WIMBLEDON 2016 UPDATES
I’ve watched every second of the Wimbledon coverage on ESPN, and, of course, have many thoughts to share on the proceedings to this point. [Note: I was planning on this column featuring just a few thoughts, but, since there have been eight full days of incredible action to date, this is longer than I had expected.]
Before I go in order of each day, I have to discuss a couple of things.
First of all, I keep reading about the weight loss of retired former champion, Marion Bartoli, who is a commentator there for the BBC. At first, I was writing this to defend her. After all, she was close to being downright fat when she was playing, and under the thumb of her nutty father, who doubled as her coach. So, now that she’s a professional sportscaster, and no longer a player, it appears she’s gotten her looks act together a bit. Well, at least she’s lost weight and now washes her hair! But, upon closer look at the pix of her nowadays, and having been anorexic myself for a few years back in the day, I realize that she has taken it too far. So, half good for her to have lost weight, but girl—go eat! A lot!
Also, I was sad that one of my favorite players, Victoria Azarenka, had to withdraw, before it even began, due to an injury. She’s been missed.
[One more note: When I mention the broadcasters, it’s always the team on ESPN.]
MONDAY
–In the first half hour, the commentators were already bothering me. Almost all of them! In what other sport do they call each other cute-sy names that end in “y?” (Like “Chrissy,” “Pammy,” and “Cliffy,” that last one being an older, knighted gent! Oysh.) You don’t hear Reggie Miller call Chris Weber “Chrissy!” (Thank the lord!)
–It’s also weird that many of the commentators are also active coaches! How is that allowed? To use basketball again, you don’t see Steve Kerr telling Steph Curry what to do, and then going over to the broadcast booth to comment on how Steph is doing!
–Just a few years ago, some of these idiots were trying to anoint Rafa Nadal as the greatest of all time, because they thought he’d pass Roger Federer’s accomplishments. And now, he’s not even in Wimbledon this year, because of yet another injury. I have a strong feeling his time has passed. But now, they’re doing it about Novak Djokovic. I do give him tons of credit for how he’s put himself in this position, especially after his iffy first few years, with his asthma episodes and plethora of ball bounces. But, especially with his early exit from this one, (which I’ll get to in a few minutes,) I think they need to cool their Novak jets.
–I loved Donna Vedic’s dress! It’s adorbs on her. It was just cute, and isn’t trying too hard, like so many of these outfits do. Nor is it dumpy, like, sadly, a lot of them are, too. (I later saw quite a few of this summer breezy-looking dress, on many of the players.) [Note: I found-out the day after writing this that everyone else is up in arms about this very dress! They think it looks too much like a nightgown. And, I’ve heard that Nike had to make it longer because it kept blowing up.]
–I think ESPN needs me to join the broadcasts for the real color commentary, like who’s seeing who, who looks crazy, (hint: Venus William’ hair,) and who needs to stand up straight and hold her stomach in!!! (So many of them, on that last one.)
–I love that Stan Wawrinka watched his girlfriend, Donna Vecic, play, when he had his own first round match to think about! (But I can’t believe that she’s only 19! That means they’ve [most likely] been together since she was 17! He’s twelve years older than she, which can be construed a bit weird.]
–The women’s side is a tad odd this year with Victoria Azarenka having to drop out the other day, just before the tourney began, due to recent injury, and Maria Sharapova being suspended (for the next two years!,) due to taking a banned substance.
–Milos Raonic looks a little less like an old man in 1940 this year.
–They rarely show his matches, but I relish any chance to see Jeremy Chardy’s gorgeous face, if only for even one second. (Which is exactly how long they showed him…in two rounds!)
–But the major story of the day, (if not the tournament,) was Marcus Willis, who even has a movie-perfect name! He’s a cute English guy who’s ranked #775 in the world, (which, if you don’t know sports, trust me, is very low.) He was about to quit playing tennis a little bit ago, and move to the States to teach the game. Then he met a girl (with whom he still is,) who convinced him to give the pro tour one more go. He lost a ton of weight, and got serious about the sport.
To play this tournament, he had to first get into pre-qualifying, which he did when someone else had to drop out, and another guy didn’t file his papers on time. Then Marcus won all three of those matches, and won his three qualifying matches. Then he won his Round One match today, and for that, he gets to play…Roger Federer! On Centre Court! In England! What a story!!! (More on it on Wednesday, when they play.)
TUESDAY
–Upon hearing the semi-grunts of Svetlana Kuznetsova, I had a major realization that day, which was this: how much quieter it is without Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka not there this year! I love Vika, but her shrieks are really hard to listen to.
–Caroline Wozniaki has never been a good sport, (despite the announcers always trying to say how liked she is, and, as they mention constantly, she’s friends with Serena Williams, but that’s probably because no one else is,) and she proved that bad sportsmanship once again by rushing off the court after she was defeated in the first round. The Wimbledon organizers ask the players to walk off together, to demonstrate good sportsmanship, but I guess Caroline never got that memo.
–In a big segment the entire group of ESPN analysts did on the state of tennis, they showed the weirdness of the CEO of the Indian Wells tournament, Raymond Moore, actually saying these words about female tennis players during it: “In my next life, when I come back, I want to be someone in the WTA because, they ride on the coattails of the men. They don’t make any decisions, and they’re lucky. They’re very, very lucky. If I was a lady player, I’d go down every night on my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born because they have carried this sport. They really have.”
That was bad enough, but as a response, Serena Williams said something almost as rude: “I don’t think that is a very accurate statement. If I could tell you every day how many people say they don’t watch tennis unless they’re watching myself or my sister.” That sounds like a Donald Trump statement, in the lauding of herself! Listen, Serena, why didn’t you say “…unless they’re watching the women’s game,” and not make it about just your family?! That was a really narcissistic response!
–I hate to say it, but Coco Vandeweghe appears to be a douchebag. Her opponent in the first round, Kateryna Bondarenko, had a horrible fall, and Coco didn’t even ask the girl if she was okay! I’ve never seen that before. And then, when Coco got her penultimate point of the match, she fervently signaled to the crowd to cheer for her. I’m proud of the assemblage that, when she won, they barely applauded at all. But when Kateryna walked off, they cheered loudly for her. You go, crowd!
WEDNESDAY
–A new young girl, Kateryna Kozlova, is so pretty. As an appreciator of beauty, I’m glad to finally see a really good-looking girl in the sport again. I hope she moves up the ranks so she can be seen again.
–Big props to Adrian Mannarino, who lost to Djokovic in the second round, (on his birthday, no less!,) for doing the right thing. He waited around to walk off with Novak, as Wimbledon protocol requires that players do. And a big Happy Birthday to him. I hope he was able to celebrate, despite the loss.
–The second round match between Roger Federer and feel-good-story-of-the-year, Marcus Willis, was the single most entertaining match I’ve ever seen. Roger did great to deal with it, and even enjoy it to a point. I’ve never seen a player smile when he walked out onto the court to begin the match, but Marcus just could not help himself. I loved it. Roger was great to him. And I loved that he wore a Roger Federer shirt!
–The above-mentioned controversial “nightie” dress is still great to me, but Genie Bouchard is the only one who kept it short, and it does look bad on her—she made it look like a baby doll nightie, rather than a cute tennis dress. She’s the only one I don’t like it on, (and not just because I don’t like her.)
THURSDAY
–Finally, a commentator, (Chris Evert,) by accident admitted that the crowd does not root for a Williams sister! Hallelujah. She sternly said that “it would be nice to see the fans get behind Venus” because of her advanced age and accomplishments, especially since this is her nineteenth Wimbledon, which even I, a Williams naysayer, have to admit is amazing.
–David Ferrer is always such a gracious loser. He appears to be such a good guy.
–I just realized why Milos Raonic doesn’t look so much like an old man anymore! He doesn’t hunch over as much as he used to, and he stopped tamping his hair down with greasy product! He must read my e-zine. Or tweets!!! So, good for him.
–Big congrats to entertaining active player, Fabio Fognini, and his new bride, the lovely Flavia Penetta, who retired from the sport right after she own the US Open last year. I hope that now they’ll have lots of charming little tennis playing children.
–As I tweeted, big props to Jason Goodall for correcting his fellow analyst, LZ Granderson, who went on a long diatribe about what he thought was Andy Murray’s take on his own career. LZ got it totally wrong! Jason never said what he was talking about were Andy’s thoughts; he said it’s how the British public viewed his career. I’ve rarely seen a commentator correct another one, but it’s great that Jason did. Now, if only he would teach Chris McKendry to pronounce words properly! (You’ll see what I mean in the third paragraph below.)
–Good for the #2 seed Garbine Muguruza, to wait for her qualifier opponent, Jana Cepelova, who just crushingly defeated her…in the second round!!!, in under an hour!!!, to leave the court together, which is what you’re supposed to do.
–I was glad to see only very light applause for Canadian player Eugenie Bouchard. That validated my feelings about her.
–Johana Konta is also a polite one who waited for her opponent after she lost. It’s a shame that I have to point-out the good ones, because they’re not the norm. It should be the rude ones who are the anomalies.
–Okay, I’ve tried to ignore it this time, but I just can’t stand ESPN host Chris McKendry adding an “l” to the end of all words ending in “w.” She says “drawl” for “draw,” “saw” for “saw,” etc. And it’s soooo annoying! Why can’t someone tell her how to pronounce those words already???!!! She sounds like a moron!!!
FRIDAY
–They announcers all need to chat less, especially during points!
–Stan Wawrinka was the classiest in defeat of everyone. He suffered a crushing defeat to unseeded former top player Juan Del Potro, yet he handed him warm wishes at the end, and waited for him to celebrate and get ready to walk off. It’s so sad that he had to play Juan so early, to begin with. (Juan is a former Top Ten player, even having won a Major before, but he’s been out for a long time, because of several wrist surgeries. So, he was not seeded at this tourney, even though he really is still a top guy, which means no other top player should have met him this early.)
–Pam Shriver is so disgustingly jingoistic. I can barely even listen to her. She basically acts like if the Williams sisters do well, it’s because they’re “amazing.” And if they get beaten, it’s because they’re older, tired, and don’t feel well.
–Venus played two cute young girls in a row, both with the best ponytails.
–Nick Kyrgios has the worst posture. He has to correct that now, while he’s young.
–I love Dustin Brown! They needed to have shown him more, especially the match between Dustin and Nick Kyrgios. They kept promo-ing it, and then showed about only three points of the whole four-setter!
–Serena Williams is such a bad sport when she’s not winning. She practically cries! But when she won this one, she said, “I know that mentally, no one can break me.” Yeah, right. Mary Jo Fernandez, with a look of disdain on her face, said, “That was a serious comment by Serena.” Then she even admitted, “She got a little lucky in the third set.” Finally! Someone on the set told a truth about a Williams sister!!!
–This really got my goat. After she lost a set, Serena Williams threw her racket backwards, and hit a camera guy, but was not penalized. She’ll be fined, but, had she hit an official or a lines person, she would have defaulted the match. So, it’s okay with the tournament that she hit a working photog??? Here’s news for them—that guy is a person, too, so they should have at least come out and discussed it a bit. (The next day, when pushed to comment on it, her idiot coach said, “I don’t think she thought about, like, there is someone behind. You know, you’re in the moment.” That makes it okay??? Maybe people who kill people in the heat of passion should use that as their defense from now on. Sheesh.)
–And Chris Fowler should be ashamed of himself. He chuckled over the fact that Serena’s coach was trying to coach her from the stands, which is illegal in tennis! The coach is also an analyst with them now, so I guess that makes it okay, when they would rag on anyone else doing it! She should have been penalized at least a point for it. [Note: Svetlana Kuznetsova was penalized for talking to her coach a few days later, even though she was just basically yelling at him, like a lot of players do on the courts. But Serena was actually getting coached! And, of course, with no penalty.]
–And that coach on the set, Patrick Mouratoglou, along with Chris Evert, barely even lauded Serena’s opponent, Christina McHale for her amazing performance! And she’s an American!!!
–On the other hand, I’m proud of the Centre Court crowd. The crowd wasn’t cheering for Serena at all; the were really applauding her defeated opponent.
SATURDAY
–Finally, LZ Grandson did not stick-up for Serena!!! Yay! In a discussion about her throwing her racket the day before, he admitted that fans don’t really like her, and said that’s reflected on social media. He said, “I know you can’t trust social media as the end-all and be-all, but, it is a good indicator about how people are receiving the emotions that they see Serena portray on the court.” Good for him. You have to know how true that all is when a perennial Serena-defender says it!
–Idiot Chris McKendry introduced a small video piece about Serena by saying that Chris Evert and Serena have a “very unique friendship,” and that “Chrissy is about to tell us” about it. And then it was just Evert voicing the piece that told us that “we may never know who she is.” Period. Nothing about if Chris even likes Serena! Nothing about what she feels about her at all! What baloney that was.
–I like Mary Jo, but why does she have to pronounce “Muguruza” with a Spanish accent? None of them pronounce Russian names with a Russian accent, so why just this one? It’s annoying. (It’s what Los Angeles newscasters with Latino last names do when they introduce themselves. It’s just nutty.)
–The biggest shock of them all is that #1 man, Novak Djokovic, lost to American Sam Querry—in the third round! This one is waaay too long to encapsulate for you here, so, if you don’t know what happened, please look it up. It’s an unbelievable story.
But Novak was ultra-classy in defeat. He was warm at the net, waited for Sam to walk off together, and even signed autographs on the way out. And he gave a good, honest press conference, lauding Sam the whole time, and not using his possible poor health as an excuse. Good for him.
SUNDAY
–They had play today for only the fourth time in Wimbledon’s one-hundred-thirty-year history! They never play on the middle Sunday, to rest not only the players and workers, but the grass!!! OMG! I never knew that before. And also, to make it easier for the villagers who live there to go to church. But all the rain delays during the week made it necessary. It didn’t feel as exciting as I thought it would, though But it was pretty cool.
–Maybe they needed middle Sunday play to bring out the best in people. I had never liked American Sloane Stephens, (except for when she beat Serena in a Major a few years back,) but now I do. She lost a heartbreaker, which she had a match point in, to Svetlana Kuznetsova, but greeted her rival at the net with a big hug.
Then, right after Sveta took her victory bow, she pointed the crowd to Sloane, to give her a big cheer! Then, Sloane waited for Sveta, to walk off together, as is the protocol, but few follow it. As they exited, Sveta gave Sloane her lone Wimbledon towel, which every player wants many of, for family and friends. I guess Sveta realized she’ll get one more in her next match, which Sloane won’t have the opportunity for now. The whole ending few minutes were wonderful, and here’s a surprise—brought me to tears! (Duh.)
MONDAY
—I really do hate to rag on her again, but when Serena was asked what she thinks about Djokovic’s defeat, she’s quoted as saying, “He and I have both made extreme history. He’s won four in a row.” Why did she have to, once again, make it about herself?! This was solely about Novak. Every player was asked, and not one of the others inserted a boast about themselves into their responses. Are you beginning to see why I’m not a fan of hers?
—Misaki Doi has the shiniest hair in the tournament, by far. (But she is Japanese, so, duh.)
—As I stated above, Coco Vandeweghe is one of the worst sports in the game. She’s so rude to her opponents, whether winning or losing, but she’s a downright bi-atch when she loses. She barely shook the hand of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the girl who beat her in the Round of 16, even though the girl was nice, and hardly even celebrated her win on court. I can’t imagine a situation where I would ever root for Coco, even if she played against Serena! That’s saying something, isn’t it?
—I wonder if Dominika Cibulkova is pregnant. She is getting married next week-end, (which is strange timing, if you hope to still be playing in the latter rounds of the tournament.) [Note: Now that she’s in the quarterfinals, after playing the match of the year, against Aga Radwanska, she changed her wedding date. Good move. Even if she doesn’t win this tourney, she has to be exhausted after yesterday.]
I love that Dominika plays with beautifully polished nails, (hint to Madison Keys and some of the rest of the ladies,) and her huge rock of a diamond ring. Very attractive.
And what a match! The best one of the tourney so far.
–Every tennis player should learn a lesson about sportmanship from Aga Radwanska. After that best match ever, she not only gave her opponent a lovely, heartfelt hug, she went across the net to do so! What a gracious girl she is. She made me proud that she’s always been one of my favorites.
—I love that I’m far from the only person who absolutely adores Roger Federer. After his post Round of 16 match interview, this is the exchange that the McEnroe brothers had about him: John: “Is it possible that there is a nicer guy in the world?” Patrick: “No.” John: “He’s got something great to say about [his opponent] Johnson, he loved his experience losing way back when, he loves Marin Cilic–he’s the greatest.”
Okay, that’s it for me. For now. I finally left the house to go watch 4th of July fireworks with Mr. X, so, for the first time ever, I did not finish watching all the tennis yesterday. So, the rest of my impressions from then, and the rest of the tournament, will be in my wrap-up early next week.
And, as always, I say Go, Roger!
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