In more ways than one, Wimbledon has gone through a lot of changes in the last week. Two of hte most recognizable names on the women's side, Venus and Serena Williams, both lost on the same day. The lone remaining "name," Maria Sharapova, lost in the finals to Petra Kvitova (who?). On the men's side, Roger Federer lost in the quarterfinals, opening the door for Novak Djokovic to beat Rafael Nadal for the men's championship.
Not only are there new names to add to the winners' list, next year will bring a new television deal. NBC, which had televised Wimbledon for the last 43 years, lost the TV rights to ESPN. I had been used to Bud Collins and Dick Enberg making the calls for NBC; now I'll have to adjust to listening to Chris Fowler (who I love on ESPN's college football shows) calling both finals.
Lots of people seem to pine for the days of McEnroe and Borg (or Sampras and Agassi), but I think watching Federer, Nadal and Djokovic playing at the same time is something we shouldn't take for granted. On the women's side, there's not a lot of star power outside of the Williams family, and they're both approaching 30 dinged up and banged around. I would love to see some great women's players take the reins--it's there for the taking.
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