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

WIMBLEDON: Day 4 Preview

/noticias.info/ Wednesday, 22 June, 2005

Is the tennis banner of Britain's Wimbledon hopes, held aloft so bravely and for so long by Tim Henman, about to be transferred into the ambitious hands of Andy Murray? The Scottish tabloid Daily Record was in no doubt yesterday after Murray justified his wild card with a solid victory, while Henman staggered through in five agonising sets. "We're On the March With Andy's Army" trumpeted the page one headline on its local hero.

The rest of us in the homeland, counselling restraint, would prefer to wait until later today when both Henman and Murray have played their second round matches The British No.1 carries that banner onto Centre Court against the California-based Russian, Dmitry Tursunov, while Murray tackles the talented Czech, Radek Stepanek. If Murray gets through this one there will be thousands applying to enlist in Andy's Army.

The fact that the chap standing between Henman and a place in the last 32 is resident in an American community called Granite Bay should not faze Tim for a moment. There are lots of places in the good old USA bearing such inspiring inducing names. Remember Roscoe Tanner, the man from Lookout Mountain?

The way he played for much of his first round, Henman could have lost to someone from Cream Cheese, Minnesota. But he didn't lose. So phooey to Granite Bay, says Henman. Tim has no previous contest with Tursunov by which to rate his prospects against someone who left Moscow 10 years ago at the age of 12 to settle in California, but he will have noted that on his Wimbledon debut last year Tursunov blew away his rather more distinguished compatriot, Marat Safin, and made it into the third round. Surely Henman can't play as indifferently again, can he? If he does, the banner may change hands. The betting in this corner is that it won't.

Murray, meanwhile, dwells in that wonderful world where he is perceived to be capable of nothing wrong. All he must beware is not to be steamrollered by the avalanche of praise. Reality may set in on Court One against Stepanek, the 14th seed, who may not yet have collected a tour title but who comes into this encounter having won 29 of his 44 matches this year.

More to the point, he is being coached in the art of grass court tennis by Tony Pickard, Stefan Edberg's ex-mentor and a former British Davis Cup player and captain. Stepanek goes about his job with the same joyless air as a rather more famous Czech, Ivan Lendl, once did, but if he brings any of Lendl's ruthless brilliance to bear, Britain's teenage hope could face a bleak time.

Another teenager, the 19-year-old Rafael Nadal, is creating even more newsprint acreage than Murray, and with more justification after capturing the French Open at his first attempt. He chuckles at suggestions that Wimbledon may fall into his lap, too, inferring he is here for a preliminary gambol on the grass before setting off, perhaps in a year or two, to emulate Manolo Santana, so far the only Wimbledon champion to come out of Spain.

The manner in which Nadal bludgeoned Vince Spadea on Tuesday indicates that it might be a bit sooner than that. Today's opponent on Court One is Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, ranked 69th, who is probably still reeling from the only other time he faced "Rafa", in Barcelona in April, when his share of that match was a miserable two games.

A second Gilles, this one a Belgian with the surname Elseneer, is the opposition for Richard Gasquet, another in that impressively lengthy line of teenage talent at these Championships. Gasquet, also 19, won Nottingham last weekend, his first title, and if the two Gilles are wafted through the exit door, as form would indicate, then Nadal and Gasquet will meet in the third round. There is already a healthy Spanish-French rivalry building between these two. It started in the junior ranks and is developing nicely. So far this year, Nadal has dominated, beating Gasquet in the Monte Carlo semi-finals and the third round of the French Open.

The leading seed in these young people's half of the draw is Andy Roddick, a ripe old 22. Someone who would be regarded with undying affection in many quarters (Britain, for one) as a soaraway success story, Andy has suffered premature write-off by a few in his American homeland simply because he has not won a Grand Slam title for almost two years and only came second to Roger Federer in last year's Centre Court final.

Roddick can, of course, dissipate such tosh by reversing that 2004 result and it is something he is working towards. First, though, comes his second round match with Daniele Bracciali, a 27-year-old Italian who may have to be stretchered onto Centre Court following his marathon first round clash with Ivo Karlovic, the 6ft 10in Croatian who fired 51 aces and still finished on the losing side. A pitiful groan may be Bracciali's reaction to the news that Roddick is certain to put a lot more big serves past him today, though perhaps not in a losing cause like Karlovic.

The news that Maria Sharapova will be giving her golden shoes and hammer-blow groundstrokes an airing on Court One against a 15-year-old might have societies dedicated to the prevention of cruelty to children up in arms. But Sesil Karatantcheva is a tough Bulgarian cookie who has been leaving some big names down in the mouth, notably Venus Williams at the French Open. The only aspect of Sesil which may alarm the defending champion is that she learned to speak English by listening to Spice Girls records.

Venus Williams came to Wimbledon not having played since that third round disaster against Karatantcheva in Paris, so will be hoping Sharapova will do the demolition work on her behalf today. Venus has a less demanding Court Two opponent, the Australian Nicole Pratt, a 32-year-old who has won only six of her 19 matches on the tour this year and is custodian of the chill statistic that in her last six visits to The Championships she failed to get past the first round. So, whatever Venus has in store for her today, Nicole will go away happy at having reached the second round at last. Sister Serena, up against a qualifier from Italy, Mara Santangelo on Centre Court, needs this win and another one on Saturday before a projected fourth round against Venus, a prospect which neither of the Williamses ever relishes. Especially not at this early stage of a tournament both women have won twice.

Written by Ronald Atkin notas_de_prensa_archivo