77

Here’s a post I should have made yesterday morning, when I cast my usual playing-in-the-sandbox readings for the Wimbledon finalists. Then I could have made a prediction and invited you to do the same, and… let’s face it, if I tried to cast readings with public predictions in mind, Yi would make me look a right twerp.

Instead, let me share the two readings, and you can tell me which belongs to which player.

Background: yesterday, Novak Djokovic (world #1) played Andy Murray (world #2) in the men’s final at Wimbledon. Djokovic would have been the slight favourite, objectively speaking, but Murray is British. There hadn’t been a British Wimbledon singles champion since 1977, when Virginia Wade won; there hadn’t been a British men’s champion for 77 years, since Fred Perry. (A wit at the BBC pointed out that yesterday was 7/7, so, ‘if Dan Brown was writing the script for the final there wouldn’t be any point Novak Djokovic turning up now.’)

We’d gone through an epic saga with Tim Henman a few years back, who kept getting to semi finals but never beyond that, while the British public gathered in their thousands, stared at the TV in their millions, and cheered, gasped and groaned their way through. Likewise with Murray, only more so: he made it to the final last year, only to lose to Federer. Lunatic national obsession (we British don’t really believe tennis is ever played anywhere other than Wimbledon), absurd pressure of expectation. It all came to a head in the roaring din round Centre Court, all eyes and hopes focussed on one man. The cameras kept zooming in on the home-made banner in the crowd that read, ‘Let’s make history!’ (I wanted to be there just to wave one that read, ‘No pressure, really.’)

I cast two readings a few hours before the match started, asking about the prospects for each player.

Player 1: Hexagram 7, the Army, changing at line 2 to Hexagram 2, Earth

‘Positioned in the centre of the army.
Good fortune, no mistake.
The king issues a mandate three times.’

Player 2: Hexagram 7 changing at line 1 to 19, Nearing

‘The army sets out according to pitch-pipes,
At odds with the strength of the army, pitfall.’

In the event, Djokovic didn’t quite find his rhythm – contested everything fiercely, but missed shots you’d expect him to make – and Murray won in straight sets. It took 3 hours, with lots of long games full of long rallies, scrabbling in the baking dust to get one more shot back.

OK, no prizes for identifying which of those two readings belongs to which player. Only… 1977, 77 years, 7/7… anyone’d think there was something in this I Ching stuff…