The On-Court Clowns
Today, The 2008 Championships at Wimbledon come to a close with the Men’s Singles final followed by the Mixed Doubles final (weather permitting). Spain’s Rafael Nadal faces Switzerland’s Roger Federer it what promises to be an epic five-setter. I’ll be gunning for Roger as I don’t particularly like Rafa’s style of play.
Yesterday, it was the Williams Sisters Show with them playing one another in the final of the Ladies singles competition. While I normally favour the women’s game, I didn’t watch the final, partly because I thought it’d be boring (who likes one Williams sister more than the other?) and partly because their match was up against another match that I wanted to watch more.
Over on Court 1, Mansour Bahrami of Iran and Henri Leconte of France were playing Britain’s Jeremy Bates and Sweden’s Anders Jarryd in the Senior Gentlemen’s Invited Doubles. I had already seen Bahrami and Leconte play in the past and have been hugely entertained and yesterday, they failed to disappoint. Bahrami was as funny, clever and full of trick-shots as ever and Leconte was equally funny as he was flamboyant. Though they clowned around, they still proved they had superb tennis in them. Bahrami’s lob was always spectacularly accurate, while Leconte’s drop shots were marvellous. The best moments of the match though were when they were mucking about.
For instance, Leconte challenged a call that was called out. In the seconds between he Umpire announcing the challenge and the big screen displaying the results, Leconte had climbed the steps on the Umpire’s chair, watched as the big screen said the ball was actually in and then laughed in the Umpire’s face. This sequence shows this moment.
Another point and Leconte is about the serve when someone calls out at him from the stands. He hits a ball at the person and then yells at them, “You have a big mouth.” He then turns away to continue his serve. With a loud scream, the ball rockets over the roof and out of the stadium. He casually turns to the Umpire and questions whether the ball was in and slams the racquet on the ground when he’s told it wasn’t. “CHALLENGE! I want to Challenge!” he yells. With much laughter, the four players watch the big screen as Hawkeye flounders, it’s lasers not able to register the location of the ball when it leaves the court, and displays, “Original call stands.”
Next time you see Leconte and Bahrami scheduled to play, make sure you watch. I guarantee you’ll be in stitches within minutes. Even the pre-match warmup is an opportunity for them to make people laugh. I’m glad I chose to watch these legends of tennis against the Williams sisters. While I congratulate their obvious acheivement, I have to say, entertainment-wise, the clowns win hands down.
