Screensaver inspires Statham upset
Rubin Statham had the biggest win of his life in Auckland yesterday and put it all down to a glance up to the big screen.
The 31-year-old Statham, who is ranked 360 in the world, beat last year’s Australian Open semifinalist Chung Hyeon 7-5 6-3 in the ASB Classic for one of the most notable upsets by a New Zealand tennis player.
Chung is ranked at 25 and last year defeated Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic in Melbourne, while Statham had an average 2018 on the circuit playing a mixture of Challenger and Futures tournaments.
They live in different parts of the tennis world and when Chung was up 5-1 in the first set, this looked like being another disappointing defeat by a New Zealand player at the Classic.
But Statham said a glance at the giant screen above the Yock stand changed everything.
‘‘I wasn’t making my first service percentage. I can pop the big ones, but I was missing my first service percentage,’’ Statham said. ‘‘I sat there, looked up to the screen and saw the second serve points won was about 18 per cent, or something ridiculously low.
‘‘That statistic gave me the wake up call and indicated ‘let’s make a few first serves here Rubin and go from there’.’’
For more than a decade Statham has been the rock of the New Zealand Davis Cup team, picking up wins against players ranked much higher than him.
But on an individual level when playing for himself, this surpasses everything.
‘‘I guess it’s one of my better wins, if not my best win,’’ he said.
‘‘I’ve had a lot of matches moving into this tournament . . . so I feel more comfortable with my game and clarity. I’ve got the shots, just believing and executing on the day.’’
What made this result all the more remarkable was that up until Tomas Berdych pulled out it was looking like Statham wouldn’t even be playing singles at the Classic.
But Berdych’s withdrawal freed up a wildcard that could have been given to Kiwi Ajeet Rai, in the end it went to Statham.
‘‘It was tough to get my head around that, but a nice surprise to play and I think after all these years I deserved it.’’
Meanwhile, David Ferrer rolled back the years to beat Robin Hasse 6-2 6-1 in the first round earlier yesterday. The 36-year-old is on a farewell tour this year, playing in his favourite tournaments and as a four-time winner in Auckland, the Classic is naturally high on his list.