So it is all over and now the nation can relax. Never again will we chew our nails down to our knuckles, never again will we hide behind the sofa, never again will we feel that awful dawning realisation that our guy is losing and will continue losing, no more the acceptance of defeat, no more the discussion between Sue B et al as to whether Andy will ever win Wimbledon. Now the chat has turned to How Many more Grand Slams can he win? and so it continues. But he has done it and done it in style and it is a well deserved victory which has arisen out of bloody hard work and determination and he deserves it.
But I cannot let this year go by without making a few comments about the presentation. John Inverdale has put his foot in it this week with his comments about Bartoli not being a 'looker' and womanhood rose as one and had a go at him. The fact that Andy is not exactly Brad Pitt is never touched upon of course or the fact that some of the male players are not exactly 'lookers' themselves (Cilic and Stepanek to name a couple), but they are men so that is OK. But if you are a woman tennis player then your appearance will be scrutinised and commented upon and if you are a Tennis WAG then you can expect the BBC cameras to zoom in on you at every opportunity and it goes without saying that all Tennis WAGS are size ten, slim, golden haired, immaculately dressed with gleaming white shiny teeth and hair, masses of it. I gather Kim Sears hair has a Twitter account all of its own.
Shame that John Mac has a contract to comment on the men's final with a US channel as we could do with him in the commentary box for the BBC on finals day. Instead we had Andrew Castle, who I don't mind though I know some people loathe him, Tim Henman with his monotone drone and Boris Becker who is quite fun and at one stage told us all that he 'was getting quite excited'. We all know what happened the last time Boris got quite excited in a small space..........
The build up to the final was so portentous I had to switch off. We had a VT on what felt like a loop so often did we see it, of the aforesaid commentators telling us over and over again it had been 77 years since a Brit last won a Wimbledon title (OK forget all about Virginia who won in 1977) and we were told that Roosevelt was President then, Baldwin was PM and Edward VIII abdicated. All complete with doom laden music and black and white news reels. We then had yet another showing of a VT of Andy, goes without saying it was in slo mo, the BBC are obsessed with this, and this time we had patriotic type music and a choir. It was totally cheesy, nauseating and totally over the top. If I listened very carefully I could almost hear Dan Maskell turning in his grave and muttering 'Oh I say'. Dire dire dire.
Wimbledon is the greatest tennis tournament in the world, everyone knows this, but it is time the BBC stopped treating it like an extension of a Queen's garden party with all the slebs in the royal box and the cameras zooming in all the time. 'Oh look there is Posh' cries Andrew, thank goodness he did not point out that she appeared to be wearing her nightie, she spent most of the match on her phone texting; 'Oh Hollywood is here' cries Boris as he spots Bradley Cooper and Gerard Butler. Wayne and Colleen Rooney were there both looking bored stiff and Anna Wintour, trying to pretend she was sitting on the front row of a fashion show.
WHO decided who gets to sit in the Royal Box and what bright spark decided the Rooneys are worthy of a ticket, or any of the bunch free loading on an afternoon when real fans had been camped out for days in the hope of a ticket. Most people sitting in the box are not interested in tennis and are just there to be seen or, as in the case of David Cameron, hoping a bit of magic will rub off on his electoral hopes and victory will reflect on him. Worth mentioning here that local tennis courts in Wimbledon are being dug up and being converted into a local football ground and the Lawn Tennis Association did nothing to stop it so committed are they to finding the next Andy, not. David Cameron has certainly done nothing particularly of merit for sport but, as with Tony B, he never sees a bandwagon without hopping onto it. The pictures in the paper today of Nick Clegg, Dave et all gushing over Andy at No 10 were quite nauseating.
Ah well, it was ever thus and nothing should take away from Andy's achievement. He now holds two of the four Grand Slam titles this year with Nadal and Djokovic holding the other two. Where are you Roger I cry. After years of dissing and criticising Andy Murray and saying he will never be any good, he has gone and done it and I do hope you watched the match and raised a glass in his honour.
Yeh right.
I love it all and now that I have Sky I can watch tennis all the year round, not just these two weeks, glorious though they are. Going to have a crack at the ballot for next year again. I gave up applying some years ago as in twenty years of the ballot I never got one ticket but think it is time I went back and saw the Centre Court again. To be sitting watching a wonderful match in this magical arena is simply wonderful. It has an atmosphere all of its own and I want to see if I get lucky for 2014.
New balls please.
