Both the mens and ladies finals were a bit of a let down in terms of being straight sets wins. The social elite who can attend / blag corporate seats, like Kate Middleton and spouse, do love a close-fought contest, so they can gargle more (extortionate) Pimm's and scoff more strawberries. So in that sense the tournament was lacking and will (sadly for Muguruza) be remembered more for the poor state of the courts and the early retirements. Seems ludicrous to me that all the qualifiers need to do is put on their whites, walk onto court, hit a few balls and if they 'retire' at any stage, they can still claim the prize money for taking part? We're talking £37, 500 just for losing / retiring 'injured' in the first round. WTF?? So let's talk about something positive. I know, the second test from Trent Bridge...oh, hang on
I can see why you'd do it if you were in that position! Particularly if you've come through a gruelling qualifying campaign, to lose out on that payday would be gutting. I hope in the future Wimbledon adopt the same system as other Opens. If you make it into the first round draw you get your £37k (or whatever it may be) regardless of whether you appear or withdraw. So you can withdraw in advance without wasting the crowds time, and then a "lucky loser" from qualifying gets a shot. They then only earn more prize money if they get through to Round 2.
I'm just glad I was busy both yesterday afternoon and a gain this afternoon, so wasn't tempted to watch either.
I wonder what Chris Tavare and Geoff Boycott are up to these days! If nothing else they would bore the pants off the SA bowlers!
Absolutely disgusting display of Batting! I've seen plenty piss poor displays from England batsmen in the past but this is woeful. No fight, No desire, No common sense just weak and abject. I'm afraid that our Golden Era of a few years ago is well and truly over! We wont even make it to Tea!
And those who expected this to go to 4 days, let alone 5. One more wicket to fall - tea on brew mode ...........
FFS - what a freakin lash-up that was. Some change needed, particularly at the top order of the batting. Bet not much happens though.