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What a weekend it has been on Centre Court with two top-notch ladies & gentlemen singles’ finals to look at Wimbledon. Marketa Vondrousova goes one better on her 2nd grand slam final attempt with the win in straight sets against Ons Jabeur by becoming the first ever unseeded player to win this trophy (6-4, 6-4). Then there was the rising star vs the legend in Carlos Alcaraz & Novak Djokovic. The Djoker had the early advantage before Alcaraz stole his march for the majority. Although it wasn’t over just yet when Djokovic brought into a fifth set decider, but it was the rising star in Alcaraz who reigns supreme in the end on his 2nd grand slam win – having won his first major at the US Open almost a year ago (1-6, 6-6 (8-6 tie), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4).

First of all, gotta feel sorry for Jabeur with another grand slam runner-up finish on her 3rd attempt. She got the ball rolling nicely right from the very start including the 2nd set, but struggled to arrest the fight off Vondrousova sadly before being left out towards the finish line there. And what a win by Vondrousova who is now a first-time grand slam winner, having lost the French Open back in 2019 to Ash Barty. Not only she was tested well against her opponent’s game with patience, but she also had the better pull as well that got over the line in first place.

Over in to men’s now and yes, Djokovic might not have played bad but have been blown away in the end though. Gotta love his fast start & the pressure he threw back onto Alcaraz that helped him got away towards setting up a 5th set drag race finish. Sadly, he just couldn’t hold on a bit longer where the day belongs to a rising star, who is tipped to emulate Rafa Nadal for more grand slam titles. Speaking of the rising star, here comes Carlos Alcaraz. His patience and the way he was being tested against the veteran was extremely excellent, having gone from the opening set down to 2-1 lead at stage 4. Now he might have been held back going into the 5th set, but was relieved to find the finish line after he got away with the unreal win.

Three grand slams done, one to go with the US Open to come in New York from Monday 28th August to Sunday 10th September. 

There were two brilliant semi-final men’s singles matches from Day 12 yesterday where just two of both emerging and legendary grand slam elite figures will collide ahead of tomorrow’s main event for the Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Singles Trophy between Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) & current title holder in Novak Djokovic (Serbia). Jannik Sinner showed some fight especially in the longer runs but Djokovic stood tall in straight sets (3-6, 4-6, 6-7 (4-7 tiebreak), while the same can be said for Alcaraz after he got away with the win easily v Daniil Medvedev (6-3, 6-3, 6-3).

Jannik Sinner’s time has come to an end just outside the last 4. It took him a while to get the ball rolling where he was so far behind in the opening set before the Italian showed some really good fight to hang in there as the game goes on. But he just couldn’t stop Djokovic in his tracks under huge pressure in the final set tiebreak unfortunately. Looking at Djokovic, he’s just usually unstoppable from start to finish. Yes, he may have been held back on occasions but was able to get the job done without a rush thanks to his big lead advantage en route towards another Final.

Meanwhile, it’s been a tough day in the office from Daniil Medvedev after his straight sets semis loss. He fired off not bad side-by-side with Alcaraz to begin this match including the 2nd set restart there, but he was inconsistent for the majority. Although he did the best he can to hang in there after falling way far behind in the 3rd set. Sadly, it was still a hard fought loss nonetheless towards the end. And Alcaraz is on his way to his first Wimbledon Final v the experienced Grand Slam champ after he got away comfortably v Medvedev. He bridged the other half consistency including a huge lead before he got the best out of his opponent’s toughest duels that helped him respond really well towards the finish line.

For now, the weekend’s main event final will start with the women between Marketa Vondrousova v Ons Jabeur later tonight followed by the men tomorrow night to conclude a long two weeks of this year’s Wimbledon in London.

The 2023 Wimbledon Ladies singles final is all set for tomorrow after two excellent final 4 matches from Day 11’s play on Centre Court where a brand new winner will be crowned for the first time with the Venus Rosewater Dish trophy. We got Marketa Vondrousova controlling the court after getting away from Elena Svitolina’s good build up base through both stages with the straight sets win (3-6, 3-6). Then there was an epic three-set showdown with Aryna Sabalalenka having the early say after a tight opening set but Ons Jabeur went from a set down to such a unreal comeback there towards the end on what is going to be her 2nd Wimbledon Final’s attempt (6-7 (5-7 tie), 6-4, 6-3).

Elena Svitolina has been emerging as of late with back-to-back recent grand slam semi-finals. Sadly, her breakthrough final will have to wait for another time. Gotta love her fast start including the 2nd set restart, but she just couldn’t bridge the other half run where the Ukrainian was so far behind for the majority. Speaking of Vondrousova, not only she caught up to her opponent’s brilliant start but the Czech did so well to dominate the court on her own. Thanks to a 1st half lead, she was so aware of what Svitolina can be capable when it comes to the opening momentum & from there she got away through such a better pull on the run home with patience.

Now looking at this next one & it was so hard to look back by Sabelenka who overcame such a close opening stage run with the 1-0 lead. She was close at one point towards booking a spot in the Final but sadly couldn’t stop her with narrow the 2nd set loss before she couldn’t keep it up in the end there. And speaking of Jabeur, she might have felt just short towards the end of the opening stage but what a comeback indeed. She has been playing extremely well in the way she stood up to against the reigning Aus Open champ with patience before the rewards eventually came her way at at 1-1 after another brilliant 2nd stage followed by an easy end to the decider there for the win.

Will Vondrousova get back to unfinished business after her first grand slam final loss to Ash Barty a few years ago at 2019 Roland Garros? Otherwise, can Jabeur get her breakthrough this time around & be the first African-Arab player to win a grand slam? All will be found out on centre stage as we now turn our attention to two more men’s Final four matches later tonight – one is Jannik Sinner v Novak Djokovic followed by another straight after this in Carlos Alcaraz v Daniil Medvedev.

Four outstanding matches were played on the second day of the quarterfinals and the tenth day of the most prestigious tennis event in the world (The Championships at Wimbledon). 

On Court No.1, we saw the first duel between this year’s Australian Open winner from Belarus, Aryna Sabalenka, who sealed the deal by bouncing back in the second set. Keys, the No. 25 seed, led 4-2, 40-love before dropping 12 in a row. Iga Swiatek of Poland will lose her top spot if Sabalenka advances to the final. 

Since all players from Russia and Belarus were barred from the competition, Sabalenka dropped out of the 2021 Wimbledon semifinals and skipped the event the following year. Keys was the final American female participant. The United States’ women have gone 13 majors without winning a singles match, their longest dry spell in 27 years.

Elena Rybakina, the defending Wimbledon champion, was defeated by Ons Jabeur, the runner-up from the previous year, in the quarterfinals. The sixth seed overcame a set deficit to upset Rybakina 6-7 (5) 6-4 6-1. The sixth seed, who previously fell to Iga Swiatek in the US Open final the previous year, will now face second seed Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals. With Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek forming a nascent big three in the women’s game this season, Jabeur wasted a set point in the first set but came back well, hitting more wins and committing less mistakes than her opponent.

Christopher Eubanks, a Wimbledon rookie, finished his incredible journey by falling to Daniil Medvedev in a thrilling five-set match. Eubanks, whose extraordinary run over the previous week and a half is expected to completely alter his career direction, was defeated by third seed Medvedev in the end, 3-2 (6-4 1-6 4-6 7-6 6-1). The 6’7″ 27-year-old, who had never advanced past the second round of a grand slam and was outside the top 100 at the beginning of the year, was a challenge on Wimbledon’s grass courts and beat home favorite Cameron Norrie and fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas on the way to the round of eight.

On the main court, a match between the young Dane Holger Rune and the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the current world number one, took place between two players who have the tennis game’s future in their hands.

Both tennis players played conservatively and well in the opening set, but the Spaniard played better and prevailed 7-3 in the tiebreaker. Up until the ninth game of the second set, both players had little trouble winning their service games. However, in that game, Alcaraz breaks, and he goes on to win that set 6-4. Alcaraz won the final set with a same score of after breaking in the fifth game.

Following this triumph, Alcaraz has arranged to face Danil Medvedev in what will be their third overall clash.

The first quarterfinal matches in the men’s and women’s singles category took place on the ninth day of the 136th Wimbledon edition in London, England. Jessica Pegula, an American, and Marekta Vondrousova, a Czech, were introduced the program on court number 1. The biggest shock of the match came from Vondrousova, the 42nd-ranked tennis player in the world, who won in sets 2:1 (6-4, 2-6, 6-4) after an hour and 55 minutes. On her first serve, which she also served superbly, she won 68 percent of the points. 

On Centre Court, the number 1 tennis player in the world, Iga Swiatek, met the 76th tennis player Elina Svitolina (which is far below her real rank). To everyone’s surprise, Svitolina celebrated. The first set of the match, which lasted 2 hours and 41 minutes, was marked by breaks, but the most significant was the one at 5-4 for Iga when Svitolina did it with zero and took the set to overtime, where she won her service game and had a psychological advantage over Iga’s service game. 

Iga made a lot of mistakes in the end game and Svitolina took the lead with 1 -0 in the sets. In the second set, both tennis players played more confidently, and the first favorite of the tournament Iga Swiatek, a Pole, performed better in the tie-break. The third set ended in a 6-2 loss for the Pole because of significant drops in her performance. Svitolina pulled off a major surprise by pairing up with Vondrousova for the semi-finals.

After 2 duels in the women’s singles competition, it was the turn of the first pairs of the quarter finals in the men’s singles ties. Jannik Sinner and Roman Safiulin played on Court No.1.

Jannik Sinner defeated unseeded Russian Roman Safiullin to get to his first Grand Slam semifinal. The eighth seed from Italy overcame a hiccup in the middle of the match to win 3-1 (6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2), and he will now play against Novak Djokovic or  in Sunday’s championship showdown. The 21-year-old, who lost to Djokovic in the quarterfinals of last year after blowing a two-sets-to-love lead, admitted that it was “obviously tough.”

Djokovic and Rublev played on the central court in the last match of the day.

On Tuesday, July 11, Novak Djokovic defeated Andrey Rublev in four sets to go to his 12th Wimbledon semi-final and record-equaling 46th Grand Slam match. The Serb, who was going for his eighth All England Club championship and 24th major of his career, won by scores of 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 and will play Italian Jannik Sinner in the semi-final championship round.

Djokovic has already advanced to as many Slam semifinals as Roger Federer, who is no longer competing. The 36-year-old said he was relishing being the one to beat as he competed in his 400th Grand Slam match.

Wimbledon will resume on Day 10 later tonight (AEST time) & into the early hours of tomorrow that will decide the make up of the last 4 – Madison Keys v Aryna Sabalenka followed by Ons Jabeur v Elena Rybakina in the final two women’s singles last eight, then another two men’s singles quarter-finals to round off in Daniil Medvedev v Christopher Eubanks as well as Carlos Alcaraz v Holger Rune.

It was a pretty close final to watch where Man City & Inter Milan both failed to find the net throughout the opening 45 minutes at 0-0. The search went on for a while before Man City got away with a 1-0 lead in the 67th minute thanks to a brilliant strike from Rodri. Meanwhile, Inter’s continuous hit and miss attempts saw some wonderful saves by Ederson before Man City were able to lift the Champions League trophy for the first time. The final score at Ataturk Olympic Stadium is 1-0.

Commiserations to Inter with the loss after a great start here to keep the Man City attack in check defensively. Yes, they did create some opportunities & advantages along the way, particularly when Kevin De Bruyne had to limp off sometime during the first 45 mins of play. But then their executions through the net via the counter was simply flying everywhere without a clear target of irritating Ederson. That gave Man City the chance to strike back where that Rodri goal haunted them, while their own shots on target approach continued to fail before it was too late.

And congrats to City with the Champions League triumph at last after finishing off the season with the Premier League title & FA Cup Final win that marked the treble, having fell short when they last competed in the UCL Final once before two years ago v Chelsea 0-1. They were almost sweating towards another UCL final loss at one point when Kevin De Bruyne had to limp off due to injury. But they had to play on without him as the game goes on when Inter’s poor finishing gave them the chance to fire one in return. Not only they took great care of good possession of the ball, but the rewards were there later in the 2nd 45 & that is how Man City got away with the win they deserve in Turkey.

Football club competition season is over for now as we can’t wait for next year’s Europa League & Champions League Final that can turn out really exciting once again.