By Jackie, TW Social Director
Howdy, TWibers! It's great to see y'all back in the Deuce Club again after the brief hiatus.
Before I continue, I'd like to extend my sincerest thinks to so many of you for the well wishes on my birthday (two days ago). Celebrating the occasion with y'all made it all the more memorable and reminded me of how fortunate I am to be a member of such a convivial community. (Which gives me an idea: I'm more than happy to include birthday shout-outs in the DC. If you're interested, just let me know about your special day as it approaches at my Tennis.com e-mail address, and I'll announce it in the DC the week of. You'll get to wear a special birthday sombrero all night, too.)
Like I did during the AO and RG, this week's DC will be Wimbledon-themed, but with an OT flavor (if that makes any sense!).
!Wimbles In his Cruel Brittania post, Pete presented some quotes from press conferences given by British players this week. I really enjoyed reading it, and it prompted me to check out those (and other) pressers in full. As I rifled through them, I found a number of hilarious/zany quotes that were just begging to be reproduced here.
The following is a mere two days' (the first two) worth of "Did he/she really just say that?" presser moments:
Serena Williams
Q: There are so many new names in the game, many not from our country. Is it hard to follow who's who?
A: I just know the standard: everyone is from Russia. Sometimes I think I'm from Russia, too. I feel like, you know, okay, all these new ?ovas. I don't know anyone. I don't really recognize anyone. You know, that's just how it is.
Q: So are you saying you came to Compton when you were seven years old from Russia?
A: I think I am, and I think my name must Williamsova.
Roger Federer
Q: When is the baby due?
A: I'm not saying. It's a pity we're moving on with language right now. So sorry (smiling).
Michelle Larcher de Brito
THE MODERATOR: No more noisy questions. Can we move on to tennis or other aspects of the match we've seen.
James Blake
Q: Did you have any physical problems today?
A: Yeah. Uhm, I had an upset stomach. That's probably all the details that need to be printed.
Mardy Fish
Q: Did he [Michael Yani] graduate?
A: I don't know that much about him (laughter). I'm not sure what he got on his SATs (laughter).
Andy Murray
Q: In an interview today, Pat Cash called you boring and said you had a monotonous voice. Do you have any response to that?
A: I don't really care, to be honest (smiling). I mean, I've said I don't think my voice is particularly interesting, but, you know, I don't need it to be. Uhm, I let my tennis do the talking. I think my tennis is exciting, so...
Marat Safin
Q. In your Wimbledon career, who do you rate as the best grass court player you faced?
A: I lost to everybody I think here who I could. I didn't even get to play with the good players, except Federer and Djokovic, and that's it. Pretty much it. Ivanisevic, okay.
Georgie Stoop
Q: What were you listening to on the iPod?
A: I was listening to Spin Doctors.
Andy Roddick (There were so many to choose from!)
Q: You've been on Twitter a lot this week. How would you sum up your performance in 140 characters or less?
A: I wouldn't (smiling).
Q. Did you enjoy The Hangover?
A: To clarify, he's asking about a movie, not my choice of beverages. Yeah, it was all right. I think it got built up a little bit. Not on par with Wedding Crashers, but it was a good laugh.
Q: Did you ever have a night like that yourself?
A: Not even once, ever in my entire existence.
Good stuff, right? And those were from Round 1 alone! I'm not the only one who reads pressers 'round here, so if you guys caught any other interesting/funny/what-the-heck? quotes, share them here. And keep your eye out for quotes as the tournament progress, as I'll do a call for them again next week!
Moving along ...
There's nothing we enjoy quite as much as reading reports about TWibers' experiences at tournaments, right? Tonight we have another one! Beloved TW regulars Sher and jewell were in attendance at Wimbledon on Day 1 and offered to write a lil' something about their time there. You'll notice it's sort of a tag-team effort, with each offering her (unique) perspective on a given match or moment. Their distinct "voices" make for a really entertaining read! (Incidentally, Wimbledon is at the top of my "Places to Experience in Person" list. I fell in love with the tournament far before tennis was an obsession and look forward to these two weeks every single year. Perhaps I'll discuss this at greater length in an upcoming DC.)
Where were we? Ah yes, Sher and jewell's Wimbledon report. Enjoy!
*
jewell: First of all, I want to say a massive thank you to Sher for offering me her spare ticket yesterday. loves and hugs Sher It was a fabulous thing to be offered and an immense privilege to be able to see Roger and Serena play live. And Djokovic was pretty good, too. ;)
Also? Sher is just as knowledgeable and lovely in real life as she is on TW.
I was so excited walking from the bus stop down to Gate 5, where we were meeting. There were people in Wimbledon uniforms! Signs to The Queue! Special yellow bollards in the road!
The gate people were lovely and smiley and very friendly, even while checking my pens for James Bond-type innovations ... and no, I didn’t have any, I don’t hate Robin Soderling that much.
Sher: Earlier before Roger started playing, we watched Kohlschreiber go down 0-5 and were intending to sit out until the end of the set before leaving for Centre Court. However, as soon as Kohlschreiber won the next game, taking the score to 1-5, it was obviously far from over yet. I joked to jewell that if he takes it to a tiebreak I will be seriously upset. After Kohlschreiber won the next game as well we had to leave or risk missing Roger. As it turns out, PEHK did take it to a tiebreak which he won, as well as subsequently the match.*
*
jewell: I was amazed at how close you could get to the play on the outside courts. You could hear every breath from the players, and see every little change in body language. Serra is much, much better looking in real life than he is on TV – very darkly tanned and with a bodice-ripping, pirate-hero sort of air. Kohlschreiber was very neat to watch, very precise and neat in his movements, but also fun. Being so close, you could see the years of work that had gone into Serra’s serving movement, the practised-ness of it. I loved being able to see the expressions on the faces of the ballkids, too – all of them looked terribly nervous.
Sher: I went up the stairs to the Centre Court with my heart palpitating in my chest. I'd seen Roger play before, but this was going to be different. There is something about the idea of Roger Federer on Centre Court at Wimbledon that simply ... belongs, and I wanted to experience that.
He walked out to cheering and an ovation and proceeded to undress. That took a while: the jacket, then the undershirt, then finally after warm-up, the pants. The crowd greeted his get-up warmly, even with scattered titters from the female contingent. Once the play started, he was just your regular tennis player at the All England's Club, wearing shorts and a t-shirt and carrying 14 grand slam titles.
jewell: Perhaps it’s the Rafa fangirl in me, but I thought Roger didn’t look quite as comfortable walking out on court as on previous occasions. It might have been the jacket, I suppose. I thought both that and the waistcoat looked good on Roger, I have to say – and the fighting image complemented his recent play rather well. (Still hate the gold monogram though.) There were a few shouts of “We miss you, Rafa!” as Roger walked out – no, not from me. ;-)
Sher: His opponent didn't seem terribly fazed, which is a credit to him. They played three nice sets of tennis. There was a jaw-dropping point here and there, but after the nerve-wracking experience of the French Open, I wasn't looking for excitement. I was just happy to be there and in great company.
jewell: I thought Lu came out really well in the first set (although he was terrible at the net, just had no idea what to do). From where we were sitting I could just see Mirka, who looked absolutely glowing and soooo beautiful.
Watching live, everything seems more noticeable, somehow – Federer’s variety and that gliding movement of his were beautiful to see. It was hard to really see Federer doing anything – he just seemed to be right there, to be doing it. It sounds stupid but that’s how it looked to me. He hit some brilliant passing shots, some wonderful backhands, and one stunning-round the-net-post passing shot that had the whole crowd on their feet and clapping.
Sher: Other than Federer's match, I managed to catch a bit of Monaco vs. Almagro**, and right off the bat, Almagro managed to do something that's likely to seal my opinion on him. Last time I watched him was at the French Open some years back, and he (un)impressed me with his petulant and negative attitude towards the crowd, the opponent, and the ballkids. I wrote it off that time because he was playing Murray who can frustrate as well as any player, and because it was one of the hottest days of the tournament. Tempers ran high and all that, I thought.
However on a perfectly breezy 22C afternoon in London, the first thing Almagro did when I sat down to watch their fourth set was tell the ballboy "What's wrong with you, man?" and indicate a different position on the ground for the boy to serve him balls. You should have seen the eyeroll and the headshake from the ballboy when Almagro went off to serve! Not a popular guy with the staff, I gather.
!Almagro The next thing Almagro did was turn in the general direction of where I was sitting about three rows away from the court and shush the fans cheering for Monaco. This was odd, but it did prompt me to cheer for Monaco much louder, as it did that entire row of people.
The next thing Almagro did was start talking across the net in Spanish while Monaco attempted to serve, prompting calls from the chair umpire ("Mr. Almagro! Mr. Almagro!").
Things got more heated before they cooled down since these guys went into the fifth set which Almagro eventually won playing baseliner tennis.
Over on other courts, Robredo was up two sets to love, and Tipsarevic was handling Jan Henrych. I stayed for bits of sets here and there, walking the grounds and taking pictures of everything.
jewell: I stayed on Centre to watch Serena Williams, another true great I really wanted to see. She seemed twice the size of Silva – so incredibly powerful. And so charismatic. When she ratcheted up the intensity, I just could not take my eyes off her. The first set was a Serena domination; although her first service game was a bit shaky, she got into the groove very quickly. She does the weirdest thing with high balls/lobs – instead of smashing them, she kind of strikes them out of the air for a groundstroke. (Or am I making that up?) In the second set, Silva settled a little, and started to try to play with guile. That set was much tighter, but again, the outcome was never in doubt. Serena’s on-court tantrums when she missed a makeable shot – all self-directed here – were kind of touching and child-like. I liked her.
Sher: Back on Centre, Serena Williams shrieked through her second set, and Djokovic took the court vs. Benneteau who, as it turns out, can play on grass! It was a surprise to see him push Djokovic around as much as he did, as was the footwork, or lack of it, from the world #4. Djokovic slipped often, although never badly. On one occasion we noted that he slipped twice in a row during the same rally. He was, however, the steadier player mentally than the on-fire Julien, and when Benneteau slipped and appeared to twist an ankle the potential upset no longer had a pulse. Finally Djokovic put a stop to impending disaster by buckling down in the second set tiebreaker.
The crowd cheered Benneteau on through his unlikely victory of the first set and the competitive spirit he showed in the second, and then after the injury he won even more supporters.
*
*jewell: Djokovic was immensely interesting to watch for me. I don’t know whether it was just that match on that day, or whether he is always the same – but I do think I’ve seen him on TV with more bounce, confidence and joie de vivre than he had on Monday. He seemed so mercurial: one point he’d be strutting after hitting a winner flat and low past Julien Benneteau, and the next he’d hit one right into the net and down would go the shoulders. After the smooth consistency of Federer and Serena’s full-on intensity, the up-and-down-ness of Djokovic was just fascinating.
The first set was incredibly tight, but Djokovic was behind in the tiebreak nearly all the way. After he won the TB, Benneteau seemed to have a patch of total confidence – he could barely miss, and everything went right. Djokovic couldn’t seem to read Benneteau’s first serve terribly well and hardly got a return in. For me, it was Djokovic’s serve that kept him in the match, because his groundstrokes were not consistent. His movement was not so good, and he slipped often - which probably had something to do with it. Benneteau hit a few really nice winners, but for me he tired a little (how much of this is mental, how much physical, I couldn’t tell) in the second set TB (I think Djokovic took it 7-1). Novak carried the momentum into the third, and I think was already up a break when Benneteau twisted his ankle.
For me, it wasn’t the injury that swung the match Djokovic’s way. Benneteau got a lot of crowd sympathy and applause for being a gutsy underdog - but it wasn’t as if Djokovic had no support, either. There were more than a few shouts of “Come ON Novak!”
Favourite moment – simultaneous shirt change. Djokovic’s back is beautiful.
I tried to leave just after Djokovic took the third – I had to catch the train back and didn’t want to be too terribly late about it – but my goodbyes and thanks took so long, I had to wait till the first changeover. I didn’t want to break the rules in case those kindly-looking honorary stewards had some dreadful punishment for inconsiderate rule-breakers hidden under their hats!
Sher: Overall it was a perfect day of tennis for me, including the ideal weather. jewell had saved me earlier by lending me a hat and sunscreen, but by about mid-day I no longer needed them. Djokovic chose to warm up in a long-sleeved shirt but it was barely cool.
jewell: The weather was lovely in the morning and clouded over nicely in the afternoon – we were quite high up on Centre Court and in the shade, which was good. The new roof certainly hasn’t killed off the pigeons, either – their cooing echoed from right inside the roof.
Sher: And of course, the highlight was me arriving to London with only the barest hope of queueing up for Tuesday to see Federer and finding out that he would be playing on the day and court for which I already had tickets! For me it was a fulfillment of a dream. Now I hope Roger takes care of his own dreams the Sunday after this one!
jewell: I’m not at all sure I really deserved to see Roger play on grass – on Centre Court – but I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.*
Sher and jewell, many thanks to you both for providing such a detailed account of your day at the All England Club. I'm delighted that it provided so many thrills, living up to (and exceeding?) your expectations.
Now it's TWibe time! I invite y'all to comment on the Wimbledon report (and don't forget to share your favorite presser quotes from the past week). Of course, you can also use this space to go as OT as your heart desires. It's been a rather dark week in the entertainment industry, as we lost pop culture icons in (especially) Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and Ed McMahon; if you have thoughts on the topic, you can express them here. If too depressing, we can certainly explore happier subjects, like the brilliance of the Slap Chop remix (if you're familiar with the product and its spokesperson, you'll laugh for days ... if not, you'll think I'm taking crazy pills).
Enjoy the weekend, everyone!