July | 2024 | ChicanePictures

autographed drawing of tennis player carlos alcaraz

Spanish sensation Carlos Alcaraz retained his Wimbledon title, emphatically beating seven-time Champion Novak Djokovic again, this time in straight sets to win his fourth Slam at the tender age of 21. Last month he beat Alexander Zerev in five sets to win the French Open at Roland-Garros to become the youngest player in history to win the ‘Surface Slam’, with titles on the three surfaces- hardcourt (US Open in 2022),grass and clay. Victory at SW19 on Sunday also meant he is the youngest man in the open Era to win the ‘Channel Slam’.

Carlos signed my sketch at this year’s Cinch Championships at London’s Queen’s Club. He collected £2,700,000 for winning The Championships. Nice pay day for seven matches in a fortnight.

Drawing of tennis player Barbora Krejcikova

Babora Krejcikova, the 31st seed, won the Wimbledon Ladies’ Singles with a three-set triumph over Italian Jasmine Paolini to collect her second Major singles title, having won the French Open in 2021. As a result the Czech player returns to the Top 10 in singles rankings, having been as high as No 2 in 2022.

She has won all four Grand Slam titles with her compatriot Katerina Siniakova, winning the 2018 French Open and Wimbledon, the French Open again in 2021, and the Australian, Wimbledon and US titles the following year to complete a career grand slam. They reached No 1 in the world rankings and won the Women’s Doubles gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Babora has also won three Australian Open Mixed Doubles titles with Rajeev Ram (twice) and Nikola Mektic.

A poignant and emotional moment came when Babora was showed the honours board after Saturday’s final with her name already added as the 2024 champion alongside that of the late Yana Novotna who won in 1998 and was Babora’s mentor and coach, who sadly passed away in 2017. The tears flowed-both now linked in history.

Babora signed my drawing at Wimbledon in 2022, when she and Katerina won the Ladies’ Doubles.