Unforced Errors

The Wimbledon Tennis Championships are over, and you can bet the runners-up are going to blame one stat for their lackluster performance.

The 2005 Wimbledon Tennis Championships concluded last Sunday. You’ll have this issue of Homiletics in your hands six weeks before we know who the winners are. Let’s go out on a limb and say it’s Federer and Roddick in the men’s final, and Sharapova and Williams in the women’s final. We’ll call it for Federer and Sharapova to duplicate the results of the Australian Open.

But what do we know?

If you want to revisit one of the most dramatic finishes in Wimbledon history — on the women’s side — go back 12 years to 1993.

Jana Novotna, of the Czech Republic, a player who at one time was ranked second in the world and who would — before her career was over — earn more than $11 million on the circuit, was just five points away from history. Leading 4-1 in the final set of the 1993 Wimbledon women’s championship, she was about to upset the legendary Steffi Graf.

Novotna seemed confident — playing smart and aggressive in front of the center court crowd with members of the British royal family...