While the story of the 2006 All England Lawn Tennis Club Championships (that's Wimbledon, if you don't know) is the announcement of Andre Agassi's impending retirement following the U.S. Open, there are some very special stories still in play. One of the best things about the stop in merry old England is that without fail there is always a Cinderella/Cinderfella story. This year is no exception.
I'm sitting here watching Severine Bremond take on Justine Henin-Hardenne in one women's quarterfinal. If there was ever a Cinderella story, this one is it. Bremond has been around the tour for a few years, but has never done better then the second round in any of the major tournaments, and hasn't really distinguished herself on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
Hovering around a ranking of 100, Bremond entered the tournament through the qualifiers. Then, amazingly, took out three top seeds to reach this pinnacle. Swiss Miss number two, Patty Schnyder, Gisela Dulko (interviewed here last year), and Ai Sugiyama all fell to her aggressive style.
If there was ever a tournament or surface suited to her game, the grass here is it. Severine is not shy when she says that her early hero was Boris Becker and that she tries to play in his style. Becker had his penultimate success at SW19, so it would follow that Bremond would do best here. The interesting thing is that her record on grass isn't overall better then her record on any other surface. Her serve is one of the better ones on the WTA Tour, and works well on the grass, at least this year.
Today's match is close, and I have to admit that Bremond looks very good. Henin-Hardenne will probably prevail, but Bremond is not going down without a fight. Six-four in the first. I wonder, how many of her French compatriots took the Chunnel today to see her play.
The other Cinderella story is Na Li. Coming out of China, Li has done extremely well this year, starting with a great showing at the Hobart, Australia tournament. Seeded 27th here, it would not seem unlikely that she would not have gone a few rounds. But she has been almost more amazing then Bremond. Starting with tough tour veteran Virginie Razzano, Li has also taken down three great players in succession. Probably a tougher draw than Bremond, as Li had to make it through Razzano, Meilen Tu, French Open finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova, and re-hot teen Nicole Vaidisova to make it to her appearance today against reigning U.S. Open champion (and soon to be Jersey Girl) Kim Clijsters.
The appearance of the Chinese on the women's tour has been a good story all year, with the doubles team of Yan Zi/Zheng Jie taking the Australian Open doubles and making it to the French Open semis. Na Li has not truly distinguished herself on tour, but has played strong and up to her potential. Li will fall today (it's 4-3 Clijsters right now), but has had a great showing.
The Cinderfella story here is the same one from the Australian Open, Marcus Baghdatis. Baghdatis took out Brit via Scotland Andy Murray to reach the men's quarterfinals. Murray had dispatched number two American Andy Roddick in the previous round, and looked like a contender on home soil. But Marcus and the pressure of the Queen was too much for Murray. Baghdatis has the pixie dust this year, and at the Big W it seems likely that he might even make it past Lleyton Hewitt to make it to the semis, where he will find Rafael Nadal waiting for him. Either way, it has been a great run for him here in 2006.
I'm sure you noticed that I haven't commented on the fact that there were no Americans left in the singles draws after Monday, and that only one made it to the second week. There are still Americans playing, only you have to look to the doubles and mixed doubles to find them. Let's just leave it for now that there will be a future column on the state of American tennis and what I feel needs to be done to fix it.
So that's it, I'm off to have some more strawberries and crème, with a flute or two of champagne. Wimbledon is just like a fairy tale. I really love this tournament.
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