Wimbledon: the favorites and claws of our special correspondent

Favorites

The good vibes of Ons Jabeur

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• Wimbledon: men's schedule and results

• Wimbledon: ladies schedule and results

She was the first Arab woman to reach the final of a Grand Slam tournament.

And if the adventure ended in the final for the Tunisian, she still broke down barriers and justified more than ever her nickname of "

".

Always available at a press conference, Ons Jabeur also took a lot of time to chat with his fans.

The idol of a whole people was accompanied on his way to becoming a finalist by a small colony of Tunisians from London who did not hesitate to salute his victories with songs and ululations.

Under the somewhat incredulous gaze of the security service of the highly policed ​​All England Lawn Club.

Refreshing.

Read alsoFirst Tunisian in the semi-final of a Grand Slam... Ons Jabeur writes history at Wimbledon

The French finally (a little) at the party

With three Bleues in the round of 16 (Alizé Cornet, Harmony Tan and Caroline Garcia), French tennis has offered itself a first since 2005 at Wimbledon (Mauresmo, Pierce and Dechy).

Special mentions to Alizé Cornet who put an end to the fabulous series of Iga Swiatek and his 37 consecutive victories in the 3rd round.

The Niçoise signed her fourth victory against a world number one.

115th in the world, Harmony Tan brought down Serena Williams.

Certainly the still living legend back on the courts after a year of absence, played and light years from his level of yesteryear, but the Parisian had the merit of not having complexes on the mythical Center Court that she discovered.

The 24-year-old continued her fine career until 8th.

By his atypical game and his availability in front of the media,

it will have left its mark on this edition.

Long live the sequel.

Read alsoWimbledon: Tan in perfect harmony

Read alsoA record, a novel… Alizé Cornet between the lines

Norrie the new British idol

With the early eliminations of Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu, the Brits were frustrated.

They caught up with Cameron Norrie

The time of a marathon match won against David Goffin in the quarter-finals (3-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5), Cameron Norrie entered definitively into the hearts of the British in an atmosphere very, very hot.

The court number 1 dubbed the citizen of the world.

Finally a prophet in his adopted country.

Born in Johannesburg 26 years ago, he took British nationality in 2013, primarily for financial convenience He became the fourth Briton in the Open era to reach the semi-finals at Church Road, joining Roger Taylor, Tim Henman and Andy Murray.

And the adventure logically ended against Djokovic.

During his fight against Goffin, the 12th player in the world did not hide his emotion at seeing himself accompanied by "

chanted by an entire people, under the eyes of part of the royal family (William and his wife, Kate).

Prince William would have uttered an insult '(fuck'), after a lost point from the Briton.

What made the joy of the tabloids, the next day!

Read alsoWimbledon: Norrie “the adopted” challenges Djokovic for a place in the final

The

Djokovic-Kyrgios “

On the short side, the final between the Serb and the Australian kept all its promises.

Faced with a Kyrgios without complex, the master of the place knew how to speak about his immense experience, at the end of a superb show.

And behind the scenes, the two men put on a show.

A certain promiscuity has settled between them.

Which was not the case in the past when the provocateur Kyrgios turned on the Serb in the media.

But since January, relations have calmed down.

Because the Australian publicly defended the Serb when he was in turmoil in Australia, before being expelled from the territory because of his non-vaccination.

And on social networks they have become “

”.

They thus talked about going out to dinner together and that the winner would pay the

addition.

Kyrgios spoke of "

”.

And full of humor, Nole dropped into the microphone: “

These sweet words have changed from the somewhat sterile squabble of words between Tsitsipas and … Kyrgios.

Read alsoWimbledon: “Our relationship is better than in the past”, says Djokovic about Kyrgios, his opponent in the final

Claw strokes

Wimbledon lost the

propaganda '

Fallout of the Tunisian Ons Jabeur, world number 2 (3-6, 6-2, 6-2), Elena Rybakina, 23, became the first Kazakh to win a Grand Slam title and the youngest to win at Church Road since the coronation of Petra Kvitova in 2011. Born in Moscow, a pure product of Russian training, long coached by ex-champion Andrey Chesnokov, Rybakina took Kazakh nationality in 2018 in order to be better supported sportingly and financially .

“

,” she insisted.

“

”, Shamil Tarpichev, the president of the Russian Tennis Federation did not fail to salute the success of the Muscovite: “

 ".

A hell of a snub to the organizers.

Russian and Belarusian players were not accepted in London this year as a result of the invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin's troops... Russia 1 Wimbledon 0.

Read alsoWimbledon: Elena Rybakina, the coronation of a Kazakh of Russian origin

Starting matches too late on Center Court

Patron of the tournament, now six-time winner, Novak Djokovic does not hesitate to step up when he wishes.

He rightly disliked the late scheduling of Center Court matches.

The matches do not start until 1:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. in France).

As a result, the round of 16 match between Djokovic against van Rijthoven started during the day without a roof and ended indoors with the roof closed and artificial lights

For the time being, the organizers do not seem to want to change these times, which are more suitable for television and spectators who wish to have lunch, and too bad for the actors or actresses of the game... The Serb does not win all these matches at Wimbledon.

Tsitsipas bad loser

The Greek fell into the Nick Kyrgios trap in the third round.

From victim to executioner.

From handsome player to bad loser.

So of course the attitude of the future finalist was more than limited between invectives to the referee, pressure on his opponent, but the 5th player in the world should not have gone into a spin as he did.

From the nice, he took on the role of the villain.

A role that does not suit him.

Exasperated by his opponent, whom he thus intentionally targeted on several occasions, he spoke of a "

" and called the Australian a "

" and a "

".

We would have preferred the Greek to question himself first.

Tsitispas, 23, is a magnificent player in the top 5 in the world, very elegant on the pitch but who mentally is still very far from the very best.

Read alsoWimbledon: Insults, intimidation, tackles at a press conference … Kyrgios-Tsitsipas, a shock that smelled of sulfur

The covid is still acting up...

Even if they were a bit clumsy, Alizé Cornet's comments had the merit of being honest.

“

(..).

 ".

Statements which followed the cases of Covid-19 announced in the men's table, including two sizes of the circuit: the Croatian Marin Cilic (seeded n ° 14) and the Italian Matteo Berrettini (finalist in 2021).

They self-tested.

And got offside.

Just like Robert Bautista Agut.

But since there are no more tests imposed by the authorities, there has been a great artistic vagueness on a pandemic unfortunately still relevant.

And who can distort a competition because Berrettini, outgoing finalist, who remained on two consecutive titles before Wimbledon, announced himself as a dangerous rival for Djokovic …

Read alsoWimbledon: positive for Covid-19, outgoing finalist Matteo Berrettini announces his withdrawal

Read also“At Roland-Garros, there was a Covid epidemic, no one talked about it”: the astonishing revelation of Alizé Cornet