This week freelance tennis writer Ravi Ubha is blogging from Queen's Club in London. Here's his fourth post from the Artois Championships
The weather was gloomy upon entering the grounds today. A brisk wind, coupled with ominous clouds and temperatures struggling to hit 66 degrees, were the culprits. The good news is that it rained overnight, and fingers crossed, the precipitation might stay away from a jam-packed third-round day.
It didn't take long for me to be uplifted. Walking in a makeshift tunnel that leads to the media center, a posse of ball boys and ball girls sprint past, magazines opened and pens in hand. They've been tipped off. I do a quick u-turn to search for the object of their excitement, and like them, am disappointed when no one turns up. The running turns into a dejected gait. Oh, well. Next time.
One thing to relay from yesterday. Two tennis fans, like me, waited outside the interview room at the end of Novak Djokovic's press conference. Both looked like they were college age, and one had an expensive-looking camera. Striking up a conversation with myself and a middle-aged Queen's member who had had a few to drink, the one with the camera revealed she'd followed the Bryan brothers throughout their career, since their college days at Stanford University. The twins got them into the club, she said, but they were having a hard time getting access to the interview room because they didn't have a proper pass—Bob and Mike were due in the room to shoot a promotional TV interview for the ATP.
To make a long story short, the women eventually got in, and the camera clicked gleefully as the Bryans entertained their interviewer, as usual. The brothers had fun with the phrase "ATP World Tour Final," the title replacing the Masters Cup in 2009, necessitating a take two.
I make the trek to catch Andy Roddick's tilt with good friend Mardy Fish, first up on Center Court. Did I say 66 degrees? Downgrade to 56. It's freezing. Roddick saves two break points in the fifth game, and Fish does the same in the sixth. I peek over to Court 1, where Ivo Karlovic is battling Fernando Gonzalez, and that's where the juicy action is. At 3-4, 15-40, Gonzalez misses a first serve and subsequently pummels a ball, earning a warning from chair umpire Fergus Murphy. When a double fault follows, Gonzalez obliterates his racket, like he's been known to do, receiving a point penalty. Taking some rackets out of his bag with abandon, he tosses a few on the grass and perilously close to a ball girl.
Tensions escalate in the second set. With Gonzalez leading 1-0 and Karlovic serving at 30-0, Gonzalez makes Karlovic wait before the Croat starts his service motion, prompting Murphy to ask, over the microphone, "Are you ready?'' At 1-1, 40-0, Karlovic returns the favor. The Chilean hits a serve anyway, admittedly nowhere close to his opponent. The climax comes deep in the second set. Gonzalez drops serve to trail 6-5, then immediately gets another code violation for ball abuse. Game penalty, and it's game, set and match. Murphy confirms the sequence on his way back from the court.
Gonzalez doesn't talk. He and partner Nicolas Lapentti later pull out of their doubles match (Lapentti's shoulder is the cause), and by the time anyone knows about it, Gonzalez is nowhere to be found. Maybe he'll stick around to practice tomorrow.
Roddick's match ended prematurely, too. Fish dove to retrieve a Roddick forehand pass facing set point, sending a backhand volley over the net, but Roddick had the entire court to reply and took the first-set tiebreak 7-5. The dive itself didn't appear to do any damage, though Fish seemed to hurt his left ankle when he got up. A medical timeout fails to do the job, and it was over.
"I don't want him to be hurt,'' Roddick said. "I want to see him be OK. Next week might be a question, but hopefully for Wimbledon."
Could this be the beginning of a revival for Richard Gasquet? Gasquet downed Mario Ancic 7-6, 6-4, proclaiming, "After a match like today, I am ready for Wimbledon." The Gasquet-Guillaume Peyre partnership is going well so far.
Andy Murray and explosive Latvian Ernests Gulbis are locked at 5-5 in the opening set, the rain causing a brief delay earlier. Gulbis unleashes a forehand pass that's too hot to handle, then, in keeping with the inconsistency he's shown at this early stage of his career, sends a forehand return miles long. At 40-30, Murray anticipates a Gulbis backhand pass down the line and dives, though a net cord gives him no chance. He hurts his right thumb.
At break point, Murray delivers a double fault, his second serve going a yard wide. He sits down in his chair and inspects the thumb, eventually calling for the trainer. Some cream and spray are applied before Murray resumes. He wins the second set 6-1.
The Murray spills continue. At deuce in the opening game of the third, Murray tumbles as he changes direction more than a yard behind the baseline, letting out a yell. Another medical timeout, and this time his left groin and neck warrant attention. More cream applied, Murray returns.
Fast forward to 4-4, Gulbis serving at 15-30. Near the net, Gulbis misses a comfortable-looking forehand wide. Clawing back to 30-40, Gulbis eases up on a smash at the net, allowing Murray to respond with a backhand down the line. Gulbis is there but sends the volley into the net. Murray holds at love to advance 6-4.
Murray, out of Wimbledon last year with a wrist injury, is worried about his thumb and unsure of whether he'll be able to face Roddick tomorrow.
"I've seen the doctor after the match,'' the British No. 1 says. "He thinks I've sprained it, not broken anything, which is good. I'm pretty concerned about it. You know, if I can't sign autographs or whatever, then I guess it's not great."
Murray's claim that the courts are damp seem to carry some weight—Nadal hits the turf against rising Japanese Kei Nishikori in probably the most entertaining match of the day, a three-set victory for the world No. 2.
At 3-4 in the second and 15-0, with a slight of drizzle in the air, Nadal falls after hitting a backhand behind the baseline. He rises quickly, though is out of position and can't retrieve the next shot. On the following point, Nadal puts away an easy backhand volley, only to slip feet-first into the bottom of the net, losing the point. His feet end up on the other side of the net, in fact. Nishikori goes on to break when the Spaniard miscues on a volley.
"A little bit dangerous today,'' said Nadal, who meets Karlovic in the quarterfinals. "I felt when I am running, I can't stop because I felt every time if I stop, I'm gonna (fall).''
Until then, Nadal was getting out of trouble using his serve, just as he did at the French Open. The 18-year-old Nishikori impressed with his good hands, movement, and variety, and as Nadal acknowledged, he's a thinker. His forehand can be explosive, although his backhand is steadier. Nishikori is also a competitor, evidenced by the frustration on his face when he missed and his hand shake at the net. He wasn't just happy to get a set.
Nishikori, outside the Top 100, said he wants to climb into the Top 50 by the end of the season; Nadal insisted he'll be in the Top 5 down the road.
The crowd enjoyed it – Nishikori got a rousing ovation as he left the court.
Maybe the ball kids have a new target.