The world’s biggest and most prestigious tennis tournament ended with what many hoped would be a masterpiece of a final. It became everything you dreamed of – and then some. A battle of medieval proportions between the powerful Serbian maestro aged 36 and the 16-year-younger Spanish crown prince and world leader. Where nobody really thought Alcaraz had any chance of beating Djokovic. Not quite yet. Not on grass. The first set then also looked like a male lion playing with a young, confused antelope. The huge applause when Alcaraz finally won a game felt more out of pity than anything else. Djokovic won the first set 6–1 after total dominance. Everyone knew what that meant. DESPAIRED: Novak Djokovic had to wipe away tears during the press conference after the match. Photo: AFP Djokovic had won 104 consecutive Grand Slam matches after taking the first set. But then something started to happen. The young Spaniard brought out a strength and a game no one thought possible in just his fourth tournament on grass. Alcaraz held his ground and fought his way back into the match. All the drama was somehow brought together in a completely crazy fifth game in the third set, where the match stood and tilted. This one game lasted an incredible 27 minutes and was deuce 14 times. When Alcaraz won the game and soon the third set, it felt like it had truly passed the point where history was about to be changed. For this epic duel over five intense hours was more than a fascinating single performance. It was a change of throne. A Hollywood drama. ROYAL VISIT: The Princess of Wales, Kate (left), Princess Charlotte, Prince George and Prince William watched the final from the royal box. Photo: AP With Kate Middleton, King Felipe of Spain, Brad Pitt and Daniel Craig engaging spectators inside Center Court in Wimbledon. And it was a turning point – one that has been long overdue, after the big four, Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Murray, have completely dominated for more than two decades. The last time another player won the men’s Wimbledon was in 2002. After beating Djokovic at his very best, 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz is the one everyone is looking up to. CELEBER: Brad Pitt (th) and Guy Ritchie were engaged during the finale. Photo: AP It was a moment everyone who saw it felt was something very, very special. The perfect full stop. Casper’s concert summer The Norwegian effort much earlier in the tournament did not receive as much attention. For completely natural reasons. Because neither Casper Ruud nor our best female player Ulrikke Eikeri could leave the tournament with a particular degree of pride, albeit for very different reasons. Casper Ruud smiled at the press conference after the surprising loss to Briton Liam Broady in the second round. But the British tennis journalists did not like the smiles, paradoxically enough. They didn’t quite feel that the Norwegian world star took the tournament completely seriously. WAS CRITICIZED: Casper Ruud went out of Wimbledon already in the second round, but smiled. Photo: AP After the final loss against Djokovic in the French Open in Paris in June, Ruud had chosen a somewhat unconventional preparation path for Wimbledon. Instead of using the time to improve on the particular game that is on grass, Ruud chose to completely disconnect from tennis. And it caused a stir when he was seen on social media dancing to “Moth to a flame” at a concert with the American superstar The Weeknd in Stockholm. Many will probably think that it was just liberating to see a more private and more relaxed Casper Ruud. But when you, as the fourth best player in the world, lose 6–0 in the decisive set in the second round of the world’s most important tournament against a player ranked number 142 in the world, the reactions come regardless. Ruud’s polite well-mannered nature can quickly backfire on him in situations like this. Ruud was criticized for not being ambitious enough and for lacking the final rawness needed to win the biggest tournaments. Which is a rather harsh judgment on a player who has been in three of tennis’ biggest finals in the last 14 months. But who has lost all. Even his opponent Broady stated that he thought Ruud sounded strangely unambitious. At Wimbledon, his statistics are two wins in six matches. Casper Ruud will never win the grass tournament. But the Brits want to see someone who looks like he cares about their tennis party and isn’t just looking forward to going to a concert. Because the aforementioned smile from Ruud came when he was again asked about The Weeknd. SUPERSTAR: Canadian Abel Makkonen, who is called The Wekend, during the tour “The After Hours Til Dawn”. Photo: AP A little surprisingly, Ruud was also entered in the doubles competition, so he had a legitimate reason to stay in the British capital. And hit a new Weeknd concert. The morning after The Weeknd’s performance at the London Stadium, Ruud opted to withdraw from the doubles tournament due to a shoulder injury and went home. Probably random. But enough to further irritate critical tennis experts. Two days later, Ruud was observed in full training at home on Snarøya. The next target for the Norwegian star is the US Open. Nobody mentions Wimbledon if he goes to the final there again and gets his revenge on the critics. Norwegian double fault Someone who has surprisingly escaped criticism is Norway’s best female player, Ulrikke Eikeri. She chose to compete in doubles with Russian Alexandra Panova. Eikeri has, until now, not commented on its reasons for choosing such a Russian collaboration. Irrespective of the possible lack of alternatives and the fact that, after all, there were others who had once again opened the door for the participation of Russian players under a so-called “neutral” flag, such a choice cannot be defended. It appears ignorant. NORWAY’S BEST: Ulrikke Eikeri, here from a tournament in January, competed in doubles with a Russian woman at Wimbledon. Photo: AFP Because it is a choice – and there are always alternatives. If Eikeri had wanted to. Without the fact that neither the Norwegian Tennis Association nor the Norwegian Sports Association have wanted to criticize her for this. Eikeri and her Russian friend won one match in the doubles tournament, symbolically enough against a Czech pair that included a player with the surname Putintseva. Mother and moral winner Symbolically enough, this year’s great heroic story at Wimbledon was instead to be Ukrainian. The world’s biggest tennis tournament was out on its own again this time, after last year’s controversies. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, as they are of course called, bowed to the international pressure and allowed Belarusian and Russian players to participate. Against the Ukrainian expressed wish. The very best of them, Elina Svitolina, then also refuses to thank players from the two nations for the match, regardless of whether they have expressed their opposition to the war in her home country. But out on the grass in SW19, which is the classic postcode for where the tournament is played, Svitolina also marked her opposition in the most effective way, namely by playing fabulous tennis. FAVORITE: Ukrainian Elina Svitolina shone after her quarter-final win against world number one Iga Swiatek. Photo: AFP Svitolina, who is from Odesa, became a mother just nine months earlier and entered the tournament on a so-called wildcard. And amazed everyone, including himself. The crowd loved Svitolina and almost carried her on in the tournament. On her way to the semi-finals, she beat four former Grand Slam winners, including Venus Williams, Belarusian Viktoryja Azarenka and Polish world number one Iga Swiatek. Before that was an emotional end to the incredible journey in the semi-final against the later winner Marketa Vondrousova. Support from Styles Contrary to our Norwegian hopes, Elina Svitolina walked out of Wimbledon in the most honorable way, having achieved her goal of making the Ukrainian people proud. Svitolina had so little faith in her own success that she had bought tickets to a concert in Vienna with Harry Styles in the middle of the tournament. After she went to the quarter-finals, she had to admit that there was no concert for her. The answer came from the very tennis-obsessed Styles himself, who invited her to any of his remaining shows on the world tour. SUPERSTAR 2: Harry Styles invited Elina Svitolina to one of his concerts. Photo: Reuters The last opportunity is on Friday in the Italian Reggio Emilia. Let’s hope she makes it – and can sing along to the hit “Watermelon Sugar”, which more than anything else describes the feeling the day after the world’s biggest tennis party is over: “I want more berries. And that summer feelin’. It’s so wonderful and warm».
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Tennis’s change of throne and poor Norwegian judgment – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
