| The prank of a professional nudist did not prevent Hewitt from winning Despite the vagaries of the English weather, the Wimbledon tournament ended. In the final, which was twice interrupted by rain, the first racket of these competitions, Lleyton Hewitt, beat Argentinean David Nalbandian (6:1, 6:3, 6:2) in less than two hours. Alas, the final did not work out well, because the Argentine was too nervous - it was his debut at Wimbledon, and he was simply not used to the exciting atmosphere of the center court. Old-timers noted that the current final was as one-sided as when John McEnroe crushed Jimmy Connors in 1984.
By the way, McEnroe himself called on stars such as Marat Safin or Roger Federer to follow Hewitt’s example. “When I first saw this guy play at the tournament, I immediately thought he was not easy,” McEnroe said. - Of course, he was lucky with the draw. But what’s most surprising is that I never thought that in the Wimbledon final I would see a game predominantly from the baseline, more typical of clay courts. And I, a dinosaur, thought that the best chances were for the guys rushing to the net. What can you do, and it turns out that baseliners (playing from the back line) have chances here. By the way, Andre Agassi and Bjorn Borg won at Wimbledon with such a game.” With his victory at the 2001 US Open, Hewitt now has two Grand Slam titles. And this, of course, is not the limit for the nimble Australian. It’s interesting how Safin will respond now, having retired for the holidays after losing in the second round. Marat is gathering strength for the American summer on hard court, his favorite surface.
The completed Wimbledon became the second most attended (469,514 spectators) in its entire history. More people gathered at the All England Lawn Tennis Club only in 2001 - 479,711. Boris Becker, speaking on this topic, noted that nowhere in the world could one imagine such a huge number of people gathering in one tennis stadium just to wander around the area and leave your money in numerous cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops. There were too many interruptions due to rain in the second week of the tournament for spectators to gather solely for the tennis. But such is the English public, which is considered the most sophisticated in tennis.
But it’s not all about following the game and the game. To brighten up the prim atmosphere, Wimbledon is home to pranksters like 37-year-old Mark Roberts, who took advantage of a break in the final to rush onto the court and quickly shed his clothes to perform a somersault over the net. A similar episode occurred in 1996 during the decisive match between Richard Krajicek and Malivai Washington. Then a charming girl fluttered onto the court, covering her front with a white apron. The girl was quickly taken away, but Roberts did not give himself into the hands of the guards for about two minutes. He is clearly a professional in public nudism. Two years ago, a correspondent for the Vremya Novostey newspaper witnessed another show - then Roberts amused Anna Kournikova. But this did not happen on the center court, but directly opposite the press center, apparently with the aim of becoming more famous.
All these episodes, as well as the breakthrough of Kournikova’s fan into the tennis players’ village, where he freely took pictures with our beauty, the persecution of Serena Williams by a persistent fan and something else forced the players to question their safety. A Kournikova fan, telling how he got in touch with the tennis player, said that no one even asked for his accreditation: the guy simply changed into a sports uniform. All this can be regarded, of course, as cute jokes. But Monica Seles was clearly not amused when, during her match early in the tournament, a couple of tennis enthusiasts rushed onto the court and even hit the ball several times over the net on center court. What if they encroached on Seles, who had already suffered from the maniac?
It is gratifying to note that Wimbledon ended on a positive note for Russian tennis: Elena Likhovtseva and Indian Mahesh Bhupathi beat South American Kevin Oulette and Daniela Hantuchova in the final - 6:2,1:6, 6:1. This is Likhovtseva's first Grand Slam title. No wonder the Russian tennis player was very determined during the tournament. She finally learned to control herself during crucial tests and enjoy the game, as her Italian coaches advised her to do. Lena promised that she would not stop there. Anastasia VLADIMIROVA, London |
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