TENNIS:AFTER ANOTHER quick start to the diminution of British interest – Elena Baltacha lasted a tick over an hour against Sam Stosur in the first result of the 2012 French Open – attention switched later to the embarrassment of others, and Andy Roddick was a scowling loser at the end of day one.
He went out in four sets 6-3 6-3 4-6 6-2 to the Wimbledon marathon man, Nicolas Mahut, who put 13 aces past the American to the delight of Parisians crammed into Court Suzanne Lenglen on a warm and otherwise uneventful start to the tournament.
Consigned to the second interview room rather than the main stage, he was more combative than on court, taking on inquisitors who wanted to know if his injury woes or just natural decline were bringing the former slam winner to grief in the fading days of his fine career.
Pausing as he dragged his baseball cap down to shade his blazing eyes from the camera lights, he replied: “I’m fine. I lost a match to someone who played better than me. I’m not going to discuss injuries, no matter how many ways you ask the question. My [expectations] probably were not great. I moved horrendously and my first step on this stuff was just really bad.” Banana skins lurk across the draw in big tournaments and Tatsuma Ito could be one. He once was a skinhead but now sports a rich flop of black hair and a pretty mean defensive game from the back of the court.
Tomorrow he hopes to give Andy Murray a fright with skills inspired by his boyhood hero, Andre Agassi, although the world number four would have to be seriously off his game to tumble out against an opponent 64 places adrift of him in the rankings.
They have met twice – in doubles in Japan last year, and on the practice court – and Ito will know Murray’s game better than vice-versa, given the Scot’s profile. Ito’s biggest win was also his most recent – over the 26th-ranked Radek Stepanek in Dusseldorf, after dispatching the rising American Ryan Harrison in the first round, so he is in form, and fit.
But how fit is Murray? He bridled at the weekend when pushed about suspicions that his back “niggle” was anything more than that, and he fairly made the point that most players are carrying some sort of physical inconvenience, from Rafael Nadal’s knees to Novak Djokovic’s back.
Even the patron saint of perfection, Roger Federer, has complained recently of back trouble. It would be odd if they did not suffer for their art.
Today, Djokovic plays the Italian Potito Starace on Court Philippe Chatrier and Federer meets the German Tobias Kamki on Court Suzanne Lenglen, as the tournament hits another gear.
Baltacha pushed Stosur in the first set before lunch in front of a small crowd on Chatrier yesterday, clawing her way back to 5-4, then was reduced to the role of spectator as the Australian swept past her to love in the second.
“If I played really well, maybe she had a bit of an off-day, then potentially I would have had a chance,” Baltacha said. “She went up a couple of levels and was just too good in the second set. I was absolutely ready to go. I didn’t mind that I was scheduled first on.”
