Tomorrow begins my favorite reason for not working during the summer: Wimbledon. In fact, I might even go so far as to say that Wimbledon is my favorite sporting event of the year. Let's see - Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup, The Finals, Olympics, World Cup... Yes. I can, in fact, say that Wimbledon is my favorite sporting event of the year. There are so many reasons to love it, I can't narrow it down to one. A list of many, however, is completely manageable.
- London. For me, nothing more needs to be said. I consider it home, a comfort zone, and the perfect combination of modernity and history. Who wouldn't want to be a part of that?
- Tennis. These guys and gals play solo, sans coaching, for upwards of 2 to 3 hours with only a few seconds break between points and a few minutes between games and sets. Physically they seem to be one of the most well-rounded athletes and you need to have a strong mental game, too, in order to succeed at the highest levels. There is a correlation between Federer having twelve Grand Slam titles and constantly being referred to as "ice-calm".
- Grass. The ability of play on numerous types of surfaces is a key reason to my thinking that tennis players are some of the best athletes out there. Having a grass tournament so soon after a clay one has been a point of consternation for a while, but I love it. You start with Roland Garros and watch beautiful rallies and slides and an easy-going sense seems to envelop you. Such is France. But onward to London, you feel the speed and power of it all and need to have either the physical or the mental game (or preferably both) to get far.
- White. (As in the outfits.) Seeing Nadal strut out in white man-capris or Roger wear a classic blazer on Centre Court or wondering how close to a wedding dress Sharapova's outfit will look like is one of the great sports sartorial moments of our time. Marketers and designers must love this game, too, because of the variety of ensembles allowed on court. I do wish a jewelry limit would be made, though. Pausing a match to find the broken pieces of a Williams sister's absurdly large diamond dangling earring is ridiculous.
- Tradition. Maybe it's because modern tennis originated in England or the fact that Wimbledon is the oldest of the Grand Slams (beginning in 1877), but few competitions besides maybe the Olympics or the FA Cup have such long histories.
