From British successes, heart stopping moments and phenomenal upsets, fairy tale journeys, rejuvenated elder statesmen of the game and copious amounts of good old English weather, more reminiscent of November, landing smack bang in June/July, encapsulates perfectly just how special the hallowed turf of Wimbledon really is.
Brian Baker's remarkable comeback after an absence of 6 years away from the tour, beset with injuries to his hip, elbow and a sports hernia resulted in five surgeries. This is a story that has captured the hearts' of the tennis community and his renaissance was in full swing at SW19 as he successfully navigated three rounds of qualifying before finally succumbing to defeat in the 4th round in his debut at the event, an astonishing accomplishment.
Agnieszka Radwanska's extraordinary run to the final, losing in a tight three setter to 5 time champion Serena Williams, turned plenty of heads with her subtle touch and finesse conquering the giants and power hitters of the women's game to reach her very first grand slam final. This was all the more impressive as she had never made it further than a quarter final in the majors.The tournament's magic didn't cease there however.
On day three one of the biggest shocks of all time was handed out by one Lukas Rosol, a journeyman of the tour ranked 100 in the world. In 5 epic, dramatic, coolness personified sets of tennis the Czech downed the great, two timed Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal in the second round much to the delight of the vociferous 15,000 supporters rammed inside centre court under the roof.
An out of sorts Nadal had no answer to Rosol's relentless power and unerring accuracy which left the masses stunned. 'I still cannot believe it, it's like a dream for me' commented the victorious Rosol in his post match interview. Unfortunately the 'dream' came to an abrupt halt as Rosol was unceremoniously dumped out of the tournament the following round, however this was a match that he and many others will never forget.After experiencing at first hand the intermittent showers the nation had to offer during my two week stint as a 'Dayhousekeeper', a ridiculous title and one that effectively is a fancy way of saying 'cleaner', meant the £100million state of the art retractable Centre Court roof was kept busy and justified its transfer fee, Andy Carroll take note.
Much controversy surfaced over the organisers' decision not to deploy the roof throughout but they maintained, as did many pundits, Tim Henman most notably, that it is an outdoor tournament. It was under the roof where so much drama unfolded and in particular with Andy Murray leaving it extremely late, 11:02pm to be precise, to see off the spirited challenge of Marcos Baghdatis. I know this as I was there to witness it through gritted teeth as it meant an even shorter window of much needed sleep... grrrrr.
In today's tennis much is made of the sheer physicality that is needed to be successful, making it even more difficult for the current older crop. Once again however, this most prestigious of tournaments threw a spanner in the works from the norm as the golden oldies came out in force. Five 30+ year old's made it to the second week, not bad eh? This was a far cry from this years previous two slams, the Australian and French Open, where a measly three from the two combined tournaments made it that far.
The nation's resolve was once again severely tested by home hero Andy Murray who survived the onslaught and brilliantly made his first ever Wimbledon final. The tournament had already been a breath of fresh air for British Tennis and probably much to the relief of LTA Chief Executive Roger Draper who has been given a temporary reprieve as the biggest group of Brits for six years progressed to round two. Draper, who has been rightly criticised for not producing enough top tennis players, was able to look on fervently as James Ward won his first ever Wimbledon match before then losing gallantly in the second round in five tight sets against seasoned campaigner Mardy Fish. The British women also tasted success as Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong advanced to round two and Heather Watson went one better by reaching the third round before falling to eventual finalist Radwanska.
Best of all for the Brits however came in the Men's Doubles as Wild Card pairing Jonathon Marray and Frederick Nielsen achieved the impossible coming through a whopping 4 out of 6 five set marathons disposing of 4 seeded pairings on their way to an incredible title against all the odds.
Never before had a wildcard pairing won the title and the 76 year wait for the... wait for it.... doubles champion, not singles, was now over ensuring that Britain tasted some success this summer.
And last but most certainly not least, the great Roger Federer winding back the clock to deliver a tennis masterclass against the plucky and emotional Andy Murray. Murray may have gained a few more fans with his on court endeavors and post match, tear ridden speech, in 4 sets to once again break the Scot's... oops I mean Brit's heart along with the 17 million viewers who tuned in to watch this wonderful event draw to a close. You run out of superlatives for Federer at times. A record equalling 7th Wimbledon, a record 17 Grand Slam titles and, perhaps best of all, he returns to the summit of the ATP World Rankings just one month shy of his 31st Birthday, not bad for an old timer.
So that is it. There will be no more strawberries and cream, well organised queues, overpriced pimms, traditional white attire and the elegance of grass court tennis for another year and I hope you agree that this one was really something special and perhaps one to savour....
