No Magic for Genie
Genie Bouchard, who had a spectacular tournament, couldn't quite get into the final against former champion Petra Kvitova. Bouchard didn't play badly at all, though she did seem to need some time to adjust to Kvitova's lefty game. Ultimately, credit simply has to go to Kvitova for playing lights-out tennis when it mattered most and claiming her second Wimbledon title with a 6-3, 6-0 victory. After winning her first Slam here in 2011, Kvitova had some mixed results and struggled with the mental aspect of the game, so hopefully she can stay on the right track after this win. In any case, it's good to see her back near the top and it's also good to see Genie take another step forward.
Canadian History
Genie Bouchard was the first Canadian—man or woman—to ever reach a Grand Slam final. Her trip to the final also netted her enough ranking points to move her to #7 in the world. That makes her the highest-ranked Canadian women in WTA history, passing Carling Bassett-Seguso who reached #8 in the world. Bouchard isn't defending too many points the rest of the season so there's plenty of room to keep climbing. On the men's side, Milos Raonic had a chance to join Bouchard, becoming the first Canadian man in a Slam final, but fell in straight sets to Roger Federer.
The Fight for the Top Spot
Novak Djokovic faced off yesterday against Roger Federer for the 35th time, though it was just their second meeting on grass and also just their second meeting in a Grand Slam final. Though both players were clearly eager to capture another Wimbledon title, the stakes were just a little higher for Djokovic, who needed the win in order to recapture the #1 ranking that he had ceded to Rafael Nadal last year. It was a well-contested final with Djokovic coming out on top in five hard-fought sets to win his second Wimbledon title and take back the top spot on the ATP rankings.
Hall-of-Fame Coaches
According to Wimbledon.com, yesterday's men's final was the first ever Wimbledon final where both coaches were former Wimbledon champions. Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker faced off 35 times in their careers—just like Federer and Djokovic—and Becker came out on top with 25 wins and 10 losses, though he did lose two out of the three Wimbledon finals he contested against Edberg. If we're keeping coaching box Slam counts, Becker now leads that head-to-head 1-0.
Doubles Results
The Italian doubles team of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci captured their first Wimbledon doubles title and reclaimed the #1 doubles ranking, which they will share for the 43rd week. On the men's side, the defending champions—Mike and Bob Bryan—were knocked off in a surprise five setter by the Canadian-American team of Jack Sock and Vasek Pospisil. In mixed doubles, Sam Stosur helped veteran Nenad Zimonjic complete his mixed doubles career Grand Slam by capturing the title in straight sets.
More Post-Wimbledon Rankings Changes
With Wimbledon complete, there are several players who are shuffling around in the world rankings because of their Wimbledon results. Aside from Djokovic and Bouchard, other notable changes include:
- Grigor Dimitrov moving up four spots to #9, becoming the first Bulgarian man into the top ten.
- Andy Murray sliding five spots to #10—his lowest ranking since June of 2008 when he was ranked #11.
- Ernests Gulbis, who only recently joined the top ten after Roland Garros, slid three spots to #13.
- Nick Kyrgios leapt 78 spots to #66, breaking into the top 100 for the first time in his career.
- Lucie Safarova climbed back into the top 20, jumping 6 spots to #17.
- American Sloane Stephens on the other hand vacated the top 20, sliding four spots back to #22.
- Grass court specialist Sabine Lisicki also slid, dropping 14 spots to #33.
- Diyas Zarina jumped 19 spots up to 53, while fellow fourth-rounder Tereza Smitkova jumped 76 spots to just make the top 100 at #99.