!201206301724626423926-p2@stats.comby Pete Bodo
WIMBLEDON, England—The perverse part of me had hoped that at the stroke of 11 p.m. last night, a borough of Merton bureaucrat with a terribly British-sounding accent would come on the PA system and to declare that the battle between Andy Murray and Marcos Baghdatis—by that point a whisker's distance from the 11:02 finish—was over for the day.
"We are so sorry, ladies and gentlemen. . . Andy and Marcos. . . but we are turning out the lights now. Safe home, and remember that if you're riding a bike, wear white."
It would have served the All England club right, because the host club of Wimbledon has an agreement with Merton borough officials to end play by 11 p.m. on any given night—a concession negotiated when Wimbledon won the right to roof the Centre Court. And we all know how what sticklers the AEC officials are for rules.
Example: Many years ago, before the massive renovation turned the grounds into a fair simulacrum of a giant, multi-level, ivy-covered aircraft carrier with funny little green rectangles strewn here and there (I'm not knocking it, I really like that martial vibe), the press and royal boxes were adjacent to each other, separated by a low wall and served by a common hall where service folks and others could access either box. A guard was always posted in the short distance, just a few feet between doors opening directly onto either box.
One day an acquaintance was in the royal box and, as we wanted to speak, I passed him a note over the wall suggesting that we meet in the hall. We both slipped out into the hall, but even though we ended up standing just a few feet apart, the guard wouldn't let either of us actually join the other. We had to backtrack, leave our respective areas, go down two flights of stairs and outside, to meet in front of Centre Court.
I can think of a dozen Wimbledon stories of that kind. I used to marvel, walking around, at the abundance of signs issuing warnings and advisories about everything from keeping your shirt on (a rule of which I approve) to which side of the staircase to take, to where "babes in arms" were prohibited. The only thing missing was a sign warning you to curb your dog. I'm surprised the AEC didn't embrace a pet-friendly policy solely in order to put up a few pet related admonitions.
Things are a bit more relaxed these days, a little less tsk-tsk-y. Both the AEC and city bureaucrats seemed cool about the Murray vs. Baghdatis match running two minutes over. But note that quite a big deal was made all around (including here) about this bit of rule-bending. It was like generating headlines because someone dared to feed the ducks.
So that was a fitting end to a truly eventful week. Let's review the top 10 events from it, working our way down to the most resonant, intriguing, or noteworthy of them all.
10. No. 12 seed and 2010 runner-up Vera Zvonareva loses the first set to Kim Clijsters, 6-3, and is leading the second 2-1 (on serve) when the familiar tears begin to well in her eyes. She calls for the trainer and tournament doctor to report a respiratory ailment that caused her to cough and have trouble breathing. She leaves the court for five minutes for treatment. When she returns, Zvonareva plays four more games, but calls it quits after Clijsters breaks her at love to take a 4-3 lead.
Curiously, Vera re-emerges not long thereafter on Court 4, where she joins partner Marcelo Melo of Brazil to win a mixed-doubles match, seemingly breathing free and easy. All I can say is that I'm glad Zvonareva isn't British; I can just imagine the fun the tabs would have had with her "breathing" problems.
9. Benoit Paire is so disgusted with his game during his third-round match with rehabilitated American Brian Baker that he decides to tank the final game of the third, so flagrantly that nobody could possibly mistake his bizarre shot selection and strokework for mere incompetence. But the real killer is that after he blasts one stupid shot beyond the baseline to advance his purpose, he actually issues a futile challenge. Here's my theory: He wanted to see if he could be so baffling and ridiculous that it completely throws off his opponent—thus enabling Paire to get back in the match. And I am serious about that.
8. After her outstanding upset of Bo. 20 seed Nadia Petrova, Italy's Camila Giorgi sets a record for giving the shortest press conference in tennis history. Here it is, in its glorious, 15-word entirety. She was asked if her next opponent, Agnieszka Radwanska, was a big challenge:
7. Gilles Simon makes some not very well thought-out remarks about equal prize money and is made to pay, and pay. And pay. And pay. And pay more, and keep paying as a segment of the press corps reveals that the concept of journalistic "objectivity," or even fairness, is a sad joke. Simon, seeded No. 13, is beaten by Xavier Malisse in the second round.
6. Sabine Lisicki officially complains to the chair umpire about the grunting of her second-round opponent, Bojana Jovanovski, claiming that it prevents her from hearing the ball being hit. Jovanovski is not punished, but this minor incident may be remembered as a tipping point, because the WTA also is in the process of developing a hand-held 'Grunt-o-Meter' that will allow chair umpires of the future to monitor the volume of grunters, presumably with a maximum level that, if exceeded, would result in a warning or penalty. Maria Sharapova, chief grunter No. 1, approves. Victoria Azarenka, No. 2, won't even discuss the issue with the WTA, saying only: "Good luck with that."
5. Rufus, the splendid four-year old Harris Hawk used to scare off the pigeons that like to roost and do aerial ballet at Centre Court, is stolen sometime between Thursday night and his Friday morning start time for work at Wimbledon, 5:30 a.m. He had been left in his travel box in a car in a private driveway near Wimbledon overnight, with the back window open to allow for fresh air. His owner, Imogen Davis, and local authorities have launched an appeal hoping find the hawk, which would be very hungry if it hasn't been fed. Late-breaking update: A cage "with some sort of eagle" inside was reported abandoned in a hedge in Southfields, near Wimbledon, but at this time I can't confirm that Rufus has been recovered.
4. Marin Cilic defeats Sam Querrey in the second-longest (time-wise) Wimbledon match of all-time, 17-15 in the fifth set. The match lasted five hours and 31 minutes—almost exactly half of the Isner-Mahut epic that haunts all Wimbledon records. Surprisingly jocular after the exhausting effort, Querrey was asked if that 70-68 in-the-fifth landmark went through his mind at all as the games rolled on in his own match. he replied, "We were getting looks during the match, so I just didn't see that continuing on for 60 more games. . . Just another match now, thanks to Isner-Mahut. They set the bar pretty high." Everyone, including Querrey, laughed.
3. Serena Williams hits a Wimbledon record 23 aces in her 9-7 victory in the third over a very game Jie Zheng. Okay, so it's not like the 113 aces John Isner tagged in the 70-68 match (see what I mean?). Or even like the 103 aces Mahut himself hit in that epic, or even the 78 aces Ivo Karlovic hit—on clay no less—in a Davis Cup match. But it was a terrific performance against a very tough competitior who made only 17 unforced errors in the long match—and hit but one ace. Serena's serve was never broken in the 37 game match. That's incredible, in a WTA match.
2. Two-time champ and No. 2 seed Rafeal Nadal is upset in the second round by Lukas Rosol, who plays out of his gourd and just hits Nadal off the court—something nobody, but nobody, has ever done nearly as persuasively as the Czech. That it was Rosol's once-in-lifetime example of being in the right place at the right time became obvious when he was beaten by Philipp Kohlschreiber in his next match.
1. Yaroslova Shvedova's "golden set" (winning a set without losing a single point) against French Open finalist Sara Errani. If you have any doubts about the degree of difficulty involved in this, read my Tennis magazine colleague Tom Perrotta's terrific column on it at the Wall Street Journal blog, The Daily Fix.
The amazing kicker? In 2006, Shvedova came within a point of a golden set after winning 23 points in a row against Amy Frazier. But then she double faulted—and ultimately lost the match, 1-6, 6-0, 6-0. This time, she won 6-0, 6-4.