Fashion- and Federer-watching at Wimbledon By Georgina Chang Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 00:06:00 07/04/2008
MANILA, Philippines—It’s that time of year again when tennis players shed their multi-colors for various shades of white as sign of respect for the tradition of the oldest tennis championship. Wimbledon is all about perfectly manicured lawns, rain-soaked benches, strawberries and cream, and of course, Roger Federer.
There’s a swirl of gossip this year that has left me perplexed. Some tennis legends, journalists and the common man are saying rather presumptuously that Federer won’t win this year. In my modest history of working at tennis events, this is the first time I hear that a defending champion who’s won the last five consecutive years has been doomed even before he could step on court. While I agree that Rafael Nadal has vastly improved his play and, if he stays consistent, he has a real shot at the trophy, to simply say that Federer won’t win is a bit drastic. When I told the Swiss star how puzzled I was by this talk, like a true gentleman, he comforted me. He said he, too, was surprised, but he would focus on playing like a defending champion.
He said, “I haven’t been reading and I haven’t been listening to what has been said. So of course, I haven’t been affected either.”
That’s great advice on how to stay cool, composed and nonchalant amid nasty comments by insignificant others.
Burden of success
That’s the burden of success, isn’t it? There’s incessant gossip, scrutiny and criticism. The world’s newly crowned No. 1 woman knows this too well.
Serbian Ana Ivanovic, who won the French Open and came into Wimbledon as a strong contender, said, “Becoming No. 1 takes more pressure, but you must see pressure for what it is. It’s a reflection of your own ambition. If you see it as a positive thing, it means that you put yourself in a position to do something memorable. If you look at it that way it can be very motivating.”
The poor things. However, it’s not all grind and toil for these insanely talented athletes.
The benefits of being No. 1, said the Serb with the sweet smile, are “confidence and also expectation of achieving one of your biggest dreams and goals.”
When you are successful, you act it and achieve greater success. It’s chicken and egg. You win, you have more money to improve your game by training at better facilities, hiring more coaches and assistants to sort out the daily nitty-gritty so you can focus on perfecting your shots and win even more money.
I watched Ivanovic at the Aorangi practice courts—she has not one but three guys coaching and hitting balls with her, and more importantly to pick up the balls for her. That whole hour, she must have bent to pick up a ball only twice.
She’s won honor and credibility by winning, but like most top players, she enjoys an even larger largesse from endorsements. The star image model also enjoys the perk of having an outfit customized for him or her.
Synonymous with elegance
This year Federer strides to the court in a cardigan that is all classic elegance. However, I can’t believe there wasn’t even one person at Nike USA who had the guts to speak out and advise Serena Williams against wearing her new white trench coat, which she described as delectable. I thought it made her look like a chubby toddler dressed up for a rainy day by her overindulgent mother. Serena loves her new coat though, and said emphatically, “It’s definitely not athletic attire. But it’s ladylike, and I’m very ladylike.”
A radio presenter I work regularly with would vehemently disagree. She believes Serena is actually a man who likes to wear skirts, and I’m sure many people would concur with her.
Venus wore her own creation from her new line, Eleven. It has quite an attractive front, but rather overdone on the back with those chunky straps.
Maria Sharapova showed off a “tuxedo” with pants that she stripped off to reveal shorts. When she charges for the ball, she looks like a gangly, clumsy long-haired boy. She should have stuck to skirts.
I feel Nike should have given Maria’s shorts to Rafael Nadal. Snug shorts might help him overcome that butt-tugging habit. Alas, he’s still in his usual long baggy shorts and we are all subject to his wedgie-pulling display.
In his time-off, Nadal loves to relax at home in Mallorca, fishing. He proudly announced that he caught four tuna. I smugly compared it to the 40-kg fish I once caught in Hawaii, and felt Nadal’s catch was very modest for a hyperactive super-achiever like him.
Nadal fishing
However, I realized why he prefers this laid-back fishing. He needs his Zen moment—tranquil activities to stay calm, not so much because of all that adrenaline on court, but to keep his blood pressure from rising when he’s asked dumb questions by journalists, like this one I just heard: “How important is it for you to win Wimbledon?” Nadal could only reply, “For me is important like any other player, no? I think for everybody is a dream to win the tournament in Wimbledon, no?”
Actually, that’s a yes and another yes.
On Bjorn Borg’s glowing praise of Nadal and public prediction that the Spaniard will win Wimbledon, Nadal said, “Well, Bjorn is a special tennis person. And when Bjorn says something, everybody listens... but you know, Bjorn is not magic.” An absolutely humorous and astute observation.
Nadal is, of course, hoping to have double celebrations as he broke away from the topic of tennis to talk about Spain at Euro 2008. “We gonna win this year, no doubt.” He seems far more confident of that than his own final result at Wimbledon.
Georgina Chang is the host presenter for Star Sports’ tennis magazine show “Ace” showing every Tuesday at 10 p.m. Catch more of her travel blogs and player interviews on www.espnstar.com.
Prestige and prima donnas
WIMBLEDON is about prestige, wealth (S$2,025,000, or 750,000 pounds for the champion) and making summer fashion statements.
It’s also about big egos. After all, when you’ve won the trophy at the oldest tennis championships in the world, you would expect the requisite star treatment. Like being a member of the All England Tennis Club so you can strut around with that little badge on your lapel and go to the lounge room anytime for free beverage.
There was shock and indignation for those who discovered they were not given their due honor. Three of the female top players realized that after fighting so hard to reach the fourth round, they were not going to play on the 15,000-capacity Centre Court watched by millions around the world.
Instead, world No. 2 Jelena Jankovic was miffed to see that she’d play on Court 18, a fraction of the capacity of Centre Court. Not one to quietly accept her discomfort in life, she proclaimed, “I think the No. 1, No. 2 seeds should always be on these top show courts. The ranking shows who deserves it, who is in the top of the game should play at these courts. I was almost playing in the parking lot. I almost need a helicopter to go to my court.”
Prestige is another theme at Wimbledon. The lawns are trimmed to perfection, the flora are the exact shades of Wimbledon green and purple and the smart officials’ uniforms are designed by Ralph Lauren. That’s bad news for the numerous pigeons who hover at Centre Court attracted by the bits of hotdogs and chips inevitably strewn about. Having pigeons flying overhead and dropping their digested waste like aerial bombs on you is not exactly elegant.
So Wimbledon’s way of dealing with the pigeon problem is by having a hawk chase them away. This year, Rufus, the young hawk, was given that honor which he duly executed with vigor and enthusiasm. I assure you that he doesn’t eat the pigeons, so it’s all very humane.
China’s Zheng Jie caused a stir when she first beat World No. 1 Ana Ivanovic, then another when she made it to her first Grand Slam singles semi-finals. But a seismic tremor ran through the packs of international media when she said she’d donate all her winnings to the earthquake-stricken Sichuan province. The incredulous journalists tried to clarify, as the moderator tried to divert the line of questioning, “We’re here to do tennis questions.” But a persistent journalist insisted, “We’re here to work. We are not here to listen to just sets, games and points. It’s relevant.”
A squirming Zheng finally said she would like to give all her prize money to Sichuan, but she has to give some back to the tennis association. I’ve never heard so many perplexed gasps in a press conference.
Fashion rules at Wimbledon. Russian player Alla Kudryavtseva may not have worn the best dress, but she had the best benefit out of someone else’s fashion statement. When asked why she felt it was so pleasant to beat Maria Sharapova, she said, “Well, I don’t like her outfit,” and that it was one of the motivations to beat her.
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