Wimbledon '11: Point by point coverage

[skyz]

I can certainly see Serena's point though she was vague about it. It's a consistent thing for both of them when whereas Roger and Rafa are hardly ever off Centre or No. 1. I think it's very rare that either Roger or Nadal have gone to No. 2 if at all. It does seem at first glance a very big slight considering how many they've won, and truthfully I take it as a slight for them. They could excuse it as letting everyone see them play but then why aren't Rafa or Roger out there for everyone else? Maybe I'm being too sensitive about it. I don't care about Serena, so much as Venus being slighted, as a 5 time champion. I dislike thinking about it.

Anyway I turned it to ESPN2 for the end of Serena's match because Tracy Austin was getting to me and I'm met by Chrissie and Dick. Gag me with a fucking spoon. They are atrocious together.

[lt]

So far this tournament Woz, Venus and Serena have each gotten one match on Centre and one on Court 1, Maria has gotten one on Centre and 2 on Court 1 (although the 2nd one was because she was playing Britain's great hope--so that was more Laura Robson getting on Court 1). And none of the other women have come close. It's not some conspiracy against Venus and Serena, it's that the women don't draw like the men right now. But no one can use that as an answer because that would bring up some very nasty questions about the current state of the women's tour--especially during the first week of a major.

Earlier this morning Mary Jo and Hannah Storm were interviewing Maria and they were talking about Maria's rivalry with Woz. . . rivalry with Woz? Since when? And Maria was talking about all the "great" rivalries in the women's game. Huh? It just isn't the men's tour and trying to invent multiple rivalries is not going to make me think Rafa/Roger, Rafa/Novak, Roger/Novak, etc. etc. And it isn't going to make me think of Chrissy/Martina or Steffi/Martina H. or Serena/Justine either.

[mooncreek]

It's more a sexism issue than that it's Venus and Serena (I do realize the Queen situation last year plays into Serena getting the question, which she has a case about). Two men's matches are scheduled for both Centre and Court 1 and only one ladies' match... and this is the tradition.

The only rivalry that draws attention in the ladies' game is Venus/Serena. Kim and one of them also garners great interest but even that is nothing compared to pretty much any configuration of the Big Four. Justine Henin was the one who brought "great rivalry" because you would take notice of Serena/Justine or Kim/Justine.

[falafaclese]

It's more a sexism issue than that it's Venus and Serena (I do realize the Queen situation last year plays into Serena getting the question, which she has a case about). Two men's matches are scheduled for both Centre and Court 1 and only one ladies' match... and this is the tradition.

Maria got asked about it today, and she didn't give the impression that she was bothered by it, but she did say that the schedulers could consider putting more than one women's match on Centre and#1 courts early on. They have done it before. It seems like the women's matches have been well attended this year, but who knows? I know that there are sometimes attendance problems for early women's matches. I don't know if that's an across-the-board problem.

[mooncreek]

Realistically, it's likely, given Soderling's condition and his last match, he was going to lose. I just wish Tomic wasn't the beneficiary.

[harry24]

Okay, I broke down the top players' court assignments so far:

Rafa: C, C, 1
Djoker: C, 1, C
Roger: C, C, C
Murray: C, 1, C

Woz: 1, 2, C
VZ: 1, 2, 2
Li: 2, C --
Az: 2, 15, C
Shar: C, 1, 2
Sch: C, 3, 12
SW: C, 2, 1
Kvit: 14, 1, 18
VW: 2, C, 1

Show court assignments by gender (M/W):

Center: 12/7
One: 11/7
Two: 12/11

Total: Men: 35; Women: 25

So we have a lot more women players fighting for ten fewer show court placements.

In my next post I'm going to look at whether there are more men's matches of interest than women's, which I suspect is true. That's the only reason I can see justifying the imbalance of show court scheduling by gender.

[lb]

Apparently tainted Wimbledon pasta has affected several players. Poor clenched fist Soderling. I really don't like Tomic.

And I'm just a little sad that the Baggy/Djoko game didn't go to a fifth set. I love a smiling Baggy and as much as I am starting to like Djoko, I just like it a little more how upset he gets when the crowd is rooting against him or when he thinks the crowd is rooting against him. He better get used to it though - everyone loves the underdog and I think he is no longer that.

[harry24]

Okay, I know you've all been waiting with baited breath for Part 2 of my analysis of the court assignments, so un-bait that breath, guys; here it is.

So in the first six days, there were 106 matches outside the show courts that I would have been eager to see. Of these, 85 were because of one of the players; only 21 were because the match-up was interesting. The breakdown men/women was: 62 men; 44 women.

So as far as this fan goes, I think there are more men's matches of interest than women's, and thus agree with the AEC's decision to put more men's matches than women's on the show courts.

[acre]

Oh, is that what was w-ong with the Sod? Because I definitely wouldn't expect him to go down in st-aight sets to Tomic, no way. And damn, you just neve- know what you'-e gonna get with Baggy, huh? He can stink it up, o- equally, give a total top playe- a -eal match. So much talent, not enough dedication, IMO. Which hey, it's his life and if this is what's wo-th it to him, fine. But a little saddening fo- me as a spectato- not to see him maximize what he could do. I'm cool with Djok taking the match cause he's ve-y much the bette- tennis playe-, and a majo- contende-/possible champ. Well, I totally expect it to be Nadal, and hope it's Fed, but wouldn't be at all shocking if it was Djok.

Yeah, weighing in latish on the Cou-t 2 thing and Se-ena ... I totally think this is a men vs women thing and not a Wimby vs Williams. OTOH, I think no way S o- V should be on 2, like eve-. Fine fo- Woz, and Sha-py and etc ... but S is 4 time and defending champ, V is 5 time champ. They have EA-NED show cou-ts at all times. Plus, a-en't they popula-? We know they give a hell of a good show. But yeah, the men's game is cu--ently much mo-e compelling, and Wimby tends to be "t-aditional", i.e. sexist.

[falafaclese]

I think I've reached the conclusion that it's impossible to prove that there's any unjustified bias when (as lt has already said) the women's tour is in the state of flux that it's in, with the true top women playing too intermittently to be truly dominant, the most consistent women not having the fire power and/or killer instinct to to be truly dominant, and no true phenoms on the way up. While I think the women's game doesn't deserve all of the criticism it gets,I think if the women were pleading their case a little better results-wise, it'd be a lot easier.

I wish Tomic was less douchey, and I could like him more, but even still, I hate to see the Grinning Evil thwarted. Especially by something as undeserving as disreputable pasta.

[lt]

Poor Sod. I had no idea until I read it here about the bad pasta. That just sucks. Novak must be like "ha ha, no pasta for me!" Although I'm almost happy to hear that Sod was actually sick because this spring season has scared me into thinking he had peaked and was going the way of Verdasco--a great couple of seasons and then, nada.

Scheduling for Monday is taking care of a lot of questions--Venus will be on Centre along with Murray and Rafa. Serena will be on Court One with Roger and Novak and Maria will hit Court Two. (And all of their respective opponents, natch.) They really are mixing it up nicely.

I liken the whole kerfuffle to something like this: in the late 90s/early 2000's, pre-Fielder/Braun, the Brewers would charge a much higher ticket price for when the Cubs came to town because it was really hard to get a Cubs ticket in those days. They made the Cubs fans willing to drive the hour and a half pay the price to come to "Wrigley North" as it was known in those days. Supply and demand. Or, no matter how good a band might be, they can't expect to play Madison Square Garden if they don't have the fan interest to fill the seats. But we're in the 2nd week, Serena and Venus won't have to worry about leaving Centre/Court One again. Woz can't say the same.

[harry24]

Tonight I caught Serena's Wilson "on the couch" ad, and girl knocked it out of the fucking park. She was absolutely terrific. Venus did a great job with hers. Roger was okay with his. But Serena just nailed that sucker. And she looked great in her blond Louise Brooks bob.

It's funny. To my eyes, Serena has something in common with Feli Lopez and Patrick Rafter when it comes to their looks. All three of them have seriously gorgeous faces. IMO, though, their pretty, pretty faces don't quite harmonize with their powerful, muscular body frames. They'd all look even more beautiful with slenderer frames.

OMG! I just noticed that Roger's hair is thinning a bit in front. That's not allowed. His tennis skills can deteriorate, but not the hair! I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight.

[falafaclese]

I saw it too, and it made me laugh out loud the first time I saw it. Here it is for anyone who hasn't seen it:


Serena did something in the last year because she has been looking fantastic off the court. I don't know if she has a new makeup artist or something, but all of a sudden she really pulled it together. That's not to say that she didn't look good before, because I think she did, it's just that she seemed totally polished and flawless.

Also I thought it was really nice that she befriended that little boy who has been fighting cancer, and then spent time with him and his family when she came to Wimby. Apparently some people found out when she invited them to come see her at Wimby.

Sharapova won me over a little bit more yesterday when she was being interviewed by Hannah Storm and (I think) MJ. Storm asked her if she could flash her ring just once for the camera, and she immediately got all bashful and hid her hands under the desk. It was endearing.

ETA: To inject some actual tennis into our conversation, has anyone noticed that Serena's form has suddenly gotten much more ominous? I'm starting to believe she could do this . . .

[mooncreek]

Hardly a surprise in light of the "tweak" in the thigh: Rafa won't be playing the Davis Cup tie vs the US.

What is a surprise: the team consists of Ferrer, Verdasco, Lopez and Granollers. Which is either placing a lot of faith in Fernando or the Nando/Feli pairing is in rocky water.

[lt]

moon, I think I'm going to go with your second option of Fer/Feli having some massive falling out (okay maybe I'm paraphrasing you a little). They just aren't playing with each other any more. I wonder if this means tickets are going to start becoming easier to find? I have a hotel--but I have to cancel. I can't get down there that weekend and I don't even want to see what airfares would be now anyway.

falafaclese, I agree about Serena's form. I think that while she wanted to come back and play great when she had the foot injury it was the health scare that made her realize just how much tennis and everything that goes with it means to her--actually, I take that back. I'm not Mary Carillo, I think Serena has always known how important tennis is to her but now she's discovered how much she loves the game in addition to wanting to be at the top. Still wish she hadn't had that terrifying health scare but it shows what a fierce fighter she is. And I know I keep harping on this, but with the state of the women's tour it's almost like the first few rounds were her minor league rehab starts (and she had the bobbles, but she came through) and now she's ready to come up to the big leagues right as her competition is about to get tougher. I'm not her biggest fan, but she impresses the hell out of me and I'm rooting for her (until she meets Maria and/or Venus). (Oh wait, one of my faves Nadia Petrova is still hanging around--but that won't last too much longer.)

Okay, I'm waiting to get called back downstairs for work so I'm going on a little diatribe right now. When watching the Sod/Tomic match Ted Robinson and John McEnroe were bemoaning the lack of teenagers in the sport and talking about all the old guys still in the draw (how many guys can all be 29 anyway?). Why do I want to see a kid anyway? I love beyond compare that guys in their late 20s are doing well. John made mention that Wimbledon is a surface that favors experience--well, guess what? That's a good thing. I like to see my players thinking. I don't need to see an 18 year old win (unless his name is Rafa), I like the late bloomers (and I hate that a player in his mid-20s is a late bloomer). I wish the teen thing wasn't such a desire for the tours because I think the women's tour would be in a way better place if they were older when they came up. It still kills me that Maria is only 24. I think I blame Tracy Austin. People just adored that young girl and that wish to see super-young girls has never gone away (and it's a bit creepy). I think rivalries in the women's game would grow more organically if they were older when they are at the top of the game as well because the players wouldn't be so isolated from each other and only sticking with their camps. The men's rivalries are that much more interesting because the men interact with each other outside the match.