The Weirdest Wimbledon Ever? By Kristen Tracy

Written by: on 3rd July 2013
The Weirdest Wimbledon Ever? By Kristen Tracy   |

To say this year’s Wimbledon has been unusual would be a vast understatement. It’s actually hard to believe that we are just now finishing Day 9. By the lack of big names left in the draw, you’d assume we were at the finals already, not just finishing the quarters. Injuries and upsets have plagued the tournament this year, resulting in a rather strange composition of the players left in both the men’s and women’s singles draws.

For the men, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and marathon man John Isner were all out by day four. Novak Djokovic though (as expected) has made the final four. Hometown hopeful Andy Murray also makes an appearance in the semifinals, though his comeback from being down to sets to love against Fernando Verdasco had us all a little worried that Great Britain would have to wait at least one more year before the possibility of one of their own winning would arise. But he pulled through in stellar fashion and the country collectively breathed a huge sigh of relief. Then you’ve got Juan Martin Del Potro who has pretty much flown under the radar this past week and a half. Despite hyper-extending his knee he managed to pull out a win against world no. 4 David Ferrer and book himself a spot in a battle against Djokovic on Friday. And what about Jerzy Janowicz? Ever heard of him? No? That’s quite alright, because he’s not a name often (if ever, really) associated with the semifinals of any tournament. But he showed that he’s not just a one hit wonder and beat countryman Lukasz Kubot to make his first appearance in a grand slam semifinal, where he’ll face Murray.

On the women’s side, favorites Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka, and Serena Williams all saw early exits, leaving the door wide open for a new champion to emerge. Sabine Lisicki, who posted arguably the best win of her career over Serena Williams booked her spot in the semifinals with a convincing 6-3, 6-3 win over Kaia Kanepi. Agnieszka Radwanska also posted an impressive comeback win over Na Li to make an appearance in the final four. In the bottom half of the draw, Sloane Stephens was the lone American remaining in the singles draw for both the men and women, but unfortunately fell to perennial fighter Marion Bartoli in straight sets. In the final match, Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens stunned world no. 8 Petra Kvitova to make her first ever grand slam semifinal.

There’s no doubt that the way these matches unfold will be rather interesting to watch. And I think at this point it’s pretty safe to say that this has been by far the weirdest and most unusual Wimbledon in a long time.

Follow Kristen on Twitter!

 @KristensKourt








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