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Australian Open Insight
by Scott Borowiak
Intriguing early round Men's matches.
Tennis fans lucky enough to travel to one of the Grand Slam events can view matches on outside courts that often are more interesting than the featured Stadium Court lineup. In addition to the Rod Laver stadium and the new 10,000 seat Vodafone Arena, user-friendly Melbourne Park includes show court number one which seats 6000 and show courts two and three which seat 3000. Courts four through twenty-one each seat up to five hundred fans.
On the new "Show Court" # 1 Marcello Rios and Carlos Moya squared off before a packed house of great seats first come first serve. Rios and Moya, have both reached the finals of the Australian Open and each has held the number one world ranking at different times during the past three years. Rios won a tune-up event last week and on paper looked to have a great opportunity. However under windy conditions, Moya was able to jump on Rios with a mixture of heavy topspin and flat approach shots followed by a display of steady play at the net. Both players prefer the baseline but Moya's picked his spots carefully and won 20 of 24 points at the net to earn a straight set victory 6-3,6-3,6-2. Rios failed to adjust to the conditions and seemed to lack the necessary composure and concentration. If he is ever going to win a slam, he will have to stop his continual spitting on the court and come up with a clear game plan which includes more trips to the net and better focus.
On Show Court #2, 3000 fans saw a hard fought battle between Michael Chang and Fabrice Santoro. In the end Santoro was able to move Chang around with a mixture of angles, drop shots, lobs and passing shots to win 7-5, 4-6, 6-3,6-4 in four hours.
Santoro is a very clever player who hits two-handed on both sides and has great touch. Twelve years ago when they were tour rookies, Chang would have been the heavy favorite. Since then Chang has won over eighteen million dollars in prize money and has worn out his body running thousands of miles on hardcourts. Santoro appeared to be more fit than Chang. I wondered if years of running on clay in Europe compared to the hardcourt in the US was a factor in this matchup. Chang is still a great player but so many of his victories have been long close matches. He may be a half step slower which now means the difference between winning and losing a close match.
On showcourt #3 it was the net rusher against the baseliner as doubles specialist Daniel Nester of Canada beat Felix Mantilla of Spain. Mantilla who was ranked number ten in the world in 1998 and reached the quarters here in 1997 won the first set 6-2 with some great service returns and passing shots.
Nester who would not have a prayer against Mantilla on clay, changed his tactics from a pure serve/volley attack and starting coming in on the third and fourth shots keeping Mantilla off balance. The Spaniard stuck to a baseline game of heavy topspin which Nester was able to negate with his approach shots and net play. In the end, Mantilla looked like a fish out of water going down in four sets.
Matches between baseliner and net rushers are often far more interesting than two players of similar styles. The "grinder" Chris Woodruff and fellow American Jan Michael Gambill battled four hours in a five set match on show court number 2. Woodruff reached the quarters here last year and that experience seemed to be the difference in a tight 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 5-7 6-3 victory. This was a good match but compared to the others mentioned, it was a long drawn out affair that would have been better if the format had been two out of three sets.
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