"it really is your birthday..."

for the last couple of years, i have been engaged in a row of sorts with a friend, who is a federer fan. (you know where i stand.) beyond merely being a fan of federer, it's fair to say, he cannot stand nadal, which staggers me. but i suppose, it makes for some good wagering and sparring between us.

a couple of weeks ago, i mentioned that my birthday was coming up on june 21st.

late last week, we were engaged in an im exchange that went something like this:

friend: oh my god

me: what?

friend: it really is your birthday on sunday. wanna know how i know?

me: how?

friend: the new york times is running a cover story on rafa on sunday.

me: yes! fantastic coincidence

friend: that was god

i was amused by the exchange, but in the context of nadal's lame knees and his withdrawal from wimbledon, this is really not the dream birthday cover that it should have been.

photo by ryan pierse/getty, via nytimes.com

under injury-free circumstances, i might have thrown a frame around this nadal cover and hung it up on one of the big, white blank walls in my apartment. or at least pinned it to the grey walls of my cubicle at work. instead, i filed the magazine away, in my "to read someday" pile, in pristine condition. i did not even flip the cover. i had read the first several paragraphs of cynthia gorney's article online earlier in the week, when the times decided to give readers a little "teaser." but that was all i could bear. and that was before he officially bailed on the tournament.

(i did scroll through the accompanying photo gallery. this is one of only 2 original photos related to this cover story:)

nadal, photographed at the grand hotel parco dei principi, by paolo pellegrin/magnum, for the new york times.

***

nadal is the player who brought me back, fully and heartily, into the game a few years ago. i've felt like a kid--unfettered enthusiasm, now powered by the internet. these eyes followed the "smaller" tournaments, not just the slams, tracked news and "pressers" and followed blogs (and happily discovered a world of the most engaging, thoughtful writing). but it got so that i started to wonder if i was really loving tennis, or if i was merely loving it when nadal played.

after nadal's withdrawal on friday, my first feeling was to skip wimbledon this year altogether.

but that same night, my favorite writer posted a preview of the ladies' championship. and i felt a little stirring...

hey ladies! i had forgotten about the ladies.

my favorite, ivanovic, has been a shadow. but there are others that i will cheer for (caroline wozniacki!). and wow, sharapova is back--i never thought i'd be happy about that, but i find i prefer that merciless competitive glare of hers, to the sight of the other players...whiny and limpy and dragging her body and her racket (read: serena), ever-wincing and ready to burst into tears, even after a win (azarenka).

and if they weren't all so plain loud (ok, nothing plain about larcher de brito's "grunts")...

oh well. i will still have to watch the ladies "on mute," but i will most certainly tune in.

and: the cherry on top? mfw is blogging from wimbledon (terrifically prolifically--twice daily, so far).

i still miss rafa, but it's looking like there will be plenty during this wimbledon fortnight to satisfy this tennis fan.

cheerio!

***
steve tignor @ wimbledon, to date:
ladies' preview: "fortnight forecast"
gentlemen's preview: "fortnight forecast"
a little london color: "calm before storm"
peek at the london rags: "keeping tabs"
nice report on the young ones: "queen bees"