1. Even though I had a kind of an erratic and short night's sleep -- no real reason --, I sprang out of bed at 5:30 a.m. so I could watch the two men's semifinal matches at Wimbledon.
I sometimes wish I were an accomplished sports writer and could write in some detail what happened in these matches, but I'm not. So here's a condensed version of what I saw.
For two sets, Mateo Berrettini, behind a thundering serve, bullied and dominated Hubert Hurkacz, especially in the second set. In this second set, Berrettini flattened Hurkacz 6-0. In the third set, though, Hurkacz gathered himself, played some brilliant tennis, strongly resisted the bullying, and won it in a tie breaker 7-6 (7-4). I thought in that third set Hurkacz not only got himself back into the match, but won himself some self-respect and the admiration of the spectators.
As it turned out, though, Berrettini was just too powerful and he dispatched Hurkacz in the fourth set, 6-4.
When I've written about sports before, I've confessed that I'm not good at all of imagining what a future contest, no matter the sport, might look like. As you'll read soon, Novak Djokovic will face Mateo Berrettini in the Wimbledon men's final.
Mateo Berrettini is on an impressive grass court win streak right now. He'll throw a lot of firepower and aggression at Djokovic. I don't know what to expect,
BUT, I can say that Djokovic's semi-final opponent, Denis Shapovalov, gave Djokovic a foretaste of what he might expect in his final match with Berrettini.
Like Berrettini, Shapovalov hammers opponents with a huge serve (although Berrettini's might be even more powerful) and, today, Shapovalov served up a lot of booming shots that Djokovic couldn't get to or that he returned weakly or wildly.
In fact, in the first set, Shapovalov was serving for the set at 5-4, but Djokovic did what he does best. He dug in. He stoutly defended his court. He was calm in this crucial moment while Shapovalov hit an easy return long, committed other errors under pressure, and ended up losing the set 6-7 (3-7), a huge blow.
Shapovalov continued in the next two sets to pound away and, in many ways played the better tennis. But Djokovic's experience, mental strength, and confidence prevailed at key moments. At every turn in the match, when a dramatic point was at stake, no matter what difficulties he'd had in previous points, Djokovic won those points and prevailed in the match, sweeping Shapovalov 6-5-5.
Djokovic's experience is apparent not only in his calmness under pressure, but in his versatility. No question, Djokovic is a powerful player and, as always, today he kept the pressure on Shapovalov with his uncanny, almost other worldly ability to return shots and keep points alive.
He kept several of those points alive, not with power, but with finesse shots -- little drop shots, some unimagniably accurate lobs, and angled shots impressive more for their placement than their force. Djokovic can extend rallies from the baseline, he can come to the net and win points with perfectly placed vollies, and he covers the court with breathtaking agility and speed.
He'll have his hands full on Sunday as Berrettini launches rocket serve after rocket serve and smashes powerful forehand after forehand.
It's Berrettini's first major final.
It's Djokovic's 30th.
Djokovic has won Wimbledon five times.
Djokovic is the world's top player.
It will be tough (but not impossible) for the mighty Berrettini to prevail.
2. This weekend is a high holiday in Kellogg -- no, unlike in the Eugene area, Kellogg is not hosting a Country Fair this weekend, but, today and tomorrow, the combined classes of 1970 and 1971 are celebrating their 50th class reunion.
A bunch of us younger (!) kids from the Class of 1972 got together around 4:30 this afternoon at Noah's for some food and a couple of drinks with the idea that we'd head uptown, hang out at the Lounge, and try to see as many of the reunion participants as possible, either in the Lounge or, once their dinner was over, by strolling over to the Elks.
Our function at the Elks was a lot of fun. For about ninety minutes or so, we yakked at our table non-stop, talking about all kinds of things and enjoying a ton of huge laughs. I don't think I've been to Noah's since I moved back to Kellogg. I ordered Korean BBQ boneless chicken wings and enjoyed how sweet and slightly spicy they were and was really happy with how well they paired with the two margaritas I enjoyed.
I was beaming and fired up as we left Noah's. I sprang back into the Sube, screeched back over the river for a quick stop at home, made Copper and Luna happy by feeding them dinner, and then headed uptown to the Lounge.
3. The reunion's dinner at the Elks began around 6:30 and about an hour and a half or so later, Linda and Mary came over to the Lounge. I'd been nursing a bottle of Miller's for quite a while, talking with Pam B. and Wandy S. and others. Mary, Linda, and I grabbed a table. It was still quiet in the Lounge and we talked about how well things were going across the street and Mary and Linda filled me in on how Kathy is doing. (She's under better care at the facility she's in and she has more visitors than she could at Sacred Heart. She's not eating much and so looks gaunt. Linda and I are going to pay her a visit together sooner than later -- maybe we'll see Mary, too. Our plans are a bit vague right now. No problem.)
I sauntered with Mary and Linda across the street and over the next hour or so saw a bunch of people from our shared deep past. I don't think the substance of conversations at reunions like this is nearly as important as the good cheer, the smiles, handshakes, the lighting up at seeing people for the first time in years. I got around as much as I could and then headed back to the Lounge, took a seat at the north end of the bar, and enjoyed numerous conversations, some kind of brief, others, like with Big Al, more extended. From where I sat, I could see the whole room and I really enjoyed seeing so many old friends running into each other again, laughing, hugging, sharing goodwill, and having fun. I couldn't get around to see everyone I might have liked to, but that was all right. It was just kind of remarkable to see people I've known in one way or another over the last sixty years so happy to be with each other again.
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