Sun & Strokes: An Epic Parlay
It was a parlay of epic proportions on Tuesday afternoon when 68th ranked Arnaud Clement met with 16th seeded Marcos Baghdatis at the US Open. The heat was on outside and within these men’s hearts an even larger fire burned. During this three and a half hour long opus, two great players showed us the fibres of their fabric and revealed what a world class warrior is made of. This may not have been the finals, but it may just be the greatest game this U.S. Open will see for a while.
At 11:00 am on a hot and humid Tuesday morning, the two came face to face. Baghdatis had been the runner-up at the 2006 Australian Open. This had for some time catapulted him to 8th ranked in the world. Clement, though a former top ten player, hadn’t defeated anybody in the top 20 at a Grand Slam competition in about eight years. The first set started things off strongly for Clement who beat out his rival 6-3.
It was in the second set that Baghdatis’s talent first began to shine. With sniper-like aces and powerful returns he dominated his French rival and won that round 6-2 over Clement.
The third round also belonged to Baghdatis, who forced Clement around the field, but the heat of the day was clearly getting to him. Both men seemed in a daze, and it was at this exact juncture that the Frenchman played the best cards he had and played smart.
Clement moved the ball around the court forcing Baghdatis to run for every point. Baghdatis took on his challenge. He was even seen running into courtside chair trying to run down a drop volley, but his efforts were ultimately in vain. Though the third round was a tight one, Clement won it out, and Baghdatis didn’t have any more fight in him after that.
Don’t get me wrong, Baghdatis fought, he fought to the end, to the point of exhaustion; some were worried for these players safety, but in the end, it was Clement who won the most sets. In Baghdatis’s favour he did have more aces, more winners and more points than his French rival, but in the words of the always gracious Cypriot sportsman: “I’m a bit disappointed for sure but...That’s the sport, that’s life...I didn’t play good tennis...now I’ll just try to continue”
Temperatures on the court reached up to 48°C, paramedics were ready and waiting and the world wide audience from Sydney to Nunavut was sweating for them.
Tags: