# Wimbledon Is Here! :D



## Sukerkin (Jun 25, 2012)

It is that time of year once more, when even the directors of our company know that I shall not be there as I shall be glued in front of the TV absorbing the highs and lows, glories and shames, fire and ice that is Wimbledon .

The first day has already delivered some shocks.  Who would have put money on Venus not getting out of Round 1 .  For those that do not know, a good part of this upset is that the poor woman is really rather ill .

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/18582668

But, in this house at least, huge cheers rang out for Heather Watson ...

[yt]rpCwk_R5DMs[/yt]


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## Sukerkin (Jun 25, 2012)

I never make any secret of the fact that I prefer the women's game in tennis.  It's not {just } for the obvious reasons - until the new wave of power-tennis that the Williams sisters introduced, the women's game has always had more in the way of strategy and shot-making than the men's.  Even now, it is still far more interesting to see a point 'built' through movement and positioning than power and speed.

I also make no secret of the fact that I shamelessly partisan and massively enjoy those occasions when British players take to the verdant arena, especially Centre Court.  Sadly, we have been lacking in final victory for a very long time, though I count myself lucky to be old enough to have watched Virginia Wade take the women's title in the Silver Jubilee year.  We might be a while waiting yet but we do have players who are a joy to watch:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/18572797


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## Sukerkin (Jun 25, 2012)

Dug out these rather blurry highlights from 1977:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/wimbledon/8106184.stm

I particularly love how Ginnies equivalent of a racket-smashing screaming tantrum {"I don't believe you had any right to do that" said to the umpire when he over-ruled a linesman at a crucial point} fired her up to take the second set .


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## Carol (Jun 25, 2012)

I did not like tennis at all until I had a roommate who played tennis. He would frequently watch it at home.  Given that I much prefer sports over most programming , I started watching it with them, and found the game very easy to follow even for a novitiate. I also found the woman's game to be more strategic and enjoyable.


Psst...

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Names-Medal-of-Freedom-Recipients/


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## billc (Jun 25, 2012)

Tennis...is that the game with the big orange ball, the brown pointed ball, the small white ball with dimples or the one with stitches?:angel:


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## K-man (Jun 26, 2012)

Only problem with the women's tennis, I have to turn the sound off. I find it disconcerting listening to lithesome wenches experiencing multiple orgasms while I'm trying to keep score!     :ultracool


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## Sukerkin (Jun 26, 2012)

:chuckles at BillC: ... you missed out the one it actually is ... the small, yellow-green, fluffy, ball 

:wags repressing finger at K-man whilst suppressing a grin: Sharapova and the Williams's are the main culprits of that one but I do agree that it gets out of hand sometimes ... especially if they have to close the roof on Centre Court.


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## Sukerkin (Jun 26, 2012)

Noooooooo!  Just watched a great match between Laura Robson and Francesca Schiavone.  Laura kicked butt and took names for a set and a half and just for a moment we all thought she was going to steam through to a 2 Sets to Love victory.  

But the experience of Schiavone showed through as she changed the game she was playing and tripped up young Laura, stealing her momentum.  

The third set was hard to watch at first as Schiavone established dominance but Laura did the only thing we require of our players for us to love them ... she dug in and fought back.  Again, for a shining brace of games, we dared to think that she had clawed her way from 5:1 down and we were going to see a thriller close to the match.  Especially so after Laura unleashed an astounding passing shot to bring her to the brink - it even had Schiavone ruefully laughing in a "What on earth am I supposed to do against that?!" kind of way.

But it was not to be .

http://www.espn.co.uk/tennis/sport/story/157467.html


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## Sukerkin (Jun 26, 2012)

Yay!  Well done Elena!  The poor lass is always troubled with one injury or another (she has been very seriously ill in the past years) and today was no exception.  But her opponent also carried an injury sustained on the day and Elena did that thing that I spoke about before ... she fought.  A mental battle this time as it is always difficult to play against an injured opponent but she prevailed!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jun/26/wimbledon-2012-elena-baltacha?newsfeed=true

Sadly, guess what her reward is for that effort ...

... here is who she faces in the next round ...

http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/players/overview/wta314206.html

If you take note of how Petra did last year at Wimbledon ... :cries:

[h=1][/h]


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## Sukerkin (Jun 26, 2012)

More good news as Anne Keothavong takes her fight into the second round as well:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/te...e-Keothavong-round-two.html?ito=feeds-newsxml


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## K-man (Jun 26, 2012)

It's alright for you, but the men's is all over for me.   :seppuku:


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## Sukerkin (Jun 26, 2012)

Sincere commiserations, K-man.  As with us, our Aussie cousins need more depth in their game.  One big performer is not enough :nods:


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## Sukerkin (Jun 26, 2012)

This is an experiment that I fear will not work due to region locking.

Here is the BBC highlights coverage for today:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01kbgks/Today_at_Wimbledon_2012_Day_2/

Please let me know if it works for those many of you who live outside these isles.


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## Carol (Jun 26, 2012)

Doesn't work


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## Tez3 (Jun 26, 2012)

Try You Tube it has the Wimbledon highlights on it. I can't stand it myself, I'm getting excited for Saturday when it's the start of the Tour de France.


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## Sukerkin (Jun 26, 2012)

I did do an extensive search of the YouTubes looking for relevant imagery before I tried the BBC iPlayer link but came up empty.  Maybe my web fu let me down for once; I shall search again.

As to the Tour de France, even considering that I used to cycle race myself, I'd rather watch wood warp than endure that dren.  It is wrong to smear a thread about one of the only sports worth watching (that doesn't involve an engine) with such heresy :lol:.

By all means, if it inspires you, start a thread about it ... tho' it would be a courtesy if you could make it one I can avoid by the use of clear labelling  .


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## Tez3 (Jun 27, 2012)

Sukerkin said:


> I did do an extensive search of the YouTubes looking for relevant imagery before I tried the BBC iPlayer link but came up empty. Maybe my web fu let me down for once; I shall search again.
> 
> As to the Tour de France, even considering that I used to cycle race myself, I'd rather watch wood warp than endure that dren. It is wrong to smear a thread about one of the only sports worth watching (that doesn't involve an engine) with such heresy :lol:.
> 
> By all means, if it inspires you, start a thread about it ... tho' it would be a courtesy if you could make it one I can avoid by the use of clear labelling  .



Ooooo you are awful but I like you!

Try this http://www.youtube.com/results?sear....0.662.1915.2j3j1j1j0j1.8.0...0.0.QeN4RXEHwjM

My other half is into cricket, so for his birthday the other week I got tickets to the one day international against the Windies at Leeds, and oh dear did it rain! it should have been water polo, match didn't even start, we saw some of the England team though and everyone was having a party anyway with the steel drums playing and I suppose what foreigners would think of as typical English eccentricity, it was a shame though I really liked the look of Alistair Cook in the flesh as it were. :wink2:


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## Sukerkin (Jun 27, 2012)

:chuckles: :angel:

Looks as tho' we used the same search strings there, Tez .  What I didn't do, given the lateness of the hour for me, was look beyond the first page of results .  Even so the Tube is oddly bereft of pertinent clips of BBC coverage of the Women's Draw.  Such a shame the iPlayer link won't work .


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## Sukerkin (Jun 27, 2012)

Huzzar!  Heather Watson makes it into the third round whoo-hoo!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jun/27/wimbledon-2012-heather-watson-hampton?newsfeed=true

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/18604883

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/te...-2012-Heather-Watson-beats-Jamie-Hampton.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/18592675

Heather steamed through the first set with consummate ease ... indeed I caught myself thinking "Is this a British player!", so used are we to plucky nerves and drawn out fights :lol:.  A bit more of a match in the second set, with Hampton realising she's playing on grass and varying her game to suit - some really, really good shots from her towards the end.


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## Sukerkin (Jun 27, 2012)

As a break from scores and results news ... another reason why the women's game is better than the men's :angel:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/18595550


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## Tez3 (Jun 27, 2012)

LOL at the poor interviewer! she was dwarfed by the players.


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## Tez3 (Jun 27, 2012)




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## K-man (Jun 27, 2012)

And, just when you think it can't get any worse .....      At least our horse won, just!


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## Sukerkin (Jul 6, 2012)

I meant to keep up with this throughout the fortnight but fell away ...

However ...

Yeeeeeessssss! :dizzy with excitement:

In Summary


Federer beats Djokovic 6-3 3-6 6-4 6-3 securing a place in the Final

----------------------------------------------

Murray wins 1st set 6-3 in 34 mins
Murray wins 2nd set 6-4
Tsonga clinches 3rd set 6-3


Murray wins 4th set 7-5 to reach FINAL

Thirty years of my watching Wimbledon praying, shouting, weeping and AT  LONG  LAST!  A British man in the Wimbledon final 

:collapses:


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