Wimbledon Championships 2014: Hewitt & Venus lose battle, win hearts

Lleyton Hewitt fought back from the brink, before falling to Jerzy Janowicz

The weather man had warned us of a thunderstorm on Friday, but perhaps even the met was not prepared to face the storm that was about to tide over Wimbledon. On a bright and sunny day, in a quaint village outside London, two epic warriors stepped forth with abandon to teach us some lessons on vintage and its lasting lure. As the embattled warriors walked away from the battlefield, carrying nothing but their kit, they left us with another bagful of memories to add to their mystical legend.

Venus Williams and Lleyton Hewitt fought to the bitter end, before losing their respective matches. The two veterans may have been vanquished, but carried with them several trophies – many quenched souls walked off the court with them wrapped in their overflowing bag of tales.

There are murmurs that we may not see these two gladiators back at Wimbledon next year. Even if that were true, both Hewitt and Venus can walk away knowing that they couldn’t have scripted it any better. The ageing legends spilt their guts, leaving everything they had on the court.

Hewitt is no stranger to the marathon – the incredibly resilient Aussie is a habitual scrapper, having played no less than 42 five set matches on the grand slam stage and 54 through his entire career. At 4-6 in the third set tiebreaker, Hewitt was one bad stroke from a summary defeat.

His opponent, Jerzy Janowicz, betrayed his nerves to serve a double fault and squander the first match point. It was all the invitation that Hewitt needed to start mounting an impossible comeback act. Of course, Hewitt is no stranger to triumph in adversity. The Aussie has won from dire situations – two sets down – no less than six times in his career.

Hewitt produced an incredibly brutal backhand down the line winner to draw even, before eventually taking the breaker 9-7, with a forehand volley that was pregnant with intensity. At 33, those are the kind of moments that awaken the warrior in Hewitt.

And wake up he did, exhorting himself to perform better and better. At 2-2, Hewitt was given a bizarre code violation for an audible obscenity. The incident only served to fuel more intensity into an already raging Hewitt and an unnerved Janowicz made a pair of double faults in the seventh game of the fourth set.

Hewitt, like ever present danger, pounced upon his opponent to snatch the set and force the match into a decider. Unfortunately for the Aussie, age and a ravaged body have begun affecting his ability to extract value from the doggedness of his throbbing heart.

Perhaps, Hewitt may not even consider this among his finest matches. After all the indefatigable man has enjoyed some incredibly layered thrillers through the length and breadth of his career. But this one, as good a fight back as any witnessed in recent times, came from the spent legs of a 34 year old man. That should be enough to make this one special.

Venus Williams played vintage tennis before going down to Petra Kvitova

Not too far away, there was Venus Williams in a scrap of such quality that it had spectators ditching men’s matches to go find a seat to watch the American fight against Petra Kvitova. In a match of great intensity, Venus found the canvas to scribble sonnets of resplendent brilliance that shone the light on the increasing quality in women’s tennis.

In a match, that was scarcely recognisable for a third round encounter, Venus and Kvitova enthralled a packed centre court mixing up determination and depth of skills in equal measure to produce a classic that shall stand the test of time.

Venus has plenty to deal with ever since her diagnosis with Sjogren’s syndrome – her body a prisoner of the ebb and flow of energy that tides in and out of her body without the least warning. But the veteran is a seasoned professional who understands the nuances of managing her body.

Venus has not been as far as the fourth round of a grand slam since her run at the 2011 Wimbledon. With her quarter ravaged by upsets, the elder Williams’ was perhaps sensing an opportunity. The 30th seed played with vigour and purpose to stay with a player that was ten years her junior.

Through lengthy rallies and volleys to shorten points, Venus was matching her younger opponent shot for shot. The 34 year old was driving deep, varying pace and changing direction at will to counter the brutal speed and power of her formidable Czech opponent. It was some of the finest tennis Venus played for many years.

Just for sheer sustained brilliance, there haven’t been too many matches of this quality in the recent past, especially on the women’s tour. There was barely anything to separate the two women – except for that late break in the first set for Venus and the one for Kvitova in the final game of the match.

For the most part, this was a contest that was incredibly close, point for hard earned point. In the end, perhaps the fatigue from constantly serving from behind in the decider got the better of Venus. The American made consecutive backhand errors to surrender her first break of the match to end it.

So that was the story of two matches that went the distance, with champions who would not lie down and roll over despite being hustled by their younger opponents. They did lose the match in the end, but only after they had stamped it with their own mark of forceful authority and soul stirring defiance.

Venus and Hewitt have embellished their travels with a litany of epics. Their efforts on Friday may not be the best chapters of their epic travelogue, but shine just as bright for they have come in the twilight days of their epochal tennis journey.