Pretending to be a tennis writer… I went to two days of the qualifying sessions for Wimbledon in Roehampton, and couldn’t resist the temptation to write a bit. Some sunny days for sure, about 35 degrees or higher for both days, not quite so Wimbledon.
My first day was the event’s second, when ladies first rounds were played. I tried 4pm, as I got the info that the ticket price would get reduced to five pounds. Some said 20 was a ‘good price’ but 20 for multiple days would be a bit hefty I thought. And the advance tickets were sold out anyway. And sure enough, no queue at 4pm! Not so so Wimbledon again, but it was a great price, and a great… evening.
The good thing about qualifying is the closeness to the players… they can just be wandering around on the ground, warming up…
I went first to the match between Mai Hontama of Japan and Akasha Urhobo of the U.S. Surprising was the length of rallies.
I know it’s a women’s match, but Urhobo’s serve is very fast (no speedometer here though I’m afraid), but Hontama was able to return most of the times very well. Talking of closeness, the ball literally comes to you, particularly where I like: diagonally behind the serving/returning position, you really experience a player’s perspective. Anyhow, rallies were surprisingly long, reminding me of what John Loyd said in Queen’s final between Cerundolo and Paul, another match on grass with long rallies. He remarked long rallies were rare on grass in the old days, mentioning several factors that changed it, including racket and string qualities. That return improved over time with the spin modern equipment creates. So the match went in Hontama’s favour in the end, a good returner overcoming a good server. Modern day grass court tennis…
On my second day, both ladies’ and men’s second rounds are played. When I arrived there was no match going on… I thought it was due to severe heat, but not: power failure of the line call system. We might call it rather Wimbledon… or London, the transport was generally disrupted too.
The highlight was supposed to be Evans’ game, who announced retirement earlier (but still wasn’t chosen for WC). Sadly he lost in a straight set, with 0-6 in the second. Was it the demise of volleyers on grass? In the second match I watched, however, was an antidote. Tabur against Mochizuki, who is a great, great volleyer. True he’s not a big server, or big hitter either, but still came through with guile in three sets. Pleasing to the eye to me, a fan of net plays and a net player myself, and a relief too as a proof that net play tennis is not dead on grass.
I then watched Virtanen against Nardi. Virtanen somehow became one of my favourites, due to his, probably overly, relaxed style. Despite being a huge server and powerful hitter, he somehow gets ‘switched off’ at times with very lazy looking shots. It just looks that way, maybe he does not mean it, but is criticised by the commentators in such moments. But he did win some of those points and ended up winning convincingly, after consistently keeping this style of switching between the two modes.
The wrap-up of the day was Andreescu against Teichman, which was a tight game. This was however a little bit scrappy I have to say, on Andresscu’s part. Though generally on top, she kept crucial points towards the end. I heard from the spectator next to me she suffered from injury and got the ranking dropped, but felt she probably also misses something to stay on top, as happens with a number of others who won a Grand Slam as a teenager.
I wanted to go the last day too but was busy, and at 4pm not much play was left. Great experience as always. Mochizuki did win as well as Virtanen, Andreescu too, to go to the main draw. I can’t wait to go, queue and watch in the main venue. But for those who are uninitiated, the qualies are really a great day out, or two, with a great value for money.
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