Saturday, July 11, 2015

Perhaps youth will be served, but not at Wimbledon



Earlier today, 33-year-old Serena Williams lifted the Wimbledon singles trophy. Never one to be outdone, later in the day, 34-year-old Martina Hingis and partner Sania Mirza lifted the doubles trophy. The number 1 team in the world beat the number 2 team, Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 5-7, 7-6, 7-5.

It was a superb match, and the trophy was about to go into the hands of the Russians, who were up 5-2 in the final set. But Hingis and Mirza staged a huge comeback, and made some history in the process. For Hingis, it was her first Wimbledon victory in 17 years. (She won the singles title in 1997 and the doubles title, with Jana Novotna, in 1998.) Mirza, in winning her first major women's doubles title, became the first Indian woman to win a major title of any kind.

Makarova and Vesnina won the 2013 French Open and the 2014 U.S. Open. Vesnina and Mirza are former doubles partners. Together, they won both Indian Wells and Charleston in 2011.

4 comments:

Todd.Spiker said...

Makarova/Vesnina, though they've actually only won five total titles together, are THIS CLOSE to having won a Career Slam in just twenty-five months:

2013 won RG
2014 lost AO final after being up 5-1 vs. Errani/Vinci
2014 won US
2015 lost WI final after being up 5-2 vs. Hingis/Mirza

I'm wondering what would have happened had the break not had to have occurred to close the roof when it did at 5-5, and maybe even if Vesnina hadn't been the one to serve once play resumed. Hingis/Mirza really put things away quickly in those last two games, especially when you consider how difficult it was for them to get that break late in the 3rd just to get things back on serve and give themselves a chance in the first place.

Diane said...

I had the feeling that the roof closure break changed things. I kind of sensed it before play even resumed because, with players that good, things can turn on the slightest circumstance. Vesnina can be really frustrating because when her serve is working, it's very, very good. Then it just goes to pieces. I remember when she was the finalist in Charleston. She served like a house on fire until she got to the final (then resumed serving well in the doubles final).

It was a really good final, by any standard. Hated to see either team lose.

Todd.Spiker said...

Naturally, ESPN couldn't bother to show it live on the regular channel, though. ESPN3 is nice, but they use it far too often as a way too easy way to shirk their responsibility to show something live when anything newsworthy is going on.

Diane said...

I saw no point in watching anything but WatchESPN, but the first week, that was problematic, too, if you used an Apple device. I was watching via my Apple TV, and the service went out repeatedly and often required reboot. That issue got fixed (for the most part) the second week. Overall, though, ESPN made it very hard for some of is to see the matches.