Wimbledon 2022 Day 9

Legends:

What made today different was the variety of legends playing by invitation. It's wonderful to see so many legends (not just the usual few) producing a great standard of play this year - sometimes you forget it's not a main draw doubles match! This was down to a broad age bracket (30+ years old to 60+ years old, with the exception of Laura Robson who is 28). Of course, Bahrami is an essential ingredient of the Invitational Events😍. But it's still nice to see some new faces from the past who don't normally play the legends at Wimbledon e.g. Mary Pierce, Casey Dellacqua, Natalie Dechy, Flavia Pennetta, Agnieszka Radwanska, Jelena Jankovic. Martina Hingis is as though she's never left! Today I noticed her excellent shoulder rotation on her groundstrokes, perhaps I didn't fully appreciate before how that aspect of her technique gives her strength, accuracy and control. 

The best point in an Invitational match today was Bartoli 👏👏👏👏👏 (partnering Zimonjic) when she won a point when 2-3 down in the second set. She was closer to the net and had to keep returning shots while repeatedly stepping backwards until she eventually won the point. That's incredibly difficult because, one: it's easy to lose perspective / your sense of the geography of the court which leads to mis-hitting; two: it's common to hit the ball in the net as you lose pace on the ball because you are weaker when your body is leaning/moving backwards rather than transferring your bodyweight forwards to hit through the ball. 

The good news is that you get to see all the legends again soon because it's a round-robin draw. But the bad news is that the matches aren't on catch-up, as far as I can see. I agree with one commentator who said that there should be more fanfare around the legends otherwise people aren't aware that they are on-court and playing elite tennis! 

Lesbian Visibility in Tennis:

I do believe there were more 'out' gay women among the legends invitational draw than in the main draw and that's not including some gay women who have retired and didn't make the Invitational. Sign of the times: we are going backwards!😱

Grass:

I learnt today that the grass at Wimbledon has changed to rye grass which is more hard wearing than presumably the grass that was there before. Hence, the grass is less worn out at the start of the second week than it used to be in the past. 🎾👟Good to know. Does it play differently? Does it favour a different style of game? Does it favour certain players? 

Main Draw Women's Doubles:

Krejcikova and Siniakova looked like their time at Wimbledon was up but they pulled a win out of the bag and beat the number 10 seeds, Melichar and Perez. So they are through to the doubles semi-finals which is exciting stuff.

Also through to the doubles semi-finals are Ostapenko and Kichenok who also had a tough match. They were up against H.C. Chan and Aoyama. Aoyama may be the shortest player on tour but she's fast! It's difficult getting a ball past her. I was totally mesmerized by her speed and court skills. In many ways she reminds me of Ai Sugiyama. 

Funding British Women Tennis Players:

I've been thinking about funding for British tennis players, especially women, after learning that Dart had to share a coach. It struck me that there are plenty of extremely wealthy people, predominantly men, and companies that could sponsor players. Not just a chosen few either because you can't be sure who will succeed the most since it depends on so many factors: 

• health,
• injury, 
• stamina, 
• mental strength, 
• physical strength, 
• life events that can slow a player up unfairly, 
• athleticism, 
• adaptatibilty, 
• willing to keep learning, 
• in it to win it, 
• self motivation,
• genuinely enjoy tennis, 
• being sporty and fit, 
• focus and drive, 
• prioritizing tennis over attending school, study, because it's too sedentary a lifestyle
• enjoying the professional tennis lifestyle, including all the training, not constantly romanticizing 'normal' life.

However, while listening to the commentary on this match I learned that in Japan they have corporations that fund players and it has boosted their system. So, the same could be in place in this country. And we need to spread the net wider so that future tennis players come from all over Britain. At the moment, all of the LTA British top 10 women players are English, and they are mostly southerners. 

Tennis in Schools:

And just as there's a need for music to be taught in schools so there's also a need to teach tennis in schools. Team sports are practical for P.E. lessons but once teenagers leave school individual sports are more accessible! And we need to get rid of snotty, elitist sports clubs because they don't support talent they are just a place for Pimms 🍸🍓🍰 and social tennis. 

Besides, we have the iconic The Championships, Wimbledon🎾🏆 so every child should be taught tennis! Surely!