Plan B Forum

One of the more compelling Men's Finals in awhile:

Andy Murray who would be the first champion from England in our lifetimes, and most/all of the lifetimes of our parents, or

Roger Federer, the greatest tennis champion who exhibits class, going for one more major championship (after ceding the top to Nadal and the Joker).

I'll pull for the Brit this time.

Except Murray is Scottish not English LR...

Serena set a record with 24 aces in the semi.

Who is her next victim?


yrs,
rubato

Well somebody, Serena is the bull moose of women's tennis!

Can't touch her.

yrs,
rubato

1977 - Queen's Silver Jubilee...Briton Virginia Wade makes the Singles Final.
2012 - Queen's Diamond Jubilee...Briton Andy Murray makes the Singles Final.

And, if Serena Williams doesn't turn out to be a bloke, I'll eat my hat. I reckon it's the guy plays in the pack for the French rugby side.

Of course if Murray loses, we can all go back to calling him a Scot rather than a Brit.

Serena steamrolled over Aggie Radwanska in the first set, lost her nerve in the second, and pulled it together in the third to claim her 5th Wimbledon singles title, and the first for a women 30 or over since Martina in the late 90s. Oh yeah, and she went over 100 aces for the tournament in the final. Later that night she and Venus won the ladies doubles title -- number 5 for them there as well. No one has dominated that way before, ever. She is clearly back, lets see how long she sticks around.

And no, she isn't a bloke (you sound like Dave, and I know you're not that idiotic) - she's a strong and powerful woman who doesn't happen to be a little (or long) stick. I love seeing a woman with some body on her succeed in professional sports!

I'm rooting for my Swiss boyfriend tomorrow, but I wouldn't be too sad if Murray wins (although I think he's a bit of a spoiled brat - like Andy Roddick still is, and like Roger used to be -- but it looks like Ivan Lendl has helped to beat some of that out of him -- maybe that will be enough for him to find his inner champion).

Serena got more aces than the 2-3-4 finishers did altogether. Total domination.

yrs,
rubato

And another win for the 30 and over set!! The Swiss boyfriend defeats the pseudo Brit (aka the Scot) in four sets for his 7th championship and 17th slam win. Wow.

Andy played well and kept his composure better than ever. Roger had to play unbelievable tennis to beat him. He will get to the winner's circle eventually.

First he wins the European Cup with Chelsea, then he goes on to win Wimbledon.

Yep, it's been a great year for Didier Drogba...

ROTFLMCO!!

I see that Scottish guy lost too...

Serena's success in tennis is just about as entertaining as was Shaq's domination in basketball. She is simply bigger and stronger than everybody else. Yawn. Her avalanche of aces merely exclaim that fact. Once she gets into a rally, there are several players who are just as good as she is.

She is not a man, but someone watching the match with her side blotted out would have concluded that it was obviously a man playing against the unfortunate woman on the other side.

Clearly, Serena gave away the second set, recognizing that a straight-set victory would spoil the illusion that she had to break a sweat in this joke of a match.

And although Andy Murray played as well as he is capable of playing (which is improved with Lendl's tutelage), Roger won every point that he chose to win and the outcome was never actually in doubt.

I don't find the current style of play very entertaining, certainly not as much fun to watch as serve&volley. But you can't blame the players for staying behind the baseline with the power that is being generated with the groundstrokes.

I assume it has a lot to do with the racquets, but maybe not.

Tangent on the plague of shrieking on the women's side: I saw a discussion on the phenomenon during a lull in the tournament early this week. One of the commentators (I forget which one) said that it might take generations to rid the sport of this aggravating nonsense, since many instructors are teaching it from an early age. Martina opined that about five seconds after they start deducting points for it, it will be history. Refreshing insight, what?

Serena was in a hospital bed barely able to walk less than 2 years ago. So yes, in fact her story is compelling.

As for her dominant serve, conventional wisdom is the taller the player the harder the serve. Serena is one of the shorter women's players at 5'9". Her sister is 6'1" and many of the other top women's players are six footers (Sharipova, Davenport, Safina).

How are the Wimbel's these days?

Still hanging out at Wombeldom Common?