Bess, wherever you are, I hope you're sitting down as you read this post. I agree with you (to some degree) about Serena's tearful return. It was the shining moment of Day Two. For those who watched the match, you could see Serena was truly struggling in the second set. She roared back and then, yes, in a rare display, Serena shed a few tears. Wonderful to see, especially after all she has endured.
It remains to be seen, however, if Serena will do more than talk about herself. Great champions consistently and sincerely acknowledge their opponents and thank their fans. Didn't hear a lot of that (any of that?) yesterday from Serena. My bar is higher for her than any of the other women, because she's been at or near the top of the sport so long. I'm grateful we have had Federer and Nadal on top of the men's side. Class, grace, a degree of humility and even some self-deprecation? These are all endearing qualities in one of the few dignified sports left on the planet.
On that note, a nod to the always classy James Blake. Will his tough five-set 1R loss to Baghdatis mark the end of Blake's Wimbledon career? Hard to say (though ESPN was already writing him off last year). Let's hope Blake stays around through at least the US Open. He's good for the game, and, no matter how much his ranking has plummeted, he's a great ambassador for sportsmanship.
Serena did briefly acknowledge that Rezai was a tough player who had won some big tournaments and beaten some top competitors. She did not mention the crowd, as far as I saw. I'm going to give her a pass on both these issues--on this one day--because I really do think she was emotionally overwhelmed, and that's not something she's used to being!
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