'Morning (if you're Stateside). Or afternoon (on this side of the pond). Or, evening, if you're Down Under. This is today's Watercooler thread, in which you can discuss today's matches, other tennis news, and the occasional OT (though please save any prolific OTs for the last Deuce Club post, which is still open).
Thanks for all the suggestions yesterday for photos you'd like to see of iconic tennis moments. I'll try to locate some of these over the next few days.
For today, I've picked up on Tina's thought about what happened after Goran Ivanisevic's "People's Monday" 2001 five-set Wimbledon win over Pat Rafter. She says that she "actually can't remember what he did, as I was crying and my phone was ringing off the hook". Well, tears weren't far away. Goran, the man handed a wildcard that year by the AELTC, after being a losing finalist in 1992, 1994 and 1998, fell to his knees, tears already coming, then full length on the ground, prone. He next climbed into the stands to embrace his party of supporters, especially his Dad, (perhaps some of you will remember that in the first piece I ever wrote for TW, I explained how I accidentally came to be sharing a box with Goran's Dad, among others - and no, it wasn't because of anything particularly meritorious that I did).
I picked a photo that shows the expressions on both players' faces after the match was over. You could say that this Wimbledon final was the last-chance saloon for each of them to finally capture a Wimbledon title - I think the picture tells its own story. Now, I'll cheerfully admit that Goran ruined Wimbledon twice over for me that year, by beating Tim Henman in that rain-delayed semi-final and then Rafter in their wrenching, heart-stopping, magical and eventually heart-breaking final showdown.
But I have to admit that, favourites aside, it made a truly great story.
-- Rosangel