Andy Murray needed to grow up and Sharapova is stuck up!
VIRGINIA WADE IS IN WASPISH MOOD AS SPORTSMAIL VISITS HER MANHATTAN HOME...
As VIRGINIA WADE settles into her local coffee bar on Manhattan’s Upper East side, around the corner from where she has effectively called home since the mid-seventies, she says: ‘The thing is, I still feel incredibly British.’
It will come as a surprise to many that the woman who delivered one of our most iconic post-war sporting triumphs has long since been the Englishwoman in New York.
While Wade has always maintained a base in London, she is a long-time American resident, having fled the punishing tax regime and suffocating attention that accompanied the height of her fame.
This summer is the 40th anniversary of her winning Wimbledon. 1977 was the year of the silver Jubilee and punk rock, and in the middle of it is the image of Wade in her pink cardigan, receiving the trophy from the Queen after finally triumphing at her 16th attempt.
People of a certain age will recall Her Majesty, famously uninterested in tennis, making a very rare visit to sW19 and handing over the Venus Rosewater dish while the crowd sang, incongruously, ‘For she’s a jolly good fellow’. Only at Wimbledon.
Wade is now 71 but retains those vivid eyes and a line in conversation that is always illuminating, perceptive and occasionally waspish.
You would expect nothing less from someone of her pedigree: a champion, daughter of an archdeacon, partly raised in south Africa who, barely two years before she won the 1968 Us Open, gained a mathematics degree from sussex University.
In between divulging the inside story on her remarkable Wimbledon victory, she visits more contemporary topics. There is the return of Maria sharapova, the parlous state of women’s tennis and her relationship with Andy Murray, which is complex and distant at the same time.
There is some mild irritation that the world No 1 almost commandeered the number 77 after his 2013 win, representing the length of time since another British male, Fred Perry, had lifted the men’s title.
It was widely noted when Murray won, although not by Wade, that many commentators omitted to mention that the ending of the title drought ignored female successes.
‘What Andy did after 77 years was fantastic,’ she says. ‘The only thing that upset me a little bit was he took 77 as his number and my most memorable year was ’77, and he named his management company after it. I sort of feel 77 was my number as well. so there was a bit of plagiarism there, but he has done so well.’
Wade remains a regular visitor to London but is likely to miss the start of her 40th anniversary tournament this summer because she is in the process of moving out to a new place on Long Island.
By the time she approached her 16th Wimbledon, having already won the Australian and Us Opens, she was based in America.
‘I had moved to New York, partly because I played Team Tennis (a mixed-gender professional league) here and I could do my own thing and felt very comfortable. Taxation was 83 per cent in the UK at the time as well,’ she says.
she was just shy of her 32nd birthday as Wimbledon loomed in 1977. ‘In the two years before that my whole playing level went up,’ she says. ‘When I won the Us Open in ’68 it was just one of those tournaments when I couldn’t do anything wrong, but I didn’t know why I had won it.
‘I really felt the pressure after that. It took me quite a while to get consistent again but I started to play well again in ’71.
‘By 1975 I was much more professional, and found I could stay calm and not panic when things went wrong. I’d had a bad reputation for being temperamental and making excuses but I managed to find a way to cope with everything.
‘In ’75 I was ready to win Wimbledon but played Evonne (Goolagong). I always found her a particularly difficult opponent and lost 9-7 in the third on the Centre Court.’
But she felt something was right two years later, especially after a chance encounter with Brazilian legend Maria Bueno at the start of the tournament.
‘On the opening day Wimbledon had a parade of past champions which Maria had featured in. I saw her afterwards and she told me that I would be up there the next time they did one.
‘she won Wimbledon when I was growing up in south Africa (Wade lived there from aged 2 to 15 when her father was appointed Archdeacon of Durban) and used to listen to Wimbledon on the radio as we didn’t have TV.
‘she was someone I really looked
“Andy used to
make excuses... just like I did”
up to and that gave me extra belief.’
The crunch came when she faced the imperious top seed, Chris Evert, in the semi-final.
‘I knew time was running out for me and that the Queen would be there if I made the final. Chrissie was the best match of my career. The important thing was to come into the net on the right shot and I did it that day.
‘Against Chris what you had to do was out- concentrate her, because she was so good at playing every point. She would kill you from the baseline unless you were patient and aggressive.’
The 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 win secured a theoretically easier championship match — played those days on a Friday — against the tall Dutch player Betty Stove, but a nervous Wade lost the opening set.
‘I knew I had to find my courage after the first set. But I was always aware that Betty was not sure how to beat me.
‘I had fought through some tough matches against her before and won and I knew I had left some scar tissue on her. I was fine from when I went 3-0 up in the second set.’
Pandemonium ensued after she closed out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory.
‘I couldn’t hear what the Queen was saying because there was such a commotion and the crowd were singing “For she’s a jolly good fellow”. I’ve still no idea why. That night I went with a large group of family and friends to a lovely Indian restaurant opposite Harrods.
‘Then there was the Champions’ Dinner at the Savoy. It was the first year that they abandoned the dance between the champions, so I never got to dance with Bjorn Borg.’
After retirement Wade became one of the more perspicacious TV analysts.
Among her noted pronouncements came at the 2012 French Open when she suggested Murray, not known at the time for underplaying injuries, may have looked like a drama queen in a match when he suffered a stiff back.
‘One day I will have to say to him that I think in many ways I was a catalyst for his improvement. It wasn’t that I said it, but that everyone jumped on the bandwagon and publicised it. The way I said it was actually quite discreet.
‘He said he was disappointed in me because people don’t understand how I’m feeling on the court, all of which is true if you want to feel sorry for yourself. I knew the feeling exactly because, for so many years, I made excuses. Had I been a grown-up much earlier I’m sure I could have won more. Of course, Ivan Lendl made a big difference to Andy. He might have got away with abusing his inner circle but you can’t abuse Lendl.’
Wade does sympathise, however, with modern players, especially
“I’d lean towards giving Maria a wildcard, yes”
with Murray for the way that he has battled largely on his own as a Brit.
‘ I was delighted when Sue Barker and Jo Durie came along. There’s a lot of pressure on these players, but they are very protected.’
She does not expect to do much for the BBC this year and is easing down, but still watches the game constantly, especially the women.
‘You watch some of the matches and the tennis is extraordinarily good, technically.
‘But I don’t know what happens to the younger ones. What’s happened to Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys? I don’t know if it’s when you make this much money you get a bit precious about the way you feel, like “I’ve got to be feeling perfect to go out and play.” She marvels at the Williams sisters, however much they seem to block talent coming through.
‘I have to say that, fantastic as they are, they have given a slant to the way women’s tennis looks. One of the hardest things in tennis is that if someone develops a good record against you it’s very hard to beat them. So the other girls go up against them and they’re still intimidated.’
Then there is the issue du jour, Sharapova’s return and the wildcard debate, about which she has mixed feelings.
‘In so many ways Sharapova has been a fantastic example. I don’t know. You pay your penalty, but it colours my opinion of her somewhat. She’s stuck up and that comes back to bite you.’
Should she get a Wimbledon wildcard? ‘ I would be in the middle, leaning towards yes. I think she has had her punishment. I wouldn’t want to be making the decision.’
These days Wade, who has never married, lives quietly and enjoys New York life. Among her pleasures are a weekly game of tennis at John McEnroe’s academy and dining in neighbourhood Greek restaurants down on Astoria Boulevard.
‘I have an entertaining time here, I have my inner circle of friends and I like to be private. I don’t do as much of anything as I used to. I’m actually getting good at being relaxed.
‘New York is quite easy to live in. Everything is close. There are frustrations with traffic and people aren’t very polite, but in London you get bogged down going from A to B.
‘I’m deeply satisfied with the fact I’m not on edge, wanting to do something. I was hyper as a kid and highly strung when I was playing.
‘I’m delighted to have got to retirement and found things to satisfy me, rather than going around being hysterical.’