Wimbledon

When I think of wimbledon, 90s and more specifically 1992 is the wimbledon that springs automatically to my mind. That was my 2nd year of seriously following any other sport than cricket... That championship was unique, just for the number of superstars of the day, past and present in the fray and also for the quality of tennis. There was Mcenroe playing his last few matches, Edberg and Becker, as good as ever on grass, hurting from their loss to Stich the previous year, there was Ivanisevic, blowing away opponents just with his serve, there was Sampras, tipped to win many titles here, and there was Agassi, man tipped for greatness for a while and just being beginning to be written off.
When people were hoping for a fourth dream final between Edberg and Becker, Ivanisevic blasted Edberg in a classic 5-setter.. He continued in semis to outlast Sampras to avoid what could have been another final between Sampras and Agassi, who on his part took care of Becker and Mcenroe to reach yet another slam final. The final was a classic, an epic 5 setter, remembered for Agassi's crawl on his knees to the chair :) and also for great grass court tennis, serve and volley versus classic baseline power. My dad supporting Ivanisevic and me rooting for Agassi. I wonder why my dad and me can never share favourites :)
The only team we can both root for together is the Indian cricket team :D
Agassi won that title, which was to be his only one here. But he surely was the best one time champion wimbledon had, 2nd best being the runner up that year.

90s had many great wimbledons Sampras winning most, Agassi coming close, but just falling short on grass. Ivanisevic trying everything for a title here.. knocking again and again, as if he knew it was his destiny. It was, at the expense of Rafter, another one who could have won more, but in the 2000s.
All those years the competition was tight and even Sampras had to play 5 setters to win, sometimes more than 1.
The past few wimbledons were dull for the plain fact that no one was even close enough to Federer to even take him to five sets and it seemed unlikely this year too. Until the final though. Federer started well. had a 3-0 lead. I knew if Federer cruises in the 1st set he'll be home in maximum 4. He usually starts well and never looks back. But Nadal pulled back. A tough first set in tie-break and yes, there was a contest at hand, more so after Nadal took the 2nd and then took the 3rd to a tie break. When Federer won the 3rd many would have predicted a cruise in the 4th. However, he had a poor game and an unusual lapse in concentration over a tough call through electronic review.. and suddenly it seemed that the master could lose. We were in 5th set. On serve 2-2, Federer had saved 2 break points in the previous game too. Now he was 15-40 again. With nadal serving well and wise, it was very important to hold. Federer, at this time somehow realized that it was not just a match and even a title at stake. He had more at stake. He had lost all close matches to Nadal on clay and if he lost this one on grass he would give him an edge he might never close.
Maybe the fear of losing is a greater motivator than the will to win. This point brought out the very best of Federer. he had been almost 90% of his best in the match. But now he was at his 100%. He was unstoppable. It was above ability now. It was in the heart and the head. And Roger won all the games from there to seal an amazing 5th title.
Yet with the grass court slowing down, he might not remain unbeaten here for long. With Nadal close on heels and Djokovic and Murray fast rising, we will surely have interesting Wimbledons. I am already looking forward to the next one.

Saturday night!!

It seemed a usual night.. around 1AM. Saturday night. its normal for us to be awake at such times on Saturday, errr, actually Sunday. Usually we are rarely outside home. But it wasn't supposed to be a usual night. After all, not always does one of us walk up the Indian street (in Jersey) hand in hand with a blonde. hmmm... I see eyebrows raising.. well that was just to build the suspense.. hee heee.. Arijit, Tushar, Devendra and me.. were walking from babu's house to ours.. we wouldn't have been going to our house had we not had to leave for six flags the following morning. Now at the corner we see a blonde, weeping aloud. There were still people on the street, all ignoring her after a curious first glance. But somehow, we could not help but ask what was wrong. "I want to go home." she cried. I don't know weather it was cowardice or prudence that made us proceed only slowly towards her. She was clearly in need of help and we were skeptical of leading a helping hand. So much for the progress mankind has made, its still got a long way to go. Arijit, the one who seemed most amused at her first sight was most forthright in getting forward. He had the least hesitation. We asked her whereabouts of her home and she said she lived in Jersey. "But this is Jersey" we said.. "No its newark" she would not believe us, whatever reason she was left with after her drinks, she had used to read the Newark Avenue board on the street (newark Avenue happens to be the actual name of the Indian street in Jersey) . It was futile to argue with her. She would not understand. Now we were divided on the next course of action, Arijit insisting we call the cab, me and Devendra being more inclined towards calling 911. But then Arijit was more convincing and being more American than all of us put together (in terms of time spent here :D ) we decided its better to let him take a call. But then she could not explain her address to the cab driver we called up. Oh did I mention she had no money.. shit! I am the one who's guaranteed to have cash... I was wishing her home was nearby.. so it'd pinch my pocket a bit less. Well now back to the scene.. We had somehow managed to get her address. Now she wanted to get up.. Tushar being near her, gave her a hand.. but she could not stand firm and had to be escorted. So Tushar had to do the honours. Now Devendra & me went to the nearest cab stop and get a cab while Tushar and Arijit helped her walk to the main street. Again i forgot to mention the surprise of the onlookers to see 4 desis and a blonde walk together. We managed to get a cab real fast and it was only $7.. :) We tipped the driver too.. and asked him to ensure she reaches her house and hoped the same happened.
Sunday morning she'd have got up with a headache with faint remembrance of how she got home. Worst still she'd not have remembered who helped her, but probably she'd have learned her lesson. Just probably she'll feel she was lucky she was dumped on Indian street and that a few desis and not drunk kallas found her and would understand she can't afford to be so messed up again. May be she'll change. Possibly she won't, but its hope that carries this world ahead...