Mark Knowles and Anne-Lena Groenefeld sprang a surprise in the mixed doubles final, beating top seeds Leander Paes and Cara Black to bring the curtain down on Wimbledon 2009. Knowles from the Bahamas and Germany’s Groenefeld produced some fine tennis to come back from two breaks down in the first set to take it 7-5, before running away with the second 6-3. Groenefeld was in particularly inspired form, delivering some fine returns throughout the match. This and her obvious will to win delighted Knowles, who has waited 18 years to win a Wimbledon doubles title. “It's the one title that I haven't won in men's doubles,” said Knowles. “I've always wanted to win Wimbledon. Like everybody, it's the tournament we all look up to. “It's extremely special. Anna played fantastic for the entire fortnight. She pretty much carried me to my first title. No one else has been able to do it. But Anna did it. So it feels great.” Knowles revealed that this can be counted as a rare British success, at least in part. “My mother's British,” he explained. “I have a British passport. I came here when I was nine years old to watch the Borg/McEnroe final.” He and Groenefeld had been up against two very experienced opponents, with plenty of previous Wimbledon silverware. Paes, the 1999 mixed doubles champion with Lisa Raymond and the 2003 champion with Martina Navratilova, was dreaming of a third SW19 crown after he and Black raced into a 5-2 lead – both the Knowles and Groenefeld serves buckling under early pressure. But Knowles and Groenefeld, the ninth seeds, are made of sterner stuff, emphasised by their wins over fifth seeds Daniel Nestor and Elena Vesnina and second seeds Bob Bryan and Sam Stosur on their way to the final. They proceeded to win the next eight games of the match, breaking four times in a row. Groenefeld’s fine lob from the baseline at set point on the Black serve sailed over the head of Paes and landed inside the opposite baseline to win the set 7-5. Knowles held in the first game of the second set before Paes’ serve was broken thanks largely to some fierce returns from Groenefeld. Knowles and Groenefeld’s purple patch continued as the German held serve under pressure from Paes and Black at 2-0, 0-30. The remaining games all went with serve with Knowles closing out the match and the Championships with a serve that Black could not return. “We played very well together at the French Open so we knew we were capable of doing pretty well,” said Groenefeld after winning her first Grand Slam title. “Here we were almost out in the quarters when we lost the first set 6 0, but we kept fighting. After that we believed in ourselves and we always said ‘OK, we have the chance to win’ and we went for it.”
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the legend
joyful rogger fedder
Monday, July 6, 2009
Knowles and Groenefeld win mixed
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Williams sisters ease into semi-finals
Venus Williams’ heavily strapped left leg has been a big talking point of The Championships and the defending champion showed signs of a limp as she booked her place in the ladies doubles semi-finals with sister Serena. Again she took to No. 2 Court with industrial strength taping above and below her left knee but if she was in discomfort it appeared to do little to affect her performance as she and Serena disposed of 12th seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Vania King 6-2, 7-5. Serena took to the court in a three-quarter length top – an interesting choice considering the sweltering conditions – and also with taping of her own: a strapped right wrist and ankle supports. The sisters have a string of Grand Slam doubles titles to their name – three Wimbledon titles, one French Open, one US Open and three Australian Opens. And here it was evident why. Dominant, aggressive play saw the Americans threaten their opponents from the start, although it was not until the fourth game that they broke serve – thanks to a winning lob by Serena. That was when father Richard, who had been observing the proceedings from the competitor’s guest box, decided to whip out his camera. However, he seemed more intent on snapping the spectators and the new arena rather than his daughters who were watertight at the net and firing bullets on serve. The German and USA duo challenged a call on set point – they had nothing to lose – but the result failed to go their way. The ball was out and the set belonged to the Williams sisters. When the sisters broke at the same point in the second set the arena was at near full capacity and father Richard opted to shelter from the sun’s blistering rays under a blue umbrella. It was then that Anna-Lena Groenfeld and King started to up their game, attacking the net well to win two games on the trot and break Venus as she served for the set at 5-3. Soon the set was level at 5-5. But the 12th seeds were unable to maintain the intensity and the sisters earned a place in the doubles semi-final for the fourth time in their career.
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