Maria Maria!!

An event that surreptitiously went unnoticed behind the World Cup hungama was this year’s Wimbledon. Even Federer’s outrageous performance, which one journalist claimed to be the best performance on grass since Jimi Hendrix's in the 60’s, escaped the attention it deserved otherwise. What did catch my attention was something else.

There was something about the two women’s finalists. One had muscles, looks and build that had an uncanny resemblance to that of a man. The other, to put it subtly, was flat-chested. It was a dreadful disappointment for a lot of us who had been religiously following the performances of the Sharapova’s and Hantuchova’s and Vaidisova’s.

In the yesteryears, I didn’t care so much for the Monica Seles’s and Sanchez Vicario’s as I did for the Steffi Graf’s and Gabriela Sabatini’s. In recent times, the increasing ubiquity of the Russians in women’s tennis (that has surpassed that of the Baldwin’s in Hollywood) has turned out to be a boon in disguise. They have revived what was thought to be a lost element in women’s tennis – grace and beauty on court, with no concession on talent.

As much as we like to see Sharapova looking her prettiest self, we love to see her decimate her opponents on court with consummate ease. It is the fighter in her that appeals to us, and not her gold accessories, that are, but just accessories. It is when her immaculately placed forehands and neatly spun backhands leave her opponent bewildered that she looks her best. It is when her grunts reach a crescendo that her fans’ lubb-dubb of the heart starts a-thumping.

Strangely, the Sharapova’s and Hantuchova’s do not seem to carry all their grace off-court. In their public appearances, they do not seem to exude the same elegance that they do on court. Their appeal, sexual or otherwise, is limited to the court, and perhaps, rightly so. Though it borders on vulgarity to describe a Sharapova v. Sania match as porn as one over-imaginative blogger did a while back. Kourinikova, not much of a player as she was a teen-model, failed to impress for long. Her elegance (if she had any) never seemed to appear on court. (I won’t be surprised, however, if Herbert Herbert doesn’t agree).

At the end of the day, we want the best to win. Only the best. Is that asking for a lot??