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Tennis Player Plays to Medal Level
// Dmitry Tursunov Takes Russia into the Final of the Davis Cup
Ten years ago, what Russian national tennis team player Dmitry Tursunov achieved yesterday would have won him the Medal for Courage from the Russian president. In a match that lasted almost five hours Tursunov defeated the American Andy Roddick and captured the last match needed to catapult the Russian team to victory in the semifinal of the Davis Cup. In the final round against the Argentine national team, which will take place in Moscow in December, the Russian team will have an excellent shot at taking home their second trophy in the world's most prestigious national team tournament.
The Russian national team has reached the final of the David Cup four times before, and in 2002 Russia defeated France to win the trophy. The competition between Russia and America, however, dates from the semifinal match in 1995 when the Russian Andrey Chesnokov pulled out a seemingly impossible victory against the German Michael Stich to put Russia into the final against America (though America eventually won the trophy). In that match, which has already passed into the realm of legend, Chesnokov succeeded in winning the nine match points that he needed against one of the world's top tennis players, a feat that so impressed then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin that he awarded Chesnokov the Medal of Courage.
Perhaps unfortunately for Tursunov, times have changed: the Russian players are no longer considered outsiders in the world of competitive tennis, and experts believe that they have a solid chance at this year's title. Tursunov's feat, however, was a shining example of exceptional playing and courage under fire that should inspire discussions of how to broaden the appeal of tennis in Russia.
At first, everything seemed to be going easily for Tursunov in the match against Roddick. The American seemed not to have adjusted to the clay court, which is not his favorite surface, and his serves lacked their usual speed and precision. Tursunov, despite being thrown into the match unexpectedly to replace Davydenko, who had come down with a fever, was much more flexible in his style than Roddick. Under the gaze of his teammates and despite limp attempts on the part of the American fans present to support their favorite, Roddick could not figure out how to play against Tursunov and faltered immediately, giving up two sets in a row.
Nevertheless, Roddick eventually managed to master himself and to change his style of play to meet Tursunov's attack. In the eleventh game of the third set, Roddick capitalized on a nervous mistake by Tursunov to make a break point, overtaking his opponent 6:5. The American went on to take the fourth set as well, bringing the two players even at two sets each and setting the stage for the showdown.
A look at the statistics, however, shows that Roddick's entire game seemed to come from nowhere. He made numerous mistakes, had only 11 aces in comparison to Tursunov's 32, and won outright only 16 points, versus 59 for Tursunov.
In the fifth set, the game initially looked ready to go to Roddick. In the eleventh game Tursunov served up an easy ball, and it seemed that the match was over. For the next 21 games, however – the set lasted a whopping 32 games – Roddick and Tursunov traded the break point back and forth before Tursunov managed to snatch victory from the American, sending the spectators in the stands into a frenzy. Together with Friday's victories by Marat Safin and Mikhail Yuzhny over Roddick and James Blake, respectively (Yuzhny and Tursunov lost their doubles match on Saturday to Bob and Mike Bryan), the tally stood at 3:1 in favor of the Russians, leaving nothing for the final match (between Safin and Blake) to decide.
Argentina, whom Russia will meet in the final, fields a solid team. Oddly enough, however, the Argentine team would seem to be an easy match for the Russians: for example, in meetings between the team captains, Russia's Marat Safin leads Argentina's David Nalbandian 6:1.
Afsati Jusoiti
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 25, 2006
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