The Wimbledon 2013 Drama!
View(s):The Wimbledon drama, now on, has never been seen before. Unknown players had a spring, the well known were sent out and the 127th year Wimbledon draw had eleven withdrawals in four days. Everything is been blamed on, including the best kept English lawn in a good English summer.
In the first three days, seven top players withdrew from the draw. Big names like Nadal, Federer, Hewitt, Sharapova, Ivanovic, Jankovic, Wozniacki, Errani and Kirilenko were beaten by players not in the top 50. What happened in Wimbledon first week could be the early signs of ‘change-of-guards’ coming in the world rankings
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after defeating Bobby Reynolds of the U.S. during their men's singles tennis match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, in London. - REUTERS
Injury issue
European clay circuit which finished with the French-Open was important to players and was physically taxing. It also weakened too many and there was no time to recuperate before the short English grass season. The second is good players use the early rounds to find their rhythm on grass. Early rounds proved to be too tough for that now. Third, is that the movement on grass needs Sampras and Federer type of light footwork on grass. The foot tends to get stuck and the comforting slide of clay is totally not there. Nadal is heavy with his footwork and he also rotates his foot as he hits the ball which happens well on clay. On grass his foot rotation caused the knee rotation.
‘Foot’ and ‘Kilo’ formula
In sports, to be fast and powerful is a catch 22 situation. If a player is muscle bound and heavy, speed is restricted and causes injuries from the hip downwards. If the player is light and fast, power is restricted, causing injuries to the shoulder and back. Good stroke making can certainly help here but only to a point. General rule for sports weight is one kilo and eighty grams for every inch in height or there abouts. It is the mix of ‘foot’ and ‘kilo’ formula. Most of the injuries in Tennis come when players do not have the speed / power balance in their physical development. Of course we cannot overlook the massive effort of elite Tennis. Challenges being immense, all big sports have specialists to take care of the physiques.
Big names
Why big names went out so early? – Grass season is short. Most players do not adjust to its rhythm. Apart from that, Grass Tactics are different. Grass gives no hope playing the wrong game. Spaniards suffer the most on Grass with their strong clay court game.
Speed and power
The dominating aspects of grass Tennis is ‘speed’ and ‘power. It has been going up for some time. Wimbledon even made the grass slow, even with that Vedasco of Spain had 134 miles per hour serves. On the other end, some of the rallies went to 14 shots on grass. Serena Williams brand of tennis is the best suited for Grass. Agility is the catch word to win on grass. It needs good eyes to sight, quick foot work with solid balance and power based racquet handling ability. Any hesitation or late sighting means player will not have the time to hit winners.
3:1 winners ratio
Hitting winners is the modern Tennis trend not the safe consistency. What is the difference? Going for winners players also make mistakes. Now the winning formula is keep the ratio between winners and mistakes 3:1 in favour of winners. Look for the match statistics of the game after a match or in your computer, this trend comes out clearly. It is exciting to watch, but tough formula for players. For this, on grass first serve rally will have to have a 93% success rate and with the second serve it has to be around 50%.
New comer’s spring
All the above reasons gave a spring time to unknown players – Steve Darcis who beat Nadal in the first round although not known, is not a new name. He is 29 years and ranked 130 plus. He started the big name roll out by beating Nadal. By Thursday there were many like him in the men’s draw. Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine took the famous one out – Roger Federer.
On the women’s side Laura Robson [GBR], Eugienie Boucharo [Canada] and Sloane Stephens [USA] will have to be reckoned with. Impressed with Boucharo’s game Martina Navratilova hinted her to be the future champion. De Brito [Portugal] beat Sharapova in a well contested game.
Cherry blossoms in ‘Late Spring’
Kimiko Date of Japan at 43 entered 3rd round of Wimbledon to become the oldest player to come this far. It is an amazing feat that will be difficult to match. Highly effective she always had the old school charm.
2nd week in Wimbledon
There are still enough big names for the title claim. Among women, Williams, Radwanska and the eastern European field is still intact. For men Djokovic, Murray, Del Potro and Almagro are the strong contenders, not mentioning the young giant killers who surfaced in the first week. –georgepaldano@yahoo.com-
Follow @timesonlinelk
comments powered by Disqus