Wimbledon 2024 Weeks 1 & 2

The Championships Wimbledon
All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club
London, England
July 1  - July 14, 2024

Who will raise these 2 weeks from now?

Australian Open 2024

 

            Aaaaand we are off!!  

Wimbledon 2023 -- 2nd Week

     

Keeping things nice and simple.  Hope your fav wins.....

WIMBLEDON 2023 - Week 1

AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2023

 

We were dormant for much of December, then had two weeks of warm-up events in Australia and BAM - we're quickly here for the first Major of the season! There is considerable excitement about the year's first 'Grand Slam' (as nearly everyone is determined to call it), which was founded in 1905 when it was called the Australasian Championships. The tournament’s nickname is the “Happy Slam.” 

Quick AO fun facts: Ken Rosewall is the youngest player to win the Australian Open at 18 years old in 1953, and the oldest at 35 in 1972. Meanwhile, in the women’s division, Martina Hingis is considered the youngest to win the tournament at 16 years old, and Thelma Coyne Long as the oldest at age 35 yrs and 3 mo. (Serena Williams was a month older than Thelma when she won her last AO in 2017 at age 35 and 4 mo.).

The AO has had its fair share of hiccups over its existence. Before 1977, the games were from December to January. Following the games from December 1976 to January 1977, the organisers wanted the second tournament for that year to be held in December 1977. The drawback was that not a lot of players competed. But if the tournament happened twice in 1977, it was not held at all in 1986. During the 80s, the games were held on the last week of November to the first week of December. That was the setup until 1985. After that year, the games have since been held in the middle of January, starting in 1987. And that was why there was no Australian Open in 1986.

The AO has been staged twice in New Zealand – 1906 & 1912. Djokovic holds the record for the most Men’s Singles titles with 7 wins; Margaret Court holds the record for the most Women’s Singles Titles with 11 wins; and Ash Barty is the last Australian female to win the AO.

The AO was a Grass Court Event until 1988. Out of the four Grand Slams, Melbourne Park is the only venue to have three stadium courts covered by a retractable roof. The Australian Open holds the record for the latest ever match conclusion with the Lleyton Hewitt vs Marcos Baghdatis match in 2008 concluding at 4:33am. The first AO in 1905 was played on a cricket ground which is today known as Albert Reserve Tennis Centre. And, after winning both his Australian Open Singles titles Jim Courier jumped into the Yarra River for a swim

So let's play ball!👇

US OPEN 2022 - Week 2

 

US Open

Billie Jean King Tennis Center

Flushing, NY

Aug. 29 - Sept. 11, 2022

Welcome to the 2nd week of the USO. Unfortunately, Serena Williams lost in her 3R to Ajla Tomljanovic, who exhibited extraordinary calm, composure and incredible grace while weathering the ear-piercing 35,000+ extremely partisan Serena fans, including a bevy of celebrities. As is Serena's way though, she fought valiantly to the very end of a close 3-setter lasting just over three hours. 

The Williams' sisters were also bounced from the Doubles competition early. Although we've heard no murmurs from Venus Williams about retirement, Serena announced before the USO that this competition will be her last professional tournament. But, she left us with a "we'll see" post-match when asked if she was done with Tennis. The world is her oyster so we shall certainly see - I'm absolutely certain this will not be the last we hear from the legendary Serena!

Defending women's champion, Emma Raducanu, who had an incredible 10-Match run from qualifications to the trophy in 2021, was ousted early in the opening round by the ever problematic and wily Alize Cornet. On the men's side, defending 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev still stands (as of today) but faces the uber dangerous and mercurial Nick Kyrgios in the R16.  

All in all, on the women's side four Top 10 players/seeds and eight Top 30 seeds remain in the 2nd Week. Of the men, six Top 10 players/seeds and seven top 30 seeds remain in the 2nd. Not bad, and there's some more-than-exciting matchups coming up for the last Major of the 2022 season👇

US Open 2022 - Week 1

Serena Williams - A career in pictures

It starts with "The Serve"

Roland Garros 2022 - Week 2

 

Roland Garros ATP/WTA Major
(also known as The French Open)
Stade Roland Garros
Paris, France
May 22 - June 5, 2022

Roland Garros 2022 - Week 1

Roland Garros ATP/WTA Major
(also known as The French Open)
Stade Roland Garros
Paris, France
May 22 - June 5, 2022

France doesn't have culture; the word "culture" is actually French. "Culture" derives from the same French term, which in turn derives from the Latin 'colere,' meaning to tend to the earth and grow, cultivate and nurture."

US Open 2021

US Open - ATP / WTA
Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Flushing, New York
August 30 – September 12, 2021

WIMBLEDON - WEEK 2

The Survivors!

"Well, the names have all changed
Since you hung around
But those dreams have remained
And they've turned around"

We were treated to a great week of tennis at Wimbledon, complete with thrills and, unfortunately, spills. We had some SURPRISE departures, some not so surprising. Let's see what's going on for this year's 2nd Wimbledon Week.  Also tucked in this week, at WTA 250 on Clay.  We'll quickly deal with this INTERLOPER first, then get to what everyone's actually interested in!

WIMBLEDON - THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

"Welcome Back

 Your Dreams Were Your Ticket Out

To The Same Old Place You Laughed About"

All England Lawn & Tennis & Strawberries & Cream & Great Britain

June 28 – July 11, 2021

It is now time to welcome the Granddaddy of tennis tournaments, Wimbledon, officially The Championships, Wimbledon, the oldest tennis tournament in the world, having been held at the All England Club since***

Roland Garros 2021 - Week 2/Moving onto Grass

RG, Stuggart, Nottingham

 ATP WTA French Open, Paris, France

ROLAND GARROS, THE MAN

 ATP 250 Mercedes Cup, Stuttgart, Germany

 WTA 250 Viking Open, Nottingham, Britain

Roland Garros 2021 - Week 1

 ATP, WTA French Open, Paris France

Look Ma there is a picture.  Yes well it is a slam after all so I figure I can change my mind about no pictures for a slam for goodness sake.  Besides blame it on Hartt who is like a kid in a candy store about RG as evidenced by her enlightening narrative below.  Yep division of duties and knowing when to delegate is definitely a thing.   Thank you Hartt and take a bow!!!  I think you should apply to become a tennis announcer - yes!!!👏👏  Just don't let us spoil them though.

Sigh! I wanna be there......lovely aerial view of wonderful Paris

AO at last!

Australian Open 2021

Here we are, the first major of 2021. Tennis Australia did the unthinkable: managed to get something like more than 1000 people into Australia and not cause a major health crisis in one of the very very few places on the planet that can say they keep the whole C19 shit really and truly under control. Kudos to them! Sadly the situation also exposed a few of our persons of interest (the athletes) as being, to put it mildly, a bit out of touch with the current reality. But we're over that! Two weeks or more have passed, so let's forget all the hoopla and focus on the task at hand: AO! Yeah baby!

Roland Garros, 2nd week

 Championnats Internationaux de France de Tennis

Six more days to go. Weather was not good to pretty bad, but thanks to floodlights and the new roof, we barely saw postponed or interrupted matches. Let's hope for better weather.

Roland Garros

 Championnats Internationaux de France de Tennis

So here we are. The last GS of the year and it's Roland Garros. In autumn! I know! Already we are bracing for two cold damp weeks ahead. Who's gonna feel like a fish in water? Everybody is speculating wildly. All this because of the shit.

Still bubbling, but some want clay

USO, Week 2; ATP Kitzbuhel; WTA Istanbul

So in this weird year (because of the shit) the ATP and the WTA decided to give some options for those that didn't travel to the USO. And given that we're gonna have RG soon, they naturally opted for some clay prep. These tournaments are moved from their regular weeks in the calendars to the 2nd week of USO.

Bubbling at the USO

USO

Here we go, almost September and we're at the 2nd GS of the year. USO. Should've been the 4th. Well... shit happened. Due to that we also have a somewhat depleted field.

The Championships

Wimbledon

Grass season ending with two weeks on the AELTC lawns. Except you know... (But they were the smartest in tennis! They got pandemic insurance!)