Even casual observers could not fail to note a faintly Samson-ish air to Andy Murray as he grimaced his way to the Wimbledon quarter-finals behind a 10-day growth of beard.
“It’s just laziness,” the British No 1 insisted, explaining his decision not to shave.
Tournament folklore, however, suggests otherwise. Five-time winner Bjorn Borg similarly began every campaign clean-shaven before fetching up in the finals like some hirsute John the Baptist.
Superstitions abound in the closing week of Wimbledon. Those jittery thoroughbreds that remain in the race have all won enough matches to accrue a range of lucky charms, presumably reasoning that what has worked in the past must work in the future. Along the way, they risk turning the lawns of SW19 into a hothouse psychiatric ward.
Murray’s burgeoning beard and Marion Bartoli’s ants-in-pants antics are merely the most visible signs of tennis disorder. Second-seeded Novak Djokovic, for instance, refuses to use the same shower twice in a row. Reigning champion Rafael Nadal insists on lining his water bottles up in a row, so that all the labels are pointing in exactly the same direction.
All of which is nothing new. To scroll back through the list of tennis legends is to uncover a nail-biting array of rituals and habits that run worryingly out of control. What was one to make of Ivan Lendl, who would arrive at Wimbledon from the courts of Roland Garros still compulsively tapping non-existent clay from the tread of his trainers? Or Justine Henin, who avoided stepping on the lines when arriving on court? Serena Williams tends to play all Grand Slam events in the same pair of socks, while 2001 champion Goran Ivanisevic wouldn’t get out of bed until he’d watched an episode of Teletubbies. Russian giant Marat Safin wore an “evil eye” pendant to ward off wicked spirits.
Perhaps the most bizarre of these anecdotes though comes from Andre Agassi, who partially credited his surprise victory in the 1999 French Open to his decision to play every match without his underpants. Thereafter, he claims, he never played in pants again.
Yet Agassi remains a rarity in that he is at least open about his neuroses. Like Fight Club, it seems that the first rule of tennis superstitions is that you do not talk about tennis superstitions.
“I do not have superstitions,” snapped Djokovic, the man who won’t use the same shower twice and who reputedly fears he can’t win Wimbledon unless his poodle, Pierre, is allowed to join him in London. “I have routines. I call them routines.”
Call them what you like, they’re here, they’re chronic and they may just be working. Game, set and match to the OCD case study.
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