Professional sport is big business these days and judging by the demeanour of most professional sportsmen and women it’s a pretty serious business too. Most seem totally focussed on the result to the exclusion of all else and what emotion there is tends to be of the negative variety, shouting at their opponents, the referee and even themselves.  Sport is all about winning and when there are literally hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of pounds riding on the result their behaviour is not surprising.

How wonderful it is therefore to witness the success of Sabine Lisicki, the previously obscure German tennis player who, radiating joy and with an almost permanent smile, has made it to the Wimbledon Ladies Final this Saturday. I’ve not watched a great deal of Wimbledon this year but the little that I have watched and enjoyed has been dominated by this young woman who defeated the mighty Serena Williams (reckoned by many to be the greatest female player of all time) earlier this week before winning twice more to gain her place in the final.

With all due respect to her French opponent, Marion Bartoli, I really hope that Lisicki wins the trophy and demonstrates to the world, and youngsters in particular, that you can still win and reach the very top  not only with skill and determination but with grace, dignity and, most importantly of all, with a great big smile on your face. That said, if an Englishman or woman were ever to win Wimbledon I wouldn’t care how miserable, sullen and bad tempered he/she was. A bit like that bloke north of the border I suppose! I hope he wins too.