TRADITION FOR THE WIN!!!

Come the 29^th of June, the most prestigious grand slam will get underway. It’ll probably be the last stretch of a very short (extended this season) grass season. And I’ll breathe a sigh of relief as the strict adherence to tradition will be a number one priority. I was so pissed off at the “sexist” dress worn by the ball girls and the dirt and the wind blowing close to 50kph at the French open and most of these if not all will not be here to piss me off. My eyes will be happy to know that it will no longer have to bear the sight of all these. And all the people who know me and the player I support don’t start your theories. I have got two words for you BITCH PLEASE!!! It will be nice to see traditional values given importance and discipline being imposed. Bow before the Royals; White rules the roost. Restrictions on other colours are available. Dress code for every member of the support staff is available- from linesmen to the ball boys and girls (BBG). Also the Wimbledon’s strict enforcement of the rule that ladies must wear white bra and underwear last year (rule made in 2013) meant that the concentration will or rather should be on the game rather than the players. Of course players claimed that there were checks to oversee it and also the fact that they had to compromise on their dignity to follow the latest addition to the set of rules. I hope such issues get sorted out. And last but not the least it’s time for strawberries and cream.

A lady in action with white underwear. The organizers in fact had a reserve bunch of under wears for those who didn't follow the dress code. Below is a group of pictures showing the traditions being followed.

Now coming to the gentlemen’s draw, Djokovic is in Federer’s Roland Garros shoes- isolated from the other members of the big 3 and the prospect of having to face Wawrinka before facing anyone of the others-  probably for the good. I believe that Djokovic will get the measure of Wawrinka this time around (should they face each other). Though there may be players (not giant killers) who CAN try and stop the Djoker, I believe it won’t be possible this time around and he should be able to reach the finals. With Federer the next possible contender (I will give him a slight edge over a younger Murray just because it is GRASS) will have to face off Berdych and Murray to reach a second consecutive and tenth summit clash at SW19 should he progress that far. Federer has said that this year has been his best preparation for the tournament. It should be interesting to see how he fares. This year may well be his last proper chance to add another crown from here. I believe the Olympic Singles’ Gold is motivating him though I may be and most probably am wrong as I have been in the past. 2016 probably may be the last we may see of him (hopefully not). 

Federer will hope to win the trophy ONE more time and surpass Sampras as the most successful player in terms of Wimbledon titles.

With Murray it is time that he stepped up and won another slam because among the big four the player with the next highest number of slams is Djokvic with 8. He has to be more consistent. But as McEnroe said he is 15-20% better than what he was about a fortnight ago and at this level it is really really good. As far as Rafa is concerned, it is an Everest to win The Championships this year. Of course one of the all-time greats of the game already he does not have the need to prove anything to anybody. Anybody except himself. If he believes he still has it in him to win a grand slam and stay competitive, he has to do it for himself. But a Rafael Nadal who has not won a single title this clay season cannot be tipped to be the one to hold the trophy a fortnight later. Lleyton Hewitt’s last Wimbledon campaign will be followed very closely. Ferrer has pulled out with an elbow injury. As far as the rest of the pack is concerned I would watch out for Wawrinka, Nishikori and Raonic. I have aged waiting for this bunch of youngsters to win a grand slam (Wawrinka excluded; Dimitrov and Kyrgios (to some extent) included) as I have by waiting for del Potro to make a proper full-fledged comeback. Cilic will be a popular answer. But after last September, I couldn’t see him. It was very disheartening to see del potro’s recent tweet about another surgery. I gave up waiting for him the moment I finished reading it. An excellent talent who could’ve joined “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” has gone by. Mind you he won a grand slam before Murray did. Coming back to the so called Gen-X, Federer was right when pointed out that himself and Nadal had already won a slam when they were in the same phase of their respective careers. So if one of the three wins let us hope it will bring an end to the dominance by the Big Four and make it as interesting as the WTA tours used to be. Which brings me to the Ladies’ section.

The ladies’ section was very interesting, producing surprise winners until Serena started to win AGAIN. She is miles and miles ahead of her fellow players. Even Sharapova who had played a decade ago couldn’t defeat her in those years. Williams is the RED-HOT favourite to make a “Serena Slam”. It is difficult to win a calendar slam (not Serena slam which in itself is an achievement) given the degree of competition and the level of the game played. But if anyone among the set has an opportunity to do it, it is Serena. 

A Serena Slam in the making???

As far as the rest of the pack is concerned the ever-screaming and inconsistent Sharapova, the equally loud Azarenka, the improvised Ivanovic, the gorgeous Aga, defending champion Kvitova, Halep, Caro, Safarova,  a young Bencic are among the long list of 127 who will fight among themselves to play Williams in the final. If one of them defeats Williams, make no doubt we’ll have another open tournament after almost a year. I hope we get a new champion because I loved women’s tennis because of the fact that the winner would be unpredictable (and of course they are women!!!). This was until Williams took over. And suddenly the draws didn’t seem to interest me. Let us hope for the greater good that someone other than the World No.1 wins the title.

P.S.: Watch as many matches you can in the doubles and mixed doubles section as all of them are interesting.