Wimbledon 2020- Cannot Rain On The Parade!

[JAMES4578]

Some of you may wonder what I am on about  with Wimbledon being cancelled this year due to Covid-19, however all will be revealed.    Quiet Please!

Some classic matches will still be available to view across various platforms,  The BBC will have around 50 hours of coverage with  a 3 hours highlights programme in the Afternoons, whilst Sue Barker will present an hours show The Best Of The Championships on weekday evenings with a few guests  stars (whether at the Wimbledon grounds or via link).

on 4-5 July there will be an Andy Murray weekend, featuring big wins at Wimbledon including maiden win over Djokovic,Olympics - 2012 over Federer stands out and Davis Cup. whilst on 11-12 on what would have been the climax the best finals will be highlighted. All these shows will also be available to view on iplayer.

BBC-Wimbledon 

The wimbledon website will be doing it slighly differently and recreating the feel of The Championships - three matches will be available on Demand each day from 11 am   in the sequence we would have had  in live play (therefore 1st Round matches from across the ages first few days)    Older matches will be digitally enhanced for a better experience as obviously technology has moved on across the decades.   I would imagine they will be available for a little while.

So if you are a big Wimbledon fan like myself at least it is something, perhaps even casual fans may be interested in the odd match.

techradar.com/uk/news/wimbledon-2020-turns-back-clock-unorthodox-new-format 

Wimbledon Recreated 

Matches on Wimbledon Website 

Available from  11 Monday, Venus Williams v Cori Gauff, Djokovic V Rochus and Henman v Kafelnikov.     Highlights on BBC  throughout fortnight include  2008 Final Federer v Nadal, 1978 Navratilova v Evert, Borg v McEnroe 1980,Goolagong v Evert 1980 ,1992 Agassi v Ivanišević, 2001 Ivanišević v Rafter   Becker V Curran 1985, Graf v Novotna Graf v Sanchez Vicario 1995. Federer  v Roddick 2009, Ashe V Conors 1975, Wade v Stove 1977,  Lendl V Cash 1987, v Williams v Davenport 2005, Federer v Djokovic 2019, Sampras v Rafter 2000, S williams v Radwanska 2012.

[JAMES4578]

Andre Agassi won his only Wimbledon title in 1992  and one of his toughest opponents en route was the three times champion  Boris Becker.   Agassi at that time had long hair and was at one point was regarded as a bit of a revel by the establishment but had many adoring fans.  He was no fan of all the white rule at Wimbledon and for a few years stayed away before he was enticed back.  https://www.atptour.com/en/news/atp-heritage-agassi-no-1-fedex-atp-rankings

Anyway on to this contest and Becker would later say  it was the best he had seen against him,   Becker was perhaps not quite as strong but he very much regarded Wimbledon as his home  and fought hard to keep the pretender at Bay.   However  serve and volley game only had so much reward on the day.   In Agassi he seen someone who took the ball so early  with some explosive returns and he was so strong on the baseline counteracting some strong serves.    He had to be very much on his toes.  A real contrast in styles which did made good viewing and swung one way then another . Howwever it was Agassi who was stronger in the end taking the 5th 6-2.

[JAMES4578]

Onto a quarter from 2009 and a mighty battle between  Andy Roddick and LLeyton Hewitt which went the distance and another one to feature contrasting styles- Roddick more  with his power game, explosive shots and presence on court  and Hewitt more with technique, reurning, speed and a never say die attitude.     This one has not been shown lately in any form   but thought it would include it here  (could have gone for Sampras/Agassi 1993 where we seen a clash of styles too but since already featured Andre) thought I would go for another one.  Hewitt not quite the same force at this time but still pushed Roddick all the way before going down 6-4 in 5th.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/jul/01/andy-roddick-lleyton-hewitt-wimbledon 

Roddick went on to beat Andy Murray in semis before almost claiming the Wimbledon title but Federer found a way through 16-14 in the 5th.   The only slam Roddick took was the Us Open in 2003 (Federer stopped him on many ocassions  and won 21 of their 24 contests and all four at SW19) , whilst Hewitt won one Wimbledon and one US Open.      Roddick and Hewitt were both ranked no1 in their careers, however Lleyton had 80 weeks in total and Andy R 13.

[JAMES4578]

One of the most thrilling semis in the Women's Championships  was whem Sabine Lisicki beat Agnieszka Radwanska 9-7 in the 3rd to reach the final in 2013.   Mentioned earlier it did not go to plan , however this was a thrilling moment swith quality tennis.  The German a big hitter with the Pole Radwanska  being more in the classical mode and more defensive though hits some sublime shots.  Reminds me a bit of Hingis and this was maybe a bit of a missed opportunity and the chance did not come again for the 2012 finalist to Serena Williams. Radwanska is now retired.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/jul/04/sabine-lisicki-agnieszka-radwanska-live-wimbledon

Another thriller from 2009, Dementieva had some power fro  baseline  and effective strokemaker  though service could be a liabilty particularly at crucial moments.  This was one of her better performances against Serena Williams but still she was unable to find the answers when it mattered but was a bit unfortunate.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/jul/02/serena-williams-beats-elena-dementieva 

Now let's go back to 1987 and one of the 4 times Navratilova and Evert met in the semis, Chris won twice but  not on this ocassion.  An enthralling contest which a few  twists and turns, though a bit of controversy at the end.   Martina's 6 yeare  title run though was ended as Steffi Graf stormed to victory after being a set and a break down 5-7,6-2,6-1.

latimes.com/archives 

 

[JAMES4578]

A dream Men's semi came about in 1977  with the defending   Champion Bjorn Borg overcoming Vitas Gerulaitis 8-6 in the 5th.     The American "playboy"   playing a more attacking game and Borg counteracting and had some great winners himself.   At the point the ice cool swede  was so tough mentally , even if had iniially been thought that the surfarce did not naturally favour him and he was able to complete the French/Wimbledon double 3 times.  Bjorn with  6 French and 5 Wimbledon titles but bowed out of the game at 26.  A comeback 10 years later went virtually nowhere and he instead concentrated on the seniors tour.  Meanwhile Gerulaitis won the Australian Open in 1977 (abeit in a weaker field over John Lloyd)  was ranked 3rd the following year.  Unfortunately Vitas died of Carbon monoxide poisoning in 1994 at the age of 40.

https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/ATP_Tennis/44965/june-30-1977-borg-edges-gerulaitis-in-on... 

[JAMES4578]

Bang up to date with an epic contest between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal 2018, some great matches between the two and often gruelling baselines exchanges  though on faster surfaces Djokovic able to take the ball early  and when on form dicate more of the points.  However there was little in this but perhaps Novak had just a bit more confidence to go for more on opportunities.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/nadal-djokovic-wimbledon-2018-saturday 

An intriguing contest between Lendl and Becker in 1989 but the German always came out on top with the czech born  Ivan and whilst Lendl had ascendancy with powerful baseline display could not sustain with Boris coming through in the end . Lendl has somewhat of a love/hate relationship with the surface though he adapted  and trying a bit of a different style did not work out. He would never win the Grass court slam, 2  final loss to  Becker in 1986 and  Pat Cash in 1987  but had 8 slams. of course he would later coach Andy Murray and more recently Sacha Zverev (though it was short and not particularly successful  run with the German)

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpmy 

[JAMES4578]

The BBC ranked the best 10 finals in both competitions, they also held an online vote and differences to how they were viewed by the pundits compared to the public.   However the top choices were the same, Nadal v Federer 2008  and Venus Williams v Lindsay  Davenport 2005.   The Murray win over Djokovic in 2nd place with public but only 4th with the pundit panel, Borg/McEnroe  1980 scoring well with both but 2nd with pundits.  Virgina Wade's win over Betty  Stove 2nd with pundits  but  5th in online vote., meanwhile Maria Sharapova's  win over Serena Williams 2nd with public but 6th with pundits. Overview of  the matches in report too.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/Best Women's Finals 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/Best Men's Finals 

[JAMES4578]

A few more detailed reports here:

https://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2015/12/2008-nadal-beats-federer-greatest-match-all-time 

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/mar/21/my-favourite-game-venus-williams-v-lindsay-davenport-2... 

https://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2015/07/1980-war-18-16-borg-and-mcenroes-wimbledon-classic 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/Murray Wins Wimbledon 

https://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2020/06/virginia-wade-1977-wimbledon-win-was-meant-be-queen-elizabet... 

https://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2018/07/top-10-wimbledon-memories-no-3-martina-navratilova-d-chris-e... 

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/flashback-ivanisevic-rafter-2001-wimbledon-final 

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/nov/20/no-one-will-forget-the-day-it-came-right-for-jana-novo...