Betty's Utility Room

Monday, July 07, 2008

THE AMRITRAJ BROTHERS

Ah well, we decided to watch the Wimbledon Men's Final after all, what with it being a dreary day and with us not having anything better to do. Maybe it could have renewed our interest in tennis after all.

The match lasted about three days and was declared in all quarters to be one of the best finals of all time - but I still couldn't feel involved or excited about watching it.

Roger Federer's more subtle play clashed with the powerhouse Rafael Nadal. The shots these days are just too fast to appreciate. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if everything had been shown at half speed. Or perhaps I agree with this opinion.

At first we both backed Federer, but, in the dying minutes of the game, we wanted it to be over with and switched allegiance to Nadal.

The main reason for this? Federer was backed by Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani who were sat next to Federer's girlfriend in the box. I always thought the box was reserved for family, partners and coaches only, but it seems that Wimbledon has left the 1920's and has embraced celebrity culture.

This meant that every couple of minutes you would see Rossdale cheering when Federer won a point. His missus sat there in her 1987 crimson all day staying power lipstick with a face like thunder. Why are rich people such miserable cnuts?

We wanted to see Gavin lose, not Federer. We wanted to see him punching walls and possibly the Duke of Kent. All of the frustration of being a has been rockstar rising up to the surface after years of playing second fiddle to Gwen.

It didn't happen.

Whenever the US Open Final is on, you can guarantee that the camera will be on Yoko Ono wearing a pair of huge visor sunglasses every few minutes. Perhaps that's all that you can expect from tennis now - celebrities detracting from the boring spectacle of the game itself.

Long gone are the days of sinister-faced gangland type Harry Carpenter declaring that the young Bjorn Borg had "brought the *tenny* boppers to Wimbledon".

Or, indeed, the days of Dan Maskell saying "there's Miss Graf's mother in the box wearing a pink frock".

"It's a red blouse, actually", I would shout back at the screen.

Labels: Cliff Richard and Sue Barker, Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani, strawberries and cream