WIMBLEDON 2026

 

Dear George, 

The 2026 Wimbledon tennis championships begin tomorrow. Katja and I have watched Wimbledon since at least the 1970’s. So many legends: Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Chrissy Evert, Martina Navratilova, Ivan Lendl. The list goes on and on. In the early days TV carried only the men’s and women’s finals. Now there at least 12 hours of coverage per day on ESPN, ESPN+, and the Tennis Channel. Our TVs will be running nonstop. 

Wimbledon is regarded as the world’s premier tennis tournament. It’s also the oldest. The All England Croquet Club was founded in Wimbledon, England, in 1868. In 1876 lawn tennis was added to the club’s activities, and its name was changed to the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club. The first Wimbledon championship was held in July 1877. 22 men paid a guinea apiece to enter the event which was held over five days. Spencer Gore defeated William Marshall 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in 48 minutes, and he was awarded prize money of 12 guineas. The Ladies’ Singles competition was added in 1884, and Ladies’ doubles and mixed doubles were added in 1913. In 1913 a suffragette was arrested around midnight when she climbed over a hedge with paraffin and wood shavings in order to set fire to the grounds. The tournament was discontinued during World Wars I and II and during the pandemic in 2020. A German bomb hit the side of Centre Court in 1940. No British man won Wimbledon between Fred Perry in 1936 and Andy Murray in 2013, and no British woman has won since Virginia Wade in 1977. 

There are 128 players in the men’s draw and in the women’s draw. The top women’s seeds this year are: 1. Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus); 2. Elena Rybakina (Kazakhasetan); 3. Iga Swiatek (Poland); and 4. Jessica Pegula (U.S.). The top men’s seeds are: 1. Jannik Sinner (Italy); 2. Alexander Zverev (Germany); 3. Felix Auger-Aliassime (Canada); and 4. Ben Shelton (U.S.). We are rooting for Novak Djokovic (Serbia, seeded 7th) and Coco Gauff (U.S., also seeded 7th). If Djokovic wins, it will be his 25th Grand Slam title — the most by any man in tennis history. If Gauff wins at age 22, it will be her third Grand Slam title. Both the men’s winner and the women’s winner will receive $3 million pounds in prize money. 

Compared to the other Grand Slams (Australian, French, U.S. Open), a number of things make Wimbledon unique. It’s the only Grand Slam that is played on grass, the surface which generates the fastest tennis. The grass is cut to exactly 8 millimeters on every championship court. It’s also the only Grand Slam with a curfew (11 p.m.) Players are required to wear all-white or near-white. Women are not allowed on the court if they wear tops that show too much cleavage. It’s estimated that about 54,000 tennis balls are used each year in the tournament. Slazenger has provided all the balls since 1902. Fans can buy a used can after the tournament for about $2.50. Advertising at Wimbledon is minimal and low-key. Every morning a Harris hawk named Rufus is set free and circles the sky above the courts to scare away local pigeons. Attendees traditionally enjoy strawberries and cream, a tradition stemming back to King Henry VIII. Over 190,000 portions of strawberries and cream were served in a recent year. Traditionally players have bowed or curtsied to members of the royal family seated in the Royal Box on Centre Court, although since 2023 they are only required to do so if the Prince of Wales or the King is present. In 2024 line judges were replaced by electronic line calling technology. Demand for Centre Court matches far exceeds the available tickets (about a four to one ratio), and a lottery systems is used to sell tickets. Fans who want to buy tickets to the secondary courts normally have to wait in line overnight. 

As someone who grew up before television arrived in my hometown, having Wimbledon available in our living room is nothing short of a miracle. While I won’t watch every minute, I’m certain to watch every day. Go CoCo! Go Novak! 

Love, 

George

Sources: 

www.evanevanstours.com, “Weird and wonderful facts about Wimbledon”. 

www.historic-uk.com, “History of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships” 

www.thetimes.com, “Wimbledon 2026” 

www.wikipedia.org, “Wimbledon Championships”

Wimbledon Eve

DEAR GEORGE, Wimbledon is the world’s oldest tennis tournament, dating back to 1877 at the All England Club in suburban London. It has the distinction of being the only Grand Slam tournament played on grass courts. (There are four Grand Slams: the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open.) This year’s Wimbledon has special significance since the tournament was cancelled in 2020 because of the pandemic, its only cancellation since World War II. Americans aren’t as dominant as they were years ago. There are no American men seeded in the top 25, and only 3 seeded at all — Reilly Opelka at 27; John Isner, 28; and Taylor Fritz, 31. American women did better: Sofia Kenin, 4; Serena Williams, 6; Coco Gauff, 20; Jessica Pegula, 22; Madison Keys, 23; and Allson Riske, 28.

Two legendary players, members of the old guard, are seeking to add to their remarkable Wimbledon records. With 8 previous tournament victories, Roger Federer, age 39, has the best Wimbledon record of any man in the open era, and a ninth title this year would tie him with Martina Navratilova for the most of all times. However, no man over age 35 has ever won Wimbledon. Despite his two knee surgeries and a year of rehabilitation, fellow players and tennis experts aren’t counting Federer out. Second seed Daniil Medvedev observed, “I think Wimbledon is always — even when he will be 50 years old — a great chance for him.” The tournament also has historical implications for American super-star, Serena Williams. With her formidable serve and powerful groundstrokes, Williams’ game is perfectly suited for grass-court tennis, and she has won Wimbledon 14 times in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. At age 39 and seeded 6th, she needs one more victory to tie her with Margaret Court for the all-time Grand Slam victory total of 24, and she’s been pursuing that milestone since coming back from childbirth in 2017.

Novak Djokovic is the clear men’s favorite this year. A five-time Wimbledon winner, if he wins the tournament this year, it will be his 20th Grand Slam title and put him in a three-way tie with Federer and Rafael Nadal. Djokovic’s aspirations are entirely clear. After the French Open in May he commented, “I don’t have an issue to say that I’m going for the title in Wimbledon. Of course, I am.” Having already won the Australian Open and the French Open this year, Djokovic is in a position to win a calendar Grand Slam of all four major tournaments (if he wins at Wimbledon and the US Open), a feat no male player has accomplished in the last 51 years.

Not all the top players are playing. Rafael Nadal, currently number three in the world and a member of the Big Three who have dominated men’s tennis since 2003 (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic), recently withdrew from Wimbledon A two-time winner on Wimbledon’s grass courts, Nadal lost in a thrilling five-set French Open finals last month to Novak Djokovic, and, at age 34, he said he was “listening to his body” and forgoing Wimbledon to “prolong my career and continue to do what makes me happy.” Another of my favorites, Naomi Osaka, the No. 2 ranked women’s tennis player in the world, announced on June 17 that she was withdrawing from Wimbledon. According to a statement released by her agent, “She is taking some personal time with friends and family She will be ready for the Olympics and is excited to play in front of her home fans [in Japan].” At the recent French Open Osaka withdrew after the first round during controversy regarding her decision to skip required post match news interviews. Osaka revealed that she had been dealing with anxiety and depression issues since winning the US Open in 2018. I hope she’ll be back for the US Open at the end of August.

We also have our eye on Coco Gauff, the 17-year-old American who is partnering in Ladies’ Doubles with Cincinnati native, Caty McNally, and who captured fans’ attention by reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2019. Gauff reached the quarterfinals at the French Open last month, and she won the singles and doubles titles on clay courts at the 2021 Emilia-Romagna Open at Parma, Italy.

The only other man to win two Wimbledon titles in the last 20 years, Scotland’s Andy Murray is a dark horse at Wimbledon. After two hip surgeries and recurrent injuries, Murray has returned to the singles draw at Wimbledon for the first time since 2017. A British crowd favorite, Murray has said that his prospects at Wimbledon this year are unknown.

It seems like the Big Three have dominated men’s tennis forever, but the younger generation, now in their mid-twenties, are nipping at their heels, and it wouldn’t be surprising if one of them captured the title this year. The top contenders are: Daniel Medvedev (Russia, seeded 2nd), Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece, seeded 3rd), Alexander Zverev (Germany, seeded 4), Andrey Rublev (Russian, seeded 5th), and Matteo Berrettini (Italy, seeded 7th). Tsitsipas nearly upset Djokovic in a five-set thriller at the French Open final, Berrettini also pushed Djokovic to the limit in the French quarter-finals, and Medvedev is a two-time Grand Slam finalist and winner of the 2021 ATP Finals. The other top-ranked younger player, Austrian Dominic Thiem, who won the 2020 US Open, had to withdraw from Wimbledon because of injuries.

After a two-year wait, we are eager to watch lots of this year’s Wimbledon. Our hearts are with Roger Federer and Serena Williams, but we’re prepared for other more likely outcomes too. It’s at times like this that we appreciate what a miracle television is. In some ways it’s almost as good as being on the scene. Coverage on ESPN of Round 1 starts at 6 a.m. tomorrow. We’ll probably tune in a little bit later. LOVE, DAVE

What the Gentlemen Seeds at Wimbledon Have to Say

Dear George, 

Katja and I are busy with the first week of Wimbledon.  Sometimes I think we’ve watched Grand Slam tennis forever.  We were zealous fans of Rod Laver and Billie Jean King in the 1970’s, then Borg and McEnroe, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.  For the last fifteen years or so we’ve cheered the most for Roger Federer.   To get more sense of the current top-ranked players, here are selected quotes from the top men’s seeds at Wimbledon (see sources listed at the end).  Where available, I’ve tried to include players’ comments about their own game, their more general attitudes toward tennis, and one or two items about their personal lives.  Here are what the men’s seeds at Wimbledon have had to say.  

Love,

Dave

#1.  Andy Murray (Great Britain, age 30, 45 career titles)

• My speed is something that has made a difference to my whole career. When I've felt quick and I'm moving well, it makes a huge difference to my entire game. When I feel a bit slower, I end up doing a lot more defending. When I'm a bit quicker to the ball, I feel I can attack a lot more.
• In tennis, it is not the opponent you fear, it is the failure itself, knowing how near you were but just out of reach. 
• Contrary to my image, I do have a sense of humour.
• When I'm at home, I enjoy going go-karting. 

#2.  Novak Djokovic (Serbia, age 30, 68 career titles)

• I like my groundstrokes, I can say. I like it. That's my game - I'm a groundstroke player and I play pretty aggressive.
• Tennis is my life, obviously; I need to focus, I need to win. But it's not the only thing. I'm not going to play forever.
• I want to help children in Serbia and around the world so they can realize their dreams.
• I am very skinny.

#3.  Roger Federer (Switzerland, age 35, 92 career titles) 

• My favorite shot is always gonna be the forehand. It used to always be my favorite shot when I was young, so it's the one I've won all the points with.
• When you do something best in life, you don't really want to give that up - and for me it's tennis.
• I'm as patient a father as I am on the tennis court. It takes a lot for me to get really upset, but sometimes kids can get you really cross if they really keep bugging you.
• When I was 12 years old, I was just horrible. My parents were ashamed to watch my matches. I would play on a court at the local club and they would watch from the balcony. They would scream, 'Be quiet' to me and I would scream back, 'Go and have a drink. Leave me alone.' Then we would drive home in a very quiet car. No one speaking to each other.

#4.  Rafael Nadal (Spain, age 31, 73 career titles) 

• I play each point like my life depends on it.
• If you don't lose, you cannot enjoy the victories. So I have to accept both things.
• I am not the most courageous guy in the world outside of the court. Being alone in the dark is something I don't like.
• I learned during all my career to enjoy suffering.

#5.  Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland, age 32, 16 career titles) 

• I was a little bit lost in my head after winning a Grand Slam. You're like: 'So what's the next goal? What do you want now? Where do you want to be? It's not a problem if you lose.'
• As a tennis player you have to get used to losing every week. Unless you win the tournament, you always go home as a loser. But you have to take the positive out of a defeat and go back to work. Improve to fail better.  (azq) 
• I like my easy life at home. I like to live in Switzerland. I like to be with my wife, with my daughter, to take my daughter to school, to lead a normal life. I try everything possible to keep that.

#6.  Milos Raonic (Canada, age 26, 8 career titles) 

• When I'm playing well because of my serve and trying to keep points shorter, I don't need to worry about my opponent. All I need to do is focus on myself and have them adjust to me rather than me adjust to them. That's when I play my best tennis.
• I have an inability after matches are over to sort of switch off and relax completely.
• The responsibility I have is a great thing, from helping tennis grow in Canada, but also in the future, being able to do stuff through my foundation, helping kids, and helping everyone I can, and really trying to make a difference. It would be a shame to be in the spotlight, have a voice and not do much with it.

#7.  Marin Cilic (Croatia, age 28, 17 career titles) 

• For me, the most important part is the feeling on the court. Games on clay are a bit different than all the other surfaces. If I’m feeling really well on the court then on all surfaces and at all tournaments I’m very sure in myself and confident that I can beat the best guys. 
• The most special Slam is Wimbledon, of course. But where I feel the best is Melbourne. And you're happy that you're playing. When you get to the middle of the season, everything is week after week, and it's all routine. But when it's Melbourne in January, you are fresh and you want to play. It's nice.
• We (Croatians )don’t have good tennis schools. We don’t have too long of a tradition, as you said. We don’t have tennis centers like in bigger countries, France, Spain, that year after year the young ones are going through. Just every several years some youngster just comes up out of nowhere and he’s playing great tennis, and I feel that that’s the most important part that is in every one of us.

#8.  Dominic Thiem (Austria, age 23, 8 career titles) 

• I was feeling not comfortable all the last two years on grass. I think the biggest difference this year is of course I got a lot of self‑confidence, but the biggest difference I think is my movement. I am much more down and much more stable. You have to stay low. The balls, they stay low. I think I'm moving much better over grass than the last two years.
• I am very calm, maybe even more quiet than I look on the court. I think that is pretty simple to me to have great relationship with almost all other players. On the court I’m a bit more irascible, but you will never see that I go mad. 
• A penguin is my favorite animal. They are very funny and they always have a kind smile on their faces. They just always look happy. Seems like they never have any problems. 

#9.  Kei Nishikori (Japan, age 27, 11 career titles)

• I'm not the loudest guy on the tour, for sure. I'm more calm, I think private, too. I try to show my guts and everything, good energy on the court.
• I love shopping. Especially I love shopping in London. I like shopping for clothes but I think I have to stay focused on my game.

#10.  Alexander Zverev (Germany, age 20, 4 career titles) 

• I love playing tennis because it’s one on one sport. You don’t get that in any other sport really. The closest you get is probably boxing. You still have your coaches and your team in your corner telling you what to do and stuff. I think tennis all depends on yourself. And that’s something fantastic about tennis.
• There are a lot of stories about me being potential number one, about Kyrgios being a potential number one, about Borna Coric, but what I think that shows is there is a very strong group of teenagers or young guys coming up, I think we can all do great.

#11.  Tomas Berdych (Czechoslavakia, age 31, 13 career titles) 

• I think I can win a slam. That's my main goal, and if I could choose one, then yes, it would have to be Wimbledon. But, honestly, I would take any one of them.
• Every time I am off the tennis tour, I go back home.

#12.  Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France, age 32, 15 career titles) 

• The serve is the only thing you know about yourself when you play tennis. If you make it right, you make it right. Nobody can touch you when you serve. Nobody can disturb you. You have the ball in the hand.
• I wish I could’ve played 30 years ago. It was the best time to be a tennis player. Older players like Henri Leconte or Yannick Noah always tell me this. They had a lot of fun. Now it’s not possible because it is so professional and there is so much money.

SOURCES: www.brainyquote.com, www.tennismood.com, www.azquotes.com.  Also: www.asapsports.com; www.quotes.net; www.sundayquote.com; www.supanet.com; www.tennis-x.com; www.tennisquotes.com

Out and About

La Calisto, Cincinnati Opera

Dear George,

Though it’s still hot and muggy here, summer is gradually winding down.  Classes at the university start on Monday, first grade has already begun for our NOLA grandkids, and the NFL season and the US Open will be upon us before we know it.  The mid-summer highlights for us involved Cincinnati’s opera season.  Katja is an officer in the Opera Guild, the Cincinnati Opera’s fund-raising arm, and so she was immersed in a batch of activities and events, some of which she cajoled me into attending as well.  Her favorite opera this year was La Calisto; I liked Madame Butterfly best.  We both also enjoyed Carmen and Silent Night (set in a combat zone in France during World War I).  Katja, of course, is much more of an opera buff than I am, though, after forty years of accompanying her, I’ve become more and more appreciative.

The big August event for us was Cincinnati’s Western & Southern Open tennis tournament.  I’ve been going to it since it was a much smaller pro tournament in the late 1960’s.  Now it’s one of the top ten tournaments in the world, and it draws all of the leading men and women players, e.g., Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Serena and Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova.  Thanks to tickets from our friends Paula and Frank, we went to two evening sessions.  We were thrilled to watch Milos Raonic, seeded fifth and looking like a graphic novel superhero to me.  Federer, however, beat him in straight sets and went on to win the tournament for the sixth time.  Serena Williams won on the women’s side, her first Cincinnati title and one of the few majors that she hadn’t won over the years.  

A couple of days later I took our sheepdog Duffy on a short camping trip to nearby Winton Woods, while his brother Mike stayed home with Katja.  What a change – from big crowds and high stimulation to peace and tranquility.  The campground is spread out in a large stand of tall, elegant pines, and our campsite was right at the edge of the lake.  Duffy was an excellent companion.  

We’re looking forward to Autumn.  We’ll watch a lot of the US Open and cheer for the Bengals, Saints, and Packers.  Katja is flying to California for her nephew Tyler’s wedding.  I think I may have talked her into a camping road trip with the sheepdogs at some point after that.  We’ll get the catalog for OLLI classes at the university soon. All in all, life is looking good.

Love,

Dave

Blazing Serves and Fresh Lemonade

Dear George,

Thanks to gifts of tickets from our tennis-loving friends, Paula D., Frank C., and Tom J., Katja and I spent three afternoons at the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament in nearby Mason last week.  This world-class event just gets bigger every year.  It’s one of nine elite Masters 1000 tournaments on the men’s ATP World Tour and one of five Premier 5 tournaments on the women’s WTA Tour.   This year the draws included the top 44 men in the world and 44 of the top 46 women.  After a six-month injury layoff preceding this summer Rafael Nadal won the men’s title (prize money, $583,800), and second seed Victoria Azarenko was the woman’s champion ($426,000). 

Also known as the Cincinnati Masters, this is the oldest tennis tournament in the country that has been continually played in its original city.  It began in 1899 as the Cincinnati Open, held on the clay courts of the Avondale Athletic Club (now on the site of Xavier University’s campus).  In 1903 the tournament (subsequently named the Tri-State, the Western, and the ATP Championships) was moved to the Cincinnati Tennis Club and continued there until 1972.  After stints at the Cincinnati Convention Center and the Coney Island Amusement Park, a new tennis center was built in suburban Mason, and the tournament moved there in 1979.  The Lindner Family Tennis Center now has four permanent stadiums, the only tennis facility in the world, aside from the four grand slams, to have more than two stadiums.

I’ve been going to the Cincinnati tournament since the late 1960’s when my friend Clyde M. would organize pro tennis outings of grad students and faculty.  In those early days tournament winners included Ken Rosewall, Stan Smith, Jimmy Connors, and Ilie Nastase.  A daytime pass for the entire week in 1970 cost $10, about the price I paid for an order of fish and chips last week.  When our son J started playing in Cincinnati junior tennis tournaments in 1980, we became tournament regulars at Mason as did other local tennis families, cheering for John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Mats Wilander, and Stefan Edberg.  Since the tournament’s beginning in 1899 Roger Federer has won the most singles titles (5); Cincinnati’s Bill Talbert appeared in the most singles finals (7); and Bobby Riggs is one of the very few players who won three consecutive singles titles. 

We saw some wonderful players this year: Venus and Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Tomas Berdytch, Andy Murray, Juan Martin Del Potro, and Richard Gasquet.  John Isner, a 6-foot 10-inch American ranked No. 22 in the world, was the story of the tournament.  Isner, who’s currently the highest ranking American on the ATP tour, defeated No. 1 seed (Djokovic), No. 7 seed (Del Potro), 8th seed (Gasquet), and 11th seed  (Milos Raonic), before falling in the finals to Rafael Nadal, 7-6, 7-6.  Isner has a gigantic serve, the most powerful on the tour, and Nadal eked out a narrow victory without breaking Isner’s serve a single time.  We watched the men’s and women’s finals on TV, and both were tight, tense matches.  Azarenko won a close match against Serena Williams in three sets, decided by one or two points here and there.

Our weather was perfect, mostly highs in the mid-seventies.  We feasted on pretzels, fresh-squeezed lemonade, and spicy vegetarian wraps.  The crowd was festive and ritzier than our neighborhood grocery store or the public park down the street – leaner, blonder, more athletic looking, younger, and fashionably dressed.  Lots of tennis-playing teenagers with their team affiliations proudly displayed.  Katja bought us Western & Southern Open T-shirts, as well as a black Roger Federer cap for herself.  You’d have to say we look like tennis aficionados.  The legend on one woman’s hat proclaimed, “Life is Good!”  That pretty much sums up the scene.  Now we’re getting geared up for the U.S. Open which starts on TV tomorrow.  In the meantime, here are a few pics from the Western & Southern.  

Love,

Dave