Wimbledon 2023 Men's Report

Wimbledon 2023 Men's Tournament Guarantees Spectacle

Wimbledon: for many tennis fans, the most prestigious tournament of the year. It's the only Grand Slam tournament played on grass and, moreover, the one where all participants wear white. The 2023 Wimbledon edition was once again a two-week tournament to savor. Seven-time winner and defending champion Novak Djokovic was on the field, two-time winner and crowd favorite Andy Murray was in the mix, and other established names like Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, and Matteo Berrettini were also in the mix. Rafael Nadal was absent due to injury, as was Nick Kyrgios. The Australian, a Wimbledon finalist last year, was forced to withdraw due to a wrist injury.

Besides the aforementioned top favorites for victory, three Dutch players were also active in the main draw of Wimbledon 2023. Tallon Griekspoor and Botic van de Zandschulp qualified for the main draw based on their ATP Rankings, and Gijs Brouwer qualified through three qualifying tournament victories. However, the latter only reached one round in his Wimbledon debut. Brouwer played a strong match against the strong German Alexander Zverev, who proved to be just a tad too strong in the decisive moments: 6-4/7-6/7-6. Griekspoor, who had won the grass court tournament in Rosmalen with impressive results, also crashed out in the first round. Hungarian Marton Fucsovics outperformed the North Hollander on the "hallowed grass" and triumphed 6-4/6-2/6-4.

What were the Wimbledon 2023 highlights?

Van de Zandschulp, however, was the only Dutchman to advance to the second round. Our compatriot initially seemed to have a tough time against his Chinese opponent Zhizhen Zhang, but he fought back impressively and secured his victory in five sets: 2-6/7-6/7-6/3-6/6-2. In the next round, Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ATP-34) proved just a tad too strong. A match lasting nearly three hours was ultimately the end for Van de Zandschulp, who saw his Spanish opponent win 6-1/2-6/6-4/6-3. By that point, the tournament was already over for eleventh-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime. The Canadian lost in the first round to Michael Mmoh (ATP-119), who was the better player over four sets.

While the first round also saw the defeat of seeded players like Borna Coric (against Guido Pella) and Roberto Bautista-Agut (against Roman Safiullin), the second round also provided a number of surprises. American Christopher Eubanks defeated home favorite Cameron Norrie, and Mikael Ymer proved too strong for Taylor Fritz, the world number nine. Murray also faced off in the second round. The Briton faced Stefanos Tsitsipas, who prevailed in five sets. Another Briton, Liam Broady, did well, defeating Casper Ruud, the world number four , after a match lasting three and a half hours.

Berrettini surprises Zverev

In the third round, most of the favorites did what was expected of them: win. The real thriller on the schedule during this phase of the tournament was the match between Berrettini and Zverev. The former had been sidelined for a long time, but showed in this match that he was fully back. In three sets, the Italian was too strong for his German opponent with a score of 6-4/7-6/7-6. However, a round later, in the round of 16 against Alcaraz, the world number 38 was defeated. The same was true for Tsitsipas, who, like Norrie, was introduced to Eubanks's qualities. Besides Alcaraz and Eubanks, Holger Rune, Djokovic, Medvedev, Jannik Sinner, Safiullin, and Rublev also won their matches, thus determining the quarterfinalists.

What's striking about this list of players is that only two (Djokovic and Sinner) have previously reached a Wimbledon quarterfinal. For Eubanks, Alcaraz, Rune, Medvedev, Safiullin, and Rublev, it was the first time they had reached that stage on the hallowed grass in England. Alcaraz defeated his peer Rune in three sets, Djokovic lost one set to Rublev but won 3-1, Sinner also defeated Safiullin 3-1, and the longest match was between Medvedev (ATP-3) and Eubanks (ATP-43). The American put up a strong fight and even took a 2-1 lead in sets, but after three hours of tennis, it was the tall Russian who qualified for the semifinals. There, he faced Alcaraz, while Sinner faced Djokovic. Alcaraz and Djokovic emerged convincingly victorious in these matches.

Wimbledon 2023 final: Alcaraz vs Djokovic

Thus, the 2023 Wimbledon final became a match between the world numbers one and two. A dream final, which turned into a true thriller. That didn't look likely after the first set, however, as Djoko managed to break his Spanish opponent's serve twice and won 6-1. However, Alcaraz fought back impressively and even regained the lead by winning the second set (7-6) and the third set (6-1). The fourth set went to the Serbian 6-3, forcing a fifth set to decide who would take home the 2023 Wimbledon title. It was Alcaraz who broke Djokovic's serve in the third game and held on to this break, thus winning the 2023 Wimbledon final and dethroning Djokovic. It was Alcaraz's first Wimbledon victory, making him the first Wimbledon winner in the past 20 years not to be named Roger Federer, Djokovic, Nadal or Murray.