Wimbledon: The magic continues

By MTF Contributor Nistha Tripathi

Four days into Wimbledon, let’s recount what we’ve seen-

1. Fashion fiascoes: Hm, sorry Roger, the gold “man’s purse” is going to haunt you to your grave. And, if you win that 6th scintillating Wimbledon trophy, please don’t hold it with your ‘Nike’ bag in the other hand, it might get just a tad too dazzling for audience you know. On the positive side, photographers might do without flashes!
2. Hiccups: Sharapova, unfortunately, never found her deadly Australian Open 2008 rhythm again after the shoulder injury. Although looking more determined than ever before, she succumbed in round 2 giving no more chances for me to blah blah about her screams and tiffany eardrops. Ivanovic is hanging in there but ‘how long’ remains a million dollar question. And yes, we had it in Men’s side too. Equaling Safin’s upset of Djokovic last year in magnitude, Hewitt saw off the recent most-improving-player (nah, not Soderling), the Argentine Del Potro in straight sets. We might have a Hewitt-Roddick QF clash if both of them keep their heads straight.
3. Sports-betting: Wha??!! In tennis? Yeah, match-fixing suspicions in a Wimbledon first round match between Odesnik and Melzer popped up after some shady betting activity.
4. The routine: Williamses are marching as smoothly as ever and Federer is steam-rolling his opponents. Any lady in top 20 with non-Williams last name is not looking formidable (Kuznetsova might be a slight exception there) and we might be again heading for surprise semi-finalists if “ova”s and “ovic”s kept falling left and right. And, Roddick looks good (at least, till the QF).

But, what have we not seen yet?-

1. Centre court roof: Oh come on, its London, how long can it not rain! I want rains to see how does it feel to be indoor-y on Centre court.
2. Late night electric thrillers: Remember Murray Vs Gasquet fourth round encounter last year when Scot Andy Murray had risen as a gleam of hope for a champion-starved Great Britain? Let’s hope we get some mouth-watering clashes like that one soon.

Looking at what we missed on wardrobe end, the leading ladies were dressed quite blandly to cause any stir in the media. Jankovic certainly wasn’t caught up by her love for flair, drama and spotlight while picking this Adidas outfit.

©Professional Sport/ T. Hindley

Venus, as elegant as ever on grass, was playing with a bandaged knee in round 2 but still unbeatable.

Hamish Blair/Getty Images Europe

Andy Murray, bagging a sponsorship from Fred Perry brand is looking focused in the laurel logo clad polo.

©IPS / M. Pozzetti

Of course, we are missing the injured defending Champion in the customary sleeveless shirt and pirate pants.

A look at the Wimbledon quotes:

The way Rafa played today, he deserves to win this title one day for sure [after a close 2007 final at Wimbledon]

Federer must have regretted those very words when he was standing second to Rafa after 2008 finale.

As we miss Safin, who crashed out in first round at possibly his last Wimbledon, here’s what he had to say-

Relieved. Pretty much relieved. It’s not the perfect way to finish the Wimbledon story but that’s life.

Roddick always has fun in his interviews. His latest catch on his twitter activity-

Q. You can get arrested in this country for having Rick Astley on your iPod.

ANDY RODDICK: You can get arrested in my country for lying under oath, so…

And from Kuznetsova, who was a bit intrigued to be playing on Court 14-

Q. So Sharapova’s coach was upset years ago that he didn’t get a Mercedes. Is that the kind of gifts you get?

SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: No (laughter). I don’t earn as much as Maria to get Mercedes.