It's futile to keep track of each "unbelievable" shot when someone is playing the match of his life—there's always too many to count. They came in bunches today for Stephane Robert, the 31-year-old French qualifier who had won one previous main-draw match at a major, that against Potito Starace at last year's Australian Open. His second is slightly more remarkable: The crowd favorite came back from two sets down to shock sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych, 3-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 9-7.
Tennis Channel picked up this match around 5-5 in the fifth, when Berdych earned a match point. He wasted the chance, and the outpouring of YouTube-worthy shots from Robert continued: Running forehand winners, running backhand winners, clean return winners, scrambling defense, even a second-serve ace for good measure. Playing at a frenetic pace, Robert seemed to be overpowering Berdych, who reached the French semifinals last year (as well as the Wimbledon final) on the strength of his supersonic strokes.
I wasn't in the Court 2 crowd, but I know how it must have felt—???I was one of the lucky few to be seated in the intimate Grandstand at last year's U.S. Open for the Ryan Harrison-Sergiy Stakhovsky thriller. This court even has a similar overhang on one side. So when Robert earned a break point at 7-all (via highlight-reel running backhand winner from behind the baseline), the atmosphere was palpable. He didn't break then, but the Parisians got their wish two points later, when Robert's forehand up the line made it 8-7. When he served out the next game to complete his astounding comeback, the crowd erupted.
Simultaneously, Berdych was deflated. By failing to defend his final four showing, his ranking will collapse, as he did today. What won't change, in many people's eyes, is the opinion that Berdych doesn't have it in the tête to be a consistent threat. After this opening-round disaster, it's tough to argue otherwise.
—Ed McGrogan