Though she'd been tapped for SW19 greatness upon lifting the Venus Rosewater Dish at age 21, replicating her first slam success hadn't been an immediate fait accompli for Petra Kvitova. Though when she reached her *second* slam final at age 24, naturally, it came at the All-England Club.
Just as she had in her original run, the Czech flashed dominant shock-and-awe form en route to the title, losing just one set during the fortnight (vs. Venus Williams in the 3rd Rd., as the vet was two points from the win in the 2nd set of a 5-7/7-6(2)/7-5, two-and-a-half hour battle) as she improved her career mark at the AELTC (Wimbledon + Olympics) to 29-6. After taking care of countrywomen Barbora Strycova (QF) and Lucie Safarova (SF), Kvitova blasted maiden slam finalist Genie Bouchard 6-3/6-0. The most lopsided SW19 final in twenty-two years, the 55-minute match (the fifth-shortest Ladies final) was the first major championship contested between two players born in the 1990's. Kvitova became the eighth woman in the Open era with multiple Wimbledon Ladies title runs.
While Kvitova's second slam win *again* hinted at great things for her future, while she'd often have extended stretches of dominance on the regular WTA tour stage for the remainder of the decade, the "Good Petra/Bad Petra" in-match battle continued as her penchant for three-setters earned her her "P3tra" moniker. After surviving a home invasion attack in 2017 and undergoing career-saving surgery on her racket hand, Kvitova reached her third career slam final at the Australian Open in 2019. Still, she hasn't won a major title since her '14 run, and didn't have her next second week run at Wimbledon until the same '19 season.
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Ladies finalist Genie Bouchard, the girls champion SW19 just two years earlier, looked for all the world like the tour's newest star. Semifinal runs in Melbourne and Paris preceded her becoming the first Canadian to contest a slam singles final, and her aggressive style of play, blunt confidence and immediate off-court marketability seemed to predict a great future.
The tenth different finalist in the last five slams, Bouchard, despite being in just her sixth career slam MD appearance, was the betting favorite to win the final vs. former champ Kvitova. She came into the match not having lost a set, and straight sets wins over future #1's and soon-to-be slam champs Angelique Kerber (QF) and Simona Halep (SF, her first Top 5 win) had assured her of a Top 10 ranking (the first for a Canadian woman since Carling Bassett in 1985).
And then Kvitova squashed any notions of grandeur. Whether the Czech exposed the limitations of Bouchard's game, or damaged her confidence and psyche from that day forward, remains a intriguingly debatable topic of discussion.
Still, Bouchard was the eighth player to play in both the girls and Ladies singles finals, and emerged from London with a best-ever CAN ranking of #7, heading to the U.S. Open seeking to match Chris Evert's Open era record of reaching the semis at every major by the time she'd completed her first seven slam MD appearances. It didn't happen in NYC (she reached the Round of 16), and still hasn't.
Bouchard reached the QF at the AO in '15, and had rebounded from back-to-back 1st Round RG/WI exits by returning to the 4th Round in New York that summer. But after a late night win, Bouchard slipped on a wet floor in a poorly-lit lockerroom, hit her head and suffered a concussion. What followed was an extended battle with Post-concussion syndrome, an ever longer lawsuit journey against the USTA for negligence, and testimony in open court (when the tennis organization stunningly declined to settle) in which she detailed her experiences.
Bouchard ultimately "won," as the USTA was declared to be "mostly at fault," but it had all come at a price. While Bouchard's is still a famous/popular face/name off-court (she's multiple-time SI swimsuit issue model), and she's had a few big wins (she reached two finals in '16) and a handful of fine Fed Cup performances, she hasn't registered as a consistent threat on the court in years. For a time she was as pugnacious and opinionated as ever (especially in the wake of Maria Sharapova's suspension), but Bouchard's game never really developed beyond the one-plan approach that worked so well in 2014, and she seemed to lose some pop on her shots, as well. She's struggled to maintain a Top 50 ranking (since her #7 finish in '14, her final rankings have looked like this: #48-46-81-89), and at one point slipped outside the Top 100. In 2019, she was easily surpassed by teenager Bianca Andreescu as Canada's top player.
Bouchard's 1st Round loss at Wimbledon in '19 was her ninth straight in the first two rounds of majors, and the twelfth in her last fourteen (w/ one failed qualifying run) since the '15 U.S. Open accident.
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The 2014 Wimbledon turned out to pretty much be a disaster for Serena Williams. Quite the opposite was the case for Alize Cornet.
In the 3rd Round, after winning five straight games to take the 1st set from Alize Cornet after a rain delay, Williams' game went awry as the French woman's came into focus. The Pastry won the first five games of the 2nd and, on her second attempt in the 3rd, served out the match with a love game to win 1-6/6-3/6-4. It was Cornet's third win over Williams in 2014, and she'd previously been 0-13 in grand slams vs. Top 20 players. Serena had lost before the Round of 16 at Wimbledon just twice before, in 2005 and in her 1998 debut.
But that was only the start. Two days after losing to Cornet, having taken the court with sister Venus for a 2nd Round doubles match vs. Kristina Barrois & Stefanie Voegele, Williams appeared dizzy and disoriented, had difficult bouncing and catching a ball before serving, and then fired four straight uncoordinated DF's during which her shots barely reached the net.
With a stunned buzz quickly traveling around the AELTC grounds about her odd behavior, the match didn't last long. The sisters retired after just three games.
In a statement, Williams explained the incident by saying that she was dealing with an illness that had "gotten the best" of her. Offered as evidence after the fact was a social media post of a (finally) resting Serena.
Of course, Serena being Serena, she responded to the disappointment and raised eyebrows by refocusing... and then going out and winning the next *four* majors, completing her second career "Serena Slam." Naturally.
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Bouchard's appearance in the final wasn't the only notable late second week run, as Lucie Safarova reached her first career slam semifinal (she'd reach the RG final year later, then soon after have issues with illness for the rest of her career) as part of a record group of *three* Czechs in the SW19 quarterfinals. Her luck being as it is, Safarova played against and lost to her countrywoman, Petra Kvitova.
Meanwhile, weeks after reaching her maiden slam singles final at Roland Garros, Simona Halep reached her first Wimbledon semi after handing '13 finalist Sabine Lisicki a 4 & 0 defeat in the QF. The German, treated for a shoulder issue, had fired 20 DF in a winning Round of 16 effort the previous round.
Draw notes:
* - before eventually falling in the final eight, reigning runner-up Lisicki had the opportunity to play Wimbledon's version of "Queen for a Day," as she assumed the traditional Day 2 first-up-on-Centre Court slot usually reserved for the year-after debut of the reigning women's singles champ. With '13 winner Marion Bartoli (who was on hand to be honored, nonetheless) having retired the previous summer, the German was given a "promotion" in the SW19 schedule. She took advantage, defeating Julia Glushko 2 & 1.
* - unbeknownst to anyone at the time, the 2013 Wimbledon would be Li Na's career swan song.
The two-time slam champ was bounced early at a second straight slam since winning the Australian Open. In losing by a 7-6(5)/7-6(5) score in the 3rd Round, Li saw Barbora Zahlavova-Stycova's converted match point overruled in the 2nd set tie-break, only to then double-fault to end the Czech's 0-24 career run vs. Top 10 players. It was soon learned that the match would be Li's last with Carlos Rodriguez as her coach, and then three months later she announced her retirement.
* - in the 1st Round, CoCo Vandeweghe fired 15 aces vs. Garbine Muguruza. After failing to put away any of four MP at 5-4 in the 3rd, Vandeweghe needed nine MORE at 6-5 to finally get the win. After being 2-of-23 on break points in the match, she got a gift -- two, in fact -- as the Spaniard ended the match with back-to-back double-faults. Muguruza would reach the final two of the next three years, winning once.
* - in the 3rd Round, Madison Keys kept Yaroslava Shvedova from serving out the 1st set, then had four set points in the TB before the Kazakh won it 9-7. Late in the evening, with darkness overtaking the AELTC, an injured Keys broke for a 6-5 lead, then called for the trainers to treat her leg. Trying to hold and knot the match, the Bannerette's compromised movement led to her being broken and a TB becoming necessary. The match was then called for the night on the middle Saturday, setting up a classic and dramatic re-start on Monday... but it never happened, as Keys pulled out of the tournament due to the injury. Drat.
* - in a Round of 16 match, Angelique Kerber stared into the Maria Sharapova light and lived to tell the tale. Keeping her error total low in a match filled with hard-hitting rallies, Kerber's defense forced Sharapova into errors as she tried to do more in order to wrestle away points. The German held off a Sharapova comeback from 4-2 down in the 1st that forced a tie-break, then another after the Russian had saved a match point in the 3rd at 5-3 and threatened to pull another of her patented "lean-in-at-the-finish-line" victories when she got a break to get things back on serve at 5-4. Finally, on MP #7, Kerber ended Sharapova's 11-match winning streak in three-setters as the Russian's drought of comeback wins at SW19 from a set down was extended to a full decade ('04 SF vs. Davenport) at the conclusion of the 7-6(4)/4-6/6-4 match.
* - Aga Radwanska, trying to erase the memory of her '13 SW19 semifinal defeat at her favorite tournament, took a 3-2 lead over Ekaerina Makakova to begin their Round of 16 match... and then never won win another game, double-faulting on set point in the 1st, and then being forced to think about her harrowing predicament when the action was delayed due to rain with Makaraova leading 5-0 in the 2nd. There was no great comeback, as the Russian won 6-3/6-0.
* - Timea Bacsinszky qualified to reach her first Wimbledon MD since 2010, where she posted her first Wimbledon win since 2009 after an '11 foot injury and long break from the game resulted in what was essentially her "semi-retirement" until 2013. From 2015-17, after never having reached the 4th Round at a major, the Swiss player would reach a pair of RG semis and two additional slam QF (RG/WI).
* - Vicky Duval was given an early diagnosis of Hodgkin's lymphoma after winning in the opening round of Wimbledon qualifying, but decided to continue to play the event. She won two more matches to reach the main draw, where she picked up another match victory (def. #29 Sorana Cirstea) before losing in the 2nd Round to Belinda Bencic. Making her Top 100 debut after Wimbledon, Duval missed the next thirteen months before returning with her cancer in remission.
* - a year after upsetting Maria Sharapova, Michelle Larcher de Brito again took down another slam-winning Russian, eliminating #28 Svetlana Kuznetsova in the 1st Round. She lost in the 3rd Round to Aga Radwanska.
* - 17-year old Belinda Bencic, the '13 girls champ, made her Wimbledon debut and reached the 3rd Round. Later in the summer, she'd reach the QF in her U.S. Open debut and go to win the WTA's Newcomer of the Year award.
* - Madison Brengle failed to qualify (losing in the final round) at a 24th consecutive major, making her 0-for-27 in slam qualifying attempts in her career. She'd appeared in four slam MD in 2007-08 (three via a WC), but had gone 0-4 in 1st Round matches. Brengle would get a WC into the U.S. Open MD later that summer and posted her first career MD win at a major. The following January, she'd reach the Round of 16 at the Australian Open.
Though she's played in twenty consecutive slam MD through the '19 Wimbledon (w/ 13 wins), Brengle failed to qualify in her one additional Q-round attempt since '14 at the '18 U.S. Open. Still, she reached the draw that year as a lucky loser.
* - Anabel Medina Garrigues did not play in the singles at Wimbledon (after having lost in RG qualifying to end her singles career), bringing an end to her 42-slam run of Q/MD appearances in majors (she continued to play doubles until 2018). It also assured the Spaniard of staying on the "select" list of WTA players (along with retired Anna Smashnova) with 10 or more tour singles titles but zero slam quarterfinal berths.
Entering the '19 Wimbledon, in a slightly altered version of such a list, Elina Svitolina is the sole player with *13+* titles and no slam *semifinal* appearances. Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova needs one additional tour-level singles title to join her.
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Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci won their first Wimbledon title, becoming the fifth women's duo to complete a Career Doubles Slam in the Open era with their straight sets victory in the final over Timea Babos & Kristina Mladenovic. The Italians had saved six match points in their 3rd Round match against qualifiers Lyudmyla & Nadiia Kichenok, but lost just one other set (QF vs. Barty/Dellacqua) in the event. They dropped a total of nine games in the SF/F.
It would be the last of five majors won by the duo, who collected their haul in just a ten-slam stretch from the '12 RG to '14 Wimbledon. Errani/Vinci reached eight finals over an eleven slam span that ended with the '14 title, after having won three of four major titles beginning with their maiden crown in Paris in '12.
In MX, Samantha Stosur teamed with Nenad Zimonjic to take the title, claiming her fifth career MX championship, her first since winning Wimbledon with Bob Bryan in 2008. The win in the final over Chan Hao-ching & Max Mirnyi eventually allowed Stosur to become the only woman (thus far) to win slam singles (2011 U.S.), doubles (2019 AO) and mixed titles during the decade. [NOTE: with Serena Williams currently playing in the '19 Wimbledon MX with Andy Murray, she *could* join Stosur on that list with a title.]
In the girls singles, 17-year old Alona Ostapenko (at that point, she was still referred to only as "Jelena") became the first Latvian to win a junior slam crown. Unseeded, Ostapenko closed out her run by defeating four straight seeds: #9 Anhelina Kalinina, #3 Tornado Black, #12 Marketa Vondrousova and #8-seeded Slovak Kristina Schmiedlova (younger sister of '12 RG girls finalist Anna Karolina) in a 2-6/6-3/6-0 final. She fired off 40 winners in the championship match.
Three years later in 2017, Ostapenko would sucker-punch the tennis world by winning the Roland Garros women's singles title two days after her 20th birthday, and reached the Wimbledon Ladies semifinals in '18.
Indonesia's Tami Grende and China's Ye Qiuyu became the first all-Asian duo to win the Wimbledon junior doubles and just the second pair to do so at any slam (joining Chan Yung-Jan, aka Latisha, & Sun Sheng-nan (TPE/CHN) at the Australian Open in 2004), defeating top-seeded Marie Bouzkova & Dalma Galfi in the final.
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After winning in Melbourne and Paris, Yui Kamiji & Jordanne Whiley claimed the Wimbledon Wheelchair Doubles title for a third straight slam victory, defeating two-time defending champs Jiske Griffioen & Aniek Van Koot in the final. The Dutch duo won a Doubles Grand Slam in '13, and Kamiji & Whiley would do the same in '14, completing the major sweep in New York later in the summer. They'd extend their winning streak to five at the '15 Australian Open.
By the end of 2014, the 20-year old #1 ranked Kamiji was the reigning champion at six of the seven WC slam disciplines (all but AO singles, where she was runner-up), the best post-Vergeer stretch of dominace in the sport's slam history until 2019.
WE'VE ONLY GONE AND WON WIMBLEDON!!! #wimbledonchampions pic.twitter.com/9cwalTr3r6
— jordanne whiley (@jordannejoyce92) July 6, 2014===============================================
After a three-year will-she-or-won't-she question about a comeback, Martina Hingis finally returned to the WTA tour for the summer hard court season of 2013. At the U.S. Open, she played in her first major (in doubles and mixed) since 2007. The '14 Wimbledon was her second, with her first MD appearances in doubles and mixed since 2000 and 1997, respecitively.
Having moved on from a short-lived doubles partnership with Daniela Hantuchova, whose efforts Hingis credited for "bring her out of retirement," Hingis didn't play from the end of the U.S. Open until March '14. When she returned to the tour full-time that spring, Hingis didn't have a regular doubles partner, playing at times with Sabine Lisicki (who she'd help coach during the AO), Flavia Pennetta, Belinda Bencic and Vera Zvonareva in '14. She and Zvonareva were give a WC into the doubles draw at SW19, where they lost to #4-seeded Cara Black & Sania Mirza in the 1st Round. In mixed, she and Bruno Soares (#13 seeds) lost in the QF to defending champs Mladenovic/Nestor.
Hingis started her partnership with Mirza the following March, and it began with the duo pulling off the "Sunshine Doubles" by winning Indian Wells and Miami. In 2015-16, they'd go on to win three majors and a WTA Finals crown while going 14-3 in tour finals in a partnership that lasted just fourteen months.
Meanwhile, in the Wimbledon Legends competition that Hingis had won the previous three seasons, Jana Novotna & Barbara Schett took the title. It was Novotna's fifth win (w/ Ros Nideffer, Helena Sukova, Kathy Rinaldi and Martina Navratilova between 2006-10) in the invitational competition since she won the Ladies title in 1998.
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SEEN AT THE AELTC:
Vika Azarenka and the return of The Shorts...
Will & Kate...
Ricky Gervais and David Beckham, dressing down and up...
2013 champion Marion Bartoli returns to Centre Court on Day 2...
Ilie Nastase, masquerading as a military strongman...
Princess Eugenie of York, for whom Eugenie/Genie Bouchard was named...
Actor (and Bouchard celebrity fan) Jim Parsons...
Andy Murray and coach Amelie Mauresmo ('06 Wimbledon champ)...
The predominant storyline heading into the Ladies singles final today seemed to revolve around 20-year old Eugenie Bouchard, a fresh and new face on the WTA tour. With an edgy confidence that has been revealed through an extended three-slam, six-month breakout, hers has gone from a name known only to in-the-know tennis fans to that of the player being dubbed "the next One," the sort of player who can galvanize both off-court fanfare as well as on-court success radiantly from a supremely confident personality and fist-clenching competitiveness that calls to mind the intense greats of other sports, along with a matter-of-fact acknowledgement of her own belief in the inevitability of her success that sounds an awful lot like some of the comments made by one Roger Federer when he was in the midst of placing his name atop a series of "best ever" lists.
For the first time since a teenage Russian burst onto the scene in London a decade ago, the face of the next generation of "full package success" seemed to be ready to emphatically claim her place in the spotlight. Named for English royalty (Princess Eugenie, who was present in the Royal Box for the match), armed with "good luck charm" actor Jim Parsons in the Friends Box, as well as her two sisters, who'd flown in to join their ever-present little brother in the crowd, every plot point seemed ready to project the Canadian into the WTA stratosphere. Right now. Flattered by comparisons to other slam-winning players such as Sharapova and "cold-hearted killer" Chris Evert, Bouchard had still made a point to say rather clearly, "I want to make my own history." She already has and will continue to do just that.
But today was Kvitova's day to shine -- glow white-hot, really -- on Centre Court. Again. In its own right, the inevitability of becoming a grand slam champion is a tough opponent... but not as tough as the Czech was today.
After witnessing Kvitova's thunderous run to her maiden slam title at Wimbledon in 2011, it was crystal clear to anyone with working vision -- and good hearing, too, for that matter -- that she COULD dominate on the grass like few people in the collective memory of tennis watchers. Rarely has a young player been the object of such fawning attention from all-time greats as Kvitova was following her all-encompassing destruction of Sharapova on Centre Court in the final three years ago. It was easy to forget that she was also a shy, 21-year old in no way prepared for the onslaught of attention and heightened expectations that her success was about to dump into her lap the second she stepped off the grass.
Over the course of the past three years, while the Czech has often been a bundle of errors waiting to explode in the middle of a match, in between bouts with breathing issues associated with her asthma, that is, no one truly forgot that Kvitova, under the right circumstances, had the ability, especially on the grass, to prevent an opponent from even seeing an opportunity to step into a match, blowing them off the court in a barrage of clean groundstroke winners and explosive, wide-angling lefty serves. But after not seeing much of THAT Petra over the last three years, recently, the possibility of giving up hope that we ever would again was starting to creep into the conversation.
Thankfully, Kvitova never gave up on herself. Some players in similar situations, whether or not they had fewer gifts at their disposal as the talented Czech, might have done just that and never fully recovered. We've seen it happen many times before. While her results were still often spotty, Kvitova still managed to improve her fitness over the past year, and even hired a "mental coach" to help her deal with all the things that hampered her in the past.
While Bouchard's name was on everyone's lips before the match, #6-seeded Kvitova was having nothing of it once the match began. Not at Wimbledon. Not on Centre Court, both her tennis "home," as well as that of her childhood idol, Martina Navratilova. And with the "host" determining the "guest's" menu for the day, what Bouchard received was a steady diet of hard, deep power shots that often handcuffed the Canadian from her position inside the baseline. Kvitova's groundstrokes attacked the very cherished ground that Bouchard had established as her own during this past fortnight, and her angled shots often left the first Canadian to ever reach a slam singles final flailing to just get a racket on the ball, let alone think about establishing any sort of footing from which to impose her own game on the Czech as she had in big moments against other players through her first six matches at the AELTC.
Kvitova was simply not going to allow her into the match, and Bouchard could do nothing about that fact.
In her last ditch attempt to hold serve, Bouchard tried to seize control of a rally by moving into the net on game point, only to see Kvitova blast a forehand cross-court passing shot to wipe it away. Soon it was 4-0 with another break, with Kvitova in total command of things, dictating nearly every point with clean shots to which there was no acceptable response. Bouchard, often out of position, would continually lunge for shots that, once she got a racket on them, would just result in the the ball sailing sky high to set up Kvitova for an even easier winner. Kvitova held at love for 5-0, and suddenly Bouchard was attempting to avoid the most lopsided Wimbledon final loss in twenty-two years (Graf def. Seles 6-2/6-1 in 1992). As was the case with everything all day, Bouchard still couldn't hold Kvitova back. At 30/30, Bouchard committed an error that gave the Czech a match point. Kvitova's cross-court backhand winner ended the 6-3/6-0 match after just fifty-five minutes.
All in all, it was unstoppable march to an inevitable conclusion for Kvitova, one made without a single misstep.
Finally, once the match was complete, somebody put a stop to Kvitova -- whoever looked at the weather radar and decided to close the Centre Court roof for the trophy presentation. The moved forced the two finalists, in an unprecedented move, to leave the court before the beginning of the post-match ceremonies. Once Kvitova and Bouchard had returned after the beautiful overhead mechanical contraption had sealed off the ages-old building from the elements, Bouchard waited patiently (and as politely as she possibly could) while Kvitova took a more adult, this-time-she-knows-what-she's-getting-herself-into victory lap with the Venus Rosewater dish. By the time she'd climbed the indoor steps and fulfilled the new-ish tradition of posing with the trophy on a balcony overlooking the grounds and a slew of gathered fans, the rains had arrived.
But nothing was going to rain on Kvitova's parade of smiles on her second day in the SW19 sun... even if that sun was hiding somewhere behind the clouds.
If Wimbledon is where the majority of Kvitova's tennis legend will be told, then she should own it. Fully and completely. In her post-match interview, Kvitova joked that she's still has a long way to go to match record nine-time champ Navratilova's Wimbledon exploits.
It is a far way down the road, for sure, but it's not a road that is definitively closed to the Czech. Not if she can reach and play Wimbledon finals with the same tenacity, power and precision that she did both in 2011 and today. Three years ago, she cemented her beautiful friendship with Wimbledon as she looked virtually unbeatable on the grass if she played at her top level. She looked just as lethal today.
Grand history has been carved from circumstances with far less promise than that.
* - "I'm not looking for anyone to believe in me or anything like that. You have to believe in yourself these days. I have nothing to prove, nothing to hide, nothing to lose." - Venus Williams
* - "She speaks the way she plays right now -- with great clarity. She knows what she's about. She's very comfortable, even though she doesn't have much experience in life terms. She's the real deal, isn't she?" - Pam Shriver, on Genie Bouchard
* - "You know, he's kind of been in trouble recently. ... I'm not associated with that at the moment. But, you know, if he cleans up his image." - Genie Bouchard on whether she'd date singer Justin Bieber, the Canadian's admitted celebrity crush
* - "I'm sad my streak is broken. But obviously there's nothing I can do. It feels like the end of the world now, but fortunately it's not." - Sloane Stephens, whose 1st Round loss ended her six-slam Round of 16-better run
* - "I am heartbroken I'm not able to continue in the tournament. I thought I could rally this morning, because I really wanted to compete, but this bug just got the best of me." - Serena Williams, in a statement, explaining her bizarre retirement from her doubles match after being unable to catch, bounce or serve balls through the warm-up and first three games
* - "It's not like a surprise to me. I expect good results like this." - Genie Bouchard, on reaching the Ladies final
* - "You cannot lose a match like this. I'm really an idiot." - Flavia Pennetta, following her 2nd Round loss
* - "I love everything here because I think it’s one of the best grand slams. The atmosphere here is really nice, the people are really nice, also the grass courts. That everyone is playing in white clothes. I think it looks really nice." - junior Wimbledon champ Alona Ostapenko
* - "I was in the engraver’s room, so I was watching them work, wishing one day, dreaming that he’ll write my name somewhere." - Genie Bouchard, on waiting off-court for the Centre Court roof to close for the post-match trophy ceremony
* - "It’s my second title, so I hope that now it's going to be a little easier for me." - Petra Kvitova
