Fetch the diluted orange and fill the fridge with strawberries...Wimbledon thwacks into action today! *cue polite tennis applause
If like me your childhood summers were gloriously filled with entire days spent twitching in unison to the likes of Boris Becker, Steffi Graf and the parent baiting antics of John McEnroe and your evenings spent looking for tennis balls in bushes then these two weeks still holds court in our hearts!
So crack open a Robinsons and let us serve up some of the best moments from Sw19 to get you in the swing of things!
Classic Clash Of The Titans
This Wimbledon final of 2008 was arguably the best tennis match ever played, anywhere - even commentator Tim Henman described it as "undoubtedly the greatest match he had ever seen".
Federer was playing to become the first man of his generation to win a sixth successive title. Nadal was hoping to win the golden challenge cup for the first time - Nadal won of course.
Pete Sampras beats Andre Agassi, 1999
An extremely patriotic year for the States as two Americans won Wimbledon.Pete Sampras won his sixth title over fellow American Andre Agassi and Lindsay Davenport won the Women's finals. You were either Blur or Oasis, Nirvana or Pearl Jam...Sampras or Agassi!
Ashe puts Connors in his place
The late, great Arthur Ashe left such a distinguished mark on 20th-century society far beyond the tennis court – what with his influential alter egos as humanitarian, man of conscience and campaigner for social justice – that, actually, his breakthrough as the first, and still the only, black male athlete to win the Wimbledon singles crown was only one pioneering episode in a remarkable life. This classic encounter was as much about the personal disdain between the two as it Connors had slapped a huge lawsuit at Ashe's door just before the tournament. This was personal!
You CANNOT be serious!
In a world of polite whites and whispered deference came 'The Brat'. Kids loved him while the stuffy seats clutched their pearls. John McEnroe was a genius but to with great power came some great tantrums. When he played Tom Gullikson in the opening round. Before the match, the umpire, Ted James, turned to McEnroe and said: “I’m Scottish, so we’re not going to have any problems, are we?” To which McEnroe responded: “I’m Irish.”
After what he believed to be a bad line-call, McEnroe swiped a racket on the grass, and was warned by the umpire. A little later, after a serve was called out, he screamed those soon to be immortal five words that would be gleefully mimicked by kids the world over.
Martina Bags A Record
When the 1990 championship came along, there was only one thing on the mind of Martina Navratilova. Could she pass Helen Wills's remarkable haul of 8 titles? In her seven singles matches at Wimbledon that year, culminating with the final against Zina Garrison, Navratilova did not come close to conceding a set, with her opponents claiming just 29 games in 14 quick-fire sets of tennis. For Martina, then 33, it was a crowning moment in a remarkable career— and she was never to win a Grand Slam again.
He Was Just Seventeen
In 1985, 17-year-old Boris Becker, a virtual unknown, exploded onto the scene at Wimbledon, where his distinctive serve, endless energy and charisma soon made him a heartthrob and an icon. By defeating Kevin Curren in the final, Becker became the youngest male Grand Slam singles champion (17 years, 7 months) and the first unseeded player to raise the trophy.
This commentary alone here is the most Wimbledon thing you'll hear today...splendid!
