Rob McLean - Wimbledon wrap-up
There doesn't seem to have been too many ''What's wrong with British tennis?'' inquests since Wimbledon. Perhaps the critics are waiting to see if we can sink any lower when we meet Turkey in the Davis Cup later this month.
Well, if we lose there is actually nowhere else to go and the only way is up. The level of interest in this country was summed up succinctly by the great Martina Navratilova, who managed to win the women's invitational doubles having just had treatment for breast cancer.
She believes that the two weeks of Wimbledon is the only tennis that interests the British public. Harsh, but very fair and very old news.
And so the wait for a male singles champion goes on. 1936 and all that. Another semi-final place to add to the many achieved by Tim Henman and a few others, while Andy Murray officially moves into the realm of living in hope of the title rather than expecting it.
In between working commitments at Wimbledon I managed to see a bit of the the semi-final against Rafael Nadal in a 'behind the goal' position and fortunately, or unfortunately in the case of the Scot, it was at the pivotal moment in the second set tie-break.
Murray played very well but a missed first serve and Nadal pounced and that was pretty much that. It is always the big points. Missed forehand against Roger Federer on set point in the Australian Open final and now Wimbledon and another set point after Nadal double-faulted.
Nadal is well and truly back and by some way the best in the world. As for Federer, he has gone to No 3 in the world - his lowest position for seven years.
Is this the beginning of the end? He is 29 in August but seems determined to fight back and is convinced he can reclaim the top spot, although he didn't win too many friends in the press conference after his defeat by Tomas Berdych by claiming he lost because of injuries.
Surely, the 16-times Grand Slam champion could afford to be a bit more gracious in defeat. A pattern, however, is emerging in that he is being outhit in some of his defeats - Robin Soderling in France, Juan Martin del Potro in the US Open final and now Berdych.
Federer may well have to try to be more aggressive on his backhand return. His reliance on slice allows opponents to take control of rallies early. Nevertheless, it is a backhand slice I would sell my own grandmother for.
Elsewhere Serena Williams cleaned up but the Spice Girls of tennis, Martina Hingis, former Wimbledon champion, and Anna Kournikova, part-time tennis player turned glamour girl, seemed to get as much attention in the invitation doubles.
The photographers were out in force and whenever they had to make their way back from an outside court to the main building with security, they were besieged by desperate, lunging autograph hunters, many of whom were of the middle-aged male variety. I wonder why?
In stark contrast, the three surprise women's semi-finalists, Vera Zvonereva, Tsvetana Pironkova and Petra Kvitova could happily get on the London tube every day for the next week without a single soul disturbing them.
And so to the Brits. Murray did well again but the women all crashed out in the first round with only Laura Robson looking as if long-term she will do some damage in the second week of Wimbledon.
We had some success in the juniors as Oliver Golding reached the semi-finals of the boys' singles and the boys' doubles final was contested by four British players, which produced a funny headline on the front page of one of the tabloids: 'Brits win Wimbledon shock'.
It was no laughing matter for two of our better male players who should have got wild cards into the main draw. James Ward beat two top line players in the Eastbourne event, and Alex Bogdanovic gained an interesting claim to fame by losing 24-22 in the final set of qualifying to Nicolas Mahut, the Frenchman who then made history in the main draw by playing in the longest match in history against John Isner.
READ ROB McLEAN EVERY WEEK AT TENNIS.CO.UK
Date published :
08 Jul 2010 - 09:23:20
