Budkov Kjaer Makes History as Wimbledon Boys Champion, Jamrichova Bows Out of Juniors with Second Slam Title; Grant and Jovic, Razeghi and Schoenhaus Claim Doubles Championships

©Colette Lewis 2024--
Wimbledon--

Nicolai Budkov Kjaer made history at the All England Lawn Tennis Club Sunday on Court One, becoming the first Norwegian to win a slam singles title with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands. As the best weather day of the Wimbledon Junior Championships reached its peak of warmth, Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia  took the legendary court in a rematch of her Australian Open final with Emerson Jones of Australia, and finished with a 6-3, 6-4 victory to end her junior career with a second slam title.

Both Budkov Kjaer and Jamrichova had the advantage when it came to serving, with that shot getting them out of trouble whenever they were in danger of losing their momentum.

Budkov Kjaer, seeded No. 2, got off to a quick start, which he attributed to handling his nerves better than Rottgering. In the third game, Budkov Kjaer saved three break points, hitting three aces and two double faults in the game, which prompted him to describe his serving as "ok."

"I felt I served quite good first serve," said Budkov Kjaer, who hit 129 on the speed indicator on the serve that closed out the first set. "My second serve was a bit shaky, but I served okay. I'm happy with the performance. I won, so I'm happy."

Rottgering was able to take a break lead twice early in the second set, but immediately gave the break back, and once Budkov Kjaer pulled even, Rottgering was unable to slow his momentum, with the Norwegian winning the final ten points of the match. When he had completed the handshake, Budkov indulged in a delayed celebration, falling to the ground, as if what he had accomplished was just hitting him.

"It feels amazing to achieve childhood goal of mine," Budkov Kjaer said. "So very proud of that and happy with my performance today. Yeah, it's surreal to do it. But it's only juniors, so I'm trying to achieve bigger things. Of course, it's a great milestone for me to achieve."

Rottgering was not happy with his level throughout the match, while acknowledging the superior play of Budkov Kjaer.

"Nico played well, but for myself, I didn't play good, I just made too many mistakes, he was just better," said the 17-year-old left-hander, who felt he was struggling even when he took the 3-1 lead. "I wasn't playing well enough and it had to get better even at 3-1, but I didn't manage to get my level up. Tomorrow I will look back on it, played very well in the tournament, beat the world No. 1, but today, it was really disappointing."

Budkov Kjaer was not at the top of his age group internationally in the 14s, but in the four years since he has been able to steadily improve, using the skills he developed in the other sport he played when younger: ice hockey.

"I think that definitely helped," said Budkov Kjaer, who in winning slam title, has accomplished what three-time men's slam finalist and countryman Casper Ruud has yet to do."Especially my backhand is pretty solid. You have two hands on the stick also in the hockey, so that helped for sure."

Budkov Kjaer, who is projected to take over the No. 1 spot in the ITF junior rankings with today's title, is planning to play the US Open Junior Championships, the last junior slam he is eligible to play. Rottgering, who turned 17 last week, has another year of junior eligibility in 2025, but after competing in the US Open this summer, will concentrate on ITF men's World Tennis Tour events.

Jamrichova announced at the beginning of the tournament that she would move on from juniors regardless of her performance this week, but was determined to leave her favorite tournament "with a smile on my face." That freedom showed in her nearly flawless execution in both Saturday's semifinals and Sunday's final, with her powerful groundstrokes and often untouchable lefty serve too much even for a player of Jones's caliber. 

Jamrichova made 91 percent of her first serves and one unforced error in the first set, and she was not reticent in pronouncing it the best junior match of her career, exceeding the Australian Open girls final against Jones, which she won 6-4, 6-1. 

"Yeah, I think this final was just another level of game from my side and also from Emerson," said Jamrichova, the first girl from Slovakia to win a Wimbledon girls title. "She improved so much. It was better tennis than we played in Australia. I think it was such a nice match today."

While Jones played well in the first set, she had to hope that Jamrichova's level would drop in the second. But even when Jones took a 3-1 lead, getting her only break of the match, she wasn't confident that going in front would be enough.

"I'm pretty disappointed, because that's the second slam final I lost to her, but obviously she's playing a bit too good right now," said Jones, who turned 16 last Sunday. "In the second, I wasn't like 'I'm up and I'm going to win this set'. She just needed one break to be back in it. I was just focusing on trying to break her serve."

Once Jamrichova got back even, saving a rare break point at 3-4, 30-40 with her uncanny ability to come up with a big serve at a critical time, Jones could not counteract the momentum Jamrichova had regained. Jamrichova's return at 4-4 ad out forced an error from Jones and after the change of ends calmly served out the championship, ending it on her first attempt with a good first serve.

Jamrichova said that announcing this as her last tournament allowed her the freedom to just enjoy her final event as a junior.

"It's just amazing feeling right now," said the 17-year-old, who stands 5-foot-11 and has a game that calls to mind that of two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova. "I'm so happy and grateful to finish my junior career with this junior title here. I played for no points, no win. I just wanted to, as I've said so many times, just play here and just enjoy the last days with these guys here and with my friends here in the juniors."

While Jamrichova is moving on to the professional ranks, and has a Wimbledon qualifying wild card awaiting her in 2025, Jones will be continuing to divide her time between the junior slams and the ITF women's World Tennis Tour. After she has a stretch at home in Australia for some rest and training, Jones will return to the junior slam stage, seeking a third finals appearance at the US Open.

With two slam titles and as the first Wimbledon girls champion in her country's history, Jamrichova has plenty to celebrate, and as she left her press conference, held at the Wimbledon media theatre between those of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcarez, she could be heard in discussion with the moderator about selecting a gown for the Wimbledon Champions Ball Sunday night.

Jamrichova wasn't the only 2024 Australian Open Junior champion to collect a Wimbledon title Sunday, with No. 2 seeds Tyra Grant and Iva Jovic earning their second major of the year in their third straight junior slam final with a tense 7-5, 4-6, 10-8 victory over No. 7 seeds Mika Stojsavljevic and Mingge Xu of Great Britain.

Sixteen-year-olds Grant and Jovic, who began their partnership with an Orange Bowl J500 title in 2022, had avoided match tiebreakers all week, but when a championship was on the line, they relied on their experience, and Grant's willingness to poach, to claim the victory. 

At 8-8 in the tiebreaker, Xu missed her first serve and had the misfortune of clipping the tape on her second, leading to a double fault that gave Jovic the chance to serve out the match.

Grant was ready to take her opportunity when she saw it, putting away a volley to deliver the championship.

"I think I went at the right moment to poach," said Grant, who now has three junior slam titles, having won Roland Garros with Clervie Ngounoue last year with Jovic out with an injury. "I thought, you're not going to go line here, so I just went for it."

"We've had a long time to figure out some pretty specific patterns and plans," said Jovic, who has partnered with Grant for seven ITF junior titles, all at level J300 and above. "I usually know when she's going to poach."

With all the success Jovic and Grant have enjoyed, their expectations have evolved, particularly when it comes to the most critical times in a match.

"The more matches we play, the more confidence we have," said Jovic. "Ok, we've been here before. We've played a lot of match tiebreaks, a lot of tournaments we ended up winning where we could have lost first round. We're just used to coming down to the wire, and we cope with it well."

Jovic and Grant will continue their partnership next month at the USTA 18s National Championships in San Diego and at the US Open.

While a longtime partnership has its benefits, as Grant and Jovic have again proved, another path to a Wimbledon title was taken by unseeded Alex Razeghi and Germany's Max Schoenhaus, who, in their third tournament as a team, defeated the unseeded Czech team of Jan Klimas and and Jan Kumstat 7-6(1), 6-4, in the boys final on Court 12.

After a last-minute pairing at Roland Garros, where they made the semifinals, and a first round loss last week at Roehampton, Razeghi and Schoenhaus were not sure what to expect this week at Wimbledon.

"We had a really tough draw, really tough opponents, especially in the quarterfinals," Schoenhaus said of their 3-6, 7-5, 11-9 win over top seeds Federico Cina of Italy and Maxim Mrva of the Czech Republic, in which they saved a match point. "We held our energy and I think that one key point is why we won it."

The Czech team is difficult to break, even when making under 50 percent of their first serves as they did Sunday, so a solid performance in the first set tiebreaker was crucial to Razeghi and Schoenhaus's chances. At 4-all in the second set, Klimas was up 40-0, but Razeghi and Schoenhaus came back to take the game, and with that momentum carrying them, Razeghi served out the championship.

"He has a very aggressive lefty serve, which is very difficult for guys if he goes slice body, and at the net, that helps me a lot," said Schoenhaus, who trains at the IMG Academy in Bradenton. 

"I think we complement each other really well," said Razeghi, who is an incoming freshman at Stanford. "He has the power and I have the placement. His weaknesses are my strengths and my  weaknesses are his strengths, and both of us at the net are really good, so that's the difference I think."

Razeghi and Schoenhaus will aim for a second straight slam title at the US Open in September.

The third edition of the Wimbledon 14 and under championships concluded Sunday, with Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic and Takahiro Kawaguchi of Japan winning the titles.  Kovackova defeated Keisija Berzina of Latvia 5-7, 6-3, 10-2 for the girls championship and Kawaguchi beat Jordan Lee of the United States 6-2, 6-2 to take the boys title. I will have an article on the 14s at Tennis Recruiting Network after they complete their week of recaps for the USTA National Clay Courts next week.

Results of Americans in the 14s event Sunday:

Final:

Takahiro Kawaguchi d. Jordan Lee 6-2, 6-2

Consolation:

Michael Antonius d. Rafalentino Ali Da Costa(INA) 2-6, 6-3, 10-2

Daniella Britton(GBR) d. Raya Kotseva 6-3, 6-4

In the Wimbledon mixed doubles final Sunday evening, former University of Georgia star Jan Zielinski of Poland and Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan won the championship, beating Santiago Gonzalez and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico 6-4, 6-2. For more on the mixed final, see this article from wimbledon.com.