Friday, June 27, 2008
Tennis at its best..
After 5 days of Wimbledon tennis, we had seen a little bit of everything; big upsets (Djokovic, Sharapova, etc), drama (Ivanovic saving match point), style talk (Sharapova), trash talk).. but the one thing we had not witnessed yet was a truly great tennis match, not just a close match, but one of great quality.
And today, on the Wimbledon centre court, a full stadium as well as millions around the world witnessed as good of a 3rd round as anyone could hope for. In fact, even a final with such quality would be welcome.
On one side, Croatia's Mario Ancic, the tall server, who plays short points, a fairly classic grass game, and being so tall makes him difficult to pass at the net.
His opponent, Spaniard David Ferrer, not known as a grass court specialist at all, actually posted an impressive win in the Wimbledon tune-up event giving him hope of making the 2nd week of Wimbledon.
The match started and Mario Ancic's serving gave him a very strong start, he jumped to a 2 set to love lead. But as the 3rd set continued, David Ferrer, was not giving up and was gaining some momentum. The crowd as well as the two favourites, knew that with each game that went on, it was more likely that Ancic, who has been injured and missed a lot of action in past months, would grow more vulnerable. And indeed, as the 3rd sset started, Mario Ancic who had not faced a single break point, was facing more and more of them.
But then, with darkness around the corner, Ancic had hope as the 4th set would be the last one played tonight and so he could give his all and recover overnight for the 5th set.
Through desperation, great volleys and great serving, Mario Ancic was able to force another tie-break and this time, through inspired play, he was able to close the deal and take out David Ferrer, a 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 win that now puts him in the Wimbledon 4th round, a great reward for one of the guys on tour who has struggled the most with injuries in past months... congrats Mario
"I've been spending hours in the gym dreaming of playing on Centre Court again so this is a big moment," Ancic told BBC Sport.
"I have great memories of Wimbledon and this was an incredible match, we were both fighting until the end. Ferrer showed what a great player he is."
# posted by Pierre : 3:29 PM
