Wimbledon 2010: Andy Murray bows infront of Queen Elizabeth II
It turns out that the Queen of England is a big fan of tennis or at least an occasional one to be precise. This was evident because of her appearance at yesterday's proceedings in London. Wimbledon is the biggest event on the tennis calendar and it was made even more special by the arrival of the Queen. This visit was her first in 33 years and it is interesting why she took so long to come back to the sport of tennis. The allure of Wimbledon and its strong pulling power probably had something to do with bringing her back.
Wimbledon is the greatest lawn tennis tournament in the world. It started out in the late 1800’s with the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The first tennis event was staged in 1877 and was attended by 200 spectators. From there onwards, it evolved and changed until its current shape that is seen by millions around the world today. Tennis is an extremely popular sport in many countries and Wimbledon is the pinnacle of the year's tennis circuit.
The Queen has only visited the tournament on three occasions in the past and yesterday's appearance makes it a meagre four. Even though she has been invited every year to the event, she only managed to find time to see it on four different occasions. Her entrance to the event was marked by fans and players who had come to the All England Club. The Queen ended up meeting many players on her visit, which included the Williams’ sisters, Roger Federer and past greats like Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King.
What exactly is the big deal with the Queen visiting Wimbledon and why are all the players expected to be thrilled about meeting her. The Queen of England only fulfils a ceremonious role in the countries affairs and is the head of the state, but why is her coming to watch tennis such a big deal. Recently, President Obama went to see a baseball game with his daughter. This event didn't make the headlines of the sports pages and it was not such a big deal. The Queen's visit to Wimbledon was a very big deal as a green carpet was laid out for her. She was given a bouquet of flowers and she met a lot of famous tennis players. It could be that the organisers of the event were very excited about the fact that after 33 years, the Queen had finally accepted their invitation to come and watch some tennis.
Another reason could be that the Queen was there to help promote the future of British tennis, because apart from Andy Murray who did well against his opponent yesterday, no other British player made it past the first round. Before she went to see any matches, she went and had a look at some of the younger British talent practising on other courts. She was there to offer the young talent some encouragement and words of advice. This could have been a great exercise in motivating the next generation of British tennis stars to improve their game and make their country proud at the highest level.
There was almost a huge issue when Andy Murray, the only British player to make it to the second round, suggested that he might not bow to the Queen. We do not know why he did not want to, maybe he thought it was a pointless exercise, but no PR tragedy prevailed as he nicely bowed to the Queen before and after his match. She even spoke to her after his win and it looks like all this business of not bowing was just a matter of stir-up-some-Murray-style-controversy.
The Queen's visit went off without a hitch and she fulfilled her purpose of bringing some colour and life to the event off the court and helped in encouraging the younger generation of player to achieve greatness. If she could come to Wimbledon every year and offer the same level of motivation, maybe the British crop of players would improve and more would make it to the second round. For the time being though, she has Andy Murray to watch and support.
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