7th Heaven

It was enough to send a numerologist into paroxysms of delight. The 7^th day of the 7^th month, 77 years since the last British male singles winner and the last British singles champion won in 1977.

Tennis has never been the easiest of games to watch, even at the top level. Games have sometimes been anti-climactic, one-sided, lacking in grace or simply plain boring with either booming serves or lengthy rallies that left you with the distinct impression that the players were being paid by the minute on court. Coupled with this has been the under-achievement of the Brits on any surface.

The game has changed dramatically over the years with the advancement of technologies that have brought about changes to the grass, the balls, the raquets and the umpiring. Players conditioning has improved beyond all recognition in terms of fitness levels, diet, nutrition and even their clothing.

As an avid lefty my personal tennis hero, and the guy I grew up watching, was Rod Laver – who wasn't even born when Fred Perry won the last of his Wimbledon championships in 1936 (Rod was born in 1938).

TV coverage has also made a big difference, especially with the slow motion camera and the wider choice of angles.

This year's championship has been one of the most memorable in history for a great many reasons. Every year has its share of fascinating encounters but I can't remember a year with so many matches of such high quality, both in the men's and the women's tournaments. I also can't recall a year where there have been so many upsets, ultimately it made the contests even more fascinating.

Within the first 3 days Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Maria Sharapova had disappeared from the line-up along with several other contenters who had either been knocked out or forced to withdraw due to injury.

The surprises of the first week left Serena Williams as a shoe-in for the Women's title, only to be beaten in straight sets by Sabine Lisicki. For once the women's tournament was wide open with none of 'the usual suspects' left in the running. The semi-finals threw up a very interesting combination of 4 players with very contrasting styles – the power of Lisicki, the dogged and unconventional Marion Bartoli, with Agnieszka Radwańska marshalling the base-line while Kirsten Flipkens aimed to get to the net as often as possible.

Andy Murray has much to thank Juan Martin Del Potro for in his semi-final game against Novak Djokavic, which was arguably the greatest game of tennis I have ever watched. The 5 set semi-final epic against the Serb lasted just under 5 hours in blisteringly hot conditions. I am not suggesting that Djokavic would necessarily have won the final though I do concede that the 40 unforced errors he made during the final was a lot more than usual by his high standard, though it is understandable that fatigue was partly to blame.

Murray's semi-final match with the Jerzy Janowicz was enjoyable for totally different reasons. The tall Pole with his massive serve was a fascinating encounter that demonstrated just how good Andy's return game is. In previous years the booming serves from the likes of Pete Sampras, Goran Ivanisevic or Roscoe Tanner were impressive but hardly entertaining.

His quarter-final match against against Fernando Verdasco also demonstrated how much the Murray game has improved, particularly his fitness and his temperament. To come from 2 sets down in the manner that he did was a great display of focus, discipline and determination, areas of his game that had previously let him down.

The quarter-final match between Del Potro and David Ferrer was another memorable occasion with the tenacious Spaniard putting up another stolid challenge to match his French Final defeat to Rafa Nadal.

This years tournament will also be remembered for one of the most bizarre matches I have ever watched – Maria Sharapova versus Michelle Larcher De Brito. The Portuguese girl has a decibel rating higher than the Sharapova Squeal, so watching these 2 grunt their way through 2 sets was never going to be an easy watch. On TV the squeaks, squawks and uumphs eclipsed the noise of the ball striking the raquet. The head movement of the spectators often appears to be out of sync with the action and during this match I was left with the uneasy feeling that the spectators were responding to the noise from the players with the ball becoming superfluous to events.

One of the most interesting comments following the victory came was a response from Andy to 'What he thought Fred Perry's response would have been to his success' – his reply being “Why aren't you wearing my clothing?” It should be remembered that for a long time Fred Perry was shunned by the tennis establishment and the absence of his sportswear logo from the arena of his greatest achievement has been very noticeable.

Perry was a working class lad who played with a style and aggression that was seen by many of the establishment at odds with the perceived spirit of the game.

Over the years the 'official' view towards competitive sport has swung to and fro, especially at schools level. Not everyone will be as dedicated or as talented to reach the highest level of the sport though if even a small percentage of those who will already be reaching for a racquet go on to play at club level then the boost to the economy and overall health will be worthwhile. If Andy Murray's victory doesn't inspire the next generation of kids and convince the bone heads at the top that competitive sport is a good thing then we may as well all give up the ghost and take up knitting.

Andy has built a wonderful team around him and if he can keep fit, focused and avoid injury then there is still time for him to add to his achievements. Go Andy go!