I spent my holiday four day weekend in front of the television. The semis and the finals of Wimbledon were on ESPN, and as I always am, I was parked on the couch watching. I have written about my love for Wimbledon before in this blog, and attending Wimbledon is number one on my bucket list, but I hated playing tennis as a kid. Mostly, I didn't enjoy playing any sport unless it was for fun. It was all too much work, something I think I might be allergic to. But I did, and still do, love watching sports on television. I'm an athletic supporter instead of an athlete.
My love for Wimbledon came from my mother. She played tennis as an adult before committing her sports career to golf. She was the one who insisted we get up and have Breakfast at Wimbledon. She would wake us on those mornings and we would all sit and watch the finals. I grew up with Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors. I loved John McEnroe and Andre Agassi, and eventually Martina Navratilova. I cheered for my favorites while learning the game of tennis. My friend Stephanie loved tennis and was a huge Bjorn Borg fan. She had posted of him hanging in her room and we had a friendly rivalry going just as McEnroe and Borg had back in the day.
This weekend was some spectacular tennis. I had watched my girl Serena Williams get beat by Sabine Lisicki earlier and had decided then and there that Lisicki would be my favorite to win Wimbledon. I followed her matches all the way to the final. I had no idea about her opponent. Didn't know her or remember her from her earlier Wimbledon appearance six years prior, but I saw her interviewed the day she made it to the finals and I liked her. I liked that she didn't fit the cute blonde tennis model and that she had a larger frame like Serena. I found myself, while still committed to Lisicki, who it turns out lives down the road from our county, cheering for Bartoli just as hard. Now I have some new faces to keep eyes on in the upcoming tournaments.
The men's tennis was just as good. I enjoyed discovering Del Porto who played Novak Djokovic in five sets in the semis. I pulled for Andy Murray in his semis. I spent Friday in front of the television from nine o'clock in the morning until well after dinner because the men's matches were so long. When I finally emerged from the house to walk the dog I was exhausted. It was like I had just played along side them.
Saturday, after the women's final, I watched the American brothers, Mike and Bob Bryan play in the finals of doubles. With their win they became the only doubles team to hold all four major titles in the slams. They call this the "Bryan Slam". While they only make $300,000 compared to the 2.4 million the singles winners take home and they don't get the exposure and notoriety they were the only Americans still left at Wimbledon. I watched them in the semis and about had heart failure when they dropped the first set in the finals. In the end it was nerves and they got back their game and took home the trophy. Good tennis.
Wimbledon ended with Andy Murray breaking the 77 year drought for the Brits. I pulled for him this year. I didn't last year because he was playing my favorite player Roger Federer, but he impressed me with how he stood up to the pressure. I'm not a big fan of Djokovic so it was easy to just pick Murray and the whole England story. Again, great tennis. The two of them volleyed so long on each point that my eyes were worn out when it was all over. Phenomenal tennis all the way around.
Every year after watching Wimbledon I think about playing tennis. It lasts until I venture outside into the Florida summer heat. Kelly says that I shot down our tennis careers by not allowing her to purchase $5 rackets at a flea market, but I've decided that it is because we don't have grass courts. Watching Wimbledon this past weekend, I figured out that I would have enjoyed tennis if I could have played on a grass court instead of those hard, heat sucking paved courts I played on as a kid. So for me to take up the game of tennis I will have to move to England and play at Wimbledon. I will make that addendum to my bucket list.
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