Breaking down Wimbledon

By Tom Kosinski Sports Central Columnist

For the first time since Steffi Graff in the early '90s, Venus Williams became only the fourth women in the open era to repeat as the ladies' Wimbledon champion. With a deep backhand return, Williams put the final nail in the coffin for Belgian wunderkind Justin Henin and a 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 victory on the green lawns of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet club. Displaying the power game and physical court presence Venus and sister Serena have become known for, Williams sealed another grand slam championship for America. Williams win makes it 3-0 for American women this year, with Jennifer Capriati taking both the Australian Open and Roland Garros just two weeks ago.

Williams and Henin had to wait an extra day, as the typical English wet weather caused the postponement of the traditional Saturday Ladies Final along with the entire Wimbledon slate. Henin rode a dream ride into the final, having pulled the biggest upset of the tournament with a three set win over favored American Jenny Capriati in the semifinals. Henin seemed unaffected by her first grand slam final appearance and not rusty at all despite the day's delay.

Williams also seemed ready for the final, having the extra days rest and not having to compete in the doubles after sister Serena pulled out after her quarterfinal loss to Capriati. Williams easily cruised through the first set, missing only a handful of shots and making only a small amount of errors on her, otherwise, suspect (but powerful) serve.

Henin seemed to have the jitters in the first few games, but did seem to find a groove toward the end of the first set. Henin and Williams played even in the second, with Henin taking the set with the only break chance she had all day against Venus. Williams and Henin were forced to break for a half hour during the second set, again due to rain, but the break did not seen to effect either player. Williams held her composure in the third set and quickly broke Henin and raced to a 3-0 lead.

At that point, Henin seemed lost, unfocused, and just wanted to get the match over with. Henin proceeded to squander two 0-30 leads on Venus' serve, and mis-hit her, otherwise, beautiful and incredible backhand to end the match.

Of note was the gentle, gracious, and modest comments from Williams following the match. Not one known to be modest, or acknowledge her opponent, Williams seems to have learned a lesson or two and to have matured. Williams congratulated Henin for her play and wished her more success in the future. Williams spent no time talking about how good she was or how great her game was. Venus was clearly just happy to be holding the Wimbledon plate high again. Henin was also gracious, and despite the loss, did not seem to wear her disappointment outwardly.

Henin's story is an interesting one, and although I will bring it to you at a later date and, hopefully, with an interview, and a very sad one. While the world knows her now as one of the two Belgian women's rising stars, Henin at 19 has already faced quite a bit of adversity with the loss of her mother several years ago and the recent feuding between her father and her. Henin had defeated Venus in their only other meeting earlier this year, a 6-1, 6-4 drubbing on clay.

The semifinals were as interesting as the final. For the second year in a row, Lindsay Davenport and Venus met on the grass, although this time in the semis. Venus held on for a well-deserved three set victory over Davenport, in a fashion similar to her win in the final. Henin and Capriati also fought it out for three sets, but Henin faced match points in the second set and finally pulled it out in the third set using her backhand. Henin's backhand has no rival on the women's tour, and is reminiscent of Guga Kuerten's on the men's tour.

Speaking of the men, at press time of this article, the champion has yet to be decided. After what was clearly one of the best two weeks of the fortnight, the weather finally changed to rain and forced the men's semi between Goran Ivanisevic and Tim Henman to be contested over three days. Henman was leading two sets to one and clearly had the momentum and crowd behind him when the rains came Friday night, pushing the match to Saturday.

On Saturday, Henman did not fare well, with Ivanisevic finding solace in the delay and taking a hard-fought fourth set tiebreaker and a 3-2 lead in the fifth before the rain again stopped play for the day. The semifinal was completed Sunday morning. Hopes ran high on Sunday for the Brit, as Henman continued his attempt to become the first British man to make the final since 1937 and the first Brit man to win since the legendary Fred Perry in 1936.

No British player, male or female, has been to the final since Virginia Wade's incredible win in 1977 at the centennial Wimbledon championships. Alas, Henman was not to get a chance to change that, as Henman squandered several break points and eventually succumbed to the incredible serving of Goran. The Croatian serving giant whipped up ace and service winners in every service game, at one point only losing four points on his serve over two sets. Ivanisevic makes his fourth appearance in the Wimbledon finals, having lost previously to Becker, Agassi, and Sampras in the early nineties.

Patrick Rafter, the Aussie who recently announced that this will be his last Wimbledon, awaits Ivanisevic in the final. Rafter managed to defeat Andre Agassi in the other men's semifinal, in an almost mirror image of last year's semi between the two. Rafter required five sets to defeat Agassi, with his ability to serve and volley being the edge that finally pushed him over the top over the ageless American champion. Agassi was trying to become the third U.S. champion to take the title in their thirties. Arthur Ashe in 1975 and William Tilden in 1930 (at the age of 37) were the other two.

In maybe the saddest story of the fortnight, mighty grass champ Pete Sampras did not make it past the fourth round. Sampras, looking tired and missing what the band Survivor would call the "Eye of the Tiger" he once had, limped into the fourth round having had to take five sets to defeat the 205th ranked British wild card Barry Cowan in the second round.

Sampras lost convincingly to up-and-comer Swiss player, Roger Federer. Federer demonstrated a game very similar to Sampras in stopping the great champs run at an unprecedented eighth title and record tying fifth consecutive championship. Federer, whose idol is Sampras, played with a game modeled after the champ, but played with more vigor and youth. Sampras was gracious in defeat, and despite rumors to the contrary (including my own predictions), insists that he will continue to play tennis for years to come.

I won't take any time to talk about the defeat of women's number one, Martina Hingis, with the exception to say that despite her great talent, she has not yet grown up and dedicated herself to tennis. Her loss to Ruano-Pacual clearly showed that she cannot continue to be the little girl she tries to be.

American teen sensation Andy Roddick may not have been the biggest story, but was certainly the most entertaining. With a youthful exuberance reminiscent of Connors, the power of Zeus, and a game bigger than all of Texas, Roddick managed to win three matches and the hearts of the English press (as well as many, many British girls). Roddick showed that he will be one to contend with in the future, and is a great champ in the making.

Well, that's the wrap on the All England Lawn Tennis Championships for this week. It was an exciting fortnight. I want to close by adding that the TV coverage this year was the best ever, with our friends at TNT providing almost eighty-five hours of coverage including twenty-four hours in the first two days of the tournament. NBC did an admirable job mopping up, bringing us great coverage on the first Saturday and the best possible coverage anyone could considering two straight days of rain for the finals. Hopefully the U.S. Open this year will be able to bring us comparable, if not even better coverage.

My pick in the men's final? Ivanisevic.

Article courtesy of Sports Central