Wimbeldon Diary

For all the vagaries of British weather and the crazy expensive arena that SW 19 is , Wimbledon is special. Its because of the green and purple colours, the surface itself, the hospitality, the Royal Box, the history and tradition,the retractable roof, the strawberry and cream that bring the uniqueness to the whole experience.They make Wimbeldon what it is.

Nothing can compare the feeling for a tennis player of lifting the trophy aloft on the hallowed grass court of Centre Court at Wimbledon.

The 125th edition of the pre-eminent tennis championships ended after a decent final between Rafael Nadal and the new world number one Novak Djokovic.One thing that I sorely miss though is the serve and volley approach to the game which has almost disappeared.Even more so from the women’ game which is lacklustre and devoid of any decent rivalries .The women’s tour is kind of boring unless you watch the new designs that Stella McCartney designs for Adidas and Caroline Wozniacki or watch other ladies like Ana Ivanovic,Maria Sharapova or Daniela Hantuchova upping the fashion quotient.

Seldom are there matches of high quality and they are often ridden with unforced errors and few winners. The best example is the ladies final itself.The matches involve a lot of high decibel shrieking and powering through the baseline.

The women largely move left and right at the court rather than an up and down approach, thereby completely negating the most beautiful and best way to play – serve and volley.However,the decade long Williams sisters domination that had ended here is a welcome change .But how I wish some young lady comes up with a serve and volley game and blitz the tennis courts. Although she is unlikely to come from eastern Europe, which now throws up so many girls with surnames ending with ‘ova’ and each having a power baseline game .

The best match from the women’s draw surprisingly was in the second round between Venus Williams and Japan’s Kimiko Date-Krumm.Both with a combined age of 71 played a fantastic 3-setter . Date-Krumm coming back on tour after an absence was brilliant and only Williams height and net game prevented a huge upset.

So it was the men’s draw that provided the excitement for me .The fun was watching the ladies invitational featuring past winners in Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Jana Navotna and Martina Navratilova . As always,Wimbledon also had its fun moments , a compilation right here.Watch out for Andy Murray’ hotdog shot at 2:06 minutes

With all the support and a vociferous Centre Court and the Henman Hill behind him, Murray for an hour held a belief than he can beat Nadal in the semis .But the inevitability was there to see, as Nadal wrested the second and third set in a flurry of counter attacking tennis. Murray is not a loser, is not a choker ,only Nadal is better.Hope the Scot wins one Slam soon .This Wimbeldon might sadly be also the dipping of bell curve for the great Roger Federer. He might just squeeze one slam somehow, but he has to find a way to play 3 great matches as now more players are nipping at his heels -David Nalbandian, Robin Soderling, Juan Martin Del Porto, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic .That is why the men’s game despite the lack of serve and volley has viewership value. It has characters and rivalries, contenders and quality. A decent fight on court is never away.

Considering that, Djokovic's record this year is outstanding, and his Wimbeldon triumph richly deserved. I loved his gesture of eating a bit of grass of the court after his win . Just goes to show how much it means to be a Wimbeldon champion.Looking forward to next year when Wimbledon will be followed shortly by the Olympics, again at the All England Tennis Club !!