by Ahmed Olayinka Sule, CFA
@Alatenumo
The recently concluded 2022 Wimbledon Championship was a unique tournament. It marked the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Centre Court, the introduction of an under 14 tennis singles competition and the banishment of Russian and Belarusian players from the competition. Furthermore, it was the first Grand Slam I had attended in almost three years, as the previous Slam experience I enjoyed was the 2019 US Open. To catch up for lost time, I was at SW19 for 12 of the 14 days, which led to me watching matches at the Centre Court, Court 1–18, camping overnight, and watching the quarters, semi-finals and finals. This “Wimbledon binge” resulted in two days of bed rest due to what I call Wimbledon exhaustion.
After a three-year absence, I finally saw Queen Serena play her first-round match against Harmony Tan. In a match that lasted over three hours, sister Serena lost. Irrespective of the result, Serena put on a good show because she had not played competitive tennis for over a year. Moreover, as I have said, her place in history as the greatest tennis player is already assured. Other former Grand Slam winners recovering from an injury, such as Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka, failed to reach the tournament’s second week. Britain’s Heather Watson had a Wimbledon to remember as she advanced to the second week before being edged out by Germany’s Jule Niemeier in the fourth round. Sister Venus Williams participated in the Mixed Doubles Competition, where she paired up with Jamie Murray. As evidence of the star power that the Williams Sister bring to the game of tennis, Court One was almost filled after it was announced that Venus would be playing in Court One.
Ons Jabeur made a deep run into the tournament and reached the final, where she faced Russia’s (sorry, I mean Kazakhstan’s) Elena Rybakina in the final. Rybakina denied Jabeur from becoming the first African woman to win a Wimbledon Ladies Singles title by coming from one set down to overcome the Tunisian to win her maiden Grand Slam title. Elena Rybakina’s victory was ironic as, before the Championship, the All England Lawn Tennis Club banned Russian players from competing. Some commentators feared that in the event of a Russian player such as Daniil Medvedev winning Wimbledon and receiving the trophy from Duchess Kate Middleton that it would hand the Kremlin a PR coup. Despite the ban, Duchess Kate gave the trophy to Elena Rybakina, who was born in Russia, grew up in Russia, looks Russian, sounds Russian, and her parents are Russians. A clear case of poetic justice.
Ons Jabeur wasn’t the only African who made waves at SW19. Kenya’s Angella Okutoyi partnered with Rose Marie Nijkamp to win the Girls Doubles title and, in the process, became Kenya’s first Grand Slam winner, inspiring a generation of Kenya to take an interest in tennis.
The 2022 Wimbledon Championship would not be complete without mentioning the triumph of Serbia’s Novak Djokovic. After his public humiliation in Australia earlier in the year, 2022 was turning out to be his annus horribilis. After his defeat at the French Open to his arch-rival Rafa Nadal, Wimbledon became Djokovic’s only chance of winning a Grand Slam title this year, as his participation at the US Open is still in doubt due to the US rule on not allowing unvaccinated foreigners to enter the country. However, facing a non-supportive crowd and fired-up opponents, Djokovic took up the challenge and passed in flying colours.
Five of his seven matches ended in a minimum of four sets, including an epic quarter-final match against Jannik Sinner in which he overcame a two-set deficit to prevail in five sets. He hit the shot of the competition with a cross-court winner during the match that saw him fall flat on the floor. In the semi-final gainst Cameron Norrie, Djokovic broke British hearts as he ended Norries’s run. After his victory, Djokovic blew a kiss to the crowd, and the crowd jeered him. In the final, he overcame Australia’s Nick Kyrgios by three sets to one to cement his status as the Greatest Male Tennis Player of All Time. Apart from the few members of #NoleFam present at Wimbledon to support him, many did not want Djokovic to win. When I interviewed some fans as to what they felt about Djokovic, I got responses such as “I hate him”, “He is horrible”, “ He pretends to be nice”,; “He is a liar”,; “He is not vaccinated” But when I asked for evidence, they were unable to provide any sufficient evidence. Like Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic is also an outsider who “gatecrashed” the western-centric sport of tennis and sat comfortably at the sports summit. It is for this reason that I am glad he silenced the naysayers.
Below are the pictures I took during the two weeks Championship
#VivaSerena
#IdemooNole
Happy viewing.
Ahmed Sule, CFA
@Alatenumo
July 2022
