Wimbledon 2014: Champions

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Wow, what a match!  Between Netherlands/Costa Rica and Djokovic/Federer, I spent quite a lot of the weekend on the edge of my seat.  Novak Djokovic (Serbia) won his second Wimbledon, his seventh Major overall.  He also regained the #1 world ranking and has to be considered the early favorite for the US Open.

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For me, the only mystery with Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) is why it took her so long to win her second Wimbledon or even her second Major tournament.  When she first won three years ago, she seemed to have both the game and the swagger to not only win more Slams, but perhaps dominate women's tennis for many years.  She's 24 now, plenty of time to claim a few more big prizes before she's done.

Wimbledon 2014: Second Week

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Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova was a dynamo on the junior circuit.  She won the Australian Open girls singles title twice, in 2002 and 2003.  In doubles, she was even better, picking up championship trophies at Aussie, Roland Garros and Wimbledon.  The senior tour has been more of a struggle.  In an era of tall women with ferocious power games, the 5' 5" Czech has had a respectable, though not exactly world-conquering career.  She had never made it past the third round of a Major until last week.

Every Slam tournament has its giant killers.  They're a big part of the fun.  Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova has taken out two seeded players en route to Wimbledon's second week: Na Li (2nd seed, China) and Elena Vesnina (32nd, Russia).  Her next opponent, today on Court 12, is Caroline Wozniacki (16th, Denmark), my pre-tournament favorite.  On the one hand, BZS did Wozniacki a huge favorite by taking out Li and Vesnina.  Wozniacki has never made it past the fourth round at Wimbledon so this is a great opportunity.  On the other hand, who's to say the giant killer won't strike again?

Wimbledon 2014: My Picks

Tennis is long overdue for a genuine youth movement, especially on the men's side.  The youngest of the top seven players in the world is Scotland's Andy Murray at 27 years of age.  To those of us north of 40, 27 still seems awfully young but in the tennis world, 25 has long been a line of demarcation.  If you haven't made it to the top by age 25, you probably won't.  Consider the current kings of the sport.  Rafael Nadal won his first Major at 19.  Roger Federer won his first at 21.  Novak Djokovic was 20.  But those three players have had such a stranglehold on the top honors for so long that even the most talented players in the next wave have struggled even to attain relevance.  Add in improved sports medicine and fitness and top pros are playing better for longer than ever before.  Even the one breakthrough this year was by Stan Wawrinka, already 28 by the time he won the Australian Open in January.

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Enter Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, 23 years old.  Never heard of him, right?  Well, he is no stranger to those who follow tennis with any regularity.  As a junior player, Dimitrov was burdened with the nickname Baby Fed, essentially anointed Federer's successor.  Like Fed, he has a strong all-court game and a big serve.  In a normal era, Dimitrov would probably have won a Major by this point.  But the Age of Fed-Rafa-Novak has been anything but normal.  Wawrinka did prove, however, that the top dogs are not invincible.  Play brilliantly for two weeks and anything is possible.

Dimitrov has a good game for grass courts, a junior champion at Wimbledon.  He just won his first ATP grass title a week ago at the 2014 Aegon Championships.  He is, without a doubt, a long shot but I think it would be great for the sport if he could pull it off.  Then maybe he can be known as something other than Maria Sharapova's boyfriend.

Speaking of 23-year-olds with well-publicized love lives, Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki could probably do with making headlines for her tennis rather than her recent split with golfer Rory McIlroy.  She was World #1 for 67 weeks but has never won a Slam title, leaving her open to great criticism while she owned the top ranking.  I've always liked her.  She smiles a lot.  But she really won me over when, in accepting the runner-up trophy at the 2009 US Open, she gave her speech in English, Polish and Danish.  That's not something you see every day. 

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Wozniacki does have a grass court title, having won the Eastbourne tournament in 2009.  She is probably an even longer shot than Dimitrov but it would be nice to see her win.  It's difficult to feel too badly for anyone with $16 million in career winnings but it's gotta be rough being saddled with a label like Best Player Not to Win a Major as Wozniacki was for a long time.