The Hewitt match at Wimbledon yesterday tunred out to be the real zinger of the day, of course, and perhaps of the tournament, given that an unknown 6'10" Croation, Ivo Karlovic ranked at 203rd in the world, ended up defeating last year's mens singles champion and numer one seed, the Australian Lleyton Hewitt. The Croatian had a deadly serve -- an IBM timeclock on the court recorded one at 135 mph -- which clearly rattled Hewitt. However, Hewitt also was definitely not playing up to par. When we first sat down, the first set was finishing up and Karlovic was pretty scrappy. But as the match progressed, he became more confident as Hewitt seemed to get more nervous and lose confidence. The spectators were totally won over to the Croat's playing, and he got a standing ovation at the end. It was close all the way, with the two battling it out point by point and going to four sets over nearly 2 1/2 hours.

I really enjoyed wandering around Wimbledon, which I didn't realise has lots of other matches being played at courts all over the grounds. Except for the three main stadium-like courts, you can go have a gander at any of the matches. We also wandered up to see the grassy knoll where the big TV screen is. Lots of people were sitting in the sun, viewing the TV! I was surprised at the huge queues to get in (a longtime tradition for the public to queue for daily tickets, and the line to get in even if you HAVE a ticket is really, really long).

The decorum of the court is fascinating to watch. The precise movements of the ballboys and girls; the way in which they are required to stand with hands behind their backs and to raise an arm with a ball to see if the server wants more than s/he has in hand, the positions the umpires (is that what they're called?!) take. That funny wheeled platform chair the main referee sits in looks like some contraption out of a Monty Python skit. The grass courts looked so lovely and green., I wanted to go lie down on them. Not exactly something that would go over well with the punters!

It sure was fun watching history being made -- the first time a defending champion has been defeated in his or her first game.

It's a lovely sunny day in London right now-- too bad Iam sitting inside writing stories for this week's paper!
4:03:34 PM  #   your two cents []