WIMBLEDON’S TRADITIONS HAVE TRADITIONS
LONDON—”Monday, Monday, can’t beat that day.”
Across the globe, it’s the most grim of days.
Monday.
It’s all about getting back into the rat race. From Tokyo, where workers are packed into trains, to the clogged roadways of LA and New York, it’s intense.
Yes, in Paris some pause for a baguette by a boulevard. But here in London bright, cheery schoolgirls with their celebrated rosy cheeks and tidy uniforms march off to school. All the while, lorries whiz by and bankers and brokers dress up in their snazzy suits and put on their bottom-line game faces as they head off to their cubicles or corner offices. If Monday tends to be a bit dreary (someone said candy was invented to make up for Mondays), the day’s intent is clear. It’s time to get down to business.
And, oh yes, on this London Monday morning it was opening day at the Cathedral. Opera has La Scala, golf adores St. Andrews, and horse racing boasts Churchill Downs. Or to take it even further, Catholics have the Vatican, Hindus submerge in the Ganges. Muslims bow to Mecca. As for our sport, tennis pilgrims descend on Wimbledon, our mother church, the home of the game. All bow to the All England Club: green, imposing, traditional, poetic.
After all, according to Virginia Wade, the place has “all the wisdom of a grandmother and the energy of a teen.” It draws giddy kids in endless queues, proper ladies and gents, aspiring long shots and lofty royals.
It’s an international tennis championship that doubles as a two-week English garden party. Its traditions have traditions: strawberries and cream; the storied tea room; the Royal Box; bubbly champagne and potent Pimm’s; bright grass that goes almost as brown as golf’s Chambers Bay; and the most famous viewing ridge in sports, Henman Hill—whoops, make that Murray Mount.
Here, Tennyson’s Victorian wisdom is honored, upset courts haunt, the ivy is in a league of its own, and people-watching is sublime. Plus, it’s all overseen by a quaint church—St. Mary’s chapel—from the goodness of an idyllic suburban hill.
Here, seekers in sneakers and streakers in nothing aim to make their mark. Traditionalists in tweeds beam. But rebels like to roar loud. Long ago, Johnny Mac shouted, “You cannot be serious!” Today Nick Kyrgios muttered, “Dirty scum.”
But let’s come clean. We know there will be sweat and glee on Centre Court. Federer will float, Djokovic will blast, Serena will offer fits and frights, and thousands will loudly yell “C’mon Andy!” as their Scot Murray hopes to win again.
So—even on a Monday—just how important is this happening they call Wimbledon?
Well tennis’s philosopher-in-residence, Boris Becker, put it this way, “There are three seasons in tennis. Pre-Wimbledon, Wimbledon and post-Wimbledon.”
LLEYTON HEWITT—THE JUICE BOY WHO BECAME THE KING OF GRIT: After John McEnroe was invited to play an exhibition at Buckingham Palace, Pat Cash said, “The terrorists always end up being invited to the palace.”
Lleyton Hewitt, who was once—like McEnroe and Jimmy Connors—such a lightning rod, has gradually evolved into a beloved figure.
If McEnroe was once said to be the “Father of the Year,” why couldn’t we simply look at Hewitt, a father of three, as a wholesome family man? But on this day, Jarkko Nieminen, the man who played before the Queen (i.e. Queen Elizabeth), downed the King of Grit.
The relatively diminutive 5’11” Aussie, who won Wimbledon in 2002, lost today on Court 2. Nieminen had never beaten the Aussie in their five meetings. But now Wimbledon will never again hear Hewitt’s piercing “C’mon!”s. As a kid, the upstart from western Australia was called “the juice boy.” He had to serve up orange juice to his Davis Cup elders. But now the 17-year veteran was wrung out.
The raw kid who sued his own labor union (the ATP), who was spat on by Davis Cup rivals, who would yelp in triumph when his foes double-faulted, who kickstarted a racial incident at the US Open and sought to copyright the phrase ‘C’mon!’ was now, well, kind of warm and fuzzy. And why not—kudos to one of the greats of our era, who now speaks of his love of tradition, who advises many a young Aussie, who talks admiringly about the tennis legends, who admits he’s cried after wrenching Davis Cup losses, and who gushes how Wimbledon gives him goosebumps.
Hewitt gave us much.
It wasn’t just his speed and one of the best backhand passing shots of all time.
It was more that “Rusty,” as he is known, was tennis’s answer to Rose, i.e. baseball’s Pete Rose. Others claimed that, with Nadal, he was the greatest competitor of our era. Maria Sharapova, herself a fierce competitor, put it simply, telling IT, “When you think of players who battle, he’s probably at the top of the list.”
To Roger Federer, Hewitt (who won eight grass court titles) was a groundbreaker who re-shaped lawn tennis. “He was the first guy really from the baseline to have such a major impact [on grass],” said Roger. “Plus he’s a smaller guy … [and Wimbledon] was dominated by the big servers for a while. Back then, [Ivan] Lendl, [Jim] Courier, they had to really volley to have success. They did it very well.
“But Lleyton was really [hitting] every point from the baseline. For him to win Wimbledon and have the career he had on the grass is quite unbelievable.
“It showed an entire generation how it can be done … It shows why he’s so tough. He hits that flat ball … [has an] unbelievable slice, [is] good at net. He’s fast, low to the ground. He’s got so many things going for him … [He’s] a feisty competitor, one of the toughest I had to play … I wish that he can play a good [final] match.”
And “the juice boy” who became the King of Grit did just that. Yes, he lost his first-round match 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, 11-9. But, Lleyton confided that the match “pretty much summed up my career … my mentality … Going out there and [having that] never-say-die attitude … I’m proud of myself that I went out there and left it all out [there].”
Can an athlete say anything more?
OUR DIALOG WITH SERENA ON CHARLESTON:
INSIDE TENNIS: 15 years ago you joined with many others who were calling for the removal of the Confederate flag. You chose not to play at a tournament at that time. You obviously know Charleston well. [She’s won the tournament there three times since her boycott in 2000.] What were your thoughts when you heard the news about what happened? What are your thoughts about the removal of that flag?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I wouldn’t go to Charleston until the flag was removed. Once it was, I went there, and only after the Confederate flag was removed. Obviously what happened in Charleston is a tragedy yet again to our country, the United States. You know, it’s really unspeakable how sad it is, and how much of a toll it can have. But you just have to continue to have faith, continue to believe, continue to be positive, continue to help people to the best of your ability. That’s what they were doing, they were just trying to help a young man that needed help. Hopefully everyone can learn from them and continue to help, no matter—just continue to have good faith.
IT: You were proud of how the community reacted after the tragedy?
SW: Yeah, everyone was so positive and a lot of people went there. Obviously Obama. It was a very emotional time for many people of all races in the United States, and outside the United States.
PERHAPS A RUSH TO JUDGEMENT: On ESPN, John McEnroe said, “Rafa Nadal should no longer play the French Open for the rest of his career … the aura has been broken.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY: Radio broadcaster Mary Rhodes said, “I’m full of vim and vigor. But one does have to pace oneself. It’s so easy to flag by the end of the second week.”
