2013 Wimbledon Review

2013 Wimbledon Review

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2013 Wimbledon Review

WHAT’S INSIDE LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

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SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF THIS

A WIMBLEDON WEDENSDAY TO REMEMBER–OR FORGET

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Q&A WITH STAN SMITH

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ERIC BABOLAT ON SHOES, NADAL, AND THE FUTURE OF TENNIS TECHNOLOGY

GIVE VIRGINIA WADE HER DUE MARION’S PERFECT DAY

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GRADING THE FIELD

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WIMBLEDON’S CHAOS GOOD FOR TENNIS?

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30 WIMBLEDON SHOWCASE FOR PRINCE

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CLOSING SHOTS

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2013 Wimbledon Review

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Lana Maciel lana@tennisnow.com Blair Henley

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Erik Gudris Erik Gudris

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TennisNow

Letter from the Editor Wow. What a Wimbledon!

There were certainly a lot of bizarre, unexpected moments throughout the past two weeks. For a while, it almost began to seem as if we’d fallen down the rabbit hole and into a Wimbledon Wonderland. From the excessive number of withdrawals and injury retirements in a single day to the shocking early round exits of top-seeded favorites and past champions, Wimbledon 2013 is one for the record books.

I thought it was quite surprising – but more importantly, quite refreshing – to see a few non-household names left in the draw by the start of the second week.

It gave us a chance to see how much talent really lies outside of the top 10. It’s not always about Rafa and Roger, Serena and Maria – though they’ll always remain our favorites. And it was proof that there is a lot of exciting tennis to look forward to as the next crop of talent comes into play.

Marion Bartoli’s first Grand Slam triumph after 47 appearances in a major showed that patience, hard work, perseverance, and playing “in the zone,” no matter how unorthodox or criticized, pays off in the long run. And Sabine Lisicki’s run certainly proved that grass-court tennis is still alive and well in today’s power game.

As for Andy Murray, well, he no longer has to live in the shadow of Fred Perry.

The weight of a nation is now off his shoulders, and hopefully he’ll never have to read another negative British tabloid headline.

It’s a pretty big understatement to say that he played incredible tennis against Novak Djokovic in that final. What he did was phenomenal. No matter what Novak threw at him, including drop shot after drop shot, Andy had an answer, and then some. He deserved more than anyone to hold that trophy.

Until next time, enjoy the issue!

Lana Maciel Editor, Tennis Now Magazine lana@tennisnow.com

200 West 39th Street, New York, NY 10018 914-595-4211 2013 Wimbledon Review

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2013 Wimbledon Review

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2013 Wimbledon Review

Sweet Dreams Are Made of This Andy Murray and his nation’s dream of seeing a British man raise the Wimbledon trophy came true after a turbulent yet unforgettable fortnight.

by Erik Gudris Many have said that dreams are the gateway into the unconscious. For Andy Murray, his own dreams suggest he had a lot on his mind before the biggest final of his life.

“Weird dream last night,” Murray said to ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi after claiming his first Wimbledon title. “I thought I was playing Radek Stepanek or Denis Kudla in the final. And then I woke up this morning. Weird, I know. My mind was all over the place from stress and stuff. Weird stuff goes through your head in those moments.”

While some will try to interpret what exactly such dreams mean, if anything, what does not need analyzing were the clear emotions of relief and disbelief on Murray’s face when he finally won the title he had been working for his entire life. After spending a career being asked about winning Wimbledon, Murray can now savor the moment and look forward to what is next in his career.

“It was just an amazing finish to the match. I was glad I managed to see all of my team and stuff afterwards,” Murray said. “They saw what it was like last year after the match. It was a completely different feeling this year. And, yeah, I still, like I said, can’t believe it’s happened. This one will take a little while to sink in, I’m sure.”

After the disappointment of last year’s loss to Roger Federer, when Murray wept openly during the trophy ceremony, he revealed several weeks later that he had dreamed that he had won the sport’s biggest prize. Now with that dream a reality and the trophy firmly in his grasp, Murray’s win is also in some ways a shared dream and win for his coach Ivan Lendl who, despite all of his tremendous achievements, failed to win Wimbledon in two

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finals. Lendl is viewed by many as the man who gave Murray the necessary tools needed to go from being a great player to becoming a Grand Slam champion.

“I just think for him, obviously ideally he would have won it himself, but I think this was the next best thing for him. I’m saying it seriously. Yeah, I mean, I think he believed in me when a lot of people didn’t. He stuck by me through some tough losses the last couple of years,” Murray said of Lendl. “He’s been very patient with me. I’m just happy I managed to do it for him.”

In that moment where Murray jumped into the players’ box to celebrate with Lendl, his team and his girlfriend Kim Sears, the new champion forgot, for a moment in all the euphoria, about the person who propelled him for so long to his golden moment - his mother, Judy Murray. But that was soon rectified after he embraced her to celebrate the long journey they shared together to reach this moment. It was not only their dream, but a dream shared by so many in the United Kingdom.

That fact was evident by the many British fans both inside Centre Court and outside on “Murray Mound,” fans who made signs that

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read “Go Andy!”, wore masks of Murray’s face and cheered until they were hoarse from his opening match all the way until his final championship point. It was their moment of victory as much as it was Murray’s. And the wait, all 77 years of it since Fred Perry’s last triumph, was well worth it.

For Murray, the challenge to live up to the massive amounts of expectation placed on him has been daunting at times. He hopes that in the future, it will get a little easier as he aims for more major titles.

“It’s hard. It’s really hard. You know, for the last four or five years, it’s been very, very tough, very stressful, a lot of pressure,” Murray said.

“I think I felt a little bit better this year than I did last year. But it’s not easy. I think now it will become easier. I hope it will.”

Whatever happens next is uncertain. But one thing is for sure. After his historic triumph, Andy Murray has not only earned the sport’s biggest prize, but hopefully, a very good night’s sleep.

Give Virginia Wade Her Due

Thanks to Andy Murray’s historic title run at the All England Club, there has been much talk about the end of that pesky 77-year drought since the last British champion at Wimbledon. Fred Perry may have been the last man to win the title way back in 1936, but what about Virginia Wade? She hoisted the trophy in 1977 with Queen Elizabeth in attendance. Talk about pressure! Now a well-respected tennis commentator, Wade has stayed intimately involved with the game and Wimbledon itself. She deserves to be remembered and respected by British fans just as much as their latest tennis hero.

Wade sat down to give us her thoughts on the sport, gamesmanship, and Andy Murray.

What has been your favorite memory at Wimbledon?

I’ve got so many. I just love Wimbledon even though I wasn’t brought up in England. I was born here and came back when I was 15 (after being raised in South Africa). Even then, Wimbledon was the best.

So you came as a fan?

Oh, yeah. The funny thing is, my father rented a house in Wimbledon for six months before we found another one. The first thing I did was come down here.

And now you have a cast-iron bust of yourself…

Bronze… (laughs) Excuse me, bronze. So what’s it like having a bronze bust of yourself on display at Wimbledon?

This one [the sculptor] did based on pictures, and it’s not… Well, as a friend of mine said, “It looks more like Carly Simon than you.” But it is pretty fantastic.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL Q&A 2013 Wimbledon Review

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Marion’s Perfect Day

by Chris Oddo

If there is a lesson to be learned from Marion Bartoli’s 6-1, 6-4 victory over Sabine Lisicki in the Wimbledon women’s singles final, it is that some dreams take time to reach their fruition. A player may set her goals and sketch out her timetables, but sometimes the critical ingredients in the making of a Grand Slam champion are patience and perseverance.

For Bartoli, to persevere meant enduring a six-year wait between Grand Slam finals, off-court drama that included a long and welldocumented spat with the French Tennis Federation, constant criticism for her quirky, unorthodox playing style, and a breakup of sorts with her father, mentor and longtime coach, Walter Bartoli.

But once her final ace had sailed past her opponent on match point, none of that mattered anymore. Bartoli now held a long-coveted title, one that would forever be associated with her legendary work ethic and her burning desire to compete, regardless of the stage or the stakes. The toil, hardships and perplexing low and high points of the previous years a speck getting smaller in the rear view mirror, Bartoli can now contemplate her new reality.

Well, almost.

“I can’t believe I won Wimbledon this year,” she said, still getting used to her new celebrity status. “We’ll have to see the pictures, to see the match again on DVD to kind of start to realize it.”

Trained since she was six years old to compete with a very rare breed of intensity, reflecting on this landmark achievement so soon after holding the Venus Rosewater dish in her hands for the first time is probably the one thing that a capricious pugilist like Bartoli was unprepared to do on Saturday.

Still, she tried.

“Just to finish on an ace to win Wimbledon and you saw the chalk come out of the line,” Bartoli said. “I mean, I could have seen it in slow motion. I could see the ball landing, the chalk come out, it’s an ace, and I just win Wimbledon. You can’t describe that kind of feeling.”

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Some were quick to recognize the fact that Bartoli had become the first WTA player in Open Era history to win Wimbledon without facing a top 10-seeded opponent, but the true merit of Bartoli’s shining moment lies not in who she played but how she played.

She did not drop a set for the whole tournament, and lost only eight games in the final two matches.

Long known for her unorthodox, double-fisted playing style and neurotic shadow boxing between points, Bartoli’s remarkable shotmaking capacities often go overlooked, as does her resilience.

But after a day in which she ran her favored opponent ragged en route to breaking the WTA’s record for most Grand Slams played before winning a first title (47), nobody will question the efficacy of Bartoli’s game or her resolve.

Indeed, this was Bartoli’s day, and that fact would be made clear when the Frenchwoman served the match out to love, kissing the chalk with her final serve and dropping to her knees temporarily before rising in disbelief with her hands raised querulously above her head.

She may have dreamt about it ever since her first trip to the Wimbledon final six years ago when she lost to Venus Williams in straight sets at the tender age of 22, but it is unlikely that Marion Bartoli could’ve pictured a final so perfect, even in fantasy.

On the game’s greatest stage, Bartoli produced her most resplendent tennis. There were no hiccups, no lulls, no doubts. Only the stuff that dreams are made of. Backhands lashed at wicked angles into the open court. Drive volleys and smashes hit with incredible force. Anything Lisicki threw at her, Bartoli tracked down and sent back with interest.

She turned the hallowed grass of Wimbledon’s Centre Court into her very own field of dreams.

“That was the perfect day,” she told reporters afterwards. “It was sunny. It was beautiful. Centre Court Wimbledon, it was packed. I won in two sets. I didn’t drop a set for the whole championship.

Even in my perfect dream I couldn’t have dreamed a perfect moment like that.”

Bartoli’s triumph is a lesson to the rest of the tour that you can be unorthodox, you can be quirky, you can be whatever you like. As long as you are willing to put in the hard yards, anything can happen.

“I actually love that part of my game,” Bartoli said of her dare-tobe-different mindset. “You know, being able to have something different. At the end of the day, when the spectators were looking at 10 matches they will remember this girl that was doing something different, playing inside the court or whatever.”

Now they will remember that she was a Wimbledon champion, too.

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GRADING THE FIEL D It’s really kind of a shame, since most of the players have now figured out how to stay upright on the slippery stuff, but it’s time to say goodbye to grass-court tennis for another year. Now that all the exams have been taken, let’s hand out some grades… ­by Chris Oddo

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Andy Murray

Marion Bartoli

The Bryan Brothers

The momentous feat took 77 years and a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears, but the curse of Fred Perry is finally, overwhelmingly over. Andy Murray has done his job, rocking the core of British tennis to its foundation and proving to the world the he is tennis’ preeminent grasscourt player.

Marion Bartoli pounced on the opportunity presented to her when the top three women’s seeds fell before the quarterfinals, but her victory was more about skill, perseverance and flat-out owning the moment than the luck of the draw. Six years after her first Wimbledon final, Bartoli came back to claim what she always believed she could get. And she played the perfect final to get it done.

In the shadow of the singles draw, 35-yearold super twins Mike and Bob Bryan are quietly putting together one of the best doubles seasons in the history of tennis.

They defeated Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo for their fourth consecutive Grand Slam title in the final, and they’ll go for the calendaryear Grand Slam next month in New York.

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Juan Martin del Potro vs.

Novak Djokovic Semifinal This baby had it all. The match of the tournament, edging out Sabine Lisicki’s upset over Serena Williams by a nose.

When Del Potro saved two match points in the fourth-set tiebreaker, the roof was raised—and it wasn’t even closed.

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Sabine Lisicki Boom Boom Bine was amazing all tournament, beating three former Grand Slam champions, two top five players, and doing it all while exuding a unique and appealing sense of charm and class. That she fell one step short of the holy grail in no way detracts from the special quality of her run to the final.

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Novak Djokovic

Juan Martin del Potro

He fell short and maybe a bit flat in the final against Andy Murray, but the Serb reached his 13th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal and his 11th career Grand Slam final. If he can keep up that consistency for another two years, he’s likely to hit doubledigit Slam titles.

Who didn’t get the feeling, while watching Del Potro nearly upset Novak Djokovic in the semis, that the Argentine is destined to be a future Wimbledon champion?

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Su-Wei Hsieh and Shuai Peng Hsieh became the first player from Taiwan to win a Grand Slam title of any kind, and the Chinese-Taiwanese pairing won their first women’s doubles title with a straightsets victory over Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua of Australia.

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Jerzy Janowicz Tennis’s quintessential bad-ass big man reached his first Grand Slam semifinal and had Andy Murray on the ropes for a fleeting moment in the semis. Janowicz’s rise has been meteoric, but given his athleticism, moxie and desire, it has not been unexpected.

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Kirsten Flipkens From 262 in the world 13 months ago to top 20 and a trip to the Wimbledon semifinals. Quite an affirmative turnaround for the bespectacled Belgian.

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Tommy Haas Another nice run for the ageless wonder, who at 35 years of age is threatening to reach the top 10. He lost to Djokovic in the round of 16. If his draw had been different, who knows how far he’d have gone?

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Laura Robson Robson became the first British woman to reach Wimbledon’s fourth round in 15 years, and the talented Miss Robson will become the first British woman to crack the WTA’s top 30 since 1987 when postWimbledon rankings are released.

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Bernard Tomic

Sergiy Stakhovsky

Fernando Verdasco

It felt like Bernard Tomic has had to walk over broken glass ever since his father John became embroiled in scandal this May in Madrid. But the Aussie acquitted himself nicely in spite of the drama surrounding him, reaching the fourth round and reminding us all of just how talented a grass-court player he can be.

Stakhovsky’s serve-and-volley clinic against Roger Federer was equally thrilling. In doing so, he became the first man to eliminate Federer before the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam since Gustavo Kuerten in 2004.

New stick, new Verdasco? Whatever the case—it was nice to see the Spaniard using his power game to great effect during the fortnight. He reached his first Wimbledon quarterfinal, then nearly took out Andy Murray when he got there.

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B

Sloane Stephens Another trip to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for Stephens, and for a while title hopes did not seem all that ridiculous.

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American Men For the first time in 101 years, no American men reached the third round of the Championships. Just no way to sugar coat that.

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Monica Puig The 19-year-old reached the fourth round of a Slam (upsetting 5th-seeded Sara Errani in the first round) for the first time in her career, in her first appearance at Wimbledon.

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Agnieszka Radwanska Aga gets an A for her tennis, but an F for her handshake with Sabine Lisicki after dropping a hard-fought semifinal to the German.

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Madison Keys Keys nearly took out Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round. She’ll break into the WTA’s top 50 for the first time after her second third-round Grand Slam appearance of 2013.

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Jonn Inverdale After wondering out loud if Marion Bartoli’s dad ever told her that “she was never going to be a looker?” the silverhaired commentator for BBC took a great deal of heat, and deservedly so.

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Wimbledon’s Chaos Might Serve Tennis Better Than You Think Why two weeks of chaos and a not-made-for-TV final might be good for women’s tennis in the long run.

by Chris Oddo

During the first set of the Wimbledon women’s singles final, I got a text from a friend that basically said, “This would’ve been so much better if Serena were in the final,” or something to that effect, and I thought to myself, ‘Person X is totally missing the point of this whole crazy, beautiful tournament.’

I do realize that it’s hard to disagree that a final featuring Serena Williams wouldn’t have been more entertaining than the one-sided, nerve-addled final that we got between Sabine Lisicki and Marion Bartoli, but to think only about the entertainment value of the final and not about the implications of what this wild, woolly fortnight meant for so many of the rank-and-file members of women’s tennis is myopic in my opinion.

Saturday’s final was important on so many levels for so many WTA players, because it introduced a vital grain of hope into the minds of young players who previously might not of had that hope in this Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova dominated era.

Think about it: Sloane Stephens had a very good shot to win a Wimbledon title, playing the eventual champion close in two tough sets in the quarters; Sabine Lisicki’s wildest dreams very nearly came true, and even though they didn’t, the 23-year-old German had the most invaluable learning experience of her career; several other talented yet unproven players also had chances to either go deep or even win the title.

If tennis is a game of belief, it is also a game of hope, and when the top three seeds all fail to reach the quarterfinals of a Slam, hope springs eternal for players who’ve been previously overlooked or underestimated. The message rings clear, telling those players, “There are opportunities to be had, so you best be ready to rumble.”

For young players like Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig or Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard or young American Madison Keys, the lightbulb no doubt has already gone off. Beating Serena Williams may forever—at least for now—seem an impossible task, but beating a lesser-ranked player who beat Serena Williams, now that’s a completely different story.

And young players aren’t the only ones getting the memo. Since 2010, Francesca Schiavone, Li Na and Marion Bartoli have all become maiden Slam winners while nearing the age of 30. That they were able to do so in an era dominated by the most lethal and imposing female player, perhaps of all-time, means Laura Robson, Alize Cornet and Ekaterina Makarova might be able to pull of similar coups in future Grand Slams.

Those three names might not seem likely candidates to rise to the pinnacle of tennis at the moment, but if we’ve learned anything from two weeks’ worth of tumult at the All England Club, it’s that the craziest, most random things can happen during a Grand Slam every once in a while.

Is that crazy randomness the desired outcome for television networks and mainstream media outlets? Probably not. But if it helps to foster a collective, burgeoning hope among the Dominika Cibulkova’s and Andrea Petkovic’s of the world, is it necessarily a bad thing? I think not.

It took Marion Bartoli 47 Grand Slams to finally reach the top of the mountain this weekend at Wimbledon. She’s not necessarily the most gifted athlete or the swiftest. But she plays with menace and a snarl, and a lust for battle that is as gigantic as her will to compete.

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When it was her time to fly, she let that lust guide her, and the rest is history. And you better believe that history will be kind to her just as it is to all Grand Slam champions.

It took Francesca Schiavone 39 Grand Slams before she broke through in Paris at the French Open in 2010. She’s not the most powerful player, or the fastest. But she’s got the heart of a lion and the guts of a tightrope walker. When it was her time to fly, she sensed it, and history will be kind to her because she did.

That Schiavone and Bartoli were ready to pounce on the opportunities when they presented themselves is a testament to the preparedness and longevity of each. Neither will ever be on par with Serena Williams when placed under the microscope of history, but each will always be known for catching lightning in a bottle while everybody else was getting struck down.

There’s a line forming behind Marion Bartoli as I write this, and it is full of players who now recognize that the impossible dream, on

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occasion, does come true. But only for those willing to stay in line and wait their turn.

As Marion Bartoli proved in winning Wimbledon six long years after losing in the final, patience is a virtue. But even more important than patience is the ability to recognize an opportunity and to scratch and claw for dear life when it comes.

Fall asleep at the wheel and somebody else will catch your lightning.

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A Wimbledon Wednesday to Remember – or Forget Tennis Now’s Blair Henley experienced firsthand Wimbledon’s now infamous “Black Wednesday,” which was ripe with upsets, retirements and injury withdrawals.

by Blair Henley

Given the words thrown around on Day 3 at Wimbledon – carnage, destruction, slaughter, bloodshed – it was easy to temporarily forget that I was not, in fact, a wartime reporter.

The scene in the pressroom as players went down on the grass, literally and figuratively, on that fateful Wednesday was as chaotic as things get at Wimbledon, with journalists and photographers speed-walking from their desks to the courts to the interview room and back again. As soon as I directed my attention to one dramatic loss or injury, I heard murmurs of another unfathomable collapse.

This is the first time I’ve covered Wimbledon from the All England Club, and as a relative rookie here, it was nice to hear from veteran colleagues that they, too, were shell-shocked. Journalists who’ve covered 25-plus Wimbledon events were shaking their heads in disbelief. At some point in the evening, words became unnecessary.

We just exchanged understanding looks in the halls. Some even had an extra beer in the well-appointed press restaurant.

era was ending. With the loss, Federer’s ranking will drop outside the top four for the first time in a decade. Perhaps even more unbelievable is David Ferrer’s rise to No. 3, but that’s a story for a different day. Of course, most of the chatter involved the end of Federer’s streak of reaching 36 consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals.

As soon as the press conference times were announced after that final match on Centre Court, I hurried down to the interview room to grab a seat. A dreary pall hung over the capacity crowd of reporters and photographers. There was a sense of loss, no doubt.

Not just Roger’s loss, but the loss of the Federer name from the draw, his aura from the grounds.

Once he arrived, clad in a striped Nike tee and jeans, the questions began. I asked whether the end of the quarterfinal streak might actually lessen the pressure he feels moving forward.

“Not really,” he said. “I wish it did. It doesn’t feel that way right now.”

Theories on just how such a string of unfortunate events could have coincided on an otherwise beautiful London day were in bountiful supply. Some blamed the grass, much to the dismay of the brand new groundskeeper at Wimbledon. Some blamed the lack of preparation time on the surface. Some suggested only half jokingly that it was a British conspiracy designed to help Andy Murray and/or Laura Robson claim the title.

And while the kill-count by day’s end on June 26 stood at seven singles withdrawals and six losses for former No. 1s, nothing could have prepared us for the pièce de résistance: Roger Federer’s defeat at the hands of a serve-and-volleying Sergiy Stakhovsky.

While it may seem dramatic or alarmist, it did truly feel like an

After explaining his disappointment (in several different ways), Federer also added that he has plans to play for “many more years.” Part of me couldn’t help but think he was lying through his teeth. Any sports superstar would be silly to muse publicly about the end of his or her career unless they enjoy being asked about it incessantly. I hope I’m wrong.

At Wimbledon, where order and predictability are everything, “Black Wednesday” will forever stand out in the tournament’s storied history. But, as expected, that bizarre chain of events didn’t put a damper on the crowds, the enthusiasm or the atmosphere at the All England Club. People there clearly come for the tennis, not necessarily the big names.

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Q&ithA

W h t i m S Stan r

by Blai

Henley

Despite two Grand Slam singles titles and five Grand Slam doubles titles to his name, Stan Smith’s involvement with the game of tennis didn’t stop when he hung up his racquet in 1985. Now the co-owner of a tennis academy in Hilton Head, S.C., and the president of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, the former world No. 1 has left his stamp on the next generation of players. He and his wife return to the All England Club every year to enjoy what he calls “one of the most special tournaments in the world.” And it was in his Wimbledon residence, just steps from that beautiful green grass, where he sat down to talk professional tennis, his iconic Stan Smith shoes, and the greatest player of all time.

Having won this tournament, what’s it like coming back? Does it ever get old?

No, it doesn’t get old. When I first came here, it was great, but it wasn’t keeping up with the other tournaments. Chris Gorringe, who was the executive director until about five years ago, saw the other tournaments were doing better with facilities and hospitality.

For example, back then, you’d get one ticket every other day for your parents or friends. Most people have two parents, or they did then (smiles). Now, the players are treated better. The players’ restaurant is much better. We had no choice. We had lamb on Monday, chicken on Tuesday, steak on Wednesday. You couldn’t even practice here when I was playing. They’ve made a lot of big

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improvements. It’s considered the best tournament in the world, and it was close to losing that a little bit. Their plans for the future are spectacular.

Wimbledon is special for anyone who steps through the gates, but having won here in ‘72…

Yeah, Centre Court is special. The first time I played on it, I didn’t really know what to expect. At that time you had to bow to the royalty when you came in at the service line. Centre Court is intimate, and now it’s even more rare being grass. At that time, we were playing on grass at the US Open and Wimbledon as well, so it wasn’t as unique.

How would you have fared on the grass courts of 2013?

If we had our same racquets, I would have done fine. These racquets, who knows? That would have obviously changed my game. It would be great to see the guys playing with wood racquets just one year. Some of the guys would frame the ball a bit (smiles).

Nadal’s forehand – there would be only a small space for him to make contact with the strings.

You didn’t play Wimbledon in ’73, the year after you won. You boycotted the tournament to protest the suspension of Croatian player Nikola Pilic. It seems hard to imagine players being that loyal today.

Well, it was a political thing. We didn’t feel like [his ban] was appropriate. There had been four years of Open tennis by then. We negotiated until 11:30 on Sunday night (before play the next day), and I was one of the founders and leaders of the ATP. I don’t know how close it got, but they felt that this guy wasn’t in good standing because he didn’t want to play Davis Cup. Nobody would be in good standing today (smiles).

Any regrets?

It’s funny because we were asked to sit in the Royal Box that final day. I really have only been in the Royal Box five times. But that day, Margie looked at the seating chart, and they had written me, then Margie, then D. Beckham, then V. Beckham. As we went to sit down, I said, “Margie do you want me to sit next to them?” She said, “No way! I want to sit next to them!”

Off the court, who are some of the more interesting people you’ve gotten a chance to a meet?

Last year we met Rory McIlroy. I was surprised – he knew who I was, and he knew that I won in ‘72. That was kind of interesting. We’ve seen Sean Connery and all the folks that are involved in the game in some way. Ernie Els and I are good friends.

I happened to see an adidas animated Christmas Carol spoof that featured Snoop Dogg and you as the “Ghost of Holiday Past.”

What was your reaction when they approached you about that?

It was interesting. They sent me the script. I didn’t know all of it, but I knew the parts I was involved in.

Were you familiar with Snoop Dogg?

No, I think it was the right thing to do at the time.

You and your wife Margie are a kind of like Wimbledon royalty around here. Last year, I remember seeing you sitting next to David and Victoria Beckham at the final.

Well, I am now. Just like when the kids came home and said, “Geez Dad, you’re famous! Jay-Z’s got you in his song!” I said, “Well, who’s Jay-Z?” I found out who he was, but yeah, the Snoop Dogg thing… the kids in our academy were very impressed.

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Does it surprise you at all that your shoes have made you a pop culture fixture?

quite there. Del Potro, he’ll never be quite there. Tsonga moves well, but Ferrer, Nadal, Federer and Murray, those guys all move great.

My shoe is pop culture. I’m not sure I am (smiles). A lot of people think I am a shoe. I used a Jack Kramer racquet. He really was one of the great players of all time. A lot of people say “I’ve got the Jack Kramer racquet!” but they have no idea who Jack Kramer is. There was a Jack Purcell tennis shoe. A Chuck Taylor was a basketball shoe.

I’m sort of in that same category.

The greatest of all time debate: Do you think it’s Roger, hands down? Or do you think Rafa is going to surpass him before all is said and done?

You have your academy in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Are you out on the court much these days?

I’m on the court with the kids every day when I’m in town. I’m there about half the time. I’m there with the kids, Billy Stearns and B.J. Stearns. Billy’s son is really doing a great job taking over the academy part of it.

In a general sense, what do you need to see in a junior player that makes you think he or she could make it big one day?

It’s natural athletic ability. I call some of these kids $30,000-a-year tennis players. They take private lessons, and they aren’t very athletic. They don’t have much natural talent, but they become decent because they take a lot of lessons. Today you can’t be a top player unless you can move really well. You look at Serena and even Sharapova, and on the men’s side, you look at those top four guys and how they move. Berdych doesn’t move as well; he’ll never be

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I look at Federer and what he’s done; he’s been No. 1 for so long. The thing that he’s done that sets him apart maybe from Sampras were those 23 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals and 36 quarterfinals of Grand Slams, which is almost as impressive. To not be injured or hurt on all surfaces? In today’s game with more competition and more variety of surfaces, I’d put him up there with Laver. Laver didn’t have to play tough matches until the quarters, but to win the Grand Slam twice, he’s up in that debate. Of course, you have Sampras up there and Borg was up there, too. And Rafa is, certainly. What he’s done in the last seven months? Rafa will be No. 1 by the end of the year.

Did it surprise you that Nadal has played like he has after being out for so long?

His talent didn’t surprise me and neither did some of the victories.

But [it’s amazing] that his knee has held up relatively well. The guy is still moving well. He has to move well, and that’s his problem. If he’s a step slow in a year or two, he’s done, in my opinion. He’s five years younger [than Federer], so he obviously could get up there [in Grand Slam titles]. But Djokovic is in the way and so is Murray.

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Eric Babolat on Shoes, Nadal, and the Future of Tennis Technology With a presence in 160 countries, Babolat is intent on taking over the tennis world. CEO Eric Babolat sat down with Tennis Now at Wimbledon to discuss that success. Plus, he talks shoes, racquets, and Rafa! ­by Blair Henley

When news broke that Babolat had inked a five-year deal with Wimbledon to be the official shoe sponsor of The Championships, it may have raised an eyebrow or two. After all, the company started producing footwear only 10 years ago. But this is Babolat we’re talking about – they don’t waste any time. They entered the racquet business less than 20 years ago, and now have one of the most recognizable brands in the industry. They launched their own line of tennis balls in 2001 and became the official ball of the French Open just a decade later.

It’s safe to say that Pierre Babolat would have had a hard time

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comprehending what his little tennis string business would become when he started it in 1875. With a presence in 160 countries and 15,000 tennis shops across the world, Babolat is now one of the leading tennis specialty companies, topping racquet sales in five major countries including the U.S. and Spain.

With players like Rafael Nadal, Li Na, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga endorsing their products, the French tennis powerhouse appears unstoppable.

Babolat’s success has left many more established brands playing catch up. But CEO Eric Babolat, the fifth generation to head

company operations, enjoys the rivalry.

“Competition is the best way to innovate because it’s pushing everyone to get better,” he explained. “Tennis is a fight. If you’re on the court you are trying to beat the player in front of you, and that’s the example we try to follow.”

Babolat sat down with Tennis Now on a rainy morning at Wimbledon to discuss the innovative company that bears his name. One minute with the 43-year-old executive and you can sense a deep passion for the game. Holding a Babolat shoe in his hands, he explained why the company has had such enviable success from strings to racquets, to footwear and bags.

“They are all really technically different products, but the point in common is the players,” he said. “The player needs to play and improve their game.”

That athlete-centric focus has helped him build a close relationship with Rafael Nadal. Babolat laughed as he spoke about the Spaniard’s 2010 visit to the company headquarters in Lyon, France, where he experimented with a new, spin-improving string.

“We prepared a presentation with slides…and he looked at it and said, ‘I don’t understand. It’s too technical, but I’m sure it’s good.’”

That level of trust has become a hallmark of Babolat’s relationship with his players; they are simply part of his extended family. He even spoke to Nadal after his unexpected first-round Wimbledon loss.

“He’s a bit disappointed, but he’s a champion and he knows

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anything can happen,” he said. “I think it’s probably a issue of the time to adjust from clay to grass. He’s a fighter, so I’m sure he’ll be back.”

racquet, Julien Benneteau is the only elite tour player currently sporting the shoe. But, given the company’s track record, we can expect that to change in the near future.

While the relationship with Nadal is a valuable one for the company, they lost two of their most familiar faces – Andy Roddick and Kim Clijsters – to retirement last year. With 300 players (150 pros and 150 juniors) endorsed by Babolat in some capacity, the CEO is sure the next big star is just beyond the horizon.

So what’s next for Babolat? They’ll soon be launching Babolat Play – a racquet utilizing handle sensors to provide players with useful performance data. Plug the racquet into your computer via a USB port under the butt cap and analyze away! Players will also have the ability to share the data with coaches (or friends, for gloating purposes). Babolat himself has learned a thing or two about his game.

“Among [those players], I’m sure is the future of Rafa and Andy and Kim,” he said with confidence. “The first champions we endorsed with our strings were the French “mousquetaires,” Mr. Lacoste and Suzanne Lenglen. Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras were playing with our strings. The relationship we have with the tennis planet is with players all over the world.”

Despite the partnership with Wimbledon, tennis shoes are possibly the least well known of the Babolat products. Though Andy Roddick wore the Propulse model before he hung up his

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“I know that I’m not so good at tennis,” he said with a chuckle, “but I was able to see if I was doing more forehands than backhands and the power of my stroke. I was impressed to see that my serve was stronger than I thought. It’s quite magical to visualize.”

Comparing run-of-the-mill racquets with the silent movies of old, Eric Babolat believes the time is coming where every racquet will be an “intelligent” one. And we can’t wait.

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Wimbledon Show

Prince Tennis celebrated the ope store in the heart of the game’s m – just before play kicked off at th Prince players, including Wimble Bartoli and doubles champions B out to show their support for new everything from Prince shoes and

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2013 Wimbledon Review

wcase for Prince

ening of its branded specialty most famous post code – SW19 he All England Club this year. edon singles champion Marion Bob and Mike Bryan, came w superstore, which featured d racquets, to bags and apparel.

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2013 Wimbledon Preview

RANKINGS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Djokovic, Novak Murray, Andy Ferrer, David Nadal, Rafael Federer, Roger Berdych, Tomas Del Potro, Juan Martin Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried Gasquet, Richard Wawrinka, Stanislas Haas, Tommy Nishikori, Kei Cilic, Marin Tipsarevic, Janko Raonic, Milos Almagro, Nicolas Janowicz, Jerzy Simon, Gilles Isner, John Monaco, Juan Querrey, Sam Anderson, Kevin Seppi, Andreas Dolgopolov, Alexandr Kohlschreiber, Philipp

SRB GBR ESP ESP SUI CZE ARG FRA FRA SUI GER JPN CRO SRB CAN ESP POL FRA USA ARG USA RSA ITA UKR GER

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Williams, Serena USA Sharapova, Maria RUS Azarenka, Victoria BLR Radwanska, Agnieszka POL

Li, Na CHN

Errani, Sara ITA Bartoli, Marion FRA Kvitova, Petra CZE

Kerber, Angelique DEU

Wozniacki, Caroline DNK

Vinci, Roberta ITA Kirilenko, Maria RUS Stosur, Samantha AUS

Jankovic, Jelena SRB Flipkens, Kirsten BEL Stephens, Sloane USA

Ivanovic, Ana SRB Lisicki, Sabine DEU Petrova, Nadia RUS Suarez Navarro, Carla ESP Cibulkova, Dominika SVK Vesnina, Elena RUS Pavlyuchenkova, Anastasia RUS Kanepi, Kaia EST Makarova, Ekaterina RUS

12,310 9,360 7,220 6,860 5,785 4,865 4,500 3,480 3,045 2,915 2,605 2,495 2,335 2,310 2,225 2,195 2,154 2,055 1,770 1,740 1,730 1,590 1,550 1,545 1,535 11,895 9,235 8,825 5,965 5,555 5,180 4,675 4,435 3,970 3,660 3,060 2,976 2,965 2,925 2,906 2,870 2,740 2,650 2,505 2,440 2,295 1,889 1,805 1,781 1,742 2013 French Open Review

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The speed and stamina of Novak Djokovic delighted Wimbledon fans and frustrated his opponents.

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Sabine Lisicki showed off her grass-court prowess en route to her first Grand Slam final.

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Andy Murray earned the support of his hometown crowd throughout the Wimbledon fortnight.

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No. 15 seed Marion Bartoli waited six years for another shot at the Wimbledon title, and she showed grace under pressure in winning her first Grand Slam.

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2013 Wimbledon Review

45

Rafael Nadal’s stay at Wimbledon was a short one, allowing fans only a single match to see that famous forehand.

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Top seed Serena Williams looked like a shoe-in for the women’s title as she powered her way through the first few rounds. But eventual finalist Sabine Lisicki cut her run short in the round of 16, leaving fans without a defending champion to root for.

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Novak Djokovic had a tough time getting a grip on the lawn at Wimbledon, showing off his trademark elasticity as he slipped and slid through the fortnight.

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