 |
| |
|
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
||
 |
|||
EVENTS
CENTERS
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|
 |
Farewell to the fortnight
Last day of work today, last entry in my semi-delirious TNT diary. After this, check your local listings for NBC's coverage of the rest of Wimbledon. You won't have me to kick around any more.... I've still got one more match to call -- the Tim Henman/Goran Ivanisevic semi. It's insane what the papers here expect and demand from this match, and what they fear will happen when the home-grown Henman goes up against Goran, "The Existential Hero." Some of the papers scream about Tim, others speak quietly about how there's been "a bit of a drought" since they've had an English champion at Wimbledon. A bit of a drought? Sixty-five stinkin' years, kids -- that's when Fred Perry last took the title and kept the big shiny trophy with the little pineapple on top right here in England. Although good old Virginia Wade collared me in the hallway yesterday and in a fairly crabby but utterly correct fashion suggested (subtext: demanded), I remind the colonials that the last British Wimbledon champion was her own self, back in '77. I'll never forget her win; that was the first year I played Wimbledon. Just to get here had been my dream. Virginia's sights were far loftier, and when she won it all this country rejoiced in a way I'd never seen before, beautiful and plaintive and lovely and unforgettable. Yes, Virginia, I remember. Consider it passed along. One of my favorite people on the planet, the lovely and talented writer/TNT assignment editor/Tennis Geek of the Gods, Joel Drucker, described the Goran on Grass predicament thusly: "It's like waiting at a red light for ten minutes -- there's nothing you can do. Then the light goes green for ten seconds. That's your chance." Don't know what's going to happen. Both guys can get fragile. Goran's been so strong, virtually impenetrable, and Tim held off Sampras-sinker Roger Federer in four sets even though in the match's two tiebreaks he was down 6-3 in the first, 5-3 in the second. He came good, as they say around here. If form holds I'm figuring Henman's got to make Ivanisevic hit a second shot. Not easy to do, of course, if you can't hit the first. Just about the only time you can start up a rally with Goran on grass is when you're serving, and who the hell wants to rally on serve? (Not this little black duck, I can tell you that.) I say this all the time on the air, but it's especially true of this match. The musical question of the day is, who's got the ability to play big points in big situations? I adore this event but I won't stay around for the big payoff this weekend. I miss my kids. Neither Anthony, almost 14, nor Rachel the 9-year-old, watches tennis on TV unless, "There's nothing else on." To say they don't keep up with my career is putting it mildly, though I made the event more sporting for my boy last week. He was at Bollettieri's basketball camp ("Can I stay here for the rest of my life, Mom?") and I guess he caught my voice on TV while he was on the lunch line. He told the kid next to him that the woman talking was his mom. Of course the kid didn't believe him; who ever believes what they hear on a buffet line? But when I called him that night he started screaming, "Mom! Aren't you my mom? Tell this kid!" The kid got on the phone. "Yes, I said. That's my kid. But whatever the bet is, don't pay him." Anthony was so close to thinking I was finally good for something. Ah, well. I'll feed him when I get home. There's great tennis yet to come. Sorry I'll miss the women's final. I'll read about it, see some highlights, ask my friends what it was like. But while history is being made tomorrow, I'll be snoring on the plane ride home. Mary Carillo is an analyst and play-by-play announcer for TNT's coverage of Wimbledon. She has been in broadcasting since retiring from the WTA tour in 1980.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
