Djokovic holds off Kyrgios to win 21st career Grand Slam
Elena Rybakina captured the 2022 Wimbledon women’s singles championship with three sets, coming from a set down to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 to beat Ons Jabeur. Rybakina became the first player representing Kazakhstan to win a Grand Slam title.
Jabeur broke serve and marched through her service games to take the first set. However, Jabeur’s service game weakened with a series of unforced errors and she was unable to recover. Going into the match, Jabeur was ranked second in the world — and came into Wimbledon as the No. 3 seed — while Rybakina, the No. 17 seed, trailed her at 23rd.
Jabeur led Rybakina 2-1 in their three previous matchups. However, one of those wins occurred after Rybakina retired due to injury. Rybakina cleared her final obstacle before the finals, when she beat 2019 Wimbledon champion Simona Halep.
Djokovic holds off Kyrgios to win 21ST career Grand Slam: Novak Djokovic defeated Nick Kyrgios 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) in the Wimbledon 2022 final. This is his seventh Wimbledon title, and fourth consecutive.
During the first round of the tournament, Djokovic became the first player to win at least 80 matches in each of the four Grand Slams. He is quite familiar with Centre Court and the final round at the Championships. This was his 32ND Grand Slam final and his eighth at the All England Club. He has now extended his Wimbledon win streak to 28 consecutive matches.
Kyrgios came in with significantly less experience. This was his first Grand Slam final, but he arrived with a 2-0 record against his Serbian opponent. He is still one of only five players with a winning record against Djokovic.
Kyrgios made things interesting right away as he opted for an underarm serve in his first service game. He took the first set, and didn’t give up easily in the fourth as he pushed a tiebreaker. However, Djokovic’s experience showed and he made a comeback for the third consecutive match. Kyrgios said he thought he personally played well, but that Djokovic is a different type of opponent.
The next Grand Slam is the US Open starting Aug. 29. Djokovic’s participation is still in question because he has yet to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Earlier in the season, he was not allowed to play in the Australian Open and was deported because of his unvaccinated status.
