But at that stage of their careers, when fans still hadn’t quite gotten a psychological handle on the tennis prodigies, there was something humanizing about the way they allowed their feelings to show publicly. And she even double-faulted on match point. Serena had a bad day … to put it charitably. Venus would take the match 6-2, 7-6(3) on the way to winning the ladies’ title, but it’s the sibling dynamics - not the tennis - that sticks. But it’s their first head-to-head match at Wimbledon in the 2000 semis that remains the most indelible, simply because it’s so emotionally raw and messy. Separated in age by 15 months, Venus and Serena Williams have stared one another down across the net 26 times (Serena holds the edge, 15-11, after Monday’s match).
Take a look …Īs a father of twins, I often think that their birth was karmic retribution for my unhealthy obsession with sibling rivalries in sports. Watching it now is like seeing that scene from The Simpsons when Lisa literally breaks Ralph Wiggum’s heart by revealing that she never really choo-choo-chose him as her valentine. Up one set and leading 6-5 in the second-set tiebreak, Roddick shanked a routine backhand volley, allowing Federer to win the set and keep the match alive. But it’s the last one that should have reduced him to a shell of a man - a marathon slugfest that he eventually lost 14-16 in a fifth-set tiebreaker. Roddick reached the men’s final there three times - in 2004, 2005, and 2009 (he lost all three to Roger Federer). Each time more spectacularly than the last, especially at Wimbledon. Because in spite of his often electrifying talent on the court, Roddick had one particularly fatal flaw. In 2003, however, that all seemed to change when a hot-headed Nebraskan named Andy Roddick single-handedly took a defibrillator to the American men’s game and shocked it back to life with a first serve often topping 150 mph. Just ask yourself: Have you ever scratched your barbecue plans to sit inside and watch Mardy Fish or Jack Sock? We live in an age of patriotic narcolepsy. men’s game in the post-Sampras era has been a decade and a half of depressing futility.
WOMAN STREAKER AT WIMBLEDON PROFESSIONAL
Second, and perhaps more to the point, that’s when the most genteel of professional sports started to get interesting. Why 40? Well, first off, it’s a nice, arbitrary round number (more historically far-reaching than 25 less predictably round than 50). So, as this year’s fortnight heads into the homestretch, we humbly offer our Totally Subjective Ranking of the 10 Most Memorable Moments From Wimbledon Over the Past 40 Years. We’re more concerned with idiosyncrasy than import here. We’ll leave it to others to compile that list.
But those superlatives tell only part of the story. During its 138-year history, the All England Club has played host to countless firsts and bests in men’s and women’s tennis. But thanks to its posh reputation for polish and propriety, it remains the grandest of Grand Slam tournaments. It’s like Ascot with metronomic grunting and skinned knees. With its manicured grass courts, epicurean strawberries-and-cream concessions, and stately royal box populated by tertiary blue bloods in crested blazers and baroque fascinators, Wimbledon can seem as conservative as sporting events come.
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