The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Youth is served, but Nadal serves a bit better

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 02, 2005

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Youth is served, but Nadal serves a bit better

Karen Crouse

NEW YORK: If the teenagers had curfews, they would have broken them. Rafael Nadal, 19, and 18-year-old Scoville Jenkins played a second-round match at the U.S. Open on Wednesday night that was so chock full of drama, it could not be contained in one day. A one-hour rain delay before the start of the match was followed by two and a half hours of riveting tennis that ended with Jenkins limping to the net to congratulate Nadal, the French Open champion, on his 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 victory.

Jenkins, who is 112 days younger than the second-seeded Nadal and 350 spots below him in the world rankings, was treated for blisters on his left toes between the second and third sets. He appeared to have trouble walking between points, but during them it was another story as he hit huge forehands and clutch volleys to the bittersweet end.

The match figured to be winding down when Nadal was serving at 5-2 in the third set. To that point, he had lost only 10 points on his serve. But Jenkins, who received a wild card into the tournament, broke him and then held. It was not over until Jenkins hit a lob shot long in the tricky winds that swirled all day through Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Entertaining

The first match of the evening at Ashe featured Serena Williams, who was every bit as entertaining to watch as the flamboyant Nadal. There is no stage on which Williams looks more at home than the U.S. Open, where the lights are brighter and the audience stirs to life at night.

When Williams walks onto the court at Ashe, her game is transformed. In her second-round match against Catalina Castano of Colombia, she looked like a two-time U.S. Open champion, and not the player who came into the year's final major with a 3-4 record in her last seven matches.

Neither Castano nor a confounding wind could slow Williams' march toward a potential fourth-round showdown against her sister Venus. In a 6-2, 6-2 victory, Serena Williams' groundstrokes were sharp, her movement was fluid, and aggressiveness oozed from her.

Compassionate side

Williams waited until after dispatching Castano to show her compassionate side, informing an audience that included the comedian Chris Rock that she will donate $100 for every ace she hits for the rest of the season to a charity to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Wearing her heart on her sleeve and designer eight-carat Crown of Hearts earrings in her lobes, Williams said, ``I thought it would be a halfway decent gesture,'' and added, ``I've always considered myself a philanthropist.''

She had two aces against Castano in the 70-minute match, which ended shortly before it began raining, delaying the start of the match between Nadal and Jenkins.

Williams had 25 winners and 25 unforced errors, most of the latter off her forehand side. The errors were a reflection of her aggressiveness, not a flaw in her stroke.

Williams' next opponent is Francesca Schiavone. Venus Williams, who defeated Maria Kirilenko, 6-1, 6-3, earlier, will face Daniela Hantuchova, whom she beat at Wimbledon. If the sisters win, they will meet each other.

Much fitter

Williams looked much fitter on Wednesday than she did at Wimbledon, where she lost in the Round of 32 to Jill Craybas. Then, she said, ``I was definitely a little bit out of shape.''

Williams came to the net 17 times and won 16 of the points, which she took as an encouraging sign given that, in her words, ``when times get tough, I stick to that baseline.''

PTI reports:

Meanwhile India's Leander Paes and his Serbian partner Nenad Zemonjic were knocked out in the first round of the men's doubles.

Paes and Zemonjic, seeded five, were shocked by home pair Jeff Morrison and Amer Delic 7-6 (6) 7-6 (2) in a tight match on Wednesday.

There was little to separate between the two teams but the Americans came up with winners — 29 in all as against 10 from Paes and Zimonjic — when it mattered to emerge winners after an hour and 24 minutes.

But Paes' loss was offset by the progress of Mahesh Bhupathi and Martin Damm who breezed past Gael Monfils and Cyril Saulnier of France 6-1, 6-3.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport