Weekend Review: Carlos Alcaraz, Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams seal Spain Glory

It was a dream weekend for Spain as three of their brightest prospects etched their name into history on one of the greatest sporting days in Spanish history. 

Last weekend will go down as one of the greatest sporting weekends of all time, especially for the people of Spain. 

It was a weekend where there were four championship matches, and every one of them delivered. 

It all started at Wimbledon (Britain) on Saturday afternoon and ended at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Sunday night. 

At Housebets, we review all the actions that went down over the weekend. 

Barbora Krejcikova vs Jasmine Paolini (Wimbledon Ladies’ Final) 

The action started with the Wimbledon Single Ladies final. This year’s final saw Barbora Krejcikova take on Jasmine Paolini, who also made the Roland Garros final, losing to Iga Swiatek. 

The previous meeting between the two players was at the Australian Open qualifiers in 2018, with Krejcikova taking it in straight sets. 

It looked like that would be the case again on Saturday after the Czech stormed to the first set, taking it 6-2. 

Krejcikova was able to deal with everything Paolini threw at her, playing the perfect point under pressure. 

Having taken the first set in a dominant fashion, the match pointed towards a straight-set win for the Czech. 

However, Paolini had other ideas as she stormed back to take the second with an identical scoreline. 

The 28-year-old Italian stormed to a 3-0 lead to start the second set and never looked back, taking the match to a decider. 

With the match heading to a decider, there was pressure on both players. But it was Paolini who cracked first as she double-faulted to hand the break to Krejcikova in the seventh game. 

That turned out to be the deciding moment as Krejcikova served it out for a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win. 

Carlos Alcaraz vs Novak Djokovic (Wimbledon Men’s Singles Final)

The Men’s singles final between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic took centre stage on Sunday following the Women’s singles final a day earlier. 

It was a rematch of last year’s final, which Alcaraz won in thrilling five sets. The Spaniard had dropped the first set in last year’s final but it was not the case this time as he took the first set 6-2. 

Alcaraz made his intentions clear right from the start as he broke Djokovic in the opening game that took over seven minutes. 

From then on, the 21-year-old Spaniard did not look back as he held serve before breaking Djokovic again in the fifth game and going on to eventually take the first set 6-2. 

The second set played out like the first, with Alcaraz breaking in the opening game of the second and going up a double-break again to seal it 6-2 for a two-sets-to-love lead. 

Although Djokovic tried to be competitive in the third, it was Alcaraz who struck the first blow, breaking in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead. 

This presented Alcaraz with an opportunity to serve it out and take his second Wimbledon title. It looked like that would be the case went 40-0 for his first three service games only for him to lose the next five, allowing Djokovic to break. 

Djokovic subsequently held his serve, meaning Alcaraz also had to hold his serve to send the set to a tie-break. 

Any other player would have crumbled under pressure, but Alcaraz maintained his composure to send the third set to a tie-break. 

At this point, the momentum was with Djokovic, but it was Alcaraz who prevailed, going a mini-break twice before serving it out for a  6-2, 6-2, 7-6 victory. 

Alcaraz’s second Wimbledon title was a sign of greater things to come for Spain later that day. 

Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams fire Spain to Euro Glory 

Alcaraz’s Wimbledon title put pressure on the Spanish team to complete a historical sporting day for Spain. 

Luis del la Fuente’s men were set for a clash in the Euro 2024 final against England later that day. 

Spain went into the game as the favourite, having been the best team since the tournament began. 

However, the first half was nothing to write home about, with neither team able to create clear-cut chances, even though the Spaniards dominated possession. 

The game did come alive in the second half, with Spain taking the lead in the 47th minute through Nico Williams. 

The Athletic Bilbao man finished past Jordan Pickford after Lamine Yamal had done brilliantly to set him up. 

But England did not give up without a fight as they drew level through Cole Palmer’s brilliant finish. 

Nonetheless, no one was going to deny La Roja their deserved win after Mikel Oyarzabal scored the winner four minutes from time. 

Lionel Messi wins another trophy with Argentina 

Almost two years after winning the World Cup trophy, Lionel Messi added another title to his impressive trophy cabinet after Argentina defeated Colombia 1-0 in extra-time to retain their Copa America title. 

The kickoff of the match was delayed by one hour after thousands of ticketless fans tried to find their way into the stadium. 

Nonetheless, the match eventually kicked off an hour after the initial kick-off time. The match itself was a drab affair, although Shakira was available to keep fans entertained at half-time. 

Messi, despite his best efforts, could not help Argentina and had to be taken off due to an ankle injury, which left him in tears. 

However, the Barcelona legend ultimately had the last laugh as Lautaro Martinez came off the bench to score the winner, sealing Argentina’s 16th Copa America title in the process.