On Saturday and Sunday morning, both the Wimbledon women’s and men’s tennis singles finals matches featured one of the sport’s oldest and most heralded champions versus a much younger competitor. Venus Williams (age 37) and Roger Federer (soon-to-be age 36) each made it into their respective finals and, in the end, provided tennis fans with a few hours of feel-good moments.
The ageless Roger Federer won his eighth individual title at Wimbledon Sunday morning with a straight set victory against 28-year old Marin Cilic of Croatia. The victory was also Federer’s record 19th tennis grand slam win. The nearest career competitor, Rafael Nadal, has a not-too-shabby count of 15. Federer is to tennis as Jack Nicklaus is to men’s golf. Both have proven unequaled in winning major championships across a long career.
Meanwhile, Saturday morning’s women’s singles match saw 37-year old Venus Williams lose in straight sets to 23-year old Garbine Muguruza of Spain. Venus Williams had won five Wimbledon singles title in her career and was hoping for one more chance at glory. Williams fought through a tight first set before losing her serve late. She appeared to have been shaken after that point and lost the second set 6-0.
Like golf, tennis needs a certain star-power to generate good television ratings for the sport to continue to grow. Earlier this year, the French Open drew the fewest television viewers since 1996. There is no doubt that Wimbledon’s weekend of Venus Williams on Saturday and Roger Federer’s electric win on Sunday should help to right the ship…for now.
In a sport where speed and power is king, it is great to see two of the sport’s legends give us an entertaining show this weekend. Breakfast at Wimbledon featured the expected British pomp and circumstance at this annual event in jolly old England. With Venus Williams and Roger Federer in the Wimbledon weekend line-up, though, we were treated to extra sweeteners in our morning spot of tea. Jolly good show!