11th
July 2021 – it is a Sunday and whole excitement was about Wimbledon Men’s
Singles Finals (it is also the finals of Euro 2020 between England and Italy)
I don’t
remember but read about Chennai Open – in 1999 - Byron Black defeated Rainer
Schüttler 6–4, 1–6, 6–3. Patrick Rafter was the defending champion but did not
defend his title.
Remember
following Wimbledon and memory stretches back to 1977 when Björn Borg defeated Jimmy Connors, 3–6, 6–2, 6–1, 5–7, 6–4 [7] –
it was Borg's second consecutive Wimbledon title and 4th Grand Slam title
overall. He was to win in successive
years too .. and in 1980 – he was stretched, perhaps struggled against an
angry antics-filled young leftie - John McEnroe, 1–6, 7–5, 6–3, 6–7(16–18),
8–6[5] – it was Borg's 10th career Grand Slam singles title and his 5th and
last title at Wimbledon. Between
1974 and 1981, he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam
singles titles (six at the French Open and five consecutively at Wimbledon),
but he never won the US Open despite four finals appearances.
It was only
back in 2007 when Wimbledon became the final Grand Slam to award equal prize
money to both the singles men's and women's champions. And that prize money has
risen exponentially over the years from £500,000 just 20 years ago to £2.35m
back in 2019. However, all Grand Slams have decreased their money pot for 2021,
with Wimbledon champions receiving £1.7m (apprx INR 17.62
crore] this year. In total, the prize money on offer throughout the
tournament is £35m in total for all players involved. The runner-up in both the
men's and women's final will receive £900,000.[INR
9.32 crores approx.]
Ravichandran Ashwin was at
the venue as also was Indian team coach Ravi Shastri. Earlier there were reports that Novak
Djokovic has spoken that he will be
supporting the Italians to beat England in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley – but
in the post match conference, he diplomatically said, I like Soccer and I would
watching the game ! (without stating that he would not be cheering for hosts
England !)
Irrespective of what does
about football .. at Wimbledon he tasted yet another success. Serbian Novak
Djokovic won his sixth Wimbledon Gentleman's singles title, drawing level with
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on 20 Grand Slam successes, but Matteo
Berrettini made him work very hard for it. The Italian, making his debut
as a Grand Slam finalist, began nervously but recovered to take advantage of a
sub-par period from Djokovic to take the first set on a tie-break. He had come
into the final on an 11-match winning streak, all on grass, since losing to
Djokovic in the quarter-finals at Roland-Garros, and his facility on the
surface was evident.
That breakthrough
encouraged his supporters in a fervent crowd to believe Berrettini could become
the first Italian man to win a Grand Slam since Adriano Pannatta at
Roland-Garros in 1976, and the first to do so at Wimbledon. However Djokovic,
though nine years his elder at 34, slowly ground his opponent down. Though not
consistently at his best when it came to the key points he more often than not
found a way to win. Finally, after three hours and 24 minutes, on his third
Championship point, he secured his third successive Wimbledon title.
It was the first set
Djokovic had dropped since his first of The Fortnight, to Jack Draper. But his
response was fierce, breaking Berrettini twice to seize a 4-0 lead. Even then,
however, Berretini pulled it back to 5-4 before Djokovic could serve out. The
Serb took the third 6-4 having broken early. It began to look a long road to
glory for Berrettini whose left thigh was heavily strapped. So it proved. He
pressured Djokovic's serve but was unable to break, lost his own, and the
match. Few, though, after his performances this Fortnight, would bet against
him being back.
Very well played
Djoko .. .. it was indeed a pleasure watching today’s game.
Marián Vajda a former player, is the current head coach of Novak Djokovic and
has been his coach during almost his entire professional career, winning 83
titles together (out of the 84 won by Djokovic). Vajda is the most successful
coach in the history of tennis in terms of Grand Slam titles. Vajda has been the coach of Djokovic from
2006 until 2017, then again from 2018 to the present day. From Dec 2013 until
2016, Boris Becker was Djokovic's head coach with Vajda remaining part of
Djokovic's team. Goran Ivanišević a
Croatian former player who won the men's
singles title at Wimbledon as a wildcard is also the coach. Djokovic is a
self-described fan of languages, speaking Serbian, English, French, German, and
Italian. Djokovic’s wife is Jelena (earlier Jelena Ristić) who was known to
Novak from his high school days and was dating her since 2005. The couple got married on Sveti Stefan in
Montenegro,in 2014.
It has been a long, steep
climb for Berrettini since he arrived at a tennis club in Rome at age 14 and
was awed by the credentials of the coach he met: Vincenzo Santopadre, whose
career-high singles ranking had been 100th. Berrettini was not one of the best
players in Italy in his age range, and Santopadre and the other coaches at the
Circolo Canottieri Aniene wanted to give him time and space to decide if tennis
was something he wanted to pursue seriously. Vincenzo Santopadre is a former
player from Italy who had limited success in his playing days. Since 2011, he has been the coach of Matteo
Berrettini.
He reached the semifinals of Bournemouth in 1998 and the quarterfinals of Chennai and Munich in 1999, defeating Gustavo Kuerten in the latter. He is the son-in-law of former Poland international footballer Zbigniew Boniek.
Berrettini's girlfriend
Ajla Tomljanovic is a tennis player herself, straight from the land that Barty
belongs to, and is ranked 75th by the Women's Tennis Association. Tomljanovic
has been watching Berrettini in all his matches unless she is playing a
tournament somewhere, and she appears to be his number one fan and supporter.
Well played
Novak Djokovic winning Wimbledon 6 times
!
11th July 2021.
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