A champion mum, love for doubles and punctual fans — my Wimbledon wish list

Times

5 hours ago

I had to wipe away a tear when Kim Clijsters won the US Open in 2009 and her young daughter skipped onto the court to celebrate with her. As more women return to elite competition after giving birth we need to see more of them being successful if only to prove you do not need to curtail your career to start a family.
No mother has won Wimbledon since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980 so it is about time — which sort of piles the pressure on Tatjana Maria, whose win at Queen's managed to be a fairytale without being saccharine. For a start, she had not one but two daughters courtside, the younger taking a nap, the older keenly eyeing the contest for hints to help her own game. The German's slice-and-dice style was such fun and so evidently infuriating to play against. And she is nearly 38. I cannot imagine the Wimbledon crowd doing anything other than warmly cheering her to get past the semi-final stage she reached three years ago.
I have not quite recovered from Alexander Bublik, upon defeating Jack Draper at Roland Garros in dramatic fashion, standing up and being told by the on-court interviewer that he was tall. It's not easy conducting such post-match chats when emotions are running high but, really, it was so very awkward. And then we had Queen's, where the post-match vibe was to be seemingly deliberately flirty, so it is to be fervently hoped Wimbledon does not follow a similar path, which it won't for as long as they use Karthi Gnanasegaram, the best in the business for live tennis lowdowns.
It took time for those with tickets to file back to Centre Court after watching the women's singles final last year but when they did they were treated to the most thrilling and emotional contest of the championships as Britain's Henry Patten and his Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara took the men's doubles trophy against the odds and through three nail-biting tie-breaks. Naturally the pair were invited to the champions dinner but their achievement was, astonishingly, ignored on the night and the All England Club only issued an apology after Patten raised a complaint.
It couldn't happen again, could it? Well, maybe it could. The promotional literature and video for this year's tournament ignored Patten again, which is simply peculiar. Maybe the fact that this time around the men's doubles final will be staged at 1pm, before the women's singles showpiece kicks off at 4pm, will improve visibility, ensure more bums on seats and make it harder for the powers that be to be so starstruck by the likes of Carlos Alcaraz that they forget to laud homegrown success.
The gender of commentators and pundits seems to matter to some people a lot more than it should. But for anyone who claims to be unable to listen to women describing sport, I would point them in the direction of the women's final at Queen's, where Sam Smith and Anne Keothavong provided for the BBC what was the most informative double act I have heard in years. The pair provided a steady stream of facts and figures and insight delivered with understated panache and just the right level of humour.
It was so compelling, so mesmeric, so professional that all ensuing efforts from their male counterparts have felt a bit lightweight and sloppy. Smith and Keothavong should be given more airtime across both the men's and women's matches so we can all blink into the sunlight knowing exactly why the contest we just witnessed unfolded as it did.
If you are a mixed doubles specialist it is fair to say you won't be rich, but if successful at least you can aim for a grand-slam title — although not in New York this year. The US Open has ditched the traditional format for a glitzy invitational event so we can all speculate if Emma Raducanu and Alcaraz are more than just a tennis couple. It is all a bit of a slap in the face for the specialists who are suffering by virtue of not being as famous as Casper Ruud and Iga Swiatek. And so it would be nice if the All England Club could show the mixed teams some love and offer them grandeur and a promise not to follow suit.
Supporters who leave football grounds early are not really supporters. Spectators who take their seats during the second set are not really tennis fans. At least footie fans could have transport issues preventing them from staying until the 99th minute but at Wimbledon we know it's the turbot with champagne sauce. Please eat faster, but if that's not doable then at least support Draper in avuncular rather than desperate fashion.