Graceful Simona Halep and fearless Novak Djokovic take Wimbledon
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Simona Halep, the latest dominance in Women's Tennis
Wimbledon Championships, is the All England Tennis title and the most prestigious in Tennis. Winning the Wimbledon title, immortalises the name of the winners. Name, fame, prestige, status and money, Wimbledon has it like no other. It also includes Life Membership at the exclusive All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. It is for life and for living.
In winning Wimbledon, the money is as good, as the fame. This year’s winners took over 2.3 million pounds sterling each, and the Round 1 losers went home with around 50,000 pounds sterling. For the 8th consecutive year, the Championship has increased the prize money by 15%. The total money in the professional circuit is an invitingly staggering figure, attracting the best sporting talent.
Halep’s perfect match
Halep did not beat just another, to win the title in the final, but Serena Williams, winner of multiple Wimbledon titles. It was a perfect match by Halep. No one has treated Serena so contemptuously and won in just under an hour. Also, we all saw Serena is back. Halep’s ability to cover court well saw many of Serena’s would-be winners come back with venom. Halep got behind virtually every shot, regardless of Serena’s speed and placement. Halep also reached full potential in precision and speed, with her Serve and Return of Serve. This was the original ‘Halep formula’. It has returned.
The Tennis court is the largest area to cover in any individual sport. There is no other way to win, unless a player reaches the ball before the second bounce, comfortably. Halep is known to say “I like to run”. She did this to great perfection in the final. In an earlier Round, she beat Elina Svitolina in a close encounter, which helped her peak for the semifinal and the final.
A Rumanian ‘knighthood’
Simona Halep’s good mannerisms and humble behaviour on court has been noticed, and appreciative comments have appeared. In contrast to many, she will go as a correcting figure of sports, giving it the value it had at its origin. Halep is being compared with Audrey Hepburn of the silver screen. In the cinematic world, Hepburn, as the heroine, came to be known in the film ‘Roman Holiday’, with Gregory Peck in the 50′s, and in the musical ‘My fair Lady’ with Rex Harrison. Audrey Hepburn is remembered as a humble, talented perfectionist and a very humane person.
No Rumanian has ever won Wimbledon up to now. Players such as Ille Nastase and Ion Tiriac got the game going in Rumania, during the 60′s. Rumania has honoured Halep for this achievement, with the ‘Star of Rumania’ title. It is a Knights-Order of the highest distinction and the oldest.
Djokovich is Maestro class
In Men’s Tennis, the game has been made to look good in the last decade by 3 all-time greats. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovich. These 3 did it again on the Wimbledon grass. Gentlemen’s 2019 Wimbledon turned out to be, what it was, by these 3 players.
Wimbledon was created and sustained to exhibit the game at its perfection, and to show Tennis at its best. These 3 players delivered the needful. The semifinal between Federer and Nadal, and the final between Federer and Djokovich, will be replayed worldwide, for a long time to come. These two showed that ‘fear’ on court is only an illusion. Only skills are the reality.
Match-points missed
Roger Federer had 2 Match-points to wrap up the match, to win the title, an unprecedented number of times. Uncharacteristically, he missed both Match-points in the 5th Set. At 37, he must have been worn out a little more than his younger opponent Novak Djokovic, in the 5th Set. This miss too will echo for a long time to come.
Grass Courts are not easy to find for practice. It needs adjustments, which the spectators’ eyes do not notice. Some of the best names in Men’s Tennis, ranked in the Top 10, could not even survive Round 1 on the Wimbledon grass. It was rather disappointing to see Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem and Stefanos Tisitspas going out of the draw very early. It was the same in the Ladies event. Much was expected from Asleigh Barty and Naomi Osaka. The Grass Court season is short, 3 weeks before Wimbledon, which, for many, is insufficient to adjust their game adequately.
Smaller nations win
2019 Wimbledon had winners from smaller nations. The Singles went to Rumania and Serbia, Doubles went to Czech Republic, Taiwan and Colombia, Mixed Doubles went to Croatia and Taiwan. All of them have small populations. Could it be they are addressing development selectively and correctly?
In the promotion of Tennis, many nations want profitability and have settled down to ‘activity’ programmes. Activity programmes are to keep youngsters occupied in the afternoon. It cannot accommodate competition development. An issue that has been in existence in many countries for a considerable time, without a solution.
Hard Court season
What follows the Grass Court season of Europe is the Hard Court season of USA and the last Grand Slam, the US-Open in New York in late August. For good many players, Hard Courts is the ‘home’ surface on which they evolved. The concrete asphalt base of Hard Courts strains and injures players, more than the natural surfaces.
George Paldano, Int. player; Accredited Coach of German Federation; National coach Davis-Cup, Federation Cup captain/coach– geodano2015@ gmail.com -