Wednesday, July 03, 2013

Wimbledon

Wimbledon this year is a mess, with leading players being defeated or retiring right and left. Here is a partial list, Rafa Nadal, who had just won the French Open, defeated in first round! His conqueror, Steve Darcis of Belgium, retired in the second round. Roger Federer defeated in second round, Tsonga defeated in second round, But, the top two players, seeded no. 1 and 2, Novak Djockovic and Andy Murray respectively, are still standing into the semis.

However, in the women's game it gets worse, Serena Williams, seeded no,. 1 was surprisingly defeated in the quarter finals by Sabine Lisicki (seeded no. 24) of Germany, and no. 2 seed, Maria Sharapova was defeated in the previous round, and no. 3 seed Victoria Azarenka retired injured. With the defeat of the Czech player Petra Kvitova by Pole Agniewska Radwanska (no. 4) all former holders of the women's title have been eliminated into the semis.

This Wimbledon saw the largest number of players who retired injured ever on a single day in a major tournament, namely 7 and 12 altogether so far. This was mainly attributed to the rainy conditions and a lot of slipping and sliding on the grass causing leg muscle problems.

Because of the loss of so many well known "names" there is less interest in the tournament this year perhaps than usual, although the possibility that Murray might have an easier path to the championship has raised British hopes, since no Brit has won Wimbeldon for 78 years since Fred Perry back in the 1920-s.

This has left us tennis aficianados to think of other things to do, for example, which player is named after two successive elements in the periodic table. Easy, Li Na, Chinese contender for the women's open, named after lithium (Li) and sodium (Na), or is it Na Li, I never know.

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