Wimbledon is here. My favorite tournament on the calendar, by far, and the blue skies that smiled over the lawns of the All England Lawn Tennis Club drew a big smile from me.
Match of the Day
Anybody who underestimates Marion Bartoli at Wimbledon is a fool.
Anybody.
I don't care what her results have been, this is the event that brings out her very best tennis. Sure, she can lose before winning the thing, but she's not going to beat herself. Not at Wimbledon.
Feistry, hard-hitting Sabine Lisicki figured that out pretty quickly. In a match that included some of the longest games played on grass, she played well enough to beat at least half the women in the draw, but it wasn't well enough to get by Maid Marion.
After being outhit, and out maneuvered to the score of 0-4, the Gernman teenager found her bearings and started to hit up the middle of the court in order to take away the devastating angles the Frenchwoman can produce with her two hands off both sides.
The first game of the second set lasted 13 minutes and went to deuce 8 times. Marion won that game. The fourth game of the second set lasted 10 minutes and went to deuce 6 times. Sabine won that game. That's how tough it was to hold on to serve in the early half of the second set.
But Sabine was already down a break before that 10 minute game and even though darkness was falling, she couldn't win enough points and games thereafter to postpone the match. Marion served out the match comfortably and shut the door on the talented upstart 6-2, 6-4.
It's been a long time since I've seen a first-round match at a Slam that featured such quality tennis from both sides of the net.
You Better Walk the Runway, Ladies
Roger Federer sports his caramel-colored cardigan. He's got 130 of them to give away. I'll pass. Serena Williams is serving trench coat. Ladylike. Suits her personality perfectly, she says.
Overheard
Mary Carillo (on Ashley Harkleroad's Playboy spread): I haven't seen the pictures on the inside, but I have seen the cover and she looks kind of greasy.
Darren Cahill: You can't stick it too hard.
Patrick McEnroe: You gotta jam him. You gotta slide it in there good.
(Of course, they were talking about tennis.)
Jack (from TAT): I'd like to sum up Day 1 coverage by saying if I hear, one more time, Brad Gilbert with his trendy new pet phrase of "pulling a rip cord" for those players retiring from matches, I'm going to reach through the freaking television screen, wrap my bare hands around his meatheaded, potato-faced neck, and squeeze more and more tightly until I feel every last essence of life drain from his soul-less body.
Photos of the Day
Lleyton Hewitt
Ana Ivanovic
Fernando Gonzalez
Anna Chakvetadze
Frank Dancevic
Agnieszka Radwanska
Dominik Hrbaty relaxes on a changeover with Raja, his opponent, not his doubles partner. Must be nice to have such a carefree first-round match on Centre Court for the world No. 1.
Maid Marion and Sabine had to wait till their battle was over before chumming it up at the net.
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