Giants being tied down in final furlong, akin to Gulliver’s Travels
NOBODY who watched the Kevin Anderson, vs Schwartzman showdown in the last 16 could deny that this was a scene straight out of “Gulliver’s Travels”:
The defeated 6ft 8in giant on one side of the net walking off court to shake hands with the umpire and immediately juxtaposed next to him, on the other side of the net, the diminutive and victorious Argentinian,
Diego Schwartzman, whose head came no higher than the lanky South African’s lower pectorals, reaching up to the same umpire, with a grin stretching further than Gulliver’s boat ever sailed. In short the giant had been deftly tied up in knots, in five sets having had a two-set, not to mention a 2 foot height advantage, over the feisty “Lilliputian”, who had been heftily trodden over in the first half of the match. How the proverbial mighty have fallen in the final furlong of this tournament:
While Novak Djokovic may not be quite the colossus that he was, when last he bestrode Court Phillipe Chatrier in a final, he still would appear 6ft 6in to any opposition regardless of their height, who faced him from the opposite side, especially one like Italian Cecchinato, who up until then had never won a match in a Grand Slam.
However yet again a neversay-die “shortie” in terms of accolades, whose determination and imagination stretched further than his racket could ever reach, slew the “giant” Serbian, who looked as if he had the match in the bag in the fourth set, in that very same set .... So how did slight overcome might and at the same time provide some much-needed thrills and spills and to
pictured,
quote Mark Woodford “the best set of tennis we have seen in a very long time...” in what has otherwise been a singularly lack-lustre tournament.
Well both the Italian and the Argentinian true to their countries’ seductive soccer styles and fiery nationalities, wielded a bag of tricks, the likes of which neither giant had seen, in any of their stereotype 20-odd shot baseline rallies in this tournament to date.
Simply put the “Lilliputians” mixed it up: Lobs, slice volleys, smashes, touch at the net any masseuse would be proud of, you name it, out it came, in triplicate – a style of play not seen since the 80s and oh so much fun to watch – befuddling these giants so used to power serving, powering the ball from side to side and overpowering anyone with short legs, not to mention shortness of breath.
In fairness to Anderson he has been approaching the net much more frequently on clay of late, (no doubt at the instigation of his coach Neville Godwin, a competent doubles player) but not apparently when it counted. On the other side of the draw, other established giants of the game, two 6ft 6in ex-US Open champions, Marin Cilic and Juan Martin Del Potro clashed on a more equal footing as reflected in the score in their first set – 6-all and 3-all in the tiebreak, before the rain came down. Del Potro having won 10 of their 12 previous encounters, it felt like the tide might turn for the Croatian, but it was not to be.
Certainly the tide was turning against the greatest giant of them all, 10-time French Open Champion Rafa Nadal, whose plain sailing through the early rounds was halted and his invincibility seriously dented a set and a break of serve down, against the still rampant and mecurial “dwarf”, Schwartzman, who was once again aggressively plying his trade and soliciting the awe of the crowd until Nadal’s predictable “medical time out” combined with a spectator collapsing and the same rain delay, effecting his fellow compatriot, collectively conspired to halt the Argentinian’s creative command of the court.
It is ironical that the much-touted Clash Of The Titans – Dominic Thiem vs Alexander Zverev, Del Potro vs John Isner and above all the highly-anticipated showdown of the returning rival divas, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, amounted to little more than walkovers and rollovers.
Zverev, who has deservedly been hailed as heroic for his two in a row, five-set, fightbacks finally ran out of steam against Thiem.
Ever threatening, American Isner, the tallest in the giant line-up and one of the more competent and consistent volleyers, on the back of his big serve, hung back on the baseline at his peril, allowing Del Potro to dominate and prevail.
As for Williams, she never made it out of the quarters starting blocks, apparently rendered unable to serve by a deteriorating pec muscle – the joys of carrying baby, Alexis Olympia around perhaps...
As much as I am a Serena fan, I have to confess the thought of that catsuit being the centre of attention in a catfight, is not something to relish on any surface and neither would the quality of their tennis, at this stage in their respective stuttering comebacks. Consider how easily Sharapova, after her free run was subsequently dispatched by a more current nemesis, Muguruza, in the wake of this over-hyped calamity.
Meanwhile potential giant-slayer and pretender to the French throne, Simona Halep, the first ever female Romanian to hold a world No 1 position, underrated in that she is still seeking her first Grand Slam title, and whose mental fragility and killer instinct has been under the spotlight in previous French finals, was able to step up.
Shot variation
Halep found some much-needed shot variation in her quarters match against twice Grand Slam champion, Angelique Kerber to run the German around in circles and ultimately into the dust.
Halep, in the wake of the controversial Ile Nastase, with seven Grand Slam titles to his name – would be a worthy winner at Roland Garros, having dispensed with French champion, Muguruza, she has only one more giant to slay – US Champion, Sloane Stevens.
The fact that arguably the most famous Romanian tennis player and ice hockey player, not to mention banker, Ion Tiriac, has been sitting in his centre court box patiently waiting for this moment of national glory for over two decades would add to the fairytale and the fact that Lilliputians, armed with imagination and relying on variation can prevail over giants – that you can bank on – Thiem take note.