Wimbledon 2022: The players who will not be in action!

GROUND REALITY

The 135th edition of the Wimbledon Championships will take place from June 27 to July 10 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The tennis championship will bring to the fore the top players of the game who, along with the rookies and wildcard entrants, will battle for tennis supremacy. This is the time of the year when the quiet town of Wimbledon in South West London receives global sports media attention as tennis stars from across the world converge.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic will defend his Men’s Singles title that he won for the sixth time in 2021 against Italy’s Matteo Berrettini. In the Women’s singles division, Australia’s Ashleigh Barty will be defending the title that she won for the first time in 2021 by beating Nikola Mekti and Mate Pavi from the Czech Republic.

The Croatian team of Nikola Mekti and Mate Pavi who won their first Men’s doubles title in 2021, will be defending it at this year’s championships. Similarly, in the Women’s doubles division, Hsieh Su-wei (Taiwan) and Elise Mertens (Belgium) will defend their titles. Su-wei became the third Women’s Double champion in 2021 when she along with Mertens won the final match against the Russian team of Veronika Kudermetova and Elena Vesnina. Su-wei previously won the Women’s Doubles championship in 2013 with Peng Shuai (China) and in 2019 with Barbora Strýcová (Czech Republic).

The Wimbledon Championships represent sportsmanship and courage as the players are seen as heroes making their dreams come true. However, the political and military relations between countries have resulted in Russian and Belarusian players from not participating in the 2022 edition of the championship. This is because of Russia’s war on Ukraine. As a result, Daniil Medvedev (eliminated from the fourth round in 2021 by Hubert Hurkacz), Andrey Rublev (eliminated from the fourth round in 2021 by Márton Fucsovics), Aryna Sabalenka (lost to Karolína Plíšková in the 2021 semi-final) and Karen Abgarovich Khachanov (lost to Denis Shapovalov in the 2021 quarter-final) will not participate in the championship.

The 19-year-old Leylah Annie Fernandez from Canada will also miss the 2022 championship because of an injury. At this age, she has shown grit on the tennis courts. She played the first rounds of the Australian Open (2020, 2021, 2022); played the quarter-final of the 2022 French Open, was the finalist at the 2021 US Open, and played the first round of the 2021 Wimbledon Championship. In a rather interesting twist of events, the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, have not yet been on the list. They are unlikely to compete. Serena has won the Women’s Singles title at Wimbledon seven times in 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2016. She was the Women’s doubles champion with Venus Williams six times. Venus Williams, on the other hand, won the Women’s singles Wimbledon title five times (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008).

In the men’s top singles division, the former eight-time Wimbledon champion, Roger Federer, will also not be in action in this year’s tournament. Despite being one of the most successful tennis players in history, Federer will not play the tournaments because of a knee injury. He has won 20 Grand Slams including the Australian Open (6), French Open (1), Wimbledon (8), and US Open (5). Rafael Nadal, who has won 22 Grand Slams including two Wimbledon titles, will possibly miss the 2022 Wimbledon. According to reports, he needs a break to reset his body after being an active player for so many years.

The 2022 Wimbledon championship, however, will be a show of nerves by Novak Djokovic who has appeared in eight Wimbledon finals and won seven titles. Ashleigh Barty will try to recreate history by retaining his Women’s singles title. She played the Wimbledon final for the first time in 2021 and emerged victorious. She also won the 2022 Australian Open and the 2019 French Open.

The writer is a Karachi-based fiction writer and columnist.