By Mike Dickson
PUBLISHED: 15:07 EST, 9 July 2013 | UPDATED: 15:24 EST, 9 July 2013
Where did Andy Murray go when he wanted a haven of peace and quiet to himself at Wimbledon? Apparently he found a room situated just off the underground corridor between the Centre Court complex and Court One, which is officially designated as a player holding area in the event of short rain delays on No. 1. It is hardly ever used, so Murray adopted it as his second home away from the bustle of the locker room.
Seeing Stefan Edberg at Wimbledon was a reminder of the astonishing fall of men's tennis in Sweden. They ruled the world in the eighties but now, amazingly, do not have a player in the top 500. In Elias Ymer they have a junior on who some hopes are pinned, while Robin Soderling, the former top five player who has been out with glandular fever for two years, has tentative designs on a comeback next year.
The remarkable popularity of Wimbledon may inspire a few more supporters for Britain's Davis Cup team, and there are few better places to travel and watch them than their next match, the World Group play off against Croatia in the holiday paradise of Umag in September, in which Andy Murray will play. Croatian number one Marin Cilic says, 'It is a beautiful place and I would recommend anyone to go there, especially at that time of year.'
An enormously popular figure among generations of Wimbledon players, senior locker room attendant Doug Dickson (no relation), brought the men's finalists bags onto court for the last time on Sunday. He is leaving the All England Club after 42 years' service and is taking up a similar post at Queen's Club in Fulham. He is so well regarded by Rafael Nadal, for instance, that he has a standing invitation to visit him any time he goes to Mallorca.
There were 14 fines for player behaviour handed out at Wimbledon, ranging from $500 to $10,000. Among them was Andy Murray, who was docked $1,500 (£1,000) for his audible obscenities, directed at himself, during the quarter final against Fernando Verdasco. The biggest, and unusually large, fine went to Italian Fabio Fognini, for his spectacular tirade against French umpire Pascal Maria early in the first week.
You will not find much professional tennis action in Britain this week as activity takes its usual plunge off a cliff. The men, however, are playing in the $10,000 Futures level event at Ilkley in Yorkshire. Some of the superstars will be more active than usual in Europe, however. While Rafael Nadal looks to have turned down the chance of a swift comeback, Serena Williams is playing this week in Bastad, Sweden, while Roger Federer returns next week in Hamburg.
Three things to cherish at this year's Wimbledon: 1) The sportsmanship between players, mostly male, at the net after titanic battles 2)The speed of play, which has picked up as a result of a sensible clampdown this year 3)The complete lack of predictability (I wrote beforehand about how the 32 seed system was ruining the first weeks of Grand Slams, and was proved spectacularly wrong on this occasion).
0 comments:
Post a Comment