Tokito Oda: A Wimbledon Dream At Age 17

Tokito Oda
Tokito Oda (photo: Wimbledon video)

WIMBLEDON/WASHINGTON, July 19, 2023 (by Michael Dickens)

Japan’s 17-year-old Tokito Oda became a Wimbledon champion for the first time Sunday afternoon. The World No. 1 Oda defeated Alfie Hewett of Great Britain, 6-4, 6-2, in one hour 25 minutes to win the Gentlemen’s Wheelchair Singles final on No. 1 Court before a large and spirited crowd.

Oda, arguably the future of men’s wheelchair tennis, won his second straight major title after beating Hewett, 25, to win last month’s French Open final. Hewett won the Australian Open in January. Although Hewett still leads his head-to-head with Oda 6-3, the pendulum is swinging toward the young Japanese star. The muscular lefty remained on court to sign plenty of big fluffy tennis balls and pose for selfies.

“It’s not easy playing someone from their home country. I didn’t expect this level of support on these courts,” Oda, a native of Ichinomiya, Japan said on court after lifting his Wimbledon trophy. “I am still 17 (and 69 days) so I want to open the champagne but I can’t. Sparkling water will have to do.”

Later, in his press conference, Oda was asked about the significance of winning Wimbledon at such a young age. “It’s so amazing,” he said after becoming the youngest man in history (excluding juniors) to win a Wimbledon singles title in any discipline and the youngest overall since Martina Hingis won the Ladies’ Singles final at age 16 in 1997.

“I feel like I’m living a dream. I’m so happy.

“That was my dream to get the win [as the] youngest.”

Not surprisingly, Oda is hungry to achieve more, like winning all of the other majors and a Paralympics gold medal, too.

“My tennis is not perfect right now,” Oda admitted, “so I want to play more things. I’m thinking I want to play more things. I want to play more aggressively and play faster.”

Meanwhile, World No. 1 Niels Vink of the Netherlands won the Quad men’s title for his first Wimbledon crown. Vink dropped just three games against Australia’s Heath Davidson to earn his fourth Grand Slam singles title.

“It feels amazing to win Wimbledon for the first time,” Vink told Wimbledon.com. “Of course, my first Slam was the most special one, but my first Wimbledon is also very special.”

On the day after the night before

It is always a Wimbledon tradition for the singles champions to do a photo shoot the day after winning their respective trophies. It’s a chance for the champions to unwind and be happy. Here’s how it went for this year’s champions, Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa Vondrousova:

Accolades for Alcaraz and Vondrousova from their peers

Both Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa Vondrousova received plenty of congratulatory messages via social media after each won their respective Wimbledon singles titles.

Here’s a sample of the greetings sent to Alcaraz and Vondrousova:

A little strawberry tattoo for Vondrousova

According to the BBC, new Wimbledon women’s champion Marketa Vondrousova has revealed that she and her coach will get matching “little strawberry” tattoos to mark her big triumph.

“We talked before the tournament and he said ‘maybe if you win a Grand Slam, then I’ll do it.’ So, this is happening,” she said.

Plans to get the matching tattoos before leaving London were put on hold, so Vondrousova and her coach Jan Hernych will get their inking at a parlor in Prague.

Anderson comes out of retirement and wins in Newport

Former World No. 5 Kevin Anderson of South Africa marked his return to the ATP Tour from retirement with a 6-3, 6-2 first-round win at the Infosys Hall of Fame Open in Newport, R.I. on Tuesday afternoon. He struck 11 aces and won 92 percent of his first-serve points against No. 141 Gabriel Diallo of Canada to earn his first victory in 17 months.

Passing shots

• After his breakthrough run at Wimbledon, which ended in a quarterfinal loss to Daniil Medvedev, American Christopher Eubanks hit the U.S. morning TV circuit from the All England Club: Today, CBS Mornings, Good Morning America and CNN.

“Enjoying it was the biggest thing,” Eubanks told Today co-host Savannah Guthrie. “There are times through the course of the match where I’m smiling, or pretty expressive with my emotions, but at the end of the day, it’s still a tennis match. The court is still the same size, the net is still the same height, and it’s the sport I’ve been playing since I’m 2 years old. … I’m at a stage where I can enjoy those situations.”

• After nearly two years off the tour — since August of 2021 with foot and knee issues — American Jennifer Brady, 28, is playing in an ITF W100 in Granby, Canada. She won her first-round match over No. 271 Kyoka Okamura of Japan, 6-2, 6-3, on Monday. Currently unranked, Brady is a former Australian Open finalist and US Open semifinalist. She reached a career-high No. 13 in February 2021 after her run in Melbourne. Brady has 241 career singles victories.

• Anett Kontaveit of Estonia, who recently played her final WTA match at Wimbledon before retiring, will play a farewell match against her close friend Ons Jabeur of Tunisia in Tallinn on November 11. “I can’t think of a better person to have this match with,” Kontaveit said, quoted by sport.delfi.ee. “I was shocked when she immediately say yes without asking any questions.”

What they’re writing

“Whether this outcome represented a changing of the guard — the vanquishing, finally, of a generation that has ruled men’s tennis since Alcaraz was a toddler — remains to be seen. Djokovic appeared far from finished. What the final showed for sure is that, when it is all on the line, Alcaraz will decide to play his game and be himself, and that what he can bring in those moments is the stuff of greatness.”

— Gerald Marzorati of The New Yorker from “At Wimbledon, Carlos Alcaraz Defeated Novak Djokovic By Being Himself”

By the numbers

The BBC reports that the peak Wimbledon men’s final audience on Sunday reached an impressive 11.3 million viewers. This was the highest figure since Great Britain’s Andy Murray won the Wimbledon title in 2016. Another 4.1 million streamed the men’s final live on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sports online.

Meanwhile, Saturday’s women’s final peaked at 4.5 million viewers on BBC One, up from 3.1 million last year. Overall, 25.6 million people watched BBC TV coverage of the Wimbledon Championships this year. Plus, the BBC‘s overall coverage this year set a new record for digital viewing numbers as the tournaments was streamed 54.3 million times on the BBC iPlayer and online.

By comparison, in the United States, the men’s final drew 3.2 million viewers on ESPN, which ranked as the most-watched Wimbledon telecast since the 2019 men’s final (Roger Federer-Novak Djokovic 3.4 million viewers). The women’s final delivered 1.3 million viewers, a 10-percent increase over 2022.

“Quotable …”

“It’s painful because you feel so close to achieving something that you want, and actually back to square one. Again, just try to get rid of these negative thoughts and continue being positive. … I think hopefully I will be able to take the confidence out of it and consider myself as a consistent player. Take this experience as good ones, but not bad ones, to continue and improve my game. Be the player I want to be.”

— Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, during her final press conference Saturday addressing her loss to Marketa Vondrousova, which was her second Wimbledon final lost and third major set-back in the past 12 months.

 

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