Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Wimbledon Day Three: Net cord, big upset highlight an unusual day

LONDON -- The third day at Wimbledon is known as the day when things settle down. The defending champions have played their opening matches and -- providing there hasn’t been an upset -- all is right with the world. Well, at least in the world enclosed by the gates of the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

So the first Wednesday usually provides a calmer atmosphere as spectators, media and players settle in for the long haul.

Usually. As it happens, we were in for a day of thrills and spills.

Third seed and Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic was up against the man who maintains "grass is for cows" -- Marat Safin, the Russian who won the Australian Open in 2005. All the talk has been about Federer meeting Djokovic in the semis. But Safin seems to have decided that maybe cows shouldn't have a monopoly over the green stuff and trounced the No. 3 seed in a shocking defeat, 6-4, 7-6, 6-2.

Djokovic trotted out the well-worn cliché -- "a bad day at the office." But he also attributed his defeat to his momentum, unforced errors and 10 double faults.

Safin's explanation for his surprise win: "I played well because I think the courts have been getting slower and slower . . . it was really fast, and now you can play from the baseline." As to his criticisms of Wimbledon last year: " What did I say? The strawberries are too expensive. It's true."

Top women's seed Ana Ivanovic was on Court One against France's Natalie Dechy, a player she'd beaten three times in previous encounters. Little were we to know that this would turn out to be the match of the tournament so far, with the spectators on their feet with a standing ovation for the 29-year-old Dechy after an epic battle. And she lost the match.

But the scoreline gives you an idea of the marathon seesaw thriller: 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-3), 10-8. Ivanovic started off well but surrendered a 5-2 lead to lose the first set on a tiebreak. At match point to Dechy in the second set at 4-5, Ivanovic got lucky with a net cord -- a ball that struck the tape and dropped dead on Dechy's side of the net. All credit to Dechy for keeping her composure for the final set in which she saved three match points before Ivanovic sealed the wafer-thin victory after 3 hours and 24 minutes of play. That’s the kind of duration we normally expect in men's singles. Equal prize money well earned.

After the match Ivanovic said: " I feel so so lucky to have a chance to play again. Before that net cord I thought I would be booking my flight back home." Dechy's comments in the post-match press interview were hardly surprising: " I've spent the last hour crying before coming in here." Her thoughts on the net cord? "There was somebody in the sky that helped her."

Defending champ Roger Federer has his sights on the long haul -- topping Pete Sampras' record of seven Wimbledon titles. Federer, who has won five straight Wimbledon championships, even is renting the house here when Sampras used to stay. Federer forecast “a difficult match” against Sweden's Robin Soderling, a player he'd beat six times in a row (once dropping a set -- how careless).

Federer was quickly into his stride and wrapped up the first set in just 27 minutes. He needed just one break to take the second set too. He dropped his serve in the third set but recovered to close out victory on the tiebreak with a scoreline of 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).

Marcos Baghdatis, minus his beard for this year's Wimbledon, finished off Swede Thomas Johansson in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 champion, and Serena Williams were consigned to Court 2 -- the notorious “Graveyard of the Champions.”

Both breezed past superstition.

Hewitt powered past Spanish clay courter Albert Montanes -- 7-6, 6-0, 6-2 victory. Williams downed 17-year-old wild card Urszula Radwanska -- a junior Wimbledon champion in 2007 and a wild card entry this year. No trouble there, 6-4, 6-4.

The eventful day also saw the always polite Wimbledon officials write formal letters to 11 stalkers of women players, telling them "not to attend the Championships."

James Borg, a freelance journalist, has covered the All-England Lawn Tennis Championships for 31 years. He spent a few months in Las Vegas and did work for Caesars Palace. He lives in London

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