Sports Then and Now

Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal will each be continuing their quest for tennis immortality when they meet in the Wimbledon semifinals.

There’s a famous scene in Chinatown where private detective Jake Gittes faces the evil tycoon Noah Cross, who has been stealing water away from the needy populace to lower the price of land that he can then buy. 

“Why are you doing it?” Gittes asks. “How much better can you eat? What can you buy that you can’t already afford?”

“The future,” Cross responds. “The future!”

Rafael Nadal seems a far more pleasant human being than Noah Cross, but his motivations appear to be similar.

With seven majors and one of the all-time great clay court résumés already to his credit, Nadal is still looking to add on, even if it comes at the expense of contemporaries starved for Grand Slam success. 

Unlike Roger Federer, who could never pick up a racket again knowing he’s already established a compelling case for Greatest of the Open Era, Nadal still has plenty to prove.

Holder of seven Grand Slam titles, Nadal needs one more to move past Mats Wilander and John McEnroe, and two to get past the power-baseliner triumvirate of Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, and Andre Agassi. 

The chances of his being ranked higher than those names in the history books go up even higher should more of his major wins take place on a surface other than clay. 

Andy Murray has another type of history to chase. Though he proudly identifies as a Scot, the English public has proudly adopted him as the player most likely to end Britain’s drought at the majors, which stretches all the way back to Fred Perry in 1936. Read the rest of this entry →

Winners are not those who never fail but those who never quit––Edwin Louis Cole

Wimbledon 2001 Federer defeats Sampras in the 4th round. It marked Sampras' earliest exit from the tournament.

If you were lucky, you were there at the inception, when the first moments of brilliance blossomed.  The teenage phenom from Switzerland sporting a bandanna, his long hair swept back in a ponytail, bit at his lower lip, serving, dancing along the baseline on Centre Court.

The young challenger waited, seeing the ball as if in slow motion––coiled, poised on the balls of his feet, ready to move forward if the grizzled champion on the other side of the net returned the ball short.

Roger Federer’s main worry centered on containing his own anxiety, of staying in the moment, the point at hand and living each shot as it happened,  He could not afford to anticipate beyond the slight movement to the left or the right of the champion, Pete Sampras, who waited on the other side of the net.

From time to time the champion’s serve cracked, blasting through the court, ricocheting off service lines, often beyond the teenager’s ability to lay a racket on it.  All the while Sampras sent  an unmistakable message that he did not intend to go “gentle into that good night,” as urged by Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet.

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Andy Roddick playing on Centre Court at Wimbledon.

Andy Roddick’s result at Wimbledon Monday mirrors the state of men’s tennis in the United States––generally showy but lacking substance.  It is not enough to have a huge serve and powerful ground strokes, you must also pay the ultimate price which means putting in the compulsory hours to ensure you are mentally and physically fit to win a major championship.

The No. 1 American, Roddick, with his rocket serves and his majestic, powerful ground strokes failed to live up to his expectations, let alone his potential.  Why? Because the American skipped the most important ingredient in success on the tennis court this Spring––commitment and preparation.

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Roger Federer has dominated at Wimbledon in the past decade. Last year he defeated Andy Roddick in the final.

In the first decade of the 21st Century the sport of tennis saw rapid improvements in racket technology, in preparation and conditioning of players and in style of play on the courts of Wimbledon.

As the courts slowed, players began to find success on the baseline, staying back and dictating play.  Serve and volley in its traditional form faded in effectiveness.

No longer were the middle of courts torn up as they were when players planted themselves close to the net.  Now the baselines, the back of the courts, became chewed and bare as the tournament progressed.

Roger Federer who won his first Championship in 2003 would find himself in the last seven championship matches of the decade, winning six of them.  The Williams sisters would find themselves in eight finals, winning all eight.  Roger Federer, Venus Williams and Serena Williams dominated play on Centre Court during the last decade.

Take a detailed look at the Wimbledon finals of this first decade of the 21st Century year by year.

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All of the women's top seeds will be action on Monday in the Round of 16 at Wimbledon.

If you have any plans for Monday, put them aside because the ladies at Wimbledon have set a most appetizing table to lure you to their courts, away from the normal more masculine fare.  To call it “Blockbuster Monday,” is to minimize its significance.

The match-ups are staggering, some significant enough to rate as “finals” in most years.  The ladies round of sixteen at Wimbledon, unfortunately, will be blended with the gentlemen’s.  As is too often the case, the ladies will no doubt be overshadowed by their male counterparts since the media selects what will be covered.  This is not meant to discount the men, but the scope of the ladies’ matches is beyond comprehension.

Here are the matches you need to witness front and center:

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The Queen arrives at a 33-year absence from Centre Court at Wimbledon.

As if Andy Murray did not have enough pressure on his young shoulders, now he must worry about his bow to the Queen of England before his match gets underway on Centre Court.  There Murray will meet Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in the second round.

The Queen has come calling––her first visit in 33 years––to see young Mr. Murray and, some suspect, to pay her respects to this tournament that stands out as one of England’s finest events.  As a reluctant visitor, the Queen should serve as a good luck charm for the man from Scotland.

Along with the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen will stroll the grounds and meet tennis’ top players including the No. 1 seeds Roger Federer and Serena Wllliams––they will be on hand to lunch with the Queen.  Serena has been busy beating up on opponents and practicing her curtsy anticipating her luncheon with the Queen.

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