Just got the "key" here, yeah!
So, while PAM is spending time figuring out how "to be busy" again, lemme take over the tennis and footie business around here. Nope, I wasn't recruited from the outer space or something. In fact, I'm from this world, only I hang more often in the ballin' wavelength, where PAM is a frequent visitor. I just thought I'd volunteer to take note of important tennis and footie events 'cause our old girl will be busy getting back to the "healthy lane" over the next couple of months or so... and cruise down the "busy highway", uh, sooner than the planned one-year hiatus methinks. Who was she kiddin' anyway? Her spirit is "too round" to stop rollin'... for a year! That simply isn't possible... not unless Cristiano Ronaldo stopped running the turf like a high-heeled diva - 'cause that'd be the day. ;) Oops... hey, that was close! Aw, c'mon CR7 fans, touchy much? Put away all the rotten tomatoes, will ya? Geez....
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About the ball business now
I meant to write about Serena Williams's Wimbledon 102-ace triumph, a record in Wimbledon, but that might not be a good way to start the tennis writing takeover 'round here. So, I'll just go over it quick, afraid that if I lingered around the topic longer than necessary, I'd write things that would forfeit my accepted volunteering here.
After getting rid of the defending champion, Petra Kvitová of the Czech Republic, the mighty Serena fired something like 24 aces, a record in one match, to erase the name of the a-month-ago-former-#1-but-now-#1-in-the-World-again Viktoria Azarenka in the ladies' draw during their boring-than-boring semi-final
Killer serve... "anti-tennis"?match. Seriously, they should set an "Aces Quota" in the Grand Slams! While great service game usually adds to the "sweet tension" during tight matches when summoned during key points, it can take away the excitement in the match, too, when it is the "only reliable" weapon an aspiring champion carried with him/her to the court. Why do you think Andy Roddick had been tucked away in the forget-him trunk by most tennis fans, regardless of Jimmy Connors in his box as coach? It's annoying how his big serve ruins his matches! Variety is what tennis fans look for. Variety of shots is what makes this, let's face it, otherwise boring sport exciting (oops, PAM is going to fire me on this, I'm afraid.). Relying on big service throughout the match is equivalent to "parking the bus", "anti-football" über defensive football tactic.
Serena's final match with Agnieszka Radwanska was predictable. And that doesn't mean that the first Polish woman to reach the final in in a Grand Slam since 1939, Radwanska, didn't
Better luck next time. have the requisite talent to be in the final because she did... maybe a bit short in all departments to be considered a promising Champion in the same realm as Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert... okay, make that SHORT - for now, at least! But, hey, three different women hold the other three Grand Slam trophies presently! And the World #1 spot in the Women's ranking had been swapped four times already since January. Let's face it, everybody had a shot at the "big prize" at SW19. But, and that's a big fat BUT, the result of the final match was predictable because everyone knew that when Williams starts getting the service game going, she is unstoppable. The game of the mildly sick Radwanska collapsed predictably easily in the first set, but she returned with a vengeance in the second set when Williams decided to try to play lawn tennis. In the third set, on Williams's serve at 1 set all and 2-1 to Radwanska, the American hit four blistering aces in 47 seconds, leveling at 2-2. Radwanska stared into space after that. Like the whole world, she knew how that final was going to end.
And it did end with Williams raising her fifth Venus Rosewater Dish over her head. It was her 14th
The reverse was simply hard
to imagine.Grand Slam title, too - the third biggest Grand Slam title haul in women's tennis in the Open era. At 30 years, and after an embarrassing first round exit at Roland Garros less than a month ago, that was indeed a great achievement. However, it is also true that trophies only tell half of the story. Of course, with the media, at Williams's own cue, playing the from-sick-bed-a-year- ago-to-SW19-story-of-triumph, that worked really wonderfully, too. Serena did charm the world with her reply to the "is 30 the new 20" question: "Well, gosh, of course - hello!" That was too cute, sister! :)
Uh-oh, just when PAM was beginning to embrace the Maria Sharapova women's tennis reign, and trying to convince herself that Azarenka can be humble and "acceptable", too (nevermind her just-look-away fashion sense, e.g. the Rocky look she sported on her way into the court with Serena in the semi-final match), Serena Williams is just gettin' started. You go, sister! Oh, and good luck, old girl! ;)
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Photo credits: All photos were grabbed at the Zimbio website - thanks, guys!
