🍓 Round 3 Complete! PLUS...a trip to Wimbledon!
That's right! We're coming to you LIVE from on-the-ground!
Hello again Fantasy Wimbledoners! A very special roundup today…because yesterday, Andrew, the rest of the Deutsers, and I were ON THE GROUND at Wimbledon. We have a full report below. But first, let’s check the leaderboard!
As a reminder, you can always view the live leaderboard at the link below.
Click to enlarge
🏆 The story of the tournament continues to be…Betty! She continues to dominate, and looking at her remaining lineup, there’s a LOT to like. I would imagine that one of Djokovic or Sinner makes the final—and that both make the semifinals. Fritz has already made it to the quarterfinals after his opponent retired due to injury, and his quarterfinal matchup against No. 17 Karen Khachonov is winnable. That’s three potential men’s semifinalists for Betty. The path for Mirra Andreeva is a bit tougher in the women’s tournament, including a showdown against No. 10 Emma Navarro tomorrow. But at her best, the 17-year-old Andreeva can win the tournament. On her side of the draw, the biggest challenge is probably Iga Swiatek—who looked fantastic yesterday.
🃏 The secret to Betty’s success? Ekaterina Alexandrova. Alexandrova has been the top-scoring woman of the tournament so far, not dropping a single set. Betty has her in the wild card slot—which means all of those points are worth double. That’s a winning strategy!!
📈 The Round of 16 is underway, and this is where our game really heats up. As a reminder, the points per victory increase significantly after the Round of 16. Here’s the scoring breakdown:
R1 win: 10 points
R2 win: 15 points
Round of 32: 20 points
Round of 16: 30 points
Quarterfinal win: 50 points
Semifinal win: 75 points
Final win: 100 points
You can see how at this stage, a win can change the trajectory of your entire team. Best of luck to everybody.
🦘 One to look out for? Dom’s team could win this thing. She’s in 11th right now, hurt by an early exit from her wild card. But Alcaraz, Sabalenka, De Minaur (the fourth highest-scoring male!), Fritz, and Andreeva are all still alive and look like they could make further runs. Something to watch!
Now, onto the update from Wimbledon!!!!
Holy F—! We Went to Wimbledon!
Over and over, the screen on the tube flashed the same message. Whether it was the first or fifteenth time seeing it, it never felt anything but surreal. “DISTRICT LINE TRAIN TO WIMBLEDON.”
Wimbledon. This train was going to Wimbledon. We were going to Wimbledon.
And then, the train made it. All the well-dressed passengers got off (tan linen suits seemed to be the choice of the day for men) We walked through town, through a drizzle, down one of those perfect little English streets. An old lady was outside her house, trimming her hedges. “Trying to make it nice for you on your way to the tennis,” she said to us as we walked by.
And then: there it was, just at the end of the street. The first thing you glimpse is Court 1, unrecognizably a stadium but seemingly camouflaged by landscaping, the entire outside maintained in greenery and flowers. We strolled through the gates. And like that, we’d arrived at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.
This surely isn’t an original thought, but the first thing that struck me was the beauty. That glimpse of Court 1 was only a preview. Everything at Wimbledon is legitimately beautiful. Walk past a back corner, and you’ll find an extravagant mix of flowers. You’ve seen a picture of the Hill, where people can picnic and watch the action on the main courts on TV. But did you know there’s a fountain next to it, which means that as you bask in the scnee, you also hear the sound of rushing water. On the outer courts, you find yourself at ground level, able to really see the grass, to literally smell it, to get a sense of how the ball really does bounce so much lower than it does on a hardcourt.
The second thing I noticed was the sound. Or rather, the lack of it. If this event was in America, you would have had an official DJ of the Hill, each stadium would be pulsating from PA announcers, and corporate activations would be everywhere (having gone to the Miami Open earlier this year, the difference was night and day). But at Wimbledon, it’s quiet. The only PA announcements are referees announcing scores. There’s no music. The focus is entirely on the tennis.
The the event organizers, though? Their focus was entirely on the fan. At American sporting events, everybody says they’re considering the “fan experience.” I was thinking of Longhorn football games, with their flashing lights and loud music and drone shows, and the way that people claim that Chris Del Conte is a champion of the fan because of it. Consultant tyrants (like our own Jake Greenberg) concoct disgusting signature cocktails and charge $30 a pop. All for the fan! As if that is what the fan wants. At Wimbledon, though, the famed Pimm’s Cup was £10. Strawberries and cream (with generous servings and from a local farm) were £2. In areas that would only be attended by patrons with GA grounds passes, there were still wooden benches, shade, free water. You could bring in your own food and drink. The staff was friendly and helpful. Was it any surprise that everybody was in such a good mood? Wimbledon seems to realize that their business is hospitality, and the way to succeed—and to last—in that business is to put the customer first. Why is that such a hard thing for American sports teams to understand?
As for the tennis itself, we were seated on the deuce side, behind the baseline, on the north end of Centre Court—basically right where the TV angle is. This was completely bucket list stuff, and we couldn’t have gotten a better lineup of matches: Jannik Sinner, followed by Iga Swiatek, followed by Novak Djokovic, who was going for his 100th career match victory at Wimbledon, a feat only achieved by Roger Federer and Martina Navratilova. Walking up to our seats, I made direct eye contact with Cousin from the Bear. Glen Powell bumped into Jill.
It took pretty much the whole day to feel like any of it was real. Maybe it still doesn’t feel real. Centre court is smaller than you would think, like a mid-major college basketball arena. The crowd is respectful but not stuffy. You realize, seeing it all in person, that those players really are on an island out there: whatever happens is on their shoulders, and theirs alone.
All three matches were won in straight sets. Sinner went first, and the thing that jumped out with him was the pace he hit with and the clearance he got on the net. He’s hitting with so much top spin that his ball clears the net by four feet or so. When I think of a shot hit with pace, I think of one that just barely clears the tape—but that means that if things are even slightly wrong, it’s going into the net. Sinner, on the other hand, has plenty of margin of error. And the ball just shoots off his racket with an umph.
For Iga, it was the athleticism. She would sprint to a ball, crouch low, rip a forehand, get up, split step, spring the other way, crouch again, and rip a backhand. The way she moved laterally, then up and down, then from 0 to 100, all just like that…it could not have been more impressive. She has a great draw. She could win this thing.
And then there was Novak. I must say, the other players hit the ball harder, they ran faster, they looked more physically imposing. But Novak had more command of the court than all of the rest combined. He never missed. Just steady, steady, steady—as if he had already won before he stepped foot on the court. Djokovic was also, surprisingly, likeable in person. When he won, he looked over to his daughter who was doing a little dance, and then he did it right back. He played with the crowd. He showed deference and sportsmanship to his opponent, a fellow Serbian. Begrudgingly, I must admit: it was hard to root against the guy.
And with that, it was back to the States, all of us a little mind blown by what we had experienced. We had gone to Wimbledon! And somehow, Wimbledon had exceeded our expectations. “That’s the best…thing…I’ve ever been to,” Ashley told us.
It’s hard to sum it up any better than that.
That should do it for today! As a reminder, check out the live leaderboard whenever you want. We’ll send our next email update following the conclusion of the Round of 16 on Monday.
If you have any questions, leave a comment or just reply to this email.