Old boys' club: the spirit of champions

I noticed that after Federer won the French Open, they started showing that Spirit of A Champion show about him again. Must have been because he won and they had nothing else about him to show or something. What struck me most about the show was how different he and his wife looked then and now.

And what has struck me about this year's Wimbledon last 16 is how many old warriors and old champions are still in the draw.

I must say I really admire the spirit of the ex-champions and older players. To soldier on during and after the rise of Federer and all the young pretenders is really something. I don't particularly like their on-court

bratty behaviour and have no comments on their off-court lives (except that Hewitt's little girl is so cute now; too early to say for the boy) but when you see Roddick and Hewitt play these days, you can still see their passion and competitiveness. I used to routinely feel sorry for them in the days when they were routinely playing Federer in finals and semis. But I realise that they don't need anyone to feel sorry for them. They were fighters

then and are still fighters now. Look at Juan Carlos Ferrero, at 29, after injury and poor rankings and all, he is also still in the draw.

So perhaps one should still see them as champions and not ex-champions.

Also in the 'old boys' group, Stepanek and Haas, both 31 and definitely fighters too. ('Old' being relative, of course; they are all a lot younger than I am, ha ha.)

Let's see how the young pretenders fare from this point on.

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