Dazzling Novak Deserved Wimbledon Champion

M

y first tennis coach on one occasion enlightens that Wimbledon is the shrine of the players. And the Wimbledon victor is the real champ of the game.  We have a new men’s world number one and Wimbledon winner in Novak Djokovic.

His semifinal Wimbledon triumph over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was minimally astounding and my pet game of the fortnight. There was a show up in almost every game with both men jigging a propos all over the place and then smiling and smirking afterwards. One basically couldn’t ask over for more. I cherish the way Novak served the whole tournament his aces tells the epic.  

There’s no qualm that the likeable Serb justify the number one spot. He’s been the stupendous player of 2011 and only defeat to Roger Federer in the semi-finals of the French Open has vetoed him from going unbeaten throughout - a run which includes five straight final wins over ex- top-ranked Rafa Nadal.

He expressed that the Davis Cup success at the end of 2010 gave him confidence and his towering poise is bad news for the rest of the meadow!

Modest Rafa confess before the French Open, which he won, again, that it was only a subject of time until Novak took over at the top and he was right.

He also acknowledges after losing on centre court that Novak is in his cranium. What an admittance! Most professional athletes would never disclose such a thing, but Rafa has always been one to speak the truth and getting that out in the unbolt will probably help him as he can now work on correcting it, rather than keeping it bottled up inside.

Nadal also believes that Federer will win another major and said that Andy Murray will get on the timber, after dumping the Scot out of the semi-finals for the second straight year.

Rafa amazes me each and every time he steps out on court. He was taking pain-killers for his foot injury but you would never know it. His body is probably throbbing all over, but he never shows it.

He is never beaten until the final point and when he is beaten, he admits it fair and square and moves on. There’s no moping or whining and certainly no trying to take anything away from the man that beat him.

The women’s tournament was really exciting too and in 21-year-old Petra Kvitova we have a multiple major champion of the future, of that I’m sure. She is so powerful off both sides and can play on all surfaces.

2004 champion Maria Sharapova is most certainly back in the running too and that’s great news for the WTA. From what I read, she is the highest-paid female athlete in the world! Her good looks play a big part in that, but to her, what she looks like takes a back seat to how she plays. Incongruously, the Russian was the oldest of the four semi-finalists at the All England Club, while at this year’s French Open, she was the youngest! It just goes to show how open the women’s game is right now.

The two losing semi-finalists, wild-card Sabine Lisicki and 4th seed Victoria Azarenka, have great futures ahead of them. I think Azarenka will be the next first-time major winner and Lisicki has the game to defy again. Great enmity make for fascinating viewing, and the WTA hasn’t had one for a while, but what it does have a cast of characters in controversy. Should Kim Clijsters be vigorous for the US Open, and the Williams sisters more match-ready, then we will be in for a bona fide treat!

Prateek Pathak

Student

B.A in Media Studies

University of Allahabad