Wimbledon takeaways: The best match, biggest upset, and abiding memories from London

Welcome back to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories from the past week on court.

This week, Wimbledon concluded with two very different finals.

On the women’s side, Linda Nosková won an all-Czech contest against Karolína Muchová. The 21-year-old surged toward victory, but then faltered as the Venus Rosewater Dish swam into view. Just as it seemed Muchová, 29, would produce an unlikely and devastating comeback, Nosková reset, beating back the demons she had met just an hour or so before to win the title 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.

In the men’s final, defending champion Jannik Sinner had to accept a secondary role against French Open winner Alexander Zverev. The 24-year-old Italian hung in with his serve and his scrambling as Zverev unleashed wave after wave of unreturned serves and laser forehands, before clicking into gear to come from a set down and lift the trophy again, 6-7(7), 7-6(2), 6-3, 6-4.

Here, Ava Wallace, Charlie Eccleshare, Charlotte Harpur and Matthew Futterman present their takeaways from the third Grand Slam of 2026, from the best matches and biggest upsets to their abiding memories.

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Best match?

Ava Wallace: Karolína Muchová playing like she’d never lost to Coco Gauff in her life — when she in fact had a 1-6 record against the American — made for a magnificent semifinal. It was exactly the type of grueling, three-set match in which Gauff shines, but Muchová refused to do anything but play her game. Watching a player exhibit that level of trust in their own ability — and have it work out — was special.

Charlie Eccleshare: A toss-up between the Muchová vs. Gauff thriller, and Novak Djokovic outlasting Félix Auger-Aliassime in five sets, and five hours and 15 minutes, at the quarterfinal stage.

The former wins, because the ending was so tense and spectacular. It felt inevitable from the start of the deciding tiebreak that Djokovic would ultimately get the better of Auger-Aliassime.

There was nothing inevitable about the latter’s conclusion, as both players missed match points in unbelievably dramatic ways. Gauff netted a forehand sitter (below), before Muchová slipped as a Gauff passing shot whizzed past her.

Like any truly great match, the outcome was in the balance until the final point was over.

Charlotte Harpur: Djokovic beating Auger-Aliassime. It was approaching 11 p.m. local time. Both players were panting, keeled over, leaning on their rackets after a gruelling rally to set up match point in the fifth-set tiebreak.

Momentum had swung back and forth throughout the five-hour-plus thriller, the quality of tennis had remained high and the sense of jeopardy never dissipated. The roar of the crowd hit me to my core in those final moments. Djokovic’s performance at 39 was superhuman.

Matthew Futterman: Gauff vs. Muchová. There was nothing like that accelerated tension of a match-deciding tiebreak with a spot in the final on the line.

Favorite match?

Wallace: Naomi Osaka and Aryna Sabalenka’s match at the French Open was a teaser. It was played at such high quality, but it was also over far too quickly as Sabalenka started overwhelming Osaka with her power. Expectations were tempered since Sabalenka had won their three meetings in 2026, but Osaka pulled out a vintage performance, thumping groundstrokes and bounding around the court like she was in the heyday of her Grand Slam-winning years.

After years of wondering whether she could, or even wanted to, win major tournaments again, it was cool to watch what felt like a turning point in the second half of her career.

Eccleshare: Being on Centre Court for Serena Williams’ singles return against Maya Joint after four years out was always going to be special, but it might have felt like a testimonial, even a letdown, if Williams was not competitive.

Watching her fight back to win the second set after trailing by a break is something that will stay with me. She may have ended up losing, but the noise and atmosphere on Centre Court when Williams claimed that second set was as if she had just won a final.

Harpur: Osaka defeating Sabalenka.

Osaka had not beaten the world No.1 since 2018, and said her run against Sabalenka “sucked.” But the prospect of a more comfortable and confident-looking Osaka on grass set up an intriguing contest.

The world No. 14 bullied Sabalenka from the back of the court in the first set before counterpunching her power to great effect in the second, and serving formidably throughout. Sabalenka’s grunting was so visceral, as she put all of the fight within her into coming back, but Osaka nullified her weapons.

Futterman: I loved watching the Grigor Dimitrov wins. He was so thrilled to be there after his horrible injury last year. Seeing him in the semifinal against Zverev would have been great, but even Dimitrov’s loss to Arthur Féry was magic.

Favorite quote?

Wallace: “It’s really tough to find any words, but I’ll start with Linda. My ex-friend.”

Karolína Muchová’s ability to find humor through her tears after losing the Wimbledon final to friend and fellow Czech Linda Nosková was impressive — and the line was perfectly delivered.

Eccleshare: “10 years ago maybe.”

A quote that came not in an interview or news conference, but on Centre Court as Novak Djokovic watched another Jannik Sinner ace fly past him. Djokovic summed up the challenge he has at 39 of trying to live with the outstanding world No. 1 who is 15 years his junior.

Harpur: Muchová’s quote to Nosková, followed by: “I’m kidding, obviously. … Kind of. You’re so young. This was your first final of a Slam. The way you handled it and how you played were really unbelievable. Beyond all this, you’re a very kind person and human being.”

When Muchová was hurting so much, the kind of hurt that has your heart in a vise, she showed a sense of humour and humility. A class act.

Futterman: “Thousands of people would love to lose the semifinals at Wimbledon on match point,” Gauff said after loss to Muchová.

Best moment?

Wallace: During the break after the second set of Williams’ and Joint’s first-round match, one woman in the crowd stood and screamed, “YES, SERENA!” Then immediately turned to everyone sitting around her and very calmly apologized for being so excited. All her neighbors laughed. Only at Wimbledon.

Eccleshare: Only a tennis fan with a heart of stone could not have felt devastated for Dimitrov last year, when he tore his right pectoral muscle playing the match of his life against Sinner and leading two sets to love.

So to see Dimitrov back this year and beating the No. 15 seed Jakub Menšíkin the second round was hugely uplifting. Especially as Dimitrov celebrated the win with a sort of jig on No. 1 Court, genuinely giddy with joy at what he’d just achieved. 

Dimitrov then beat Matteo Berrettini in the third round, before ultimately falling to Féry, the British breakout star, in the last 16.

Harpur: “Please do not climb on the bins,” warned a Wimbledon steward. On Court 18, the home crowd was trying to find a way to catch a glimpse of the last Brit standing, Féry. I’ll never forget the image of bodies poking through the surrounding hedges to cheer on the world No. 114. The fans’ fervent energy seeped into the wild card’s weary legs as he came back from 4-1 down in the fifth set to beat Zizou Bergs 2-6, 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5).

Futterman: Nosková walking to the bench with her fingers in her ears after she had spurned championship points in the second set of the final. Never saw that before.

Worst prediction?

Wallace: I thought the heat wave was only going to last for a week. I did not pack as well as I could have for this Grand Slam.

Eccleshare: I thought that after the disappointment of the French Open, Ben Shelton would rebound and play with a renewed focus and purpose at Wimbledon. Especially as he came into the tournament as the No. 4 seed, and was in the bottom half of the draw, away from Djokovic and Sinner.

Instead, he went out in the first round to world No. 140 Otto Virtanen.

Harpur: Féry was born in Paris to French parents, speaks fluent French and has a French coach. But he grew up attending a school and his first tennis club a stone’s throw from the Wimbledon grounds. I tried to capture this intersection and had been given a tip-off that there may be some French tennis fans at a pub in the southwest London borough of South Kensington.

Alas, there were none.

Futterman: That Taylor Fritz would beat Zverev in the quarterfinals. The American’s knee tendinitis flared up and Zverev thumped him.

Biggest letdown?

Wallace: I begrudge no player for skipping a news conference after an injury, but I was so disappointed not to get to hear from Williams after her first-round loss to Joint.

Williams is always fascinating to listen to, and now that she’s back I want to hear from her as much as possible. But she also played a great match after four years away, and I would have loved to get her thoughts — or even observe how she was feeling — about the loss. She said before she played that she would be all right with any outcome, but it sure looked like she still burned with her usual competitive fire after the match.

Eccleshare: Féry aside, this was a dismal tournament for British players. The luckless Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu were forced to pull out before their first-round matches because of injury, while only four of the 19 home singles players even won a match. Of those four, only Féry won another.

Féry provided the home fans with a wild ride, but otherwise they had precious little to shout about.

Harpur: I was disappointed when an ankle injury prematurely ended French Open finalist Maja Chwalińska’s tournament. She was holding match point in the first round when she slipped and could not recover, despite finishing her match and losing.

Futterman: Men’s semifinals day. Two dog’s dinner matches.

Abiding memory?

Wallace: I didn’t get to watch too much of Féry’s magical Wimbledon run, but I did get to experience plenty of the home fans’ excitement about him. I was standing on the roof of the media pavilion during his fourth-round match against Dimitrov when I happened to look over at The Hill and see the masses crammed in to cheer him on. Centre Court and the Royal Box and the all-white dress code are lovely traditions, but a jam-packed hill, to me, is Wimbledon at its best.

Eccleshare: The way Nosková mentally reset after missing five championship points and blowing a 5-2 lead in the second set to beat Muchová.

I found Nosková’s implosion pretty painful to watch, and was in awe of how she turned it around in the decider. It was a staggering achievement given how utterly devastated she must have been at the end of the second set.

This memory will stay with me for a particularly long time as I’m now on paternity leave for a few months. Time away will only reinforce the fact that there really is nothing like Grand Slam tennis.

And yes, I will be naming my daughter Linda.

Harpur: People talk about the spectacle of Wimbledon but witnessing it for the first time is something else. The whole vicinity is geared towards the tournament. It’s like a pilgrimage. The tube station is decked out in Wimbledon colors; businesses come up with punny marketing slogans like “Bake, Set, Match”; hawkers selling hats, coffee and fans line the roads leading to the entrance. Everything has a process: lines painted, plants pruned, uniforms checked. Wimbledon has an aura that you will not find anywhere else.

Futterman: Gauff’s drop shot. The most relatable tennis moment ever.

Shot of the tournament

With a word for Nosková’s impeccable drop shot, lob, slice sequence in the final:

And for Coco Gauff’s ludicrous backhand flick against Solana Sierra in the second round:

The winner has to be not a shot, but a collection of them, as played by Auger-Aliassime and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the fourth round:

🏆 The winners of the week

🎾 ATP: 

🏆 Jannik Sinner (1) def. Alexander Zverev (2) 6-7(7), 7-6(2), 6-3, 6-4 to win Wimbledon in London. It is the Italian’s fifth Grand Slam title.

🏆 Harri Heliövaara / Henry Patten (1) def. Marcelo Arévalo / Mate Pavić (6) 7-6(4), 7-6(3) to win the Wimbledon men’s doubles in London. It is their second title at the All England Club.

🎾 WTA:

🏆 Linda Nosková (9) def. Karolína Muchová (10) 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 to win Wimbledon in London. It is the Czech’s first Grand Slam title.

🏆 Kristina Mladenovic / Guo Hanyu (10) def. Luisa Stefani / Gaby Dabrowski (2) 6-3, 7-5 to win the Wimbledon women’s doubles in London. It is Guo’s first Grand Slam women’s doubles title and Mladenovic’s seventh.

📈📉 On the rise / Down the line

📈 Karolína Muchová and Linda Nosková hold career-high rankings after their Wimbledon runs. Nosková moves up five places from No. 12 to No. 7, while Muchová rises three places from No. 9 to No. 6.

📈 Alexander Zverev replaces the injured Carlos Alcaraz as world No. 2, rising one spot from No. 3.

📈 Daria Snigur ascends 21 places from No. 77 to No. 56, a career high.

📈 Arthur Féry rises 78 spots from No. 114 to No. 36.

📉 Iga Świątek falls five places from No. 3 to No. 8 after her title defense ended in the third round.

📉 Taylor Fritz moves down three spots from No. 7 to No. 10.

📉 Laura Siegemund tumbles 47 spots from No. 40 to No. 87.

📉 Kamil Majchrzak drops 21 places from No. 45 to No. 66.

📅 Coming up

🎾 ATP 

📍Bastad, Sweden: Swedish Open (250) featuring Andrey Rublev, Grigor Dimitrov, Moïse Kouamé, Nuno Borges.

📍Gstaad, Switzerland: Swiss Open (250) featuring Alexander Bublik, Casper Ruud, Valentin Vacherot, Stefanos Tsitsipas.

📍Umag, Croatia: Umag Open (250) featuring Flavio Cobolli, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Alexander Blockx, Dino Prižmić.

📺 UK: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel 💻 Tennis TV

🎾 WTA

📍Iaşi, Romania: Iaşi Open (250) featuring Jaqueline Cristian, Oleksandra Oliynykova, Paula Badosa, Elena-Gabriela Ruse.

📍Athens: Athens Open (250) featuring Maria Sakkari, Zheng Qinwen, Clara Tauson, Ann Li.

📺 UK: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel

Tell us what you noticed this week in the comments below as the men’s and women’s tours continue.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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