Au Revoir, Amelie

Hey guys! Slightly more lucid today, so I might actually have something worth saying! Or something vaguely readable, anyway. Of course, this is highly dependent on today's tennis news, which is not that exciting.

Probably the biggest thing that happened was not actually tennis, but the formal farewelling of Amelie Mauresmo. I confess I was never a massive Momo fan - I wasn't an antifan either, I was just sort of ambivalent - but it was still sad to see her go. She has definitely been one of the dominant forces in women's tennis in the noughties - not necessarily in Slams won, but in influence? Momo was huge.

I was never a massive fan of Momo's game - not that there was anything wrong with it, but it just wasn't my style - but I don't think anyone will ever forget 2006, when Momo was definitely one of the, if not the, dominant forces in women's tennis. That Australian Open final was not one of the great matches ever, with Juju retiring - understandable, since she had a stomach ulcer, but not so great for Momo, who I'm sure would have preferred to have that match point - but I think Amelie definitely threw down at Wimbledon that year. That was such a brilliant win for her. There may have been 'controversy' around the AO win, but that Wimbledon win...? No. 2006 - that was Momo's tennis legacy.

But I think that Momo's real legacy was not on court, but off court. She was a wonderful ambassador for the game - one of the best in women's tennis, I think. And I really don't think it can be understated what kind of influence Momo had as far as LGBTQ sportspeople go. There are not a lot of openly homosexual sportspeople in the world, and for Momo to be the role model that she was, well - that was something truly special. I might write more about this at a later date, but seriously, Momo... I may not have been the biggest fan of your game, but as an ambassador of tennis, you were made of pure awesome.

We will miss you.