10 Wimbledon Takeaways

On Double Bagels, Strawberry Pasta and the Healing Power of a Good TikTok Dance-Off

by Richard Osborn

1. IGA’S BACK (AS IF SHE WERE REALLY EVER GONE)…

Iga Swiatek’s dominant run to her sixth Grand Slam trophy shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise to any of us. The Pole had prevailed at Wimbledon before, after all, capturing the junior singles title back in 2018. But the former No. 1 hadn’t exactly been herself of late, title-less on the year and suddenly overshadowed by the fast-emerging rivalry between Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff. Plus, she’d never managed to muster her best tennis on the tour level at the All England Club, her best previous result a quarterfinal in 2023. But with a 6-0, 6-0 toppling of Amanda Anisimova, the Pole became only the fourth woman this century (joining Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Ashleigh Barty) to win majors on all three surfaces — hard, clay and grass. For anyone who might have been questioning Swiatek and her team (especially, as she noted, the media in her homeland), it was sweet redemption: “I hope they will just leave me alone and let me do my job because, obviously, you can see that we know what we’re doing,” she said. “I have already proved a lot. I know people want more and more, but it’s my own process and my own life and my own career. Hopefully, I’m going to have a freedom from them to let me do my job the way I want.”

2. JANNIK GOT OVER HIS PARIS SLIPUP IN A HURRY…

Those three championship points Jannik Sinner let slip away at Roland Garros, when he was stunned by rival Carlos Alcaraz in five-and-a-half hours, 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(10-2), the longest final in the annals of the tournament, led to more than a few sleepless nights. Even his co-coach Darren Cahill admitted his 23-year-old pupil struggled in the aftermath. But the top-ranked Sinner put that all behind him at Wimbledon. “I think that’s the part I’m the proudest of because it really has not been easy,” Sinner confided. “I always tried to be honest with myself. ‘What if, what if?’ But I kept going, kept pushing. I put a lot of intensity into every practice. After Roland Garros, it wasn’t the time to put me down because another Grand Slam was coming up.”

3. FOR SOME, THE GRASS WASN’T ALWAYS GREENER…

We witnessed upsets of historic proportions. Four of the top 10 men’s seeds and like number of the top 10 women’s seeds were eliminated in the first round, including Roland Garros winner Coco Gauff, Bad Homburg champ Jessica Pegula, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Lorenzo Musetti, Holger Rune, Zheng Qinwen and Paula Badosa. That’s the most at a major in the Open Era. The fewest seeds reached the third round of a Grand Slam since the 32-seed format began in 2001. With all chaos came some unforeseen runs: Argentine qualifier Solana Sierra became the first lucky loser to reach the Round of 16 at Wimbledon; 34-year-old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova reached the quarterfinals for the first time in nearly a decade; 104th-ranked Laura Siegemund, 37, took out Madison Keys in short order on her way to the quarters; and 83rd-ranked Marin Cilic, 36 and recovering from two knee surgeries in two years, dismissed home hope and fourth-seeded Jack Draper en route to the Round of 16.

4. PAIN CAN BURN YOU UP OR REDEEM YOU…

There’s no sugarcoating a 6-0, 6-0 loss, especially when you’re playing for the Venus Rosewater Dish before a global audience on the most storied court in the sport. But Amanda Anisimova’s 57-minute double-bagel defeat at the hands of Iga Swiatek, a result unseen at Wimbledon since Dorothea Lambert Chambers overwhelmed Dora Boothby all the way back in 1911, might just help her in the long run. “I kind of had that switch in my mind of, ‘You know what, this is probably going to make you stronger in the end,’” said the 23-year-old American, who after a high-profile upset of top seed Aryna Sabalenka was appearing in her first major singles final. “I think it’s honestly like a fork in the road. It’s whatever direction you want to go in. I’m going to choose the path of working towards my goals and to try and keep improving, hopefully put myself in more positions and opportunities like today. I think that’s going to help me reach my goals.” Even in defeat, Anisimova cracked the Top 10 in the PIF WTA Rankings, rising to a career-high No. 7.

5. THE ALCARAZ-SINNER RIVALRY IS OTHERWORLDLY…

The post-Big Three era is off to an auspicious start for Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. Between them, they have accounted for the past seven Grand Slam singles titles. “I think it’s great for us, and it’s great for the tennis,” said Alcaraz. “Every time we play against each other, our level is really high. We’re building a really great rivalry because we’re playing the finals of Grand Slams, of Masters 1000s, the best tournaments in the world. It’s going to be better and better.” That level, now seen in back-to-back major finals, is also forcing their fellow competitors to step it up. “They’re obviously leading the way in our sport right now,” said American Tommy Paul. “I hear a lot of people say it just takes putting together two weeks to win a Slam. Right now, there’s a lot of people that need to really pick up the level to keep up. You’re not going to put together two weeks really against these guys. These guys are playing that level all the time, so we’ve got some catching up to do.”

6. YOU HAVEN’T LIVED UNTIL YOU’VE TRIED MAKARON Z TRUSKAWKAMI (POLISH STRAWBERRY PASTA)…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Food52 (@food52)

Blimey. First-time champ Iga Swiatek left Londoners aghast when she introduced them to her own take on their beloved strawberries and cream — makaron z truskawkami, a popular Polish dish made with strawberries, pasta and yogurt. “Why is it such a big thing?” she asked. “Everybody should eat that. In summer, kids are eating it a lot. It’s just a perfect mix of tastes.” As for who produces better strawberries, Poland or England, Swiatek said, “Honestly, I think Poland, because we have better climate for strawberries, right? Now Wimbledon is probably going to ban me from answering these questions!”

7. Aryna and Coco Cleared the Air…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Aryna Sabalenka (@arynasabalenka)

The twittersphere was quick to pounce on Aryna Sabalenka when, in the heat of the moment after her 7-6(5), 6-2, 6-4 loss to Coco Gauff in the Roland Garros final, the world No. 1 appeared to discount her opponent’s achievement. (“I think she won the match not because she played incredible; just because I made all of those mistakes.”). But it didn’t take long for her to make amends. The two took to TikTok on the lawns of the All England Club to show off their dance moves in unison. “TikTok dances always had a way of bringing people together 🕺😜,” wrote Sabalenka on Instagram. The way things are going, they’re sure to see a whole lot of each other on the court in the future. Gauff holds a slight 6-5 advantage in the career head-to-heads, with both of her major singles titles coming at Sabalenka’s expense (2023 US Open, 2025 Roland Garros).

8. We’ll never hear ‘You cannot be serious!’ in SW19 again…

Wimbledon had a new look, feel (and sound) to it in 2025. For the first time in 147 years, line judges were removed from the courts and replaced by Hawk-Eye, the last of the Grand Slams to adopt the electronic line-calling technology. The move all but quashes the kind of on-court meltdowns that helped give John McEnroe his Super Brat nickname back in the Tennis Boom years. “I think that in some ways the players and even the fans miss that interaction,” said McEnroe, whose “YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!” tirade at Wimbledon in 1981 is the stuff of infamy. “If it’s accurate, I think it’s great, because then at least you know that you’re getting the right call. My hair wouldn’t be quite as white as it is now.”

9. Novak’s got more in him…

He might have come up short in his effort to match Roger Federer with a co-record eighth Wimbledon title, but Novak Djokovic at times looked like his world-beating self during a run to last four. Djokovic, 38, did set one new mark: The Serb now holds the record for most semifinal appearances at the grass-court major with 14, ahead of Federer (13), Jimmy Connors (11) and Boris Becker (nine). Despite a straight-sets 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 loss to eventual titlist Jannik Sinner, the all-time Slam champ says he still has more left in the tank. “I’m not planning to finish my Wimbledon career today, so I’m planning to come back definitely at least one more time,” he said. “I’ve put everything I possibly can in when it comes to training and preparing myself so I can play my best at Grand Slams. Regardless of the fact that I haven’t won a Grand Slam this year or last year, I still feel like I continue to play my best tennis at Grand Slams.”

10. What might have been…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Grigor Dimitrov (@grigordimitrov)

Grigor Dimitrov has now been forced to retire from five Grand Slams in a row. But none will haunt him more than his pull-out at Wimbledon, where the popular 34-year-old Bulgarian had top-ranked Jannik Sinner on the ropes in the Round of 16. The 2017 Cincinnati Open champ led Sinner, 6-3, 7-5, 2-2, when he went down with a pectoral muscle injury, unable to continue. Sinner, having dodged a bullet, would of course go on to claim his fourth major singles title, leaving Dimitrov to wonder what might have been. He would call the setback “one of the most painful moments of my career”. Sinner, for his part, was fully aware of Dimitrov’s misfortune. “I don’t take this as a win at all,” he insisted.