NEW YORK—It was a relatively quiet day at Flushing Meadows yesterday, just the kind you expect on the eve of a three-day holiday weekend. Or it was until around 9:30 P.M. when Lleyton Hewitt, after badly mangling an opportunity to go up two sets on No. 6 seed Juan Martin del Potro, began to slowly recover from that failure and wear down the Argentine.
Two hours later, Hewitt put the finishing touches on an extraordinary upset, taking down the “Tower of Tandil,” 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1. It was yet another inspirational chapter in the biography of a tennis warrior nonpareil. Hewitt, the 32-year-old former U.S. Open champ and world No. 1, a slightly built middleweight who’s had five surgeries and recently struggled to keep his place in the Top 100, said after the match, “It’s amazing, I was pumped, I knew I was playing del Potro and I knew that could be on (Arthur) Ashe (stadium).”
That’s Hewitt in a nutshell; A used-up, over-the-hill, no-longer-relevant and largely ignored street fighter who’s somehow managed to retain a neophyte’s sense of wonder and good fortune. That’s the fountain-of-youth for you, and it springs not from the ground but the heart.
Apart from that late-breaking surprise, it wasn’t an outstanding day for upsets or intense dust-ups. But it was a heck of day for press conferences. Let’s check out some of those pearls of wisdom, and the fate of some lesser known players:
A Man of Quality
Has a champion ever worn the mantle of greatness as comfortably and easily as Novak Djokovic? This once baffling and socially awkward Serb, spawned in a culture of rough, passionate, hard men, has developed into someone who seems utterly real and entirely engaged. There’s nothing aloof about him, and he doesn’t draw the boundaries almost all great players delineate in order to protect themselves. Ask him something too personal and he’ll just look you in the eye and gently tell you. . . “it’s too personal.”
Djokovic sometimes seems almost eager to share his thoughts and feelings, even though it often forces him to answer the same question(s) more often than he’s hit those patented inside-out forehand winners.
The top seed here at the Open, Djokovic cleaned Benjamin Becker’s clock yesterday. During his press conference, the subject inevitably turned to his diet. One journalist even said, “I tried your diet for a couple of days, I found it to be challenging.”
Now, that’s a little like saying, “Nole, I tried to hit my backhand down-the-line like you do, but I had trouble.”
But Djokovic didn’t deflect the question with a simple, “too bad,” or a snide, “Glad to hear it.”
He sounded sincere when he asked if the scribe had really tried it, then added, “You don’t seem very happy.”
When the laughter died down, Djokovic wandered into a lengthy discussion of the diet, and how difficult it was for him to embrace it. And he asked the reporter, “What do you find challenging now?”
When the reporter said, “the (manuka) honey,” Djokovic seemed surprised, and he carried the conversation further.
Okay, I’m not nominating Djokovic for the Congressional Medal or Honor here, but dealing with a guy who’s such a square shooter, and who doesn’t just profess respect for one and all but actually delivers it, well, that’s a pleasure that brings a measure of dignity to both parties.
Does it ever get easy?
As I wrote yesterday, the Jamie Hampton vs. Sloane Stephens match was a dud, largely because, except for a brief period in the second set, Hampton couldn’t find her game. Her comments afterward were a refreshing departure from the usual buffet of bromides and clichés rendered with tight lips and averted eyes.
“I don’t know, I think that I’ve had tendencies, shown tendencies, to play really bad in big moments. Kind of sucks. I’m incredibly, incredibly disappointed in the way I played today. Nerves, you know. . . I think I felt fine going out there. Stadium is pretty big. But I got to hit on it before. I’ve played on Rod Laver and Indian Wells stadium a couple times, as well. I don’t think that was too overwhelming.
“I think that she’s (Stephens) had a lot more experience on the big stage. I think personality-wise she embraces it a little better than I do. With my personality, I tend to shy away from it a little bit. It’s a little bit of a struggle, but it’s something that’s being addressed currently.”
Hampton revealed that she’s dealing with her shyness with the help of a sports psychologist. Journalists being a lot like dogs—neither likes to let go of a bone once he or she gets hold of one—Hampton was asked to describe some of her “issues.”
“You don’t want to hear my issues, believe me,” Hampton said, smiling as much to herself as the assembled scribes. “Everybody has their own issues. The girls differ from the guys. Girls are a little bit more emotional. We’ll just leave it at that.”