THE CHAMPIONSHIPS 2013
Wimbledon Diary - McEnroe Launches 'No. 1' Book; Murray In Royal Box
Wimbledon, England
Former World No. 1 John McEnroe helps launch the ATP's commemorative book on Saturday.
ATPWorldTour.com takes a look at the news and talking points at Wimbledon on middle Saturday.
McEnroe Helps Launch ‘No. 1’ Book
John McEnroe, a four-time year-end ATP World Tour No. 1 in 1981-1984, was on hand Saturday to help launch the ATP’s commemorative coffee table book celebrating all year-end ATP World Tour No. 1s over the past 40 years. Speaking at the launch, McEnroe said:
“I first became World No. 1 at Memphis in March 1980. I got goose bumps thinking that I was ranked ahead of Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors. I didn’t think I quite deserved it yet. I thought I had more work to do. It was inspiring to hit that mark, but it made me want to improve myself.
“It took the better part of a year and a half when I was finally able to beat Bjorn in 1981 at Wimbledon and the US Open. So finally, going home in December, I could say ‘I am the best player in the world.’ That is the most amazing feeling a player can get. To me, I was one of the guys who valued being No. 1 more important at the end of the year, than how many majors I had. I am proud to see my name amongst those players.
“When you win a Wimbledon you feel like you can fly, when you win a US Open you feel on top of the world. When you are first World No. 1, you look down your nose at your rivals. That feeling lasts for a few minutes, an hour or maybe a day. Then you start worrying about them again and what could happen the next year. The computer works on a 12-month system, so you are constantly worrying about what you did this time last year. It gets you thinking about strategy and maximising your ability on different surfaces.”
During the presentation, McEnroe was interrupted by the falling of some tea cups behind the scenes. McEnroe joked about his former foe, Jimmy Connors, “Jimmy, take it easy back there!”
Murray Among Olympians Honoured In Royal Box
A host of Great Britain’s 2012 Olympic heroes were honoured in the Centre Court Royal Box on Middle Saturday, invited by All England Club chairman Philip Brook. Leading the way was Olympic tennis champion Andy Murray, who took advantage of having two days off before his fourth-round match to enjoy the tennis on Saturday. Also in attendance were rowers Kat Copeland, Katherine Grainger, Sophie Hosking and Helen Glover, dressage riders Charlotte Dujardin, Laura Tomlinson and Carl Hester, Paralympic swimmer Jonathan Fox, boxer Anthony Joshua, and cyclists Philip Hindes, Sir Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny, Victoria Pendleton and Laura Trott.
Wimbledon Entrepreneur
With the sun finally shining on SW19, one local resident made the most of the warm weather to raise money for St. John’s Ambulance. Three-year-old Liam set up a lemonade stand on Marryat Road, catering for fans as they made their way down to the All England Club.
Tweet Of The Day
Three days after knocking Roger Federer out of The Championships, Sergiy Stakhovsky was on his way home Saturday, having fallen to Jurgen Melzer on Friday in the third round.
@Stako_tennis: Flying out of London on the wing of @FlySWISS ....awkward
Haas Champions Veteran Players
At 35-years-old, Tommy Haas is showing that age is no barrier when it comes to playing professional tennis. While his body may not react and recover the same as it did 10 years ago, Haas explains that experience and knowledge comes to the fore instead.
"A lot of people are smarter over the years of what to do in order to get in better shape. You have a good team around you. You can do a lot of stuff also nutrition wise. There's a lot of things. If you still have the desire and the will to do well, you have a lot more experience and wisdom probably in your late 20's, early 30's that you might not have had when you were in your early 20's, so maybe that's a reason as well. You also have the possibilities to see good physios now, good doctors to maybe maintain the body better."
Photo Of The Day
Following his third-round win over Benoit Paire on Saturday, Lukasz Kubot entertained the Court 18 crowd by performing the Can Can along the service line.
Baker To Retire
Great Britain’s Jamie Baker announced his retirement from professional tennis on Saturday. The 26 year old, who lost in qualifying for Wimbledon, has struggled with injury and illness throughout his career, including an auto-immune disease in 2008 that left him in intensive care for three days.
"I was told at one point for about a 24-hour period literally not to hold my breath for too long, let alone move because if a bleed started in my head, there's nothing they could do,” the Scot told BBC.
"Amazingly from that, by far the biggest achievement in my career has actually been from that point where I was really rising up the rankings very quickly - I had won consecutive tournaments, I had qualified for the Australian Open, was my highest ranking - from that setback I actually came back about four years later and reached my highest ranking again.
"It's probably hard to measure how much that process took out of me. It was incredible what I went through and the hardest time was actually afterwards and you just never know what sort of a toll that takes."
Murray Supports Armed Forces Day
World No. 2 Andy Murray showed his support for Armed Forces Day at Wimbledon on Saturday, posing for a photo with representatives from the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and Army. The armed forces typically serve as stewards on Centre Court and No. 1 Court during The Championships.
