Friday, June 20, 2008

Wimbledon 2008: Any Chance for British Players?

Fred Perry is the last British player to have won the Wimbledon men’s singles title 72 years ago, while Virginia Wade was the last British who won the women’s singles in Wimbledon 31 years ago. Now, with another Wimbledon tournament approaching, the question is coming up that if it is going to be another unsuccessful year for the British players in the home grand slam tournament. Wimbledon 2008 tennis tournament kicks off on 23 June 2008.

First have a look at the top seeds of men’s singles where you can get to see Andy Murray, the 12th seed of Wimbledon 2008, who is the only hope of the British fans. He does not have any special performance of recent. It is true that Andy Murray showed his best ever performance at Roland Garros in the recently concluded French Open 2008 reaching the third round of the tournament, but still, is it enough to make the British fans hopeful about Andy’s success in Wimbledon 2008? I am a bit skeptical in this regard. Earlier, Murray’s performance in Australian Open was frustrating after losing to eventual runner up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round.

If you do not find any reason to make yourself hopeful about Andy Murray in Wimbledon 2008, then the competition’s women’s singles part will only add some pain to your injury, because there is no British player among the top seeds of Wimbledon 2008 tennis tournament. Today, while going through internet, I came across an article in BBC website where writer claims for a cultural change in British tennis.

BBC reported:

The spectators not only seem to accept there can be no change, but are not angered by repeated failures.

At the same time, those entrusted with running the game at the national level talk in terms of defining their assets and setting targets - targets which keep changing and shrinking.

My colleague Olly Foster travelled to the Serbian capital, Belgrade, this week to try and find out the secret of their success...

But in the end, there is a fundamental cultural problem with British tennis.

It is not meant to produce champions but to instead provide a nice jolly afternoon of tennis for mostly middle-aged people.

Very often in British tennis clubs aspiring singles players will be asked to vacate a court so a doubles match can take place and children are often frowned upon.

Well, I agree with the writer in the fact that British fans seem to be accepting the failures of the British players with more ease these days. You can also say that it is because they have been used to it since they are not experiencing success from the home players for a long time. However, I think, fans are the most determinant and their approach to the game is very important behind the success of British players and to bring back British glory in Wimbledon tennis tournament.

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