Drawings: Pat Rafter and Goran Ivanisevic

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Pat Rafter and Goran Ivanisevic contested the 2001 Wimbledon Men’s single’s final. The former was one of the top seeds, the latter was ranked 125, although he had been runner-up in three previous occasions, in 2001 he went one better.

I accidentally placed a $5 bet on the Ivanisevic to win and considered it money not well spent, given the huge odds. Actually I meant to back 4th seed Marat Safin, but not being an experienced gambler I selected the wrong number when filling in the betting slip. Ironically Goran beat Marat in the Quarterfinals and went on to turn my fiver into a wad of cash.

With back to back US Open titles in 1997-98 briefing holding the World Number One ranking, Pat was favoured. Goran became the champion, winning 9-7 in the fifth set, and becoming the only person to win with a wild card and the lowest ranked player to win in history.

He did have a career high Number Two ranking in 1994 behind Pete Sampras and won bronze medals in both singles and doubles at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Both players were part of the ATP Champions Tour Masters’ Tournament at the Royal Albert Hall this week and they signed their respective sketches for me. For the record, Pat won this time.

Drawing: Stefan Edberg

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Stefan Edberg (or Iceberg as he was called in jest) along with Boris Becker, dominated Wimbledon in the latter part of the 1980s. The diffident Swede’s style was made for the lawns of the All England Club, his deportment complementing the ambience of the sport’s traditional theatre, as impressively as his strokes.

The 6’2″ right hander was one of the major proponents of the serve-and-volley, arguable the greatest of all time. He reached 11 Grand Slam singles finals, winning six, twice claiming victory at Wimbledon, The Australian and US Opens. In his ATP World Tour profile, Bud Collins describes him as a stylistic misfit among the Swedish legion that rose in Björn Borg’s sneaker steps and image, Stefan Edberg was an extraordinarily graceful attacker.”

Along with John McEnroe, they are the only players to reach World No. One in both singles and doubles. Stefan also won all four Junior Grand Slam titles in 1983 – the only person to do so.

The French Open evaded him, but only just! He reached the final in 1989, losing in a close five setter to Michael Chang. He also won three Grand Slam men’s doubles titles.

Unfortunately, knee surgery sidelined him at this years Statoil Master’s Tennis Tournament on the ATP Champions Tour. But, luckily for me, he did turn up yesterday to watch and even more luckily, I had my sketch of him with me and he was happy to sign.

Drawing: Imogen Davies and Rufus

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

‘Hawking’ has been used at the All England Club since 1999 as an ideal environmentally-friendly method of pest control. They use a company called Avian Environmental Consultants, strangely enough. For years, pigeons fluttered onto Wimbledon’s prestige courts, distracting the players and distrupting the world’s premier tennis tournament. Unimpressed by officials flapping their arms around at them, a hawk has been used to scare the pigeons each morning before spectators arrive for the days play. It doesn’t kill the pigeons, but his presence is enough to frighten them away. The Davis family operate the company – not just during the fortnight of the tournament, but they visit every week of the year as pigeons do not register the hawk’s presence in their memories for very long and need regular sightings to keep them roosting at SW19.

There are many businesses that thrive during The Championships, especially in the catering and hospitality areas, but few are prepared to work for scraps and dead mice and quail. Enter Rufus – an American Harrier Hawk and his handler, Imogen Davis. At the 2012 Championships they became somewhat of celebrities when the media highlighted their work and even more so when Rufus was stolen from a car during the first week of the tournament. Pigeons all over London rejoiced, but it was shorlived. After 3 days, he was found and Hawk eye was restored – game,set and match! I drew a quick sketch and sent it to Imogen for signing.