The Deuce Club, 6.25
By Jackie Roe, TW Social Director
Evening, everyone! In just a little bit I’ll get into the crazy week that was at the AELTC. But first, I wanted to thank so many of you for the thoughtful birthday wishes via e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter. It’s weird, but I can’t remember how I ever got along without you, my “tennis friends.” When I first started posting here, I was someone who believed “real life” connections were far more substantive, meaningful, and true than online ones. I never imagined it wouldn’t be so, never fathomed a relationship born on a blog (and rooted in tennis!) could offer so much gratification. And here I am now, realizing that in all the ways that really matter, they’re the most fulfilling bonds I’ve forged in years. I’m really blessed to have you guys in my life – know that your presence is valued beyond measure.
Enough with the sappy stuff! *blows nose* It’s time to talk Wimbledon. First up is a Suicide Pool update from TalkAboutTennis.com’s Mariya. Note that she sent this to me last night, so this doesn’t take into account today’s action:
On the ladies’ side, there were 46 people from the TWibe. The survival rate through Day 4 was pretty low, sadly; only 7 are through to Day 5!“beautiful tennis” fan: Wickmayer – Zheng – Zvonareva – Azarenka
Bismarck: Kleybanova – Hantuchova – Petrova – Sharapova
cneblett: Flipkens – Rezai – Kirilenko – Pennetta
jbradhunter: Makarova – Rodionova – Kleybanova – Kanepi
Papo: Kleybanova – Pavlyuchenkova – Zvonareva – Pennetta
Peg: Groth – Errani – Kirilenko – Dulgheru
white line fever: Kulikova – Jovanovski – Petrova – PennettaThe TWibe is faring better on the men’s side. There were 48 TW participants in the men’s pool and 16 are still alive at the end of Day 4:
“beautiful tennis” fan: Llodra – Bellucci – Kohlschreiber – Querrey
Beth: Hanescu – Petzschner – Kohlschreiber – Bellucci
Codge: Roddick – Isner – Monfils – Simon
Dave G: Llodra – Simon – Montanes – Bellucci
Gcatcee: Melzer – Simon – Kohlschreiber – Bellucci
GVGirl: Dent – A Beck – Hewitt – Bellucci
Jamaica Karen: Dent – Petzschner – - Kohlschreiber – Ferrer
Maedal: Fish – Benneteau – Lopez – Youzhny
Markic: Dent – A Beck -Brands – Petzshner
Mr. X: Llodra – Chardy – Hewitt – Bellucci
Musab: Lopez – Petzschner -Monfils – Querrey
Observer: Llodra – Simon – Melzer – Fognini
Sher: Davydenko – Tsonga – Kohlschreiber – Simon
Sokol: Melzer – A Beck – Monfils – Bellucci
White Line Fever: Kohlschreiber – A Beck – Monfils – Malisse
yello fuzzy: Lopez – A Beck – Hewitt – Querrey
Keep up the good work, TWibe. I hope we still see some of these names come next week’s Deuce Club. (beth, you’ve rebounded nicely from your RG debacle!)
This week, I considered doing the usual – soliciting your favorite presser quotes from Week 1, fashion hits and misses, biggest upset, that kind of thing. But as I started to draw it up, I just kept coming back to how odd the tournament has been thus far. Federer escaping a first round loss by the skin of his teeth, the James Blake vs. Pam Shriver squabble, and of course, *that* match. What event surprised/shocked/unnerved you the most?
Rhetorical question, maybe. If you answer with anything other than the Isner-Mahut marathon, you’re lying. We’ve talked about that record-shattering battle for days now, but I haven’t seen very many “where were you when it happened” accounts, and you know me, I’m more interested in that than in match analyses. So let’s use this space to share how we experienced the Isner-Mahut epic. Where were you? Were you watching, scoreboarding, or neither? How did you react to what was happening?
Here’s my story:
Wednesday. I remember being late to check scores since I was having major computer issues that morning. When I finally did, I noticed the Isner-Mahut 5th was somewhere in the teens. Whoa! A few e-mails came in about it, including one that referenced Mahut’s 24-22 victory just a few days earlier. I thought, “No way they’re going to hit that, but boy, it’d be cool if Mahut could make it happen twice in the same tournament!”
Ha.
Right then I remembered I had an 11 AM meeting. Convinced the match would end any minute, I asked my friend (aka our resident Julien fangirl) if she wouldn’t mind sending me e-mail updates while I was in the meeting. Just let me know when it ends, I told her.
No e-mails. Well, none aside from “This may go on all day.” Indeed, when I came out of the meeting, it was almost as if nothing had changed in that hour. The match was still as deadlocked as ever.
Went to lunch with my co-worker Dominick, who also loves tennis (he was my Cincy partner-in-crime a couple of years ago). We couldn’t focus on anything but the match, manically checking the live scores on my phone as we ate. Take bite of pizza – hit refresh – gasp at score. Repeat. Before the check came, I put my phone away, and Dominick yelled, “What are you doing?!”, to which I responded, “Come on, you know we’re going to go back and it’ll be 47-all – you’re not missing anything.” I was half right; we were only missing one of the most historic matches of all time.
Back at the office, I was fixated on my scoreboard. At that point I decided to check out Twitter, and I was amazed by the amount of attention this match was getting. My feed filled up every 30 seconds with commentary, jokes, reactions, exclamation points. Yet there was no snark, no negativity, no raining on anyone’s parade, as is wont to happen on Twitter. Everyone was just in delirious awe of what was happening. I felt lucky to be a part of that communal experience.
I started off the day rooting for Mahut, considering he’d already been to hell during that Bogdanovic match (I called the 24-22 score “obscene” over on Twitter … more like child’s play now), and because he was the one serving from behiind. Then as the hours passed, I cared increasingly less about who I wanted to win, or even if I wanted anyone to win at all. I could only feel admiration for these two warriors who were busting their behinds and giving all of themselves to a first round match on little court 18. How were they still doing this? Who knows. They just were.
And I was proud to be a tennis fan, too. I marveled at the sight of Mahut and Isner as the top trending topics on Twitter and was pleasantly surprised to receive e-mails from co-workers who had never before watched a tennis match in their lives. Finally, everyone was seeing what you and I have always known – that, in the words of Andy Murray, tennis is “one of the toughest sports in the world.” If only it didn’t take a basketball scoreline for people to realize that.
Thursday was a little anticlimactic, after Wednesday’s drama. I pulled up the scoreboard again, prepared for a repeat performance. And then, in an instant (relative to the day before, anyway), it was over. Isner wins, Mahut loses. I guess I never wanted it to end.
I’ll stop there and save the rest for the Comments. Now tell us your Isner-Mahut story.
As always, feel free to go as OT as you please here. Have a wonderful weekend!
Related posts:
- The Deuce Club, 7.2
- The Deuce Club, 7.9
- The Deuce Club, 8.13
- The Deuce Club – IW Edition, 3.19
- The Deuce Club, 8.6
