Volatile Natures

Coverage

2011

Atlanta Tennis Championships

Volatile Natures

Friday, 22 July 2011 08:45

Volatile Natures

Written by Christina Ward

Hot Heads
The Thursday afternoon temperature was over 100 degrees with high humidity and the air felt like a sauna. Ryan Harrison and Xavier Malisse did not play inspired tennis during the midday heat. In the first set, Malisse threw his racquet after he surrendered a break lead in the first set. In an “anything you can do, I can do better” scenario, Harrison yelled and also threw his racquet in frustration, and was given a warning for obscene language when he was down 0-4 in the first set tiebreak. Harrison angrily asked the Chair Umpire, “What does ‘freak’ mean?” Then, he asked the crowd if he shouted a curse word to which they laughed and shouted that he did not. Harrison did not immediately recover from his outburst and lost the first set, 7-6(3). Malisse played one sloppy game to lose serve, and the second set, 6-4. The match was then suspended due to lightning and then rain at 2-1 on serve in the third set.

After a two-and-a-half-hour rain delay, Malisse and Harrison came back on court and traded breaks. The rain delay obviously did not cool their tempers since they started to argue with each other during the changeover at 3-2. After the match, Harrison took the diplomatic approach and said it was all in the heat of the moment and that what happens on the court stays on the court. He would not elaborate on what was said between him and Malisse. Both players are notorious for sometimes showing volatile natures on court, which created a perfect storm here in their first meeting on the ATP World Tour. After their brief argument, Malisse continued to mutter to himself but Harrison managed to calm down and used the crowd support to win, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4.

Time Marches On
Lleyton Hewitt still has the will and the fight, but his body has betrayed him over time. Hewitt has fallen to No. 174 in the rankings after a series of injuries and his most recent surgery, on his left foot. The Australian is no longer the same player who won two Grand Slams and reached the No. 1 ranking in the world. His speed and defensive skills, his main strengths in his prime, have become much diminished from when he was at the top of the game. In Thursday’s match against Rajeev Ram, he was very frustrated and kept shaking his head after nearly every point. When Ram served at 2-3 in the second set, a linesman corrected himself on an out serve which was then called an ace. Hewitt yelled to the Chair Umpire, “Do we get the worst of everything? Worst court, worst umpire, worst linespeople?” Ironically, the Chair Umpire’s microphone stopped working a few games later and had he to shout the score for the rest of the match.

Hewitt was broken after a multiple deuce game at 2-2 in the third set where he served three double faults. Ram broke Hewitt again in his next service game and won the match, 7-5, 2-6, 6-2. Ram, who had to qualify for the tournament, reached the quarterfinals of an ATP tournament for the first time since Johannesburg in 2010.

Consistency Is Key
Mardy Fish’s first match in his title defense, a second round against Nicolas Mahut, was very routine. Mahut did not play a bad match; Fish was the better player of the night. Fish served very well and was very consistent on his groundstrokes. He also approached the net when he had the opportunity to end points with a volley.

In another second round match, India’s Somdev Devvarman also had a routine win of 6-1, 6-3, over Japan’s Tatsuma Ito. Fish and Devvarman will meet in the Quarterfinals on Friday.

See more photos from Thursday, July 21 by CLICKING HERE