Fuente : Wimbledon
http://www.wimbledon.org

WIMBLEDON: Lopez Too Smooth for Sherwood

/noticias.info/ Wednesday, June 22, 2005

The Wimbledon hopes of British wild card David Sherwood were dashed today by Feliciano Lopez, who reached the third round for the fourth consecutive year. Sherwood, the son of Olympic athletes, was run out of the Men's Singles by his polished Spanish opponent, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 in just 79 minutes.

The 25-year-old Yorkshireman had fired the home public's expectations with a first-round victory against Brazilian Ricardo Mello, a player more than 200 places higher in the rankings. The hopeful British public might be forgiven for presuming that a Spaniard ranked 228 spots above Sherwood was also there for the taking.

Sherwood had been dubbed a rebel after falling out with the British governing body, the Lawn Tennis Association, because of an "attitude problem". But he has learned the error of his ways in the eyes of the powers-that-be and he underlined his newfound popularity by combining with Andrew Murray to help Britain defeat Israel in a Davis Cup tie last March.

But it is one thing to win back the faith of your country's tennis rulers and another to take on a world class left-hander with plenty of guile and cunning.

Unforced errors hurt the Brit, though he fought gamely. He tried to chip and charge the Spaniard at every opportunity but won few points at the net. A peaked cap might have protected the rust-haired Brit from the sun, but Sherwood really needed protection from Lopez's strong ground strokes and well-placed drop shots.

Sherwood never gave up and he kept his temperament in check. The nearest he came to an outburst came with a disputed line-call that gave Lopez a second break in the third set. But Lopez was smooth and clinical in his approach. He was playing within himself, while Sherwood had to give it everything. On the day it simply wasn't enough.

Written by Mike Donovan


Court 2 - Gentlemen's Singles - 2nd Round
Feliciano Lopez ESP (26) 6 6 6
David Sherwood GBR 2 4 2 notas_de_prensa_archivo