It's Wimbledon, But Do We Care?

Having tuned in to watch a little of the tennis at the beginning of the Olympics I was saddened by what I witnessed. It had lost the specialness of Wimbledon but didn't have anything special to relplace it with. The stuck on purple hoardings tried to make it look like part of the Olympics but Wimbledon just like the hoardings looked "stuck on" it did not appear to be an integral part of the games like other events. The contrast between watching the tennis event at Wimbledon and other Olympic events appeared to be huge. I made the decision not to watch the tennis as I didn't like to see Wimbledon and tennis in this secondary and poorer state. Maybe it improved later? Was interested to read this by Lynn Truss (the respected sports writer who usually writes about golf) as it reflected my thoughts. Sorry it from the Times PPV but worth it. In the article she is talking mainly about Murray but it is her feelings about the tennis event that I was interested in. Her article has the title "It's Murray at Wimbledon, but do we care".

During the Olympics, tennis is a bit of a sideshow. Sceptical people even question (quite loudly) whether it should be in the Olympics at all.

The Olympics, for all its politics, has been restoring my sense of what sport is supposed to be. But then I went to Wimbledon, and now I’m more confused than ever. Watching tennis at Wimbledon usually makes you feel sick with worry. The pressure! The pressure! But now it’s the Olympics, and it feels like a carnival. People bring their babies, for heaven’s sake. They go in for Mexican waves.

I’m not saying it wouldn’t be wonderful for Murray to win gold, especially at London 2012. But I wonder where most people would rank the achievement compared with, say, Kath Grainger and Anna Watkins winning in the double sculls; or any of the other athletes who don’t have the chance to compete every week of their lives, for good money, against all the top players in the world.

In Wimbledon fortnight, Wimbledon is the centre of attention. It defines those weeks. Going there yesterday was simply weird, like going into school at the weekend, and tiptoeing down the hall to feed the rabbit. If Wimbledon has a meaning (and I believe it does), it actually breaks one’s heart a bit to see it like this.

but if he (she's talking about Murray) wins — and if he goes on to win the gold — will it truly be seen as the equivalent of the golds in rowing and cycling and judo and double trap? Andre Agassi always mentions his gold medal from Atlanta as a career high, but he’d been a champion already when he won it. For him, it was a crowning achievement.

It will be different for Murray; people will say it’s more of a consolation prize — something they would never say about a gold in any other sport.

It was the bit were she talked about how "it actually breaks one's heart a bit to see it like this" that I particularly identified with. Not that my heart is "broken" but I definitely chose not to watch as it looked too sad...

hawkeye wrote:
It was the bit were she talked about how "it actually breaks one's heart a bit to see it like this" that I particularly identified with. Not that my heart is "broken" but I definitely chose not to watch as it looked too sad...

Very sad that you haven't watched it as it has been an excellent tournament.
High quality, high drama and no, the crowd have not been as quiet as usual, in-fact they have been very vocal which is a nice contrast. This is a one-off tournament- hardly destroys Wimbledon

The quality of matches has been high, the drama has been high, and players have given everything to win. What more could you want? 2 matches which successively broke the record for longest match in Tsonga-Raonic and then Fed-Del Potro. After that semi-finals both players were crying, Fed in joy after kissing the Swiss flag, and Del Potroo was distraught. Pure emotion. Murray was also very emotional after his dismissal of Djokovic- the crowd were incredible.

An immense tournament.
(As a Nadal fan I'm distraught that he couldn't play, but he won gold already. Now he must just recover and make sure he is 100% for US Open.)

It would be a wonderful achievement for Andy to win Olympic Gold. Okay not in the same league as a slam win in the context of the sport but fabulous for Andy to taste glory in his home city in the biggest sporting event in the world. Just ask Rafa how it felt and why he described missing out on these games as the biggest disappointment of his career to learn how much the players think of the Olympic tournament and yes even Roger got all emotional on reaching the Olympic Final.

To Roger it would tick the final box and give him another accolade that his long-term rival Rafael Nadal already has. For Andy it could be vital for more ways than one. Not only would it give him Olympic gold but the boost it would give him psychologically in future slam finals should he continue to reach them could make all the difference between winning and losing them.

Of course the Olympic tournament at Wimbledon will seem odd but I think purely that is because it is not the centre of attention as there is so much other fascinating sporting achievements on a massive scale going on that steals the limelight but don't try to tell me it doesn't mean a heck of a lot to the players as it evidently does.