Wimbledon (Movie)

Tennis Hits the Books (and sometimes Media)

Another busy week prompted me to reach once again into the list of tennis movies recently recommended by tennis.com. “Wimbledon” is a romantic comedy featuring a budding relationship between two players at very different points in their career. A chance encounter over a mix up in hotel rooms starts a roller-coaster relationship that plays out across the fortnight.

As has been mentioned on this site before, the Trophy Husband’s college roommate was a terrific guy, but not a good source for movie recommendations. Almost every film he ever saw was categorized as “a cute little show.” That phrase is a permanent figure in the movie ratings vernacular in the Fiend at Court household. It is a description that covers a lot of ground. Wimbledon is a “cute little show.”

Paul Bethany stars as Peter Colt, a journeyman British tennis player slated to retire after he was granted participation in one last Wimbledon courtesy of a wildcard. Kirstin Dunst plays rising star Lizzie Bradbury whose domineering father (Sam Neill) opposes the relationship because her serve gets “mushy” when she is in a relationship.

Notable acting credits from the tennis world include John McEnroe, Chris Evert, and Marry Carillo playing themselves as sports commentators. Murphy Jenson also has a cameo as one of Colt’s opponents during the tournament. In terms of tennis stroke mechanics, Jenson’s contribution was a shining moment in the film.

The tennis play in Wimbledon (the movie) is jarringly bad for tennis fans. The technique in the movie was not believable for supposedly professional players. In one scene, Colt was hitting serves on a practice court when Bradbury joins him and complements his form. It is absurd to think that professional players complement each other on their form especially when it is god-awful bad.

Colt’s career high ATP ranking was 11th, which was the basis of a recurring joke throughout the film as no one could remember the precise number. Heading into that fictional Wimbledon, his ranking had dropped “all the way” to 119th. That is not far from the direct entry cutoff point of 104 for the actual tournament. In real life, Colt would not have been an unknown journeyman as implied in the film.

Other examples of not quite right tennis was that the Men’s and Women’s semifinals were competed on the same day and at the same time. It was a cinematic mechanic that allowed for dramatic cuts between the two matches. Even more ridiculous, the men’s semi-final match was relegated to a small outer court which would never happen. Additionally, the grass on the courts was pristine for the finals, a horticultural miracle.

I don’t watch a lot of movies and romantic comedies are not my preferred genre when I do. My observations should be taken with a grain of salt. The narrative of the budding relationship did not strike me as even remotely believable. That may not be an essential element for this kind of movie.

All that being said, I enjoyed the film and in the end was rooting for the characters both on and off the court. Wimbledon is a cute little show.