The schedule of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships was heavily rain-affected. The bad weather affected the tournament almost every day and it was not easy to catch up. The two courts covered by tennis gave the organizers the opportunity to limit the damage, but it was not easy to manage the demands of each player.
The heavy rain on London during the tournament convinced the organizers to partially change the finals’ schedule. Saturday, July 13 will play the final of the women’s singles at 14 local, followed by the final of the men’s doubles and the final of the women’s doubles. The following day, Sunday, July 14, will play the final of the men’s singles (at 14 local) and the final of the mixed doubles, which will be the last match of the 2024 edition.
There is great anticipation to figure out who will be the winners of the Wimbledon Championships in 2024 and it is not always identifying the favorites. After difficulties in the first rounds, Novak Djokovic seems to have returned to top form and will do everything possible to match the record of 8 titles of his great rival Roger Federer.
Wimbledon has been rainy
The Serbian had reached the final last year, but had been beaten in five sets by an amazing Carlos Alcaraz. The 21-year-old Spaniard had taken advantage of Nole’s uncertainties in the second set tiebreak and at the start of the fifth set to win his first Wimbledon in general dismay.
During the match between Novak Djokovic and Holger Rune, the former World No.1 was annoyed by the Wimbledon Championships fans cheering for the Dane. During the press conference, the 24-time Grand Slam champion stressed that he did not like the behavior of some people on the Centre Court: “Listen, I’ve been on the tour for more than 20 years, so trust me, I know all the tricks. I know how it works. It’s fine, it’s OK. I focus on the respectful people, who have respect, that paid the ticket to come and watch tonight, and love tennis and appreciate the players and the effort that the players put in here.”
Nole added: “People have paid for the ticket and have the right to root for who they want, but they shouldn’t overstep the mark. I don’t know if the chair judge or the organizers can intervene in any way, but I don’t think so. It is not possible to send away an entire section of the stadium because someone is misbehaving.”
Djokovic is ready to face Alex de Minaur in the quarterfinals: “He’s probably the fastest player on the tour. I must admit that it has improved a lot in the last year and a half, it entered the Top 10 and has beaten the top players. We competed last year at the Australian Open, but things have changed a lot since that day. His playing style is similar to that of Hewitt, who is his mentor. They have great chemistry and you notice it on the court.”
The latest controversy
Novak always found an extra motivation when the audience was against him, as happened at Wimbledon 2019 against Roger Federer. We do not know if the organizers of the Wimbledon Championships will take any measures to prevent fans from disturbing the game during the decisive stages of this edition.
Interviewed on the subject during the press conference, Holger Rune commented on Nole’s statements: “It all started at US Open the first time we played each other. When the crowd chanted my name and it sounded a little bit like ‘boo…’ Then we played each other many more times, more like in Italy and France where they don’t pronounce my name the same way. Yeah, now we’re in England. If you don’t know what was happening, probably it sounded like boo. Whether the crowd was this or that. I think it was great support for both players to be honest. They were supporting him on good points. They were supporting me. Nice scenes on Centre Court.”
Thanks to his victory over Rune in the last 16, Djokovic became the first tennis player in history to reach 60 times the quarter-finals in a Slam. Despite having turned 37 and experiencing a difficult season, the Serbian champion is still hungry and wants to make a difference in this part of the season. After Wimbledon, Novak will focus on winning the gold medal at the Paris Olympics. The Olympic tournament will be played on red clay at the French Open, where Nole injured his knee last month during the match against Francisco Cerundolo.