was a close-ish straight-setter. Djokovic closed the match with some absurd defense, repelling two backhand bullets from Kudla (one down the line, right into the corner and struck from way behind the baseline, the other an inside-out backhand from the middle of the court) with enough bite on the gets to survive the onslaught. Kudla eventually netted an inside-out forehand, which was unsurprising given how much he’d already hurled at Djokovic for no reward.
2. There has been an encouraging rise of all-surface players this week. Established stars Iga Świątek and Daniil Medvedev have now made the second week at all three majors so far this year. Sebastian Korda, a young American, has now logged fourth-round appearances at both Roland-Garros and Wimbledon. And recent Roland-Garros champion Barbora Krejčíková has backed up her maiden major with a run to the round of 16 — on a somewhat related note, her physical endurance has been nothing short of outstanding. Krejčíková won both the singles and doubles titles in Paris, and has rebounded from her 15-match fortnight to win three consecutive matches at Wimbledon, after a reduced gap between the tournaments. A crash may be in the future, but the fact that it hasn’t happened yet speaks incredibly well of Krejčíková’s spirit and stamina.
Surface-versatile players are good for the sport — they mean consistent challengers at all four majors, and can comprise epic rivalries. With the grass season as short as it is, grass “specialists” can have limited success on tour, so the fact that many successful players so far this tournament have also accomplished much on other surfaces is a promising sign for the tour.
3. Angelique Kerber has had an impressive resurgence in the last two weeks. She won the Bad Homburg Open just before Wimbledon, winning a high-quality three-setter against Petra Kvitová along the way. And at Wimbledon, she won the match of the tournament so far against Sara Sorribes Tormo (more thoughts on that match and how difficult of an opponent Sorribes Tormo is can be found here), then rebounded from the three-hour, 18-minute slugfest to beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich from a set down in the third round. Kerber, a former champion at Wimbledon, may have begun the tournament as more of a dark horse, but she is now certainly a threat for this year’s title.
The physical recovery was doubly impressive due to the long rallies of the match with Sorribes Tormo — the average rally exceeded eight shots. It was also impressive to see Sorribes Tormo impose her attritional style on grass, which is traditionally the fastest surface. Not every match is an accurate representation of court speed.
4. The depth of the WTA is again on display — there are some serious heavyweight clashes on the women’s side set for as early as the fourth round. The upcoming Kerber-Gauff, Świątek-Jabeur, and Barty-Krejčíková matches all feature at least one major champion. Gauff and Jabeur, the two without a major, are seeded and in-form, to boot. Each of these matches could potentially be an epic and/or produce the eventual winner of the tournament. While some might prefer to see matchups of this quality later in the tournament, getting several of them mid-tournament has its merits — after all, there are eight fourth-round matches and only one final.
Though the ATP side has some exciting fourth-rounders as well (Shapovalov-Bautista Agut, Hurkacz-Medvedev, Korda-Khachanov), they don’t compare in magnitude to the WTA clashes slated for Manic Monday. Djokovic and Federer are the two legends in the men’s singles draw, but their upcoming matches are arguably unenticing until they arrive in the later rounds.
5. It’s difficult to know what to make of Roger Federer’s run so far. He improved his level considerably from his first-round match against Adrian Mannarino (a match that went to five and was cut short by Mannarino’s slip-induced injury forcing a retirement). And Federer showed impressive grit against Cameron Norrie after the match became unexpectedly complicated late in the third set. There’s a good argument that with Federer’s pre-Wimbledon level in mind, this run is already a success for the Swiss. His celebration after the Norrie win would suggest as much.
But Federer is the most decorated men’s tennis player in history, and may crave more wins this tournament. Barring a poor performance, it’s easy to see him getting past Lorenzo Sonego in the Round of 16, but his likely opponents afterwards are Daniil Medvedev, then Matteo Berrettini, then Djokovic. Make no mistake, Federer’s chances of winning this tournament are minimal.
6. This tournament has seen a jarringly large number of slips and injury-inducing falls on the grass. This has been exacerbated by the increased humidity in indoor matches, the weather leading to more Center Court and Court 1 matches being played under the roof. Slips on the grass are nothing new.
Still, it may be time for a discussion of grass’s relative merits and pitfalls. In an ideal world, the tennis calendar would be evenly split between grass, clay, and hard court to promote well-rounded play for the tour. But this is reality, and grass is the most expensive surface. It is the most difficult surface to maintain. And it may be the surface most prone to causing injury.
This is not necessarily an advocation for getting rid of grass. But it is becoming a very niche surface. Grass comprises a tiny slice of the calendar — and again, while it would be ideal for this slice to get bigger, given the price of developing and maintaining grass courts, it may not be realistic. There are far fewer grass specialists on tour than those who excel on clay and hard, particularly on the ATP side, which may be featuring the weakest Wimbledon field for the past 15 years-plus.
Movement on grass is very different from hard or clay, but the speed and play style on grass courts is not nearly as unique as it was in the 1900s or even early 2000s. Again, this section isn’t an argument to rid the tour of grass, but with all of these facts in mind, it’s feasible that it could happen sometime in the future (don’t count on it, though. The sport is big on tradition and Wimbledon is the oldest, most history-laden tennis tournament in the world).
7. Serena Williams had the worst luck with a slip this tournament. Early in the first set of her opening-round match with Aliaksandra Sasnovich, the 23-time major champion fell, causing a leg injury. After a medical timeout, a second fall wasn’t long in coming and a devastated Williams was forced to retire from the match.
This has to be a brutal pill to swallow. Williams may not have been the favorite to win Wimbledon and was in a pretty difficult section of the draw, but she had a realistic chance to win the tournament.
8. Today’s middle Sunday and tomorrow’s Manic Monday will be the last ones, assuming the tradition isn’t reinstated in the future. This seems a smart decision — the Sunday off isn’t necessary for players’ rest and while the Monday tends to feature several popcorn matches, the volume makes it impossible to follow everything. The discontinuation of middle Sunday may make court maintenance more difficult, but if it doesn’t, Wimbledon has made a smart choice.
9. Sometimes matches have really strange turning points.
10. Aryna Sabalenka has had a great run this tournament. She is yet to make a major quarterfinal and Wimbledon had been Sabalenka’s least successful major prior to this year’s edition. Elena Rybakina will be a tough fourth-round opponent, and may even be the favorite, but this is a winnable match for Sabalenka. This year, she has had a lengthy winning streak and won two titles (Abu Dhabi and Madrid), but a quarterfinal appearance at a major could be the crowning achievement of her 2021.