Day Six: Dokic and the Woodies Thrill the Fans
by Prip
Monica Seles (USA) [3] vs. Dominique Van Roost (BEL) [8]
Monica won the toss, and opted to serve. The conditions were a little
windy, and that gave a huge advantage to Monica. Monica's serve was
also working very well, giving her a lot of free points. On the other
hand, Dominique's serve was dismal, with a low first serve percentage
and double faulting on big points throughout the match.
Dominique's flat shots give her very little margin for error. For the
benefit of people who don't actually play tennis or are new to the
game, when a player hits the ball with topspin, the ball's path of
flight curves downwards, allowing it to clear the net and still land
inside the court despite high speeds. With a flat shot, the ball
pretty much keeps a straight path of flight, which makes it very
difficult to keep it over the net and yet make sure it lands inside
the court. In fact, in the same way people describe getting the
down-the-line passing shot as "threading the needle", hitting hard
flat shots is like aiming at a thin horizontal line, which is
difficult enough without having the wind swirl around you, affecting
the trajectory of the ball.
Monica was having no trouble with her lateral movement, and Dominique
just wasn't trying to get her off the baseline. Not surprisingly at
all, Monica took the first set without dropping a singles game. The
second set looked a little better for the Belgian, who started
hitting the ball harder and with more conviction. Monica was actually
standing right on the baseline by now, hitting the ball early, and
had a little trouble when the balls were landing deeper and landing a
little heavier on her racquet. Dominique finally managed to get a
game by holding serve in the second game of the second set.
Monica soon adjusted, though, and went back to business. She took
another three games in a row. A sudden string of errors off Monica's
racquet gave Dominique her service game, the second of the match, but
that was all. Dominique served to stay in the match, and put up a
good fight at the end, but lost the match on miserable attempt at a
drop-shot which nearly didn't even make it to the net before the
bounce.
Jelena Dokic (AUS) vs. Amanda Coetzer (RSA) [7]
Out on Centre Court, Jelena Dokic was up against a real challenge.
Amanda Coetzer has not seen the best of form in the last couple of
months, and Jelena had a very good chance of coming out of this match
on top. Before the match started, two elderly men in yellow shirts
and green treks (one in what looked like a newspaper hat) went
around the stadium, coaching the spectators. Section by section, they
led cheers of "Aus-sie, Aus-sie" while getting the people to wave
their arms in unison. Finally settling down where the audience
participation was best, they waited for the players to come out. When
Jelena and Amanda appeared, the man in the paper got 2 sections of
the crowd to yell in perfect unison, "Let's go Jelena". Only in
Australia.
Jelena won the toss, and of course elected to serve. She found
herself in trouble despite getting an ace, and Amanda got the break.
The two men led cheers of "Aus-sie, Aussie" with the waving of the
arms at every chance, sometimes even when players were ready to
serve, and the umpire had to caution the audience several times to
respect the players' need for concentration. Surprisingly enough, the
cheers worked. In fact, they worked very well indeed. Jelena played
much better tennis, playing aggressively to get 3 break points in the
very next game. It took all 3 for her to get the break, though, and
even then it was on a lucky netcord.
For some reason, Amanda looked very unnerved by the whole occasion.
One would have thought that Jelena would have been the one to come
out nervous, but Amanda looked quite nearly petrified by the whole
scenario, and played extremely nervously. In fact, Amanda got a
number of double-faults, and looked listless in losing 7 games in a
row. Even Jelena looked a little surprised at the ease with which she
was winning the match. She stuck to her guns, keeping the ball deep
and going from corner to corner.
Jelena was looking her usual confident self, and played with her
characteristic tenacity, but there was one slight difference that I
felt from her. She was a lot less tense, taking a little time during
the changeovers to pay attention to the atmosphere around her,
soaking up the energy of knowing that nearly every single person in
the stadium was rooting for her to carry the flag of her adopted
nation to the podium.
Jelena continued to go for her shots, but didn't look as uptight as
she usually does after lost points. In a very strange and sudden
turn of events, though, Amanda's backup tank of energy and adrenaline
must have kicked in. She started running for balls that she'd let go
in the first set, and did a much better job at being a human wall.
On the other hand, Jelena's complacency looked to be doing her in.
One major difference between the top players and the rest of the
field is that they never let up, and have the capability to keep a
high level of concentration throughout the match.
The momentum had very definitely shifted to the South African, who
took her turn to win 6 games in a row. Jelena's shots were
consistently landing out by inches, probably exactly what Amanda was
waiting for. Jelena was playing her own match, though, concentrating
on herself and not finding the need to look into the stands at her
teammates for support.
The beginning of the third set was a struggle for control. Jelena
once again had the advantage of serving ahead, and held serve easily
to break Amanda's streak. Playing a cleaner match, she quite nearly
broke Amanda's serve, but just fell short, and held serve again in
the next game. Once again, Jelena set up break point with a beautiful
touch volley from the service line, and got the break on a cross-court
winner. It is very refreshing to see her making an effort to play a
more complete game, no doubt thanks to Stubbsy's influence and her
increased doubles activity. Jelena has arguably found more success in
broadening the range of her game than most other strictly baseline
players, with the most obvious exceptions being the Williams sisters.
One again, the tide shifted, and Jelena took 4 games in a row to go
up 5-1. Serve-and-volleying her way to 3 match points, she lost the
first on a double-fault, but got the service return error from Amanda
to take the match 6-1 1-6 6-1.
Woodbridge/Woodforde (AUS) [1] vs. Kucera/Hrbaty (SVK)
Over on Court 1, the Woodies campaign rolled on, this time against
the Slovaks, Karol Kucera and Dominik Hrbaty. Dominik and Karol who
had taken out the eighth-seeded Italians Massimo Bertolini and
Cristian Brandi in a tough three-setter. While the main concern for
the Woodies at the start of the tournament had been the Indians,
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi -- whom they had managed a good
straight-set win over -- the Slovaks were certainly going to pose
just as much of a threat.
The first set had just gone into a tie-breaker. The Woodies weren't
playing the best tennis, and Karol was doing a very good job of it,
making his presence at net felt. The tie-breaker was too close for
the crowd's comfort, and everyone was very relieved when the Woodies
took it 7-5.
The second set looked a lot better for the Aussies, despite
occasional communication problems. Karol was still doing a very good
job, but Dominik was the obvious weak link. The Woodies picked on the
weaker player, making him more and more frustrated, but Dominik was
really doing a bad job. His shot execution was suffering, either
ending up in errors or giving the Woodies easy winners on nearly
every ball he hit. Karol didn't get too frustrated with his partner
or give up either, and he ran after every shot, no matter how dubious
his chances of turning the point his way.
There were 2 Aussie guys with Aussie hats who were entertaining
everyone around. During changeovers, they sang songs like "We love
you Woodies, we do" and "We love you 'cos you're Aussie". Of course,
they had taken a page out of the Swedish supporters that they'd met
in Melbourne, but the crowd didn't know or at least didn't mind, and
they were pretty creative with the lyrics. During one changeover,
after serenading the Woodies yet again, they turned to Patrick Rafter
who was sitting in the stands, keeping as low a profile as he possibly
could with sunglasses and a towel draped over his head, yelling "And
we love you too, Pat!" much to the amusement of the crowd. On the
next changeover, a group of guys in the stands opposite the umpire's
chair yelled, "Hey Pat, give us a wave!" to which Pat complied, a big
grin on his face. Needless to say that went over very well with the crowd.
Todd and Mark finally got the break and the match, and were happy to
have been able to finish the match without letting it go to three
sets. They waved to the crowd and the two guys in hats, thanking them
for their support.
Elena Dementieva (RUS) [10] vs. Barbara Schett (AUT) [12]
Elena won the toss, and elected to serve. Both players had trouble
starting their matches, and 4 errors in a row lost Elena her service
game at love. Babsi had less trouble, though, dropping only 1 point in
the first two games of the match to go up 2-0. For once, she looked
like she was going to start the match well. Or at least not as badly
as the Russian was.
Elena's troubles continued, double-faulting to open her second service
game. Babsi just held steady, playing it a bit safer and just waiting
for her opponent to make the error. Elena had her right wrist taped
up, and it must have been giving her a lot of trouble, from the looks
of the way her shots were missing so badly. Babsi held 2 break points,
but Elena saved the first with an ace. 2 errors from Babsi gave the
Russian a chance to get her first game, but another double-fault
brought it back to deuce. A service return error from Babsi set up
game point #2, and Elena managed to keep the error at bay long
enough to hold serve.
Babsi continued to get the errors off Elena, holding serve at love
again. The Austrian made an attempt at a dropshot, but fortunately
for Elena, it didn't work too well, and she just managed to hold
serve for 3-2. Once again, Babsi had a strong service game, opening
with an ace. Down 4-2, Elena must surely have known that she was in
trouble when Babsi actually started coming in to net every couple of
points and throwing in a couple of dropshots. Babsi got another break
to go up 5-2, and held 2 set points in the next game. A gutsy service
return winner down the line saved the first, and a good solid
aggressive point saved the second. Appropriately enough, another wild
shot off the Russian's racquet set up set point #3 for Babsi, but
Babsi lost that when a deep inside-out forehand landed both long and
wide. Another error from Elena set up set point #4, and Babsi finally
took the set when Elena totally mishit a forehand.
Elena continued to hang on, and moved on to the next point instead of
getting worked up over the unforced errors. After all, it was
probably only a matter of time before the unforced errors would
present themselves in Babsi's game. Both players held serve to open
the second set, and at 2-1, Elena called for the trainer. While w
aiting for the trainer to get to the court, Elena unwound the
wrapping on her wrist, revealing quite a striking tan line. Of
course, you can expect the skin to be a little whiter when it's been
under wrap, but it definitely looked like she's been having wrist
problems for a while now. Anyway, the trainer soon came on court, and
after a bit of flexing and massaging, taped the wrist back up and the
players went back out on court.
The treatment certainly had an effect on the Russian. Her shots were
a lot more controlled, and Elena got the break of serve within the
next 5 points. She couldn't consolidate the break, though. She opened
her service game with a double-fault, hit an unforced error, lost the
next point on a down-the-line winner from Babsi, and pushed a
backhand long to give the break back.
For some odd reason, Babsi had been foot-faulting at least once in
all her matches so far in the tournament. Her first foot-fault of the
match came at 2-3, 30-all. The next few rallies could have gone
either way, but Elena ended up getting the break again. Now the
unforced errors really started to present themselves in Babsi's game,
and Elena got the next two games to take the second set 6-2. Walking
to the chair for the break, Babsi slammed the ball and for some
reason was given a code violation. She didn't pay any attention to
the umpire, though, and acted as if she hadn't even heard the warning.
The errors continued to come off Babsi's racquet, and Elena got the
break to go up 2-0 in the final set. A double-fault helped Babsi get
the break back, but she couldn't consolidate the break either, and
Elena got the break again with a down-the-line winner on a full run.
Both players slowly picked up their first serve percentages, which
led to longer baseline rallies. Elena was showcasing some exquisite
running, getting back as many balls as possible regardless of whether
she could get the ball back offensively. Against Babsi, this wasn't
such a waste of energy -- there was always a good chance of her
getting the point on an unforced error.
The games kept going in favour of the Russian, and Babsi started
playing a very impatient game. One good thing was that she actually
came in to net every couple of points instead of camping out on the
baseline which simply wasn't working. On one point, Elena hit a
pretty good dropshot, but Babsi managed to get to it and threw in a
dropshot of her own. It proved to be a bad choice, though, as Elena
ran it down from the other corner of the court, and popped up a
down-the-line winner which kept just out of Babsi's reach and landed
just on the line. That gave her a 5-1 lead, and it didn't look like
the Austrian could stage a comeback.
With the way both players play, the linespeople had been kept busy
throughout the match. A lot of calls had been close, and some looked
questionable, although neither player had shown any sign of being
unhappy with the calls. I was rather surprised, though, when Elena,
up 5-1, intimidated the linesperson at the baseline, kind of glaring
at him. It seemed to work, and 2 close line calls immediately went in
Elena's favour, and rightfully so.
Facing one match point, Babsi showed true guts when she hit a
beautiful down-the-line winner...only to smack the next service
return into the net. Cursing herself for making such a silly error
on such a crucial point, Babsi got a better return in. The rally was
long and hard, both players scrambling for the ball, but Babsi came
out on top, keeping herself in the match...only to smack an easy
forehand into the net on the next point. Match point #3 for Elena,
and third time proved lucky for her. Playing with nothing to lose,
Babsi hit a gutsy shot, going for a down-the-line winner, but the
ball landed just wide, taking Elena to the semifinals and giving her
a good chance at coming out of her first Olympics with a medal.
Dokic/Stubbs (AUS) vs. Boogert/ Oremans (NED)
I decided to see how Rennae Stubbs and Jelena Dokic would do against
Miriam Oremans and Kristie Boogert, who looked like they were up to
the challenge. Not only would they be playing against a recent #1
doubles player and an able young teenager who was brimming with
confidence, they'd have to take on the entire crowd of spectators.
The Dutch have always been good about supporting their athletes,
though, and the orange shirts had a strong presence despite their
limited numbers. They didn't spare the props either, armed with
funny hats (including a couple with orange stuffed toy lions) and
flags.
Heavy clouds started to roll in as the players took to the court,
threatening to pour. On one side of the stadium, blue skies stretched
as far as the eye could see. Turn around, and the dark clouds
stretched all the way to the horizon, not a patch of sky to be seen.
The wind was also picking up, and the line at the coffee cart tripled
in length immediately.
The Aussies won the toss, and the Aussies decided that they'd play
their stronger position first, as Jelena Dokic would serve to open
the match. She managed to hold serve at love, and the Aussies looked
like they'd have an easy time of it. They cruised along, and as the
raindrops started to fall, quite a number of people headed out of the
stadium, me included. The trains to the Olympic Park is free to all,
and considering that I live about a minute's walk across a park from
Central Station, I have been relying on the trains to get me to and
from Olympic Park. The only problem is that the Olympic Park train
station is a bit of a walk from the Tennis Centre, with no cover
between the two venues, and I didn't fancy getting soaked (it was
already cold enough), so I headed off hoping to get on the train
before it started to pour.
While it did pour as soon as I got on the train, apparently the
tennis center hadn't suffered that badly. The match had not only
continued, but had gone the distance. The Dutch had made a remarkable
comeback, stealing the second set 7-4 in the tie-breaker. Only at the
very last minute had the match been abandoned due to rain. In fact,
Rennae was serving to stay in the match at 4-5 in the final set, and
the game was at deuce. I am definitely going to be there for the rest
of this match tomorrow, if only to see how the players handle the
pressure of starting play at such a crucial point of a match.
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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