Philippoussis escapes with five set triumph
By Nyree Epplett
Monday, May 26, 2003
This was a bad case of deja vu. Down two sets to love for the second
consecutive year, Mark Philippoussis looked like being hustled off the red clay
of Roland-Garros and onto a plane back 'Down Under' before the dust had settled
on round one action.
But just as he had done before, the giant Aussie dug deep to perform a
Houdini-like recovery, advancing to the second round with a miraculous five set
triumph over American qualifier Alex Kim 2/6 6/7(1) 7/5 6/2 6/2 in three hours,
five minutes.
His victory sets up a clash with the in-form Spaniard and No4 seed Carlos Moya
–the same second round opponent he faced (and lost to) last year.
For a while today though, it appeared like Philippoussis may succumb to
24-year-old Kim's backcourt hustle. The persistent American, debuting at
Roland-Garros this year, played a solid, consistent match, patiently mixing up
balls from the baseline and dictating play when it counted.
The little-know qualifier took control of points from the start, grabbing the
momentum by cleverly moving the big man around the court and feeding off the
pace of his blistering groundstrokes . By the end of the second set, Kim had
all but demoralized the sluggish Australian with his counter-punching style and
never-say-die attitude.
"I think he was playing some good tennis. He didn't miss much…He liked the
ball coming hard. He's a pretty good defensive player… when he got on the
offense, he hit the ball pretty well," observed Philippoussis.
In stark contrast, a frustrated Philippoussis failed to find his clay court
feet until midway through the third set today, after which he brutally
dismantled the American's game, by attacking the net and driving groundstrokes
into the back of the court. This was vintage Philippoussis!
"I'd like to say I'd go out there and have it easier than that," said the
Australian, who also announced today that he had split with his coach, former
Australian great Peter McNamara. He will now work solely with his father and
long-time mentor Nick.
"It does a lot for your confidence when you come from two-sets-to-love down….I
did it the hard way. But I didn't care how I did it, as long as I come up with
the win.
"But I never thought I was going to lose….To go on to the next match after a
match like that behind me, it's pretty positive."
Despite the victory, Philippoussis admits that he will have to lift it a
notch for his second round match against 1998 champ Moya. A sloppy 101 unforced
errors on Monday certainly won't do anything to lift his wavering confidence.
"For many years, I felt like I lost my game…I was fearless when I was young.
I was hitting my groundstrokes without a care... my technique was fearless.
I think the last few years, I've kind of…lost the speed on my groundstrokes. We've been working on trying to get it back, relax, do the things I was doing when I first got on the tour," said Philippoussis.
For the moment though, the 26-year-old Aussie is injury-free, and is coming off
a relatively positive clay court warm-up season which included a quarter final
appearance at Hamburg.
"(Aganist Moya) I just want to play some good, solid tennis. Obviously, I can't
stay at the back of the court all day with him. They live for that sort of
stuff. I've got to play my game, play strong, come to the net, try to make him
pass me. If he does, too good."
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Mark 換教練了
期待他第二輪與Moya打出精彩比賽
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※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.csie.ntu.edu.tw)
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