Wimbledon, where dreams come true or collapse...

WIMBLEDON
Where dreams come true or collapse...

Carlos Alcaraz killed all the suspense on Sunday and all the hopes to see the same kind of blockbuster against Novak Djokovic as last year. In front of Kate Middleton, who received a standing ovation at her arrival, the Spaniard was simply way too good (6-2, 6-2, 7-6(4)).

HOW ALCARAZ WON: The Roland-Garros champion played a superb match, including breaking in the first game after 14 minutes. Overall, he looked like he had two more gears available that Sunday than Novak Djokovic. Carlos Alcaraz showed incredible power and accuracy throughout the final, served well, and proved to be an absolute wall. He put constant pressure on his rival and was able to weather all the storms. Even the one he created in his mind by getting broken at 6-2, 6-2, 5-4 40-0. His best match of the tournament, by far!

WHAT IT MEANS: Carlos Alcaraz won his second Wimbledon title and his fourth Grand Slam title overall. In four Grand Slam finals. He has become the 6th man in the Open Era to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year and the 2nd Spanish man in history to win multiple Wimbledon titles, after Rafael Nadal. At 21 years 70 days, Alcaraz became the third player in the Open Era to win multiple Wimbledon men’s singles titles aged 21 or under – after Boris Becker and Bjorn Borg. By winning his 4th Grand Slam title, he equaled the Open Era record for most Grand Slam men’s singles titles won aged 21 or under.

WHAT ALCARAZ SAID: “It is an amazing feeling for me being the champion here in Wimbledon back-to-back. I'm really proud and really happy about it. Obviously it was a great match for me. Obviously Novak didn't play his best the first two sets, a lot of mistakes. I made the most of that. I beat him today, but for me Novak is still being like a Superman because what he has done this tournament with a surgery a few weeks before. It is a great feeling even thinking about being French Open winner and Wimbledon champion the same year, that few players just done it before. It's unbelievable. At the end of my career, I want to sit at the same table as the big guys. That's my main goal. That's my dream right now.”

WHAT DJOKOVIC LOST: Novak Djokovic will not equal Roger Federer’s 8 titles at Wimbledon. He didn’t become the first player in history to win 8 or more titles at two Grand Slam tournaments. More importantly, he hasn’t clinched a 25th Grand Slam title, which would have meant claiming sole ownership of the all-time record for most Grand Slam singles titles won among men and women. But by reaching his 37th Grand Slam final (his 10th at Wimbledon) despite having a part of his meniscus surgically removed after his win in the 4th round of Roland-Garros, Djokovic won more than he lost at Wimbledon: he succeeded in recovering on time after trying everything. He exceeded what should be normal expectations.

WHAT DJOKOVIC SAID: “I tried to fight my way in the third and come back, saving three match points, extending really the match a little bit. But I guess it was inevitable for him to win today because he was just coming out on the court with a better quality tennis. It's as simple as it is. Just overall the way I felt on the court today against him, I was inferior on the court. That's it. He was a better player. He played every single shot better than I did. I've never seen him serve that way, to be honest. From the very beginning, you could see he was at least half a step better than I am in every way. If someone told me I would play Wimbledon finals three, four weeks ago, I would take it for sure. I've had so many different experiences throughout my career. In the face of adversity, normally I rise and I learn and get stronger. That's what I'm going to do.”

DOUBLES: Unseeded Henry Patten and Harri Heliövaara won an absolutely crazy final against Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson (6-7 (7), 7-6 (8), 7-6 (9)). Heliövaara’s joy after match point said it all and has already become a classic.

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Krejcikova’s racquet did the talking

It’s no secret on Tour that Barbora Krejcikova didn’t feel she got enough consideration and rewards from the sport, the sponsors, and the fans after she won Roland-Garros in 2021. It’s also no secret for the Tour that Barbora Krejcikova’s game is one of the best out there when it’s on. And gosh, it’s been on a lot during that 2024 edition. It now should be the main thing, and it seems that the Czech is at peace with that too now: her racquet does all the talking, and the rest should be a bonus. “This is crazy! It’s such a big tournament with such a huge history, especially for Czech tennis. It’s unbelievable that I’m part of the history right now,” Krejcikova told me nearly two hours after her triumph when I asked her why she could not believe her game won here.

On Saturday, the player with the best grass game won. And so Jasmine Paolini lost a second Grand Slam final in a row despite having the support of most of the crowd on that Centre Court. It’s very tough for the Italian, but at the same time, who would have thought she’d reach two Grand Slam finals back to back this year? She’s having the time of her career, even with these losses. I love Krejcikova’s game: the technique is so pure, the striking is flawless, and the ability to go from topspin to flat shots to attack from defense in one wrist motion is incredible. She rarely plays the wrong shots when on, and that serve is ace. We know she can get emotional, we know she can get wow nervous and miss a lot, and we were nearly there in that last service game (6-2, 2-6, 6-4).

“I was telling myself, Just try to make first serve and try to play your shot and just be brave.” The way she closed that match out, kicking every old demon away, was on its own worthy of that trophy. “Before winning Roland-Garros, I didn’t know I could win a Slam. Before coming here, I didn’t know I could win another Slam, so who knows what I’m capable of. The most important thing is to enjoy the journey and be happy on the court.” 

There have been eight women’s champions at Wimbledon in the past eight years, but it doesn’t matter as much as Barbora Krejcikova is making a lot of sense as a Wimbledon champion. “When I was little, I was very creative, and actually, my coach was telling me, ‘Please try to hit the same shot ten times,’ but it was very tough for me. It was natural.” That’s how Krejcikova explained how she ended with all the shots in the book: just because she could. She now has 2 Majors in singles, 7 in doubles, 3 in mixed doubles, and is back in the Top 10.

After she won, she was filmed standing in front of the board with all the names of the past champions. And now her name was there. Alongside her friend and mentor, Jana Novotna. And so Krejcikova broke down: she cried for several long minutes. Asked later what was going through her mind, she said: “The only thing that was going through my head was that I miss Jana a lot. It was just very, very emotional. Very emotional moment to see me on a board right next to here. I think she would be proud. I think she would be really excited that I'm on a same board as she is because Wimbledon was super special for her. I'm dreaming about her a lot, and we are talking in the dreams.” Krejcikova isn’t a woman of too many words so she picks them carefully and makes sure they go straight to the point. Just like her game.

DOUBLES: Taylor Townsend’s joy went through the Centre Court like the sun through the clouds as she clinched her first Grand Slam title in doubles with Ekaterina Siniakova, who earned her third Wimbledon title and Major number nine overall after also getting the trophy at Roland-Garros with Coco Gauff.

QUESTION OF THE DAY 
Will he or won’t he?

You were ALL telling me you were looking forward to the Olympics in Paris.

BUSINESS / MEDIA 
Wimbledon Keeps Taking On The World

Wimbledon doesn’t have night sessions in London, so it sets them up in NYC 🙂 It’s all part of a plan for worldwide domination—or maybe not that much, but still…

Wimbledon is aggressively growing its audience and engagement outside of the traditional tennis set-ups. This year, Wimbledon has recreated its tennis experience in the US with its “The Hill in New York” experience. And the crowd answered for the third year in a row, this time in Brooklyn Bridge Park for a doubled capacity. Nicole Scherzinger was performing on the concert stage set for the occasion.

The Marketing Brew reports that around 650 million people engage with the Wimbledon brand annually. “When people talk about Wimbledon, they immediately think of the green grass,” said Usama Al-Qassab, Wimbledon’s marketing and commercial director. “They think about the players wearing their all-white uniforms, strawberries and cream, ‘quiet, please,’ and tennis in an English garden…Our challenge isn’t really around awareness. It’s about having a depth of engagement, and it’s about broadening our audience. Tennis isn’t the largest sport in the world.”

 Brands like Ralph Lauren, American Express, or IBM sponsoring Wimbledon are grateful to see Wimbledon come to their home in the US. “The more that we do in the US, the more that we can reinvest in the US and elsewhere,” Al-Qassad said. “That means that we can start to engage new and different audiences more often throughout the year.” Wimbledon has also invested a lot in virtual tennis to try to woe Gen Z, opening its first-ever eSports tennis tournament, as viewers' numbers for televised sports are declining.

The WTA trusts Saudi Arabia’s investment and private equity funding to reach new highs

In an interview with the FT, Marina Storti, chief executive of WTA Ventures, said that Saudi Arabia’s investment via its Public Investment Fund (PIF), added to the already existing investment from private equity fund CVC Capital Partners, will send the WTA into much higher ambitions. “We have all the support we need,” says Storti.

“We have all of the ingredients. We have the right people. We have some of the best known and most inspiring female athletes. It’s all about execution. (…) We want the WTA to become a household name, and we want our players to be household names, and we want a brand that’s very relevant and resonates with as many demographics as possible.” Despite the criticism faced for inking that deal with Saudi Arabia, Storti insists it will be good for the sport. “We spent time engaging with everyone, explaining our rationale, but also hearing the questions and addressing their concerns. This is a really, really good partnership for the sport. Entering a new country that has a very young population with huge potential for growth, in its own right, is super important.”

Nielsen says: Trust Women’s sports

Those still sleeping on women’s sports might soon feel some big FOMO. As Sounds Profitable reports after they had access to a report from Nielson, “The global women’s sports industry saw a 300% rise in revenue since 2021 and has begun to beat out viewership records for the men’s league.”

Inside Audio Marketing adds, still from that Nielson report, that:

• The research company says data shows global fans of women’s sports are a diverse group — 43% of women’s sports fans are male, it says. And women’s sports fans skew young, are tech savvy and are highly engaged consumers. Nielsen says 74% of women’s sports fans are the chief income earner in their household, compared to 70% of men’s sports fans. And 57% of women’s sports fans have kids under the age of 18, compared to 53% of men’s sports fans.”
  

• “These are invested audiences with significant purchasing power — a brand’s dream,” Nielsen says in a blog post. “Women’s sports are gaining serious traction with desirable audiences. And it’s done so by following its own playbook. When compared to men’s sports, the audiences are different, media consumption is different and fan expectations are different. This makes it a particularly exciting and vital time for everyone to tailor and sharpen their growth strategies.”

Women’s top sports could generate more than $1 billion this year.

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Worthy of your attention

Here are a few other newsletters I follow and thought might be a good fit for you, too. I was already subscribing to most of them before entering their affiliate partnership, full disclosure.

• Front Office Sports is the newsletter I have started to read the most this year. It’s keeping me updated on everything going on in the business of professional sports. I’m learning things every time.

• The Scouting Report, Bottom of the Ninth, and The Athlete Exec give very useful insight into the backstage of professional sports decision-making and into professional sports business trends.

• The Goodnewsletter is a nice break of good vibes and good news when sometimes you feel everything is going South. It’s great to be able to read about things that go well in this world. In the same vibe and if you have a dog or just love dogs, have a look at The Morning Bone.

• Techpresso gets me to learn and care about tech news, and let me tell you that this is no small feat.

• NIL Wire helped me understand what was happening with College athletes getting all these deals. As more and more tennis players are coming from this path, I figure it’s a good idea to keep an eye on that.

SOME BREAK POINTS… 
Etcheverry came to Nadal’s rescue?

• Well, that might be a tad dramatic. Still, when Rafael Nadal felt he needed more training after Roland-Garros in order to be fit for Bastad the Olympics, he called…Tomas Martin Etcheverry to train with him. Where? In Greece at the Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre. “I’ve had the chance to ask him things, ask for advice, and he was always very humble, helping, making progress, and he had a lot of time for everyone. These days have been a dream for me, a really amazing experience, above all spending time with Rafa, a player I’ve been watching since I started to play tennis, one of the best in history, so it was crazy. It was a privilege and an honor,” Etcheverry told ATPTour.com/es

• Ferrero won’t join Alcaraz at the Olympics unless… Juan Carlos Ferrero will not go to Paris for the Olympics with Carlos Alcaraz, reports Marca. His agent, Albert Molina, will be by his side instead. But David Ferrer, being the head of the selection, and Rafael Nadal, being on the team, surely Ferrero felt there were enough people already around Alcaraz. He’ll come to Paris if Alcaraz reaches the final. As he showed by taking a break between Roland-Garros and Wimbledon, Ferrero knows how to balance coaching Alcaraz and enjoying his top player retirement.

• Serena to party in Paris. The Olympics are for sports, but also the parties? Well, Paris says, “Yes, obviously.” Boardroom reports that Pharrell will host a pre-Olympics event on July 25tgh with LVMH and that Serena Williams will join the fun. It will be “an exclusive gathering” set at the Fondation Louis Vuitton. “Headlining the event with Pharrell are LVMH boss Bernard Arnault, Comcast's Brian Roberts, and Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour. Serena Williams, Rosalía, Charlize Theron, and Omar Sy are listed as additional co-hosts.”

• On Takes Over The Champs Elysées. On’s largest flagship yet opens in Paris on time for the Olympics on three levels, reports WWD. The brand takes over a building that was Nike’s store until 2019. It’s the second Parisian address for On after the opening at the Marché Saint-Germain.

Learn how to make AI work for you.

AI breakthroughs happen every day. But where do you learn to actually apply the tech to your work? Join The Rundown — the world’s largest AI newsletter read by over 600,000 early adopters staying ahead of the curve.

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2. They send you daily emails on impactful AI tools and how to apply it

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EDITOR’S PICKS 

READ: The Times reported on how Maria Sharapova is as much a tennis icon as a business one. With Forbes estimating Sharapova made over $250 million in prize money and endorsements between 2005 and 2015, the former World No.1 hasn’t stopped succeeding after she retired from the game. “She’s on the board of Moncler [an Italian fashion brand] and has a portfolio of around eight to 10 brands for which she’s either consulting on the board, an adviser or has equity. Recently, she did a deal with Aman Resorts [an international hotel company] as their global wellness ambassador,” said her long-time agent, Max Eisenbud.

WATCH: 14 minutes of visiting the Cotswolds. The Tour is soon leaving the UK, but you might want to get a last dose of it for the journey 🙂