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In spite of all the football frenzy, it’s another kind of green that’s going to grip some souls in a few days – at Wimbledon. The good thing is you can watch it live at a decent hour and still get to work bright-eyed and bushy-tailed the following morning. And even though it’s a foregone conclusion that the men’s final will be the same old thing – likely Nadal versus Djokovic, or maybe Murray if he gets his act together or Federer if he rediscovers his magic – the real excitement is around the women’s matches.
Not only are the champions in the women’s circuit playing incredibly great tennis, there is always the possibility of a new champion emerging at every tournament. You never know until the final two line up on top.
Take this year’s French Open, for instance. Who’d have thought a girl from Romania would be the challenger? And Simona Halep certainly gave Russia’s Maria Sharapova a run for her money. In the last five years, the French Open has seen four different women’s champions. In the men’s it’s been Nadal all the way. Boring!
Yes, sure, he and his party of Nadal, Nadal and Djokovic with the occasional pooper Murray play superbly. No question. But it makes for pretty dull viewing. True, it’s their job in a way, but for us it’s entertainment. Also, there’s something almost incestuous about the same people dominating the play. It’s a kind of dictatorship thing.
Whereas with the women someone suddenly pulls out something extra and we have a new champion. Sometimes that may be the only title the individual wins, but so what? There’s something inherently ègalitè about this. It sends out the message that anyone can do it. But not when the men come on. Then you feel: oh no, never, not me, ever. It’s depressing.
Since 2004, only three men have topped the ATP rankings: Nadal, Federer and Djokovic, whereas 11 women led the WTA rankings, and that does not include Venus Williams. What does that say?
Of course, more champions means less moolah which in any case is unfairly lower for women than for men. Still, the winnings are distributed. It’s ègalitè and the match continues.
Senior Assistant Editor
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