Thoughts As Wimbledon Commences

This time I am writing this column from the beautiful country of Netherlands where I am enjoying a short vacation. I confess, I had a hard time staying away from tennis.

The Ordina Open, one of the warm-up grasscourt tournaments for Wimbledon, was taking place five minutes from the southern and chic town of s'Hertogenbosch (try pronouncing that). It is both an ATP and a WTA tournament, a feature that only a handful number of tournaments can claim to have, yet should carefully consider. I could not resist the temptation, I made my way there over the weekend via two-hour train ride.

The men's side included some surprisingly big names considering that most players who expect to do well in Slams traditionally stay away from action the week before. Guillermo Coria and Tommy Robredo were the top two seeds and you guessed it: neither made it to the weekend. Let clay-courters be clay-courters. At least, they were there (more on what I mean, later in the column).

Grasscourt players felt right at home with their big serves. When it came down to the weekend, it was all about serving and volleying, hardly any rallies lasting more than three or four shots. Mark Philippoussis showed some signs of good form by reaching the semis before losing a tough battle in three sets to Michael Llodra of France, who can do some fantastic serving and volleying of his own, proven by the fact that he was the returning title holder at Ordina Open.

In the other semis, Mario Ancic, the Wimbledon semifinalist from last year, needed only one break in each set to take out Herndych of Germany. Same pattern emerged again in the finals for Ancic. He broke Llodra once in each set to win the match and the tournament.

What is it with Croatians, anyway? Goran Ivanisevic, Ancic, and even another Croatian, Ivan Ljubicic, all have big serves — make that huge serves — yet have good touch at the net. They move well despite their height and sport a thin physical frame while still displaying a quality power game. Watching Ancic play live for the first time, I honestly felt like Goran will not be the last Croatian to win Wimbledon one day.

On the women's side, it was a somber tournament with two relatively unheard names making it to the finals (not that there were many big names to begin with), and a final that lasted barely over an hour resulting in Klara Koukalova (perhaps easier to pronounce than s'Hertogenbosch) taking the crown. Interestingly, the biggest name in the tournament was Martina Navratilova, who exited in the first round.

As far as the tournament itself goes, although it was hard to find the location unless you are familiar with the area, the setup was pleasantly nice. There were plenty of sponsor tents to look and shop around the grounds, food availability was great. The kids' play area was well-attended and large. But this is a tennis tournament after all, and all positive things ended when it came down to what you are really there for — watching the tennis.

I must say that the center court was poorly constructed. Of all the pro tournaments that I have attended in person (if you follow my articles, you will know that I have been to several), this was the hardest place to watch a tennis match for the common spectator. The stands were too flat, causing you to have your vision of the court totally blocked if someone with a big cranial unit sat in front of you, and then if you moved your head around to watch the ongoing rally, you may be blocked by that same guy who is also suffering from having his vision darkened by few others in front of him, also moving their heads.

Come on, people! How about making the stands a little steeper? The country's other ATP tournament in Amersfoort later in the summer would be a good place to start if you need a model in this respect.

Furthermore, what is with the "no designated seating" for tickets? This was a first for me. I guess it works fine during the week when attendance is not so high, but when the stands are full, it is a large, never-ending nightmare. Imagine going with your family of four to this tournament for a moment. It is often impossible to find four seats next to each other because everyone always goes for the roomy seats at first until there are only sparse seats left here and there.

And then, if you ever get up to go get something to eat or drink, and/or a bathroom break, your seat is quickly gone and the nightmare starts all over again when you get back. So please, I don't mind seats that are not located right next to the court or even a little high, but if I pay $40 euros per seat as a spectator, I do not want to have to live a nightmare to find them every time I get up, I would rather have "my seats" that I paid for, ready for "me!"

On to Wimbledon...

If I am Tim Henman, I am rejoicing because for the first time in my career at Wimbledon, some of the attention will be split between me and another British player, Andrew Murray. The young new British hope had a solid tournament two weeks ago in Queen's Club tournament in London. In fact, as I write this column, both Henman and Murray won their first round matches, and there was even a bit more excitement about Murray than Henman, although the latter made a fantastic comeback to defeat his opponent in five sets. Oh yes, if I am Henman, I definitely want Murray to stay alive in the tournament as long as I am still in it.

Apparently, there is some talk about limiting the screams that some women tennis players make during their strokes. This was an issue when Monica Seles was playing in the '90s, so it's nothing new. Most likely, it is destined to remain just that: "talk." Honestly, how do you determine at what point the screams are too loud? What is next? Are we going to have a "decibel clock" on display on each court next to the shotclock that measures the serve's speed? I can just see Maria Sharapova looking at the device in panic after each shot to see if it reached a dangerous level, can't you?

Last, but not the least, I have two words to say to Rafael Nadal: thank you! Thank you Rafael, for showing the most prestigious tournament its due respect and playing it. Thank you for not dodging the grasscourt season and Wimbledon, unlike your compatriots Albert Costa, Carlos Moya, and Alex Corretja, who find some sketchy excuse yearly to skip it. Thank you for understanding that to be the unquestionably best in the world, you must master every surface to the best of your ability, a realization that never hit your compatriots mentioned above and other players like Gustavo Kuerten, along with past players like Thomas Muster and Marcelo Rios.

Enjoy Wimbledon, everyone.