Love, none

I was watching the last two sets of the Serena Williams v Justine Henin-Hardenne match. Now, while Justine is one of my most favourite players, I didn’t expect the crowd at Roland Garros to cheer (or jeer?) madly whenever her opponent made an error. Especially towards the end of the match.
For crying out loud, literally – cheer when the player you support, fires a stunning winner. Cheer when you see a fine display of sportsmanship from either player. But as the match progressed, it was obvious that Serena was losing her edge. Most of the audience were unabashedly supporting the Belgian instead.
Poor Serena. She was nearly penalised for taking too long to serve, despite seeing her opponent raise her hand. She had to point out to the umpire that Justine had asked her to wait. She lost a match that she could easily have won. While true champions would arguably not bow to pressure, I’d say the audience took her confidence level down a notch or two. Perhaps she didn’t feel it was worth winning anyway, if the people didn’t want you to.
Anyway, I finally had the (dubious) pleasure of seeing my favourite player triumph over the powerful No. 1 seed. No surprise, then, that the handshake between the two was purely ceremonial and brief. No surprise, either, that Serena vacated the court so quickly.
I predict that fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters will take the title, having had an easier match against a relative unknown, Petrova, and being statistically the better seed.
Speaking of tennis… this evening, I’ll be playing a game at the club with my very old friend, Lisa. I expect a trouncing; I’d be lucky to be able to serve the ball over the net. More news later.
[ Update: Erm … We both need more practice. Heh. ]