I've been busy trying to get a presidential candidate a party nomination, so tennis, what little I've been able to see, has been background music this week.
I know Justine Henin, Andy Murray, Nicolas Almagro and Flavia Pennetta won titles this week. Know that Mario Ancic played his first event in months and advanced all the way to the Open 13 final where he lost to Murray. Know that the curse of the No. 1 seed at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships continued. (Savannah's got all the purty pictures right here.)
But when I saw Nishikori Kei, the 18-year-old Japanese qualifier, save four match points in his semifinal match against Sam Querrey and rally from a set down in the final to take out James Blake and win his first ATP title, I was quite impressed.
Tennis needs new champions. Can't say the gutsy teen who trains at the Bollettieri Academy is going to mature into a champion, but if he is, he's got to start somewhere. Here's some of what the kid said about his victory:
"I still can't believe it that I beat James Blake," the 18-year-old Nishikori told the crowd, which included a dozen Japanese fans chanting "Nippon! Nippon!" high up in the stands. "I've only seen him on TV. This is my best tournament ever."
With the win, the 244th-ranked Nishikori is expected to move to a No. 122 ranking. He is the youngest player to win an ATP title since Lleyton Hewitt won Adelaide as a 16-year-old in 1998.
"Last night I couldn't imagine. I tried to imagine winning the final, but I couldn't do it," said Nishikori, whose parents watched the match on an Internet feed. "I was so nervous in the first set."
Shuzo Matsuoka was the last tournament champion from Japan. He won his lone career title at the Seoul tournament in April 1992.
Source
That's a long time between drinks for fans of Japanese men's tennis. Here's hoping Nishikori can follow this up with more. He's certainly got the game.
0 comments:
Post a Comment