Ok - the wind has started to howl and the skies are turning cloudy. Everyone is talking about the impending snow. It should come, they all say. It should be a strong start to winter. Today the winds are blowing, but tomorrow, there are expected gusts up to 50 km/h or more with heavy rains and thunderstorms followed by plunging temps and snow. Is it time to get excited yet? I know I am having a hard time containing myself!!
My question of the day for yesterday jumps us to a completely new topic, but it is related to the date coming up: Nov. 22nd, the birthday of Boris Becker. Boris was a tennis player from Leimen, Germany, north of the Black Forest region. When I was growing as a teenager, Boris was THE tennis player the way that Federer and Nadal are today. In 1985, he won Wimbledon. This was a particularly impressive feat because he was unseeded in the tournament and he was at that time the youngest men's player EVER to win a grand slam title. He was just 17. His next year brought him much more fame as he was able to win Wimbledon again, beating Ivan Lendl who was the number one player at the time (and had been for some time.)
In 1987, although he didn't win Wimbledon, he did play the longest match of his (and anyone else's) life. It was against John McEnroe (often called Johnnie Mac) and lasted 6 hours and 39 minutes. McEnroe for me was tennis embodied. He was tennis legend. It was an amazing match and made headlines in all the news. At the same time, a young lady, named Steffi Graf, also from Germany (Mannheim - about 30 km from Leimen), was taking the women's tennis world by storm, winning her first grand slam title. German dominance of the game seemed inevitable. It was the age of German tennis, for sure. Becker was all fire and Graf was all grace.
After many back and forth wins and losses in the grand slam tournaments, Becker finally got that elusive #1 ranking in 1991, although it was only briefly that he kept it. By 1995, his days were numbered, since a new talent, Pete Sampras from American, came into the picture. In 1997, his last real show at Wimbledon resulted in a loss to Sampras in the quarter-finals. During his long days in tennis, he earned the nickname "Baron von Slam" for his fast paced, hard-hitting style. As was fitting for a German, he used the German company, Puma, for his racquets. Although the style of racquet is no longer made by Puma, Boris now has his own line of racquets and clothing that can still be bought today.
Life after tennis for Boris, was less than glorious, and to my dismay, I now see him all over the place on these gambling commercials, but while he was in his heyday, it sure was exciting to watch him. He won a total of 6 grand championships and was runner up in 4 more as well as winning the ITF World Championship in 1989.
Today, I wish Boris a happy birthday and happy days ahead. It was a great run while it lasted.
The words for today are Tennis: das Tennis and Happy Birthday: Herzlichen Geburtstag (hairts lee chen (cat coughing sound) gay behrts tahg).
The question of the day is :"Do Germans celebrate Thanksgiving?".
Auf Wiedersehen,
Frau Spitzer
