Murray wins the men’s title at Wimbledon
Maria Esther Bueno in the Members’ Enclosure at Wimbledon
It was a historic occasion as fans chanted ‘Go Andy!’ in encouragement of Andy Murray’s mission to win his second Wimbledon title on Sunday. Maria Esther Bueno was there.
“It was never in any doubt,” she said. “But, of course, anything can happen, especially when you face one of the game’s greatest servers.
“Andy was a man on a mission. You could see that over the two weeks of The Championships. He was very focused in every one of his matches.
“He deserved to win the title, and played amazingly well, specially on return of serve.
“[Milos] Raonic actually served the fastest serve of the tournament, which Andy returned and won the point off – Incredible!
“I was sitting in the Members’ section, which is on the corner of the court, so you get a very good idea of what Murray was facing from there.
“His early preparation was key on the return, and his court coverage [was] quite extraordinary. The way he tracked balls down showed how fit he is and how tuned in he was to the match, because he anticipated so well, and his footwork was perfect!”
[Photos by Tenlink]
Andy Murray took three sets to see off the Canadian’s challenge in a close to flawless performance, winning 6-4 7-6 7-6 in 2 hours 48 minutes in front of an ecstatic Centre Court crowd.
“I was also impressed with Raonic, the first Canadian to make a Grand Slam final,” Maria Esther continued.
“I was at Queen’s [Club] too. He keeps trying and is a dangerous opponent because he comes to the net, putting pressure to pass, and you never know if he going to suddenly break through.
“Andy effectively neutralised his serve, which was amazing in itself, but he also held on to his own service games very well. I think he only served 8 doubles in the whole tournament.
“Raonic only had two break points in the whole match, and he couldn’t convert either of them. It was all Murray!”
Watching from the Members’
Maria Esther was sitting in the Members’ seats alongside players from the British Maria Esther Bueno Cup team that competed in Sao Paulo in 2000 when it was held at the Esporte Clube Sirio.
“We had a lot of fun together in Brazil when they came out, and so it was great to see them there in the box, all in the front row with me!” she said. “I can’t believe it was sixteen years ago!”
Great Britain made it to the semi-finals but lost to France, 2-1, who went on to a defeat at the hands of the USA, 3-0.
In 1983, the Brazilian Tennis Federation donated the Maria Esther Bueno Cup to the ITF for women players in the fifty age category to play for, the first Women’s Team Competition.
The Women’s Final
A proud Serena Williams wins her 22nd Grand Slam title [photo by David Musgrove]
“Again, there was little doubt as to who was going to win,” she said. “But at least, this year, Serena, was made to fight for it!
“Kerber beat Serena in Australia and she looked pretty determined to try her best to do so again at Wimbledon.
“She defended incredibly well, and managed to stay with Serena, which is what you have to do to stand any chance of winning.
“It was Serena’s serve, though, that made the difference and, on Saturday, she hardly missed. There wasn’t anything Kerber could do about that and Serena was able to finally win her 22nd Grand Slam title, equalling Steffi Graf’s record.”
Williams had been on the cusp of matching the great German even since she won the Wimbledon title last year but watched the prize slip by at the US Open, the Australian Open and last months’ French Open.
She successfully defended her Wimbledon crown to score her seventh win on the hallowed turf of the Centre Court to match Graf’s record, defeating Kerber 7-5 6-3.
[Photos by David Musgrove]
As Serena fell to the court, watched in the Royal Box by Margaret Court, Billie-Jean King and Martina Navratilova to name but a few of the champions there, thoughts turned to the prospect of her being able to reach the next landmark of her career.
“Margaret’s 24 singles titles is the next record but at 35, I wonder if Serena can reach that,” said Maria Esther.
“It is always fun catching up with them all, I must say.
“I was very touched at the lunch when the Chairman made a presentation to Billie in recognition of her first Wimbledon singles title, which was against me in 1966, and she acknowledged me and said how great it is to have the Olympic [tennis] stadium named after me, and that I am a torch bearer for Rio 2016.
“It was her moment but she always takes the opportunity to make an important point and it was wonderful to have the Royal Box guests made aware of the honour that is being given to me over the coming weeks. I really appreciated it.”
Wimbledon wrap
Wimbledon Orchids
So what thoughts does Maria Esther have on this year’s Wimbledon Championships.
“It was a difficult one for everyone because of the weather,” she said. “It is very hard on the players, the organisers, media and spectators when it keeps on raining and is so cold!
“Without the roof and play on the middle Sunday, they would have been in serious trouble.
“Lots of players had to play matches without any breaks to catch up but they managed to get back on track by the beginning of the second week.
“There were some really fantastic matches, and some interesting results but, in the end, the two we thought would win once [Novak] Djokovic was beaten, came through much as expected.
![Henman Hill, full of Murray Mania [photo by Tenlink]](http://www.mariabueno.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/IMG_4281-300x169.jpg)
Henman Hill, full of Murray Mania [photo by Tenlink]
“Being British, he slightly overshadowed Serena’s amazing record win but I’m sure she understands that.
“She must be very relieved to have achieved that goal and then to win the doubles title with Venus, must have very special to her, especially ahead of the Olympics.”
Serena Williams returned to the Centre Court with big sister Venus, to successfully contest the women’s doubles final.
![Serena and Venus [photo by David Musgrove]](http://www.mariabueno.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/dm-WILLIAMS-Serena-USA-WIILLIAMS-Venus-USA-09-July-2016-33-300x200.jpg)
Serena and Venus [photo by David Musgrove]
“We will be seeing all the Gold medallists from London 2012 defending their title in Rio next month, which is very exciting.
“How Andy and Serena then do at the US Open remains to be seen.”
Maria Esther attended the Champions Dinner at London’s Guildhall on Sunday night.
“I was very pleased to be able to take our host from New York, Chris Combe, to the dinner after his day at the tennis.
“He is a Vice President of ‘Malaria No More’ in the USA, which is one of the charities that Murray supports, so he was very thrilled that Andy won as it is a huge boost to their efforts to eradicate malaria around the world.
“It was really nice to show Chris Wimbledon,” she added. “We had lunch in the Members overlooking Court 3, with all the hanging baskets around and a beautiful view.
“Quite a contrast to the US Open, I think, and very different!”
Looking to the Olympics
Maria Esther returns to Brazil this week to begin her duties as an Olympic Ambassador and is looking forward to meeting Pat Cash and the CNN film crew on Friday in Sao Paulo.
“They are doing a special preview feature of the Olympics and the tennis facilities for Pat’s ‘Open Court’ program on CNN,” she explains.
“We’ll have a hit and talk about my court. We filmed some already here at Wimbledon but they want to do more so they are coming to Sao Paulo for the day!
“I’ll also be going backwards and forwards to Rio over the coming weeks for appearances and special events as well as running with the torch in Sao Paulo on the 24th, so it will be busy ahead of the Olympics as well as during the event itself.
“I’m really looking forward to it and to welcoming everyone to my court!”