SPORT AT ITS BEST: Nicolas Mahut going all out and diving for a shot with the score at 55-55.
WIMBLEDON AT ITS BEST: Was the first week of Wimbledon — with the John Isner vs. Nicolas Mahut marathon, the Queen’s visit, great weather and great/near upsets — the best week in tennis history?
WIMBLEDON NOT AT IT’S BEST: When the Queen came to Wimbledon, Serena Williams was put on a back court.
THE PAINT JOB ON THE TITANIC SURE WAS SWELL: There were no Englishmen in the Wimbledon draw for the first time ever. Britain, which recently lost to Lithuania in Davis Cup, had to beat Turkey in order not to be relegated to the very lowest level of Davis Cup, and all the English women in the Wimbledon draw were gone by the second round. Despite Andy Murray’s run to the semis, this was the worst English showing in Wimbledon’s 133-year history. But the head of the LTA said, “British tennis is really healthy, vibrant and growing.”
JUST WONDERING: Are Masha and Sasha (that would be the love couple of Maria Sharapova and L.A. Lakers guard Sasha Vujacic) the duo with the best singsong names in sports?…Who was a more heroic loser – Mahut (who lost 70-68 in the fifth in the first round) or Andy Roddick (who lost in 16-14 in the fifth of last year’s final)…Is the Fed Express now a local? (And BTW: He owns six Wimby titles, which is one short of Pete Sampras, and the Swiss had been at No. 1 for 285 weeks, which is also one short of Sampras’ record. All of which begs the question: Will Fed be able to equal either of Pete’s highly significant marks?)
HEY, JOEY, HERE’S A TWENTY, GET OFF THAT COUCH AND RUN DOWN TO THE 7-ELEVEN AND PICK ME UP A SIX-PACK OF CARAVAGGESUE SERAPHS: The New Yorker’s Calvin Tompkins wrote, “Nadal never smiles during a match — not until the very end, when, if he’s won it, his transparent joy transforms him into a Caravaggesque seraph.”
THE HALLUCINOGENICALLY VIVID VIEW FROM THE SONIC WOMB: Of the Nadal vs. Andy Murray semi, The Daily Mail wrote, “From the press box, the match was almost hallucinogenically vivid — the close-range thwack of the balls, the desiccated, rubbed-bare stripes of green, Nadal’s zigzagging footwork, Murray’s rangy reach. And the roar of the crowd, packed in and unmoving, has a way of rising up and enveloping you, like some strange momentary sonic womb.”
A BROKEN RECORD: A record crowd of 35,681 watched Kim Clijsters beat Wimbledon champ Serena Williams 6-3, 6-2 in a Belgian exo at King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, surpassing the 30,472 who in ’73 watched the historic BJK vs. Bobby Riggs Battle of the Sexes in Houston.
A RECORD THAT WILL NEVER BE BROKEN: Jimmy Connors’ record for winning the U.S. Open on three different surfaces will never be broken. Here’s another mark that will never be topped — John Isner smacked a record 112 aces in his first-round marathon, then had none in his second-round loss. (That’s certainly a differential that will never be equaled.)
WEEP NOT, MY LOVELIES, ‘TIS JUST A GAME: Among those who cried at Wimbledon were Vera Zvonereva, Jelena Jankovic, Flavia Pennetta, Vania King, Mahut and John Isner’s mom, Karen. BTW: Nadal wept like a baby in Spain’s locker room after they won the World Cup.
CURIOUS QUESTIONS
•A British headline asked Queen Elizabeth II, “After 33 Years, Was It Worth the Wait, Ma’am?”
•To Novak Djokovic: “I don’t want to compare it to a marriage, but how do you keep your relationship [with your coach] fresh.”
•To Philipp Petzschner, who lost to Nadal: “Is that the only difference between a player like you and him, that he’s clever enough to know when to take a timeout maybe?”
•To Clijsters after her win over the child-less Justine Henin: “Was this a triumph for motherhood?”
•To Venus Williams: “Was there a reason you went for a bathroom break after the first change?”
IS WIMBLEDON A RELIGION?: Bulgarian semifinalist Tsvetana Pironkova said, “Wimbledon is like a religion,” and it sort of seemed that way after Federer lost in the quarters. InsideTennis.com wrote that right after his loss: “It was as if a sacrilegious non-believer had violated the sanctuary by hoisting a banner claiming: ‘God is Dead.'”
ONLY IN ENGLAND: Brian Viner wrote that he “watched a gentlemen of advanced years in his club blazer and tie unfolding himself out of a tiny SmartCar and I thought: ‘Only in England.'”
OUR FAVORITE FORECAST: “There will be little flecks of white clouds to stop the sun from blistering down.”
FASHION CHATTER: Stephen Moss wrote, “You can tell the Wimbledon Championships are on. The woman behind the counter in the posh bread shop in Wimbledon High Street is wearing pearls.”
SAY IT ISN’T SO: The U.S. men are mired in the longest Slam slump in memory. Our last win was seven years ago when Roddick won the ’03 U.S. Open…Rafa’s girlfriend, Xisca Perello, got more requests for autographs than Roddick’s wife, Brooklyn Decker…Romania’s Victor Hanescu, who had been taunted by some unruly fans and was struggling with a hamstring injury, spat at the crowd and walked out of his third-round match. Hanescu later apologized and was fined $15,000.
UPSET CITY: There were endless upsets in the singles draws (Federer, Roddick, Venus, Caroline Wozniaki, Jankovi, etc.). But that was nothing compared to the upsets in doubles. The Bryan Bros., who were hoping to break the all-time record for most doubles titles, exited in the quarters. Top seeds Daniel Nestor/ Nenad Zimonjic lost in the second round. Venus/Serena lost in the quarters to Vera Zvonareva/Elena Vesnina, and unheralded Californian Vania King (a former World TeamTennis MVP) and the only Kazakhstani woman in the draw, Yaroslava Shvedova, swept by four imposing seeded teams en route to claiming the women’s doubles title. Perhaps as astounding was the upset scored by Tracy Austin/Kathy Rinaldi, who gave up 34 years to Kournikova/ Hingis and still scored a (“you’ve got to be freaking kidding me”) 7-5, 7-6(4) win in their Ladies Invitational Doubles semi.
100,000 REASONS TO ROOT FOR FED: Almost a decade ago, a Brit bet that Federer would win seven Wimbledons by 2020. Then he died and bequeathed his betting slip to Oxfam. So now if Fed pulls off the feat, the charity group will win 100,000 pounds.
RAFA’S TERRIBLE, SODERLING’S NOT A THREAT, DJOKOVIC CAN’T PLAY: When a reporter asked Federer if he thought this might be Murray’s year since “some of the really threatening players haven’t been doing so well this year,” the Swiss glared, “Yeah…[it’s] true, Rafa played terribly lately. Soderling is not a threat either. He’s got an easy ride to this victory, that’s for sure. Djokovic can’t play tennis anymore it seems like…Respect the players.”
OF PILEDRIVERS AND PATTERCAKES: Simon Briggs claimed, “The last two years have thrown up a string of unconvincing world No. 1s — Ana Ivanovic, Dinara Safina, Jelena Jankovic — whose piledriver forehands turn to pattercakes at the first sign of a Serena Williams stare.”
GO FIGURE: The Isner-Mahut marathon instantly became the most storied first-round match in history…Both Yen-Hsun Lu (who upset Roddick) and Tsvetana Pironkova (who shocked Venus) were ranked No. 82…Lu’s English teacher couldn’t pronounce his name so he called him “Randy”…Both Roland Garros finalists —Francesca Schiavone and Sam Stosur — lost in the first round…When reflecting on the high-profile tandem of Kournikova/Hingis (who played the Ladies Invitational Doubles together), Mark Hawthorne wrote, “Sometimes the sideshow can get in the way of the main event”…Just two weeks before almost being bounced out of the first round by Alejandro Falla, Federer crushed the Colombian 6-1, 6-2…Isner’s 112 aces in his one match against Mahut were the most of any man. Serena had a record 89 aces in her seven matches.
A MAN WITH A MISSION: Roddick joked that Sam Querrey’s agenda once he got on the ATP Council was to get burritos into the players’ lounge.
THE KING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE KING: Serena passed Long Beach’s Billie Jean King as the sixth leading women’s champion of all times. But another King – also a product of Long Beach’s very athletic Poly High, claimed a title. Vania King, teamed up with Yaroslava Shvedova to win the women’s doubles.
HOW DO YOU PRONOUNCE IT?: The men’s finalist’s name is not pronounced Ber-ditch or Ber-dick. It’s Berdeech…Of Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, Oliver Brown quipped, “Try pronouncing that name while sober.”
NOT FOREVER YOUNG: No teen got beyond Wimbledon’s fourth round…The last teen girl to win a Slam was Sharapova in ’06… There are no teens in the men’s top 100.
THE SADNESS OF JENNIFER CAPRIATI: Jennifer Capriati landed in a South Florida hospital due to an overdose of a prescribed medication. The 34-year-old was initially in stable condition but made a full recovery. The three-time Slam champ and ’92 Olympic gold medalist, long considered the poster child for tennis teen burnout, has had her share of trouble. She was arrested in ’93 for shoplifting, and again in ’94 for marijuana possession, but appeared to turn her career around before struggling with injuries. The incident was called an “accidental overdose,” but Capriati spoke of suicide thoughts in an interview published in IT in ’07: “Sometimes you get to a point where you can’t stop what you are thinking,” she told Wayne Coffey. “It’s like you’re being taken over by a demon. You just feel there’s no way out…It feels like the end of the world. When you are just so exhausted and tired of feeling that way, you [think], ‘I want to be off this planet right now, because I just feel disgusting inside. I can’t even stand my own skin, and I just want to get out.’ The more you stuff it…the more it festers and eats you up inside,” she said. “It helps to talk about it…You can’t wear an iron shield all the time.”
THE SORROW OF VERA ZVONAREVA: Poor Vera Zvonereva. The bright, forthright and completely emotional Russian lost both the singles and women’s doubles finals in one far too agonizing afternoon. But that wasn’t as bad as Betty Stove, who lost three titles — the singles, doubles and mixed – in ’77.
PARENTAL TAKES: Super mom Kim Clijsters, who said she wanted to have more children, tweeted that her daughter “Jada had a blast at the creche today. Her whole face was painted with little flowers. Makes me so happy to see her happy!”…Asked about the problems in British tennis, Kim said, “Kids are spoiled too soon with what you have. We don’t have the equipment and the facilities that you have here. I don’t know if it’s necessary at such a young age to spoil kids. If you don’t have it, it makes you work harder to achieve.”
SEMI-SHOCKING SEMI-FINALISTS: Tsvetana Pironkova, who beat Venus en route to the semis, had never advanced beyond the third round of a major, had never won a tournament and had lost seven times in qualifying. Wimbledon’s other semifinalist —the inventive Czech shrieker Petra Kvitova, ranked No. 62 – had previously never won a match on grass. Still, she scored upset wins over Jie Zheng, Victoria Azarenka and Caroline Wozniacki, and survived five match points against Estonian Kai Kanepi to reach the semis.
NOT MUCH RESPECT: Before suffering a stunning upset loss to Pironkova, Venus said the Bulgarian was “one of those girls who can play well once in a while.” After she lost 6-2, 6-3, Venus offered one of the most dismissive left-handed compliments in memory, saying she wanted to congratulate Pironkova “for hanging in there and waiting for me to make a mistake.”
THE LARRY SCOTT IMPRINT: Tennis insiders were not that surprised that not long after former WTA CEO Larry Scott moved to Walnut Creek, Calif. to become the Pac-10 commissioner he implemented the modus operandi he used in the WTA of setting aside traditional fan bases to seek far-flung partnerships that, even though they had little to do with the existing fan bases and traditions, potentially could yield boatloads of revenue. In other words, he wanted Austin, Texas; College Station, Texas; and Boulder, Colo. to become his new Dohas, Dubais, Shanghais and Istanbuls of the Pac-10. In the end, the Pac-10 settled for Utah and Colorado. Whoops, make that the Pac-12.
BLAKE’S BLUES: James Blake was briefly the best player in America and as of January ’09 was inside the top 10. But the last year and a half have been a nightmare for the onetime Davis Cup hero, who’s battled injuries and watched his ranking fall to No. 115. Blake’s nightmare continued at Wimbledon, where he was — in his words — embarrassed in the first round by Dutch journeyman Robin Haase. The thirty-year old sported a hangdog look and had a nasty encounter with ESPN’s Pam Shriver, whose voice he felt was too loud. Blake says he won’t have surgery and doesn’t take anti-inflamatories, but confided that he did undergo platelet rich plasma (PRP) treatment — the controversial blood-spinning therapy that Tiger used to stimulate the natural healing process in his knee. Said Blake, “I’m not sure how much longer I want to play in pain.”
HEADLINES
OUR GIRLS ARE NOT CHOKERS
A NATION OF LOSERS
COME BACK WHEN YOU’RE GOOD ENOUGH, FED
IF THE FEW HAD PLAYED DEFENSE SO BADLY, WE ALL WE WOULD ALL NOW BE SPEAKING GERMAN
ROUT OF AFRICA
YAWN TENNIS: WIMBLEDON SEES THE LONGEST MATCH
WIMBLEDON AND ON AND ON
AND ON
ANDY IN A BOW ROW
GAME, SET AND MAJ
ANDY’S A QUEEN MACHINE
SHE CAME, SHE WATCHED AND FINALLY SHE CLAPPED
BETTER LOCH NEXT YEAR
I’M RAF ‘N READY
GREAT SCOT IS CURSED TO OPERATE IN SHADOW OF THE GAME’S GIANTS
WHAT’S ANOTHER 12 MONTHS AFTER 74 YEARS
NEW STRAWBS PLEASE
THOSE TAN! THOSE TEETH! AND (OH, I SAY!) SOME TENNIS
AND HE’S PSYCHIC, TOO: In Paris, before the World Cup began, Rafa assured us Spain would win.
SPANISH GOLD: Tennis, soccer, cycling, motor cycling, NBA hoops — is there any sport these days in which Spain isn’t fantastic?
RETURN OF THE SPICE GIRLS
Wimbledon is all about decorum and rules. It’s the kind of place where there’re rules about rules. So why were the rules about the Ladies Invitational Doubles (for players over 30) bent to allow the comeback appearance of tennis’ Spice Girls – Anna Kournikova, 29, and Martina Hingis, 28. (Stat flash: Martina Navratilova won seven Slams after she was 28.) We don’t think it had much to do with the fact that the duo won the Aussie Open dubs titles in ’99 and ’02. It was more about the fact that before Big Babe tennis gained such ascendance, Anna and Martina were the game’s two catty kittens who drew much of the oxygen in the sport. Okay, Hingis was quite the savant, having reigned at No. 1 for 209 weeks. (And, yes, she once taunted the title-less Kournikova, saying, “I’m sure she would like to change places with me if she could, and have four Grand Slam titles.”) Having said that, let us note that even to this day, Kournikova is the second-most popular female player on Facebook behind Sharapova and, ultimately, it’s an old letter to the Daily Sport we discovered deep in our vaults that probably best expresses the real reason staid old Wimbledon bent it’s staid old rules. It reads, “It matters not a jot that Kournikova is about as good at tennis as I am at finding artifacts on the Peruvian trail. Her talent really lies in the way she can bend over to pick up a ball and not blush one bit while 12,000 people on Centre Court strain to catch a glimpse.”
A TALE OF TWO SPORTS — TENNIS AND SOCCER
Wimbledon was one of the few places on this planet where you couldn’t watch the World Cup. The soccer telecasts were banned from Wimby’s big-screen TV, and when there was a big match on, officials would shut the shades in the media room so fans wouldn’t look in and watch the game on the reporters’ monitors. During the Britain-Germany showdown, fans in the queue were angered when they were told they could leave for only an hour to watch the game. Still, overall, tennis came out looking pretty dandy compared to soccer. Yes, “football” is even a bigger international game than tennis, and the national teams stir an unmatched passion. While soccer is the quintessential team sport, tennis is as individualistic a battle as we have. In tennis, you can use your hands. There’s constant scoring, not just a few lone goals over 90 sometimes dreary minutes. Flopping and feigning injuries are rare and nil-nil doesn’t happen in our sport. Yes, in tennis the nomenclature gets weird: “deuce,” “love,” “fault.” But at least our rules aren’t semi-insane. In their careers, the ever-volcanic John McEnroe and Andre Agassi were defaulted out of matches just a couple of times each. In soccer, a naughty nudge here, an overzealous shove there and you’ve got yourself one of those nasty little red cards. “Take a seat, buddy. Your World Cup team is in a world of hurt.” And what about the officiating? In tennis, there are sometimes 10 officials for two players on a small court. In soccer, there are four officials for 22 players on a vast field. Tennis has Hawk-Eye. Soccer endures some of the most absurd, stuck-in-the-Stone-Age, existentially unacceptable calls in all of sport that clearly undermine the game. “2010, billion dollar industry, no technology,” noted one frustrated BBC commentator. Okay, tennis fans have to endure grunting. But at least there are not a gazillion droning vuvuzelas sounding like a swarm of bees on steroids. And one other thing. Both sports suffer from scheduling woes. The World Cup comes just once every four years. Tennis is different. After Stefan Edberg suffered a huge Wimbledon loss, he said it was no big deal, “There’s another tournament next week.
•In light of France’s ignominious World Cup display, it was said that the heroic “Nicolas Mahut is one Frenchman no American would dare call a cheese-eating surrender monkey.”
•After an absurd disallowed English goal, Federer told IT “We [in tennis] have electronic line-calling even though we don’t need it. We all know we don’t, but we do have it. Soccer should have it…because there are so many mistakes from umpires. Don’t blame them. They’re so far away sometimes from what’s happening, and then so many goals are disallowed… and others are not counted…it’s just crying for a change…[In tennis] one forehand down the line doesn’t change the outcome…It’s going to even out throughout a career or a season…Whereas goals, have such a huge impact in those 90 minutes. It changes everything.”
•After one particularly absurd anti-American call, Serena noted, “This is outrageous!!! World Cup? World Cheat. No wonder USA doesn’t get into soccer. It’s all a set up!!! I can’t watch this. These people are not fair. R they paying the umpires to cheat USA?? I have never seen such injustice since I played us open 2004, and 2009… Also Venus Wimbledon 2004.”
QUOTEBOOK
“The man who invented the vuvuzela should be shot.” — The BBC
“There’s so much pressure on us all here.” — Britain’s Anne Keothavong
“Fame is not something I would wish upon anyone.” — Andy Murray
“It’s lonely in a good way.” — Murray on the added pressure the Scot shoulders at Wimbledon
“You would not want to be Martina Navratilova’s cancer cells. They stood no chance once she had decided to whack them into submission.” — Elizabeth Grice
“Fatherhood and a quiet life might suddenly look more attractive than putting his golden reputation on the line — because Federer knows those circling wolves will not go away and lately they have been snapping at his heels with worrying regularity.” — The Guardian’s Kevin Mitchell
“He should have known that I was going to beat him. But he forgot I beat him.” —Federer on Columbian Alejandro Fallo, who nearly upset him in the first round.
“I had so many ways I could have got out. I had so many excuses I could have made that it would have been easy to walk away. I could have said that no one else in tennis has ever come back from a serious rotator-cuff injury to their shoulder. I could have said I’ve made enough money to last me the rest of my life.” — Maria Sharapova
WHY SERENA WINS: Mary Joe Fernandez contended that Serena’s serve was “no question the best ever. The fact she can win 94-95 percent of the points when she gets her first serve in is impressive. And it’s not just the power. It’s the placement. It’s the disguise, the variety. She’s got it all. The two most important shots in tennis are the serve and the return. Monica Seles had the best return. But Serena’s shot happens to be the most important one. Having that kind of serve, so consistently, technically flawless — you are going to win a lot…She can wrack it up.”
ANIMAL HOUSE
•After a linesman dodged a fierce Nadal serve, BBC’s David Mercer quipped, “Well ducked.” Mercer then got into trouble when he said England’s beloved (but not so trim) teen Laura Robson needed to get rid of her “puppy fat.”
•Mark Hodgkinson wrote, “Nadal’s loopy forehands were jumping all over the grass, rearing up like spitting cobras.”
•The Daily Telegraph said, “If Nadal is a gifted bear cub, the grimacing Murray resembles a hungry pterdodactyl.”
•Not long ago, Wimbledon used rifles to get rid of bothersome pigeons. Now they’re building birdhouses.
•Yen-Hsun Lu spoke of working in the middle of the night at his dad’s smelly chicken farm and bragged that he could catch chickens. Once Yen-Hsun revealed this, we didn’t have to be egged on to collect some of our favorite chicken references and lay them on you:
•When ’94 French Open finalist Alberto Berasategui was asked why he ate chicken 15 minutes before a match, he explained: “Did you ever see how fast chickens run?”
•Yannick Noah’s son, Joakim, claimed that Florida won the NCAA hoops championship final because his grandfather in Cameroon had sacrificed a chicken before the game.
•When Ivan Lendl skipped out on the most important tournament in the year, Virginia Wade said, “I cannot believe Lendl is not playing Wimbledon. It’s the biggest chicken out of all time.”
THE ROYAL CHAT THAT NEVER HAPPENED AND THE CURSE OF BECKHAM
Inside Tennis has a curious history of getting brief (and not-so-brief) interviews with celebs. Names like Clinton, McCartney, Streisand, Nicholson, Carson, Fergie, Prince Andrew, Redford, Aretha and Williams (that would be Robin, not Serena or Venus) come to mind. So when word emerged that the Queen would be coming to Wimbledon, the pressure built for IT to get a quick Q&A. We may be stupid, but we’re not that dumb. This is one conversation that ain’t gonna happen. But, dare we note, IT did become the only publication to “interview” the media-shy David Beckham at the All-England Club. When the soccer god came to Wimbledon, the place went bonkers. St. Mary’s walk jammed up with fans elbow-to-elbow to get a glance. Restaurant workers stared from the shadows. When Beckham emerged in the Royal Box during the Nadal-Murray semi, photographers zoomed in on him and his young son. Earlier in the week, IT had asked Federer who, after the Queen, was the greatest celebrity he had ever met, he said “David Beckham.” No wonder there was a torrent of frenzy. Amidst this, IT tracked him down as he was meeting and greeting a beaming Nadal and his happy entourage. Then, as Beckham strolled away, IT had a more than brief chat:
INSIDE TENNIS: May I just ask you about Wimbledon?
DAVID BECKHAM: Well, it’s my first time here.
IT: What do you like most about it?
DB: Well, I like the history of the place and all the beauty.
Well, that was it. But then IT asked Rafa, “Was it fun meeting Beckham?
NADAL: Yeah.
IT: Did you talk a little soccer?
NADAL: I met him now just five minutes [ago]. Well, I know him from Madrid a few years ago. And, sure, always is special to meet with great sportsman like David….He’s a big star outside of the stadium. But for me, what I admire is when he’s on the stadium, he fight like the best of them, more than the rest.”
But the British press didn’t care about this high praise. They were busy connecting the dots; the fact that Beckham was front and center at both England’s dismal World Cup loss to Germany and at Murray’s loss to Rafa. The morning headline asked an unsparing question: “Is It the Curse of Beckham?”
REFLECTIONS ON THE ISNER-MAHUT EPIC
“We played the greatest game in tennis in the greatest place in tennis.” — Nicolas Mahut
“To share this day with him was an honor. He was an absolute warrior.” — Isner on Mahut
“It was absolutely heroic in the Olympian sense.” — Wimbledon chief Tim Phillips
“His toes were just torched. They looked like deli meat. They’re disgusting.” — Andy Roddick
WHAT WE DIDN’T SEE OR HEAR: There was plenty we didn’t see or hear in the Isner-Mahut trilogy. There was no announcement that “for the sake of security, there will now be a tiebreak.” Not a single wise guy called out “new players, please.” Officials didn’t announce, “Free Dominos pizza for everyone if the match goes over 100 games.” And, until the very end, there were no stoppages for “comfort breaks,” no injury timeouts and no gamesmanship.
GO FIGURE: After witnessing Isner’s intense pre-Wimbledon workouts, his coach, Craig Boynton, told him, “You’ll be able to play for 10 hours”…From now on, anytime a match starts to go long, people will think “70-68.”…Mahut outscored Isner 502 to 478…After holding serve 84 straight times against Mahut, Isner lost his serve on his first service game against Thiemo De Bakker.
THE TOP 10 (AS READ BY MR. ISNER HIMSELF): Here, from the Letterman show, are some of the top 10 thoughts that went through Isner’s mind during his 11-hour match.
•”We’ve been playing so long I’ve forgotten – am I Isner or Mahut?”
•”Remember when I said I was exhausted? That was eight hours ago!”
•”I’m going to lay back until 51-50, then make my move.”
•”Why couldn’t I have played Federer? It would’ve been over in 15 minutes.”
•”Larry King has had marriages that didn’t last this long.”
THE NUMBERS
1: Asian man in the last 15 years who has reached the last eight of a Grand Slam —Yen-Hsun Lu.
4,000: Fans who turned out at Court 2 for the much-hyped appearance of the Kournikova-Hingis dubs team.
0: Grass courts in Bulgaria, home to semi-finalist Tsvetana Pironkova.
0: Number of sets Serena lost at Wimbledon.
0: Number of sets Nadal lost in his runs to both the French and Wimbledon titles.
0: Number of tournaments Aussie Open and Wimbledon champ Serena has won this year that haven’t been Slams.
65: Number of times Mahut served to save the Isner match.
515: Un-returnable points on serve in the Isner-Mahut marathon.
3: Times Andy Murray bowed to the Queen.
7 to 10: Years is will take for the USTA’s Player Development plan to pay off, according to Patrick McEnroe
46: Minutes it took Czech Petra Kvitova to upset No. 3 seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-0.
TOP 10 WIMBLEDON QUESTIONS (AND ANSWERS)
Before Wimbledon, InsideTennis.com asked 10 questions relating to the tournament. Here they are with some answers:
1. For the past three years, Wimbledon ended with a classic men’s final. Will there be another?
ANSWER: Both the men and women’s finals were predictable snooze-fests in which a dominant No. 1 — Rafa and Serena — basically settled matters mid-way through the first set. But the three-day, two-dusk Mahut-Isner trilogy (70-68 in the fifth) is a certifiable classic that will be remembered as long as little yellow balls are hit over nets.
2. Will Roger Federer fix the hitch in his giddy-up and reverse his slump?
ANSWER: Fed did manage to survive a shocking first round scare, but in the quarters Tomas Berdych beat Fed for the second time this year. For the first time in eight years Roger would fail to make the finals and fell to No. 3.
3. As his beloved Spanish team labored at the World Cup in South Africa, can Rafa again come off a victory in Paris and win in London on grass?
ANSWER: As Spain was streaking to the World Cup title, Rafa brushed aside arch-rival Robin Soderling, home favorite Andy Murray and Berdych to win his second Wimbledon and eighth Slam and probably secured his No. 1 ranking for the entire year.
4. Can Roddick follow up on his gallant 18-16 loss in the final last year to Fed?
ANSWER: It was no “yolk” to Roddick fans when, in the fourth round, Andy got scrambled 9-7 in the fifth by Yen-Hsun Lu, the free-swinging son of a Taiwanese chicken farmer.
5. So just what will the impact be of the Williamses?
ANSWER: Inexplicably, 30 year-old Venus lost to Tsvetana Pironkova in the quarters and she and her sister, Serena, were booted out in the dubs. But Serena, calm and chatty, gave us a demolition derby in the singles. Without dropping a set, she won her 13th Slam passing Billie Jean King on the all time list of Slam winners. A walk in the park.
6. Justine Henin had won seven Slam titles, but she returned to the circuit in a large measure to try and get the Wimbledon title that always eluded her?
ANSWER: Henin won the first set of her fourth round match against Kim Clijsters. But then her Belgian rival sprinted to a victory. During the match, Henin suffered an elbow injury, which will sideline her until after the U.S. Open.
7. Can Aussie Open finalist Andy Murray, who reached the Wimby semis last year, win a Wimbledon for Britain for the first time in 74 years?
ANSWER: He lost to Roddick in last year’s semi and this year, was also subdued in the semis when he couldn’t step it up during the few opportunities he had against Rafa.
8. Trend Busters: What development will go against the established trends of tennis?
ANSWER: Two words: Isner-Mahut. Plus, it was astonishing that No. 82 Tsvetana Pironkova and No 60. Petra Kvitova emerged as shock semifinalists.
9. Wimbledon always has a quirky side, what will it be this year?
ANSWER: The whole tournament. The Isner-Mahut match, the Queen, the weather, the shock upsets, Federer’s rationalizations and Victor Hanescu spitting at the fans.
10. Can Mike and Bob Bryan break the record of most doubles titles, which they share with Todd Woodbridge/Mark Woodforde?
ANSWER: The Bryan Bros. lost to the dangerous duo of Wesley Moodie/Dick Norman, but they’re still upbeat on breaking the Woodies mark.
