Wimbledon 2016: Ten things we learned at this year’s tournament

Serena Williams picked up her 22nd Grand Slam trophy after winning Wimbledon on Saturday. (Source: Reuters)

Serena stuttered at the US Open, Australian Open and French Open. Now, finally, it has come. The 22. She’s finally got 22 Grand Slams and equalled Steffi Graf’s record. But she’s not going to let 24 (Margaret Court’s record) get to her. “Oh, God, no. I’ve learnt a lot about 22. I learnt not to get involved in those debates and conversations,” she said after the match. “I definitely had some sleepless nights, if I’m honest. Coming so close. Feeling it, not being able to quite get there. I’ve just felt a lot of pressure. I put a lot of that pressure on myself. Obviously had some really tough losses,” she added.

She dropped the first set against Christina McHale in the second round and since then, it was straight sets after another – almost brutal. She handed bagels to Annika Beck, former World No 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova and surprise semi-finalist Elena Vesnina.

And then on Saturday, in the final against Angelique Kerber, the extremely high level of tennis showed when she served 13 aces and added sublime volleys to the mix – all this while strong winds gust over the court.

Kerber – gets one, misses next

Angelique Kerber had a great Wimbledon but found no answer to Serena Williams’ dominance in the final.

Kerber was able to counter punch Serena’s big hitting on the hard courts of Melbourne this past year but there was no stopping Serena on the grass of London. It wasn’t that Kerber played a bad match but it is just that Serena was much, much better. Kerber beat Simona Halep and Venus Williams among the way and has risen to World No 2 in the rankings – a well deserved elevation.

This one would feel much better for Murray

Andy Murray won his second Wimbledon title by beating Milos Raonic on Sunday.

Once again after 2013, Murray ends the grass court season with a win-loss of 12-0, title at Queen’s and then the biggie at Wimbledon. In the entire tournament, Murray suffered a lapse only once – with the safety of a two set lead against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. And luckily for the Briton, he recovered in time to win the fifth set 6-1. In the final, Milos Raonic’s big booming serve was missing and Murray made the most of that. Although plenty of credit for that should also go to Murray’s returns and defence to even win points that started with a 147mph second serve! To make Murray’s win an ironic one, a Brit leaves Wimbledon with the title post the Brexit referendum.

Raonic – stung by Murray TWICE

Milos Raonic lost the Wimbledon final to Andy Murray in straight sets.

Milos Raonic reached the final of Queen’s and was up a set and a break (3-0) but went on to lose to Murray. He then said he hoped to reach the Wimbledon final – which he did – and that to beat Murray he’d have to serve through him – which he didn’t. Raonic won two five setters including one against Roger Federer in the semis but he came short in the final with the serve missing big time. He would feel disappointed to not use his biggest weapon effectively but one can’t discount that he had a great tournament or grass season.

Is Roger Federer back?

Roger Federer has not won a Grand Slam since Wimbledon in 2012. (Source: Reuters)

That’s a tough one to answer. And it is a question we have time and again now. Federer found himself two sets down against Marin Cilic and pulled himself back heroically. A round prior, Steve Johnson had marginally stretched him to 7-5 in the third. With eight sets in three days, at 34 years old, it would drain anyone out – physically and mentally. But despite all the arguments against him, the age, the knee injury, the Slam drought, the absence of Novak Djokovic – he should have edged Raonic. Federer bizarrely was broken at 5-6 in the fourth sets from 40-0 with back-to-back double faults. It may well be a telling moment this year, or even at the twilight of his career, if injuries keep him away.

Whatever happened Novak?

Novak Djokovic fell surprisingly to Sam Querrey in the third round. (Source: Reuters)

There is no qualm in losing to a fellow professional but it gets rather stunning when the person in question is Novak Djokovic who even on a bad day gets the job done. But not against Sam Querrey in the third round. Djokovic didn’t give away anything in the post match press conference stating the applauds should go to Querrey while not discussing suggestions of injury, rain delays or any other outside interference. You could notice Djokovic wasn’t there 100% mentally. And in top sport, even for a Djokovic, less than 100% can sometimes prove to be the undoing – as it did. But it also highlights how good he has had to be to go 30 matches without losing in Grand Slams.

Props to Venus

Venus Williams had a great tournament but her run was stopped by Angelique Kerber in the semi-final. (Source: Reuters)

Venus reached a milestone in her run to the semi-finals. At 36, Venus became the oldest player to reach last four at a major since Martina Navratilova, then 37, at Wimbledon in 1994. And she deserved to reach this stage. Given her health issues over the past year, it is great to see Venus still showing a competitive side to herself. She did come up short against Kerber but the longevity of previous matches may just have had a toll on her.

No stopping the Williams

Serena and Venus Williams won the women’s doubles title at Wimbledon.

Both the Williams sisters give most of their energy in the singles department but with this being an Olympic year, they came together at Wimbledon and won the doubles title. Last time they won a Grand Slam together was at the 2012 Wimbledon and followed that up with the Olympic gold too. This time, too, they’ve won the doubles and are good bet to win the Olympic gold too.

Poor show for India

Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis crashed out in the quarterfinals of women’s doubles at Wimbledon.

It proved to be quite a forgetful two weeks for Indian players at Wimbledon. Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis lost tamely in the quarters to Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova after a strong performance in previous two rounds. Mirza and Dodig then lost in the second round of mixed doubles having received a bye in the first round. Leander Paes and Marcin Matkowski got as far as the second round in men’s doubles and third round in mixed with Hingis despite being comfortably in the lead. Rohan Bopanna and his Romanian partner Florin Mergea were stretched to five sets but lost 6-8 in the fifth. On the mixed doubles front, Bopanna and Anastasia Rodionova lost in the third round. Karman Kaur Thandi couldn’t breach the second round in either girl’s singles or doubles.

Match of the tournament

Dominika Cibulkova beat Agnieszka Radwanska in a thriller at Wimbledon.

Tough choices for this one. The choices for this one, in my mind, are Federer vs Cilic, Agnieszka Radwanska vs Dominika Cibulkova, Murray vs Tsonga, and as per a colleague, Tsonga against John Isner going to 19-17 in the third round. I’d go with Radwanska against Cibulkova full of sea saws, lengthy rallies, breathtaking dropshots and the effort both of them put in the battle. A little example:

The point of The Championships so far? 👏👏👏 @ARadwanska & @Cibulkova#Wimbledonhttps://t.co/UZ1HMkYjvv

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) 5 July 2016

BONUS: Point of the tournament

There are multiple options to this. So many that it might be difficult to include all of them here so leaving some of them here to revel and choose which one has you going “WOAH!”.

“You’ll never see a better point than that!”

Take a bow, @serenawilliams and Christina McHale…#Wimbledon https://t.co/kUmrQpHiIO

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) 2 July 2016

Let us know your top picks and thoughts in the comments! Until the next one!