Ben Lowry: I am sad that Novak Djokovic did not win Wimbledon at 39, so am now hoping that England win the world cup
I was sorry to see the British tennis player, Arthur Fery, fall yesterday in the Wimbledon semi-final, after a stunning run of success from ranked 114 in the world.
(To read Ben Lowry’s main column on Ronnie Appleton and Alan McQuillan, click on this link here)
He will have his day. I was sadder still to see Novak Djokovic lose to the tennis number one, Jannik Sinner. Sinner is in his early 20s and has many years of success left. Djokovic is almost 40, and doesn’t.
I love to see older people succeed in life. A curious feature of the brilliant tennis trio Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Djokovic is that they shattered multiple tennis records in the 20 years they dominated the men’s game but did not shatter age records – all three played far longer than most top players but were 36 when they won their final grand slam titles. Ken Rosewall won the Australian Open at 37. So I was hoping Djokovic would win Wimbledon at 39. Meanwhile, I very much hope England beat Norway tonight and then win the world cup. When I was a boy, and passionate Northern Ireland fan, I wanted England to lose at football because they seemed the very opposite of the underdogs. Now I despise the way the Celtic fringe, particularly Scotland and Ireland, wills on teams that are playing England. The generous English, in return, only show goodwill to us smaller countries.
Ben Lowry (@Benlowry2) is News Letter editor