Day 13 and the day of the ladies final…Krejcikova vs Paolini. The Venus Rosewater Dish was up for grabs and we knew a new Wimbledon champion would be crowned as both players were playing in their first ever Wimbledon final. Krejcikova had won a grand slam final while Paolini was playing her 2nd grand slam final fresh off her 1st grand slam final at this years French Open where she fell short against Swiatek.

Krejcikova was the better starter of the 2 Wimbledon finalists and broke Paolini in her opening service game and then broke again to lead 4-1 in the opening set. Krejcikova was not missing and was playing some top quality tennis which allowed her to win her next 2 service games to take the opening set 6-2. Paolini then went to bathroom to compose herself as she tried to find any foothold in the match and wow did she find a foothold. Paolini came out believing and raced to a 3-0 lead and looked to have Krejcikova just slightly rattled. Krejcikova managed to win her 2nd service game to keep it to 1 break at 3-1. Paolini managed to continue holding serve and then broke the Krejcikova serve to take the 2nd set 6-2. There was nothing between the 2 ladies as we entered a deciding set. Paolini had the slight advantage of serving first in the 2nd set. The 3rd set was not the same as the other 2 sets as both ladies were able to hold serve at the beginning of the set and it was 3-3 and getting very tight and tense. Paolini managed to save 1 break point in the 7th game but unfortunately for her the 2nd break point she served a double fault to hand the break and the advantage to Krejcikova. Krejcikova then held to love and the match was now slipping away from Paolini at 3-5. Paolini needed to force the Czech to serve out the match and she raced to a 40-0 lead before being pegged back to 40-30. Thankfully for the Italian, Krejcikova hit a backhand unforced error and it was 5-4 with Krejcikova serving for the match. It is never easy to serve out a match but especially when the match is for a grand slam title and this service game of Krejcikova’s was tight and tense. Paolini had a break point at 30-40 which was saved by a backhand volley winner. Krejcikova then managed to bring up her first match point but was unable to convert it and we were back at deuce. Paolini then went on to bring up another break point after a forehand winner. This was saved impressively again as Krejcikova hit a forehand winner. Both ladies were playing some great tennis under pressure. A 2nd match point was then achieved as Krejcikova hit an ace but once again her trusty backhand let her down and we were back to deuce. It was however 3rd time lucky for the Czech, Krejcikova as she notched up her 2nd grand slam title and her first Wimbledon title at the 3rd time of asking. The 31st seed, who had only won 7 out of her 16 matches in 2024 managed to win all 7 Wimbledon matches to take the title. It is just incredible how form can change in an instance in the sport we love, Tennis.

Onto the fantasy leaderboard and only 3 teams were effected by the ladies final so it meant the leaderboard has hardly changed on day 13. Our leaders remain unchanged, ‘Left is Best’ and ‘Super Smash’ still lead the way and ‘Hit and Run’ still remain in 2nd. ‘The Racquets’ who were the only team to have Krejcikova and she was actually their sub moved up 18 places and went from 22nd to 4th on day 13 and is now right in the mix to win a prize. ‘Hawks Hackers’ and ‘Sinner’s Injuries’ moved down a place and now sit in a joint 5th place rounding out the prizes.

Well done to ‘MT’s and C’s’ and ‘Forbes 5’ who picked Paolini. The latter of the 2, ‘Forbes 5’ was however eliminated after the loss of Paolini.

Men’s Final

• Alcaraz(3) (45 Picks) vs Djokovic(2) (18 Picks) (15H00)

Jared

Jared matriculated in 2020 from Wynberg Boys High School in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. His passion for tennis afforded him the opportunity of travelling to Europe. He is a quizmaster and a tennis fantasy league organiser.http://Eishonline.co.za/jftl