Wimbledon. Too Many Unpredictable Surprises

Here is an interesting article about the first week of Wimbledon. It was written by Greg Baum,  Sidney Morning Gerald.

Grown-ups of game remain after plague destroys seeds

In Wimbledon’s lush paddocks, somehow the wheat has become mixed up with the chaff.

The first week of this year’s tournament always will be remembered for a period of a little more than 24 hours in which tall poppies were scythed down like corn stalks, seeds were spat out and it seemed that, any minute, a plague of locusts must descend.

When it was over, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova all were gone. In one day, there were seven retirements or walkovers and, by week’s end, that number would grow to 13, already a Wimbledon record.

In mutterings, the grass was held obliquely accountable, notwithstanding that many players came into the tournament with niggles.

The club insists the preparation was no different this year to any other and as for the rain, it is as much a staple at Wimbledon as strawberries and cream – all except five Wimbledons have been disrupted by it.

Other explanations present for this corruption of the usual winnowing process. The grass season is short, many players remain suspicious of it and not all give themselves time to adapt to the different movement required.

More broadly, tennis has become a more intensely physical game than ever. Only Lleyton Hewitt disputes this but, for him, tennis always was about the straining of every last muscle.

One consequence is the marginalisation of the precocious teenager. Of the 32 players remaining, nine are 30 or over, including 35-year-old German Tommy Haas, once a peer to Federer and waiting for him again on the way down. But his next opponent is No.1 seed Novak Djokovic.

One of the most charming stories of the week was 42-year-old Japanese player Kimiko Date-Krumm’s run to the third round.

There, she played attractive tennis against Serena Williams but was crushed by a power game that did not exist when she played the Wimbledon semi-finals in 1996. It was like a computer-generated match between eras.

There are two 19-year-olds among the women – Puerto Rican Monica Puig and the darling of Britain, Laura Robson. The youngest surviving man is Bernard Tomic, who is still 20.

Each is slated to play the No.1 in their draw in a quarter-final. In Robson and Tomic, great hopes are invested but they both know they cannot wing it to the top. Tennis has again become a game for grown-ups.

This year, Williams looks as formidable as ever. Djokovic and Andy Murray are proceeding methodically towards their showdown.

Though not on Sunday’s schedule, Murray obliged organisers by appearing at centre court, along with other champions fondly remembered from last year’s Olympics, for another tribute. In a dark suit, Murray looked even more like an undertaker than usual. Perhaps he was there to inter the hopes of the casualties of week one.