Word: wimbledon
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...tennis umpires," says Ainslie. "Some of them have been in the business for years. They can make valid comparisons with the great players of the past, whereas for today's players, that's more difficult. Borg was born the same year Lew Hoad won his first Wimbledon singles title...
...look forward to coming back to Wimbledon. I can see myself an old man there...
This Monday afternoon an umpire at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club will peer down from his chair in Centre Court and in clipped tones inquire, "Gentlemen, are you ready?" A pause, and then: "Play!" Thus the 94th Wimbledon Tennis Championships are scheduled to begin. At one end of that storied court will stand Bjorn Borg, defending champion, the only modern player to win four straight Wimbledon titles ? and, if the oddsmakers are correct, the first man to win five. Not quite ready yet for tea and reverie, he returns to Wimbledon seeking to etch even more...
Generation after generation of tennis champions have measured their worth against the memories of Wimbledon. But in all those years Centre Court, with its pampered lawn, its banked grandstand packed with royal patrons and regally sportsmanlike fans, has belonged to Borg as it has to no one else. The sight of him, Wimbledon Cup held aloft in vic tory, has become as much a part of the Fortnight, as the British call the pre mier tournament of tennis, as members taking tea in their rose-covered enclosure, or the hundreds of fans patiently queuing for strawberries and cream beneath green...
Where is the humanity behind Borg's implacable visage? At Wimbledon, it peaks through, but only fleetingly. Machine-like personality need not accompany machine-like precision. And while these observations in no way condone the brattishness that pervades tennis's upper echelons, it is possible to be both mannerly and flamboyant--witness the generation of great Aussies which, regrettably, has slipped from tourneys to tennis ranches...