

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday July 14, 2019

Another Wimbledon is in the books. So what does it all mean? Here’s 20 takeaways from the fortnight that was at SW19.



1. Nole Rising



Novak Djokovic claims the Wimbledon title with an epic work of mental toughness. The Serb didn't have his best game over the course of the four hour and 57-minute epic, but he had the best of the play when he needed it. Djokovic won three tiebreakers and saved two championship points to earn a 7-6(5) 1-6 7-6(4) 4-6 13-12(3) victory over Roger Federer for his 5th Wimbledon and 16th major title.



#Wimbledon 🏆

US Open 🏆

Australian Open 🏆

Roland Garros SF

Wimbledon 🏆



4 of the last 5 Grand Slams won. A @DjokerNole dynasty. pic.twitter.com/XJRlbgbSWP — Tennis TV (@TennisTV) July 15, 2019





The title is a testament to Djokovic's fortitude. How many times has the great Serb been pushed to the brink in matches of massive implications, and how many has he come through? Federer threw everything he had at Djokovic, and nearly pulled the victory off. But in the end it was Djokovic--not Federer--who hoisted the Challenge Cup on Wimbledon's final Sunday. He's a deserving victor for the fourth time in six years at the All England Club, and has to be considered one of the greatest grass-court players of all-time.



2. Halep’s Piece de Resistance



Serena Williams in a 56-minute final that saw her commit just three unforced errors.



Asked by a reporter at what point in her career winning Wimbledon became a possibility for her she replied, simply, “Today.”



Halep’s unlocked achievement on Wimbledon’s lawns may have come as a surprise to even herself, but Halep’s level of tennis made her the obvious champion. It wasn’t just the knockdown of Williams in the final; it was also the second-round triumph over Mihaela Buzarnescu, her only three-setter of the fortnight, as well as her victories over Victoria Azarenka and Coco Gauff. In the quarters Halep rallied from 4-1 and break points down against Zhang Shuai and dropped just three more games. In the semis she smoked Elina Svitolina, a player that was also—like Halep—coming into her own on the surface. The Serb becomes the first player to win a Wimbledon final from match points down since 1948 and the first player in Open Era history to win the title while saving match pointsThe title is a testament to Djokovic's fortitude. How many times has the great Serb been pushed to the brink in matches of massive implications, and how many has he come through? Federer threw everything he had at Djokovic, and nearly pulled the victory off. But in the end it was Djokovic--not Federer--who hoisted the Challenge Cup on Wimbledon's final Sunday. He's a deserving victor for the fourth time in six years at the All England Club, and has to be considered one of the greatest grass-court players of all-time. Simona Halep didn’t just win Wimbledon. She snatched that title with both hands, playing a superb final and absolutely demolishing the greatin a 56-minute final that saw her commit just three unforced errors.Asked by a reporter at what point in her career winning Wimbledon became a possibility for her she replied, simply, “Today.”Halep’s unlocked achievement on Wimbledon’s lawns may have come as a surprise to even herself, but Halep’s level of tennis made her the obvious champion. It wasn’t just the knockdown of Williams in the final; it was also the second-round triumph over, her only three-setter of the fortnight, as well as her victories overand. In the quarters Halep rallied from 4-1 and break points down againstand dropped just three more games. In the semis she smoked, a player that was also—like Halep—coming into her own on the surface.

Va multumesc tuturor pentru caldura cu care m-ati primit! 🤗🇷🇴



Thank you for the warm welcome home! pic.twitter.com/ACGCnodL4w — Simona Halep (@Simona_Halep) July 15, 2019

But the match that will forever be etched upon the collective memory of tennis fans was the final that saw Halep play flawlessly against a woman that had defeated her six straight times and nine out of ten.



Now a two-time major champion and still just 27, the future does indeed look bright for Halep. Olympic Gold? Career Slam? Anything seems possible right now for Romania’s first Wimbledon singles champion.



3. Strycova the Unsung Hero



She couldn't get it done in the singles but Barbora Strycova came away with the doubles title for her first major title. The 33-year-old was definitely one of the unsung all-stars of Wimbledon, playing a dazzling serve-and-volley style and riding it to a breakthrough maiden semi-final in singles. Though stopped there by Serena Williams she emerged alongside Hsieh Su-Wei to claim the doubles title and a victory for crafty, nuanced and improvisational tennis.



"There is no word to describe the feeling," Strycova said after the final. "It's literally like 10 minutes right after. It's kind of like unreal. But in the same time it's amazing."



4. Kid Coco Comes of Age



It was the story of week one. It was brilliant in every way. When was the last time tennis has seen a kid this young be THAT GOOD? Coco Gauff lived up to the hype and backed up her thrilling qualifying run and first-round win over Venus Williams by knocking off former semi-finalist Magdalena Rybarikova before saving two match points against Polona Hercog in her Centre Court debut.

When you bring your teen niece to @Wimbledon to watch her cousins and all she wants to do is meet ⁦@CocoGauff⁩ 🤣.

⁦@AilsaErskine⁩ #rolemodel pic.twitter.com/gqj12zXrot — judy murray (@JudyMurray) July 8, 2019

In addition to becoming a worldwide sensation, Gauff became the youngest player to make the second week at Wimbledon since 1991.



She did it with passion, youthful exuberance and poise beyond her years. We can’t wait to see what she does next.



5. Calling Generation Next?



The Big 3 is dominating men’s tennis and that’s all well and good. But it would be nice if Generation Next could have at least made a ripple of noise at this year’s Wimbledon. Stefanos Tsitsipas, who made the second week last year, was out in the first round. Alexander Zverev—did he even play (he did, and did not win a match)? Felix Auger-Aliassime was a bright spot by winning his first two matches at the Grand Slam level but he flopped in his third-round tilt against Ugo Humbert? Denis Shapovalov, once heralded as a future Slam winner? He’s in a deep funk and also left SW19 without a single victory.



One word describes the performance of Generation Next at Wimbledon (well, all of those not named Hubert Hurkacz): ouch.



6. Mixed in the Mix



Thanks to Andy Murray and Serena Willams entering the mixed doubles draw, the event got a much-needed boost. There’s so much to like about mixed, and seeing men and woman battling for Grand Slam glory and prize money on the same court at the same time. We shouldn’t need something like #SerAndy / #MurEna to get us jacked about mixed.

Yesterday's mixed-doubles match featuring Andy Murray and Serena Williams was one of the most interesting games at this year's Wimbledon. https://t.co/j2ivC9CftK — The New Yorker (@NewYorker) July 7, 2019

Note to the people: It’s always amazing. Just look at Sunday’s final, which features 2017 Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko and all-star doubles player Latisha Chan, as well as Robert Lindstedt and Ivan Dodig—two incredibly talented doubles players.



And oh by the way, Serena and Andy got whooped in third-round action by Bruno Soares and Nicole Melichar. Nevertheless is was great to see them ignite the imagination of fans and media alike with their surprise appearance at Wimbledon.



7. Century Man



Roger Federer is Father Timeless and he’s—remarkably—playing perhaps as good as he ever as at the age of 37. He won his 100th Wimbledon match in the quarter-finals against Kei Nishikori and didn’t skip a beat in his next match when he outgunned Rafael Nadal in a four-set reprise of their epic 2008 Wimbledon final.



It was a big match for Federer because it pretty much ensures that he will take a positive head-to-head against Nadal on grass to his grave. If he didn’t have that it would be hard to make the argument that he was a better player than Nadal, don’t you think?



Of course things went the way of heartbreak in the final when Federer failed to cash in on either of his two Championship points and fell to Novak Djokovic in a fifth-set breaker. That's a bitter pill to swallow for sure, but it shouldn't fog the brilliance of Federer's performance this year at SW19.



8. The Slow Wimbledon



The say the courts were slower at this year’s Wimbledon, and many liked to use the longest recorded rally in Wimbledon history—Djokovic and Bautista Agut played a 45-stroke rally in their semi-final on Thursday—as proof that the grass is playing more like clay in 2019.



It most certainly is not.



Just ask Dominic Thiem, who fell to Sam Querrey in a first-round upset. And how do we explain that Roger Federer was able to defeat Rafael Nadal in four sets (serving-and-volleying 13 times and hitting 33 percent unreturnable serves) in Friday’s semis? It’s grass, even if it is a bit slower. It looks a lot slower when you watch Djokovic and Bautista Agut then when you watch Federer and Nadal is all we’re saying.



9. 12-12 Breaker? How do we Like it?



The era of the 12-12 tiebreaker at Wimbledon has come and gone and nobody really noticed it. Not a single singles match went that far--until the final. How strange is it that a U.S. Open final has never been to a final-set tiebreaker after all these years (with a breaker installed at 6-6) and here we are, on the first year that Wimbledon has changed its rule, watching an epic final end in a fifth-set breaker.



So now that it has happened, how do we feel?



Maybe it’s a good rule. Maybe it isn’t. Maybe it doesn’t matter as much as we make it out to...



10. Dichotomy of WTA and ATP



The ATP is in a bull market for the BIG 3, and that is great for tennis when the last weekend of a Slam rolls around. But what about the first ten days of Wimbledon when pretty much all the outcomes were predictable? The gap between the top players and the rest of the pack is a yawning chasm that only seems to widen.



Meanwhile the WTA is rife with mystery, and the vacuum of power that Serena Williams’ un-dominance has created has initiated tremors of chaos and ushered in a new phase of women’s tennis where anything is possible. Those who crave dominance are disappointed, but those who wish for entertaining storylines, new faces, compelling week one matchups and big drama are better for this new version of the WTA.



And at Wimbledon, we not only had all of the aforementioned plusses, we also were handed the irresistible storylines of Serena’s quest for a 24th major and Halep’s push to legendary status.



If you take stock of the full fortnight with an eye on entertainment value, the WTA has once against trumped the ATP.



10B: Wimbledon's First Openly Gay Couple Competes



Kudos to Alison Van Uytvanck and Greet Minnen, who became the first gay couple to compete at Wimbledon. Let's hope it leads to bigger and better things, both for women's and men's tennis.

First gay couple to play Wimbledon doubles call for backing from the sport -

Alison van Uytvanck and Greet Minnen say support for same-sex relationships in tennis would help male players.https://t.co/QUmUz9Bpk7 — C Kristjánsdóttir ●🐊 (@CristinaNcl) July 4, 2019

11. The New Roof is a Big Plus



The new roof over No.1 Court is a gem. At first I was wondering if it wouldn’t make the court feel too much like Centre Court, but I was pleasantly surprised to see and feel that the court still has all the charm of the Old No.1 Court, with a new, gorgeous structure ready to be deployed if darkness or rain intervenes.



Aesthetics aside, two roofs makes the tournament less stressful in so many ways. The weather was perfect at Wimbledon this year, but in the future it will be a Godsend to have this roof in action.



12. Konta vs. Reporter



One of my favorite press room moments of the tournament was watching Jo Konta rip into a surly reporter who had taken the liberty to be overly critical of the British No.1’s performance after her quarter-final loss to Barbora Strycova. Said reporter, seemingly unimpressed that Konta had trounced Sloane Stephens and Petra Kvitova in back-to-back matches to get to the last eight, said the following: “Towards the end of the third set you had a double-fault, then missed a drive volley. Do you not have to look at yourself a little bit about how you cope with these big points? It's all very well saying it's a lot to do with your opponent, but there were key points when you perhaps could have done better.”



Really? So a woman who is by far the best women’s tennis player your nation has seen in three and a half decades needs to “look at herself?”



Konta stuffed it back in his face and told him not to patronize her, which was beautiful.

Johanna Konta interview with BBC reporter pic.twitter.com/4gBT3Up030 — John Jo🇮🇹☘️ (@uptheDubs10) July 10, 2019