Hello. Boom Boom goes the dynamite. Sabine Lisicki is in her first Wimbledon final and everyone is so very delighted to see her here. Doris Becker to the English and Boom Boom Bina to the Germans Lisicki has stolen our hearts over the past fortnight beating Serena Williams and Agnieszka Radwanska in two stunning matches. We love her smile we love her serve we love her shots. We love her (although the talk is her fellow players think she's a drama queen). We love a German and everyone's totally fine with that. We've come so far. And we've reached so high. And we've looked each day and night in the eye. Sorry it's been a long old fortnight and it's not even done yet.
So Lisicki the first German in the final since Steffi Graf lost to Lindsay Davenport in 1999 will have the support of the Centre Court crowd against Marion Bartoli who we are contractually obliged to refer to as endearingly eccentric this afternoon. France's Bartoli the 15th seed says she doesn't mind. Well I don't think I will have the whole crowd against me she quipped yesterday. At the end of the day she's not British as far as I know. That is indeed correct and maybe just maybe the crowd will also take to Bartoli with her two handed groundstrokes her odd serving action and her insistence on practising her shots in between points. Unlike Lisicki she has been here before. This is her second Wimbledon final six years after she lost her first and few people expected her to be here at the start of the week.
But here she is 28 years wise and she hasn't lost a set yet. She's clearly benefited both from splitting with her father Walter who will be in her box today and from working with the French Tennis Federation the former Wimbledon champion and Fed Cup captain Amelie Mauresmo and her new hitting partner Thomas Drouet. But it might not be enough against the power of Lisicki. Both players hit the ball hard but Lisicki hits it harder. She has 39 aces to Bartoli's 12 and her serve can reach a scorching speed of 122mph. Lisicki who beat Bartoli at Wimbledon two years ago and leads their head to head record 3 1 is the heavy favourite though she has been known to lose focus for long periods. Bartoli will have to capitalise on those moments when Boom Boom loses her spark.
Play begins at 2pm.
The umpire is Eva Asderaki.
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