Canas ousts a listless Kafelnikov

By Nirmal Shekar

LONDON, JUNE 30. Pain. It's the first thing you see on Jelena Dokic's face. It is unmistakable. Almost like the mischief you see on Goran Ivanisevic's face or the rage for perfection that contorted John McEnroe's visage in an era gone by.

Pain and weariness, a world-weariness that is out of place in someone so young, in a girl who is all of 18 years old. They are stuck to Dokic's face like sponsors' logos...on court, away from it.

Watching her on a court - as we did on Saturday in the 2001 Wimbledon championships where Dokic blew hot and cold in the course of her 6-3, 7-5 third round victory over Barbara Schett of Austria - there are times when you want to rush in there and cry halt to the whole damn thing, to pull the young one aside and tell her to throw her racquets away, go back to school and enjoy herself like any other girl her age.

Then again, if pain is her constant companion, then it is Dokic's reason for playing, reason for trying to win, reason for enduring all those tabloid headlines for all the wrong reasons. She uses it as a fuel, as her motivational tool.

The Serb who became an Australian and then snubbed Tennis Australia to go back to her Yugoslav homeland was once upon a time Dad's little girl with prodigious skills on a tennis court.

Those early days now seem light years away, as lost in time as Dokic's innocence and her Australian passport!

And the point is, Dokic was never in with a chance to stay young for too long as a series of misdemeanours by her father Damir, dubbed by the London tabloids as the Dad from Hell, turned her into a hurt, world-weary woman.

But in this championship, with father Damir at his best behaviour so far - except for being warned for smoking a pipe at courtside during one of her matches - his gifted young daughter has gone about her business witout attracting too many headlines.

Still, she carries the pain and the weariness like a talisman. Not for her the carefree, devil-may-care attitude of others her age. When she loses a point, it is almost like a serious blunder at the office. She gets as anxious as a long- unemployed person on her first job worrying about losing it. Then again, this was not the best of days for Dokic, even by her standards. She was upset by a tabloid article on her father which caught her eye this morning and then she realised that the official transport had not arrived in time to take her to the courts for the match.

``I called for a taxi. I called the transport office and the tournament director and nobody did anything. I was really disappointed. I had not time to practice, no time to warm up and just had to change on the court and play,'' said Dokic. For all that, it was all very well for Dokic, seeded 14, for about half an hour as she raced to a 5-2 first set lead. Schett, a beautiful blonde from Innsbruck who is world ranked 25, slowly began to cut down her unforced errors and mount something of a challenge.

The Austrian who was celebrated as a beauty in the article Dokic was referring to - one in which her father was called a beast - broke Dokic back to 3-5 but then lost her own serve and the first set in the next game.

In the second, Dokic played her best tennis at the start as she ran up a 4-1 lead but then even as Schett started serving better and hitting some good forehand winners, Dokic's game fell apart.

As Schett fought back to 4-4 and then stayed even till 5-5 it appeared that Dokic had a battle on her hands. But the girl who has the game and the mental strength to become a Grand Slam champion took control there and closed out the match in straight sets.

Even at the press conference there was not even a hint of a smile on Dokic's face. ``I am glad to get through. She is a highly ranked player,'' said Dokic. ``I had many things on my mind today. There was a nasty article in the Mirror about my Dad. It's not funny anymore. It is as bad as it could get.''

Really, life in the tennis hothouse is as bad as it can get for this talented 18-year old who now runs into the 1999 champion Lindsay Davenport who raced past Patty Schnyder 6-2, 6- 3.

Kafelnikov out

Meanwhile, in the men's championship, two- time Grand Slam champion and seventh seed, Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia was buried in a heap of his own unforced errors with a delighted Guillermo Canas of Argentina more than willing to use the shovel to pile it on. Canas won the match 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, 7- 6(2).

Canas beat another potential opponent too - rain. It started raining midway in the tiebreak but the umpire decided to let the play go on and the Argentine got his job done in quick time.

``It's great. I am playing very confidently this season. I was only worried about the rain,'' said Canas. Kafelnikov started well but lost his way soon. Briefly in the third set he suggested a comeback as he led 3-0 but Canas reeled off six games in a row. In the fourth again, Kafelnikov was up an early break but Canas stormed back and then ran away with the tiebreak in quick time on Court No.2, the graveyard of the seeds.

``Today there is so much depth in men's tennis. I am 28 and I can't expect to win everywhere. I ran into a player who played very well,'' said Kafelnikov. ``I made too many unforced errors and he played very strong too.''

Henman survives

Late on Friday evening, with the shadows lengthening on the centre court, the man a whole nation is looking up to for rewriting Wimbledon history - Tim Henman - survived an early scare against the lanky, poker-faced Dutchman Sjeng Schalken.

As Henman lost the first set and then struggled to gain control of the second, spectators moved to seat edge in the most famous tennis court in the world.

Later, Henman, who is a bigger favourite here to win the title this year than ever before and end a drought stretching back to the mid-1930s, admitted that the Dutchman had made life ``very uncomfortable'' for him early in the match.

But, as he has done time and again in playing his way into the second week of the championships here, Henman dug deep and came up with what the occasion demanded as he quelled Schalken's fight for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 third round victory.

Surely, the man who has triggered a peculiar English summer cult worship called Henmania will have to pull up his socks and do a lot better on Monday.

For, the man who awaits Henman in the fourth round is the giant American Todd Martin, who, like Henman, has twice made the semifinals here.

``He is dangerous on any surface, especially on grass, and he's been in plenty of big-match situations before. So I imagine it will come down to who is the better player on the day,'' says Henman who has a 2-3 record against Martin.

At 7-1, Henman is fourth in the list of favourites with the London bookmakers at the end of the first week. Pete Sampras is the top favourite at 13-8, followed by Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi, both 4-1. Pat Rafter is 10-1 and Marat Safin and Greg Rusedski are both 12-1.

The top three in the women's championship are Venus Williams (7- 4), Jennifer Capriati (5-2) and Lindsay Davenport (9- 2).

lThe results (prefix denotes seeding): Women's singles (third round): 4-Jennifer Capriati (U.S.) bt 32-Tatiana Panova (Rus) 6- 4, 6-4; 15-Sandrine Testud (Fra) bt Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) 6-7 (5-7), 6- 2, 6-2; 18-Anke Huber (Ger) bt 10-Elena Dementieva (Rus) 6-0, 6- 2; 12-Magdalena Maleeva (Bul) bt 20-Amy Frasier (U.S.) 6-3, 6- 2; Lina Krasnoroutskaya (Rus) bt Barbara Schwartz (Aut) 6-3, 6-4; 19-Conchita Martinez (Esp) bt Lilia Osterloh (U.S.) 6-2, 6-3; 31- Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) bt 6-Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) 6-4, 6-4; 14-Jelena Dokic (Yug) bt 21-Barbara Schett (Aut) 6-3, 7-5; 7-Kim Clijsters (Bel) bt 27-Angeles Montorio (Spa) 7-5, 6-2; 3-Lindsay Davenport (U.S.) bt 30-Patty Schnyder (Swi) 6-2, 6-3; Nadejda Petrova (Rus) bt 16-Silvia Farina Elia (Ita) 6-3, 6-3.

Men's singles (third round): 1-Pete Sampras (U.S.) bt Sargis Sargsian (Arm) 6-4, 6-4, 7-5; 13-Arnaud Clement (Fra) bt Raemon Sluiter (Ned) 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (9-7) 6-4, 6-4; 15-Roger Federer (Swi) bt 33-Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 7-6 (7-2); Tim Henman (Gbr) bt Sjeng Schalken (Ned) 5-7, 6- 3, 6-4, 6-2; Guillermo canas (Arg) bt 7-Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Rus) 3-6, 6-1, 6- 3, 7-6 (7-2); 10-Thomas Enqvist (Swe) bt Wayne Black (Zim) 7-5, 6-4, 6-2.

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