Wimbledon 2008 - dawn of a new era
Wimbledon 2008 marked the dawn of a new era for tennis, one where the game triumphed and emerged out of its slighty upper class, eccentric cocoon. It now struts the world sports stage with handsome sponsors as its suitors in the shape of IBM who produce superlative web sites for the Grand Slams, Mercedes and Sony Erickson. Online tennis betting is the sharpest thing on the web. Wimbledon 2008 demolished many myths. Tennis has become truly global. The women’s quarter finals were contested by two Americans, two Russians, a Chinese, a Czech, a Pole and a Thai. The men’s quarters were fought over by a Brit, a Swiss, a Croat, a Russian, two Spaniards, a German and a Frenchman. No nation can claim single authority. Talent seems to be as diverse as countries, except perhaps for those who have adopted the sunshine of Florida. Tennis has become a wonderful polyglot of all ethnicities.
The Brtish actually ended up doing rather well - in Andy Murray we have a capable quarter finalist, his brother Jamie made the a mixed doubles semi finals and in the jack-in-the-box Laura Robson we have the new Girl’s Champion. With hindisght too Murray’s straight sets loss to Rafael Nadal did not look too undignified after watching Nadal maul the great five time champion Roger Federer in the opening sets of the final itself.
Even the brave Elena Baltacha actually lost to the surprise package of the tournament in Jie Zengh in the second round, so honour can be attached. And Britain’s number one Anne Keothavong lost to Venus Williams which is no disgrace either. The fact that one was born in Ukraine and the other in Thailand is emblematic of the modern game.
Another long standing myth that was scotched was that women cannot serve as fast as men. Neither Roger Federer nor Rafael Nadal served faster than the 129mph that Venus managed in the final against her sister Serena. Despite the power of his game, Nadal’s service although full of spin and cunning is on average a sluggish 112mph for the his first and only 92 mph for his second. Speed is no substitute for guile.
Nadal’s obvious fitness and the almost bionic development of his left arm compared to his right as Murray illustrated is going to be the way froward and many a hopeful teenager may find themselves despatched to the weights department of their local gym rather than the tennis court for the winter. More muscle for sure.
The next big event, appropriately, is the Olympics where 17 of the top men and 18 of the top women are booked to challenge. Although that fits the mood of the moment it is equally perverse to think of how these rich kids conform to the Olympian ideal of amateurism. Any one of them is as professional as any sports personality across the world. But setting that aside one of the charming things about the emergence of new tennis with its new fashion designs and smiling faces is that unlike soccer, even cricket, or heaven forbid ice hockey, there have been no histrionics to go with it and a feeling instead of genuine camraderie possibly bred on the long slog hauls around a global circuit, the hours of travelling and waiting, the many nights in strange hotel rooms, in the same restaurant. They may grunt and even shreek in Elena Dementseva’s case on court but there is a minimum of backbiting or bitchiness or tantrums beyond the odd bouncing of a racket on the ground in rage. More usually there is time for some showboating for the crowd.
Another thing Wimbledon 2008 showed was the crowd’s capacity to erupt into a third force in a match as it did for Murray against Richard Gasquet and as it did in the final, in a very unpartisan way, when it just seemed to want more tennis please.
There are new stars too. In the women’s game it became obvious that anyone down to 150 in the world perhaps has a chance. There was the sterling Zheng who will be on home soil for the Olympics which will be the same artifical surface as is used for the US Open at Flushing Meadows. Also Australia’s Samantha Stosur seemed to come of age in her semi final against Murray and the ageing Liezel Huber, was blown away like everyone else by the Williams sisters in the women’s doubles finals but won the mixed doubles title with the American Bob Bryan. She only lost in the singles to the pronmising Czech Nicole Vaidisova
The Williams sisters dominance has already been challenged off grass and Paris champion Ana Ivanovic will be a contender in Beijing and perhaps too Maria Sharapova, if fame and notoriety have not fatally damaged both of them. If one thing was plain from the Williams sisters victories this year it was that they were focussed and undestracted by the media hubub. Been there. Done that. Do it again. The younger wannabees are going to have to live with the sport’s new limelight and expectations which are starting to become enormous and wholly unreasonable. How is a teenager who has lived his or her life largely in isolation travelling between tournaments supposed to overnight contend with the impact of victory in a major tournament and the swirl of TV, reports, agents, sponsors that inevitably ensues for the more charismatic? There will be casualties for sure. The Murrays tough stance and sticking together in the face of such publicity is to be admired and applauded rather than sneered at. Television is a racpacious hypocritical mistress as Laura Robson is about to find out.
The mens doubles was won by a Canadian and a Serb, more evidence of the the growing internationalism. In the men’s game it remains to be seen if the Federer game has been terminally fractured by the encounters with Nadal. Possibly not but he looks beatable, at least by a few players at the top of their game. Also how long can Nadal sustain such intensity? His victory at Queens over Novak Jokovic was strung tighter than a brand new racket. The new French star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga missed Wimbledon through injury but was a finalist in Australia. The French are in fact very strong in depth. And then there is Murray himself who has time on his side.
There is more drama to come
