The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Henman lifts a nation's sagging spirits

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Saturday, Jun 26, 2004

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Sport - Tennis

Henman lifts a nation's sagging spirits

By Nirmal Shekar

LONDON, JUNE 25. This Atlas is not about to shrug. If anything, the nerve-wracking, gut-wrenching, soul-shattering events of an unforgettable Thursday night in the Stadium of Light in Lisbon, have increased the load on Tim Henman's slender shoulders. But the Titan of British tennis is standing firm, holding his ground in the 118th Wimbledon championships here.

In a second round match that promised Lisbonesque melodrama at the start on Friday, with the St. John's Ambulance staff on red alert to treat fans complaining of palpitation and panic-attacks, Henman assumed control in quick time against Ivo Heuberger of Switzerland to steer clear of the familiar angst-ridden path fraught with danger.

After a typical shaky start, the British fifth seed gathered his wits about him, put on a burst of speed, and raced to the finish for a 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 victory that might help lift the sagging spirits of an entire nation.

On Thursday night, like every other Englishman in front of the box, Henman would have surely missed a few heartbeats. But, in his case, the whispered prayers may have been triggered by a touch of selfishness as well.

For, as long as England was afloat in Euro 2004, so long as Wayne Rooney was enacting his heroics, the attention was turned away from the Great British Hope of London, SW 19. The entire focus was on a teenager with oak tree trunks for legs and the nose of a boxer who's been in one fight too many.

But Luiz Felipe Scolari's men held their nerve to complete a familiar — if hardly popular — script for English football. It is an almost tragi-comic tale of sporting disaster that is painfully re-enacted every two years during European championships and the World Cup.

Yet, what the heart-breaking pathos of David Beckham's missed penalty and the events that followed last night have done is to drag Henman on to the centre-stage. And among the fans, there is almost a sense of Henman needing to compensate for the footballers' loss.

``The spotlight, to a certain extent, would have been elsewhere if the boys had kept on winning,'' said Henman. "It was a tough game to lose. It was painful for me. It is nice to get a bit of revenge on the nation — Switzerland.''

What he alluded to was, of course, the controversial Campbell goal last night which was disallowed by the Swiss referee Urs Meier.

To be sure, in a country where the sense of national identity is articulated through football, the practitioner of a genteel sport like tennis can never match the macho megastars such as Wayne Rooney.

But then, all those St. George's Cross flags, the most popular symbol of group identity in sport in England in the last 10 years, cannot go waste, really, even if the All England Lawn Tennis Club is unlikely to ever be home to any ugly display of jingoism.

Nor, for that matter, will Henman ever be caught doing a Rooney-like somersault on the centre court. He has always enjoyed the support of the crowds and has fed on their energy but a clenched fist or a muttered "Come on'' is as far as he might go.

Today, as it turned out, there was no need for even that. And the only time Henman sought to display emotion was when he trailed 3-5 in the first set.

``Over the last six or seven months, I have been very calm, showing no emotions,'' said Henman. "But today, down 3-5, I felt I had to use the crowd a little, be a little more animated.''

Once Henman wrapped up the bizarre first set in which there were five service breaks — the decisive one coming in the 12th for Henman — the 29-year-old Englishman was on cruise mode.

Until this year, Heuberger had never won a match at Wimbledon and he took the long and arduous route through the Roehampton qualifying tournament to earn his moment on the big stage. The only reason why his name is as familiar as it might be to tennis insiders is because he was once the boyfriend of Martina Hingis, the former World No. 1.

The moment Henman broke to 3-1 in the second set with an exquisite backhand lob over a frantically back-pedalling Heuberger, the match was as good as over.

Henman's game is not quite where he'd like it to be. But, in a way, that is perhaps good for him. For, there is always the danger that he might peak too early.

Serena marches on

The woman's top seed and defending champion, Serena Williams, will also admit that her game is not at its customary altitude. Then again, like Henman, Serena too has always been a hot and cold player, not someone who can perform on a given pedestal all the time.

And surely, Venus Williams' unexpected loss to Karolina Sprem of Croatia late on Thursday evening would have upset Serena's composure. Twice in a row they have contested the finals here and now a hat-trick is not to be.

``I am upset more than she is. She has to console me more than anything,'' said Serena, talking about her sister's defeat.

Today, Serena set off like Michael Schumacher from pole position on the grid against Stephanie Foretz of France but encountered a brief spell of mechanical problems, so to say, before taking the chequered flag, winning 6-0, 6-4.

Predictably, in the post-match press conference, the focus was on Venus' defeat and the English football team's loss. How valuable are an American tennis player's views on European football? Your call.

But here are some samples of Serena-speak. On England's loss: "It was just total robbery. I am not going to watch anymore. I don't want Portugal to win. I was totally disappointed.''

On Beckham's missed penalty: "I don't know what it is about David Beckham and kicking. I mean he is doing much better than what I would ever do.''

The last word on the subject came from the irrepressible John McEnroe on BBC TV. "I can't take a penalty kick as well as David Beckham,'' he said with a rascal's smile.

Injury scare for Coria

Being an Argentinian, Guillermo Coria, seeded three, will know a thing or two about taking penalty kicks. But, today, the French Open finalist paid the penalty for treating a grass court like his favourite clay.

As Coria sought to call the shots from the back of the court, Florian Mayer of Germany, World No. 66, found his place in the sun with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 second round victory.

There was a question mark over Coria's fitness too. He came in with a heavily strapped shoulder and then needed the physio's attention during a medical time out.

Other top ranked players going out were the French women's champion Anastasia Myskina of Russia who was beaten 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the third round by the experienced Amy Frazier of the United States and the men's sixth seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, who was beaten 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 by Robby Ginepri of the United States.

Goran's gone

This was also a day when one of the most colourful chapters in recent Wimbledon history ended as Goran Ivanisevic, the 2001 champion, was beaten 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 in the third round by his successor, the 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt.

``Everything was perfect, the weather, the crowd, the court. It was really great. Fifteen years. I enjoyed every moment here,'' said Ivanisevic, who was given a standing ovation on the centre court. "I am happpy and I am sad. I am proud of everything I did in my career.''

Asked what he would miss about Wimbledon, he said, "I am going to miss waiting for the rain to stop ... I am going to miss everything.''

Paes-Rikl pair wins

Leander Paes and his Czech partner David Rikl fought their way through a tough first round match today. They faced surprisingly substantial challenge from the Italians Daniel Bracciali and Gerogio Galimberti before winning 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-3 in an hour and 54 minutes.

Umpire penalised

Meanwhile, the chief referee of the championships, Alan Mills, who held an enquiry regarding the miscalled point in the second set tiebreak of Venus Williams' match against Karolina Sprem yesterday, said that the umpire, Ted Watts, would not be allowed to officiate in any match during the rest of the tournament.

``I have now discussed the incident with the Chair Umpire concerned and we have agreed it would be in the best interests of both parties if he takes no further part in the event,'' said a statement released by Alan Mills.

Prefix denotes seedings

Men: singles: Third round: 7-Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) bt Goran Ivanisevic (Cro) 6-2, 6-3, 6-4; 9-Carlos Moya (Esp) bt Dmitry Tursunov (Rus) 6-1, 6-4, 7-5.

10-Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) bt Jan-Michael Gambill (US) 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-2; 27-Robby Ginepri (US) bt 6-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Esp) 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.

Second round: 2-Andy Roddick (U.S.) bt Alexander Peya (Aut) 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-4; 25-Dominik Hrbaty (Svk) bt Mark Hilton (G.Br) 7-5, 6-4, 6-2; Alexander Popp (Ger) bt Albert Montanes (Esp) 6-1, 6-0, 6-1; 18-Feliciano Lopez (Esp) bt Cyril Saulnier (Fra) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 8-6; Thomas Johansson (Swe) bt Fabrice Santoro (Fra) 7-5, 6-2, 6-1; Jan-Michael Gambill (U.S.) bt Daniele Bracciali (Ita) 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-2;

17-Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) bt Lu Yen-hsun (Tai) 6-4, 6-3, 6-4; Kenneth Carlsen (Den) bt 22-Andrei Pavel (Rom) 7-6 (9), 6-4, 6-3; 26-Taylor Dent (U.S.) bt Stefano Pescosolido (Ita) 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (3); Wayne Ferreira (RSA) bt Karol Kucera (Svk) 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-1; Florian Mayer (Ger) bt 3-Guillermo Coria (Arg) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4; 5-Tim Henman (G.Br) bt Ivo Heuberger (Sui) 7-5, 6-3, 6-2; Ivo Karlovic (Cro) bt Gilles Elseneer (Bel) 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (14); 11-Mark Philippoussis (Aus) bt Martin Verkerk (Ned) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 7-5; Karol Beck (Svk) bt 20-Tommy Robredo (Esp) 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (2); 30-Vincent Spadea (U.S.) bt Felix Mantilla (Esp) 6-1, 6-2, 6-2; Xavier Malisse (Bel) bt Tommy Haas (Ger) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4; Mario Ancic (Cro) bt Julien Benneteau 4-6, 7-6 (8), 6-2, 5-7, 6-4; 12-Sjeng Schalken (Ned) bt Todd Martin (US) 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3; Thomas Enqvist (Swe) bt 21-Juan Ignacio Chela (Arg) 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-1, 3-6, 6-3; 24-Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) bt Igor Andreev (Rus) 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 6-7(4), 6-3; 32-Hicham Arazi (Mor) bt David Ferrer (Esp) 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(7); 8-Rainer Schuettler (Ger) bt Greg Rusedski (GBr) 6-7(5), 7-6(10), 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-2.

Women: Singles: Third Round: 11-Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) bt Marion Bartoli (Fra) 6-1, 6-2; 12-Vera Zvonareva (Rus) bt Gisela Dulko (Arg) 6-4, 6-2; Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thai) bt 27-Alicia Molik (Aus) 6-2, 6-4; 31-Amy Frazier (US) bt 2-Anastasia Myskina (Rus) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; 13-Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) 6-3, 6-1.

Second round: 9-Paola Suarez (Arg) bt Els Callens (Bel) 6-2, 6-2; Magui Serna (Esp) bt Jane O'Donoghue (G.Br) 6-3, 6-3; Tatiana Perebiynis (Ukr) bt Milagros Sequera (Ven) 6-2, 7-5; Virginia Ruano Pascual (Esp) bt Henrieta Nagyova (Svk) 6-4, 6-4; 1-Serena Williams (U.S.) bt Stephanie Foretz (Fra) 6-0, 6-4; 32-Meghann Shaughnessy (U.S.) bt Nuria Llagostera Vives (Esp) 6-4, 4-6, 10-8; Rita Grande (Ita) bt Arantxa Parra Santonja (Esp) 5-7, 6-2, 6-3; 10-Nadia Petrova (Rus) bt Maria Vento-Kabchi (Ven) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2; Virginie Razzano (Fra) bt Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) 6-1, 6-2; 4-Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) bt Jennifer Hopkins (U.S.) 6-3, 6-3; 14-Silvia Farina Elia (Ita) bt Silvija Talaja (Cro) 6-3, 6-3; Tatiana Golovin (Fra) bt 18-Francesca Schiavone (Ita) 6-1, 6-0; Ludmila Cervanova (Svk) bt 26-Lisa Raymond (U.S.) 6-4, 6-3; 5-Lindsay Davenport (U.S.) bt Kristina Brandi (Puerto Rico) 6-0, 1-0, retd; 11-Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) bt Klara Koukalova (Czech) 6-4, 6-4; 27-Alicia Molik (Aus) bt Teryn Ashley (U.S.) 7-5, 6-4; Tatiana Panova (Rus) bt Mashona Washington (U.S.) 6-3, 6-4; Karolina Sprem (Cro) bt 3-Venus Williams (U.S.) 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6); Gisela Dulko (Arg) bt Martina Navratilova (U.S.) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3; 2-Anastasia Myskina (Rus) bt Aniko Kapros (Hun) 5-7, 6-2, 6-4; 21-Magdalena Maleeva (Bul) bt Jill Craybas (U.S.) 6-2, 6-3; 31-Amy Frazier (U.S.) bt Emily Webley-Smith (G.Br) 6-2, 3-6, 8-6; 7-Jennifer Capriati (US) bt Elena Baltacha (GBr) 6-4, 6-4; Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Sui) bt 15-Patty Schnyder (Sui) 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-2; 25-Nathalie Dechy (Fra) bt Maria Sanchez Lorenzo (Esp) 6-1, 6-1; Anne Kremer (Lux) bt Sun Tiantian (Chn) 6-3, 7-5. — AP

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