It was a perfectly drab morning and I was gearing up for the day ahead by peering through the sports headlines. Nothing exciting struck me until I laid my eyes upon an ongoing quarterfinal match at The Queen's Club Championship between Tomas Berdych and Feliciano Lopez. Now Berdych vs Lopez is not exactly a match-up to crave about like Federer vs Nadal. Both men are in their 30's which is the age where most players retire. Both men are seemingly past their prime and both haven't exactly set the tennis world on fire in the recent past. If it was another day or time I would have moved on to do something else but today was different, I decided to go ahead and watch the match. You ask me why? I still wonder why?
Is it because that both Berdych and Lopez are genuine grass court players?
Is it because that on their day both men are extremely dangerous players?
Is it because that it was a match up of styles between the power of Berdych and the silken finesse of Lopez?
Is it because that I was quite frankly bored and would lap up anything which was going on at that time?
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| Tomas Berdych vs Feliciano Lopez |
The questions were many but yours truly just didn't bother to answer them. There was a match to watch and I set about watching it. I picked up the action in the second set tiebreak. Lopez won the first set in a tiebreak and the second set tiebreak was being dominated by Berdych. Before I could blink Berdych won the second set and we were one set apiece. Up until that time there were no service breaks and both players found it difficult to earn even a break point on the other's serve. The third set proceeded on serve until the 10th game when the match came to life.
Trailing 5-4, Lopez's serve wavered in the wind and his nerves gave away to hand Berdych a match point. At 30-40, Lopez was just one stroke away from defeat when he faulted his first serve. On the second serve Berdych planted a forehand which almost seemed to seal his win until Lopez retrieved the ball with a cross court backhand slice. Berdych made a valiant attempt to bring the ball into play but the ball just seemed to die on him. Having regained the momentum, Lopez hit one more backhand slice to seal the game and make it five all.
It was now the turn of Berdych to be troubled by both the wind and his own nerves. An uncharacteristic double fault and some unforced errors handed Lopez the break point. Trailing 30-40, Berdych dished out his best serve by angling the ball into Lopez and moved forward to close out the point at the net. Lopez fell back on his trusted cross court backhand to rally past Berdych. For a moment both sides felt that they had won the point as the ball just seemed to land on or miss the line depending upon whom you asked. The line judge called the ball 'out' triggering relief for Berdych while Lopez challenged the call hoping to tilt the verdict in his favor.
The Hawk-Eye showed that the ball had scraped the line by the tiniest of fractions handing the game over to an ecstatic Lopez and deflating Berdych. Lopez capitalized on the lucky break and served out the match to win 7-6, 6-7, 6-4. There were no wild celebrations from Lopez as he knew only a fraction separated him from his opponent. Both the players exchanged a gracious hand shake at the net and soaked in the thunderous applause which was afforded to them by the rapturous crowd.
Berdych vs Lopez might never be considered a classic and the sands of time might even forget this match. But I will always remember this match for giving me the best 10 minutes of any recent match I saw. I will remember Lopez's penchant to innovate in the face of certain defeat and will recall how technology through Hawk-Eye highlighted a fraction which separated two equals.
All you tennis fans out there, please don't miss out on watching the build up to Wimbledon. There are mouth watering clashes everyday and the quality of tennis is just great. For once forget the stars just follow your gut instinct and pick a match to watch just like I did. You may never know the gems you might unearth. So happy viewing and do drop in a comment if a match piques your interest.
Until Next Time,
Yours Always,
J.J. Chaitanya
The Aftermath
Feliciano Lopez continued his form in the semis. He beat 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov (who beat him in 2014 final of The Queen's Club Championships) in three extremely competitive sets (once again a backhand from Lopez triggered the error from Dimitrov). If that wasn't enough in the finals he bested 7th seeded Marin Cilic (the man whom he hadn't beaten since 2010) in three thrilling sets 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 to win his first ATP 500 world series tournament. Lopez saved a match point at five all in the deciding tiebreak only to see Cilic come back and save a match point of his own. The game hung in balance but Lopez held onto his nerves to to capitalize on Cilic's errant forehand and seal the victory.
There's a reason why The Queen's Club Championship (Aegon Championships) was adjudged the best ATP 500 world series tournament of the year. No other tournament this year produced as many great tennis matches as The Queen's Club did. We have a deserving winner whose comeback deserves a place in history. While the focus firmly remains on Roger Federer's comeback at 35, I for one am following Feliciano Lopez's back from the brink story at 35. The euphoria of Lopez's parents when he won the tournament took me back into the memory lane and reminded me of Ivanisevic's father whose eyes swelled up with pride when his son finally won a major. Hats off Feliciano Lopez, you proved once again that life always reveals its magic to those who persevere and thank you for presenting all of us with one of the most incredible sporting moments of 2017.
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