Pristine courts await sunshine!

One could well conceive why the nursery rhyme ‘rain, rain go away, little Susi wants to play’ is from England. The last few weeks of the European tennis season has been battered with rain. The grass court season which is the shortest in the calendar had little chance to show its good face. Now into the early Wimbledon rounds, players are mostly in the locker rooms.

The sight of the pristine looking Tennis courts of Wimbledon is the best invitation Tennis could offer anyone. On the opening day it had a ‘fairy tale’ picture book appearance and in any Grand-Slam event, usually in the first week walking around the outside courts it is possible to see many top ranked players, that is, if the rain stays away. It seems like this year that attraction will not come to being. Playing on the outside courts one has to dress up for rainy conditions like in the winter and this is the height of summer. It causes a lot of discomfort and hinders reaction.

Upsets

In the first few days of Wimbledon’s good players have not been on the courts. The most sensational upset came from the Ladies draw when the former world’s number one and winner of the French-Open title 2008, 28 year old Serbian Ana Ivanovic lost to 21 year old Ekaterina Alexandrova - a Russian qualifier. To qualify Alexandrova, currently ranked 223 had to play three matches, play eight sets and spend over six hours on the court. From the results it looks like it has done good to bring her to form. Seeded players are very vulnerable in the early rounds. They have to travel and play all the time. It is glamorous to read but extremely taxing to do. In the case of Ivanovic many factors contribute towards the low playing standard she exhibits now.

Attracted to distractions

According to experts, around twenty eight years is the age a professional player should peak. Ana Ivanovic is twenty eight now and she is only ranked in the mid twenties. What went wrong or better said why this has happened to her is a case study worth looking into. At twenty eight she is not only a Tennis player but a representative of UNICEF and other organizations, fashion model, social worker and a glamour icon with a high profile private life. With $15 million as prize money and earnings from other sources she must be having more that what she thought she would have at her age. However in the Tennis world she does not enjoy the esteemed status she ought to have. Probably the attractive player that she is simply has had too many distractions.

I feel the primary reason for Ivanovic’s stagnation is that her game did not evolve. Possessing an effective game is not a destination but a station in progression. In the history of the game it is not everyone who evolved as Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and a few others. In the case of Ivanovic, she has the potential but she was too young when she took on many responsibilities and to stay on the track to be a big name in Tennis. Here it is not her fault alone. Many young sportspersons are subjected to this folly more by others trying to get millage from their success. Young players are susceptible to these external temptations and in Wimbledon 2016 she has paid the price for it again losing in the first round.

Good Tennis

The most impressive Tennis so far came from the ladies match between Russia’s Kusnetsova and Denmark’s former world’s number one Carolina Wozniaki. With Wozniaki not seeded they had to meet in the very first round. With rain outside they played in the covered centre court. Just two bad games from the ‘Dane’ gave the Russian an edge to win in straight sets. Wozniaki is a versatile player capable of performing at the baseline as well as at net. As she was losing I expected her to change her game. It did not come. She is tall and extremely athletic and has the advantage of good balanced for the net game. Her approach of not changing a losing game has to be questioned. Wozniaki is another player whose game did not evolve enough.

Qualifier Willis

A match that will be remembered from this year’s Wimbledon first week will be the match Roger Federer played against Marcus Willis. Ranked 772 in the world Willis came through to the main draw after winning six qualifying rounds and decided to have all the fun and share it with the crowd. That he did and his game grew set to set and in the 3rd set he even led. Left hander Willis is 25 years old and in appearance he resembled John McEnroe and moved very much like him.

‘Slam tracker’

To enhance the electronic media usage every match has a ‘Slam-Tracker’ which can be accessed through the draw sheet in the Wimbledon’s official web site. It gives the match trend which we were able to get in the past only with the laborious effort of ‘charting’. It is going to be a good tool for players to improve and enthusiast to follow. George Paldano, Former int. player; Accredited Coach of Germany; National, Davis-Cup, Federation Cup coach--. georgepaldano@yahoo.com