h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Here we are then, into the second half of Wimbledon fortnight - just about my favourite two weeks of the year I must admit though, by this point in the tournament, things can be getting either very good or very ho-hum. Either way, I hardly leave the house during these two weeks.

During the first week you get to see a whole raft of new and relatively unknown faces as well as the superstars, and there's always the chance of an upset as top a seed makes an early exit from SW19. By the time we get around to the quarter finals though, most of the underdogs have left and we usually have only the big hitters to contend with. In the mens game that means a lot of power and a good deal less skill. It used to be the other way round in womens tennis, but power is slowly edging out skill there too

The Americans seem to love Wimbledon - there's much talk on the two channels showing it here (ESPN and NBC) about tradition, about the most famous tennis court in the world, about strawberries and cream... and about 'jolly old England' Bit patronising, that is.

Still. Ever since I can remember I've enjoyed Wimbledon, even though I don't particularly like tennis and I don't watch any of the other Grand Slams. In fact, the first time that I saw one of them, I wondered where the grass was. I never knew that tennis was played on anything other than grass, and I still have something of a hard time getting my head around the idea of playing it on any other surface unless it's indoors.

I can vaguely remember seeing Rod Laver and Pancho Gonzales playing... whether it was in the final or not I don't know.

Wimbledon means summer to me. Especially it means midsummer, when the daylight is at its longest. In the London at this time of the year you can be sitting outside a pub at 10pm and there's still a glimmer of the sunset in the northwestern sky. If the weather in the UK is good at this time of the year, it's magnificent. And of course, Wimbledon fortnight always coincided with the beginning of the school holidays

It also means standards. Old fashioned standards some may say, but standards I have a certain respect for. Doing things right. I'd like to be able to say 'not bowing to commercial pressure', but I guess the Wimbledon organisers have had to bow to it to an extent. But just like the BBC, the Centre Court isn't festooned with ads and commercials, which is a lot more than you can say for almost every single major stadium or professional sports venue around the world.

Yeah, I like Wimbledon.

Good for you, Gosho.

My father is undoubtedly watching Wimbledon
faithful too, as he always has.

Yeah, I remember Pancho Gonzales and Rod Laver.
Also Margaret Court Smith (or something along
those lines). Also Billie Jean King and Chris
Evert amd Martina Navratilova.

Remember the time Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs?

Y'know Paul, although I've heard much of that match, I really don't recall it at the time. What year was it? Perhaps that was during my rebellious teenage years, or when I first became old enough to legally drink in pubs and spent a good deal of time doing just that

I've just watched the Ladies final between Venus and Serena Williams. I don't know what the American commentators made of it because I had the BBC Five Live stream coming over the internet, but it's at times like this that BBC commentators can really p*ss me off with their negativity

Ok, so Venus was injured and it was unlikely that she was going to be able to give anything like her best, and Serena, being her sibling, may not have been able mentally to give 100% and beat the older sister who, we're told, she used to want to be like.

During the first set it looked very much as if that was the case - Venus was neither serving or returning as well as she can, and Serena was committing so many unforced errors that if it wasn't for the fact that she was playing the person who she has looked up to as an older sister and a friend, one might be tempted to think that she was throwing the match.

During the second set it was obvious that Venus's injury was getting worse, and after she returned to the court following some medical attention at the beginning of the third set, we were told that the trainer had seriously asked her if she wanted to retire. She didn't, and she went to lose the championship two sets to one.

Afterwards when we being interviewed by Sue Barker, Venus said "The fans deserved a final - that's why I was out there."

All the way through the second and third sets, and again after the match had ended, the Five Live commentators were banging on and on about what a dreadful game of tennis it was, what a dreadful final it was, and what a bad day it is for womens tennis. They even got hold of a couple of fans and asked them how much they'd paid for their tickets, did they feel let down, and would they pay the same next year if the Williams sisters where in the final again?

I'm not familiar with the rules of a tennis Grand Slam tournament so I don't know whether Venus could have pulled out and one of the losing semi-finalists been given a place in the final to play Serena. If not, Venus could have pulled out anyway, and the fans would have had *no* final. But the commentators didn't ask about or bring up that question - it was all about what a dreary game it was. One of the commentators also made an observation about Vemus looking as if she was bored out of her skull, and went on to describe how Venus has many other interests outside of her tennis. I really doubt that anyone can get to the final of a Grand Slam - particularly at Wimbledon, on Centre Court - and just go through the motions.

I'm no big fan of the Williams sisters - whilst there's no doubt that they're outsanding tennis players, I think that they rely too much on superior strength to overcome many of their opponents rather than their skill (which I believe I talked about in the first post), and that's something which I think is far more worrying for the future of womens tennis. The mens game has been going that way for a long time now and has suffered in terms of interest as a result. The big servers and huge hitters have made it thoroughly boring to watch.

Nor am I a fan of the idea that you should play through an injury. That's such an unbelievably stupid and dangerous concept. It's an extension of the old showbiz adage 'The show must go on', with added testosterone and machismo. People go on for instance about how Bert Trautmann injured his neck 15 minutes before the end of the FA Cup Final, but didn't find out until days later that it was broken. Good for him - he got away with it, and he probably did it more out of blind loyalty than anything else. In those days most professional sports players were still treated like servants by their superiors, and the players behaved appropriately. Talking back or letting down the team wasn't the done thing.

However, I've seen a news report about a girl who suffered a similar injury and was very firmly told that if she *had* played through her injury she may never have walked again. During the... I think it was the Atlanta Olympics, there was the young American gymnast who sprained an ankle but who still carried on and competed in the vault - one of the most punishing events on a gymnast's ankles. I've sprained an ankle more than once and I know just how much it hurts. I wouldn't dream of even walking on it for a few days, let alone competing in an exercise like the vault where I'm going to be up in the air and coming down very hard on my feet. That's just idiotic for the long term consequences.

Apparently Venus Williams has been coached to stop playing when she has an injury. This time she didn't, but bloody hell - it's the Wimbledon final. So I have to ask where does a professional sports player's loyalty lay - with their career, or with putting on a good show for the fans? Where should the line be drawn?

Good question. I wish I had a good answer for you.

I do hold to the opinion that the pain of an injury is your body's way of warning you that you should stop doing whatever makes it hurt, or you could damage yourself permanently. Why don't athletes heed that warning? What is so all important about playing one last inning/quarter/set/vault that you can't sit this one out? Are *you* personally so vitally important to the outcome of the match that even in an injured state, there's no one else on the team who could substitute for you?

And in the final analysis, does it *really* matter all that much if your team loses? Won't you be remembered just as much for being the one who *didn't* risk permanent damage, as you would for being the one who continued on anyway, and wound up unable to ever participate in that particular sport again? In 100 years will anyone even *care* who won a specific competition?


Sounds to me more like an ego trip than a matter of necessity.

But then I don't care much for sports, and don't see much sense in risking oneself for mere sport.

Oooh, questions to answer!

<>

Maybe they will lose big bucks if they pull out.
Or, if they're amateurs, they have coaches/fathers/etc.
who are unenlightened.

<>
What if I'm injured so badly I'll never be able to
play again? This is all the playing I have left.

Are *you* personally so vitally important to the outcome of the match that even in an injured state, there's no one else on the team who could substitute for you?
What, substitute for big, handsome, wonderful me?
Don't be silly.

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My team may win extra money if it wins the Series/Bowl/whatever.
I may get a bonus as part of that money.

<>
Baby, I'll be remembered either way.

<< In 100 years will anyone even *care* who won a specific competition?>>

Don't be silly. Right now is all that matters.

Like I said, ego.

And money too. I forgot all about *money*.

~~rolls eyes~~

If you want these eyes back, it'll
cost ya 50 million, lady.

That's ok, you can keep 'em. I wasn't using them anyway.

Wimbledon is over for another 50 weeks

Unusually, the mens final was better than the womens this year (which was something of a non-event, see above) despite the fact that one of the big servers was playing, it only went to three sets, and I could count on one hand the number of times *both* players attacked the net.

So, two weeks of sitting in front of the tv watching tennis over and done with... and three weeks of sitting in front of the tv watching the Tour de France about to get underway

*More* sports?!?

Gosho, I asked my father for his take
on the Serena vs. Venus Williams
match. He thought it was quite a good match.
So, those BBC commentators were wrong!

Yes, Lady Scott, more sports.

I'm not fond of watching sports. I'd rather
pick a sport I can do, and actually play it.