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By Pete Bodo
Howdy. I was just over at Radio Wimbledon, chatting on air with the station's talented interviewer, Sam Lloyd. RW is one of the nicer features at Wimbledon; it's a very professionally run operation with a robust, expert staff. More than a million people listen via the Internet, and I like thinking that some kid in Mumbai, or Uzbekistan, is sitting there, daydreaming about Wimbledon - imaging what it must be like to be here, to watch Roger Federer or Serena Williams swing the stick.
Yesterday was a remarkable day here at Wimbledon, and today could offer more of the same. Let's face it, three of the four matches are very close to pick-ems - the only quarterfinal prediction that would strain credulity would be Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan bouncing Novak Djokovic. This is a shame, because I really like everything about "Randy" Lu, starting with his ultra-clean game.
Things were a little hectic after Lu took out Andy Roddick the other day, so I didn't catch his presser. It's a pity, because it was a gem.
Lu is 26, and has been a pro since 2001. Unfortunately, his father - the guiding hand in his tennis development - died right around the time he turned pro. "He was always planning which direction I should go," Lu remembered. "I should go to school or keep going professional? In the moment (I decided to go pro), he pass away. So I'm just upset that he didn't (share it) with me.That's why I'm just very sad about this. But today I think he's here and he also very happy for me. . . yeah."
Lu's father was a chicken farmer, raising the animals for tablefare. "I can catch chicken," Lu revealed. "I can show you. Yeah, I'm serious. I can catch a chicken. It's very tough work. You work between 1 and 6 in the morning, because that time the chicken cannot run away because they cannot see."
But Lu had no desire to follow in his father's footsteps in the barnyard, "I don't really like because it smelled so bad. It's tough work."
In school, Lu was asked to choose an English name for his class in that tongue. He explained: "In Taiwan, it's difficult to pronounce my (proper) name. So the English teacher, they want us to get American-style name."
For reasons Lu didn't disclose, he chose "Randy." At the time, he didn't know the meaning of the name when it's used as a common-slang noun (okay, consult your Urban Dictionary, folks), and when asked if he wanted to know, Lu said, "No, better not. . ."
He smiled. He knows now.
The bitterness between tiny Taipei (aka the Republic of China) and giant China runs deep; in a capitulation to the Chinese, Wimbledon lists Lu as a native of Taipei (TPE), which is the Chinese name for the place the natives (including Lu) prefer to call Taiwan. Why Wimbledon would capitulate to the will of the Chinese on this I don't know, but will attempt to find out.
Anyway, Novak the Entertainer is a prohibitive favorite in the match, but the way things have been going here that hardly means he's safe. Maybe Lu can pull off another upset, and celebrate with the chicken dance. He's on the run of a lifetime, and that always diminishes the significance of the form chart.
As Lu said the other day, trying to explain how he felt after surviving Roddick: "I make this result. I'm really proud myself to share this victory with him (my father) in the sky. I hope he see this match. So in that moment, I just sit and tell myself, I done it. I done for my father. I done for myself also.I done for all the people support me."
Enjoy the tennis, feel free to post your comments on the action here.