By Cheryl Jones
It was another squeaker for Roger Federer early this afternoon at the Gerry Weber Open. He faced Matthew Ebden, an Australian who is originally from Durban, South Africa. The Australian was ranked sixty in the world and one would think that he would be awestruck to be across from the Number One ranked player in the world, but Federer’s 7-6, 7-5 win was anything but a waltz in the park for the Swiss superstar.
The first set was punctuated by serve and volley tactics that were quite reminiscent of tennis matches from the past. That would be long before baseline slammers made their appearance on the tennis scene. The distant baseline stance has become the norm in many a match and the ebb and flow that goes along with a serve and volley game has nearly become extinct. Today’s match was a pleasure to watch for anyone who admired the likes of many an Australian player who wasn’t a problem child, but an out and out winner.
Several of those Aussie superstars come to mind. Fred Stolle played like a genius with his serve and volley game. He won the Australian Championship three times – (1963, ’64, ’66); Roland Garros in 1965 and 1968; Wimbledon in 1962 and ’64 and the US Nationals in ’65, ’66, and the US Open in ‘69. A more recent Australian right hand volleyer of note was Pat Rafter. He won the US Open in 1997 and 1998. After a number of injuries that left him with no desire to compete, he retired in 2002.
Stolle was a right-handed serve and volley player, much like Ebden. He was much more successful than the journeyman who gave Federer a scare today. When Stolle put aside his professional career, he coached American Vitas Gerulaitis for six years, from 1977 to 1983. (Gerulaitis retired in 1986, but tragically died in 1994 when he was forty years old, while sleeping in a friend’s guesthouse in New York. Carbon monoxide gas had seeped into his sleeping quarters due to a poorly installed swimming pool heater.)
Rafter is another story from Down Under. He actually competed against Federer early in the Swiss maestro’s career. Rafter is the only player who has a winning record against today’s victor on each surface that makes up most of today’s tennis competition – hard, clay and grass.
But, today’s match was not a Federer versus Rafter, nor was it against the old timer, Stolle. It was thirty-year-old Ebden who managed eight aces to Federer’s six. His early match play enlivened the crowd that had nearly filled the stadium. They were likely harboring expectations of an easy win for the nine-time champion at this venue. Ebden’s downfall was more than the five double faults he chalked up. It was more like watching Federer amp up his play when he realized that the Aussie was much more capable than he had imagined.
After the match, I asked Federer if he was surprised at how well Ebden volleyed early in the first set and I added a caveat about that play might have spurred him on to utilize his own serve and volley game to counteract the classic tennis that was brought into play. He said, “Well, I knew going in that he was going to serve and volley some, but I didn’t know exactly how much. It always depends on how much faster you are able to bring it from the very beginning. It took me a while to be able to push him back and for him to stay back off the second serve. In the second set that started happening. But like you said he volleyed extremely well in that first set and very often he hit it very deep, very accurate time and again, but there was no reason to be frustrated.”
Actually, his demeanour didn’t seem frustrated in the least, even though he shook his head as if talking to himself several times. He made a few hand gestured strokes for his own benefit and finally got down to Roger’s “this should be trademarked” style of play. He added a bit to his earlier observations, saying, “There is only so much you can do. If he starts going for bigger returns like I did in the Tie-Break it was nice to get two return winners in the ‘breaker’ when it mattered most. And then the second set it was a bit of a different match. A bit of back and forth again. I think that also he did miss a few more volleys then and his serve dropped just maybe a little slightly when it came down to the crunch which I was able to realize [utilize] and that was important for today.”
The hour and twenty-nine minute match was a pleasure to watch. There were dollops of old-time tennis from both players who both performed their dance for a crowd of grateful onlookers. Tomorrow the semi-finals will be contested and Roger Federer will have an opportunity to add to his grass win totals that are inching toward Jimmy Connors’ long time grass court triumph record of 174 wins and 34 losses. It’s now 171 and 24 for Federer. He will face American Denis Kudla who defeated Yuichi Sugita of Japan 6-2, 7-5.
Kudla was a Qualifier at the GWO. He has played extremely well during this week’s competition, not having dropped a set. His ATP ranking is presently 109, but I would expect that to climb significantly when the new rankings are posted next week.
Tomorrow’s match should be something to remember by more than Kudla’s fans. Even though the American is ranked 108 places behind Federer, he has been playing some fine tennis. Federer always puts on a wonderful show for the fans that will spend their Saturday rooting for Halle’s favourite player. The “Any Given Day” sports concept seldom plays out in tennis, but one never knows. Tomorrow afternoon will be put to rest with an answer to that conundrum.
