This past week was marked by several grass events across men’s and women’s tennis as Wimbledon inches closer and closer. We’re only a week away from the event starting, and most top players will be arriving in London now.
Those that won’t will play the last prep events that are left this coming week. But first, here’s a look at what happened this week on the grass courts around the world.
Champions corner
There were four tournaments spread across the men’s and women’s tours. All four of those were grass events, and all four produced interesting results.
In Halle, we saw Alexander Bublik playing more amazing tennis following his French Open renaissance, beating Daniil Medvedev in the final to claim his second title at the event.
In London, at the Queen’s Club, we saw Carlos Alcaraz triumph once again. It wasn’t a perfect final for Alcaraz, as he did drop a set against Jiri Lehecka, but he still won the match by stepping up when it mattered the most.
On the women’s side, we saw former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova triumph in Berlin, which was a pretty big deal as the event featured numerous big names. Vondrousova proved that her Wimbledon win wasn’t a fluke, as much as many want to call it that way.
In Nottingham, we saw McCartney Kessler continue her season of ascension as she added a trophy by beating Daria Yastremska in the final in two sets.
Bublik has fun on social media
Bublik is a very professional memer, as he has shown numerous times. When he lost against Jannik Sinner at the French Open, he posted on social media that he nearly had him, even though the match wasn’t particularly close.
Now, after beating Sinner in Halle, the Kazakhstani posted on social media that “he got him”, which is a pretty amazing meme game from a player who is slowly but surely becoming one of the most popular on Tour.
Alcaraz to team up with Raducanu in mixed doubles
The mixed doubles partnership between Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu is something that was floated in the past, but it never really materialized. It will happen this year if everything goes well because it’s been confirmed that the pair will play mixed doubles at the US Open.
Not only that, but Raducanu actually watched Alcaraz play in Queens. Are we witnessing the birth of a super pairing?
Doubles pro Zielinski calls out US Open
This year’s US Open mixed doubles event won’t be the usual one as it’s going to be an exhibition event. That’s bothering Jan Zielinski because he’s won two Grand Slam trophies in mixed doubles in one year before, but that wasn’t enough for him to get invited.
Instead, there will be a lot of big names playing the mixed doubles event, as touched on above, which is going to be great for fans. After all, the mixed doubles isn’t really something that fans care too much about.
While great for fans, some pros are feeling shafted by this, such as Zielinski, prompting him to speak out against the way the event has handled the invitational part. There is also danger that some of the big names will pull out late, which might complicate things, but time will tell what ultimately will happen.
Draper smashes LED screen in London
British No 1 Jack Draper had a boilover this week during his loss to Lehecka, smashing an LED screen in Queen’s.
Smashes might be a bit of an oversell because the entirety of it wasn’t destroyed, but he did damage a part of it which caused it to black out. It happened after he lost his serve at 5-5 in the third set.
He threw his racquet and hit the screen, causing the damage, which isn’t a great look as Draper has slowly developed a reputation for being unable to control his emotions as well. Fans called him out on social media following the incident. He went on to lose the match.
Coming up this week
As we’re slowly getting closer to Wimbledon, we’ll have more grass events which will serve as the final prep events for the event. On the men’s side of the sport, we’ll have an event in Mallorca and an event in Eastbourne. That’s been pretty standard for the men’s calendar in the past few years.
On the women’s side of the sport, we’ll have an event in Bad Homburg and also in Eastbourne, which is also pretty standard. Most of the top players will be in London to better prepare for Wimbledon. That will conclude the grass part of the season.
