The Hindu : Sport : Wimbledon off to a typically wet beginning

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Tuesday, Jun 26, 2007
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Sport

Wimbledon off to a typically wet beginning

Nirmal Shekar

Defending champ Roger Federer makes an assertive start, beating Teimuraz Gabashvili handily

PHOTO: AP

RAIN STOPS PLAY… A familiar scene was played out at the AELTC on the opening day of The Championships.

London: Soon, one of the most sublime pleasures that the world of sport has to offer will be lost.

Ah, the languorous pleasure of waiting to watch grass court tennis at Wimbledon, and then, being seduced into a reverie as tiny rain drops keep falling on billowing court covers!

Two summers on, when the retractable roof over the centre court makes all-weather play possible for the first time, one of the last bastions of old world traditions will have fallen in line, surrendering to the devilish charms of modern sporting world’s sole despotic ruler — television.

Perhaps Nature itself is a bit of a romantic; for, on Monday, the opening day of the 121st championships upon the lawns of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, it allowed a familiar script to be played out. Roger Federer, attempting to join Bjorn Borg in the pantheon, did not step out for his title defence against Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia on the centre court until after 2.30 p.m., an hour and a half after the appointed hour — and even then, the players walked out under charcoal grey skies.

There was a spitting rain for the most part of the first set but Federer sorted out his 6ft 2in opponent, making his debut in the tournament, sooner than he might have figured out how to pronounce the Russian’s name. The 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory was the champion’s 29th in a row at Wimbledon. He is now unbeaten in 49 matches on grass.

There was a different feel to the celebrated court, with every part of it open to the skies. The familiar cathedral hush that used to hang beneath the steel rafters was replaced by sights and sounds more in common with other sporting arenas.

And you wondered where all the pigeons were. Where were all those culturally aware centre court residents that rarely noisily flapped away between points. Anybody for pigeon rights?

Gabashvili, nicknamed Tsunami, might have wondered about victims’ rights instead. Surely, the world of tennis has never known a more benign tsunami. And even as Federer found his first break of serve in the sixth game and quickly pocketed the first set, the rain withdrew, offering the Swiss maestro a clear view of the finish line. To be sure, the rain delay hardly mattered to the world champion.

Then again, Wimbledon without rain delays would be like a Mozart sonata without the slow movement, without its haunting lyricism and soul-lifting weightlessness.

“Into each life some rain must fall, some days be dark and dreary,” wrote H.W. Longfellow.

But, these days, wooed by a 24-hour sports-TV culture that demands the sort of packaging of sport that the most sublime in sport is unlikely to lend itself to, we have come to hate the elements whenever they interfere with play.

Yet, the question is this: what would sport be, in the long run, if it decides to divorce itself from Nature? The truth is, if we sought to lock up sport in a made-for-television ambience invulnerable to the elements, it would lose its very soul. Some of the most dramatic matches I have watched at Wimbledon in the last quarter of a century have been ones that were interrupted by rain.

Roger Federer would have been up against the wall — and may not have won in the end — in the 2004 final against Andy Roddick if not for the gift of a rain delay in the third set. One set all and down 2-4, the champion used the delay to switch to Plan B, serving and volleying his way to a second title. The crazy Croat, Goran Ivanisevic, was luckier in the match against Tim Henman in 2001. Ivanisevic went on to beat Pat Rafter in an epic final on People’s Monday.

Agencies add

Third seed Andy Roddick started his campaign with a comfortable 6-1, 7-5, 7-6(3) first-round victory over fellow American Justin Gimelstob. Roddick broke his opponent twice in the first set to speed to a 5-0 lead before Gimelstob pulled a game back on his own serve. Roddick then served for the set, capturing it with an ace.

Important Results

(Prefix denotes seeding)

THE RESULTS

Men (first round): 1-Roger Federer (Sui) bt Teimuraz Gabashvili (Rus) 6-3, 6-2, 6-4; Alejandro Falla (Col) bt Sam Querrey (USA) 7-6(5), 6-1, 6-4. 3-Andy Roddick (USA) bt Justin Gimelstob (USA) 6-1, 7-5, 7-6(3); 13-Tommy Haas (Ger) bt Z ack Fleishman (USA) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2; 5-Fernando Gonzalez bt Robby Ginepri (USA) 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-2; Florent Serra (Fra) bt 27- Philipp Kohlschreiber(Ger) 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-2.