A dazzling final weekend dispelled the clouds and rain which had hung over much of the 2007 Championships, with familiar favourites like Roger Federer and Venus Williams inscribing their names onto the champions’ boards once more. For Federer it was five in a row, for Venus her fourth in eight years.
Federer’s widely expected victory, watched by Bjorn Borg, whose 1976-80 record he equalled, was much closer than expected, with Rafael Nadal showing that he is closing fast on his great rival, while Miss Williams’ success, achieved from a seeding of 23, showed in spectacular fashion that she was not the spent force many had predicted.
Her triumph on behalf of the United States marked a resurgence in that nation’s fortunes at Wimbledon, with Donald Young also winning the boys’ singles and the Bryan twins, Mike and Bob, finishing runners-up in the men’s doubles. It was a good tournament, too, for France. Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement were their first pair to capture the men’s doubles for 74 years, Richard Gasquet reached the men’ semi-finals and Marion Bartoli became an instant crowd favourite with her brave run to the women’s final.
There was a fitting "home" end to the tournament when Jamie Murray, older brother of Andy, teamed with Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic to win the mixed doubles, the first time a British player had been on Wimbledon’s honour boards for 20 years.
The Zimbabwe/South Africa pairing of Cara Black and Liezel Huber reclaimed the women’s doubles title they had won in 2005 and did not defend last year, while there was Polish celebration in the girls’ singles, where Urszula Radwanska followed her sister, Agnieszka (the 2005 champion) in picking up the title.
It was a magnificent achievement for both the players and all those connected with running The Championshiups to finish on time on Sunday evening after the wretched weather which had dogged the tournament from the very first day almost until the end.
When the clouds, rain and wind finally relented it still seemed that play would have to be extended by a further day, but all concerned pitched in willingly. For instance, Young played three matches on Saturday, one in the boys’ singles and two in doubles, and on the final day the fact that Jonas Bjorkman and Alicia Molik had to play both their semi-final and final matches in rapid succession may have affected the outcome of the mixed doubles.
Understandably, attendance had been down in the conditions but on the last weekend the fine weather brought out spectators in record numbers to help redress the balance.
The rush to catch up had an inevitable effect on players required to give their all every day, and sometimes twice in a day if they were involved in more than one event. Having battled past Marcos Baghdatis in five hours in the quarter-finals, Novak Djokovic’s back gave out in the third set of his semi-final against Nadal, while both of the women’s finalists were at one time being treated for injury simultaneously during the second set.
While all this frenzied activity was taking place, Roger Federer went six days without playing a match between the third round and quarter-finals when his scheduled fourth round opponent, Tommy Haas, withdrew with a stomach muscle injury. Fears that this might affect his form proved unfounded as he marched towards that Borg-equalling mark, though his final was a close-run thing, as he acknowledged. Federer’s fifth Wimbledon takes his total of Grand Slams to 11, three short of the Pete Sampras all-time record.
Monday, 9 July, 2007
By ATP
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