By Bill Simons
Competition is part and parcel of sports, even, believe or not, in sports journalism.
So, the question is this: What sentiment best captures today’s shock loss by Wimbledon’s defending champion, Andy Murray?
Shakespeare‘s penetrating insight about the powerful told us that, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” After all, this island put a lot of pressure on their lad Murray to defend his title. God forbid that Britain would start another losing streak at their beloved home tournament.
But then there is the comforting Biblical quote from Ecclesiastes, about the cycles of life: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
And recently, in this tennis heaven, Murray’s career has seen almost every possible turn.
In the 2012 Wimbledon final, the Scot suffered a heartbreaking loss to Roger Federer. But afterward, when he began his Centre Court speech by confiding, “This is going to be hard, but I’ll try” and then sobbed, he totally won over the previously skeptical British masses.
Then, just weeks later, Murray captured the Olympic gold on the very same court. A year later, amazingly, he became the first Brit to win Wimbledon in 77 years.
But there is a purpose for every season, and three months after Murray rose high in ecstasy to claim the Wimbledon title, he lay flat to undergo back surgery.
Since then, his dour coach Ivan Lendl has left, to be replaced by Amelie Mauresmo, a fun-loving kind of French gym rat. He hasn’t won any titles, but he battled to the French semis (where he was battered by Nadal), and at Wimbledon he appeared to be a man on a mission, sweeping through his first four matches without dropping a set. Whew! Many picked him to repeat.
But today seemed like an altogether season. Murray explained that tennis is a high-skill sport where it can make a huge difference if your timing is off. “In an individual sport you can wake up and the ball doesn’t feel as good on the racquet as it did two days ago,” he said. “That’s one of the things that makes tennis extremely challenging. It’s one of the things I enjoy about the sport.”
Yet Murray was hardly joyous during the first set of his match against Maria Sharapova‘s hunky lover Grigor Dimitrov. The rising Bulgarian, who won the Queen’s Club warmup tourney, clearly had warmed-up to the task.
The absurdity of the silly pop-psych theory that Dimitrov would be in disarray from a night spent comforting the fallen Sharapova was now clear. In just 25 minutes he sprinted to a 6-1 first set win.
And the Bulgarian was just beginning. Long pegged to be the next great thing, after the match he said that greatness might be happening sooner then he ever expected. Blessed with a gorgeous one-handed backhand, he offered blazing defense, moved with a swift ease, served with authority, and broke Andy five times.
Still, at times, Murray counter-attacked and scored a random break. But Dimitrov prevailed in the critical second set tiebreak. No wonder, despite sunny skies, the Brit was gloomy. He offered few of the flashes of genius we’ve seen from him at All England Club. Rather, there was the return of some angst-filled body language. He was too tentative, then too aggressive, suffered repeated errors, and his timing was oddly off.
Murray’s French coach bit her nails. The English prince was not pleased. The “C’mon Andy” cries were timid. And, with the crowd subsumed by disbelief, Andy’s glorious but brief reign ended with a whimper. A completely standard Murray forehand clipped the net. The match was lost 6-1, 7-6 (4) 6-2.
William, the future King of England, exhaled in frustration. After all, far more than any of the other 15,000 souls packed into Centre Court, the monarch-to-be and his suddenly dethroned subject knew too well that, as the Bard says, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”
CURIOUS QUESTION: Murray was asked, “Is it a comfort to you that nothing will ever take away what you did here last year?”
THANKS FOR SHARING: After a reporter who is the mother of twins asked Federer what it was like to be a father of twins, he said, “Thanks for sharing. I don’t think too many people know how hard it is.”
USEFUL AND NOT SO USEFUL STATS: Stats guru Greg Sharko noted that, for the first time on the men’s side, three players born in the ’90s made it into the Wimbledon quarterfinals: Nick Kyrgios (born in 1995), Grigor Dimitrov (born in 1991), and Milos Raonic (born in 1990) … Doug Robson noted that the last man since Kyrgios to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals in his first appearance was Florian Mayer in 2004, and there have been more Wimbledon men’s tiebreakers than ever this year … There were no bathroom breaks before 1983.
QUOTEBOOK: “I tried. I lost. It’s not a drama.”—The classy Rafa Nadal after his loss.
“Discuss: What would US tennis do (pay?) for a charismatic 19-year-old who could beat Nadal on Centre Court? Already had Canada Envy. Now this?”—Jon Wertheim, on Twitter.
THE WHITE STUFF: When asked about Wimbledon’s strict new all-white rules, the classically traditional Roger Federer offered a surprisingly contrarian view. He said, “We’re all white. White, white, full-on white … it’s very strict … I think it’s too strict. If you look at the pictures of Edberg [and] Becker, there were some colors [mixed with the] all-white. But I respect [it], I understand. Maybe one day they’ll loosen up the grip.”
HEADLINES:
AMERICA DRY, CANADA HIGH
PRINCESS BOUCHARD COULD SOON BECOME THE NEW QUEEN OF WIMBLEDON
MUM’S LACK OF BELIEF INSPIRED ME
TIME OUT FOR A TIME-OUT DEBATE: In a one-on-one sport like tennis, where momentum is so important, should medical time-outs be allowed mid-game, as was the case with Sabine Lisicki when she was break point down at one point in the fourth round? Then again, why shouldn’t you be able to get treatment it’s needed?
MAURESMO MOMENTUM? Andy Murray seemed pleased with his brief time with Amelie Mauresmo. He said he was enjoying it, and there were pictures of him at ease and laughing on the practice court with the two-time Slam champ. Murray added that he liked his tactical talks with Mauresmo. But it is probably too early to tell whether the coaching relationship will be long-term. Certainly, after the US Open, things should be far clearer. Then again, Murray might quickly choose to go in a different direction.
PRINCESS EUGENIE: A reporter noted that Eugenie Bouchard was named after a princess (one of Prince Andrew’s daughters,) and then asked the rising Canadian if she had any princess tendencies. Bouchard—who has reached her third-straight Slam semi—replied, “Yes. You can ask my coach or my parents or anyone—I can be a princess (laughter). I mean, [it’s] not horrible. But I can be moody in the morning. I’m not so much of a morning person. My fitness trainer carries my tennis bag around. But that’s so I don’t get tired, because I want to save all my energy for the match … I can demand a few things once in a while, but I do it with love.”
Then IT asked what she liked about her favorite TV show, Big Bang Theory. She replied, “[There are] so many unexpected things … Jim Parsons’ character Sheldon is my favorite character. He’s so nerdy. I love the character. He’s so smart and set in his ways. I think the writing of the show is pretty spectacular.”
Following up, we asked Genie if she had a little bit of a nerd quality. “I do have a little bit of that in me,” she said. “When I was in school, I really enjoyed [it]. My favorite class was math class. I was very determined to try to get 100% on all my math tests. I think that kind of self-discipline translates to tennis … I would have loved to go to school, and go to university, and things like that. Maybe I’ll do that when I’m 30 and just chill with the 20-year olds.”
GOOD GAME, GOOD MANNERS, GOOD SENSE OF HUMOR, GOOD GIRLFRIEND, GOOD WIN TODAY, GOOD WIMBLEDON OPPORTUNITY: Grigor Dimitrov.
