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The Wonderful Wet At Wimbledon and Silverstone

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While we in the States deal with sweltering heat across the country, our “special friends”, the Brits, are having a run of wet weather over one of the most compelling fortnights in recent history across the pond. You see, not only has Wimbledon been proceeding at the All England Club Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, but this is also the week of the famed British Grand Prix. It is not just a remarkable concurrence of perhaps the two biggest sporting events, of any year, for England; it is bigger than that. For the first time since 1939 a subject of the Kingdom, Andy Murray, is in the finals at Wimbledon. Add to that, at least three British F1 jockeys have a legitimate shot at winning the British Grand Prix at Silverstone; Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Paul di Resta. Heady times in the Isles, and it is all wet. Soaking. Dripping. Wet.

First up, Wimbledon. When I started writing this, Serena Williams had just polished off Aga Radwanska 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 to win her fifth Wimbledon title. Now I, and whoever may read this, will be much further into the day than I intended*. For several reasons, I have never personally been a big Serena Williams fan, but have always respected greatly what she has accomplished. Today, I could not help but be a huge fan. Serena was herself, powerful, the face of the US, and a champion. She showed all of it on the biggest stage her sport has to offer. Simply wonderful.

The American cruised through the first set 6-1, and looked to be on a blowout roll. But Radwanska, aided by a delay from the wet weather, took the second set in a tie break and appeared to have clear momentum.

But then the power, and force of will, that is Serena Williams took over. It was a thing of tennis beauty. Aga Radwanska showed heart and skill; someday she will be a champion. Today, Serena Williams showed Aga what a champion looks like. The wet at Wimbledon brought about something special in the Women’s Final. Wow.

Almost enough to temporarily forget there is an equally compelling, if not far more so, Men’s Final left on tap. Because the Men’s Final at Wimbledon is another vignette of Read more →

Trash Talk: Raffa v. Fed

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The event of the season is upon us! Yep, the men’s final at the French Open. This is just a quick post for the heck of it because, well, I have been a life long tennis fan (and even played some competitively as a junior); and, out of the blue, Ms. Wheeler is suddenly into the gig. So a tennis post was in order!

Now Roger Federer and Raphael Nadal have a rich history and storied rivalry together. That part is well known, what is not as well known is that they are also friends who work together to support charity playing bookend matches in each others home country; Zurich Switzerland for Fed and Madrid Spain for Raffa. Good stuff from a pair of good guys.

The men’s final at Roland Garros is somewhat unexpected as the conventional wisdom was that Fed could not make it past the blazing hot, and so far this year nearly invincible Novak Djokovic. But Fed was the Roger of old and took it to Novak in the semis in what was a simply outstanding and exciting match even though it only went four sets. That set up the unexpected surprise of yet another Nadal-Federer final in the French.

Nadal has had an uncharacteristically off clay court season so far:

This has not been an easy clay court season for Rafael Nadal who has to beat Roger Federer in Sunday’s French Open final at Roland Garros if he is to maintain his No. 1 ranking. A loss to Federer would mean that Novak Djokovic, beaten by Federer in that fantastic semifinal on Friday, would take over.

Nadal could have no complaints if that happened because Djokovic has beaten him in four ATP Masters Series finals this year with two — Madrid and Rome — being played on clay, the surface on which Nadal has reigned supreme. We still do not know the full effect these losses have had on the Spaniard but if his demeanor in the press conference he gave just before the women’s final began is anything to go by, his recent struggles are taking their toll.

I am pulling for the old man, Fed, to pull off a win for the geezers. I have a sneaking suspicion Marcy has her eyes on Nadal. So who you got?

Live coverage of the French Open Men’s Final is on NBC at 6 am EST and 9 am PST.