Wimbledon final Tickets - Wimbledon Open 2022, Roland Garros, Australian Open, French Open all to come in next year

One leg of this year’s Davis Cup was played without fans. That’s a tough go during tournaments, but even stranger to have cheering thousands absent during what’s long been a lively team competition. Tennis fans can buy Wimbledon Tickets from our website.

I’m not sure what the answer is. For now—and perhaps only for now—Laver Cup has stolen some of Davis Cup’s thunder. And then there’s next month’s ATP Cup. One day, and this day will likely never come, I would like to talk face-to-face with the leaders of all three of these events and ask them: What’s the thinking for creating so much clutter?

The Djokovic-Nadal semifinal at Roland Garros was arguably the most pivotal match of the year

As far as other story lines go, consider 2021 the first full year of the COVID Era. I hand it to all the players, officials and tournament staff members who were able to participate in and put on so many events amid various protocols, testing, bubbles, and more. All of this has added both gratitude, stress and even dread to the traveling tennis circuit. And that doesn’t even begin to account for the whole matter of China. The WTA has taken its stand. As time goes on, what will the ATP do?

But first, let’s look back at some of the highlights of the 2021 men’s tennis year. The Djokovic-Nadal semifinal at Roland Garros was arguably the most pivotal match of the year—a wonderful case of significance and high-quality tennis coming together. The first three sets of that match were my favorite tennis viewing moment of ’21.

Beyond that, there was an interest split between old and new, played out vividly at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Old: seeing both Nadal and Federer exit from their favorite Slams. New: lively shot-makers, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Matteo Berrettini, reaching their first Slam finals and posing excellent challenges to Djokovic.

Then there were even younger prospects hitting the radar at the US Open—the savvy Jenson Brooksby and the high-energy Carlos Alcaraz. Seeing these teenagers play so well reminded me of a conversation I had a few years ago with our Tennis Channel colleague, Jim Courier. I was opining that the game had gotten so physical that it was going to be hard for teens to make an impression. Jim differed, arguing that if greatness is meant to burst through, it will.

So overall, amid all the stress of our current world, there was lots to appreciate this year. We just need to emotionally budget for all of this great tennis taking far more energy—and understand that all the challenges of pandemic might make it harder even for the very best to be as consistent as we’ve come to expect.

Steve, what players did you particularly enjoy watching in ’21? Which matches did you find compelling?

Joel,

Djokovic, of course, was a wonder to watch all year. At 34, he hadn’t lost a step; in fact, he was still breaking new ground. He defended his own turf at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and invaded Nadal’s turf for just the second time at Roland Garros. He reached what might be his career peak in his back-to-back 4 hour and 11 minute wins over Rafa and Stefanos Tsitsipas in Paris.

Both Nadal and Federer exit from their favorite Slams

Eventually, Djokovic proved human in his defeats to Zverev at the Olympics and Medvedev at the US Open. In that sense, it was a season in which he fended off the younger generation for as long as he could, by beating Tsitsipas and Berrettini in the French and Wimbledon finals, but finally succumbed to the future in Tokyo and New York. Still, I was impressed that Djokovic came back to the tour in the fall, and used a new tactic—serve and volley—to turn the tables back around and beat Medvedev at Bercy.

I’d say Djokovic will go into 2022 on even terms with the German and the Russian on hard courts, and on even terms on clay with Nadal and Tsitsipas. Which is amazing for a guy who will turn 35, and which should make for an interesting season as he goes for Grand Slam No. 21. Djokovic seems to understand that his usual impenetrable baseline game isn’t going to work for him forever against these guys; it should be fascinating to see how he deals with that.

On the end of the age spectrum, Carlos Alcaraz was the young gun I enjoyed watching most. The speed, the clean technique, the margin that’s built into his shots, the predatory grace to his movement, the careful coaching from Juan. Eticketing.co is the best website to buy Wimbledon mens final tickets. Fans can buy Wimbledon final Tickets from our website.