Wimbledon: Home Court Curse?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wimbledon is a tennis tournament steeped in British history.  Go all the way back to 1877, and you’ll see the origins of the “world’s leading tennis tournament“.  It began at the All England Lawn and Tennis and Croquet Club, which is where the first men’s singles tournament debuted, which eventually evolved into Wimbledon.  “Lawn tennis” was introduced by Walter Clopton Wingfield, and was originally called “Sphairistike”.  Imagine watching Wimbledon today and seeing the title “Wimbledon Sphairistike Tournament”.  Or if Roger Federer should win another singles tournament, the newspaper would read “Federer Greatest Sphairistiker On the Planet”.  But fortunately, words were changed and “lawn tennis” was created.  Wimbledon is one of the four “Major” tennis tournaments.  The other three are the Australian Open, the French Open, and the U.S. Open.  The Australian and the French Open are played on clay surfaces, while the U.S. open is played on a concrete surface.  This makes Wimbledon the only major that plays on a grass surface.

I’d like to emphasize that Wimbledon is a BRITISH tennis tournament, situated in ENGLAND, established by the ENGLISH.  At the risk of being repetitive, let me explain my over-emphasis.  The last British female to win a Wimbledon Singles Championship was Virginia Wade, back in 1977.  The last British male to win a Wimbledon Singles Championship was in 1936, before World War II.  The last British male to APPEAR in a Wimbledon Final was in 1938, and the last British female to appear in a Wimbledon Final was in 1977.  Between both sexes, that is over 100 years of a Wimbledon Singles slump.  “Why should I care about these useless statistics?” You ask…  Great question!  Since Wimbledon is a British inspired tournament, I have to ask why they cannot get their act together?

As I currently watch the Wimbledon Men’s Singles tournament, I see the only seeded male Briton to make it to the 2008 Singles fourth round, a man by the name of Andy Murray.  He has already come back from a 2-0 deficit and he looks as if he will defeat frenchman Richard Gasquet.  Should he win, he will go into a Quarterfinal match-up against Rafael Nadal (VIVA ESPANA!), who will undoubtedly defeat Murray in 3 sets and will go on to face Roger Federer in the Wimbledon Finals for the 3rd straight year, and Federer will beat Nadal, because Nadal is best on clay.  YAWN…

We may all remember the Briton by the name of Tim Henman, who in the last 10 years, has reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals 4 times, and the semi-finals 4 times as well.  He has never appeared in the Wimbledon Finals, though.

So what chemicals are in the drinking water of the British tennis athletes?  And who poked the hole in their tennis balls?  Set aside the dominance of Bjorn Borg, Boris Becker, Pete Sampras, and now Roger Federer.  I’d like some answers, people!  I’d like to propose a deadline to the British and the Wimbledon tournament.  If they cannot send a Briton into even the FINAL round of singles Wimbledon within the next 10 years, then I would like to see the Wimbledon tournament moved to Augusta, Georgia, and create a “dual tournament” to be called “The Masters”.  I know, some may think “Elwell, you are crazy”.  But seriously.  There needs to be some incentive for the British to play better in the Wimbledon tournament.  They created it for goodness sakes!