#830 - 2010 Wimbledon Championships

note : This entry will only be written in English due to its length

Last Sunday, the third grandslam of this year, the Wimbledon Championships, was concluded. This grandslam is always held on grass court and of course several grass-courter players were predicted to win. Still, there were several surprises!

First of all, occurred the longest tennis match in history, it was between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut. The match took 11 hours and 5 minutes to complete, dwarfing the previous record of "only" 6 hours and 33 minutes", and spanned in three days! This particular match also broke some other records which you can find here. In the end, Isner won by 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(7), 7–6(3), 70–68. Well, this is CRAZY!!

Anyway, in the ladies' singles, the two most favorite players to win are sisters Serena and Venus Williams. Prior to the tournament, they were ranked 1 and 2 in the world. So, this meant that they would be seeded 1st and 2nd and therefore they would only meet in the final. I personally think that the best final in Wimbledon this year would be between these two sisters, making another all-Williams final. Why? Simply because they are the best players on grass this era. Imagine this: Since the beginning of the millennium, only the final in 2006 where it didn't involve at least one of these sisters. This year, the sisters also performed promisingly. Serena Williams won the Australian Open but then had an injury and had to be absent for several months before playing again at Rome. Venus Williams won back to back titles at Dubai and Acapulco. Then she reached the final of two Premier Mandatory events: Miami and Madrid. Given their condition and their grass-suited style of play, no wonder these sisters were the favorite to win.

Venus Williams had a (seemingly) easier draw as she would face no threat (theoretically) until the SF where she potentially met Kim Clijsters/Justine Henin/Jelena Jankovic. Prior to the SF, she shouldn't face any threat. Serena Williams had a little tougher draw with potential clash with 2004 Wimbledon Champion, Maria Sharapova, in the fourth round. But before and after that, she shouldn't meet any problem.

However, Venus Williams surprisingly lost in the quarterfinals!! She lost to unseeded Tsvetana Pironkova!! Well, at that time, I have to say that Venus Williams beat herself. Tsvetana Pironkova, I still respect her though because she did make it to the SF, was not even in Venus' league. She played okay with minimum errors, but Venus blew her opportunities time after time. I can say that Pironkova was just simply being "lucky" as Venus committed too many errors. Had Venus Williams played okay (didn't have to be her best), I can say Venus would have won hands down. This is the most disappointing defeat this season!!

In the other part of the draw, Serena Williams was able to smoothly beat her opponents to reach the final. She overcame Maria Sharapova 7-6(9), 6-4 in the fourth round, which I think was Serena's hardest match in the championships this year. In the final, she beat grandslam singles' final first-timer Vera Zvonareva. Of course Serena Williams easily crushed her, by 6-3, 6-2 to win her fourth Wimbledon title. No surprise, the final was a lopsided. Had it Venus Williams in the other side of the net, it would have been much more interesting. But anyway, Vera Zvonareva was the one who made it to the final, so, still congratulations to her! Of course, congratulations for world no.1 Serena Williams!! You deserve that!! :-)

In the Gentlemen's Singles', another shock happened. Roger Federer, 6 time champion of Wimbledon (and 7 time consecutive finalist there) lost in the quarterfinals to Tomáš Berdych. This defeat followed his earlier defeat at the quarterfinals of French Open. Some said that this defeat shows the end of Federer's Dominance Era. Later on, Berdych progressed to his first ever grandslam singles final. In other side of the draw, French Open champion, Rafael Nadal, made it to the final after beating local (and my) favorite, Andy Murray. In his fourth Wimbledon final, Rafael Nadal beat Berdych in straight sets for his second Wimbledon title, no wonder!! Now, Nadal leads the ranking points comfortable with 3840 lead from the world no.2, Novak Djokovic. I guess, he is safe enough to be this year's world no.1 by the end of the year.



For the coming-up hard court season, I really hope some other male players, especially Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, to step up and perform more consistently. Well, this is to make the competition in men's tennis much more interesting to watch.



Anyway, congratulations once again to Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal!! You guys are truly the champions!!

ps :all photos were taken from Wimbledon's Official Website, link above