MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
It's here - the big weekend at Wimbledon, and the singles finals are now set. After a long - actually, historically long - grueling five-hour and 15-minute quarterfinal match this week, Novak Djokovic lost in straight sets in today's semifinal against Jannik Sinner. He will meet Alexander Zverev, who took out All England club's local hero, Arthur Fery, to reach the finals this weekend. On the women's side, we're looking at an all-Czech final tomorrow. Ava Wallace of the Athletic has been following the joy and the heartbreak from Wimbledon. Hi there. Welcome back to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
AVA WALLACE: Thanks for having me.
KELLY: OK, before we look ahead, quick look back - I mentioned Djokovic, who is now 39, who's won Wimbledon over and over in past years, and Serena Williams, who also pulled out a racket and hit the grass again this year. How did she and Djokovic meet the moment?
WALLACE: Hoo (ph), they both met the moment in very different ways and had very different times that they stayed on the court. But - so Serena was really - she lost her first round match against Maya Joint, who is an Aussie who was raised in the U.S., actually, so quite aware of all things - legendary Serena Williams. She handled herself super well in that match, and Serena looked understandably rusty.
It was her first singles match in about four years since she, quote-unquote, "evolved away" from tennis at the U.S. Open in 2022. It was a really hard-fought match, but, you know, it was her first match. She was playing a 20-year-old. She couldn't move as well as she - as we're used to seeing her move. Her serve was still there. But yeah, she had a lot of rust to shake off her game.
And she kind of came into this - her comeback to tennis - saying that, you know, whatever happens happens. She would be fine with whatever. She just wanted her two young daughters to see her play. And I have to say, it did not seem like that after the match. It seemed like that old Serena Williams was kind of right there and just as angry after a loss as ever.
KELLY: Taking it just as seriously as she ever did, as she should. OK. I mentioned Jannik Sinner ousting Djokovic in straight sets. What's our takeaway from that? Maybe next year, Novak?
WALLACE: Maybe next year. He said afterwards that he'd like to come back when he's 40 years old and try again for his - well, by then, if he hasn't won his 25th - record 25th Grand Slam, I don't know. That might be a window that's closing quickly for Djokovic. He looked totally flat after what you mentioned, a five-hour and 15-minute match against Felix Auger-Aliassime.
And that's kind of Djokovic's problem, is he's gonna have to win seven Grand Slam matches if he wants to get that record, and Jannik Sinner is way too good right now. The world No. 1 hasn't really been tested here this fortnight, but he didn't look like he needed a warm up match against Djokovic.
KELLY: What are we watching for as Alexander Zverev attempts to test him in the men's final Sunday? And am I right in thinking they've never played each other at Wimbledon?
WALLACE: It's actually been about three years since Zverev beat Sinner in any match anywhere...
KELLY: OK.
WALLACE: ...On any surface. And so what's kind of changed in this rivalry is that since they last played two months ago, Alexander Zverev has won a Grand Slam final, and that really helps with a tennis players confidence and belief that they can actually make it to the end. I don't know how much his game has changed. Jannik Sinner looked pretty tough today. They're two big servers, but Jannik Sinner is the best returner in the game right now, better even than Djokovic, which Djokovic said today.
KELLY: OK, to the women. Before we get to the semifinal match tomorrow, your quick thoughts on Coco Gauff, American Coco Gauff, who found herself on the losing end of a tiebreak.
WALLACE: It was a heartbreaking match for Coco, but Coco Gauff can only take positives from this Wimbledon, really, even though she lost. She did not come in, even though she's a two-time Grand Slam champion. Nobody ever expects her to do well on grass. It doesn't really suit her game, and here she was in a semifinal. She had match point. It was a tough point (laughter). But she'll try again next year. She felt like she made a breakthrough on grass, she said, which is huge because Wimbledon matters more than anything to most tennis players, I would say.
KELLY: So just quickly, this leaves us with an all-Czech final. The Czechs cannot lose. What are you looking forward to tomorrow?
WALLACE: I am - this is a really interesting clash of styles. So Linda Noskova - she's 21-years-old. She's got a big serve, pretty classic grass court tennis in one way, where she can kind of just, bang, hit the ball.
KELLY: Right.
WALLACE: And I'll be interested to see if she can keep her cool. On the other side of the net, Karolina Muchova is every tennis player's favorite tennis player, I would say. She's creative. She's great at improvising. She has all these angles and patterns, and it'll be interesting in her second Grand Slam final to see if...
KELLY: Yeah.
WALLACE: ...She finally closes it out.
KELLY: Ava Wallace with The Athletic in Wimbledon. Thanks so much. Happy tennis.
WALLACE: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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