Thoughts on Wimbledon 2008

Wimbledon 2009 has been in full swing, and the finals weekend is almost upon us. Before I write about my impressions of this year's tournament, I wanted to paste in my observations from last year, which I'd typed up as practice for blogging, before I started this blog.

June 26, 2008.
Watching the Tennis Grand Slams
Since moving back from the U.S., my interest in watching international tennis tournaments, particularly the Grand Slams, has been rekindled and strongly.
The coverage of these tournaments in the U.S. used to be very disappointing, as they would only show matches which were perceived to be of interest to Americans, and hence typically were ones that featured U.S. players. Given the dearth of up and coming U.S. players recently in these tournaments, I’m glad that I’ve been able to watch them in India! The only grand slam that was covered extensively was the U.S. Open, and for obvious reasons.
Since coming back to India, I look forward to each of these tournaments eagerly, and given a chance, could spend the entire two weeks immersed in these matches. Although I don’t quite have the luxury of time to be able to do that currently, I make it a point to not miss the semi-finals and finals of the key tournaments.
Interestingly, I didn’t consciously realize how this interest of mine had been subdued while I was away from India. While I would try and watch any match that was being covered, and would also complain about the lack of coverage, it wasn’t something that I really sat and cried over. But now that the coverage is available, I’m surprised myself, at how passionate I’ve become in following these tournaments and the players. I even dream of actually going and attending one of these live in the future. Wonder if I’ll ever truly have the luxury (of time and money!) to be able to do that….

June 27, 2008.
Wimbledon 2008 - A disappointing loss for Sania
Sania Mirza, India’s brightest hope in singles tennis, was ranked 32 for Wimbledon 2008. Her competitors for the first two rounds were much lower ranked, and when perusing the draw before the tournament began, one felt that she should be able to make it to the third round for a potential match-up with Venus Williams (seeded seventh this year). But, hey, that’s why they play the matches!
Sania won her first match against Castano but she was not able to make it past the second round against Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. The only saving grace was that she dug herself out of a 6-0, 2-0 hole and made a match out of it. In fact, she had 4 match points in which to bag the match, but credit to her opponent, for saving those and eventually winning the match.
Due to Sania’s recent injuries, she was likely somewhat tentative in these matches, and that at least accounts for her poor starts. Given her recent history, I did not expect her to go too far. Nevertheless, it was still quite disappointing to see her lose and not be able to capitalize on the opportunity to potentially face Venus Williams on center stage (or, rather center court!). The heart is disappointed, no matter how much the mind rationalizes!

July 4, 2008
Wimbledon 2008 – Anticipating the Finals
The finals weekend at Wimbledon is looming, and I for one, am excited and looking forward to the matches. Yesterdays’ womens’ semifinals were not really too exciting, and went along expected lines, without much fight from the underdogs. While the U.S. presence on the men’s side has been sorely lacking in recent years, the Williams sisters are making up for it on the women’s side, by making it an all-Williams (and needless to say, an all-American) final. It is definitely very impressive that both sisters have made it to the finals from an original field of 128 competitors, especially given that they don’t play too many tournaments any more. But perhaps that works to their advantage, as they come in fresh and ready for the kill for the big ones, without becoming jaded by playing too many matches. It remains to be seen, however, if they can produce a competitive final.
It’s a different story on the mens’ side, or so I’m hoping. Federer is gunning for his sixth straight title, and I for one, am rooting for him. But, Nadal is playing very strong, and if I were to bet with my mind, I would likely bet on Nadal. But it’s the matter of heart over mind again, and I really, really want Federer to get his six straight titles. If nothing else, it’ll be great to have a marathon five-setter match that goes down to the wire!
Of course, I’m putting the cart before the horse a little, since they both have to still get through their respective semifinal matches – Federer against Safin, and Nadal against Schuettler. And, speaking of the semi-final matches, they are about to start in a few minutes, so I’m going to sign off right here… Let’s hope these matches are a little more interesting than the womens’ version of the same.

July 8, 2008
Wimbledon 2008 –An epic and well-towelled final
As all the newspapers and headlines are saying, it was an epic men’s final!! A final to remember for the ages – the longest in Wimbledon’s history. Well, my wish for a marathon five-setter was answered and how!!! For those of you who may not have been on this planet for the last 2-3 days, Nadal won an extremely engaging five-setter match against Federer. Federer lost the first two sets, where he was playing below his potential, then came back to win the next two sets in tiebreak. The fifth set was won in fading light by Nadal at a score of 9 games to 7.
I guess the fading light was an appropriate background for this match to end, as the result underlined the fact that Federer does appear to be fading away from the no. 1 spot, slowly but surely. He lost his 5-year hold on the Wimbledon trophy, and failed to better Bjorn Borg’s record of five successive Wimbledon titles. Sadly, that is one record that he won’t get a chance to better again in this lifetime.
Much has been written about this match over the last two days, so my writing anything more would just add to all the redundant adjectives and adverbs being thrown around to describe this match.
So, here’s a different thought that I wanted to put down, which came to me when Star Sports showed the ex-epic-final (i.e. the match that was considered to be the epic final before this latest Federer-Nadal battle replaced it!) between Bjorg and McEnroe that was played in 1981. Many interesting contrasts between matches then, and matches now, struck me when watching this, even though, amazingly, the center court at Wimbledon looks largely the same.
One particular difference in the players’ mannerisms was very apparent. In 1981, the players did not rely on getting a towel to wipe themselves after each point. When the point was over they would just walk over to the respective court to be ready for the next point. Contrast that with today’s matches, where as soon as a point is over, the player beckons the “ball-boy” for the towel, walks towards the back of the court and goes through an elaborate ritual that is specific to each player and may include any of, wiping face, wiping racket handle, wiping hands, etc. Do players really sweat more today than they did a quarter of a century ago?!! Or, are the points more tiring now than they were before? More than the physical aspect, I think it’s a mental thing. The stress and the pressure that the players feel today, is perhaps a lot more than they did earlier, and that is probably what causes them to pause with the towel after every point to gather themselves mentally as well as physically. It was quite interesting to note that contrast between then and now…