Dispatch From the Front: Montreal 8.07
Howdy, Tribe. Here is another in our series of on-the-scene tournament reports, a feature that many of you seem to enjoy. Philip is a native of Montreal, he watches and plays tennis as much as possible, albeit just for "fun" (he hasn't bothered to get a rating). He's in his mid-30s, and currently completing a Masters thesis in Anthropology. As he puts it, "I am not married nor am I single . . . I guess that would be common law. . ." A long-time lurker, he promises to post Comments more often. Here is his report
- Pete
Aug. 7, 10:30 AM --- Reaching the Jarry Tennis Centre 25 minutes before play is to begin, I can see that everyone who stayed at home yesterday because of the rain showed up to take advantage of the good weather. This includes three busloads of children shipped in from a local tennis camp. Luckily, the lines for tickets is short and soon I blend in with the crowd entering the gates.
10:45 AM -- The first thing I notice as I walked by the practice courts is that Davydenko is scheduled to practice with Falla at 11am. Nearby, Soderling and Roddick are practicing separately on Courts Three and Four. Soderling is hitting with his coach and Roddick is rallying with someone I don't recognize while Jimmy Connors, Roddick's coach, stands at the back of the court. In terms of atmosphere, Court Four is the most intimate, separated from the crowds on the far side of Court 3. Somehow Soderling is able to keep his concentration even though everyone is there to look beyond him and gaze at Roddick. Multiple images of Andy appear on tiny screens as digital cameras, cell phones and video recorders zone in on the American.
11:00 AM -- As a practitioner of the one-handed backhand, I decide to take in the Calleri-Haas match on the second, smaller show court, called the National Bank Court (capacity, 4,000-plus, a nice size for retaining some feeling of intimacy). Haas is in control of the match. He takes the first set, 6-4. At his best, Calleri is able to match Haas shot for shot in the second; he hits flatter and paints the lines more consistently than he did in the first set. But he never fully acquires upset momentum. Unable to secure another break, Haas is starting to react more vocally to his own mistakes. When Calleri hits a close ball that the linesman refrains from calling "out"-this at 6-6 in the tie-breaker - Haas looks at the umpire and snaps: “J C man, take your glasses off for f sake”.
Strangely, he isn’t given a warning, and he secures the win two points later.
12:45 PM -- I catch the second set tie-break of the Blake- Melzer match; the pro-Blake crowd at Centre Court (capacity, 11,000-plus) is electric. Melzer’s touch at the net wins him some fans, but James’s powerful passing shots make him the hero of tennis campers, who incessantly chant, Blake, Blake, Blake. . . as he wraps up a nice win.Then Djokovic and Kiefer take Centre Court. Kiefer, hitting straight down the middle, gets constantly pulled wide by Djokovic’s crosscourt angles. With his youthful exuberance, Djoko takes the match 6-3, 6-3.
2:30 PM -- I head back to the NB court to watch Safin-Soderling, but an empty court awaits. Soderling has withdrawn with injury, leading 2-1. As I go back toward the practice courts, I see that Davydenko is back out there. It's not that I believe Davydenko would accept money to throw a match, but I am curious about how he is able to practice twice today, considering the alleged severity of his injury in Sopot last week. . .
Safin’s coach has booked a court so that Marat can practice before his big match with Nadal tomorrow. The daunting task of having to play Nadal appears to be weighing on Marat. Each mistake he makes causes him to hit the next ball harder, and the spectators are entranced by Safin’s consistency, power and rhythm. Someone expresses amazement that a man with his abilities rarely plays with confidence on the big stage anymore.
2:45 PM: Speaking of confidence, Frank Dancevic, repeated his Indy win over Del Potro in the first round here. Now he's on court finishing practice with Canada’s Davis Cup coach, Matin Laurendeau. Getting a lot of attention lately, Frankie is followed by a camera man. However, I want to see Stepanek-Gonzalez, so I don’t spend time trying to analyze Roddick-Haase practicing on the next court over.
The men split tiebreakers in the first two sets. I notice that crowds in Montreal always cheer for the favorite, rather than the underdog. In this dogfight they are with Gonzalez until the last game, willing him to break when Stepanek serves for the match. But Fernando can only watch as Stepanek aces him twice, and hits a service winner to go up 40-love. Realizing that Stepanek is going to win the match, the crowd is suddenly cheering for Radek, who hits another great serve to win the match.
6 PM -- Nadal’s and Federer are playing doubles matches simultaneously. To see the Number One and Two players live, for the first time, I shuttle between the two courts, starting with Federer/Allegro vs Ferrer/Almagro. Funny, but the teams have almost identical names - how often does that happen? Surprisingly, Federer drops serve and the Swiss squad loses the first set. Meanwhile, on Centre Court, Nadal-Hewitt are taking on take on the Canadians, Bester and Duclos. The second set is all Nadal; he shows no rust.as he unloads that athletic backhand overhead smash and hits looping, topspin passing shots tht delight the biggest crowds to gather since Blake's singles match. The Canadians, who are seldom exposed pn the Big Stages of the tennis world, can’t match the power of the veterans and fall 6-4, 6-4. Although Federer-Allegro eventually take their match in a super tie-break, if I was a betting man, I would put my money on Nadal over Federer in the singles on Sunday.
Closing Notes: I can’t close this entry without making some comments about Canadian tennis. This is probably the only Masters where the host nation doesn’t have any players going deep into the tournament. Speaking to people on site, many see this as a matter of funding for training players, but I think this is only partially correct. With only three Futures, two Challengers and one top-tier tournament; it seems that the world is invited here to beat up on Canadian players who suffer from a serious lack of exposure to big match pressure.
Unlike in the U.S., where there seems to be a Challenger or ATP event every week (which means wild cards and potential ranking and race points for native players), Canadians languish on the Futures circuit where entry points can’t be earned until a player gets to the second round (and let's not even talk about having to get through four rounds of qualifying!).
Other critics think we don't have the talent. But looking at the results –Duclos (495) defeated Lopez in first round of qualifying here, Bester (660) took Clement to a first-set tiebreak -the talent is here. But the opportunity to play for large crowds, in major venues, is not. Looking at the Dancevic transcript, you'll see that at least one Canadian player has learned how to approach the Big Match situation. But it is only through experience. Not many people really agreed with or understood my perspective. What do you think?
-Philip Hamon