Saturday, Jul 06, 2002
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Tennis
By Nirmal Shekar
DOWN BUT NOT OUT: Argentina's David Nalbandian exults after defeating Ecuadorian Nicolas Lapentti in their men's singles quarterfinals at Wimbledon on Thursday.
Around 5 p.m. on a typical English summer's day, with a charcoal grey overcast and drizzle making way for intermittent sunshine, Tim Henman — British tennis' man of destiny if you mistook hype for truth, or merely an average pro rising above himself in his backyard fuelled by adrenalin if you saw through the hype — played one of the finest shots of the 116th Wimbledon championships today. Serving at 30-30 in the third game of the third set in his semifinal match against Lleyton Hewitt, the amiable Englishman hit a clean winner as he cut down an attempted lob with a devilishly daring, wonderfully accurate and geometrically precise high backhand volley on the turn. On bouncing close to the sideline, the ball sped away in a hurry. A less experienced chair umpire might have called the point. To his credit, Enric Molina of Spain did not. Just as well. For, Hewitt dashed across the court, and out of it, like a terrier and hit quite the most amazing winner seen in this men's championship — a backhand up the line from three metres outside the court. Marooned at the other corner of the court, Henman put his hand on his mouth in sheer disbelief turning towards the forest green backdrop on the centre court. Did he really hit that shot? Did that really happen? No, that's impossible. Whatever Henman might have thought then, that picture of the so-called Great British Hope standing there on his favourite turf in a state of deep shock summed up the death of yet another glorious dream on Friday in what has been a long season of dying English dreams, from Shizuoka to South West London. And at once it underlined the fact that it takes more than just good tennis and a heart fired up by the passions of a whole nation to get to the championship round of this great event, to win as handily as Hewitt did, taking the match 7-5, 6-1, 7-5 in two hours and 19 minutes, it takes shot making excellence of the sort that the 21-year-old Aussie put on show. As David Beckham shrugged off the marvellous Ronaldinho free-kick that sealed England's fate in the World Cup, surely someone might choose to see that astonishing backhand pass by Hewitt as a `fluke.' But, then, if these things were fluke, then so was Mona Lisa! Goals win football matches, great goals win great contests. Shots win tennis matches, and great shots decide much-talked-about battles such as the one which we saw here today. It was Hewitt, who came up with all the big shots on this big day to reduce what might have been a five-set thriller into a straight knock-out. So stunning was the knock-out punch that Henman may never rise to rekindle the passions of tennis fans here again, at least not with as much conviction as in the last four or five years. ``This is more disappointing than the others (the other three semifinals he has lost here). Looking at the other half of the draw, whoever won this would be a big favourite in the final,'' said Henman. The British No. 1 played his best match of the tournament, hitting some fighting winners himself, and yet lost without taking a single set. That is how good Hewitt was. For, this was not a case of Henman collapsing under the weight of history, no British player has made the men's final in 64 years, none has won the title in 66 years, but more so under the astounding brilliance of his young opponent's shotmaking. ``This is what every kid with a tennis racquet in Australia dreams of. I like playing on the big occasion,'' said Hewitt. The build up to the only match in this year's men's championship involving two top seeds and tournament favourites might have been surpassed, in terms of column centimetres in the newspapers and air time on television, only by the England-Brazil World Cup quarterfinal two weeks ago which, incidentally, was also played on a Friday. Heavy overnight rain and a steady drizzle in the morning added to the fans' anxiety and a match scheduled for 12 noon did not start until 2.20 p.m. although the players had come on to the court for a few minutes around 1 p.m. before the rain arrived yet again to send them scurrying back inside. But unmindful of the rain, hundreds of people had already gathered on Henman Hill to watch the match on the big screen. The atmosphere was electric. Although the charcoal grey skies and the ever-present threat of rain were enough to dampen spirits at sports venues in most parts of the world, here it was party time. After all, Wimbledon wouldn't be Wimbledon without this kind of weather, and in the last six or seven years, Henmania has been another important ingredient in the heady mix. And, like nothing else before, Henmania has changed the very character of Wimbledon fans, not the least this year. Answering every question that was asked of him early in the first set, staving off two breakpoints in the fifth game, Hewitt went on to break Henman's serve in the eighth game as the Englishman, always shaky on overheads, put one well over the baseline. But, surprisingly, the Australian world No. 1 played a very poor service game to lose serve in the ninth game before showing everyone present precisely why he is a world-beater. Serving to stay in the set in the 12th game, Henman fell victim to a succession of daring and delightfully executed winners from Hewitt, a lob, a breathtaking backhand cross court pass on a low bouncing ball, a forehand pass and then a forehand return winner to wrap up the set. The loss of a close set saw Henman retreat further, psychologically, and Hewitt, never one to let up, charged ahead early in the second set with a break in the very second game. By then the outlook was gloomy for The Great British Hope and the rain that arrived again came as a reprieve for the Englishman who was only too happy to run back into the locker room. Will he regroup taking advantage of the rain delay? That was the question on everybody's mind during a full hour it took for play to commence again. As it turned out, Hewitt was even more dominant on returning as he ran away with the second set with two breaks and then broke Henman in that unforgettable third game of the third set. Actually the shot of the match, that backhand, set up the first breakpoint, which Henman fought off, before sending down a double fault on the second. After that, Hewitt survived a brief hiccup as he lost serve when serving for a place in the final in the 10th game. But there were to be no comebacks for Henman. The Aussie made sure of that by breaking the Englishman's serve in the next game with a spectacular lob before closing out the contest with an ace down the middle on his second matchpoint in the next game. The result: Men's semifinals: 1-Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) bt 4-Tim Henman (Bri) 7-5, 6-1, 7-5.
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