Nearlyman Anderson takes another stride on Grand Slam stage
LONDON: It was a case of ‘‘Kevin who?’’ 10 months ago when South African beanpole Kevin Anderson made it all the way into his first major final at the US Open.
Yesterday, he was no longer Mr Anonymous as he had to interrupt his prematch routine to take a call from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa before his Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic.
Although the president’s good wishes were not enough to carry a fatigued Anderson to victory on centre court, his threeset defeat by Djokovic shows the giant strides the 6foot8 Anderson has made over the past year.
When Anderson made his Grand Slam breakthrough at Flushing Meadows last September at 31 years old and ranked 32nd, pundits were ready to write him off as an ageing onetime nearly man. After all, he had made it through to the title showdown without facing anyone in the top 15.
When he came up against Rafael Nadal in the final, he was whipped in straight sets.
If the US Open run was a fluke, his journey to the Wimbledon final was a demonstration of all the hours of hard graft he had put in over the ensuing 10 months.
A 31⁄2hour win over Gael Monfils was followed by the ultimate test in grasscourt tennis — a quarterfinal clash with eighttimes champion Roger Federer.
He was expected to get walloped. When Federer won the first set 62, it was nothing remarkable.
Yet after more than four hours of heartpounding drama, Anderson had astonishingly come from twosets down and survived a match point before edging the Swiss 1311 in the fifth set.
It took him six hours and 36 minutes to subdue American skyscraper John Isner in the semifinals and although he simply had nothing left in his ‘‘jellylike’’ legs yesterday, the five set points he earned on Djokovic’s serve in the third set gave him heart.
‘‘If you asked me this time a year ago, I don’t think I could sit here and say I really believe that I can win a Grand Slam and say it with the same selfbelief and confidence that I can now,’’ Anderson, who will break into the top five for the first time when the new rankings are released today, said. — Reuters