Alva Review-Courier -

Those of us who are tennis fans know that the most important tournament the sport has to offer is Wimbledon. Tennis has four “major” tournaments each year that are more important than all others.

Three of those tournaments are the Australian, French, and United States “open” tournaments. “Open” in tennis terms means that both amateurs and professionals can qualify for the events. Almost all athletes playing in these tournaments, however, are pros.

Theoretically, the four majors are equal, but Wimbledon (named after the suburb of London, England, where the tournament is played) is the one everybody wants to win more than any other.

The tournament is played over a two-week period in early July. The 2023 Wimbledon ended on Sunday, July 15, and was, as always, full of drama and surprises. It was also especially historic.

For one thing, the men’s final saw Carlos Alcaraz of Spain defeat Novak Djokovic of Serbia. Although Alcaraz was the No. 1 “seeded” player and Djokovic was No. 2, most prognosticators thought Djokovic would prevail.

Djokovic had won seven previous Wimbledon tournaments and Alcaraz – only 20 years old – had won none. Perhaps Alcaraz’s victory will signal the beginning of a career that might equal those of other great tennis player, like Djokovic.

Meanwhile, the women’s final was also historic, featuring a major upset as unseeded Marketa Vondrousova or the Czech Republic defeated the number-six seeded athlete, Ons Jabeur of Tunisia.

The four major tennis tournaments begin with 128 athletes in both the men’s and women’s events. The 32 top-ranked players of each gender are seeded and, therefore, get weaker opponents in the first round of matches than do unseeded players.

Vondrousova entered the tournament ranked No. 43 in the women’s rankings, and she became the first unseeded player ever to win the women’s singles championship.

Prior to the final matches, however, another unseeded player – Christopher Eubanks of the United States – proved to be one of the great human-interest stories of the tournament – as we will see next week in part 2 of this story.