Paul Rouse: You cannot be serious? How Wimbledon shaped sporting summers of Irish children

What is most incongruous of all is the disconnect between ordinary Irish lives as against the insufferable self-regard and pomposity of the trappings of Wimbledon

John McEnroe crashes to the ground after losing the 1980 Wimbledon final to Bjorn Borg 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7, 8-6. Picture: Rob Taggart/Central Press/Getty Images

Wimbledon starts next week.

It was at one time the case that this meant the appearance of tennis rackets across Ireland in the hands of those who did not otherwise play the game.