Ted Robinson’s Matchpoints

Forty-eight hours later and I’m still in awe over Sunday. A 10-hour plane flight, with time to absorb nearly a dozen London newspapers along with nearly a hundred messages, many from those who would be classified as “casual” fans, has lent to the aura of this match as “the best ever.”

Now I hear today that SI will feature the match on its cover. When Pete Sampras won his record 13th Slam and 7th Wimbledon, we came home to see a muscled and tattooed Jason Giambi on the SI cover. Sampras was appalled. And now we know that tennis fell victim to the BALCO scam.

This was pure.

This was cojones grande, the only way to describe Rafa doing what he could not 12 months earlier, find a way to win the third set from Federer.

This was a champion falling in “brutal gladiatorial combat…but tumbling with valour” in the stirring words of London Daily Mail writer Paul Hayward. And how fine is that description.

In 24 hours back home, there is a talk-show buzz and coffee shop chat about this match that I have not witnessed in many years.

These two made tennis relevant. Now can it sustain what these two have created?

More from the Wimbledon cache:

* The disappointment over early exits by Andy Roddick and James Blake certainly went away. Stories always emerge; be it Andy Murray’s next step towards the top echelon, Marat Safin (up 35 places to 40), Rainer Schuettler (up 55 to 39) and Arnaud Clement (up 73 to 72) all made themselves relevant again, the two-week siege and double wins for the Sisters, Britain’s obsession over 14-year-old junior champ Laura Robson and her marvelously refreshing attitude over new fame, and the continuing presence of so many former champions at the AELTC.

* The roof can’t arrive fast enough. Sunday’s final ended about 10 minutes before a nightmare encounter would have occurred. The Club, understandably, wanted play to continue until 9:30-9:45 p.m.. They, like everyone, wanted a result. The money and disruption for Monday play, perhaps as little as two games, would have been wasteful. Yet, there was a point at which the players would have said, understandably, that a Championship, particularly from a match so superior, couldn’t be decided in darkness. Thankfully, we were spared the moment. A match for the ages had a proper ending in the dusk of Centre Court.

And traditionalists need not weep. Centre Court will still be open. Remember that grass needs light. The roof will only close once it rains, a 12-minute process. Thus, the courts will be still be covered for a short period. The benefit of the roof will be to guarantee play after a short stoppage and thus never again the drama of Sunday night.

* Major consensus in London was that the Williams Sisters success was due in part to the weakness of the WTA Tour. This is a debate for another time but the perception must be countered by the Tour.

* Start perhaps with Aggie Radwanska, the most impressive of the game’s young women. She has a Martina Hingis-like presence on the court that adds conviction to less-than-punishing shots. She simply doesn’t beat herself. Her lack of serve may hinder the hopes of a Wimbledon title, but the women’s game needs a player like Aggie to rise.

After all, this week’s rankings still feature Patty Schnyder, a career fourth-round player with one Slam semi to her credit, at 13 in the world. Lindsay Davenport won one round at Wimbledon and rose to 23. Tough to explain that to the sporting public.

* While we’re on that point, Serena passed Venus on the computer (reason 5,742 why I hate the concept). But my colleague, SI’s Jon Wertheim, poses a terrific question: has Venus’ career eclipsed Serena’s?

* Now we move to the hard courts and wonder whether Donald Young, John Isner (both of whom fell and are close to being out of the top 100) and Sam Querrey can make a move. Can Bethanie Mattek continue her momentum from the spring/summer and make a Robby Ginepri-like charge through the summer?

And can Rafa play well in the States, particularly the Open? Will his knees, the ones that Uncle Toni admits are so tender that the family wants Rafa to play LESS on the hard stuff, allow him to show New York his greatness?

And does Roger, whose performance at Wimbledon showed he is certainly not done, feel a little pressure to win Slams sooner rather than later?

Thursday was my arrival to the AELTC. Walking the grounds during the early afternoon, I was repeatedly struck by why Wimbledon matters. “The Queue”, yes it has it’s own official name, stretched through a neighboring golf course for nearly a mile, composed of tennis fans willing to wait hours for a grounds pass, simply a means to enter the gates.

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Does it work? As I walked to “Henman Hill”, a grassy slope thta fronts a huge TV screen named for the throngs that gathered to watch Tim Henman’s annual Wimbledon saga, I saw queue tickets laying on the ground. They were winners — people who were rewarded for their wait, likely an overnight stay, with early passes on to the grounds.

There is a new Court 2, the concrete shell complete awaiting the finishing touches for Wimbledon 2009. From its looks, it will rival the Roland Garros “Bullring” as a favorite for those who like intimate settings.

After an hour of cruising courts, watching doubles and amazed by the focus of players who serve and play while spectators chat and stroll just a few feet away, I happened upon Court 3 where James Blake was playing Rainer Schuettler.

Blake was in a struggle, facing a set point to go down 2 sets. He saved the set point, survived the tiebreak and went on to win the third. I left feeling Blake had secured the match.

And that’s when the day took a dark turn.

Within hours, Blake had blown the match, another inexplicable and disheartening for a player so liked and respected yet unable to deliver the goods in the big ones.

Schuettler has been on the fringes of the sport for years. How can a journeyman rally to knock out a top-10 player? Perhaps the answer came from a knowledgeable tennis man, whose identity must be protected, that said to me as we stood together watching Blake, “He has overachieved. He’s just not THAT good.”
 
Within moments came the stunning word of Maria Sharapova’s loss. The British papers, when not obsessing over Andy Murray, drool over Maria thus they are deprived of major strorylines. And the truth is that Sharapova has not seriously threatened to win here since her stunning 2004 title.
 
The coup de grace was Roddick falling to Janko Tipsarevic. The Serb is a fine player, witness his 5-set classic with Federer at Australia in January. But the nagging question for me is why Andy could not break the Serb’s serve in four sets. How can anyone expect Roddick to claim another major or even threaten the Big 3 if he can’t make a dent on another man’s serve?
 
Lots of questions I admit. More answers after I sense the aftermath of Thursday’s wipeout on the grounds Friday.