Re: Wimbledon Thursday 5th July - a diary of sorts
- From: Hazelwood's Ghost <the_big_kahuna@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 06 Jul 2006 06:33:45 GMT
Nice touch. Great report.
On 5 Jul 2006 17:17:26 -0700, "topspin" <goolagongfan@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Up at 8 after some loud early morning thunder & lightning and heavy.
rain to find it cloudy but dry. Breakfast ended with steady light rain,
which cleared by 10, and time to start for the courts.
Check the sales at Uniqlo, then go into Marks & Spencers at Centre
Court shopping precinct by the station and buy food for the day. Then
the walk past Wimbledon station, with spectators streaming out and into
taxis, and up the hill to Wimbledon Village High Street.
Stop at Starbucks for a coffee, then turn right into Arthur Road
towards the ground. Look over to the spire of St Mary's where we got
married, then down the hill towards the ground, passing big impressive
brick-built houses with fine gardens. As you approach the ground, bear
left for ticket-holders, join a short queue for security check of bags,
and there you are, in the ground again at 11.50 am.
What to do? You see, it is the second Wednesday, men's quarter-final
day, and we have tickets for No 1 Court. First match - Bjorkman v
Stepanek at 1 pm. Well what would you do - rush to No 1 Court??
Or....
wander around seeing what else is happening, and notice that D A Young
(USA) (3 seed) is playing on Court 11, starting at 12.
So we settle down, wait. And at 12 a young man appears, obviously
Young's opponent. But no Young. Time passes. The umpire starts to make
calls and I am wondering how late you have to be to start defaulting
sets. In my league it is 20 minutes. At 15 minutes past 12 Young
appears with someone who is his mother or coach, turns his chair from
where it was facing the crowd, to face the backstop and sits down,
without acknowledging anyone. Finally they start knocking up, and the
match starts.....
Well, you know the score by now, but my general observation -if Young
is the next great hope for US men's tennis, you are in big trouble.
I don't know if he has been overcome by the hype and his relative
failures at senior level, but his game seemed sloppy, with too many
simple shots dumped in the net, while personality-wise he seems very
immature. Roshardt was playing without any obvious coach present, and
at changeovers was facing the crowd, while Young used a Princess-Diana
type peek to look at the crowd, and seemed to sit at changeovers with
his mum/coach in the corner of his eye, for some sort of reassurance.
He only looked impressive at 4-5 in the second set when he was
galvanised by the prospect of imminent failure and really upped his
game, cutting out UEs and playying very solidly. But he couldn't
maintain it.....
And neither could we, because at 6-6 - the first rain delay. Well, this
is Wimbledon. So time for lunch, and a wander round to see what else is
happening.
Wander past Court 13, and see Tracey Austin and Hana Mandlikova are
playing veteran Ladies, and mark that as must-see, but then notice that
Court 2 Peshke/Schiavonne are 6-1,6-5 against Black/Peers, to be
followed by Nestor/Knowles finishing their left-over doubles, then
Navratilova/Huber. My wife wants to see Navratilova, so I say it won't
be long - the women's doubles might be over in one game, and the men's
in a couple (!!!!!! - so no, I don't have a crystal ball).
Up to the standing area and wait. The court is uncovered, Black and
Peers appear, to great applause, followed by Peschke and Schiavone.
They knock up, and the match starts with Black serving, and Pedro's
behalf I am rooting for her! (PS she is a slip of a thing, but can she
volley...).
And Black and Peers get the second set, then streak clear to 3-0 in the
third, playing excellent tennis. In fact the tennis all round is great
and I am thoroughly enjoying it, and realising a great fact - volleying
has not died. It is entirely safe, and living in doubles. Forehand
volleys, backhand volleys, high volleys, volleys off shoelaces - they
are all there. And great interceptions (Peers has fantastic reflexes).
Just excellent stuff.
And then it rains again. Sod it! My wife has had enough of standing, so
sets off for Court 13, while I am determined to stay to the end.
Another 30 minutes delay, the rain stops, the court is cleared, and the
players re-appear. Black and Peers go 4-0, then Peschke and Schiavone
get a break back, before Black and Peers close it out. But while this
is going on I notice on the next court a veteran's men's doubles has
started - the Amritraj brothers against Brian Gottfried and Raul
Ramirez. My attention flicks between the two games, and I am struck by
how unbelievably SLOW the men are, compared to the women, and how
stiff! And the fact that Anand Amritraj looks like a fakir dressed in
tennis whites, with his shoulder-length wiry hair going very grey.
I feel much better about my own game (!) and when Black and Peers have
walked off to resounding cheers (for Peshke and Schiavone too) I climb
down and walk past the men's match. I notice that their movement, and
ball striking is much slower than the women, and is even slower than
the junior women playing nearby. What they still have is great
technique. The overall pace is similar to my own league, at the top
level, but very consistent. However, I reckon I can move faster...!
Then a detour to Henman Hill to see the end of Federer's match on the
large screen TV. He does his usual - gets in front, then relaxes,
almost as if he has too many options on how to finish it off - serve
aces, or volley, or pass from the back of the court - befoer closing it
ourt. And I am left musing - Federer probably has more gears than we
will ever see, while Nadal uses every possible gear he has, and tries
to use some more....
And on to Court 13, where Tracey and Hana have disappeared, to be
replaced by Smith and Nastase playing Alexander and Dent. Watch the
final games (Alexander and Dent win in straights) and note that 3 have
very fine middle-age spread (Nastase especially) while Smith looks very
trim but has a bad back. Oh the ravages of time!!! There is the usual
funny-business from Nastase, combined with excellent technique all
round - but oh so slow again. I could out run these guys too (woohoo!).
I'm glad I saw them, but I wouldn't go out of my way to watch them
again.Top junior tennis is better.
Finally, after tea and sandwiches, to No 1 Court - where, 5 hours after
starting, they have just finished the 3rd set. Will they finish by
sundown?? All I care is that SOMEONE, preferably Stepanek, wins
quickly, so I can see Nadal (and Niemenen, but mainly Nadal) in person.
Settle down, not meaning to get too involved, but get sucked in to the
match, which is good quality, with all-court play from both players. I
know pretty quickly that Federer will eat either of them, but they are
well-matched. Start enjoying the game, especially when I notice Hingis
sitting in the player's enclosure (looking much slimmer in the legs
than she appears on TV), and Stepanek gets a break.
He serves for the match, great cheers from everyone who wants to see
Nadal- and gets a nosebleed and chokes completely!! Serves flying long,
in the net, double faults. Was Amelie ever this bad!! Bjorkman gets
back in, it goes to a tie-break, Stepanek gets a match point, and flubs
it. Set to Bjorkman, and into the 5th. Lots of looking at watches,
trying to judge if there will be enough time to see Nadal, but
eventually realising that it will be too late to start another match.
Bjorkman gets a break, and all the cheers - because any chance of
seeing Nadal depends on him winning quickly now! Finally Bjorkman
closes it out, to tremendous cheers. Nadal is forgotten, because it is
too late, and Bjorkman is obviously absolutely ecstatic to have won. He
embraces all four sides of the crowd, embraces himself, skips up and
down like an 18-year-old, then buries his head in his hand, overcome
with emotion. Finally he leaves, with another dance and fist-pump to us
all, and it is announced ther will be no more play. Some booing, but
everyone knew in their hearts it was too late.
Meander out with the crowd, and decide to see if we can catch
Navratilova's match. A bit of a queue, but eventually we get up to
Court 2 standing area, and there she is, looking exactly like she does
on the televison, but less muscular than I had imagined. Watch the game
for 10 minutes and notice that Navratilova looks the slowest, but
steadiest, player - about what you would expect. Decide I have had
enough of old players, and I am not a fan anyway, hear the shouts from
Centre Court which indicate that Baghdatis has won, and decide that
enough is is good as a feast.
Leave the ground and retrace our steps, but go up Maryatt Road instead,
passing more big houses, and come to High Street by Hampton's the
estate agents. Cross the road, which is congested with traffic leaving
the Championship, and into Tootsie's for a burger (it's a tradition!).
Finally the long walk along the High Street, past the Dog & Fox,
noticing that France are winning 1-0, down the hill, past the station
again. Pause to watch the final minutes of the France - Portugal game,
then home. 12 hours have passed....
- References:
- Wimbledon Thursday 5th July - a diary of sorts
- From: topspin
- Wimbledon Thursday 5th July - a diary of sorts
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