Mahut’s list of woe lengthens with defeat in doubles final
The senior men’s doubles match on No1 Court offered lots of infectious fun,
um, why can’t we watch Serena Williams, even on the big screen? I don’t even know who these guys are. I didn’t think Wimbledon let old people play like this,” protested a teenage boy complete with an eye roll as the British duo of Andrew Castle, 55, and Jeremy Bates, 57 warmed up against another Brit in Chris Wilkinson alongside the French-Iranian 63-year-old Mansour Bahrami.
Blatant ageism apart, to those uninitiated to the joys of Wimbledon’s senior gentlemen’s invitational doubles competition, the notion that four players without a major singles title between them could attract a close-to-capacity crowd on No 1 Court on the same afternoon as the women’s final may seem absurd. But then you probably have yet to witness Bahrami’s unique brand of tennis theatre.
There were gasps and applause as he managed to hit a 120mph serve. The trick-shot specialist is the oldest competitor here but few others, barring perhaps Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal, or a young darling such as Cori Gauff, could evoke such affection from the crowd.
The Court Jester was the apt title of Bahrami’s 2009 autobiography and as he took great glee in loudly sledging Castle with one-liners one could not help but wonder what could have been if it had not been for the political upheaval in 1970s Iran.
Bahrami was a prodigy who was on the Iranian Davis Cup team as a 16-year-old but, due to the Islamic revolution, tennis courts were closed with the new regime viewing it as a capitalist and elitist sport, prompting the player to flee to France. By then, his best days as a singles player had passed, but he became a successful doubles player, even reaching the Roland Garros final in 1989. He has now cemented his reputation as a crowd favourite on the seniors tour.
Although he was sharing the court with a British trio, it was only Bahrami who elicited sympathetic cries of “aw, no!” when he hit the net. Castle, the player-turned-daytime-televisionpresenter, cast himself as a pantomime villain, haughtily returning serve to Bahrami. Even the umpire was getting in on the act, giving Bates, the most successful player in this match, having reached a career-high ranking of No54 and won the 1987 Wimbledon and 1991 Australian Open mixed doubles, a code violation because “the crowd didn’t like it” when he played a neat defensive shot to nullify one of Bahrami’s whacky backhands.
The atmosphere was in stark contrast to the highly-charged anticipation on Centre Court where Williams and Simona Halep lined up.
There is something rather infectious about four men with the average age of 56, none having ever made it to the very pinnacle of the game, playing with such unguarded joy on a Wimbledon finals weekend.
When the match reached its conclusion, with Castle and Bates winning on a 10-4 tie-break, the quartet clutched hands like actors at the end of West End performance, taking a bow to a standing ovation.
If you need further proof of the golden oldies’ ability to win over a crowd, the previously sceptical teen ran down from his seat in search of an autograph. Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah outlasted French pair Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in a near five-hour war of attrition to capture the Wimbledon men’s doubles title 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3.
There were no breaks of serve until the fourth set, before Cabal and Farah seized the initiative in the final set to become the first Colombians to triumph at Wimbledon.
The result further underlined Mahut’s status as perhaps the most illfated player of The Championships. Already the loser in the longest match in Wimbledon history – an 11hr 5min epic to John Isner in 2010 – Mahut was turned down for a wild-card spot in the singles and dumped by his long-term partner, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who opted to play with Andy Murray.
That metaphorical black eye was followed by a literal one when he was on the receiving end of a smash from Farah which hit him in the left socket during the first set. After medical attention, Mahut was cleared to continue.
Mahut and Roger-Vasselin won the fourth tie-break with some astonishing defence to take the game into a decider, prompting the roof to be closed. But when play resumed, Cabal and Farah broke and went on to seal the title.
The ladies doubles final featuring Barbora Strycova and Su-wei Hsieh versus Gabriela Dabrowski and Yifan Xu was put back until today.
Earlier yesterday there was disappointment for Britain in the wheelchair competition as doubles pair Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid, as well as quad singles player Andy Lapthorne, lost their respective finals.
Hewett and Reid were beaten 6-4, 6-2 by Joachim Gerard and Stefan Olsson, while Lapthorne lost in straight sets to Australian Dylan Alcott.