The 10 most memorable moments at Wimbledon 2018

Another edition of the world's oldest tennis tournament has come and gone. Given the volume of barn-burning, high-stakes matches and the many storylines authored by larger-than-life stars over the fortnight at the All England Club, it figures to be one we remember for a long time.

Here are the 10 most memorable moments from Wimbledon 2018:

Tsitsipas lays out

He was bounced in the fourth round, but few players turned more heads in the first week than the Greek teenager with a picturesque one-handed backhand and a flair for the dramatic.

Stefanos Tsitsipas treated fans in London to his combination of showmanship and effort - never more so than when he laid out with full extension to knock back a winning volley on game point in the fifth set of his second-round victory over Jared Donaldson.

After that match, Tsitsipas went on to dismantle Thomas Fabbiano, becoming the first Greek man in the Open era to reach the second week of a major.

Hsieh does it again

For the second time in the last three Slams, Su-Wei Hsieh took down a top player with her patented arrhythmic, bamboozling tennis. At the Australian Open, she eliminated Garbine Muguruza; at Wimbledon, it was world No. 1 Simona Halep, who'd broken through to win her first major title at Roland Garros in June.

Hsieh trailed 4-1 and 5-2 in the deciding set, but mounted a comeback by flummoxing Halep with depth, placement, and variety. She kept her opponent off-balance by repeatedly changing the angle, height, and spin of the ball, forcing Halep to hit awkward low shots and midcourt backhand overheads.

The win sent the Taiwanese 32-year-old into the second week at Wimbledon for the first time. And, as always, Hsieh's post-match press conference was almost as entertaining as the match itself.

Kasatkina and Kerber put on a show

The quarterfinal between Daria Kasatkina and Angelique Kerber showcased two of the game's most creative players, and the match, particularly in the high-wire second set, was pure electricity. It featured masterful point construction and crafty shot-making along with speed, athleticism, and moxie from both women in big moments. Though it ended in straight sets, it was perhaps the most competitive and highest-quality women's match of the tournament.

Kasatkina fended off six match points in the 12th game of the second set before Kerber finally punched through, and it proved to be a springboard to bigger and better things for the eventual champ, who blitzed past her next two opponents to capture the Venus Rosewater Dish.

Big Ando storms back from the brink

Defending champion Roger Federer led Kevin Anderson 6-2, 7-6, 5-4 in the quarterfinals, and then earned a match point on Anderson's serve. At that point, Federer had won 34 consecutive sets at Wimbledon, matching his own all-time record set 12 years earlier. He was one backhand pass away from making it 35, but missed the shot. Anderson went on to hold, but Federer was still firmly in control; he'd never before lost a set to Anderson, and had a 266-2 lifetime record at Slams when winning the first two sets.

But Anderson took that lifeline and ran with it, while Federer never quite seemed to recover. From that point on, the late-blooming South African played with surging confidence and increasingly crystallized purpose, while the 20-time Slam champ played like a mere mortal. About two-and-a-half hours after Federer's match point, Anderson completed the stunning comeback to notch the biggest upset of the tournament and the most significant victory of his career.

Instant classic ends with iconic embrace

For five punishing sets over nearly five hours, Juan Martin del Potro and Rafael Nadal put each other through the wringer. Del Potro uncorked gargantuan running forehands, Nadal countered with deft drop shots and sneaky net-rushes, both men chased balls to the outer reaches of the court and sometimes into the stands, and both slipped repeatedly on the slick grass, including Del Potro on match point. After that last point, the Argentine stayed on the ground, face down, until Nadal stepped over the net and walked to the opposite baseline to embrace his fallen foe.

From his behind, to his off hand, to the final

Forty-eight games into the fifth set of their six-and-a-half-hour semifinal match, neither Anderson nor John Isner had managed to break one another. Nadal and Novak Djokovic waited in the wings, with the threat of curfew encroaching, and it had begun to feel like they'd never get on the court at all.

But on Isner's 25th service game of the set, Anderson went up 0-15. Then, on the following point, he fell down while returning a second serve, but still managed to put that return deep in the court, and got to his feet just in time to make a play on the ball Isner sent back. In order to get a racket on it, Anderson had to play the ball left-handed, and again he managed to send it deep enough that Isner couldn't put it away. Five shots later, Anderson won the point; three points later, he secured the fateful break; one service hold after that, he booked a spot in his first Wimbledon final.

Nadal-Djokovic, Vol. 52

This was the match of the tournament.

In the semifinals, the most prolific rivalry in men's tennis history added another epic chapter, in which Djokovic emphatically announced his return to championship form with a five-set win in a five-hour, 15-minute battle played across two days. Clean ball-striking, clutch serving, savvy net play, timely droppers, incredible passing shots, furious defense, on-the-run counter-punching, back-and-forth points played with life-or-death desperation - this match had it all.

When it was over, we had definitive proof of Djokovic's resurgence, and yet another example of the astronomical heights he and Nadal can push each other to.

Angie's revenge

Serena Williams didn't have it in the final, but Kerber won it as much as her opponent lost it. Two years after Serena denied her at the All England Club, Kerber turned the tables with a flawless performance to win her first Wimbledon title in straight sets. She made just five unforced errors in the match, and didn't face a break point in the second set.

Once upon a time, Kerber would suffer let-downs in big moments and struggle to close matches. During her disastrous 2017 season, she couldn't even beat a top-30 opponent, let alone the best player of all time. Now, she's just the second player ever to beat Serena twice in a Grand Slam final.

Novak comes full circle

In the final, Djokovic completed his turnaround and won his first Grand Slam in over two years. His performance was more workmanlike than heroic, but there was no comedown from the emotional high of his semifinal; he played clean, composed, intelligent tennis to beat Anderson in straight sets, and ate a celebratory blade of Centre Court grass for the fourth time.

Given how his last two years had gone, and how his season began, this one must have tasted extra sweet. Djokovic admitted that during his long lull he had doubts he'd ever make it back to his peak level. Even Marian Vajda, Djokovic's longtime and recently reunited coach, couldn't believe what he'd seen.

"I didn't expect to win Wimbledon, this is the biggest surprise from all the years I was with him," Vajda told Reem Abulleil of Sport360. "What happened here, for me, I still cannot understand why it happened.”

Love him or hate him, there's no denying that men's tennis is better when Djokovic is a factor, even if his return to form signaled the end of Phase 2 of the Federer-Nadal duopoly. He'll have to prove he can sustain it, but for now, Djokovic can simply enjoy being back atop the mountain.

To all the moms

Though she often made it look routine, and while it seemed like a foregone conclusion, it wasn't until Serena stepped to the mic for her runner-up interview that you felt the full weight of what her run to the final had meant to her, and what it had taken out of her.

After losing to Kerber, Serena exuded more pride than disappointment in the achievement of winning six straight Grand Slam matches just 10 months and four tournaments removed from a difficult childbirth. And, with tears in her voice, she used the opportunity to address her fellow mothers.

"It's disappointing, but I can't be disappointed," Williams said. "I have so much to look forward to. I'm literally just getting started.

"But to all the moms out there, I was playing for you today, and I tried."