Wimbledon

Ok girls, this one's for you!

The new romantic comedy Wimbledon comes from the same studio that bought you such films as Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral, so you pretty much know where its going . . .

However, its setting at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club during the Wimbledon Championships does give it an extra level of interest. There may even be a chance of taking a male friend along without him chewing his own arm off in order to escape after the first 10 minutes (just tell him it’s about sport)!

The male lead was originally intended for Hugh Grant, but I can’t really imagine Hugh as a believable professional tennis player. Thankfully Paul Bettany (Master and Commander, and A Beautiful Mind, both with Russell Crowe) got the part instead.

Bettany plays Peter Colt, a could-have-been-champion tennis player on the point of retirement. His future seems to be a job coaching bored middle-aged women in the finer points of the game.

Peter Colt seems resigned to never achieving his dream. His ranking is so low he only gets into Wimbledon as a wild-card entry. It’s his last tournament and he, and everyone else, expects him to be going home early.

Colt and friend Dieter spend a lot of time talking about what they should or should not do that will bring them success, or jinx them out of the competition. Peter won’t let his family come to see him play because he thinks he can’t win if they are there. The pre-game ritual is all-important. A broken string is a bad omen.

Peter thinks he’s found the perfect lucky charm when he meets the rising star of women’s tennis, Lizzie Bradbury (Kirsten Dunst, Spiderman 1 & 2, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). He credits his surprising winning streak to their new relationship and Lizzie’s presence at his games.

It takes Peter a while to realise what’s really going on. It’s not that Lizzie is a lucky charm but that he has a new motivation to perform at his best. Up until now he’s only had the fear of losing to keep him going. At best he’s only dreamed of that moment of glory and his own success. Now he has a much more powerful motivation—love.

Of course, that’s what you’d expect from a romantic comedy, right? Sure, but it’s still something we forget too easily.

Peter the tennis pro is learning a lesson that Peter the fisherman learned a little earlier in history. The earlier Pete also spent a number of years getting scared and throwing in the towel before he overcame his fears with the love that Jesus was able to inspire from him.

Just like Pete—tennis player or fisherman—being motivated by fear or even our own glory will ultimately only lead to failure and disappointment. In tennis, love may be nothing, but in life it’s the best motivation for anything we do. It makes the difference between our nothing and the greatest we can achieve.

Text- 1 Corinthians 13