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There is something of perfection
annually at Wimbledon, yet pinpointing where such
flawlessness truly resides is normally a job best reserved
for mystics and romantics, not writers.
Perhaps it lies in the freshest
dew on the Centre Court grass mere moments before the first
ball is put into play, glistening in the newborn pink
sunshine and smelling as sweet as strawberries and cream.
Although it could be borne in the purest striking of racquet
string to tennis ball on the planet; a sound so unique that
it rallies crisply across the net cord in time with the
heartbeats of the world’s greatest athletes, magically
muffling outside noises inside a vacuum of pressurized air
at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.
Still, one could reasonably
argue that it is actually the British fans who make
Wimbledon so special, their enthusiastic love and support
for the game reigned inside impeccable manners and unfailing
knowledge of how to behave at a world-class event. Unlike
crowds at the other three majors, Wimbledon’s fans are
uncannily able to be partisan without being rude and
exuberant without being a distraction. Their cheers
intoxicatingly amplify the sport like effervescent bubbles
spilled over the lip of a champagne flute. While the
qualities that imbue Wimbledon with its championship
distinction may well be debated underneath the umbrella of
time as years pass into decades and decades pass into
history, the perfection of the 2005 Championships was as
openly on display as two lovers holding hands.
Roger Federer began the
fortnight having failed to claim either of the season’s
previous two major titles, despite dominating the regular
tour, and his losses in Australia and France emboldened his
rivals. Belief and possibly even a little disrespect for
the World No. 1 was trickling down the men’s rankings and
stirring hope in the hearts of players across the draw.
Australian Open winner Marat
Safin went from disdaining the grass a year ago to looking
like a true contender during the first two rounds of the
tournament, only to be upset in the third round by reality
in the form of net-rushing Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. French
Open king Rafael Nadal also played a brilliant first match,
causing some to reconsider dismissing the clay court
champion’s chances on the grass, but his glory was
short-lived as he fell in the second round. Former
Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt ripped through the field
with a chip on his shoulder, begrudging the seeding
committee’s decision to place him third and consequently in
Roger Federer’s half of the draw.
The only man in the event
outside of Federer to have claimed the trophy at SW19 and
the second ranked player in the world, Hewitt went so far as
to pronounce the semi he contested with Federer as “[his]
final.” Hewitt, however, was no match for the brilliance of
Federer’s game and he fell weakly in straight sets. Lleyton
was in good company, for most of Federer’s opponents were
unable to claim a set from the champion. Only brash
Nicholas Kiefer of Germany dared push Roger to four sets.
The third round clash with Kiefer saw more questions
murmured over the lawns of the All England Club; perhaps
Federer was not invincible, perhaps he could be beaten.
Like the great champions of the past, those players whom
Roger seems destined to join once his career is complete,
the defending champion answered those whispers with four
resounding, oft-repeated words: game, set, match,
Federer.
Still, one man in the tournament
was taking his challenge more seriously than all the
others. Second-seeded American Andy Roddick stormed through
the bottom half of the draw, determined to face and overcome
the best player in the world on the final Sunday. Roddick’s
game is intimidating and brutal, marked by a supersonic
serve and blistering forehand, and powered by a fierce
competitiveness that sees him through rough patches of play.
Roddick outlasted opponents in two five-set matches and
eliminated surprise semifinalist Thomas Johansson in four
sets as he made his way to the ultimate round to face
Federer, the stylishly subdued Swiss whose path to the title
fight unfolded as casually as the morning paper.
The men’s final was perfection
revealed. Federer dismantled his hungry American opponent
with an otherworldly 6-2, 7-6 (2), 6-4 conquest. In
claiming his third consecutive Wimbledon championship,
Federer hit an unbelievable forty-nine winners to a paltry
twelve unforced errors and joined grass-court legends Bjorn
Borg and Pete Sampras as the only men in the Open Era to
claim three titles in a row at Wimbledon. At championship
point, Federer slammed a service winner down the middle of
the court and fell flat on his back, cushioned by the grass
beneath him and covering his eyes to wipe away tears of
joy. And so it was victory and not opposition that finally
saw Federer falter on the Wimbledon lawns. Federer has now
won his first five Grand Slam finals and a whopping
twenty-one straight consecutive tournament
finals.
Federer’s perfection is
clear-cut and decisive; however, the road to unparalleled
excellence has other paths. While Federer sailed into the
winner’s circle and the history books, the women’s
tournament was undoubtedly the best-contested Grand Slam
event of this generation.
Increased depth and fitness has
taken a toll on the professional women’s tour, humbling the
top players with a myriad of injuries that often results in
weak fields and disappointing champions. Not so at
Wimbledon 2005. At the start of the tournament, many
prognosticators pegged French Open titleholder Justine
Henin-Hardenne as the favorite to win in London as well, but
the blades of grass at the All England Club are both
slippery and sharp. When the Belgian fell in her opening
match to Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou, a palpable danger
settled over the top players. Top contenders Serena Williams
and Kim Clijsters would soon follow Justine with
disappointing early exits of their own.
The tennis that followed was
often riveting and always unpredictable. Four players
fiercely emerged to reach the semifinals: top-ranked Lindsay
Davenport, in search of one final Grand Slam to conclude her
impressive career; second-ranked Maria Sharapova, desperate
to defend her title and retain credibility; third-ranked
Amelie Mauresmo, the only player amongst the final four
without a major title, bursting and overripe with
unfulfilled potential; and a resurgent yet discounted
two-time champion named Venus Williams, a woman on a mission
to reestablish herself and her legacy after suffering
through injuries and the murder of her half-sister Yetunde
Price.
The penultimate clashes could
not have been more satisfying as Lindsay Davenport rallied
from a set and a break down to overcome Amelie Mauresmo, who
– for the second year in a row – played aggressive,
athletic, all-court tennis in the Wimbledon semis yet failed
to reach the final. Davenport ripped her way past Mauresmo
with a nail biting 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory. Meanwhile,
Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova traded blistering
groundstrokes and deafening shrieks in the first set of
their semifinal match. Venus would prove too powerful for
the defending champion, who had to hold back tears as she
lost the first set and the momentum, unable to stop the
elder Williams sister from snatching her crown via an epic
7-6 (2), 6-1 juggernaut.
The all-American ladies final
between Lindsay Davenport and Venus Williams was a
statistical and emotional classic. Both women were
determined to resurrect their finest moments in claiming
another Grand Slam title. Venus was two years removed from
her last chance at a major victory when she fell in the 2003
Wimbledon final to younger sister Serena. Davenport’s most
recent major title came at the 2000 Australian Open. With
hearts blatantly put forth on their sleeves like
ever-present endorsement patches, the two women butted wills
and traded rocket shots for a record two hours and
forty-five minutes. Lindsay Davenport would come as close
as a point away from the title, only to see her dream stolen
as Venus Williams swatted away that championship opportunity
and re-ascended to the pinnacle of her sport with a 4-6, 7-6
(4), 9-7 triumph. The 14th-seeded Williams became the
lowest seed ever to take the ladies’ title and the first
woman in 70 years to overcome a match point in the
championship round.
The win certainly ranks among
the sweetest of Venus’s impressive professional career.
Practically forgotten at the outset of the tournament, Venus
Williams is far removed from invoking the type of submission
and reverence in her opponents that Roger Federer now
enjoys. Yet the heart-warming smile on Williams' elated
face as she leaped higher and higher with the realization of
her third Wimbledon title and fifth career Grand Slam crown
proved the ultimate testimony to the perfection of a moment
that no tennis fan will be able to soon forget.
Wyman Meers is a writer living
in New York. He is
Gaga4Gaby on the Outsports Discussion Board.
July 6, 2005 |
