From Aaron : Tennis
I’m surprised you’ve not previewed the tennis, Myles.
The less focus on football the better this summer, so that we can appreciate real sportspeople…..unlike those I get dragged into watching twice a week in winter.
Keep up the good work!
Myles replies :
Others can preview the tennis far better than me, Aaron.
They know far more than me and they’ve got the time to do it. I haven’t.
But I do think Wimbledon is an essential fortnight in the British way of life.
Admittedly, when I first went in 1977, I thought I’d walked into a time-warp. But it was really, really fun to be there, so I kept going back.
This will seem very obvious but I have to say it for the benefit of anybody who has never been there and might be in doubt : the Centre Court at Wimbledon is a fabulous place to watch lawn tennis.
I’ve loved this Wimbledon, especially the gutsy Sabine Lisicki, the German wild card, who lost to Sharapova because of her weak second serve.
Sharapova is scared of her shoulder, so she double faults too much and she lost to the exuberant Czech, Petra Kvitova, in the ladies final.
At 5-4 and 40-love, Kvitova served her first ace of the final to win the £1.1million prize money.
Tracy Austin said, “I would think that’s the first of many.”
John McEnroe said, “Shockingly good !”
Today, Djokovic was phenomenal against Nadal for two sets.
Djokovic held his serve at the start of the second set.
Jan said, “Nadal’s not himself today.”
I said, “You can only play as well as you’re allowed to play.”
Then Nadal served and Djokovic was magnificent as he took it to 15-40 and during that rally I said, “He’s the guv’nor today. It would be a shocker if Djokovic won this in three sets.”
He was so clinical it was like watching Arthur Ashe dismantle Jimmy Connors.
Who would have thought anybody could do this to Nadal, even the super-consistent Serbian?
When he won the second set 6-1, Tim Henman said,”Nadal has to hope that Djokovic’s level goes down.”
His level did dip and at 4-1 to Nadal, the serving Djokovic had to save two break points.
But he double faulted for 5-1 and Nadal took the third set 6-1.
But, quite quickly, Djokovic held to love for 4-3 and broke for 5-3 and closed it out from 40-30 to win his first Wimbledon in four sets.
Novak Djokovic is No.1 now.
Great athlete, nice guy, formidable champion. What’s not to like?