There are times as a sportswriter when pure chance dictates that you are in the right place to witness the unfolding of a wonderful story – one of the many thousands comprising the miraculous ongoing tapestry of Wimbledon. By the process of being courtside and reporting on a marvellous tale, it feels as if you played some role in the tale. Utter nonsense, of course.
Nonetheless, in this way I’ve appointed myself to many a player’s story over the years. So the news of Simona Halep’s enforced withdrawal from The Championships with a calf injury has not only prompted enormous disappointment, but also reignited blazing memories of her fabulous odyssey two years ago, culminating in her near flawless straight sets victory over Serena Williams to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish.
Even in what was considered a wide open ladies' draw, Halep arrived as the name on no one’s lips. A year earlier, she was seeded No.1, having at last secured her maiden Grand Slam triumph at Roland-Garros. But she lost in the third round, and by 2019 she was the No.7 seed, without a title in 11 months, speaking frequently of “enjoying other things”. Observers wondered if the dynamic hunger had gone from her, sated by that Roland-Garros victory. Contentment tends not be an effective weapon in the armoury of elite competitors.
Intrigued by this stage of her career, I was assigned her first match. She opened on No.1 Court against Aliaksandra Sasnovich, and the straight sets scoreline belied the 101 minutes it required to complete. Moreover, as Halep held set point for the opening chapter, her left foot slid away beneath her as she lunged for the ball, causing her ankle to hyperextend painfully. Her Championships might well have ended right there. But with her signature fighting spirit she battled on, and after lengthy treatment ground out the win.
Her press conference attracted a grand total of four correspondents, something I remembered 12 days later when hundreds came to hear the new champion. I wish I could tell you that I alone knew right from that moment how her Wimbledon would pan out. I didn’t, obviously; and nor did I see her next battling win, a three-setter over Mihaela Buzarnescu.
But I was present for her charisma-packed third round against her fellow former world No.1 Victoria Azarenka, by which time Halep was already the only remaining seed in her quarter. Azarenka’s command on grass had taken her through her own opening two rounds, yet before their joust Halep declared baldly: “For sure, I will win it.” And despite an early mini-crisis, she did just that for the loss of a mere four games.
Still, at the start of the second week, the vast public interest in Halep’s next match was largely down to her opponent – 15-year-old Coco Gauff, then ranked No.313, whose improbable path to the last 16 entranced everyone on Planet Tennis. Everyone, that is, except Halep, who was – did we but know it – busy writing her own chapter in history. “The young one," as Halep called Gauff, ran out of steam, while the Romanian marched on in to the last eight, and China’s Shuai Zhang.
By now Halep was the highest-ranked player left in the draw, and if her ravenous competitive appetite had ever been in doubt before, on No.1 Court her hunger was neon lit. Repeatedly bashing her own right thigh with her fist to urge herself on, she edged an epic first set and steamrollered the second.
“I feel fresh, healthy and confident, and I’m playing my best tennis on grass,” Halep announced. Too right. The biggest fighter in tennis was in the house, and she wasn’t done yet. Next to find out was Elina Svitolina in the semi-final, dismissed for the loss of four games. Halep would face seven-time Wimbledon winner Serena Williams for the ultimate crown.
To say barely anyone thought the Romanian would win is to paint a vastly over-sunny picture of her prospects. Of their 10 completed meetings, Halep had notched up a lone win. Williams looked formidable when crushing Barbora Strycova in the semis, and it seemed impossible that this time she would be denied her long awaited 24th Grand Slam title. I had an opening paragraph ready to go, recording exactly that. So much for preparation.
If Halep ever plays better tennis than she did that day, I want to be there to see it. As it was, I watched open-mouthed as the first Romanian ever to win a Wimbledon title blitzed Williams 6-2, 6-2 in just 55 minutes, with a display so resourceful, so near-perfect that there could be no answer. History was denied, and history was written, and the whole was utterly thrilling.
When Virginia Wade won Wimbledon in 1977, she said it felt as if every single person inside the Centre Court that day played a part in the events that transpired. From the spectator’s perspective, that’s exactly how it feels.
Ah, Simona. How we wish you were playing next week at the Club whose membership you won that day. But nothing will ever change the marvellous story you spun here two years ago. You’re part of Wimbledon folklore now.
