MIXED FEELINGS

I have breathed my usual sigh of relief now that the Wimbledon tennis tournament is over for another year. I did my very best to avoid it, but it`s hard to do so when the papers are full of it and there`s non-stop tv and radio coverage going on. But this year, I feel that as well as voicing my deep-seated aversion to most of the goings on in SW19, I must, however grudgingly, acknowledge that there just might have been one or two aspects which deserve some acknowledgement.

First though, it seems that the readings on the gruntometer have climbed higher and higher, especially in the `ladies` game. I`m surprised that players who don`t feel the need to rasp their vocal chords don`t object to the umpires about the endlessly distracting cacophany emanating from the other side of the net. I gather that the ladies prize money is now the same as the men`s who, however, continue to battle it out over five sets as against the mere three for the ladies. Strikes me as a classic example of the quest for equality simply producing yet another inequality.

With the transformation of Tim Henman from would-be hero to would-be media pundit I had hoped that some of the `Brit frenzy` might have disappeared - Henman Hill, shouts of `Come on, Tim` and all that. Not a bit of it. This year`s despairing exhortations were directed towards Andy Murray, he of the grumpy disposition, who was once asked who he would support if England`s football team were in action, only to respond by saying, "anyone who`s playing England." Despite which, he is still allowed entry onto the hallowed lawns of the All England Club.

There were the usual doses of strawberries and cream, overnight queues, class skirmishes and media overload but most of all, again, there was the spectacle of yet more dismal failure on the part of `home grown` talent despite the £25million going into the LTA coffers from just this fortnight. I guess, to be fair, there were a couple who escape that criticism; the aforementioned Murray for a gallant comeback against Gasquet before he entered the uncharted territory of Nadal and, of course, the beguilingly precocious talent of Laura Robson, who won the Girls` title. By and large, though, it was the usual story of gallantly losing to more talented, determined foreign players who once more ran off with shedloads of cash.

The impressive thing was, as ever, the staging of the event. We seem to be good at staging big events and this was no exception. Although the grass got a bit scuffed up towards the end, the way that Wimbledon was presented to the watching world was impressive. Just a shame we don`t have enough home-grown talent to top it all off.

People will grasp at the straw which was Laura Robson`s victory and claim it as a beacon of hope for British tennis. But Laura was born in Australia and both her parents are Australian too. How much more Australian can you get, one wonders. So, for us Brits, it was yet another case of `show me a good loser and I`ll show you a loser.` Oh for the days of Fred Perry, Bunny Austin, Virginia Wade, Ann Hayden-Jones and even her husband Pip. At least they knew how to win things.