As for Graf, who beat Arantxa Sanchez Vicario for the second straight year, the only question now is whether she will be able to break Martina Navratilova's record of nine Wimbledon singles titles before she hits 30 (she's 27). Krajicek might not have been seeded, but he beat two Wimbledon champions - Michael Stich (1991) and Sampras (1993-1995) - then utterly dominated Washington. But it feels good when you have a lot of crowd support."ĭespite all the upsets, despite the presence of two unseeded players in the men's final, and despite the early departure of Seles (the one player truly capable of challenging Graf), Wimbledon 1996 cannot be said to have ended with undeserving champions. "Maybe I'm better looking than ," joked Washington, named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in 1994. became the most famous cab driver in London after his teenage son, Luke Jr., made it to the fourth round.Īnd the Centre Court fans swooned for Washington, who captured their hearts - if not the title - in the final Sunday. Doug Flach, who is more accustomed to small tournaments in the likes of Little Rock than he is to Grand Slam theater, found himself on a shopping trip with the BBC after he bounced Agassi in the first round. The British fell in love with a 21-year-old named Tim Henman, a pin-up boy from Oxford who advanced further in this tournament (the quarterfinals) than any Englishman since Fred Perry. "They asked me to hold it tight," Krajicek said, "so I felt like I would hold it like a baby. Krajicek dropped the lid to the treasured Challenge Cup while posing for photographs on Centre Court. Mary Pierce got grilled about her laundry habits. Becker had to go home after an awkward mis-hit resulted in a severe elbow injury in mid-match. Pete Sampras, the top seed, had his quarterfinal match suspended after a groundskeeper was swallowed by a tarp. Overshadowed by the European Championship soccer tournament on its first week and left with hardly more than a few recognizable names in its second, Wimbledon had more than its share of the unusual this year. Andre Agassi, Monica Seles, Boris Becker, Michael Chang and Jim Courier all were gone from the draw before the end of the first week. MaliVai Washington became the first black man to play in the Wimbledon men's final since Arthur Ashe won the cup in 1975, and Washington had to watch his neighbor, Todd Martin, craft a soon-to-be legendary collapse in the semifinals in order to get there. Steffi Graf won her seventh women's championship, but not without a bad knee, a case of the sniffles, and an embarrassing Centre Court whiff. Richard Krajicek, of the Netherlands, won his first Grand Slam by capturing the men's title in a first-ever final between two unseeded players. Johnson's run capped a two-week tournament filled with oddball moments, unexpected names, and more than a little rain. No, this Wimbledon will be remembered for a woman named Melissa Johnson, who streaked across Centre Court on the final Sunday, flashing the players, the crowd and members of the royal box in the process. In all likelihood, Wimbledon 1996 will not be remembered for the emergence of a new men's champion, or the seventh title won by the world's reigning women's player, or even the presence of a black man in the men's final for the first time in 21 years.
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