feather_ghyll | Entries tagged with wimbledon 2007

This is what happens when there is no next day of tennis, and no need to rush to post my thoughts before they get superceded. I really didn't expect to be talking about tennis here, but it fit. The last two nights have been decidedly odd, no tennis/glum weather report to switch on as soon as I get home.

I ended watching up the final with friends, who had all decided they wanted Nadal to win, so I had to be more on Federer's side (yes, I know what I said before the French Open, but once Nadal won that, I shifted position. Between the record and the level of sublime tennis he's capable of, I decided I wanted Federer to win Wimbledon.) But I don't know if I enjoyed the experience of having to be so partisan. I wanted to be allowed to want Federer to win by being the best player, but there was an added level of tension when the others were going the whole hog of cheering when Rafa won etc. etc..

Of course, it was a very close one, and what a match, with both of them bringing out the best in each other, and Nadal proving he's improved on the surface so much. He's young, he'll have other chances - and unless if he plays Andy Murray, he should totally win it. Some amazing winners and rallies, and despite Federer having the flashier/bigger serve, after the first blip, Nadal seemed stronger in that department to me, though commentators have been praising F's return.

We missed the final set - although I got wind of the win quite soon after. In retrospect, I could have listened to the radio in my friend's car. I'm glad Federer broke Nadal's serve twice to win - I got to watch the last game on 'Today in Wimbledon' and he brought out fabulous tennis - obviously he had to in the fifth, but winning on tie-break isn't the same thing as breaking serve to win, it's a win, but not fitting for a grand-slam final. However, the tennis and ability on display really was setting-appropriate. They're both the cream of the crop (right now) and it isn't an overhyped rivalry, as this display showed. But five times in a row, and perhaps it meant more because there were human cracks - a few more losses this year and the Hawkeye meltdown. After the tears, he could be more composed about it.

Meanwhile, it was beyond pleasant to come home at eight and see that Murray and Jankovic were up 4-1 in the third set. In fact, I may have made my high pitched 'Splash' noise of delight, (neighbouring dogs flee) and they showed why they were up in the final points, with great returns and weight from her, and speed at the net and ability to spot and exploit the gap from him. As the commentators said, what a great way to end the tournament, or was it the light rain shower during Tonight at Wimbledon, (in which I noticed Boris Becker has really bulbous eyes)? Smiles all round, and Judy Murray in tears at the same time, because I'm sure that if you'd told her two years ago that her eldest son was going to be the family's first Wimbledon champion...

Whoever was responsible for the 'Let there be love' trailer and showed Hingis when Nat King Cole sang about 'cuckoos' ought to get an award - Swiss Miss-cuckoo clocks-genius.

Finally, a link from The Onion on why Rafa <3 clay:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/rafael_nadal_credits_french_open

An almost overwhelming amount of tennis yesterday (over the last few days, the clouds and blue sky above Centre Court have taken on a hyper-real aspect, as if some Michaelangelo put them there. What that says about how much Wimbledon is a mediated/simulated experience through TV, I don't know. Something.)

Both Gasquet and Bartoli managed to avoid the dip that everyone feared, didn't regain the form that had got them there, but made themselves proud. In fact, it was only in the last points of the first set that Federer truly outplayed Gasquet, and then, with his nose in front, he pressed and made it harder and harder for Gasquet to even think about pulling off what he did yesterday. that and the injury. There was a point in the first set (when the new that Djokovic had won his first set filtered through) when I seriously considered a Gasquet/Djokovic final. I thought it'd be hilarious. However, more seriously, I didn't think Nadal was down - hes the sort of player you would only think was down and out, well, if he was comprehensively being outplayed and two sets and a break down. Furthermore, one suspected that Nadal would have more in the tank - as it turned out. I've seen more of tennis player's feet that i needed to - they seem normal and yet their blisters in particular ar very much not.

So the men's final we all wanted/expected - but these semis proved that the young guns are knocking. Navratilova gloatingly made the point that the women's game is improving in its depth (I admit to falling for the old adage), because apart from the duopoly at the very top, the semis were nearly all the top seeded four, whereas with the women, you have the randomness of the Williams sisters, up-and-coing -Sovas and -Vics, and Bartoli. There was less talk of Pierce Brosnan and more of Monica Seles during and after the match. Fair play to her for coming back from the first break and ramping things up. Venus's reach and athleticism helped her reach a lot that others wouldn't, plus she was stronger and had more weapons and maybe energy and experience. hopefully, Bartoli will capitalise n this, because she's a real character and her tennis is unorthodox, but works.

Then there was oodles of mixed doubles. Jankovic and Murray pressing their advantage to win their quarters, (re they going to be called Smiler and Stretch now?) another set of quarters on Centre Court. As I didn't care who won, I hastened to make my supper then, knowing Murray and Jankovic would be back on Centre for their semi. And they were a notch better (until they got a little nervy right at the end) than in the quarters, as if that had been their warm up. I can't remember if Murray had been on Center before.

A really, really entertaining match, Likhotseva (sp?) pulling off some amazing angles, ditto Murray, not to mention the impressive reflexes (with those volleys, he should be tearing up the doubles rankings). Hilarious that they broke the Nestor serve more. As was said by the commentators, one of which was John 'Delighted to be Davies cup Captain' Lloyd, pointed out, Murray and Jankovic combine really well, really well for a scratch team. Countless times, he'd cross or poach at the net and she'd just move to cover. Sometimes, it wasn't necessary, because his volley was too good, but then she had excellent ground strokes and solid volleys.

It only occurred to me at 5-3 in the final set that they were on course for the mixed doubles finals. I mean, I'd been thinking of it as 'the match', and it looked as if they would win, because if they didn't break, Murray would serve it out, and his serve had been rock solid, but then I realised it. And so did they players, but the went through their nerves, and what a prospect. Also, Jankovic has completely endeared herself as a Wimbledon crowd favourite, cf the antics with the so very embarrassed ball boy. Playing with a British hopeful - and a class act at that, otherwise, why bother? - she's raised her profile here. add to that she's part of the new Serbian wave fascinating the media (the Chinese and Russian ladies are so last cycle). And I loved her hair band. I mean, i don't know how dependable the seedings are in doubles, but the mixed seeds seem to have tumbled (reminder that South and Bogdanovic beat the number 1 seeds). Anyway, it's a shame to hear that doubles is doing badly, because it's so entertaining to watch the rat-a-tat exchanges at the net and the use of the extra court-space for breathtaking angles, in both types of doubles, although it's great to see men and women competing on the same court (and the men missing their returns sometimes, when the women serve).

As for today, well, Federer should win, but Nadal has improved on grass, so it should be a fascinating encounter. It had better be. And I don't even know who the smiling ones are facing, but obviously, the crowd will be hysterical over that, as they were in the final points of the quarters - celebrating a win when the serve was actually called out.

Suggested alternatives for the tennis players' names by lj's spell cheack: Federer - Fedora, Nadal - Vandal, Boganovic - Bacteriophage, Jankovic - Jungfrau, Djokovic - Reykjavik, Bartoli - Tartly, Gasquet - Disquiet.

Wow. First of all, yesterday - well, all that needs to be said is that they showed Borg vs. MacEnroe, and that what little tennis there was was long over by the time I got home. (Image of yesterday: the shirtless Serb.)

Today, I kept an eye on the Beeb website and got home by four for a treat of tennis. First, I was watching Venus outplay Ivanovic (second grand slam she's got far into...and had nothing). I think it was Navratilova who said that the Williams sisters (although it always felt more true of Venus at Wimbledon) would be easier to beat in the opening rounds, because they played themselves into form. What form it was too...and so, I thought, it'd be a Henin/Venus finale, with me wanting Henin to win.

So, I watched Murray and Jankovic win on the red button option - doubles = pure entertainment (although the same was true of the singles today). I switched back to see Henin then, and watched the second set turnaround happen. And like Henin, I suppose, I expected Bartoli to drop out of the zone. But she didn't. And I got used to her bizarre preparation for the serve, which reminded me of the kind of crouch an actor would make if they were playing a mouse or rat, although the action itself looked sweet. And she kept hitting the lines and breaking Justine's serve, so every time Justine willed herself into 'oh, no you don't, missy', Mlle Bartoli did.

I also loved the post-match interview, where Bartoli claimed that the sight of Pierce Brosnan lifted her game (surely she'll get a photo op out of that) which is either true or shows she has a wicked sense of humour, and it also either means she's as sharp as tacks or hadn't really realised what she'd achieved. And speaking of achievements, what price Gasquet? It was like France had got sick of everyone talking about the Serbs (especially when the last Grand Slam was held in Paris). I watched him play from the end of his fourth set on, and the stream of winners was so impressive - I'm a fan of ARod (especially off the court, because he's so smart, deprecating and witty) but his game has limitations. Gasquet has an awesome talent and he delivered.

Now, speaking frankly, unless if Bartoli and Gasquet bring the levels they reached today to Centre Court tomorrow, its Venus and Federer's to lose, really. (And I am sad for Henin, although it might be a tad unfair for her to hold all four slams and Federer not to??? I know that's not logical, but still.). One would expect Nadal to meet Federer in the final, but after today, who knows?

Coverage starts at midday tomorrow. I have the morning to stock up on strawberries...

I had other content for tonight, I'll get to it in a moment, but what a refreshing change to come home to see a match being played in sunshine with every hope of it running its course. The fact that it was Henin v S WIlliams - everyone's tip for the match of the quarters - was a bonus. I came in at the start of the second set, and the points were really intense. Like the crowd, I wanted Henin to win, and believed she would, even though she didn't contain Serena as well as she had in the French. But at the beginning of the third,, she just decided to up a gear, and there wasn't much Serena could do about it. Even when things got tight, there was certainly enough of a cushion. Henin is the player to beat, her quality has shone through so far this tournament.

Um, sorry for the 'shone'. Doubles next - poor mixeds, still on the first round. Murray is indeed becoming a star of the Championship. More involving was the next doubles match they showed, Mike Bryan (played by Bob Bryan) and Lisa Raymond (played by Maura Tierney) versus Melanie South (played by a heftier Thora Birch) and Alex Bogdanovic (played by a hedgehog) all played some entertaining tennis from what I was. And the Brits won! They beat the number 1 seeds who had plenty of titles between them. Just as I was wondering why Melanies 'Shotmaker' South wasn't higher up in the rankings, the commentators kindly explained she wasn't the best mover, but that that was protected more in doubles. Well, why doesn't she concentrate on doubles then? Her serving was very solid, her volleying and hand and eye co-ordination class and she stayed with Bryan. Erm. Yeah. Hopefully there will be just as much tennis tomorrow, because it was starting to feel like a tennis debating tournament.

Word of the day: (Justine Henin's as shared by Tracey 'not biased in the American player's favour at all' Austin) aggressivity.

Sally at School: Ethel Talbot, Nelson

This is a mid-read review!

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And so week 2 begins...

There had been too many rain delays for me to take it personally yesterday that, within minutes of me coming home from work, the rain fell and play was stopped. Today, I walked home in sunshine, and came home to see that there was thunder and lightning at Wimbledon, though, once they announced there'd be no more play for the day, of course, the sun came out.

But back to yesterday, I arrived during Serena Williams and Nadal's on-off-on tie breaks. Cue replays, clips of the 'dramatic scenes on Centre Court' - they'd be Serena In Agony rather than tennis, and random people being asked about the state of British tennis in filler interviews. Instead of making snoring noises, they answered politely, either because they were being paid by the BBC or they were Roger Federer and life was treating them kindly.

Hantchuchova (?) just couldn't push it, in the end, and whatever other play I watched didn't leave much of an impression, oh, but Venus's fringe did, seeing it without the visor. It's a semi circle of wrong (what will it be for her next hair-cut? The full monastic doughnut fringe?)

Even less tennis for me to see today. I saw Nadal/Soderberg live, all fifteen minutes of it, and got caught up on the results. At least the interviews were about the mental toughness needed in this weather and not the LTA.

Current Music: Today at Wimbledon

All yesterday offered was window of about one hour and twenty minutes to play. For the Beeb with substantially more hours to fill, there was court after court to visit, hoping that no-one would complain that the higher the court numbers got, the more it was filler. Poor BBC, poor Wimbledon. Saturday is the day people have an afternoon free and the rain foils everyone. I was happy to watch the initial filler - young! Virginia Wade looks a lot like Claudia Black, colouring and features wise.

The Mauresmo match was watchable because they both came into the net, although it was a comfortable victory. I saw the end of Sharapova's match, I couldn't see an umpire or refferee being brave enough to turf her off when she had match pints. Ivanovic's game was boring, until she sat down because it was slippy and you knew it was going to rain. Then I started to get irritated because I wanted to know for certain if the live tennis was over for the day.

Andy Roddick is getting a lot of coverage on the Beeb thanks to the Jimmy Connors connection, while Murray and Butorac seem to have adapted quickly to the level of press interest. They seem to be getting more relaxed interview by interviwew. I tried reading Richard Williams's piece on Henin in yesterday's Guardian, but it was unbelievably snobby and classed women into talentless princess lookalikes and plain but brilliant women. !!!???

I am wearing tights. In July.

I watched as much tennis as I could tonight, choosing the Roddick match over 'Today at Wimbledon', because despite the presence of Stich, they seemed to have gone pun-crazy and harping on about the name of the hill (I've been there on my one visit to Wimbledon, which I'd love to repeat). I came home in time to see Gonzalez losing, watched two seconds of Serena Williams hammering the other player, got bored, so I saw on the multiscreen that Murray and Butarec were volleying away and stuck with that until Federer began. He served well, his an occasional sweet stop and contained Safin well in the first two sets and then the third set got really close with good rallies. Roddick won his match by grit (again) rather than the quality of his game - there's no wonder people are focusing on Federer and Nadal, although I'm curious to see how Djokovic is doing on the grass. I watched a lot of his matches in the French and at Queen's, but have yet to watch him at Wimbledon.

There was a lot of digressing about shortbread from the commentators of the doubles match.

I'll probably watch a lot tomorrow too, weather allowing. I am irrationally convinced that watching sports is fitter than watching any other TV, although all the exercise I do is to sit on the edge of my seat for the occasional tiebreak or go fetch strawberries.

On Wednesday, I don't think that I saw any live tennis, just bitsy parts of matches that had already been played, with the dread R-stamped tennis ball hovering in the top right corner like a cloud. Of course, the trouble with living in the information age is that you already know the outcome quite often. There was plenty yesterday though.

First if all, Maria Sharapova and the unfortunate back part of her dress deserves a mention, then I watched Mauresmo cruising through. I possibly jinxed Guccione by seeing he was going into a third set tie-break, leading Davydenko-the-seed by two sets and switching to watch that on multi-screen (Rusedski commentates like an enthusiastic puppy, a smart one who knows what he's talking about, yes, but puppyish, nonetheless). The giant server choked a little and Davydenko's experience showed as he upped his game to take the match. Finally, I watched Murray and Butarec (sp?) play doubles - doubles is always fun with the volleying and the camaraderie. Better when you're supporting the easy winners. (Also Murray is easy on the eye and his partner has a very American smile).

And of course Henman lost another five setter. I am not surprised. Some caution has entered my support of Henman, possibly since the rain delay that lost him a semi final, possibly before. Better players play tighter matches in the earlier rounds. He...well, his run was certainly entertaining, as is the noise the crowd makes for Hawkeye.

My pick of the matches today is Federer v. Safin. I hope the first two matches on centre court are long ones, so that I definitely get to see it. I should see the business end of the match, anyway. As Henin is scheduled for court no. 2 today, where Mauresmo played yesterday, it occurs to me that the chances of seeing Federer on that court are really, deeply unlikely this tournament.

I'm afraid that this place will be a dumping ground for Wimbledon thoughts for the next two weeks. (It's the icon that did it.)

Word of the day, courtesy of Peter Flemyng, is lobbable. It's appropriate that Venus Williams's match is being shown at the moment, because I wanted to mention her hair! It's scary! (The fringe, I mean).

The last couple of days have been frustrating, as I have to be at work, stuck with depending on others for updates (yesterday I had family on the phone telling me that the British girl has a match point against Hingis. The BBC's website showing me that she has a very typical collapse). At least there are still oodles of matches to watch when I get home - what did we do before the red button? I watched the Henman match last night, but not this afternoon. Again, dependent on others to let me know abut the result. What I did see was suitably gut-clenching, although that's nothing new with Henman, except it was a real quality encounter between 'two wily old campaigners'. Tennis years are of course, like dog years.

I have yet to hear a Michael Stich commentary yet - boo! And I haven't started Sally at School yet either. Well, I am watching Wimbledon, after all.

Current Music: Today at Wimbledon

One other Ethel Talbot down (The Foolish Phillimores), one to go (Sally at School). The Foolish Phillimores wasn’t as bad as Diana the Daring, probably because of my lowered expectations as much as the merit of the tale. The abuse of the ellipsis still remained a problem, but at least the story didn’t go where I was afraid that it would, after suffering Diana’s mix of inverted snobbery and the other kind.

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( Now I talk about non-fictional tennis )