Alix’s World: Wimby Lessons

Written by: Alix Ramsay on 5th July 2010

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Alix's World: Wimby Lessons |

So what have we learned from this year’s Wimbledon? Well, for a start, we now know that if you want to make sure it never rains around your way again, put a roof over your back garden.

The 124^th Championships passed off without so much as a hint of drizzle – 13 days of blistering sunshine. And that hasn’t happened since 1995. That $150million Centre Court roof is proving to be worth its weight in washers.

The world of tennis, though, is changing far more rapidly than the climate. In the space of two weeks, the pecking order altered dramatically as Rafa Nadal put a stranglehold on the world No.1 ranking, Andy Murray laid out his credentials as the nearest rival to Rafa’s future plans and Roger Federer started looking for a new job.

Rodge, it seems, is already planning for retirement. He snapped and sniped at his critics after he lost in the quarter finals – “If I’m healthy, I can handle these guys,” he grumped after being comprehensively outplayed by Tomas Berdych – but, on the quiet, he was looking for a new life.

He wants to buy the tournament in his home-town of Basel. Unfortunately for him, it is not actually up for sale, but that does not appear to be stopping him.

The event is run by Roger Brennwald who has lovingly nurtured the tournament from small beginnings to its current position as one of the best of the ATP 500 series. With an annual budget of around $15million, the tournament’s market price is estimated to be around $11.2million. That is petty cash to Federer.

Brennwald is now faced with a dilemma: if he does not sell to the home-town hero, he faces a public backlash – and that could hurt him personally and hurt his tournament financially. But if he does sell, he would give up the business venture that has become his baby. What to do?

The Fed, apparently, has big ideas. He is looking to build up a portfolio of tournaments – Basel is just the beginning – and, according to some reports from his management team, is targeting serious and long-term investments. He promised to be back next year to reclaim his Wimbledon crown, but it does sound as if it may not be long before he is coming back to SW19 in a suit and a tie rather than shorts and sneakers.

We also spotted a new and burgeoning love affair on Centre Court this year. Rafa may have brought his girlfriend, Francisca Perello, to London (and that was a first), but he was also having a bit on side throughout the tournament – and with 15,000 other people to boot.

Until now the Centre Court crowd’s heart belonged to Roger but this year they fell head over heels in love with Rafa. Rafa, in return, adored them. Even when he beat our Andy in the semi finals, they cheered and whooped and applauded his every winner. And Rafa was gobsmacked.

“Always this crowd was amazing for me here,” he gushed. “Yesterday I played a local player but the respect of the crowd was amazing and that’s not happening at the courts around the world.”

He was far too nice to have a real go at the French Open crowds, but we all knew what he meant. For all that he has won five titles at Roland Garros in the past six years, losing only one match in a career on the Paris clay, the French have never really taken to him. A Spaniard winning on clay? So what.

You see, while Rafa was mopping up the trophies, The Mighty Fed was busy making history elsewhere. And the French wanted to be a part of it. So every year, they begged and pleaded with Fed to win; it was the least he could do for them. When he finally did it, they were delighted: Fed is officially the greatest player of all time, he won at our tournament so his greatness is all down to us (it is a very French line of reasoning).

But at Wimbledon, Rafa felt loved. Truly loved. Even Scotland’s finest, although utterly dejected after his semi final loss, could not speak highly enough of the man from Manacor. Rafa had even apologised to him after clumping him in straight sets. Ah, bless.

“I love the guy,” Murray said. “As a player I think he is the best thing that has ever happened to tennis. He’s the only guy I love to watch. I have a lot of respect for him as well. Whenever I have won against him, sorry is the first thing I say to him as well.”

It was no wonder, then, that Ms Perello came to Wimbledon: she wasn’t going to let Rafa out of her sight in the midst of this mass and mutual love-in.

The former darling of the Centre Court, meanwhile, was locked away in a commentary booth during the final. Dame Timothy Henry Henman OBE (Order of the Backhand Error) was earning a crust with the BBC as Rafa crushed Berdych. As the TV director tried to find the celebrities in the crowd, the cameras panned across the posh seats and picked out Tiger Tim’s mum and dad. At that very moment, Mr Henman Senior yawned mightily and impressively. “I do hope he’s not listening to our commentary,” Tim’s co-commentator chirruped. There followed a long and unhappy pause before the nation’s former treasure said: “He told me the other day ‘at least now I can enjoy Wimbledon’.” Poor Tim. Sometimes, the truth hurts terribly.

And finally – a note to Andy Murray’s management company, 19 Entertainment. They wheeled out David Beckham, another of the stars in their stable, for Andy’s semi final against Rafa. In theory, one sporting icon had come to support another. But that is not quite how it turned out. As Beckham and his son, Brooklyn, sat and watched, Andy lost. When Becks nipped out to the gents, Andy broke Rafa’s serve. When Becks returned, Andy lost. So may we suggest that, in future, 19 Entertainment leave the lovely Becks at home (and, take it from me, he is quite fine is Mr Beckham) when Andy is playing an important match. Or they could lock him in the gents. Either way, we’re not bothered; just keep him away from the match court.

Topics: Alix, Andy Murray, Atp, Basel, Business Venture, Current Position, Drizzle, Future Plans, Home Town Hero, Looking For A New Job, Pecking Order, Petty Cash, Public Backlash, Quarter Finals, Roger Federer, S Market, Small Beginnings, Stranglehold, Tomas Berdych, Wimbledon

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