Marketa Vondrousova predicts ‘many surprises’ will occur in this year’s Wimbledon draw as she bids to become the first woman since 2016 to defend their title. 

The Czech stunned the draw 12 months ago when she beat Ons Jabeur to claim her first and only major title. Her triumph made Vondrousova the seventh different player to win the trophy in as many years. The women’s game has had a reputation for inconsistency over the years but more shocks appear to occur on the grass. 

“I think the draw is really open, for sure. I think we can expect many surprises on the grass courts. I feel like you never know what’s going to happen there,” the world No.6 said on Sunday. 
“I feel like women’s tennis and women’s draws are really open these days and matches are tough, even from the first round. I think we can expect tough matches from the first matches.”

It is this unpredictability that is making the 25-year-old stay grounded about her chances in this year’s event. She is yet to win a title in 2024 with her best run being on the clay when she reached the semi-finals in Stuttgart, as well as the quarter-finals of the French Open. More recently, in Berlin, she suffered an injury scare after slipping on the German grass. 

“I feel like you just have to prepare for the stress and the pressure. Now people are watching you more, they expect you to play semis or finals in every tournament. I don’t think that’s possible.” She said.
“I don’t think you can feel stress-free at all when you are 6 in the world.”

Fortunately for Vondrousova, the scare wasn’t significant enough to have any impact on her Wimbledon preparation. In the first round, she will take on Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro who has won two ITF events and a WTA 125 already this year. 

“It was really scary. I didn’t play for a couple of days. I’m feeling good. I hope it’s going to be okay.” She concluded.

The last woman to win back-to-back Wimbledon titles was Serena Williams.

On the 50th anniversary of Chris Evert’s maiden Wimbledon win, she returns to the Grand Slam in the middle of a new documentary being produced about her and fellow rival Martina Navratilova. 

Evert, who won three out of her 18 major titles at the All England Club, remembers her 1974 triumph as if it was yesterday. Speaking to the media on Sunday afternoon, she detailed her roller-coaster journey to the title and the obstacles she faced. How she managed to beat Lesley Hunt in her opening match with the help of some advice from her former partner, Jimmy Connors, who told her to go to the net. Although she believes her maiden triumph was one she was lucky to win. 

“I remember that year I should never have won Wimbledon because I was in the same tournament as Billie Jean King, who I hadn’t beaten on grass yet, and Evonne Goolagong, who had my number on grass,” Evert said during a special Wimbledon press conference. 
“Martina and I often talk about the Wimbledons you should have won. That was one that I had no right winning.”

The American’s career was shaped by her incredible rivalry with nine-time Wimbledon champion Navratilova, who she lost to in five finals. They locked horns 80 times in the sport, with 60 of those meetings being in tournament finals. Over the year’s a strong bold formed between the two, who at one stage were also a formidable doubles pairing. 

“We really got close emotionally. Then Martina started beating me. I felt like, Okay, she’s getting too close, she knows my emotions, she knows my game too well.” She said. 
“I had to tell her, I can’t play doubles with you because I feel like it’s affecting my singles.
“I always found it hard to play a match against somebody that I cared about, especially like my sister Jeanne. I had to play against her three times, and it was awful.”

The two tennis greats continue to be there for each other until this day, even when tragedy occurs. At the same time, both women were diagnosed with cancer but have since beaten the disease. Evert has had ovarian cancer, whilst Navratilova also had the disease in her breasts and throat.

“This cancer brought us much closer together, which is kind of ironic that something like that would be kind of a blessing in a way, in many ways, and one of those ways that it brought us closer together,” Evert commented. 

Even now the duo remain highly influential in the world of tennis with each of them turning to broadcasting. Unlike others in the sport, they don’t shy away from speaking out about social issues such as the upcoming US elections or Navratilova’s view on transgender athletes. Earlier this year they co-wrote an article opposing the stage of the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia due to its human rights record. 

As for their legacy in the sport, like on the court Navratilova believes there is always room for improvement in women’s tennis. 

“It’s thrilling to see the attention and the money that everybody is making now. It could be better. At least we have equal prize money at all the majors.” She said. 
“I think the women’s tennis was kind of at the forefront of women realizing they can ask for more and feel that they’re worth it.”

It is yet to be confirmed when the upcoming documentary about Evert and Navratilova will be released. It is being produced by EverWonder Studio and Meadowlark Media with their focus being on a series of topics. One of which is to encourage more people to undergo medical checks following their experiences.

“That’s part of the documentary. To help people take care of themselves and to motivate people to maybe do a little bit more with themselves.” Navratilova concludes. 

Alejandro Tabilo won his second title of the year with a straight sets 6-3, 6-4 victory over Sebastian Ofner in the final of the Mallorcan Open – and now rises to a career-high ranking of 19. 

The versatile Chilean – who was just inside the top 150 last year – had reached finals on all surfaces this year and secured his second career title after winning in Auckland at the start of the season. His win makes it the first time in almost twenty years that along with Nicolas Jarry, there are two Chileans in the top 20 (since Fernando Gonazles and Nicolas Massu in 2005).

“It’s an unreal feeling,” said Tabilo afterwards. “I can’t believe it. Hopefully [my ranking] can keep on going up. It’s been an unbelievable year. All the support of all the Chileans at home, my team, my girlfriend. It’s been a crazy year. It’s been very nice, this whole level I’ve been playing. Hopefully I can keep it up and just keep showing what I can do.”

In their first meeting on tour, both players settled well and held their first two service games before fourth seed Tabilo broke serve for a 4-2 lead and held on to take the first set in exactly thirty minutes. Games went with serve in the second until Tabilo broke again after a long deuce game at 4-4 and squeezed through his final service game saving a breakpoint, finishing with nine winners, five aces, and 86% points won behind first serve. 

Ofner was aiming for his first tour title but made seventeen unforced errors in the match and now heads to Wimbledon where a potential second round meeting with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz awaits. Tabilo, who was beaten in the doubles final in Mallorca, faces home hope Dan Evans in the first round.

Meanwhile, over in Eastbourne where both men’s and ladies events were taking place, top seed Taylor Fritz beat Max Purcell 6-4, 6-3 to become the first three-time winner of the tournament and regain his place as America’s number one player. He will be aiming for a deep run at Wimbledon next week where he has no ranking points to defend.

The 26-year-old, who also won the title in 2019 and 2022, won five tie-breakers in his previous matches and took the first set when Purcell double faulted, and broke serve to love when 3-2 ahead in the second. The only resistance he faced was when serving for the title and being dragged back to deuce from 40-0, before he successfully challenged a line call on match point when he hit a forehand approach shot on the line. 

“First off, congrats to Max’s team, it’s your first final and a huge accomplishment, I’m sure you will be in plenty more, especially on grass. It was a really tough match, it was a nightmare to play some of those games,” said Fritz during the trophy presentation. “Thank you to all my team for being here. I don’t know what it is [about Eastbourne], my first title, then third, now eighth, there’s something about it that I really love. The crowd support every year, it’s so great to see all the love. I just love being in Eastbourne and having this week before Wimbledon, it’s one of my favourite events.”

And in the WTA 500 Final, Daria Kasatkina won her seventh career title – and her first on grass – as she beat Leylah Fernandez 6-3, 6-4. The World number 14, who beat Emma Raducanu and Jasmine Paolini on the way to the final, was also the runner up in last year’s event. She got the early break of serve in the first set and also led 3-0 in the second. However, Fernandez fought back winning four games in a row before Kasatkina refocussed to win the final three games. 

Kasatkina played her fourth final of the year and was clearly relieved after her win. “It’s been a year, but it feels like it’s been a few days since last year when I was standing here,” said Kasatkina on court afterwards. “I just feel like I put down some very heavy backpack. Even though I understand that playing the fourth final of the year, it’s a great achievement, still, if you don’t win, you have a very bitter feeling after that.”