The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Embracing the past to reach the future

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Sunday, Jun 24, 2007
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Sport - Tennis

Embracing the past to reach the future

Nirmal Shekar

TENNIS / Another Russian roulette awaits Sania Mirza

London: It is highly unlikely that anyone who got to witness the 1922 championship — the first to be played at the Church Road facility which King George V declared open with three blows on a gong — would be present at the centre court on Monday when Roger Federer steps in to begin his title defence.

But if indeed such a miraculous thing happened, the grand old man (or woman) would be rather familiar with the surroundings — a lot more familiar, in fact, than any other person at the spiritual home of the game. For, the last time the stands were left completely uncovered was 85 years ago.

In an attempt to reach out to the future — a retractable roof will be in place at the centre court in 2009 and play will not be halted by rain for anything more than a few minutes — Wimbledon has, at least temporarily this summer, ended up embracing the past!

It is left to the finest of man-made institutions to create an illusion of timelessness, aspiring at once for the sort of transcendence that only nature’s wonders can lay claims to. In the world of sport, Wimbledon manages to do this, creating a comforting illusion that time itself is an illusion.

Serious business

On the grounds, of course, few on Saturday may have had the time or the inclination to marvel at Wimbledon’s timeless beauty. For the players and the coaches, it was all serious business on the velvety lawns.

“Move, move, bend your knees,” the squat, friendly Spanish coach Daniel Urpi was telling Sania Mirza on court No. 3. Sania will play Yaroslava Shvedova, a 19-year-old Russian, in the first round as she tries to build her own confidence halfway into a year during which she lost over three months because of a knee surgery.

“Her confidence is a little low but she needs more matches,” said her father Imran Mirza. “I am glad she is back playing with the best after spending three months in a wheelchair.”

Unsung

Shvedova, unsung and unseeded, beat a string of higher ranked players — including the No. 2 seed Sania — to win her first WTA title in Bangalore last February. But, since then, she has not really competed for attention with Maria Sharapova or Serena Williams.

A first round victory would earn Sania a shot at a better known Russian, the 11th seeded Nadia Petrova.

While it is impossibe for any woman figuring in more than two rounds in a Grand Slam event not to run into a Russian opponent, for Sania come Wimbledon it is always a Russian roulette of sorts.

Memorable match

Last year, the 20-year-old from Hyderabad played Elena Dementieva in the first round and fought all the way before losing a close contest while in her debut year, in 2005, Sania was beaten in another memorable match on centre court by Svetlana Kuznetsova.

In the mixed doubles event, Sania will partner Mahesh Bhupathi, according to her father Imran. This will be the first time that the two have played together in a Grand Slam event.

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