Wimbledon starts tomorrow! I love Wimbledon, or I should say, I used to love Wimbledon when it was filled with players like John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Steffi Graph, Chris Everett and Martina Navaratalova! Yep, I’m showing my age a bit here, but looking back, I have fond memories of great matches involving the above players, exciting rallies and of course long hot summers…
When I look back at some of the matches, I must have been only 12, hard to believe, but my best memories of Wimbledon are from around that age until I was in my late twenties – so around 1995 I guess. By that time, most of the above players had played their last matches and my memories of the Wimbledon tournament are of newer but far less exciting players and matches – and bad weather!
The only benefit of the rained off matches is that sometimes the old classic games are shown on T.V!
The Wimbledon weather this year is looking distictively wet towards middle of the first week – no surprises there – which will mean the tournament going into three weeks possibly, so plenty of time to show old matches maybe? If not, I’ve dredged a few up from U-Tube anyway so in case you’ve all forgotten, you can see what I mean…
First off, some John McEnroe classic tantrums – not Wimbledon, but who cares?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxAPKtOe0fQ
And;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcWNsS6wEps
What about the classic tie break with McEnroe and Borg in 1980?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qaweRhyAxk
Or this 1986 Becker and Lendl final;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1NcGiBCHDs
A lot of people say that the reason for those great rallies is because of the older wooden raquets the players used. The modern raquets just give too much speed, meaning the game is all about power shots, rather than exciting rallies, and this seems to be true. Ahh well, it’s a good job the older classic matches are still available to watch, especially on a rained off Wimbledon day.
Going back to the weather, i’ve discovered that not all is as bad as imagined. Here’s some weather facts;
Wimbledon weather facts
- The warmest Wimbledon Championship on record was 1976, where temperatures averaged at 25.4 C.
- In 1997, 118.3 mm of rain fell during the championships, making it the wettest Wimbledon on record.
- Perhaps rather unfairly, Wimbledon has always been associated with bad weather and particularly with rain. But actually play has only been totally rained off 32 times in 125 years.
- Most years, some rain does fall during the championships, however there have been seven years where rain did not interrupt play at all – 1931, 1976, 1977, 1993 and 1995, 2009 and 2010.
UK winner facts
Last British female singles winner – Virginia Wade 1977
Last British Male singles winner – Fred Perry 1936
So, If you get really bored when/if the tennis is rained off, then there’s always Robert Spire action-adventure thrillers TIPPING POINT, IMPACT POINT and to keep you entertained, or for anyone interested in the bad weather and climate, THE A-Z OF GLOBAL WARMING!
Enjoy the Wimbledon fortnight, and just remember – it used to be so much better, whatever the weather!
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