Wimbleweird

Trophy troubles. It's all good ... (USAT) pic.twitter.com/aR7MUcZWfs
— Joe Fleming (@ByJoeFleming) July 7, 2013

Wimbleweird. Wimblegeddon. Wimble-done. These were just some of the puns that were  used by die hard and casual tennis fans alike to describe the recently concluded Wimbledon Championships. Who could blame them, really, after the tournament lost former champion Rafael Nadal in the first day (!) of the tournament? Who would have thought that Nadal would go out in straight sets to 135th-ranked Steve Darcis? Who also would have thought that Roger Federer would follow him out of Wimbledon by the third day of the tournament, losing to 116th-ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky? The leading women were also not exempt themselves as Victoria Azarenka (retiring due to a knee injury sustained while in the competition), Maria Sharapova (losing to young ace Michelle Larcher De Brito), Ana Ivanovic (bowing out to former Junior Wimbledon champ Eugenie Bouchard), Caroline Wozniacki and Jelena Jankovic were all out of the competition by the time Federer and his orange-soled shoes said their goodbye. 

By the second week, things seemed back to normal. Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray (Britain's Great Hope), David Ferrer and Juan Martin del Potro were still in. So were Serena Williams (the heavy favorite to win), Petra Kvitova, Agnieszka Radwanska and Li Na. 

As the top seeds, Djokovic and Serena were now the overwhelming favorites to win. Djokovic stuck to the script and defeated a resurgent del Potro in an epic semifinal to forge a date with Murray, who many is expecting to finally extinguish the ghost of Fred Perry after 77 years. Murray's campaign last year, while so close, still ended in tears and heartbreak.  

Serena, on the other hand, bowed to the grass loving German Sabine Lisicki. Unfortunately for Serena, Lisicki's main specialty since 2009 has been to upset the current Roland Garros champion at Wimbledon.  When the dust finally settled on the women's side, Lisicki and quirky Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli (she of the comedic serve and hilarious practice swings in between points) were the only ones left. Thus, the Ladies Final featured two players that have never won a Grand Slam trophy before. In the end, it was second time Wimbledon finalist Bartoli who hoisted the trophy after Lisicki was rattled by a severe case of stage fright.

On the men's side, destiny seemed to be smiling on Murray's side. He almost never made it to the finals after being pushed to the brink by Fernando Verdasco (he of the perfectly gelled hair that never moves) in the quarterfinals and Polish up-and-comer Jerzy Janowicz in the semis. 

The whole Murray-Djokovic final was, sorry for the word, dreadful in the sense that there were lots of looooong rallies and not a lot of taking chances and hitting winners from both sides. Djokovic seemed not himself as he was missing a lot on his favored backhand down the line shots. I guess losing last year's final endeared Murray to a lot of hometown fans since one can feel how immensely invested they were in every Murray point. (In the past, Britons seemed to cheer for Murray out of duty because they had no other British guy to cheer for.) Fans were totally behind him, even cheering belatedly (and mistakenly) for points that did not go their countryman's way. You can also feel how Murray was soaking all the love and adoration in as he seemed very positive and happy to be out there. Murray finally defeats Djokovic after a dramatic final game (which, if Djokovic had won, could've led to a momentum shift) to become the first British man to win Wimbledon in 77 years. Tears of joy and goosebumps everywhere! 

In the end, this year's Wimbledon was a tournament for dreamers and believers. A tournament that will be remembered for the crazy ones who believed that they could defeat the Rafas, Rogers, Serenas and Marias of the world. It showed that everyone, no matter what their rank is or no matter the amount of struggle that they had to endure in the past, has an equal chance at Grand Slam glory. So, yeah, I think this video somewhat sums up this year's Wimbledon perfectly:

Wimbledon round-up

Taken from @breakingserve's Twitter timeline

 *Maria Ivanovic and Sabine Goerges? Are you kidding me, WTA?!

*Ana Ivanovic (she's a legit tennis player, trust me) is now in the 4th round of Wimbledon after defeating Julia Goerges in a tight three-setter in yesterday's match. (Dear Star Sports, you still owe me for cutting the match at 4 - 3 in the third set with Ana leading and then switching to Serena Williams-Zheng Jie. Not cool, guys. Not cool at all.) Ana's last three wins have not been as pretty as she is but, as a fan, I'll take them. She hasn't been winning a lot of three-set matches and tie-breaks these past couple of months so her last wins at Wimby should really give her a mental boost when she faces current Australian Open champion and world number 2, Victoria Azarenka, in the 4th round. Should she beat Azarenka, Ana would be in her first Slam quarterfinal since her French Open win last 2008. She could also be back in the top 10 again.

*Golden opportunity for Andy Murray: Rafa Nadal, who almost always is in Andy's half of the draw, was uncharacteristically booted out in the 2nd round of Wimby by Czech Lukas Rosol, who is ranked 100th in the world. (Rosol was, however, unable to sustain his run as he bowed out to German Philipp Kohlschreiber in the 3rd round.) I know that Andy's path to the finals is still littered with landmines (he's up against Marin Cilic next and could still face the likes of David Ferrer, Juan Martin del Potro, Mardy Fish and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga), but Nadal being eliminated early gives him a fantastic opportunity to get into the finals of his Home Slam. Here's hoping he finally replicates Fred Perry's achievement.

*Equal prize money: Gilles Simon, who is maybe a Saudi national at heart, has re-ignited a controversy by saying that women tennis players don't deserve to be paid the same as their male counterpart since more people find men's tennis more interesting than that of the women's. Thus, business-wise, they should get more money. What a chauvinist pig. Obviously, the female players were not very happy with him. I'm personally offended as a woman. Shouldn't he be happy that tennis, as compared to other sports, is giving equal opportunity for both sexes? Also, like what Maria Sharapova said before to those arguing that men should be compensated more for playing best of five matches during Slams, it's like watching a movie. Do you pay more for a 3 hour long movie than one that is only 1 1/2 hours long? Does it also mean that a 3 hour movie is automatically of higher quality than a 1 1/2 hour one? Besides, not all men's best of five matches go the distance anyway and not all women's best of three matches finish early. John Isner and Nicolas Mahut made history by playing the longest match ever but it wasn't high quality (while the feat is admirable, I bet many wouldn't want another Isner-Mahut saga). It's hilarious when someone pointed out on Twitter that if only prize money was based on the number of winners that are hit in every match, Simon (who plays an extremely defensive game) would have a lot more complaining to do.

*A little drama on the ATP side: Men's tennis has always been the Big 4 show. Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray are almost always demolishing early round opponents and then continue on to face each other in the semifinals of each Slam. It was different at Wimby this year. Rafa was eliminated early, Roger Federer had to dig deep to come back from two sets down to beat Frenchman Julien Benneteau and Novak Djokovic had to struggle to overcome pesky Radek Stepanek. It's funny because, out of the four, it's actually Andy Murray who hasn't been the source of major drama this early in a Slam. It's also refreshing to see drama this early come from the ATP side, not from the WTA. The women's draw is still pretty balanced and has plenty of Slam winners and former number 1s left.

The two faces of Maria Sharapova

Her "don't mess with me" side:

Vika is actually lucky that she didn't bump Masha's surgically repaired right shoulder.

Her compassionate side (@ 3:25):

I guess nice girl Ana can bring out the best in anyone. 

Dear Masha: Don't ever change.