The Hindu : Sport : Nadal fights back from the brink against Kendrick

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Friday, Jun 30, 2006

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Nadal fights back from the brink against Kendrick

Nirmal Shekar

London : In every event in every Grand Slam championship, there is a Nobody who dreams of becoming a Somebody. More often than not, the dreamer and his dream seldom come into public view, fading away in the wilderness of far-flung courts, cruelly stamped out by the harsh everyday realities of a well-defined hierarchical system.

But, occasionally, a Johnny-no-name with fire in his heart and ice in his veins marches into view to try and tear both the formbook and the popular script to shreds.

Journeyman

Welcome Robert Kendrick, aged 26, from Sanibel Island, Florida, the winner of a princely fortune of $22,946 in prize money last year, and a man whose day job takes him through such well-known tournament venues as Yuba City, Kissimee, Joplin and Busan.

Ranked 237 and playing in the main draw of the 120th Wimbledon championships after surviving the qualifying minefield in Roehampton, Kendrick brought up the finest moment of his career, on Thursday, as he threatened to oust the French Open champion and second seed, Rafael Nadal of Spain.

But the 20-year-old Spaniard dug deeper than he has ever before done on grass to battle back from the very brink and post a 6-7(4), 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-5, 6-4 second round victory in three hours and 41 minutes in a match of nerve-jangling intensity.

Houdini act

Nadal's Houdini act has made way for the much-anticipated third round slugfest featuring an abdicating Emperor and the man-who-would-be-King.

Ambushed and hog-tied in the first two sets by the journeyman from the United States, Nadal turned things around in the third set tiebreak. The bulldog of a player from Mallorca used his forehand like a bludgeon, pumped himself up with a Connors-esque swagger, survived 28 aces, and lived to keep his date with Andre Agassi.

"I played with very good attitude,'' said Nadal. "I played a very good match. It was a very important win for me.''

Celebration time

Meanwhile, for the ageing troubadour basking in a golden twilight, the garden party is not over yet. Agassi's last supper at the place where his legendary journey as an all-time great champion began 14 years ago might turn out to be a sumptuous one.

On his farewell visit to the All England Lawn Tennis Club as a player, the great American quietly eased into the third round with a 6-4, 7-6(2), 6-4 defeat of Italy's Andreas Seppi.

However gloomy the tennis scene might seem to be to millions of Agassi fans on his departure, this is no time to shed tears. It is, rather, a time for celebration, a time to look back on one of the greatest and most celebrated careers in modern tennis, one that has transcended generations.

Without getting cloyingly sentimental, it is still possible to look into the past and appreciate the highs — and the lows — of a remarkable journey that began more than 20 summers ago.

"Every man's life is a road to himself,'' wrote Herman Hesse. And those familiar with the road taken by Agassi cannot but marvel at the choices he has made at every crossroads of a long and distinguished career.

A teenager with a narcissistic preoccupation, one given to peacocking on every stage, Agassi remarkably reinvented himself as a champion of substance, raising the bar higher and higher and working towards his own sporting nirvana with a monkish single-mindedness of purpose.

The eight-time Grand Slam champion, one of only five men to have won all the four majors, came in here with very little match practice and a suspect back. But he has now managed to get his teeth in and his campaign is surely gaining momentum.

The draw has been kind to the 36-year-old from Las Vegas. His second round opponent, Seppi, has won just two Grand Slam matches and Agassi was largely untroubled in a match that lasted two hours and 23 minutes.

Calling the shots from the baseline, Agassi broke Seppi's serve in the 10th game to take the first set and seemed to be cruising when he went up 5-3 in the second, breaking the Italian's serve again.

The only real wobble Agassi experienced was brief. Seppi broke back in the ninth game of the second to take the set into a tiebreak that the American icon dominated before breaking to 3-1 in the third set and galloping home.

"I want to be at my best. I want to get out there and do something special for them,'' said Agassi when asked if he was overwhelmed by the reception he got on the No. 1 showcourt. "It means the world to me.''

In the women's event, the defending champion Venus Williams came back from 3-5 down in the second set to beat Lisa Raymond 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-2.

Leander Paes and Martin Damm, seeded seven, got past Janko Tipsarevic and Mikhail Youzhny 7-6, 6-3 (retd) but the 13th-seeded pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Alexander Waske went down 6-7, 3-6, 6-7 to Frederic Niemeyer and G. Weiner.

* * *

Prefix denotes seeding

Second round: Men: 2-Rafael Nadal (ESP) bt Robert Kendrick (USA) 6-7(4), 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-5, 6-4; Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) bt Alejandro Falla (Col) 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(1); 22-Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) bt Martin Lee (GBr) 6-4, 6-0, 6-3; Novak Djokovic (Scg) bt 11-Tommy Robredo (Esp) 7-6(5), 6-2, 6-4; 18-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) bt Andrei Pavel (Rom) 3-0 retd.; 13-Tomas Berdych (Cze) bt Fabrice Santoro (Fra) 6-4, 6-7(6), 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4; Mardy Fish (USA) bt Melle van Gemerden (Ned) 6-2, 6-0, 6-1; 25-Andre Agassi (USA) bt Andreas Seppi (Ita) 6-4, 7-6(2), 6-4; Daniele Bracciali (Ita) bt Stefano Galvano (Ita) 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4.

Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) bt Lukas Dlouhy (Cze) 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 1-6, 6-4; Irakli Labadze (Geo) bt 16-Gaston Gaudio (Arg) 6-4, 6-2, 6-3; 15-Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) bt Jamie Delgado (GBr) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3; 10-Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) bt Marat Safin (Rus) 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Women: 4-Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Ashley Harkleroad (USA) 6-2, 6-2; 16-Flavia Pennetta (Ita) bt Laura Granville (USA) 6-2, 6-1; Amy Frazier (USA) bt Melinda Czink (Hun) 6-2, 6-3; Peng Shuai (Chn) bt 20-Shahar Peer (Isr) 6-4, 7-6(5); 9-Anastasia Myskina (Rus) bt Martina Muller (Ger) 6-2, 6-1; Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) bt Tzvetana Pironkova (Bul) 7-5, 7-6(5); Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) bt Shinobu Asagoe (Jpn) 6-3, 7-5; 21-Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) bt Alicia Molik (Aus) 6-2, 6-1; Severine Bremond (Fra) bt 8-Patty Schnyder (Sui) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. 15-Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) bt Jamea Jackson (USA) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5; 2-Kim Clijsters (Bel) w/o Viktoriya Kutuzova (Ukr); Zheng Jie (Chn) bt Eva Birnerova (Cze) 7-6(6), 5-7, 6-3.

1-Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) bt Samantha Stosur (Aus) 6-4, 6-2; 6-Venus Williams (USA) bt Lisa Raymond (USA) 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-2; 26-Jelena Jankovic (Scg) bt Vania King (USA) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4; 25-Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) bt Sun Tian-Tian (Chn) 6-3, 6-3; Nicole Pratt (Aus) bt 29-Tatiana Golovin (Fra) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4; 7-Elena Dementieva (Rus) bt Meghann Shaughnessy (USA) 5-7, 6-3, 7-5.

Men's doubles (First round): Frederic Niemeyer (Can) & Glenn Weiner (USA) bt 13-Mahesh Bhupathi (Ind) & Alexander Waske (Ger) 7-6(2), 6-3, 7-6(7); Martin Damm (Cze) & Leander Paes (Ind) bt Janko Tipsarevic (Scg) & Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) 7-6(4), 6-3, retd.

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