Wimbledon: The Calm Before the Storm (or "Williams Conquers All")

Hey, all. Galileo here.

Serena is the greatest singles player ever. Sure, Navratilova is the best player ever overall and Graf’s numbers are slightly more consistent and better in some areas. Sure, she lacks mixed doubles titles and she has courted controversy, but those are barely flaws. She has yet to win the Golden Slam and won’t now do it. But the Gold medals in singles and doubles is practically guaranteed. She will have an impressive haul and the doubles title she won alongside the singles just adds to her glory.

Graf congratulated her. Todd will write a long and interesting piece on her, too. But, and this is revisiting an old Volley post, the fact that a 35-year old woman who has had several long term injuries and general health issues previously, including being on death’s door can dominate the women’s tour is embarrassing. This is supposed to be the world’s best tour and Serena has still made nearly eight straight (7/8) finals. She is still world number one by a long way. It is a poor show from the rest of the professional tour. Kerber isn’t young. Kvitova is utterly unreliable. Azarenka is essentially finished if she cannot sort out the myriad of injuries. And Muguruza is still finding her feet. The WTA needs to look at itself.

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Editor's note: [just to highlight comments made on the other side of the Backspin universe this past week] "...ignoring the fact that (such an) argument could be made far more easily about the continuing merit of the men's side of the game considering four now 30+ year old (or nearly so) men have decimated the field for the past thirteen years and won 41 of 45 slams dating back to 2005 (and two of those four "non-wins" were claimed by now 31-year old Stan Wawrinka, with the others having come seven years ago by Juan Martin del Potro and two years ago by Marin Cilic, who couldn't hold a 2-0 set lead or convert three MP vs. a 35-year old Roger Federer this past week) while the lack of additional contenders for slam titles from the following generation have been far, far more disappointing than in the women's game."

"The fact is that both tours are currently seeing the birth of what might be a new generation of stars just now coming into their own, or maybe it will take an additional 3-5 years for those players to truly hit their PEAK. But with careers lasting longer the need for players to win big as teens or from age 20-23 before they're 'past their prime' isn't as important as it used to be when careers fizzled out at age 27-28 two decades ago. There's a new paradigm in the game now, with longer careers producing players who can challenge for slams near or past age 30, often reaching their peak (see Djokovic) at an age when past generations saw players in the thick of their inevitable decline, if not already past it. The fields on both tours will be put to a test of their collective mettle as the likes of Serena, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray transition from dominant to lesser roles or leave the game entirely. It will be fascinating to watch..."

That said, just as Muguruza's win in Paris was a big step for the women's game, so could be Milos Raonic's appearance in the men's final at SW19. All right, I just wanted to add that. Sorry, G... but since I had the "last word" I couldn't resist. - tds

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We had the first all-French Mens doubles final. Roger-Vasselin/Benneteau lost to the top seeded Herbert/Mahut in two hours 6-4, 7-6[1], 6-3. It was fun, flair-filled, flamboyant French fabulousness, fully. The unseeded pair had blown a two sets to love lead in the quarters but won 10-8 while in the semis our top seeds won from two sets to one down. But in the final the number one players in the world cemented their position. They were superb.

The top seeds broke three times and never lost their own serve. They also won an impressive 38 per cent of receiving points. We may finally have a successor to the Bryans here.

Now onto the singles...


CENTRE COURT: RAONIC D. FEDERER
...In three and a half hours the baton was passed, just as Sampras handed it to Federer 15 years ago. 12 years before that Sampras beat Wilander in five in New York. Raonic won this by being mentally stable. He won it by refusing to back down under immense pressure in the fourth set. But 23 aces helped him to a 6-3, 6-7[3], 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory. The key stat? Federer taking one break point from nine. That isn’t Federer, isn’t Federer at all. The Swiss was all over the place. He looked nervous, unsure and a little lost. The credit must go to Raonic for finally stepping up and taking control. 75 winners to 40 and winning a per cent more than Federer on receiving points. As usual he looked totally unflappable, totally focused and ready to go. He has one of the best poker faces on tour and he used it to great effect. Sometimes he can lose it...


But often he can mentally block out anything. The crowd combined with his opponent throwing the whole bathroom at him made it tricky. But before we shout and dance, let's see how he does against Murray.
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CENTRE COURT: MURRAY D. BERDYCH
...Berdych was poor and Murray too good as the Czech lost 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. The scoreline may not say it explicitly but this was a rout. Sure, Berdych broke but Murray went a very boring, precise 20-9 on the winners. The Scot returned at 42 per cent and blunted out the Czech attack. Five breaks and 10 errors a set from Berdie were enough for Muzza. This was a match Berdman was never allowed to be in. And for a top ten player it is ridiculous that he should let that happen. He should have found a way to force a breaker, he should have found a new attack plan to worry Murray. But he did none of those things. The really annoying thing about this is that means there is no storyline. There is no more to be written about this match. Murray is going to win that final in four. It is going to be dull, too. One hopes Raonic can pull one out of nowhere but Murray will not have another chance like this.
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Garcia is in Gstaad but Kiki has yet to take a wild card into the event. If not I’m sure we will see them before August. The Wimbledon defeat will have knocked their confidence a little.


Thanks all and visit WTA BACKSPIN please.

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