Wimbledon 2016 talking points: Marcus Willis’ dream run, rain, baby doll dress and more

Andy Murray won his third and Serena Williams won her 22nd Grand Slam title, ending this year’s Wimbledon on a poetic note. This edition of the grass-court Slam saw several twists and turns – from two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic falling in the third round to the Williams sisters winning another Slam.

Here are the some of the biggest talking points from Wimbledon 2016.

Unfriendly relations

Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe were bitter rivals during their playing days and the bad blood seems to have followed them into middle-age.

Lendl, the coach of men’s champion Andy Murray, was asked if he had seen McEnroe, who has been working with runner-up Milos Raonic, in the locker room.

“Yes, I saw him.” “Did you have a long chat?” “Who said we chatted.”

Where there’s a Willis

World number 772 Marcus Willis was the unlikely star of the first four days. The club pro came through six qualifying rounds and then won his first round match against Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania, ranked 650 places above him. Footage also emerged of him munching chocolate bars and drinking cola DURING a match three years ago. That led to his nickname ‘Cartman’ after a portly character in cartoon series South Park. His fairytale run ended on Centre Court at the hands of Roger Federer, 6-0, 6-3, 6-4.

Viktor the volcano

Serbia’s Viktor Troicki launched a vintage tennis rant, blasting an umpire as an “idiot” and lambasting him for being “the worst in the world”.

Fiery Troicki, the 25th seed, slumped to a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 defeat to Spain’s Albert Ramos Vinolas after slipping to match point down on a controversial over-rule by umpire Damiano Torella.

“You’re the worst umpire in the world, you’re so bad, you’re an idiot,” screamed Troicki, who received a code violation for his behaviour after smashing the ball in question.

The outburst cost Troicki a $10,000 fine.

Grand Sam

Sam Querrey defeated two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic in the third round, shattering the world number one’s dreams of securing the first calendar Grand Slam in 47 years.

Djokovic, bidding for a fourth Wimbledon title and 13th major, suffered his earliest loss at a Slam since the 2009 French Open.

Querrey was defeated in the quarter-finals by Raonic.

Wee spot of bother

Doubles pair Marcel Granollers and Pablo Cuevas staged a bizarre sit-down protest after they were refused permission to take a bathroom break.

They lost to Britain’s Jonny Marray and Canada’s Adil Shamasdin, but the result was overshadowed by final set controversy.

Cuevas, 30, had been given a code violation after threatening to urinate into a ball tin after he was refused permission to take a comfort break by French umpire Aurelie Tourte.

The pair then received a second warning and a point penalty when Cuevas smacked a ball out of court, giving Marray and Shamasdin match point.

Cuevas and Granollers staged a sit-down protest for 10 minutes and the tournament supervisor had to be called before Marray and Shamasdin finally clinched victory.

Aisle be seeing you

Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova came close to having to postpone her wedding after surprisingly reaching the quarter-finals by knocking out third seed Agnieszka Radwanska.

She went on to lose to Elena Vesnina allowing her to dash back home to Bratislava where she married Miso Navara on Saturday, the day of the women’s final.

Cibulkova said that her fiance would not have minded if their big day had been temporarily shelved.

“It’s no problem. We chose this date because I never saw myself as such a great grass court player,” said the 27-year-old.

Rain, rain, rain

Torrential rain brought havoc to the tournament in the first week forcing organisers to play on the middle Sunday for only the fourth time and first since 2004.

The courts remained slippery and treacherous with Serena Williams and France’s Gilles Simon even threatening to sue if they were injured.

Women’s champion Williams later insisted she was only talking in the heat of the moment and that there was never any intention to take legal action.

Baby doll dressing down

A number of women players were unhappy with the revealing ‘baby doll’ style dress designed for the tournament by Nike.

Former finalist Sabine Lisicki made it clear it was too risqué for her taste after opting not to wear it.

“Yes I did try the dress. I didn’t feel comfortable showing that much flesh,” she said.

Eyes on the prize

Serena Williams was forced to go on the attack once again to defend equal prize money after she reached a ninth Wimbledon final in new record time.

The world number one blasted Russia’s Elena Vesnina off Centre Court in just 48mins 34sec, the fastest ever semi-final at the All England Club.

Vesnina earned £500,000 ($649,000) by making the last four.

“Yeah, I think we deserve equal prize money,” said Williams before staring out the male journalist who asked the question with steely contempt.

“I mean, if you happen to write a short article, you think you don’t deserve equal pay as your beautiful colleague behind you?”

With inputs from AFP