For the body of art that is tennis, Wimbledon is its soul. And for 2 weeks in the middle of the calendar year, it defines why even amidst ruthless power hitters & commercial sharks, tennis still continues to be such a beautiful game. For a tournament that probably has half the world glued into their TV sets and buried into the morning newspapers, its lawns are bereft of even a single ad hoarding. For a tournament that has seen men’s tennis being dominated like none other (Borg in the 70’s, Sampras in the 90’s, and Federer’s reign in the new millenium till Nadal upstaged him last year), even a first round match between unseeded greenhorns on the lush greens of court 18 is a delight to watch.
Compare that with Cricket which inspite of its evenness and unpredictability since Australia’s cricket went downhill, a shorter and more exciting format, and the rise of minnows – is paradoxically getting quite boring . The sheer volume of it these days is taking out the prestige that tournaments used to have. We now have a world cup like event almost every year – there was the 50 over one, there is now the T20, and a mini World cup that is the Champions Trophy. And a new circus called IPL filled a few pockets but in the process undid a lot more for cricket. We are tired of seeing Dhoni selling us mobiles, colas, chips, biscuits, shoes and even fans!
One of my dreams is to watch a hopefully classic Wimbledon final in Center Court (i have won Wimbledon many times in my dreams but lets not go there!)
aplihs
solution to the problem…Stop watching Cricket on TV!