On Monday I was back and forth between the Grandstand and Armstrong courts, looking for the Rocky of tennis.  But something occurred to me as I watched the underdogs go down:  In boxing, you always hear about a puncher’s chance.  But in tennis, one great punch is only one point, and to win a best-of-five you need a big string of punches, eighteen games worth of points in fact.  In the long run, the better player is almost always going to win.

Michael Russell, the Rocky Balboa I was hoping for, started strong with some punch, an early break against Davydenko on Monday, but after the Russian settled in, there wasn’t much Russell could do to hurt him.  He couldn’t outslug him from the baseline, he couldn’t beat him by taking the net, and a few stabs at junk balls were futile.  It was just that helpless feeling that anyone who has played competitive tennis knows well — what can you do about the impenetrable wall put up by a superior player?  Davydenko’s groundstrokes were laser sharp, and Russell started to make errors as the set went on.  All Russell could do was hope Davydenko perhaps hurt himself or the Russian mafia had money on the American, neither of which happened.  It was a tough draw for the hardworking 32-year-old American.

There were two almost upsets.  ATP No. 214 Andreas Haider-Maurer fought back from match points at two sets to none to push No. 5 seed Robin Soderling the distance on the Grandstand Court.  One weak service game by the 23-year-old qualifier Haider-Maurer in the fifth was all it took.  Otherwise, Haider-Maurer hit 34 aces to Soderling’s eight. Soderling moped about a bit in the heat, benefiting from the shade that moved over the court.  And in a match I didn’t see, American qualifier Robert Kendrick, ranked 149 in the world, pushed Gael Monfils the distance in front of a packed Court 11, but lost in the fifth 6-4.

It didn’t happen Monday, but one day it’s going to happen that some qualifier is going to get some big wins and go all the way.  When it does, it will be a thrill.

Michael Russell, Aug. 30, 2010

Related posts:

1. Can Fish Turnaround the Spanish Beatdown of American Players? The matches between Spanish players and Americans at Wimbledon have...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.