WIMBLEDON 2003
– A SUSPENSE-FILLED TOURNAMENT
M.K.Dharmaraja*
The fortnight’s spectacular
tennis cavalcade at the Wimbledon Championship has been replete
with sensational surprises and upsets from the outset to the very
end. The tournament in its 117th year got off to a thrilling start
with the exit of the defending champion and number one seed, Lleyton
Hewitt, of Australia in the first round. He was the first defending
champion to be ousted in the first round since 1967. The world
number one and second seed, Andre Agassi, then went out of the
scene at the quarter-final stage.
Apart from the
frills and surprises it is the green grass surface that gives
Wimbledon its special quality. It remains the only premier Grand
Slam tennis venue with a grass surface. The fast moving game of
tennis is more enticing on grass with the ball travelling at greater
velocity and with higher bounce. Wimbledon thus has become the
despair of maestros winning titles at the Australian, the French
and the US Open Championships.
A happy news
for India on the final day was Sania Mirza’s historic triumph
in the girls’ doubles in partnership with Alisa Kleybanova of
Russia. It was a twice-blessed day for Indian participation, followed
as it was by the bounty of the Mixed Doubles title for the Leander
Paes-Martina Navratilova pair. For the 46-year old Martina who
won her first Grand Slam nearly 20 years ago, it was a stunning
achievement not likely to be excelled. In a career continuing
into the fourth decade she has so far won 58 Grand Slam titles.
Paes and Martina easily outmatched Andy Ram of Israel and Anastassia
of Russia in straight sets.
The women’s section
of the competition proceeded more or less on expected lines. The
Williams sisters of the United States continued to dominate the
scene. Serena, the younger, also the defending champion, was pitted
against the elder, Venus, a former Wimbledon Champion in the women’s
singles final. It was the sixth duel between the sisters in a
Grand Slam round. Serena had so far won four of the five events.
Venus had not beaten her for the past two years.
But in the final
on Saturday Venus ran into an early lead winning the first set
6-4. She, however, ran out of steam thereafter. Venus was outplayed
by the younger sister who clinched the next two sets 6-4, 6-2.
The duel between the American sisters was of superlative quality
with both moving on the court with amazing speed. It was Serena’s
second successive title at Wimbledon. She wore the singles crown
and won the prize money of five hundred and thirty thousand pounds
sterling. Venus won about half the amount.
Roger Federer
of Switzerland became the first from his country to win the men’s
singles crown. He vanquished the unseeded Mark Philippoussis of
Australia in straight sets 7-6, 6-2, 7-6. The first and the third
sets were tie-breakers in this titanic battle of the last two
survivors in the Championship. Much had been expected of the hard-serving
Australian known for his cannon-like service. But it was the Swiss
with his deep and slanted service who outpaced the acrobatic Philippoussis.
Federer lifted the glittering Wimbledon cup and a cheque of five
hundred and seventy five thousand pounds sterling. Phillippoussis
collected half the amount besides the handsome Championship plate
of the runner-up. The final ended as an anti-climax with the aces
specialist Australian outpaced by the quick-moving Federer who
sent down twenty-one aces, seven more than the rocket-like service
of the Australian. The packed stands cheered Federer shedding
tears of sheer joy as he kneeled down to celebrate his triumph
against the towering Australian. Yet it was a hurculean effort
on the part of Philippoussis, who, until a couple of years before,
was moving about on wheel-chair nursing a knee injury.
Many mesmerising
magic moments marked the Wimbledon 2003 Championship but none
more than in the spell-binding quarter-final encounter between
the 33-year old Andre Agassi and Philippoussis who sent down forty
six aces in the ding-dong duel. The never-say-die Agassi is among
the five tennis icons who had won all the four Grand Slam titles.
The other all-time greats in the game were Fred Perry of Britain
and Don Budge and Rod Laver, both of the United States, and the
Australian, Roy Emerson. Agassi, facing the much younger Philippoussis,
fought valiantly; revelling in cross-court passes and deep volleying.
But the Australian with a long reach and acrobatic movement on
the court had the last word in this match. The Australian also
came back into the game in the semi-final against the German,
Alexander Popp, after he had gone down in the first two sets.
India was on
the verge of a third win in the Championship through Mahesh Bhupathy
partnering Max Mirnyi of Belarus. But the pair who were top seeds
having won the title in the last year’s championship, stumbled
in the final against the veteran Australian, Todd Woodbridge and
his partner.
Indian players
had been performing remarkably well at Wimbledon although the
top slot had eluded them. But this jinx was at long last broken
by the Leander Paes-Mahesh Bhupathy duo when they won the men’s
doubles crown in 1999.
Indian players
had illumined the Wimbledon courts even before Ramanathan Krishnan
and Vijay Amritraj had emblazoned the scene and put India on the
tennis world map. Ghaus Mohammed in the earlier years was the
first Indian to reach the quarter-finals of the Championship.
Sumant Mishra and Jimmy Mehta were a formidable doubles pair at
Wimbledon. Ramanathan Krishnan and Naresh Kumar as also Krishnan
with Jaideep Mukherjee or Premjit Lal teamed up well in the subsequent
years. The Amritraj brothers, Vijay and Anand, had later climbed
up to the ultimate rounds in the Championships.
The touch-artiste
Ramanathan Krishnan lit up the scene by winning the Junior’s title
in 1953. In the senior ranks he went up to the world number three
slot in 1960. Krishnan went up to the semi-finals twice but went
down to the ultimate winner. Vijay Amritraj, who took up the Indian
challenge a decade later, was also bracketed with the best in
the game. He had reached the quarter-finals twice over.
Ramesh Krishnan
emulated his father by winning the Junior’s crown – a feat performed
by Leander Paes twice in subsequent years. Ramesh was reckoned
among the world’s first ten. He went on to defeat the very best
in the game at several competitions.
Wimbledon 2003
will be remembered for long as India’s best year in the Championships
thanks to the double triumph of Sania Mirza in the girls’ doubles
and of Paes and Navratilova in the Mixed Doubles. The 2003 victories
should hopefully prove to be stepping stones of many more and
higher honours for India in the years to come.
The Wimbledon
ethos is well illustrated by the writing on the wall at the entrance
to the players’ room: "If you meet triumph and defeat; threat
them alike for both are imposters".(PIB Features)
*Senior Sports
Writer
