As ye sow, so shall ye reap

What's this? A biblical quote in this most secular of blogs? I haven't gone all theological on you, it was just a thought that occurred to me as I watched Novak Djokovic dismantling Andy Murray this morning at the Australian Open tennis.

Two reasons, really. Firstly, if you are not fortunate enough to have access to EuroSport, and instead relied on British terrestrial television, you'd have thought that the tournament began and ended with the Men's Singles Final. It's the only game the Beeb have shown, and it has to be asked if they'd have bothered doing so had Murray not made it. Djokovic has played some of the best tennis I've ever seen from him during this tournament, the best player in the tournament has undoubtedly won it, but nobody without EuroSport has seen any of it here, which is a shame. Basically, if it's not Wimbledon, or it's not a Brit involved, terrestrial TV in this country doesn't want to know. So we have this two week tennis mentality where it's everywhere in June, but as soon as Wimbledon's over, that's it, odd exceptions like this morning apart.

And as for Murray, I genuinely believe that he fell for all the 'best chance to win a Grand Slam' stuff and underestimated his opponent, a stupid mistake given that they're mates and practice partners. He should know how good Djokovic can be and not assume he's beatable just because his surname isn't Nadal or Federer. But never mind, Murray's quite capable of beating himself - his demeanour on court betrays whatever he's feeling, another mistake which will help any decent player on the other side of the net. I think most tennis fans think it's simply a matter of time until Murray wins a Slam, but it doesn't work like that as Tim Henman, who had a much better temperament when things weren't going his way than Murray has, ably demonstrated with his close-but-no-cigar career.

(Literally as I type this the Aussie presenting the trophy has just said, "Andy, it's just a matter of time before you fulfil your destiny." See? Your destiny, not that there is such a bloody thing, can't beat your opponent for you. You have to win.)

(He's just said it again!)

Anyway, enough brackets. I find myself oddly indifferent to his results. He's gracious in defeat, granted, but on the court he's still some way off having the head to win a Slam, and that makes it difficult to warm to him.

Snoreberries and cream

Wimbledon starts today. I'm of the default British mindset when it comes to tennis. I like it and will occasionally watch Grand Slam matches on telly but the only time I watch it for a number of days at a time is Wimbledon - oohh, the North Koreans just almost scored against the Portuguese there, I got quite distracted. Anyway, it's a great tournament and one of the events on the summer calendar I most look forward to, though I don't think I'd ever actually go as I suspect the whole experience would just be a little bit twee. One thing I do find extremely frustrating about it though, and this mirrors how I feel about most sport where the same thing happens, is that the same people win it over and over again. I find absolutely no entertainment in watching yet another Williams/Williams final, even though I know they're going to play some great tennis in the process. Similarly watching that mechanical genius Federer. It's not that I don't like any of these people, or don't admire their abilities, I just can't get excited about them winning over and over again.

The Federer/Nadal final was possibly the greatest game of tennis I've ever seen, but I remember it more fondly because Nadal won, his first Wimbledon title. Similarly, last year, the look on Roddick's face as he watched Federer lift his sixth trophy will stay with me for a long time. I felt so sorry for the bloke, and he said, "You've already got five of those, mate" to Federer, I just wanted somebody else to win for once. I confess I didn't even watch the women's final because I simply didn't care who won and it gets difficult to involve and immerse yourself in a sporting spectacle you don't care about, regardless of how well its protagonists are playing.

The regrettable fact is that, with rare exceptions like the men's final two years ago, I enjoy the first week of Wimbledon much more than the second week, simply because you can see matches between players you aren't already extremely familiar with and I find myself much more involved in their games' outcomes. That's not how it should be - I know I'm supposed to revel in the great tennis played by the best players in the second week, but ultimately sport is not ballet, though it is occasionally balletic. It's not enough to simply admire the aesthetic beauty and excellence of the best players at the top of their game. It's much more visceral than that. Watching sport is much more worthwhile if you care who wins. Even watching North Korea versus Portugal as I am now, I'm involved immediately because I'd absolutely love to see the North Koreans help that pouting, diving, cheating, winking fucker (you all know who I mean) out of the tournament.

So I'll watch Wimbledon's first week avidly (apart from when the World Cup games are on, obviously) but as for the second week? Well, we'll see how it goes.