The Weekly Recap: Pro Tennis a Week into Wimbledon 25'

What happened this week at Wimbledon? Did our home state Floridians win big? While we can't keep you in tune with every score, here are a few highlights to get the ball rolling. 

Four Americans Move On

There was a significant portion of the draw that was occupied by Americans when the tournament started, on both the men's and women's side. With three brutal rounds of elimination, that total tally of 35 Americans---the most since 1999---has dwindled to just four. While this may seem demoralizing, these four are looking just as strong as the rest of the field. 

Above: Taylor Fritz. Photo credit: si.robi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Miami-residing Taylor Fritz started out with a few tough challenges. His first two opponents, Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Canadian Gabriel Diallo, are known for their powerful baseline games held up by their ability to serve absolute rockets. Fritz wasn't going to break either of these players easily, and this factor alone made the matches excruciatingly competitive. In his first test, he came down from two sets against 6'8'' serve bot to avoid the upset bug and secure his place in the  subsequent round. His next opponent who recently picked up a title on grass also held his own, pushing Fritz to five once again. In the end, experience in the big moments won over and Fritz was able to clinch a crucial break to survive once again. From there, he had two tamer battles against 26th-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Jordan Thompson to secure a quarterfinal berth against Russian Karen Khachanov. 

While some may have predicted Roland Garros champion Coco Gauff or the 3rd ranked Jessica Pegula to reach the second week, an unlikely face has prevailed and played some of her best tennis yet. That player is Amanda Anisimova, and compared to her male compatriot, she has had a much easier time progressing through the draw. Her opening fight against Yulia Putintseva made headlines, but not for being an exceptional display of nail-biting, competitive tennis. Instead, Anisimova has a gentle 45 minutes out on Court 15, sending Putinsteva packing with a 6-0, 6-0 double bagel shocker. In the next round, she did let her opponent win a few games, but it was also a comfortable two-set win against Renata Zarazua. Things got trickier against unseeded dark horse Dalma Galfi, who played beautiful tennis and pushed the American to three sets. In the end, Anisimova took control of the third set and won the match with a total score of 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. The round of 16 was also not the smoothest, with 30th seed Linda Noskova also picking up a set against the 23-year-old. But Anisimova stayed dominant, and now she faces a quarterfinal test against the experienced Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. 

Also remaining in the draw are Gainesville kid Ben Shelton and 10th seeded Emma Navarro, but they are yet to secure places in the quarterfinals. 

Above: Amanda Anisimova. Photo credit: si.robi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Unseeded Phenoms Tackle Women's Side

The first week of Wimbledon has seen a storm cloud of upsets blow over the All-England Club, and some unpredictable contenders have made their mark on the Championships 2025---especially on the women's side.  

On Sunday, we saw two match-ups of four unseeded players in the round of 16 which ended up being gorgeous showings of top-notch tennis. First up on Center Court was British home favorite Sonay Kartal taking on the former 11th ranked Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. While the crowd was firmly in Kartal's camp, the Russian veteran seemed unfazed by the lack of support. The match opened with both players dominating their service games, not letting the other player see any opportunities. The result of this back-and-forth was a tiebreak, but it wasn't as close as the majority of the set. Instead, Pavlyuchenkova won it rather convincingly 6-3 to put herself up a point. And while Kartal maintained her serve as best she could in the next set, Pavlyuchenkova took advantage of an early break of serve and secured her quarter final spot with a score of 6-4.

Above: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Photo credit: si.robi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Meanwhile on Court 2, Laura Siegemund took on the talk of the town---Solana Sierra. Sierra's place in this round was already important for a few reasons. First of all, she actually played in the qualifying rounds but lost just one match away from the main draw. Thinking she had to book a flight back to Argentina, the tournament decided to update her status to "lucky loser" which enabled her to play in the main draw under this special status. The other reason why this run for the 21-year-old was surprising was she's not considered a grass court specialist. She mainly competed on clay, which is very unlike the green blades of London. Last year, every ITF title she won was on the red dust, which meant that it seemed improbable that she would find herself amongst the last 16. But that she did. However, her opponent wasn't somebody to disregard as Siegemund has found significant success mostly in doubles as a three-time grand slam champion. Siegemund's tricky game style and knack for comfortable movement on the grass came out on top, and she took out the #101 with a score of 6-3, 6-2. 

Unseeded competitors Belinda Bencic and Jessica Bouzas Maneiro are currently competing in the round of 16 to reach the final eight. 

The Usual Suspects Dominate Center Court on the Men's Side

While some top male players faced early disappointment, the three most predictable champions are playing at a near-perfect level and are enjoying their time on Center Court as the world watches on. While not all three have snatched their quarterfinal spots, it appears that Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Novak Djokovic will be making deep runs at the year's third slam. 

Above: Novak Djokovic. Photo credit: Charles Ng, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Alcaraz is playing exactly the level of tennis he needs to play at this stage. While he may not be blasting his opponents away, he's looking very solid and in a good place to progress even farther with the exception of a brutal opening challenge. Italian Fabio Fognini who plans to hang up his rackets at the end of the season gave the Spaniard a rough go of it, pushing the young gun to five sets. Being 38 years old and filing a total of two decades on the ATP Tour, he didn't have much to give Alcaraz physically, with the 2nd seed starting to draw out the points and move Fognini around when he could in the final set. This clearly tired him out, and Alcaraz was able to sneak by letting the Italian only win one game in the fifth. The second round was much more relaxed, and Alcaraz seemed to enjoy his time back out on Center Court taking out a college kid Oliver Tarvet in straights. Jan-Lennard Stuff snatched a set against the 22-year-old in the third round, and so did 14th seed Andrey Rublev in the fourth. But for the most part, Alcaraz has looked mostly dominant and has set up a battle against Brit Cam Norrie.

Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic will play in the round of 16 today. They are on the same side of the draw, meaning that if they win their next two matches they'll set up a semi final showdown. 

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Written By Florida Tennis contributor William Turvey. Top photo credit: Hameltion, CC BY-SA 4.0, si.robi, Carine06 from UK, Charles Ng, Rod Allday / No.1 Court at Wimbledon, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons