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THE SCOOP: FRIDAY, JULY
5
Sydney Wood: the oldest living Wimbledon
champion
New career for Testud; No Queen for Wimbledon
By
Sandra Harwitt
tennisreporters.net
FROM WIMBLEDON – Journeying
up to the Wimbledon Museum Shop, this tennisreporters.net
correspondent ran into 1931 Wimbledon champion Sydney B. Wood. On
his way to discuss the current foot fault rule from the one that
existed in his day with Alan Little, the Wimbledon library historian,
Wood was more than amenable to stop and chat.
At 90-years-old,
Wood, who is still active in business when he’s not making
the social scene wintering in Palm Beach, Fla. and summering in
Southampton, N.Y., has stayed around the game and always makes the
trip to Wimbledon each year.
Wood is
not only the oldest living former champion of Wimbledon, but he’s
the only player to have the distinction of wining the coveted title
without ever losing a point in the final. That’s because he
was meant to play Frank Shields on that monumental occasion, but
Brooke Shields' grandfather hurt his knee in the semifinal and Wood
benefited from a walkover in the final. Supposedly, the decision
for Shields to skip the final was made by then U.S. Davis Cup captain
Sam Hardy, who wanted Shields to save himself for the upcoming Davis
Cup tie between the U.S. and Britain directly following Wimbledon.
Until Boris Becker came around as a 17-year-old to win Wimbledon
in 1985, Wood was the youngest ever Wimbledon champ at 19-years-old.
In his only other Grand Slam final appearance, Wood fell to Wilmer
L. Allison at the U.S. Nationals in 1935.
Wood still vividly remembers his first time playing at Wimbledon
in 1927.
“I was 15-years-old then, when I qualified to play Wimbledon
the first time,” Wood said. “I was to play the great Frenchman,
Rene Lacoste, in the first round on Centre Court. When I look out
at the people camping out these days in hopes of getting on the
grounds, they tell me there are 2,000 people that are sleeping outside
the gates to try to get into Wimbledon the next day. When I played
in my first visit in 1927, I remember there were 12 people camped
outside trying to get in and I was so excited thinking they were
waiting to watch me play.”
An opinionated and astute student of the game for many years, Wood
has seen all the greats. And he’s not shy in offering his thoughts
on whose the greatest of all time. If anyone is thinking that he’s
going with the prevailing judgment of the day and backing Pete Sampras,
you’d be wrong.
WON'T BUDGE FROM BUDGE
“I think Don Budge is the greatest
player of all time,” said Wood, selecting the first man to
win the Grand Slam in 1938. “No, it’s not Pete Sampras,
it can’t be since he never won the French. Sampras is a great
young man and he tried to win the French 11 times but didn’t
succeed. It’s okay to win on the grass, but you have to be
able to win on the clay.”
As for Sampras, Wood believes “it’s a shame he’s
still playing because you can tarnish your reputation with bad results.
Personally, I think it’s probably all up here (pointing to
his head) for Pete. I bet his game is all there.”
That’s when Wood, who started the company that invented the
indoor court known as Supreme Court, took his leave and went off
to find the Wimbledon historian to discuss his favorite subject
– tennis.
New career for Testud
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Susan Mullane
Camerawork USA, Inc.
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Word comes
from Frenchwoman Sandrine Testud that her second round loss to Mary
Pierce at Wimbledon will be the last match of her career.
Testud,
who reached the quarterfinals at both the Australian and U.S. Opens
in her career, was feeling a little queasy during the straight-set
encounter with Pierce, but it wasn’t until three days ago that
she discovered the reason she was feeling badly was that she was
pregnant.
Testud,
who is married to her coach, Vittorio Magnelli, admitted to being
surprised find she was expecting a baby. She had been contemplating
whether to retire at the end of this year or next year, but with
the news of a baby on the way, Testud decided to retire effective
immediately.
No Queen for
Wimbledon
Now that Tim Henman went down in straight sets to No. 1 Lleyton
Hewitt in his fourth career Wimbledon semifinal date, the speculation
as to whether Queen Elizabeth would turn up for a Henman final is
a moot point.
It is common knowledge that Her Majesty is not a tennis fan and
the last time she visited the All England was 1977, the year of
the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, when British citizen Virginia Wade
won the women’s title.
Fairy tale scenarios that Henman would become the first Briton since
Fred Perry in 1936 to lay claim to the men’s title in this
year of the Golden Jubilee celebrating the Queen’s 50th anniversary
on the throne, was a big story until the very minute Hewitt won
the final point of their semifinal.
The issue was of such significance that British reporters were constantly
checking with the Buckingham Palace press office to confirm that
the Queen’s calendar for Sunday was wide open in case she had
to journey to the All-England Club. But now that Henman has let
down his public again, the Queen doesn’t have to give thought
to another visit to Wimbledon, at least for another year and quite
possibly beyond.
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