Observations on Wimbledon

Now that the 132nd Championships have come to a close, I thought I'd share some of the observations I made while watching the tournament:





1. The roof really is long overdue
Once again the unco-operative British weather affected proceedings, and though not quite as badly as last year, it was still particularly frustrating when causing breaks in play in the fantastic men's final between Federer and Nadal. The arrival of the new retractable roof in time for the 2009 Championships will be very welcome.

2. Jankovic's attitude is holding her back
Going into Wimbledon as World No. 2, Jelena Jankovic's confidence should have been sky high. However, she never appeared to be in the right frame of mind. Put out on Court 18 to face World No. 60 Tamarine Tanasugarn in the fourth round, the Serb was smashed 6-3 6-2 and seemed more concerned about her court placing than sorting out her tennis. Her post-match comments put most of the blame for her poor performance on the All England Club. If she continues to be such a moaner it may be a long time before she wins her maiden Grand Slam tournament.

3. What happened to the underdog loving British?
In the UK we think of ourselves as champions of the underdog, but their was scant evidence of that during the Wimbledon fortnight. In matches I watched such as Roddick v Tipsarevic, Sharapova v Kudryavtseva, Federer v Roddick, Jankovic v Tanasugarn, Ivanovic v Dechy, Ivanovic v Zheng and Federer v Nadal, the crowd seemed to be firmly on the side of the favourite. Indeed, during the men's final the crowd appeared to mistake Roger Federer for Tim Henman, breaking into sporadic, synchronized chants for the 5-time champion.

4.Wimbledon brings out the best of the Williams sisters.
It seems to happen every year, even if Venus and Serena have been injured, in poor form or making only rare tour appearances throughout the season, when it comes to late June they are at their best for Wimbledon. Such was the case this year, with neither sibling competing regularly on the WTA tour, but both reached the women's singles final, and won the women's doubles all without dropping a set.

5. Britain really is desperate for a champion.
The achievement of 14 year old Brit Laura Robson in winning the girl's singles was admirable, however the fervour with which it was celebrated was a little embarrassing. After her finals victory, Robson made the front and back pages of the national Sunday newspapers at the expense of coverage of the ladies' final. When asked if such a thing could happen in Germany, Boris Becker was diplomatic in his response, but clearly bemused by the excitement. With no British woman making it past the second round, and only one appearing in the top 100 of the WTA rankings, Robson's victory was a much needed ray of light for British female tennis.

6. Hawkeye is awesome
All those who said the introduction of Hawkeye would slow down the game, compromise umpires and lead to frivolous challenges have been proved wrong. Once again the Hawkeye system added to the excitement of the spectacle, with the crowd audibly anticipating challenges to tight calls and cheering for successful queries. Most importantly, it has prevented potentially costly errors by line judges and umpires at crucial moments in many matches.

7. Tracy Austin
You would, wouldn't you?

How will history judge 'Hitman' Hatton?

Boxer Ricky Hatton has this week outlined his future plans for the remainder of his career. Hatton announced that in November this year he will fight Paulie Malignaggi in Las Vegas for the American's IBF and IBO Light Welterweight straps, following that, he hopes to battle either Oscar De La Hoya or Manny Pacquiao at Wembley Stadium next year in what would be his final contest.

Hatton's last major contest was his losing effort in December to Floyd Mayweather in their highly-anticipated superfight, and despite the comprehensive nature of that loss, the 'Hitman' is nonetheless revered in his home country like few other British sportsmen. Although Ricky is the current Ring Magazine Light Welterweight champion, his greatness is still doubted by many observers across the Atlantic. A convincing win over New York born, Sicily raised Malignaggi - second to Hatton in the Ring rankings - could help to remedy that situation. Along with the undisputed middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik, the Italian-American Malignaggi is one of the new golden boys and 'Great White Hopes' of American boxing. His 25-1 record makes him vastly less experienced that Hatton, despite being only two years younger. Even so, defeating him would do much to boost Hatton's Stateside reputation. Anything less than a stoppage win would be a disappointment against the knockout shy Yank (only 5 KOs in his 25 wins).

Assuming Ricky gets the win and goes on to have his Wembley swansong, he would be ending his career with a fight of massive proportions. Both De La Hoya and Pacquiao come with extremely loyal and vocal crowds of support, and a fight with either of them would be a surefire pay-per-view bonanza. East Los Angeles native De La Hoya is regarded as a semi-deity by his Mexican fans, and is highly respected in his country of birth. It is however doubtful what even a big win over De La Hoya would prove - by February of next year the 'Golden Boy' will turn 36 and is undoubtedly long past his best. He has lost 3 of his last 6 fights, has fought only 3 times since his 2004 loss to Bernard Hopkins, and his last win was against Steve Forbes, graduate of the reality TV show The Contender. A fight with De La Hoya would bring a big payday, but probably not so much of a boost to Hatton's legacy.

The proposed showdown with Pacquiao is more intriguing. Following his impressive June destruction of American David Diaz, Pacquiao is WBC champion at both lightweight and super featherweight. The Filipino is truly a modern day great, with his 47-3-2 record the result of having many genuine superfights - 2 with Juan Manuel Marquez, 2 with Marco Antonio Barrera and 3 with Erik Morales - he has defeated all 3 of those Mexican greats. All of this, together Pacquiao with being the current best pound-for-pound, would make one think that a win him would cement the Hitman's place in boxing history, but it may not. Pacquiao has fought as far down as flyweight, and though the 'Pac-Man' boasts a list of titles, defeated opponents and epic fights all far superior to those of Hatton, the size difference between the two could taint any potential Hatton victory - at least in the eyes of the purists. The Filipino is comfortable at various weights, having won world titles in 4 different weight categories, but if he were to make yet another step up to fight Hatton at light welter and subsequently lose, you can be sure that some will refuse to accept the win's significance.

Hatton has said that following these two fights, he "would have done everything [he] dreamed of." Even assuming that statement was made in the expectation of emerging victorious on both occasions, it leads me to speculate that Hatton has not then dreamed of being the best of the best, reaching the very pinnacle of his profession and being considered alongside the legends of the sport. Because if the Hitman's career takes the route that he has set out, it is doubtful that he will be.

Venus reigns at Wimbledon again

Venus Williams prevailed in the all-Williams Wimbledon Ladies' Singles final this afternoon, defeating her younger sister Serena 7-5 6-4 to lift the aptly named Venus Rosewater Dish for the fifth time. Unfortunately however, rather than focusing on the possibility of such an amazing feat, much of the pre-match discussion concerned speculation that the winner of matches between the two sisters was pre-determined.

Though such rumours are far from new - they were present when Serena and Venus contested the 2002 and 2003 Wimbledon finals - in this case they were stoked up again by comments made by Elena Dementieva following her semi-final defeat by Venus. When asked about her opinion on the outcome of the all-Williams final, Dementieva said that she could not imagine having to play her own family member, and "for sure it's going to be a family decision." This statement elicited a sharp response when it was put to Venus, who said that she "found the question pretty offensive." Serena was equally dismissive of the suggestion.

While the furore itself was sadly inevitable, what surprised me was the contention of John Inverdale on BBC television that it was a "legitimate question" to ask the siblings, and that perhaps if they laughed off the accusation rather than react so sternly, the question may go away more quickly. Frankly, it seems to me that Venus would have been justified in responding much more vehemently than she did. After all, what the Williamses are effectively being accused of is conspiring to fix the outcome of a Grand Slam tournament, and in the process cheating television viewers, paying spectators, sponsors, their opponents and ultimately bringing the tournament into disrepute. It may be that the gravity of the claims is diminished by the fact that the two finalists are sisters, making any supposed arrangement appear merely 'friendly' or justifiable in some other way. But if one were to level the same accusation against one of the sisters and an unrelated competitor, the full magnitude of the charge can be understood. As for the 'legitimacy' of the question, there is none. If even an iota of evidence supporting the claim existed, then the question could be rightly asked, without it however, the claims are spurious and defamatory.

Similarly risible is the manner in which Dementieva sought to distance herself from her comments, and how others have tried to defend her. For her part, Dementieva hurried together a statement that she "did not think for one second" that matches between the Williams sisters were fixed, but that rather that "it is a unique situation for a family to be in." During Venus' post semi-final interview, one of the journalists off-camera attempted to placate her by arguing that Dementieva's comments were somehow "lost in translation." The weight of evidence would suggest otherwise. Elena Dementieva has never before exhibited such problems with her English, and the term "family decision" is pretty unequivocal. In addition, back in 2001, a loss to Venus in the quarter-finals of the Tennis Masters Series at Indian Wells set up an all-Williams semi-final showdown. Afterwards the Russian said "I'm not sure what father Richard Williams thinks about it. I think he will decide who will win tomorrow." It would be interesting to hear her argue the case that that too was misinterpreted due to the language barrier!


Finally, congratulations to Venus. It will be interesting to see how both she and her defeated sibling fare in the Ladies' Doubles final later today...

Welcome...

Hello, and welcome to Kiss The Badge! I have considered starting my own website or blog for a while now, and finally have the time to go through with my idea. This blog will be primarily concerned with football (of the association type), but will also encompass the news and my views on a variety of other sports in which I take an interest. I aim to update regularly, and all comments are welcome and appreciated.

Time for kick off!