The Brits are hard to beat when it comes to making an event a national treasure. Time and television help too : the Dimblebys are as valued for their many TV years as they are for their expertise. The same applies to the programme that’s dominating our screens these days: Wimbledon.
The BBC’s been televising Wimbledon since 1937. I don’t remember that but names like Jaroslav Drobney, Rod Laver, John McEnroe, even (God help us) Tim Henman, are burned into my brain. As are the images of their athletic bodies leaping and twisting and crouching, racquet and ball producing that unique thwocking sound of full-blooded contact. Even the BBC’s theme tune has a nostalgic charm. And of course the famous strawberries and cream, never tasted, have always been mentally delicious.
And what testosteronic male hasn’t watched the women’s singles and not been swayed by a pretty face and a taut, elegant body? My own sex education came on in leaps and bounds back in the 1950s, as I sat in a darkened room and watched black-and-white images of Maria Bueno, her little skirt flipping each time she served, giving a brief, heart-stopping glimpse of whiter-than-white knickers.
What to do when you lose is easy: keep your head down and get off-court as quickly as possible. Winning is trickier. Roger Federer showed how to do it gracefully yesterday evening: a small clenching of the fist, a gentle smile, a wave of the hand as he departed. Andy Murray two days ago showed how to celebrate a win the ugly way: eyes popping, mouth a giant hole, teeth bared in a feral snarl of defiance.
I want to like you, Andy – damn it all, you’re from Dunblane. But do you have to make it so hard?
I know the weather is a bit on the warm side at the moment Jude, but having read the third paragraph, my best advice is to remain calm at all times.
I think in the event of a Federer-Murray final you’ll find the crowd split evenly split in support.
I don’t know what it is about Federer but he somehow breaks down the nationalistic borders of sport. The mans elegance, class and charm has won him support right across the world not just in his style of tennis but in his conduct and persona.
Murray while personality wise seems a touch doer on occasion, has a heart of fire on the court. He never loses a match through lack of effort, which is more I can say for many other tennis players. The mans a competitor and I respect him for his abilities and not how he performs in the popularity contest of “who’s the nicer guy” competition.