LONDON—Ah, the joys of living in jolly old London.
A strike on the tube (that’s “subway” in North American parlance) caused suitable mayhem in the English capital Wednesday and Thursday, leading to a Planes, Trains and Automobiles scenario for more than a few.
The wackiness extended to the AEGON Championships, too. Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt, two guys with a particular fondness for grass, chatted like old pals at the net Thursday as officials looked into an on-site bomb threat. Ultimately tournament organizers determined there was “no intelligence to support the reported threat.” In non-British speak they’d call it a hoax.
Fans are probably still getting accustomed to the new-look center court: the Queen’s Club’s perfectly manicured grass is now surrounded by deep blue AEGON hoardings instead of the red that accompanied longtime former sponsor Artois. They’ve traded insurance for beer, in a nutshell.
Maybe someone handed monster-serving Ernests Gulbis a lager or two prior to his first-round match. How else to explain the baby-faced Latvian’s shocking loss to hardened clay-court specialist Alberto Martin? Gulbis somehow exited, and in straight sets, 7-6 (9), 6-4 to extend his miserable season. It was just the second grass-court victory for Martin since 2003.
The stats made for bizarre reading. Eighteen aces for Gulbis suggest he had a decent serving day, and yet he faced 11 break points.
Gulbis, who hasn’t advanced past the second round at any event yet this year, recently cut ties with Austrian Karl-Heinz Wetter, but the 20-year-old is a relative novice at ditching coaches. Gael Monfils and Marcos Baghdatis are experts, and the latter split with Frenchman Olivier Soules prior to the French Open. Eduardo Infantino, formerly in Juan Martin del Potro’s corner, is Baghdatis’s latest guide.
The 2006 Australian Open finalist needs wildcards nowadays to sneak into prestigious non-Grand Slams, and seeking star quality following the withdrawal of defending champion and world No. 1 Rafael Nadal (those knees), Queen’s organizers duly obliged.
Baghdatis benefitted from a cushy first-round encounter, landing British wildcard James Ward, and prevailed 6-2, 6-3 in under an hour. Afterwards some in the British media suggested Ward didn’t put up sufficient fight. One question to Baghdatis post match went, “Are you surprised he didn’t show more of an effort to take that (wildcard) opportunity?”
The Cypriot, described as “unbelievably complex” by mentor Patrick Mouratoglou, later discussed his expectations for the near future. A back injury hampered him in 2008, although his work ethic has long been questioned, and his magical run to the Australian Open final transpired many moons ago.
“I want to win, but I just want to feel happy on court,” Baghdatis, ranked No. 81, said. “I want to find my personality on court, which I lost because of my injuries. It (will) take time, but I’ll fight. I’ll wait until it comes, and when it comes, that’s what I want to achieve.”
The waiting continues. Mikhail Youzhny—another supremely gifted pro trying to resurrect his career—eliminated Baghdatis in straight sets in the second round.
Now to the big boys at Queen’s. Playing tennis is only part of Andy Murray’s daily grind most of the next three weeks. He also has to contend with the media masses. Mind you, there’s no book this year.
“Murray” and “Fred Perry” figure to appear in the same sentence quite a bit, and not because of the Scot’s choice of clothing sponsor: 1936 champion Perry is the last British man to win at the All England Club. The now super-fit Murray has come a long way since last year’s Wimbledon, when he achieved a first Grand Slam quarterfinal. (Yes, that was only a year ago.)
“I’ve had long periods to practice for the grass the last few years because obviously I hadn’t had a great run at the French (Open),” Murray, a quarterfinalist at Roland Garros this month, said.
“I still won matches most weeks and played a lot of matches (on clay), whereas maybe I wasn’t coming into the grass-court season as match tight as I would have liked. But this year, yeah, I feel match tight. It just might take a few more matches before I start feeling my best.”
Not necessarily so for Roddick, who downed fellow four-time Queen’s winner Hewitt in two tiebreaks Thursday.
Despite a career best result (fourth-round) at Roland Garros, the transition from dirt to grass is a welcome one for the newlywed, whose 2008 campaign was hindered by a shoulder injury. The 2004 and 2005 Wimbledon finalist suffered an ugly second-round loss at Wimbledon to the enigmatic Serb Janko Tipsarevic last year.
“I think I’m playing a lot better this year than I have in years past, and I’ve been getting deeper in tournaments more consistently,” said Roddick, who lost to Roger Federer in both of his Wimbledon finals. “I do love this surface. It’s been a while since I’ve been coming in feeling like I’ve been playing this well and been healthy for the grass-court season.”
Roddick’s clash with Hewitt served as perfect preparation for Friday. He’ll likely see more tiebreaks in the quarterfinals against towering Croat Ivo Karlovic, a probable foe in the Davis Cup quarterfinals post-Wimbledon now that the unfortunate Mario Ancic is sidelined. Roddick’s friends, Mardy Fish and James Blake, also reached the quarters.
Given that the weekend weather forecast looks good (a.k.a no rain and some warmth), Pimms and lemonade should complement the tennis.
The joys of living in London indeed.
Ravi Ubha is a freelance writer covering Queen's Club for TENNIS.com.