Tuesday June 22 – Nobody in tennis does “firsts” better than Wimbledon. So not only are we told that Roger Federer opened play on Centre Court for the first time although he was NOT the defending champion; but that he is hoping to become the first player to win 15 Slams; and that a woman from Portugal is playing on Centre Court for the first time and that a man from Kazakhstan is on-court here for the first time. Still we all are waiting to see who will be the first to play under Wimbledon’s glorious roof for the first time. A mix of bright white industrial tubing and bold triangles – like some art installation you might muse over at your local museum of modern art – it’s bold, yet somehow not that intrusive. Resting atop the old wooden stadium ready, we sense it’s eager, to do it’s (“Yes, man can still impose his will on nature”) thing and get it’s seven minutes of fame as it rolls out to save the day for the first time.
At Wimbledon, tradition is so important that there is even a tradition to change. In sync with so many of the other “improvements” around this ballpark, spectators can not miss the new centre court roof: an unmistaken presence. It looms over the arena, (a bit like the freeway that whizzes by old Stonehenge a hundred or so miles away) without really dominating. Here modernity has it’s place, but it does not insist or intrude. It need not define. Rather, it is deferential to it’s dear mother, the In your natal chart, the three most important signs – according to criteria mentioned above – are in decreasing order of strength Pisces, horoscope for scorpio and Sagittarius. old creaky arena it rests on, the one that has given us so many of our thrills.
LET THE FUN BEGIN: From the get go, the British press and their young stars have an intimate, sometimes rather twitchy co-dependence. So when the young British star in the making — 15-year-old Laura Robson – was asked, “Do you get much time to socialize, or can it be quite hard?” She responded with an edge: “I socialize (laughter). Yeah, what do you want me to say, I”ve got no friends (laughter)?” The teen did go on to confess that she was depressed now that the second season of the British show Gossip Girl had concluded.
AND NOW FOR OUR OBLIGATORY UPDATE ON GRUNTING: Portugal’s bright young super shrieker, Michelle Larcher de Brito, who caused such an uproar in Paris, won her first round Wimbledon match in a rather quiet manner. Asked by a curious press corps why she was so much quieter in her 6-2, 7-5 first round victory over Klara Zakopalova, the well-spoken sixteen year old said her grunts depend on the intensity of the match and that her confrontation never got particularly heated. She added that “if my body feels like it needs to grunt more, it grunts.” She reported that officials did not ask her to cool it; that tennis is an individual support and she would never mute herself and that amidst all the hoopla surrounding her noise (including many a loud call for silence) she did not get her proper due for her run through three rounds of qualies at the French Open and then two wins in the main draw.
Then when asked whether she would be loud again, she offered this quite unrependant reply: “We”ll just see. Definitely if the matches are going to be tougher obviously I”m going to start grunting.
I”m just here for myself. I”m not here really to be quiet for anybody. I”m here to play. I”m here to win. That”s it. If people don”t like my grunting, they can always leave.”
HOW LUCKY CAN WE GET: Boris Becker, who recently got married for the second time, was promoting his own TV show in Germany when he proclaimed, “My life is a series of fascinating events view for example the moment we announced the marriage – that fascinating moment can belong to you.”
HEADLINES OF THE WEEK
- RAFA BROUGHT TO HIS KNEES
- ALL QUIET ON THE GRUNTING FRONT
