Just another surreal Sunday...

If politics and human endeavour are about anything they concern the changes they bring to society. In  turn, societies adapt and change to new political orders, new technologies, advances in medicine, economic gains and losses, new philosophies and cultural shifts.

Children of today would find it incomprehensible that as recently as thirty years ago ours was not a world where social media, mobile phones, artificial intelligence and emails were pervasive. Thirty years ago, we also had to adapt to the end of the Cold War.  Just on eighty years ago the world was liberated from fascism only to be chastened by the arrival of the atomic age.  

Every era lives with and debates the efficacy of such change.  Ridding the world of smallpox- YES. Uber eats and Airbnb- NO.

In the tennis world adaptation and change are no less prevalent. As Wimbledon concludes it seems that there is a new established order, albeit somewhat chaotic.  Predicting the Women’s champion at Wimbledon has become an art of mystery. There have now been eight different Women’s champions in the last eight years. We accept that Murray, Nadal and Federer will no longer play at Wimbledon. The Grand Slam year may end at New York with no Grand Slam victory by either these three retirees or Djokovic for the first time since 2002.

One could be forgiven for not recognising these changes. This year’s Wimbledon was sandwiched between political and sporting events that, at times, as the rain fell on the outside courts, threatened to dull the tournament’s lustre: British elections, French elections, speculation about the American President’s tenure, the Tour de France and the Euros Football tournament just to mention a few.

Then, on the tournament’s final day, Bastille Day, the shock of an attempted assassination of former President Trump.  At least the day ended in the northern hemisphere with some sort of normality, with England continuing their six decade long ability to break the sporting hearts of their nation.

It is clear we all must adapt to Carlos Alcaraz being the dominant force in the Men’s game. Only 21, he has joined Wilander, Berg and Becker as the only players of that age to win four Grand Slam tournaments.  Most expect there are many more to come.

The first two sets of his final against Djokovic- who is still to win a title this year-evoked memories of John McEnroe’s victory over Jimmy Connors in the Wimbledon final a mere 40 years ago. McEnroe swept past Connors 6-1 6-1 before completing a 6-1 6-1 6-2 victory. Djokovic, like Connors, was overpowered and outplayed.

The final set was grittier. Alcaraz faltered when he had three championship points at 5-4, 40-0. To his credit he regathered his focus to play a guileful and powerful tiebreak winning it 7-4.  If Alcaraz had won the final set 6-4, the Men’s and Women’s final would have had the same combination of sets. Australians will hopefully see Alcaraz contest to claim the Australian Open in January and complete a quartet of Grand Slam titles. Alcaraz’s greatest strength is that he has a range of shots  that complement his fearlessness and audacity. Has any player used the drop shot with such effectiveness on a grass court? After his victories in route to the final, Djokovic would imitate a maestro and play his racquet as a violin. In the final, Alcaraz called every tune and set the tempo, one that the 37 year old Djokovic could not reorchestrate.  In every sense Carlos composed and controlled the score!

Carlos was presented with his trophy by an all-female presentation party, including the Princess of Wales, who, dressed in AELTC purple,  thrilled the crowd with her attendance following her recent treatment for cancer.

How sweet it must have been for Alcaraz to be the opening movement of the Spanish sporting symphony with his nation’s beloved football team beating England in the Euro final hours after his tennis triumph.

The victory of Barbora Krejcikova far less imperious. She and fellow surprise finalist, Jasmine Paolini, swapped the first two sets, 2-6, 6-2. A third set was left to decide who was the more consistent player. Displaying her doubles finesse and having the confidence of having won a Grand Slam title in Paris in 2021, Krejcikova held her nerve to secure her unlikely victory. She dedicated her victory to her mentor Jana Novotna, the Wimbledon Women’s champion of 1998 who lost her life to ovarian cancer in 2017.

The symmetry of set scores was also seen in the Men’s and Ladies Doubles titles. All sets in both finals were decided by tie breaks. The Australian pairing of Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell had every right to feel perplexed by the game’s scoring system.

Overall, the Australians won 10 more points in the match and did not face a break point but lost the match.  Whilst the Centre Court crowd were thrilled that an unseeded Englishman, Henry Patten, won the title with Finnish player Harri Heliovaara, the defeated Australian duo were utterly deflated.

Stefan Edberg, Wimbledon’s champion of 1988 and 1990 and a visitor to the Royal Box on Finals’ Weekend had the same experience in 1991. He lost a four-set semi-final in 1991 to Michael Stich 6-4, 6-7,6-7,6-7 and quipped after the match that he could not quite understand how he lost give that he had not dropped his serve! 

The Ladies Doubles title was won by Katerina Siniakova  and Taylor Townsend. Siniakova had previously partnered Krejcikova to win seven Grand Slam titles across all four Grand Slams, including two at Wimbledon.

Krejcikova also won a hat-trick of Mixed Doubles titles in Australia from 2019-2021. This year’s Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title was won by the Polish/ Taiwanese pairing of Jan Zielinski and Hsieh Su-wei.

Speaking of pairings, the American political caravan moves to the Republican Convention that starts tonight in Milwaukee. Following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the announcement of his running mate is greatly anticipated. If you thought the ovation Margaret Thatcher received addressing her Conservative Party’s Conference the morning after surviving the bombing of her Brighton hotel in 1984 was deafening, stand by for unprecedented wildness in Wisconsin.

Trump’s brush with mortality in Pennsylvania has added another extraordinary layer to this year’s Presidential contest. Trump’s defiant response to his shooting proves he is a man who does “not waste a crisis.” The image of the former President against a backdrop of the American flag clenching his fist in front of his bloodied face will be indelible for decades to come.

What no one knows is how the attempted assassination – needless to say conspiracy theories about the incident have flourished in the last day- will affect the outcome of this year’s Presidential election. The greater question should be how America can remove the threat of violence from its political discourse and culture.

Australians should not be overly smug about the civility of its political debates. The Australian  government’s announcement that it has appointed special envoys to counter antisemitism and Islamophobia is a reminder that “gentler and kinder” days are long behind us. Recent assaults on Sydney's Great Synagogue confirms the dismal zeitgeist.

In a year that is increasingly bizarre, this year’s tennis calendar is no different. The game’s top players now head to Paris to compete for Olympic glory, before crossing the Atlantic to head to the American summer circuit, culminating with the US Open at Flushing Meadow that begins on 26th August, a month after the Olympics begin.

The Olympic tournament will probably be Nadal’s last. How fitting that he will be playing doubles with Alcaraz. Could there be a more appropriate heir and successor to Spanish tennis sainthood?

Djokovic is desperately keen to claim an Olympic gold medal to join Nadal as the only two male players to win Olympic Gold plus each of the Grand Slam tournaments.

Will Andy Murray be able to play Doubles?

Will Jannik Sinner be fully fit and give Italy another slice of tennis glory?

Can Australia’s Alex de Minaur recover in time from the hip injury that prevented him from playing his first Wimbledon quarter-final ? Will Swiatek reprise her French Open glory?

Paris is clearly worth a tennis match!