Henman and Aussies and Swedes, Oh My
by Christopher Gerby
Tim Henman vs. Paradorn Srichaphan
Singles: First Round
Court 1
Tim Henman began writing a new page in the book of his tennis career
on Monday, playing for the first time since hiring Larry Stefanki as
his coach. Having already guided Marcelo Rios and Yevgeny Kafelnikov
to the top of the sport in recent years, Stefanki figures to be a
perfect cure for Henman's ills. This was also the Brit's first appearance
since his heartbreaking five-set loss to Goran Ivanisevic in the
Wimbledon semifinals. Hoping to take advantage of any rust on Henman's
game was Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan, who fell in the final round
of qualifying (to 36-year-old Ronald Agenor) but made the draw
nonetheless as a Lucky Loser. He went in with an 0-2 record against
Henman, but both of those results came on Tim's literal home turf
(the grass courts of Wimbledon and Queen's Club).
Srichaphan drew some ooh's and ah's early in the match with his
very watchable blend of flair and power. What he doesn't have is a
great deal of consistency. Playing the steadier tennis of the two,
Henman broke for an early 2-1 lead. The following game was a pitched
battle, as Henman warded off a pair of break points before winning
the game with a nifty drop volley. An exchange of easy holds took
the # 7 seed's advantage to 4-2. Game 8 was a tense marathon, with
Srichaphan's low trajectory/low percentage drives producing plenty of
winners and errors. He certainly had his chances, but after seven
deuces, Henman finally closed out the game with an unreturnable
serve. That took a lot of the wind out of Paradorn's sail -- he
went down meekly in the set's final game, broken at love to lose it
6-3.
Henman looked as if he might comfortably roll through the rest of the
match, opening the second set with an easy hold and taking a 15-40
edge on Srichaphan's serve. He squandered both break points, though,
and the Thai went on to 1-1. Despite some scratchy, erratic play,
both men continued taking care of their service games to 3-3. The
underdog looked as if he might break through at that point, opening a
15-40 edge on Henman. His returns on each break point just missed,
however, and Tim went through to 4-3. During the changeover, a pair
of young men in cowboy hats, touting Australian flags, made their way
to the Court 1 stands. For some reason they'd chosen to root for
Henman, immediately greeting him with a chant of "Let's go Timmy, let's
go!" If the idea was to distract Paradorn Srichaphan, it apparently
worked -- he double faulted twice in a row to lose the game and fall
behind 3-5. Henman had little trouble serving it out from there.
After putting away an overhead smash on match point, Henman lobbed a
ball to the Aussie fans, essentially thanking them for the timely show
of support.
Henman's 6-3, 6-3 victory wasn't exactly a thing of beauty, as he
admitted in the post-match press conference. "I don't think it was the
best match either of us have played, but from my point of view, I was
able to get the breaks and keep my nose in front." As for his work
with the new coach, so far so good. "It's obviously early days. It's
been a week. Larry came to London last week and then obviously
travelled over here. I am pleased with the way things are going, and
I am realistic that it's not suddenly going to change overnight." Next
up for the Englishman is a second round bout against either Albert
Costa (whom he's made a habit of beating) or Michael Llodra.
Hicham Arazi vs. Michael Russell
Singles: First Round
Court 6
The smallest court to see action on Monday was a fitting location for
a first round bout between two of the shortest players in the
tournament. Although they both stand well under six feet tall,
Moroccan magician Hicham Arazi and Mike "Spanky" Russell are both
capable of big things. Arazi is a lefty shot-maker who can test anyone in the world
when he's in the right mood. Russell, meanwhile, is best known for being the only player
to hold a match point against Gustavo Kuerten at this year's French
Open.
Having lost the first set in both of his qualifying wins over the
weekend, Russell was surely determined to get off to a strong start
here. He did look good in the opening game, holding at love, but things
went downhill fast after that for the American. He took a nasty spill
in the back corner during Game 2, had his serve broken easily in Game 3,
and was soundly beaten in Game 4. Arazi won 12 out of 13 points in
that stretch, the high point being a drop volley he hit while in the
midst of a 360 degree spin. Arazi continued showing his all-court
prowess on the way to 4-2 and had a chance to break for 5-2. Russell
was being run from pillar to post and even pulling off the dangerous
feat of sliding on a hard court. His hustle paid off, though, as he
got back enough balls to hold for 3-4 and again for 4-5. Unfortunately,
he hit the deck again in Game 10, slipping in nearly the exact
same spot he had earlier. Rather than go ballistic, Mike simply
shrugged and checked his shoes. After years on the Challenger and
Satellite circuits, Russell plays with a palpable sense of joy these
days, making the most of his time at the sport's elite level. He had
his work cut out for him here, though. A long rally culminating in a
Russell error ended the first set, 6-4 in Hicham Arazi's favor.
As a sign of both the afternoon heat and the amount these players
were making each other work, Arazi changed his shirt during the break
between sets. He seemed to lose his way a bit early in the second,
muttering to himself and failing to make an impression on Russell's
serve. In fact, it was the American who had Set 2's first break chance,
going up 30-40 in the sixth game. But Arazi handled a high backhand volley
on break point and made
his way to 3-3. The narrow escape may have served as a wakeup call,
as Arazi played some of his best tennis of the day in Game 7. He hit
a crisp backhand winner while leaning backwards for 0-30 and took the game
three points later by outlasting Russell in the match's longest rally.
A love hold put Arazi squarely in the driver's seat at 5-3. He was
still annoyed enough by his occasional miscues to perform one of his
patented racquet twirls (tossing it end-over-end into the
sky) during Game 9, but the qualifier just didn't have the weapons to hurt
him. Russell badly mis-hit a forehand on match point, wrapping up a 6-4,
6-3 victory for the flashy Moroccan. Hicham appears to be in dangerous
form, which is potentially bad news for second round opponent Lleyton
Hewitt.
Thomas Johansson vs. Chris Woodruff
Singles: First Round
Court 2
Since the ATP only stops in Montreal once every other year, 1999 champion
Thomas Johansson and '97 victor Chris Woodruff are Jarry Park's most
recent titlists. Quite a bit has changed while they were away. The
event is now part of the Tennis Masters Series, with all Top 50 players
required to take part (or at least come up with an injury excuse, as
Pete Sampras and Alex Corretja did on short notice). Due to
anti-tobacco legislation, title sponsor Du Maurier is gone, along with
its red-and-black color scheme. Now the courts are purple, the backdrops
are blue, and the ballkids are decked out in an unfortunate
aquamarine/orange ensemble. It's all a little off-putting, but the
quickness of the courts has been getting more attention than the
cosmetic changes.
Johansson won two straight events on the grass last month, the kind of
roll Woodruff has been unable to get on throughout 2001. Chris has
fallen far enough that he had to qualify here, but he did so with
relative ease, running his career record on Montreal's Centre Court to
5-0. Even out on Court 2 he was holding his own, taking Johansson into
a first set tiebreak. The Swede led it 6 points to 3 and thought he'd
won it with an ace at 6-4. It was ruled a fault, however, and the
tiebreak continued, stretching out to epic length. Johansson squandered
a total of seven set points (three on his own serve), but finally won
it 14-12 when a Woodruff backhand found the net. It was a visibly
frustrating ordeal for the # 13 seed, but he finally had the first
set in hand.
Even after holding serve for a 1-0 lead in the second set, Johansson
had a few words with the chair umpire over what he perceived to be
flawed officiating. Deep groundstrokes earned him a break for 2-0,
but he quickly gave the break back. Johansson ended Game 3 by sending
a backhand long, whacking a ball against the fence, and angrily
slamming his water bottle. (Along with Magnus Norman and Thomas
Enqvist, Johansson is doing his part to dispel the myth about Swedish
players being emotionless.) Woodruff opened Game 4 with an ace, but
Johansson got back on track after that, controlling the rallies and
charging ahead 4-1. "Country" was still battling -- he saved three
break points in the next game -- but he was outclassed. Driven into
the corner on break point # 4, Woodruff netted a defensive forehand
to fall behind 1-5. Johansson immediately served it out, blasting two
consecutive aces past a resigned Woodruff to complete the 7-6, 6-1
win. The grueling first set tiebreak was the obvious turning point for
Johansson, who advances to a second round encounter with Jerome
Golmard.
Magnus Norman vs. Andrew Ilie
Singles: First Round
Court 1
Remember those rowdy Australian fans from the Henman match? They
doubled their ranks for the evening session -- four of them commandeered
a corner of Court 1 to root for Aussie import Andrew Ilie. In fine
voice and spirit, they serenaded him with a "c'mon, Ilie, come on"
chant as his match against Magnus Norman began. A rather soft spoken
chap off the court, Ilie is an eccentric bundle of energy on it,
hitting the ball with all his might and wearing his heart on his
sleeve. He came out blasting on Monday evening, closing out the
match's first game with a huge ace. That sent his patriotic fans into
a veritable frenzy. As they launched into the familiar "Aussie Aussie
Aussie! Oy oy oy!" refrain, Ilie grinned from ear to ear and gave them a
wave with his racquet. There was still business to be taken care of
on the court, though, and it was Norman getting the first break for a
2-1 lead.
Ilie was upset about a would-be ace having been negated when chair
umpire Carlos Bernardes called a let. During the changeover, Ilie
instructed Bernardes to allow "the friggin' machine" to call lets
electronically. The umpire stood by his call, though, insisting that
Ilie didn't hear the ball skim the tape because he was making his
patented "ah fuh" grunt at the time. Andrew didn't take too kindly
to that remark, but play continued...for a couple points. Then two
banks of lights above the court abruptly went out, halting the action.
The Aussies struck up an impromptu chant of "who put the lights out?"
(to the tune of novelty hit "Who Let the Dogs Out?") but weren't
prepared to hang around for a long delay. "We'll be back, don't worry,"
one of them yelled to Ilie as they departed en masse, heading off to
support Patrick Rafter on Centre Court.
The lights came back on a few minutes later and the players resumed
holding serve. Norman had a 3-2 lead when he got a suspicious let
call. "That was a lot like mine, wasn't it? Very sure. He grunted,
so that must be it," quipped a sympathetic Ilie. Two points later,
Andrew whipped a backhand winner up the line to break serve and even
matters at 3 games all. "Out! Correction!" shouted a linesman early
in Game 7, causing Norman to squeal in disbelief. Only a minute or
so later, a cry of "Fault! Correction!" accompanied an Ilie serve.
All this scattershot officiating was driving both players insane.
"C'mon, man, I have never seen a match with so many mistakes," Magnus
pleaded to Umpire Bernardes. He later buried a backhand in the net
to lose the game and trail 3-4. Meanwhile, those pesky Aussies could
be heard in the background, getting a big ovation after one of their
routines in the stadium.
"Why'd you overrule that one? What about the one over there?" asked
an increasingly agitated Magnus Norman about a call in Game 8. Then at
30-15, he hit a serve that looked to be clearly in, but was deemed a
fault. That was the last straw for the Swede, who tried to reason with
Bernardes. "This is too much. We are professional players. You are a
professional umpire. It's time to wake up." Those sobering words
seemed to have an impact, as the rest of the set unfolded without
incident. Norman got his baseline game back under control, rolling to
a 6-4 win of the opening set.
Ilie was upset about his own "bloody
play" now and quickly fell into a 0-2 hole in the second set. He can
still put on quite a show when his cannon shots stay on target, though,
and he impressively ripped through three successful games in a row to
take the second set lead. Norman hit two aces in a hold for 3-3, but
Ilie uncorked two of his own to 4-3. Game 8 finally saw another "fault!
correction!" incident, only this time the chair umpire decided the
original call was right and ruled Norman's serve a fault. "Correction!!!"
Magnus screamed before smacking a ball into the net and viciously
slamming his racquet. It's been a very trying year for Norman and
these line calls were pushing him over the brink. He lost the plot
mentally long enough for Ilie to take a 6-3 win of the second set.
Two of the boisterous Aussies returned for the start of Set 3, but it
was Magnus Norman regaining his composure and taking a 3-0 lead. Then
Aussie 3 and Aussie 4 showed up, looking a tad inebriated and attempting
to build a new chant around the prhase "Andrew Ilie walks on water."
Skates on thin ice was more like it -- he was making far too many
unforced errors and was about to have another encounter with beleagured
Carlos Bernardes. "What are you talking about?!?" Ilie bellowed,
opening his latest rant about questionable lets. "I'm gonna beep at
you soon," he said in a clever reference to the net cord machine.
"Are we gonna do something about the machine or not? You've made
seven mistakes so far." Bernardes gave him the explanation about
grunting again, prompting a baffled Ilie to respond, "Nobody else can
hear (the lets) either." When it was all said and done, Andrew
launched an ace (one of 10 for the match) to hold for 1-3.
Ilie's fans were desperately trying to spur a comeback, but he just
couldn't put together a consistent attack on Norman's serve. The
rest of the set was pretty routine stuff, with one last wild forehand
error from Ilie bringing to end a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory for Magnus
Norman. Slowly trying to regain the confidence which made him one
of the world's best players in 2000, Norman should take his third set
performance as a step in the right direction. He was still peeved
about the officiating, though, and had a long talk with Umpire
Bernardes right after the match. Meanwhile, Ilie shook hands with
Aussie 3 and Aussie 4 and laughed when they suggested he "start a
new tradition" by ripping his socks off after losses. You see, Andrew
celebrates his biggest victories by tearing his shirt to shreds -- a
spectacle he won't be performing in Montreal this year. Speaking
of spectacles, those Australian fans sure made an impression. Pat
Rafter (who notched a first round win over Harel Levy moments before
Norman finished off Ilie) had the following to say about them: "I
was actually quite impressed with the changeup they had going. I'd never
heard some of those chants before. The `Aussie Aussie Aussie oy oy oy'
thing is getting pretty old, but the other ones are pretty good."
Rafter and Norman will likely hear those chants again on Wednesday --
they face each other in the second round.
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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