A few thoughts...

Posted by BESS: A few additional thoughts on the men's match... interesting tidbits I picked up from watching the NBC broadcast, coupled with a few of my own observations:

• Since the rankings change tomorrow, today's men's final was the battle of the outgoing and incoming number ones. While personally I think it would have been more interesting for the incoming No. 1 to lose to the outgoing No. 1 (only furthering the ongoing debates about the confusing ranking system and being some consolation to Rafa), it's certainly a better statement for Djokovic that the incoming No. 1 beat the outgoing No. 1. A little sigh of relief for him. Complete victory.
• It took an amazing 10 minutes into today's NBC coverage before someone mentioned Djokovic's new gluten-free diet, which is credited with his incredible 48-1 win streak this year. It took about 20 minutes more for them to haul out the tired "Nadal was a righty who was taught to play left-handed" storyline. Yes, we get it. Given the amazing stories in tennis, however, get some new plot points! While the Djokovics are not my favorite tennis family, I feel there are a battery of interesting tidbits you can discuss about what they've done--together--to drive Nole to the top. Get some journalists on this!
  
• Djokovic v. Nadal pitted two of the game's fastest on court with two of the slowest between points. Quite a contrast. Nadal is notoriously methodical and slow between points. But while Djokovic had seemed to curtail some of his incessant ball-bouncing before the serves, that habit returned a bit today. And it definitely rears its ugly head when he's stressed--a dead giveaway to his opponents! At one point I found myself getting all Brad Gilbert-ish, because I totally called a Djokovic double-fault based on the amount of ball bounces. And, yup - there it was!
• Djokovic has clearly gotten inside Nadal's head. While Nadal had won all five previous battles in the majors, Djokovic had beaten him four straight times coming in to Wimbledon. Both of them mentioned that mental edge in their post-match interviews with McEnroe. It's got to be a powerful advantage for Dj0kovic. Now, even stronger. [Note that I typed all this before reading this quote from Nadal's post-match press conference, paraphrased, but still interesting: "Dude is in my head. I know it, you know it, he knows it. Now it's on me to figure this out." Wow! Such honesty.]
• Djokovic has ended a 7.5-year run where either Nadal or Federer held the No. 1 spot in men's tennis. The "stranglehold" we so often hear about. And as much as they're trying to tout this new "top three," with no offense to Fed, it really feels like a clear "top two" to me right now. The pundits keep saying they believe Fed has more major titles to win, but I'm not so sure. I think we all agree that for it to happen, lots of things have to be in Fed's favor in any given tournament. I think we also all agree that we'd like to see it happen.
  

And a few final tidbits on the women's side:

• While Wimbledon Champion Petra Kvitova thankfully doesn't contribute to The Great "Grunting" Debate of 2011^®, Mary Carillo pointed out that Kvitova has her own audible tic--what Carillo called Kvitova's "squawk of delight." Love that name! And once I noticed it, I actually found it kind of endearing. It's a little "yip" she utters after winning a point. I can't find a clip of it - but trust me. ;)
  
• Sports Illustrated's Jon Wertheim tweeted during the pre-final warm-up that Kvitova was actually returning Sharapova's practice serves. Wertheim commented that it was shaky etiquette, but he liked the statement it made. Wonder if this will become a thing?
• I indicated I might do a post on the player's fashion at Wimbledon, but then I ended up being quite bored with it. Usually there's something a little more compelling. But other than the two mentions Dave made to Venus's toga/jumper and Betthanie's Lady Gaga-inspired get-ups, there were not many notable outfits--good or bad. Although I did gradually grow to appreciate the neckline on Maria's otherwise forgettable dress, as far as fashion goes, bring on the U.S. Open!

More later, perhaps. But for now, Wimbledon is over...

We've only just begun

... and already I'm having trouble leaving for work in the morning thanks to breakfast at Wimbledon with my good friends Chris Fowler, Brad Gilbert and now Chris Evert as well. Oh, and this morning Rafa was also invited. Pretty entertaining guest list.

I'm trying to avoid some of the updates during the day, which is tough, but I haven't had anyone pop over the wall yet saying, "Did you hear what happened at Wimbledon today?" so I'm guessing Rafa didn't lose to the American I had never heard of.

I did complete my brackets last night, and although I didn't know Tipsarevic was hurt (Dave is always up on this stuff), I didn't pick him to win the first round against Karlovic. So here's hoping he's really hurt. For the sake of my draw. Not that I wish injury on anyone. How un-Dostoyevskyesque that would be!*

Unsurprisingly, I have chosen Rafa on the men's side. For the women, I went with Sharapova. I made that pick before I knew the oddsmakers favored Sharapova, so I guess it's not as "out there" as I thought it was at the time. Oh well.

Here's my one unsolicited comment on Dave's pick of Djokovic to win because "he deserves it." I say what the Djoker deserves from his "stunning first half of the season" is pretty much what he's gotten--a stunning first half of the season. End of story. It was impressive and noteworthy and interesting. And it ended with a loss at the French. All credit to him for that amazing string of wins, but I have moved on.

Here's the deal. I have admiration for him. But I have very little love for him after some of his behavior the past few years. What with the ripping off of the shirt after wins. With the fist pounding of his heart. With the parents saying classless (and clueless) things about "the king" being dead when Djokovic first beat Federer. With Djoker's on-court war of words with Roddick at the U.S. Open. (The Djoker may have a had a point there, but he handled it so poorly.) With the family wearing his image on their T-shirts every single day. It's alllllllllll a little too egocentric for me.

Perhaps he has matured. I've seen glimmers of hope that some of that behavior is behind him. I just found it all very unattractive. And it's going to take me time to get past it.

So I'm willing to concede that he's had a phenomenal 6-7 months. But I'm doling out admiration sparingly until I can gauge where his sportsmanship is these days.

The fact that he seems to be pretty friendly with Rafa now does bode well for him, I'll tell you that. :-)


*I don't know if that's true or not, because I really am not up on my Dostoyevsky.