11.30 pm (CST) on Monday night, and if you want to see a bit of sports history being made and a new tennis star coming streaking up over the horizon, put the telly on and have a look at the bloke who's belting Marat Safin all over the court -- one B. Becker from Germany (no relation). He's 25 and the reason most of us have never heard of him is that up till recently he's been off studying, which is why he got the late start.
He seems to be making up for lost time.
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Only saw the first set, but he was pretty good. Did he last the distance. We were wondering if he was related to Boris. My guess was that he was inspired by BB because they had the same last name. Cause that's a nice idea.
No-- apparently 'no relation to Boris' is the first thing it says in his biographical note in the program. He didn't quite last the distance -- Safin pulled himself together and got cracking -- but it was Becker's first ever Grand Slam five-setter and he lost it at a fairly creditable 6-4 and never once lost his nerve or anything. It went well over three hours & was a fantastic match all the way through -- shame such a good player didn't get a longer run. But I bet he does next time.
The girl who played Sharapova today was also very good. I thought for a minute there she might have had her, but Sharapova really came back hard, despite her injury or illness, whichever it was. She was really in pain there for a while, so I was surprised to see her bounce back so well.
Consensus (spelling??) among the commentators seems to be that it was the heat.
Guccione v Rochus was a terrific match as well. And Clijsters v Jankovic in the final of their previous tournament the other night was just brilliant. In fact I haven't watched a single ordinary match yet -- they're all been fantastic.
Dammit, I knew that if I gave up and went to bed Lleyton would make a comeback and win the last three sets. Of course it didn't occur to me to tape it until this morning. Still got to see Wayne Arthurs win through to the third round for the first time since 2001. Nice way to start his swansong.
I never watch the tapes even when I do think to make them.
Have missed everything today as am on a double deadline (partly because I DID watch Hewett play, and it was worth every minute I guiltily didn't spend working), and hope to get everything cleared so I can watch tonight's matches with a clear conscience.
It's a killer the tennis. All that 'just one more game, one more set'. I went to bed and listened to the Leyton match on the radio. Hopeless. It's too hard to understand.
Tell me you saw last night's match with Monfils, PC, glorious!
That guys plays the most far out tennis, it was truly something to watch.
Absolutely -- most of it, anyway.
It meant I filed the copy for my Wednesday deadline at 3.56 am, but it was absolutely worth it. I haven't looked at the draw yet, but if Monfils is up to play Hewitt at any stage, he will annihilate him if he plays like that again.
Unless he slides along the court on one of those ankles once too often, of course.
It remains to be seen whether he will get past Gasquet - God I hope that's a night match, cause it's gonna be a cracker.
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