Wimbledon ‘07: More Than Meets the Eye

Saturday morning, I was eating my traditional championship breakfast: strawberries, whipped cream, and champagne. While not perfectly like it is served at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, it is still part of the tradition, and a tradition I have been celebrating for 31 years. I was doubly blessed this year, as not only did I get an uninterrupted ladies' championship Saturday, but the strawberries were especially large and perfectly ripe. Doesn't get much better then that.

I was watching Venus Williams win her fourth Wimbledon title with a convincing two set win over French up-and-comer Marion Bartoli and was clicking online through the match statistics when I caught something on the screen that interested me. Jelena Jankovic and her partner were set to play for the mixed doubles championship. Jankovic, part of the rising crew of Serbian players, has had an incredible year so far, and it was not unusual to see her competing for a title. Her compatriot, Ana Ivanovic, having just made the final of the French Open, was also not such a surprise to have made it to the semis at Wimbledon. It even didn't feel weird to see Novak Djokovic in the semifinals against Rafael Nadal.

Serbia has made incredible strides in professional tennis, and they have come to have a very large presence in the top ranks of the game. It is very important to note that just a little over a decade ago we were talking about war-torn Yugoslavia, with its ethnic Serbs and Croats. Genocide on a large scale was prevalent. In less then a generation, what became Serbia has managed to create some of tennis' more alluring stories.

On Sunday, the gentlemen's championship had been decided and the bottle of champagne was empty. Roger Federer made history by tying Bjorn Borg's five consecutive championship titles with the legendary Borg in attendance. And Jankovic and her partner won the mixed doubles title. Unless my fact-checking is wrong, that is the first major tennis title for Serbia. A huge accomplishment. An accomplishment maybe more newsworthy then Roger's fifth title. Glad I could cover it.

While I am sure the only papers that really covered the other piece of history are all on that tiny island nation on the other side of the pond, I think it is just as noteworthy. Jelena Jankovic's championship partner was Britain's own Mr. Murray. No, not Andy Murray, England's next best hope for dominance in men's tennis, but his brother, Jamie Murray.

After all the hype, all the press, after being anointed as the next coming of Fred Perry and the heir to Tim Henman's thrown at the AELTC, it was not Andy Murray, but little-known Jamie Murray who winds up the newest British champion. For the first time in 20 years, a local comes home with a title. It may not seem like much, but with the millions of pounds the Lawn Tennis Association has been throwing at growing the game and returning to prominence in tennis, it is at least a small consolation. With an investment that has only spanned about two years, England has an English champion (okay, technically he's a Scot, but it's all the UK, isn't it?)

The LTA has made large commitments to tennis, including hiring Brad Gilbert as a premier coach and Bill Mountford as head of their tennis development. Most of you know Brad as the former U.S. top-10 player and the coach of Andre Agassi and for a short time, Andy Roddick. Bill Mountford is much more unknown, and was the director of tennis at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows, NY, home of the U.S. Open. With investments of this magnitude, you would hope that the UK will bring a singles champion home soon. While it doesn't look very likely in the near future, the win by Jamie Murray does provide a glimmer of hope.

The tennis at the Big W was amazing this year. Lots of history, too. It was good to see Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, and Jimmy Connors walk onto Centre Court together one more time. It was great to see a five set men's final. It was great to see the Serbs and the Brits get a trophy. I'm not sure, but maybe that is why the champagne was especially bubbly and my strawberries tasted especially good.