But before anything else, I\u00a0 have to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the late great Arthur Ashe<\/strong> winning this tournament. It was quite the coup, and more importantly, a historic feat for a black man. I didn\u2019t witness the Championship match against Arthur\u2019s fellow American Jimmy Connors<\/strong>, but I still remember where I was and with whom when he passed away.<\/p>\n Grigor Dmitrov grabbing his torn pec. Photo by Karen Salkin, as is the one above.<\/p><\/div>\n I also must spare a thought for Grigor Dmitrov<\/strong>.\u00a0 The thirty-four-year-old veteran player who had been expected to win at least one Major back in the day, but is now towards the end of his career, was two-sets-to-none up on World No. 1 Jannik Sinner<\/strong> in the fourth round. And then\u2026he tore his pec! So, of course, he had to retire from the match and tournament. Sinner\u2019s elbow had just been injured a bit in that match, so it was looking very likely that Grigor would have won, and then move on to the important Quarterfinal! And this is the fifth consecutive Major in which he had to retire with an injury! Sometimes life is just not fair. (But don\u2019t cry for him too much\u2014his girlfriend is gorgeous actress Eiza Gonzalez, so she\u2019s probably nursing him back to health.)<\/p>\n Adorable Carlos Alcaraz, watching a clip of something he did on court. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n And then, just a few days later, yesterday, Sinner won the Championship!!! Over two-time defending Champion Carlos Alcaraz<\/strong>! They\u2019re both lovely young men, so I can\u2019t be sad, but I was rooting for Carlos. Oh well. He already has a quintet of Majors himself. So congrats to Jannik. And also to Iga Swiatek<\/strong>, a first-time Ladies Champ. I\u2019ve actually never seen someone more excited to win here. And then they got to dance together at the Champions Ball last night, so I can\u2019t wait to see video of that<\/em>!<\/p>\n Now I have to vent about some of the ESPN on-air personnel right away, before I get to anything else:<\/strong><\/p>\n Mr. X pointed this one out, and I can\u2019t believe I never noticed it before. When the coverage begins or comes back from break, the unseen announcer calls it \u201cWimbledAn\u201d as opposed to the correct \u201cWimbledOn.\u201d How is that even possible???<\/p>\n I\u2019m very upset with the channel because they deprived me of seeing even one second of Matteo Berrettini<\/strong>\u2019s gorgeous visage! (He lost in the first round, and they never showed any<\/em> of that match!)<\/p>\n ESPN studio host Chris McKendry, whose reporting is even worse than her fashion sense. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n I\u2019m glad the oldsters are still the tennis commentators on ESPN, but I cannot stand the way they infantilize each other\u2019s names, such as \u201cCliffie,\u201d (Cliff Drysdale<\/strong>,) \u201cPammie,\u201d (Pam Shriver<\/strong>,) \u201cStubbsie,\u201d (Rennae Stubbs<\/strong>,) \u201cChrissie,\u201d (Chris Evert<\/strong>,) and even \u201cJohn-nie\u201d (for basic \u201cJohn McEnroe<\/strong>.\u201d) Ugh. It\u2019s sooo creepy. All they\u2019re missing are Sleepy, Grumpy, and Dopey. Doc wouldn\u2019t stand a chance with these peeps!<\/p>\n It was so much better this year to hear Patrick McEnroe<\/strong> start off the coverage each day instead of that annoying woman, Chris McKendry<\/strong>. She gets dumber every year. So let\u2019s get to just a small percentage of her stupidity:<\/p>\n I have no idea why, but they let her take the lead on commentating a few matches, (even though she\u2019s the main studio<\/em> host,) and she\u00a0did not stop talking all through Aryna Sabalenka<\/strong>\u2019s entire match!!! McKendry should never be allowed in a match booth again! The commentators are supposed to be mum during the actual points! How could she not know that???<\/p>\n And, later, she told a new<\/em> member of their team to \u201cremember to talk,\u201d when they\u2019re commentating, making it sound like she<\/em> had forgotten to do so! All she did<\/em> was talk through every point!!!<\/p>\n Then she mispronounced Emma RadUcanU\u2019s last name as \u201cRadAcanA!\u201d What a moron. She\u2019s the friggin\u2019 host, for goodness sake\u2014just learn the players\u2019 names before you get on the air and embarrass yourself!<\/p>\n Andy Roddick, looking less than great as a guest in the Royal Box. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n And, when Carlos Alcaraz won his quarterfinal, she said, \u201c\u2026first time Alcaraz is playing Week 2.\u201d What was she even talking about?! He\u2019s won the whole thing for the past two years! So this is at least his third<\/em> time into Week 2! Why doesn\u2019t anyone at the desk with her correct her already, especially when she gives out such<\/em> incorrect info! (She later told us that two girls played \u201cfifteen years ago\u201d in\u20262016<\/em>! Can she not do basic math??? That was nine<\/em> years ago, not fifteen. Ugh.)<\/p>\n Then she interviewed Andy Roddick<\/strong> at the end of the first week. (I\u2019m in shock that Andy speaks so well, by the way. He sounds really intelligent. And amusing enough without showing that he thinks<\/em> that he is.) And she told him how smart he is, when she\u2019s<\/em> the opposite! Oysh.<\/p>\n And how could she not have asked him why his kids never saw a tennis match?! And why do they not play? Did he try to get them to? Just a few questions that would have been great to ask when he mentioned that situation. How did she get this job? And better yet\u2014keep<\/em> it?!<\/p>\n Now that I just had a few minutes to calm down about all that idiocy, I can get to a few of my disparate overall<\/em> observations of this years\u2019 Wimbledon:<\/strong><\/p>\n The players here are, of course, seeded, so they can be paired up properly against each other. (I\u2019m explaining that for the nescients reading this.) And more seeds went out early here than ever before. I\u2019ve never seen anything like it. Thirty-one of the sixty-four seeded players (between both genders) were out in the first three days!<\/p>\n Just a pair of the ladies in need of better bras. And posture! Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n There were sooo many females in need of better bras! Or bras, period. First of all, the young ladies do not stand-up straight, and with the bad bras, they all look so dumpy. Mr. X watched more of the tourney than ever with me, and he could not believe how awful the majority of them looked. Also, since the girls are all incredible athletes, one would assume that they would have low body fat, which looked to be far from the case.<\/p>\n They now allow women to wear different-colored shorts under their dresses, instead of the usually-required all-white. (Wow\u2014three hyphenated terms in one sentence!!!)\u00a0 Can you figure-out why? I think I<\/em> have. It\u2019s to make them less self-conscious if they have their periods!!! I\u2019m pretty sure of it. And\u2026good idea!<\/p>\n Favorites, (but who didn\u2019t win,) Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz are both so charming. That\u2019s really why I root for them, more than for their athletic prowess.<\/p>\n Carlos Alcaraz, grabbing a water bottle to rush over to a spectator in need. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n When a spectator needed a bit of medical attention on the first very hot day, Carlos Alcaraz went and got a bottle of water to give to the people working on the heat-affected person! In the middle of the all-important fifth set! Not just because of this incident, but Carlos is one of the most genuinely nice people in sports. (Aryna did the same thing a few days later, along with ice, and she did it at the most dramatic moment in the semifinals for herself. And the ice she gave was an ice pack that she<\/em> was using to cool her own face down! And she had to walk all the way across the court and the heat to do it. I told<\/em> you she\u2019s a good girl.)<\/p>\n She also said the cutest and most amusing thing during one of her post-match on-court interviews. The interviewer asked what she thought of all the upsets, to which she answered, \u201cI hope it\u2019s no upsets anymore in this tournament.\u00a0 I mean if you know what I mean!\u201d That means that she was hoping that she<\/em> would win the whole thing, because if she lost<\/em> at any point, being seeded #1, it would be an upset.<\/p>\n Aryna Sabalenka’s adorbs strawberries and cream bracelet. And good green nails! Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n Her Wimbledon bracelet, with adorbs tiny strawberries and pearls as the cream, is the cutest thing I ever saw! So not only is Aryna a Majors<\/em> Champion, she\u2019s now also a jewelry<\/em> champ!<\/p>\n Eventual Gentlemen\u2019s Champion, Jannick Sinner, is also a good guy. When he won in the quarters only because Grigor Dmitrov had to retire with that pec injury, he did the post-match interview only<\/em>\u00a0for the purpose of praising Grigor!<\/p>\n Alcaraz\u2019s first match here was Italian player Fabio Fognini<\/strong>\u2019s last match ever! And it was a great one.\u00a0 I loved seeing opponents laughing together and having fun.<\/p>\n I like Ben Shelton<\/strong>, but he needs to stop picking his fingers while being interviewed. Or ever<\/em>!<\/p>\n But I love that Ben mentioned that so many people he loves are there in his box! And most are his family\u2014father, mother, and sister. We should all<\/em> have a son like that!<\/p>\n Why would British guy Cam Norrie<\/strong> not dye that crazy big gray streak in the front of his hair???<\/p>\n Poor Brit Oliver Tarvet<\/strong> had to play Alcaraz here, and he hadn\u2019t lost a match since November!\u00a0 He\u2019s in college in the U.S., this was his Majors debut, he needed a Wild Card to get into just the Qualifying, and here he was at Centre Court playing Carlos!!! This is one situation I can truly say is amazing!<\/p>\n Marketa Vondrousova’s odd tats. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n Marketa Vondrousova<\/strong> has the worst arm tattoos I\u2019ve ever seen. They look like a kid just drew squiggles on them, with a weak pen, to boot!<\/p>\n Teen-ager Mirra Andreeva<\/strong>\u2019s reaction to seeing Roger Federer \u201cin real life\u201d was adorbs. But get in line, honey!<\/p>\n Some of the commentators were mentioning their fave tennis players, so Patrick McEnroe said, \u201cAnd my<\/em> favorite is my brother,\u201d referring to John McEnroe. So cute.<\/p>\n Carlos said, \u201cTennis is really a mental sport. How you talk to yourself is really important.\u201d I<\/em> say that\u2019s a lesson for all<\/em> life.<\/p>\n I give Fabio Fognini soooo much credit. He lost in the first round to Alcaraz, but then came back for his fellow Italian Flavio Cobolli<\/strong>\u2019s quarterfinal match against Novak Djokovic<\/strong>!!!<\/p>\n And I give Cobolli credit for hanging in there with Novak!<\/p>\n Throughout the tourney, the ESPN people kept discussing mental health, which is good to talk about. But I thought that I<\/em> was going to go mental if I heard about the players\u2019<\/em> mental health any more!!!<\/p>\n On that topic, I am now very worried about Sasha Zverev<\/strong>. He was the #3 seed, but lost in the first round. And then in his press conference, he said he feels very alone. And his father and brother are his coaches, so he always has people who love him! It\u2019s so sad. I hope someone helps him, and soon.<\/p>\n On the other hand, Naomi Osaka<\/strong>, who has always<\/em> suffered with her<\/em> mental health, just seems like a bitter woman these days.\u00a0 Her constant screaming and missing her tosses is so rude to her opponents.\u00a0 She needs to get it together or just stop competing again.<\/p>\n Chris Evert said about mental health, \u201cIt\u2019s very important to have a balanced life.\u201d\u00a0I hope the players heed her wise words.<\/p>\n Chris Fowler and John McEnroe being devastated for Grigor Dmitrov while calling the match in which Grigor tore his pec muscle. I’m sure we all felt the same. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n Now to the Semis and Finals:<\/strong><\/p>\n Thirty-eight-year-old Novak Djokovic has hung in there on the tour only because he\u2019s desperate to win what would be his record-breaking twenty-fifth Major! But, with Alcaraz and Sinner in his way, it\u2019s highly unlikely that that will ever happen. He was a shadow of his old self in the Semis against Sinner, losing in straight sets. With his truly beautiful children at home, and many charitable works, I think he should give it up already. I wonder if his long-suffering wife agrees with me.<\/p>\n The Ladies Final was a true humiliation for runner-up Amanda Anisomova<\/strong>. At least she made over a million dollars for the appearance. So maybe she can take some more tennis lessons. (Too soon?) (Or she could buy her mom a manicure\u2014she had just flown in that morning, but her nails were beyond a mess! Petty of me to mention it, I know.)<\/p>\n The champagne cork landing right near Sinner’s feet! Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n But Amanda\u2019s concession speech was great! I\u2019m so impressed that she did so well. Good for her. But she should have ended with, \u201cI\u2019m going to take my team out for more bagels now.\u201d (She didn\u2019t win even one game in the Final, which means she got \u201cbagled!\u201d)<\/p>\n With new Champion Iga Swiatek\u2019s stunning victory, everybody<\/em> is going to start eating her nauseating fave dish, pasta and strawberries with yogurt!<\/p>\n During the Gentlemen\u2019s Final, someone popped a champagne bottle in the middle of the match, and the cork flew onto the court! Just as Sinner was serving. Now I truly have seen everything<\/em> in tennis.<\/p>\n And lastly, I hate that Princess Kate<\/strong>, who presents the Championship trophies, doesn\u2019t acknowledge every<\/em> ball kid as she arrives on court. I know that it\u2019s tradition to do it that way, but it\u2019s a terrible policy.<\/p>\n![\"Grigor](\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_0941-e1752509336420.jpg\")
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