Davis Cup: Australia vs Switzerland
Sep. 18th, 2011 11:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meteordustI wasn't going to post about this, because I really wanted tickets, but I missed out, and I'm going to regret it for the next ten years or so. Because how often does it happen, a Davis Cup tie in *Sydney*, and it's Australia, which means Hewitt, and it's Switzerland, which means Federer, and it's *Davis Cup*, about which I have such fond nostalgic memories, and to see these veterans of the competition match up against each other is a dream, the last of the old guard from when I started watching the tennis.
It probably won't happen again in my lifetime. Not before they both retire.
So yeah, I wasn't going to post, but I've been watching it on TV all weekend - at least they showed it on free to air - and now I am full of emotions! The singles levelled the score at one all, and the reverse singles were predicted to be the same, so the doubles was going to be crucial. It has been so long since I watched doubles, I had almost forgotten how much fun they are: the fast points, the creative play, the teamwork and the strategy. The coded hand signals! The slightly alarming tendency of the ball to come straight at people! And for Hewitt and Guccione to come from behind to beat Federer and Wawrinka - the Beijing gold medallists - it was like they were on fire.
No one really expected Tomic to win against Federer today, but taking it to four sets is a respectable effort, although my dad suspected that Federer went easy on the kid and gave him a couple of games.
Playing against Wawrinka, the favourite was Hewitt, which is kind of weird when you compare their respective rankings of No 19 and No 199. But when Hewitt saved four set points in the tie breaker of the third set, and then took the set, he showed that in Davis Cup, he's still got it, and when the pressure's on, he can pull it out. Wawrinka looked pretty wrecked after that, knowing the weight of all his country's hopes rode on his shoulders, and damn if he didn't pull it out himself after that and take the fourth set. Beautiful tennis all round.
At the end of today, it was two rubbers each, two sets each, and it hit 3-5 in the fifth before the failing light forced them to postpone the conclusion till tomorrow.
It doesn't get more knife edge than this.
It probably won't happen again in my lifetime. Not before they both retire.
So yeah, I wasn't going to post, but I've been watching it on TV all weekend - at least they showed it on free to air - and now I am full of emotions! The singles levelled the score at one all, and the reverse singles were predicted to be the same, so the doubles was going to be crucial. It has been so long since I watched doubles, I had almost forgotten how much fun they are: the fast points, the creative play, the teamwork and the strategy. The coded hand signals! The slightly alarming tendency of the ball to come straight at people! And for Hewitt and Guccione to come from behind to beat Federer and Wawrinka - the Beijing gold medallists - it was like they were on fire.
No one really expected Tomic to win against Federer today, but taking it to four sets is a respectable effort, although my dad suspected that Federer went easy on the kid and gave him a couple of games.
Playing against Wawrinka, the favourite was Hewitt, which is kind of weird when you compare their respective rankings of No 19 and No 199. But when Hewitt saved four set points in the tie breaker of the third set, and then took the set, he showed that in Davis Cup, he's still got it, and when the pressure's on, he can pull it out. Wawrinka looked pretty wrecked after that, knowing the weight of all his country's hopes rode on his shoulders, and damn if he didn't pull it out himself after that and take the fourth set. Beautiful tennis all round.
At the end of today, it was two rubbers each, two sets each, and it hit 3-5 in the fifth before the failing light forced them to postpone the conclusion till tomorrow.
It doesn't get more knife edge than this.
