oops..sorry guys..i had better explain the title before it is misconstrued and I'm branded weird. Quite obviously (at least to the sports minded and people who know me), I am referring to the great Wimbledon championships. It has a great history and some unique features including the curtsy(bowing to the royal box) which was done away with recently, its traditional touch, its favorite dish i.e. strawberries and cream and the rains that seem to always affect it every year. There has been no other sports event that I have so loved and literally revered like this annual grass court Grand slam. Almost every tennis player past, present and pretty sure well into the future dreams of holding up this great trophy once..The history of the tournament can very well take up a book by itself..I was just recalling how I came to love this event so much and decided to write this blog..
My guess is it was about 1992-93, fairly late considering the event began in 1877:D I had just watched the 1992 championship results on news and read about it in the newspaper and had not the slightest idea about the players and tournament let alone the rules of the game and its history..
I asked mom "What's this game ma? who are the top players in this game and how do they play this one"...pretty childish one may think..but I can quite confidently say there are quite a few around now far older than I was then but pretty ignorant about the game...To me, not loving Wimbledon in particular and the game of tennis in general seems unacceptable...Anyways, back to the point...mom told me that Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg were the top players then and among the ladies Steffi Graf ruled. She also did her best to explain the then complex now so simple rules of the game to me..all thanks to her and my grandpa who was quite an avid watcher and a keen player in his younger years, I was introduced to this lovely game and have been hooked on ever since.
Started my own little research( where was the internet then:D?), read few issues of Sportstar and Sportsworld and figured out that Wimbledon (held annually in England) along with the Australian open (Melbourne), French open(Paris) and the US open(New York) constituted what is known as the Grand Slam of tennis. I particularly remember one issue of Sportsworld with Boris Becker on the front cover which had a lot of details on the championships including all the records.
I don't generally believe in love at first sight, but I guess its only Wimbledon that has truly captivated me from the moment I watched it first..I started looking up all the past champions, victories and scores and stored them in my pint size brain...and voila! I have still not forgotten anything..Knowing the details and recollecting Wimbledon records and matches has given me the greatest joy!...
The first Wimbledon tournament I watched with quite some dedication was 1993. I very well remember that Boris Becker of Germany ( 3 time champion in 1985,86 and 89) met a young Pete Sampras (USA) and Stefan Edberg of Sweden (champion in 1988 and 1990) came up against Jim Courier (USA)..Becker and Edberg had faced off 3 times and everyone expected them to clash again in the finals...perhaps to signify a change of guard..Sampras and Courier came through and contested a very good final which Sampras won to take his first title..The ladies final was most unforgettable with Steffi Graf, the most dazzling and supreme athlete from Germany (a HUGE reason for me to be glued to Tennis) came back from the brink of 1-4 and 15-40 in the final set against the Czech Jana Novotna. The image of Novotna sobbing on the shoulders of the Duchess was most painful and something that cant be forgotten ever..
I was totally attracted to the game by then and my parents also would almost always sit with me when the semis and the finals were on every year and I started delving more and more into the fascinating history of the great tournament. I read about the great Rod Laver's conquests, the unparalleled and astonishingly calm Bjorn Borg and his unbelievable rivalry with John McEnroe, who was known as the 'enfant terrible' for his tantrums on court. Borg and McEnroe contested one of the greatest matches ever seen in the 1980 finals and only Borg's calmness could have helped see him through after losing a quite unbelievable tie break of jaw dropping brilliance (20-18) in the fourth set. Other greats included Jimmy Connors who had a fierce temper, Boris Becker who flung himself at volleys which most others wouldn't care to approach, Stefan Edberg with the silken net game and Ivan Lendl, who despite all his gutsy efforts never won a single Wimbledon. Very famously, in a defensive statement when quizzed repeatedly about his lack of success at Wimbledon, he said "Grass is for cows" but also later stated that he would gladly exchange all his other titles for a single Wimbledon. This aptly demonstrates the high regard this great event is held in.
Ever since 1993, I haven't missed a single year and have been privileged to have been in this era of two of the greatest men's champions in Pete Sampras and Roger Federer. Also, Steffi Graf was the single greatest reason for me to love watching the ladies game and also cut down drastically watching it ever since she retired.
Graf's first round loss to Lori McNeil in 1994, Conchita Martinez's victory the same year in the final over the legendary Navratilova (9 time champion). 1995 saw a marathon final between Graf and Aranxta Sanchez Vicario, a plucky Spaniard and involved a game with 13 deuces!!..Graf prevailed in the end. Pete Sampras continued his winning ways till he was upstaged in the quarter finals by the dutch giant Richard krajicek in 1996..Krajicek won the final against Malivai Washington fairly comfortably. The 1996 tournament was most (in)famous for the suspension of American Jeff Tarango from the ATP for a year after his wife slapped the referee Bruno Rebeuh and also the streaker running past in the finals. 1997 -2000 saw Sampras win four more titles and establish himself as the greatest champion. My interest in the ladies game had dwindled ever since Steffi retired and I used to watch fewer games. The Williams sisters especially Venus dominated the scene starting 2000. 2001 was a most memorable year as it marked yet another change of guard, this time Pete Sampras met a certain Roger Federer in the 4th round and in a fascinating battle of 5 sets, Federer upset Sampras. The talent of Federer was fully on display and it everyone who viewed that match had little doubt that he was a champion in the making.
Goran Ivanisevic, the moody Croat who had lost in 3 previous finals (92 to Andre Agassi, 94 and 98 to Sampras) was given a wildcard entry and he charmed the crowds by reaching the finals after many a titanic battle. In another giant struggle, he outlasted Patrick Rafter, who himself had defeated Agassi in a classic semi final. Ivanisevic's victory was the stuff of dreams and his copious tears provided just another indication of how much players valued a Wimbledon title. Lleyton Hewitt won a not so memorable Wimbledon with almost all greats making their exit prematurely and the greatest of all Pete Sampras falling to an unknown Geroge Bastl. It was to be Sampras's last stride on the great lawns and it was a very sad sight indeed watching him go.
Roger federer took the world by storm since 2003 and until 2007, when he was challenged by Rafael Nadal before coming through in 5 sets, he dominated every player he met with utter ease. Nadal, a brilliant athlete from Spain with a never say die spirit and fantastic stamina was slowly rising up the ladder and the contest that was witnessed in the 2008 finals was beyond description. The level of tennis was breathtaking, the shots stupendous and the resilience of both was just extraordinary. The ability of both the players was never in question, but they often exceeded themselves and in a match fit to be described as a match for the Gods, Nadal prevaailed 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-7 9-7 in a near 5 hour marathon. Federer missed out on beating Bjorn Borg's record of 5 consecutive titles but the seeds of a great rivalry had been sown and the world yearns for another surreal contest between these two greats.
Well, as I said before and will always do, there has been no other event be it sporting or non sporting that has single handedly captured my imagination and had me hooked to it than the All England championships. One of the very few wishes that I have in life is that I sit at Centre Court in Wimbledon and watch the singles final. I truly hope it will be fulfilled soon.
