Wimbledon 2024 is underway.
The world’s top tennis players are resplendent in their bright whites (no colored attire allowed), and their pimple-soled white grass court shoes.
On Monday, reigning Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz (🇪🇸, 21) took on qualifier Mark Lajal (🇪🇪, 21), and came out on top in straight sets 7-6(3), 7-5 and 6-2.
I was wrong about Djokovic (🇷🇸, 37) : he is in fact playing, with a knee brace (he had meniscus surgery on Jun. 6). In the first round he took out Vit Kopriva (🇨🇿, 27) with ease, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.
There is no kitchen* in tennis.
You can go right up to the net— as long as you have the reactions of a cat, and especially so if your opponent is up there as well.
Alcaraz does (have the reactions of a cat), and got his racquet on this hard ball from Lajal. It went up in the air, though, and Lajal put it out of his reach on the next shot.
That made it 3-3 in the tiebreaker, but then Alcaraz took four points in a row to close out the tiebreaker 7-3.
*A zone by the net from which volleying is forbidden
[Still from highlights of the match at wimbledon.com]