Welcome to the Topspin message board - the place for all Tim Henman fans!
This message board was set up primarily for members of Tim's official fan club, Topspin, but if you're still interested in what Tim's doing with tennis now he's retired then you're welcome to check here for news.
Please note - If your message is short you can type it all in the "subject" box so it appears in full on the board.
IPTL 2016 - Wednesday 7 December IP: 203.116.177.151 Posted on December 7, 2016 at 08:36:57 PM by David Barnes
IPTL 2016 - Wednesday 7 December. Singapore Leg, Day 2
2014 champions and runners-up last year, the Indian Aces, at the top of the points table overnight with eleven points, took on the last-trailing team, the Japan Warriors, holding only four points, in the afternoon session here today.
Fernando Gonzalez, for the Warriors, raced to a 5-2 lead against Mark Philippousis in the Legends match first on court. The Australian eventually found some fire in his belly and pulled the score back to 5-5, but Gonzalez responded by edging it in the decider for a 6-5 win. A sorely needed victory for the Japanese team, one warrior less, with no Kei Nishikori, here in Singapore.
Jean-Julien Rojer and Jelena Jankovic continued the good work started by their teammates with a gutsily crafted 6-4 win over the previously on fire Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza, in the mixed doubles.
Talking of one Jelena, leads me to ponder on the husband of another, namely Novak Djokovic, who announced yesterday his separation from coach Boris Becker after three years of Grand Slam successes - and dubious fashion statements on the part of Becker - in the Serb's box. It is rumoured that Novak's wife, now cracking the whip again after their mid-year bust-up and the Serb's mini-meltdown was instrumental in engineering the German's departure. Becker helped Djokovic secure that elusive French title, and with it the career Grand Slam, thus becoming only the third man in history, after Budge and Laver, to hold all four titles at the same time.
Also in June this year Nole passed the $100 million prize money earnings mark, so one feels that he might have kept Becker, whose financial worries have been well-documented and are never, it seems, far from the surface, on the books for a wee while longer. At the end of the day though, perhaps the German's restaurant 'broom cupboard antics' of long ago were still too uncomfortable for Mrs Djokovic to live with, as an ongoing reminder of unfortunate and unguarded sexual predation, and cast too imposing a shadow. We must await the participants' memoirs in the years to come, perhaps, to get at the full truth of the situation.
To return to the tennis here, Jelena Jankovic fashioned a 6-4 win over the previously in-form Kirsten Flipkens in the singles, to give the Warriors a surprising 2-1 lead, but in the mens doubles that followed Dodig and Lopez beat Rojer and Verdasco 6-3 to draw all-square. Everything to play for, therefore, in the all-Spanish clash that wrapped up play for the session, with Feliciano Lopez taking on Fernando Verdasco.
It was Judy Murray, back in 2011 at Wimbledon, who infamously started tweeting about 'Deliciano Lopez', on account of the latter's dark flowing locks and seemingly perfect legs (such a contrast in both respects, many pointed out at the time, to those of her youngest son Andy). Age has done little to lessen the older Spaniard's appeal, it seems, based on the rapturous welcome he received from certain sections of the crowd here this afternoon.
It was, however, his younger opponent Verdasco who powered his way to a 5-1 lead, thanks to two breaks of serve and another judicious 'powerpoint' play when leading 4-1 but 30-40 down on Deliciano's serve, and he wrapped up the set in 16 minutes; the Warriors thus triumphed 27-19 overall. As Verdasco said afterwards, "I think I play the best tennis of the tournament so far". He went on, in his press conference, to liken Singapore, which he is visiting for the first time, to a cross between Dubai and Jurassic Park, an image much appreciated by the local media here. So, a satisfying day at the office for non-playing coach Josh Eagle, 27-20 winners overall, and three points to lift his team from last position and tie them, with seven points, in joint second with the UAE Royals and the Singapore Slammers, all behind the Indian Aces with eleven.
In the evening session Carlos Moya, who has recently split from his charge Milos Raonic, played a storming opening set to beat Goran Ivanisevic 6-2 in the legends section of the draw. He was reminded in a post-match interview that there is now a coaching void at the very top (well, number 2 in the year-end rankings) of the game, a position that he confidently expects the young Canadian - beaten in his first Grand Slam final by Andy Murray at this year's Wimbledon - to be occupying soon, he intimated. In which case, you may wonder, why did the two part company? As another great Canadian, the recently deceased Leonard Cohen, put it; "I don't consider myself a pessimist. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin".
The Slammers seemed to feed off the enthusiasm of the home crowd after Moya's win - they were victorious in both mixed (Melo and Bertens beating Nestor and Hingis, the latter's backhand being surprisingly flaky) and mens doubles (Baghdatis and Melo beating Cuevas and Nestor, the deciding point coming with an overrule from the umpire), and in the ladies singles, with Kiki Bertens easily getting the better of Ana Ivanovic, 6-2.
In the final set of the evening, it was unlikely that Nick Krygios would find the going as easy against Tomas Berdych tonight as he had yesterday in his 6-1 rout of Fernando Verdasco. Indeed, the Australian found himself 6-5 down with Berdych serving for the set/match in the shoot-out that followed on from the 5-5 scoreline. Bizarrely the Czech wannabee superstar choked, with two double faults, to give Kyrgios the win, and the Slammers a clean sweep of five victories - 30-18 in terms of games. The home crowd went home in an ecstatic mood, their team moving to within one point of the Indian Aces at the top of the leaderboard.
David Barnes/Topspin, 2016
------------------------------
Replies: There have been no replies.
You must register before you can post on this board. You can register here.