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condividiThe fall of
the angels
The first four days of the Championships have already reserved a few surprises. Margherita Polacci
Despite the first and second seeds in both the Gentlemen and Ladies’ tournament being right on track for the final, the first four days of the Championships have already reserved a few surprises. Djokovic, Roddick, Blake, Nalbandian, Sharapova and Hantuchova were all among the top 10 seeds. And now they are all out of Wimbledon. The two biggest shocks were the defeats of Djokovic and Sharapova, for both of whom the number 3 seed did not bring any luck. Novak and Maria’s losses have little in common, and yet they are not easily comprehensible for two players that were strongly seeking victory. Djokovic lost in straights sets to a rejuvenated Marat Safin, who, at age 28, has rediscovered tennis and, mostly, that tennis for him is still a source of enjoyment and motivation. The Serb, who started the 2008 season very well by winning the Australian Open, and then the Indian Wells and Rome tournaments, was seen as one of the favouritse at these Wimbledon Championships. Earlier he admitted he felt very good and ready to reach the final. Because he was in Roger Federer’s half, many would say he felt he was ready to stop the Swiss master’s run for his 6th consecutive title here. Something went wrong with his plan, and evidently either his mental or physical shape (or both) were not as perfect as he thought. Next year, Novak?
Sharapova was defeated by her compatriot Alla Kudryavtseva, who shares her age and residence, the sunshine lands of Florida, but, at least so far, not the same fame. This year Maria arrived at Wimbledon with the aura of ‘Princess of fashion’ and she has been criticized for being too distracted by these frivolous aspects of life. In her post match presser she gave no excuses and hastily commented it was just not her day and that the loss had nothing to do with her preparation, health conditions or, last but not least,…fashion distractions. Two young, and yet already established professionals, have left the green courts of the temple of tennis. They’ll be back next year, but for this year history will be written by someone else.
Margherita Polacci
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