The sun has set on the third Grand Slam tournament of 2024, and what a two weeks it was across the pond in London at Wimbledon. Carlos Alcaraz successfully defended his title to join elite company in pulling off such a feat, while a resurgent Barbora Krejcikova battled through the draw on the women’s side to claim a second Grand Slam singles title and 12th overall of her career.
Read the key takeaways from an eventful fortnight in London:
Shop BNP Paribas Open TicketsThe two-time defending BNP Paribas Open champion Carlos Alcaraz is now the two-time defending Wimbledon champion, and still at just 21-years-old, the sport is running out of praise to keep up with just how fast the Spaniard is rising.
Alcaraz is no longer the prodigy or the newcomer on tour, he is the clear player to beat, and he showed every bit of that dominance in a comfortable championship victory over Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(4) -- a rematch of the 2023 Wimbledon final. With his June title at Roland-Garros and a July title at Wimbledon, Alcaraz pulled off his first career ‘Channel Slam’ – the rare feat of winning in Paris and London. He joins elite company on the men's side to pull off a feat that has only been done by other greats in the sport like Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Djokovic.
Although Alcaraz still sits at No. 3 in the ATP rankings, make no mistake that he is at the top of the men’s game right now. With an Indian Wells, Roland-Garros, and Wimbledon title now under his belt this year and the Paris Olympics/US Open on the horizon – 2024 is shaping up to be a year that Alcaraz will look back on fondly for a long time.
Seeded just No. 31 headed into Wimbledon this year, Barbora Krejcikova’s dream run to the title was nothing short of spectacular.
She became the second-lowest-ranked player of all-time to win singles at Wimbledon, and she did so by taking down some of the biggest hitters in the sport like Danielle Collins/Jelena Ostapenko/Elena Rybakina to do so.
After battling through a grueling three-set final against one of the stories of the 2024 season in Jasmine Paolini, Krejcikova was left standing as the Wimbledon champion – claiming the second Grand Slam singles title of her career (Roland-Garros, 2021).
But despite the No. 31 seed, can you really call Krejcikova, a 12x Grand Slam champion in all competitions an underdog? She already owned two Wimbledon doubles titles, not to mention other career accomplishments like a Gold medal in doubles at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Krejcikova showed that when she is healthy, she is a force to be reckoned with on Tour, which is now reflected in her ranking as she returned to the Top 10 for the first time since 2022.
