Service with a smile

There was a big big reason to celebrate here at HQ yesterday. Wimbledon, third round, Centre Court....picture it. Feliciano Lopez steps out onto court against Andy Rodick, a player he's lost to seven times,, including reecently at Queen's. Then...BOOM...Ace. A pattern begins. But not just a pattern of big serves, a pattern of some beautiful volleying and exquisite passing shots. Flic is ON his game today. Then sudddenly he's making the eighth seed look very ordinary in the first set tiebreak. Then it happens again in the second tiebreak. In the third set the damn breaks and so does Flic. It's glorious, fist-pumping, vamos-ing, hair shaking glorious. I could not be prouder. I've been supporting Flic for a long time, since number 90 in the world to be precise, but his ranking has never mattered to me, its his game in  all its flowing aesthetic glory. In full flow he's a beautiful sight to behold, he has awonderful languid grace to all his movements and i could honestly write reams about how gorgeous his tennis strokes are. Another highlight of Flic's match was the commentary of the man, the legend Boris Becker. He's fast becoming a favourite a HQ with his left-field remarks. The other day, one of his fellow commentators pointed out Noel Fielding in the crowd, to which Boris promptly responded "the guy in the middle? That's not a woman?!" Then during Flic's match he began musing to himself about the state of Andy Roddick's nails, reasoning that biting them that far down must hurt. The piece de resistance came when he spotted Roddick's wife (a swim wear model, who's been in Sports Illustrated.) His thoughts? "Anyone seen the swimsuit issue? (pause) I HAVE!" Genius.

A good vintage

Something unusual has happened at HQ. I've been watching Wimbledon this week and the most affecting match I've watched and the one that has moved me to blog was on the women's side of the draw. Yes you read that right, there's a wave of feminism going on here at Sports Wall. And its all because of Kimiko Date-Krumm. Mrs Date-Krumm was Venus Williams' second round opponent at SW19 this week. Normally everybody would be commenting on the fact that she is ranked number 57 in the world and Venus is a multiple Wimbledon champion. But there's something else everyone was commenting on. Kimiko Date Krumm is forty years old. She turned pro in 1989. I'll put that in context for you all, that's the year I was born. She retired in 1996 and came back in 2008. That in itself is inspiring. But watching her in the match was something else. Her athleticism was amazing and her shot making ability was absolutely sublime, her ability to change her game to suit the moment was so impressive. It was a display of proper vintage tennis. She pushed Venus Williams all the way eventually going down with a more than creditable score of 7-6, 3-6, 8-6. I hope her match was as inspiring to all the aspiring tennis players out there as it was to me. What a fantastic example she's setting for us all, Kimiko we salute you.