Centre Court exclusive
I have been watching a lot of tennis during the last two months. But since I have not been personally present at the tournaments, I haven´t felt the urgent need to write something. Every photo I would had posted had been taken months if not years ago and the press has covered every move that has happened lately from the Sharapova suspension to the highs and lows of Djokovic. Now the Tennis.com even invented a new word – Djexit.
Because it has been raining so much, the players who have got Centre Court assignments have been at a great advantage. Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Serena Williams won´t play any of their matches outside the main arena this year. Some have even suggested that Djexit happened because Djokovic was put to No. 1 court and the match was interrupted by rain mant times. I feel like in this case, that wasn´t the reason for his loss. He had a great chance to come back because they had an overnight pause with Djoko down two sets to love. He was just plain exhausted and would probably have lost in three sets if they had the roof.
Murray, Federer and Serena can say they have earned the right to be there, but especially in Federer´s case I disagree. I think the fourth round against Johnson should not have been on Centre. Federer´s draw has been a walk in the park. Maybe the organizers are afraid that Fed is going to lose any day and they can´t make it happen anywhere else than on Centre, because that might as well be his last match at Wimbledon given his age.
One match which I would loved to have seen was Cibulkova against Radwanska. I think that match was always going to be exciting but because Aga has yet to win the tournament and Domi has not a great record in it there was no chance to go to a Centre. Halep-Keys would have been a good choice for the Centre, too, but they went to to ever-present Serena.
Doubles partners Makarova and Vesnina must think their schedule has been far from ideal – both were playing catching up singles round after the others. When they finally caught others, they had to wait for the three-hour marathon between Aga and Domi to stop, then play against each other another three hours with Vesnina winning. Then, they had a doubles match to play later as well where they are running late two rounds from some teams. I was looking forward to seeing Vesnina pull out of the doubles because she has a singles match to play today, but no. The loyalty to Makarova was more important. Their doubles was at one set apiece when were called off court because of darkness. Now Vesnina will aim for semifinals in singles, while her doubles is still stuck at the second round.
And some people even wonder why the good singles players don´t play enough doubles! If the weather does not co-operate, the physical as well as the mental stress can get too much, let alone the commitment to your doubles partner.
Tennis-Minna 