In Tennis, Bookends of Drama in 2023

There was no champagne on the sidelines. So, while Matteo Berrettini Jannik Sinner following Sinner’s win over Alex de Minaur last month to take first place in Italy Davis Cup When their teammate Matteo Arnaldi won the title in 47 years, he did the next best thing: he shook a bottle of water and poured it over Sinner and Berrettini.

Sinner, 22, finished the season with his 20th win in his last 23 games. This year he had a record of 64-15, won four tournaments, reached the semifinals at Wimbledon and finished second at the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy. He beat the three highest ranked players — Novak Djokovic, whom he defeated twice in two weeks, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev. He started 2023 at No. 15 but finished at No. 4.

Djokovic was desperate to lead Serbia to a second Davis Cup title. But in the semifinals he fell to Sinner after wasting three match points, and then teamed up with Miomir Kecmanovic to lose the deciding doubles match to Sinner and Lorenzo Sonego. The loss sent Italy to the final, where they defeated Australia.

Djokovic was devastated by the defeat.

“For me personally it’s a huge disappointment because I take the responsibility, obviously with three match points, and I’m so close to winning,” he said after the match. “When you lose for your country, you know, the bitter feeling is even bigger.”

It’s ironic that the season started and ended with exciting conclusions in the men’s and women’s team competitions. The Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup have come under fire in recent years as many of the game’s top players, including Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, have left the historically heartbreaking and pride-producing finals avoid. due to scheduling conflicts. The US women lost early in the finals and the US men didn’t even qualify as one of the top eight teams.

Still, despite player defections and a merry-go-round of format changes, both competitions produced some of the year’s most notable moments.

Leylah Fernandez rode a wave of patriotic passion, winning five matches to lead Canada to its first Billie Jean King Cup. Her teammate, then 18 years old Marina Stakušicwho had never won a WTA Tour match, became an overnight star when she won three matches against opponents ranked in the top 70.

If 2022 was billed as King Carlos’ season then Alcaraz went from No. 32 to No. 1 thanks to his US Open championship, after which this season largely belonged to Djokovic.

He is considered by many in the game to be the best player ever, and the statistics prove it.

At 36, Djokovic was having one of the best seasons of his career, reaching the final of all four majors for the third time since 2015, just missing out on the Grand Slam.

In January, a year after being expelled from Australia over his refusal to be vaccinated against Covid-19, Djokovic returned to Melbourne Park and captured a record 10th Australian Open title by beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final. With 14-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal injured for most of the season, Djokovic won his third French Open in June by beating Alcaraz and Casper Ruud.

After falling to Alcaraz in a scintillating five-set Wimbledon final, Djokovic bounced back to beat Medvedev at the US Open to win his 24th major, surpassing Serena Williams. He is now one win away from breaking the men’s and women’s major record that Margaret Court has held for 50 years.

In total, Djokovic played only twelve tournaments in 2023, of which he won seven. He did not lose from mid-July to mid-November, when he fell to Sinner during the round-robin portion of the ATP Finals. He then defeated Sinner in the final after securing the year-end No. 1 ranking for an eighth time.

Alcaraz, who won six titles on three different surfaces in 2023 and reached the semi-finals of the French and US Opens, in addition to his Wimbledon triumph, ended the year ranked second. But he was candid after losing in the semi-finals to Djokovic in Turin.

“I’m not at his level on an indoor court,” the 20-year-old Alcaraz said in November. “He showed why he’s the best player in the world. I have to practice more to become a better player.”

With his 66 wins, Medvedev led the ATP in match wins. He won 19 in a row and reached the finals at Indian Wells and the Miami Open, which he won. He also won in Rome and reached the semifinals at Wimbledon and was runner-up to Djokovic at the US Open. He finished the year ranked 3rd.

Two starting players: the Americans Ben Shelton And Chris Eubanks – used their wide grins and whopping forehands to wrap the sport in a gigantic bear hug. Shelton, about two years removed from leading the University of Florida to an NCAA championship, reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open. He then reached the semifinals at the US Open before falling to Djokovic. Eubanks, another former colleague, upset Cameron Norrie and Tsitsipas to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.

There was no shortage of compelling storylines among the women. To float And Aryna Sabalenka spent the season battling for tour supremacy.

Sabalenka, just a year removed from serving problems so severe that she resorted to underhand serves during matches, won her first major at the Australian Open on a day she called “the best of my life.” She took the No. 1 ranking after reaching the US Open final.

“It was great to see Sabalenka, who was basically laughed off that same court a year earlier, confronting those demons and taking responsibility,” Lindsay Davenport, a three-time major winner and former No. 1, said by phone last month.

Swiatek won her third French Open and six titles. But she faltered at both Wimbledon and the US Open before rebounding at the WTA Finals, wresting the year-end No. 1 from Sabalenka by beating her and Pegula to take the title. Pegula, in turn, was one of two players, along with number 4 Elena Rybakina, to have multiple victories over Swiatek this season.

Marketa Vondrousova, who was out for a long time due to two wrist operations, became the first unseeded Wimbledon winner when she defeated Ons Jabeur in the final.

But it was Gauff and her wise attitude that transcended the sport in a way that only Williams has. When Gauff, 19, defeated Sabalenka in three sets to win the U.S. Open, the non-tennis world, including former first lady Michelle Obama, went wild. In her acceptance speech, Gauff, who had struggled earlier in the season, addressed her doubters.

“Thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me,” Gauff said. “To those who thought they were throwing water on my fire, you were really adding gas.”

It was the kind of bold statement that left even former major winners stunned, including Davenport, who admitted tears streaming down her face while doing televised commentary.

“For me, Coco was the story of the year,” Davenport said. “Players only come around once in a generation. If you’re 12 or 15 and you can handle everything and improve your game to win, then you’re something special.”