A beautiful piece written here by Byron Vale was exactly what the doctor ordered to read for all Wimbledon fans. Especially the ones who are superstitious and who believe that history does repeat itself.
Vale has tried to match up Borg's 5 consecutive wins at Wimbledon from 1976 to 1980 to Federer's last 5 wins. There is
too much similarity to deny the truth which clearly is hinting towards a new Wimbledon champion this year. Here is an excerpt from Vale's article...
"Borg claimed his fifth Wimbledon title by beating John McEnroe. Federer claimed his fifth Wimbledon title by beating Rafael Nadal.
Borg took five sets to beat McEnroe. Federer took five sets to beat Nadal. Borg played right-hand, Federer plays right-handed. Borg was the Ice Man, Federer unflappable.
McEnroe was a leftie, Nadal is a leftie. In 1980 Borg was 24 and McEnroe 21. In 2007 Federer was 25 and Nadal 21.
Heading into Wimbledon 1981 Borg was clearly not at his best. He had been troubled by a shoulder injury earlier in the year and suffered shock losses to Victor Pecci and Rolf Gehring.
Heading into Wimbledon 2008 Federer is clearly not at his best. He revealed in March that he had been diagnosed with glandular fever and suffered shock losses to Mardy Fish and Radek Stepanek..."
Woah! I am already feeling the queasiness. I hope Federer doesn't read this stuff. I guess the only way to not let this happen is somehow stop Nadal from meeting him in the Final heheh...I wonder who will stop Rafa from achieving that. For that matter, it will be a tougher challenge for Federer than anybody else to even reach the Final.
The neutral fan like me would look forward to tough, gruelling and fast grass-court tennis which is the spectacle of all Wimbledon championships. The white clothing, the sophisticated audience, the aura and charm of the tradition of the Wimbledon environment.
The tournament starts 20th June 2008.
Wimbledon... the only real tennis tournament that gets me going... its been ages since I've watched tennis frankly it may be because it has become boring due to decentralized stars who come and go and also the fact that this game is producing players who are only being specialized to a particular surface. On grass, federer will reign again.
ReplyDelete[...] Roger “Mr. Flawless” Federer who came in at Number 6. He is reigning number 1 and will defend his Wimbledon title starting 23rd June 2008. He has been pretty good on all surfaces but has not won the French Open [...]
ReplyDelete[...] side really and if somebody forced me to take sides, I was with Federer. I wanted him to defy history to break Borg’s record of 6 consecutive Wimbledon titles. Not to [...]
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