Nicolai Budkov Kjaer became the first Norwegian man to win a Grand Slam singles title at either the junior or professional level by beating Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-3.
ByAssociated Press
Published Jul 14, 2024
LONDON (AP) — Nicolai Budkov Kjaer became the first Norwegian man to win a Grand Slam singles title at either the junior or professional level by beating Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-3 Sunday in the boys’ final at Wimbledon.
The 17-year-old Budkov Kjaer broke his opponent four times in the second set, including in the final game on No. 1 Court.
“It feels amazing to achieve childhood goal of mine,” the second-seeded Budkov Kjaer said. “So very proud of that and happy with my performance today.”
Norway’s Casper Ruud has reached three Grand Slam finals without winning one, and Budkov Kjaer said it was “a great milestone” to be the first Norwegian male with a major singles title.
“But it’s only juniors, so I’m trying to achieve bigger things,” he said.
In the girls’ final, top-seeded Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia beat Emerson Jones of Australia 6-3, 6-4 for her second junior Grand Slam title of 2024.
It was a rematch of their girls’ final at the Australian Open this year, which Jamrichova also won. She said she upped her game even more in this one, and she made just one unforced error in the first set.
“It was for sure the best junior match I’ve ever played,” the 17-year-old Jamrichova said. “It was just, I think, a better tennis than we played in Australia. I think was such a nice match today.”
