By Ignacio Chazarreta
Tennis, a sport known for its long history and its long season. The tennis season is comprised of 48 weeks of competing and traveling to over 30 countries while competing at the highest level of tennis every single week.
The ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) and the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association), are both just a few short weeks away from the end of the season. Yet, in around one month the tennis tour will take us back on to watch the best tennis players compete around the globe, at different altitudes, temperatures, and surfaces.
The 2023 season started off at the Australian Open, one of 4 Grand Slams, in Sydney, Australia. We saw the youngster Ben Shelton, from the University of Florida , make an exciting run in to the quarter-finals. However, in the men’s side it was complete dominance from Novak Djokovic, who once again won the Australian Open for his 10th time, and tied him with Rafa Nadal at 22 Grand Slams.
On the woman's side, we saw Rybakina playing an impressive performance, but moreover, we saw Aryna Sabalenka lift her first-ever Grand Slam trophy with hopefully more to come
The players then played in tournaments across Dubai, Mexico, along with Indian Wells in California, considered to be the 5th Grand Slam, and we even saw an impressive run from Daniel Medvedev who managed to lift his 4th trophy of the season at the Miami Open. Now after the Sunshine Double in California and Miami, we move into the famous European clay court season. Tournaments for the clay court season include the stunning Monte Carlo Masters, the Master in Rome, and the Mutua Madrid Open known for its one controversial Blue Clay.
Then comes the 2nd Grand Slam of the year in France, Paris, Roland Garros. On the men’s side we saw Rafa Nadal, who is known for his historic 14 Roland Garros titles, back down for the tournament. With the tournament now open for a new winner we saw his biggest rival Novak Djokovic take home the title for his 2nd Grand Slam this season, only 2 sets the whole tournament.
We saw the same dominance on the woman’s side from Iga Swiatek, who won her 4th grand slam, and we saw her main competitor Sabalenka get taken out in the semi-finals.
Now we go to the grass season, for a fast paced style of play in the most iconic tournament of the year, The Championships at Wimbledon. We saw the American underdog, Chris Eubanks make the semi-finals, but moreover we saw arguably the best match of the year. Novak Djokovic faced off the young Carlos Alcaraz, in a 5 hour match at the final of Wimbledon, where we saw Carlos win his 2nd Grand Slam ever.
On the women’s side, we saw, Ons Jabeur lose her second Wimbledon final in a row, with Marketa Vondrousova win in the final.
Then for the final Grand Slam of the season, we come back to North America, and after a few tournaments in Cincinnati and Canada, we start the U.S Open. The U.S Open in New York, New York, started off with a shocking early exit from Iga Swiatek who was predicted to win the tournament, and with an outstanding achievement from 19 year old Coco Gauff who won her first ever Grand Slam in her home country, U.S.A.
On the men’s side, Novak Djokovic faced off against Daniel Medvedev, with Novak Djokovic taking home his 3rd Grand Slam of the Season, and crown himself as the GOAT of tennis.
To end it all, after the final Grand Slam we come to the final tournament in Asia, and we wait to see the winner of the men’s ATP finals and the women’s WTA finals, a battle between the top 10 best players of the season. It will then be shortly followed by the famous Davis Cup to see which country will be taking home the International Championship. Then finally our season will come to a close.
It has been a long grueling season for many players, and although we are not done, I believe many players are. Players will get a short 4 week vacation after the Davis Cup, before we see them again to start off the 2024 season, and who knows: will we see Djokovic dominant, will Ons Jabeur win Wimbledon, will we Rafa come back, or will Djokovic win his 25th Grand Slam?