Day 13 of this years Wimbledon Championships and the day of the ladies final. A ladies final with a lot on the line for both players and 2 players who play a very similar, tactical game.

Jabeur who was the losing finalist at Wimbledon last year was up against unseeded Vondrousova who was looking to become the first unseeded player to take the Wimbledon title in the open era. The match started and it was clear from the outset that both players would need to settle as both looked very nervy. Jabeur served first and settled a little bit of the nerves with a confident hold to begin the match. She then backed her hold of serve up with a break of serve to lead the opening set 2-0. The 3rd game may have been the deciding game of the set as Jabeur tried valiantly to hold serve but in the end was not able to and this allowed Vondrousova to settle as she now had a foot hold in the match. The 4th game was another long game with Vondrouosova having to save more break points before managing to hold serve and level the match at 2-2 which would have brought the nerves back for Jabeur. The next 2 games went the same way as the opening 2 games of the match with Jabeur dropping just 1 point in the next 2 games to lead once again with a break at 4-2. Then amazingly it was Vondrousova’s turn to drop just 1 point in 2 games and we were level again at 4-4. The set from that point onwards just went away from the Tunisian as she was broken at 15-40 and Vondrousova held to love to serve out the opening set and the Czech was just a set away from Wimbledon glory. The last 4 games of the opening set, Jabeur only won 2 points which is just incredible.

It was important for Jabeur to hold serve in the first game of the 2nd set to just break the momentum of Vondrousova who in her semi-final raced away in the 2nd set after having the momentum from the 1st set. Sadly for Jabeur she was not able to and then it became important for Vondrousova to back up the break because she needed to try and break the spirit of the Tunisian who was looking like she had no answers. Amazingly Jabeur managed to break the Vondrousova serve to level the set at 1-1. Vondrousova was 40-0 up in that game before Jabeur fought back to take it. Jabeur then held to love and all of a sudden it was Jabeur who had found her mojo and spirit and it looked like she was taking control again. She broke Vondrousova again and just like the opening set led the Czech player by a break. Somehow even though she looked to be in control, she was unable to back up her break and just like the opening set, Vondrousova broke straight back and we were back on serve at 3-2. 3 holds later and we were 4-4 in the 2nd set with Jabeur serving again at 4-4 just like the opening set. And amazingly just like the opening set, Vondrousova broke Jabeur at 4-4 and then served it out comfortably at 40-15 to become the Wimbledon Champion. After a 2022 year which was filled with injuries, this was a huge result for the Czech player who has been on the brink of the top 10 before in 2019. I think we could see a lot more of her in the future as she is only 24 years old.

Onto the fantasy leaderboard and we have a new leader after the shock result in a way in the ladies final. ‘Fantasy Alive’ who was just 1 of 2 teams who picked Vondrousova have moved ahead of ‘Sinner’s Injuries’ on the 2nd last day of the tournament. The curse of leading the fantasy league for the longest time and not winning continues…’Fine Whines’ who was in a joint 4th used that pressure and moved ahead of ‘Calf Cramps’ so now sit in 3rd. ‘Calf Cramps’ sit in 4th just 1 point behind 3rd while ‘Hawks Hackers’ and ‘Volley Vibes’ are still battling it out in a joint 5th position.
On day 13 we lost 2 teams and those were ‘Je Thames’ and ‘On the Line’.
Congratulations to Sweet Spot and Fantasy Alive for somehow managing to predict the ladies winner.

Mens Final

Alcaraz(1) vs Djokovic(2) (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 fantasy organiser.