Wimbledon Review 2006
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The 120th Championships were a resounding success, not least for the All England Club's seeding committee, since both men's and women's singles crowns were annexed by the number one seeds, Roger Federer and Amelie Mauresmo.
Federer fought off the tigerish second seed, Rafael Nadal of Spain, to capture his fourth successive Wimbledon title, emulating the achievement of Pete Sampras between 1997 and 2000. The champion's 6-0, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 victory in two hours and five minutes halted a run of four straight defeats by the 20-year-old Nadal this year, including the French Open final which would have seen Federer holding all four Grand Slam titles.
Still, the 24-year-old Swiss was more than content to be hugging the golden Wimbledon pot once more after a tournament in which the opposition rarely troubled him. In fact, it was not until the final that Federer dropped a set against an opponent who clearly believes that, one day, he will emulate Manuel Santana's feat of 1966 and win Wimbledon for Spain. For the moment, however, it is Federer who rules the grass roost, having clocked up his 48th straight win on that surface in Sunday's final.
In contrast, the women's final provided relief and belief in equal measure for Amelie Mauresmo, who finally shook off all doubts about her nerves by defeating the third seed, Justine Henin-Hardenne, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, confirming her status as world number one and adding the greatest of the Slams to the Australian Open she lifted in January, against an ailing Henin-Hardenne.
Rather like the World Cup football tournament, Wimbledon was dominated by Europeans, with the United States in particular suffering in the singles events. No American man was left by the end of the opening week and only one woman, Shenay Perry, got as far as the fourth round at the start of the second week. Just as well, then, that the Stars and Stripes were kept flying high by the top-seeded Bryan twins, Bob and Mike, in the men's doubles. Their 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory in the final over the France/Serbia combination of Fabrice Santoro and Nenad Zimonjic completed a full set of the four major doubles titles, a feat which Mike celebrated by jumping into Bob's arms.
There was history, too, in the women's doubles, where the honours went, for the first time, to China. The fourth seeds, Yan Zi and Zheng Jie, defeated Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain and Paola Suarez of Argentina 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, to indicate that tennis in China, albeit mainly among the women, is on the rise ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Ruano Pascual knows this better than most, having lost in the Athens Olympics final to another Chinese pair, Li Ting and Sun Tian-tian.
Bob Bryan's exertions in the men's doubles final undermined the hopes of Venus Williams in the mixed. Required to go on court soon after winning the men's title, Bob admitted, "Maybe I was a little flat." Whatever, he and Venus were beaten in short order by the Israel/Russia pairing of Andy Ram and Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 6-2.
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