Wimbledon 2018, the sacred, sacred place for tennis, has just ended. Novak Djokovic regained the crown he last won in 2015. But the final was overshadowed by the previous Friday /Saturday semis.

On Friday afternoon, we witnessed a nail-biting marathon game of six hours and 35 minutes between South African Kevin  Anderson  and  American John Isner (picture). It was the longest semi-final in  the history of Wimbledon.

This was  followed by an equally marathon duel, the 52nd epic meeting between tennis  titans Rafael  Nadal, the greatest fighter  ever to play this game  with a sledgehammer serve, and  Novak Djokovic, the master baseliner, over  two days and more than five hours  of brutal power game.

It had to be cut short  at 11pm  on Friday for play to be resumed on Saturday afternoon with the roof shut, since a bizarre All England Club rule states that a game must resume under the same conditions. The second longest semi-final in history took place on a baking hot day – 27°C.

I am sure all tennis followers realise, more than ever, that  all the top players rely upon powerful serves of about 139mph, which the opponents are not expected to return and have to resort to moving around the court at an alarming speed to try to hit the ball at all costs.

Winning  a match by smashing  serves, as is the order of the game, does not always reflect that a player is better than the opponent. Records show that in the epic game between Anderson and Isner there were 102 thunderbolt aces.

Also, the two-handed racket use, unknown during my playing days, has meant the elegance  of the game has been lost.

Like all sports, tennis has become wilder and brutal.

As a tennis enthusiast I feel the time has come  to rename the sports game of tennis and call it baseball.

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