What was going through Lendl’s mind …

“Horses for courses.”

You know the meaning of this, of course. But, I will give you another meaning quite the opposite of what you have in mind.

It was 1974 and Jimmy Connors will end the year winning three of the four majors. French Open, the tournament he did not play, rather was not allowed to play that year, obviously he could not have won. This is the meaning I have for the idiom that started this post: The course is defined by the horse, a champion horse yet failing to win a race there. So Connors is the horse that failed to win the French Open.

But, Connors is not the only one. John McEnroe also failed. But his failure is of a different kind. Yes, it hurts me to say it, but McEnroe choked against Lendl, leading two sets to one and with a break in the fourth. McEnroe’s year was 1984 and he was ruling the tennis world, beating Connors most imperially at Wimbledon and dispatching Lendl contemptuously at the US Open. Yet, I mark that year for his loss at Roland Garros.

Then comes Bjorn Borg. Where there is Connors, can Borg be far behind? There were reasons galore, as Borg listed them out after every loss at the US Open. And, there were as many as nine losses, if I remember my arithmetic. A cat has nine lives, but unfortunately for Borg, at the US Open he did not have even one life. Borg, then, was the horse that never won the race at Forest Hills or Flushing Meadows (see, how easily I metamorphosed a cat into a horse!).

Now I come to the protagonist of this post – Ivan Lendl. I hated Lendl when he beat up my favorite McEnroe some seven times in a row and was leading the count 7-2 head-to-head, early on in their rivalry. But then the tide turned, McEnroe evened the count I think, and I could appreciate Lendl without being accused of two timing my love.

Lendl is just one of those workhorses. McEnroe is reported to have said that he had more talent in his fingertips than Lendl did in his whole body.  This is not as outrageous as it might sound, even if it may not be the literal truth. But, look what Lendl did with the talent he was endowed with. And, yesterday he did more.

“Grass is for cows.”

This is what Lendl said in 1982 when asked why he was skipping Wimbledon that year. Unfortunately, the Lendl horse did not like grass. He started out hating Wimbledon but later made it his mission to win there. But, it was not to be.

Who did you see sitting so impassively in the box at courtside with Andy Murray’s entourage at the 2013 Wimbledon? It was none other than the horse-turned-horse trainer, the great Ivan Lendl himself. Lendl took revenge at the tournament, by guiding Murray to the title. There must have been a wry smile, mocking at the turned-up-nose of the tournament, ostentatiously calling itself, The Championships, on his face.

The above is not to take anything away from Murray. But, one must admit the match was a bland affair. The opening game set the tone and the result of the third set was preordained. It was just fillers in between. I do not know whether Djokovic did a Borg or he was a good loser when interviewed after the match. I couldn’t care less.

Let the Brits celebrate Murray’s victory. I am content feeling good about Lendl. I am happy for him.

Was Lendl thinking along these lines? I don’t know.

Raghuram Ekambaram