Ricky Dimon

• The greatest road trip in sports: D.C. Day 4

  2008-08-17 01:30:23
  

  Tennistalk’s Ricky Dimon is on stop two of three of his trip through the U.S. Open Series, billed as “The Greatest Road Trip in Sports.” This week he is blogging live from the Legg Mason Classic in Washington D.C.
  
  Thursday simply put all other days to shame.
  
  The fact that the practice courts were the best yet was a good sign. On the main practice courts Germans Mischa Zverev and Denis Gremelmayr were hitting together and Andrea Stoppini was hitting with Scoville Jenkins. None of those guys are in the tournament anymore, and Jenkins was never even in the tournament to begin with! Who knows what he is doing here.
  
  After a while I went to see if the match courts had some more exciting action going on. Juan Martin Del Potro was sitting in a chair on Court 1 so I stopped by to see if he would continue practicing. He was there with coach Franco Davin; you might know him if you happened to be a huge Gaston Gaudio fan back in 2004 (like me). Davin coached Gaudio to the Argentine's stunning French Open title that year.
  
  I knew Del Potro was finished with his practice when none other than Andy Roddick walked out onto the court. At that time it was Roddick, Del Potro, their coaches, two other fans, and me on Court 1. Then Bobby Reynolds came out to hit with Roddick, and of course the fans followed once they noticed Roddick there.
  
  At one point Roddick said to Reynolds across the net, "How about James?" referring to James Blake's win over Roger Federer at the Olympics.
  
  Reynolds: "I know. First time (referring to first time beating Federer). What a time for it. And he likes playing Rafa."
  
  Roddick: "He plays Gonzalez first."
  
  Reynolds: "How does he do against Gonzalez?"
  
  Roddick: "He's down. Probably two or three down." (Referring to their head-to-head record).
  
  Reynolds: "Well you can't complain about the semifinals."
  
  It started raining a little, enough to force them off the practice court since they did not want to do anything stupid before their respective matches coming up later in the day. The rain only delayed match play, however, for about 15 minutes.
  
  The first match on Stadium was doubles between Americans Paul Goldstein and John Isner and American Travis Parrott and Slovak Filip Polasek. Parrott and Polasek are regular partners while Goldstein and Isner were teaming up for the first time, so it's not surprising that Parrott and Polasek won in straight sets. The first, however, ended in a hard-fought tiebreaker and overall it was a good match.
  
  Then it was time for singles action. Reynolds and Viktor Troicki were already in the second set when I arrived at the Grandstand. Reynolds dropped the first but was on fire from the moment I took my seat. He took the second easily and was in control of the third until Troicki righted the ship. The Serb broke Reynolds in his last two service games and closed out the match serving at 5-4. A very disappointing loss as an American tennis fan, but it was good to see Reynolds playing at such a high level for two and a half sets.
  
  The Reynolds-Troicki match obviously lasted a while so Roddick and Eduardo Schwank had already finished a set when I got back to the Stadium. I guess it shouldn't be too surprising that Roddick--who hasn't been that great recently--lost the first, but I'm sure the fans (most of whom probably have no idea who Schwank is) were stunned.
  
  Roddick won the second and was up a break in the third, but Schwank stormed back to break twice and he held two match points while serving for a spot in the quarterfinals at 5-4. Roddick saved the first and then the Argentine double-faulted on the second. Two points later it was 5-5 and two holds later we had a third-set tiebreaker on our hands. Roddick came up with the goods, including a massive forehand passing shot at 5-1, and prevailed seven points to two.
  
  Fortunately the Roddick-Schwank match lasted longer than expected, so a mass exodus ensued and that opened up the front row for the most anticipated match of the day: Somdev Devvarman vs. Robert Kendrick.
  
  Both players came into this one red hot, especially Somdev, the two-time reigning NCAA singles champion who won four consecutive Challengers and Futures events right out of college. He also won three matches over the weekend to qualify for the Legg Mason main draw and then beat Taylor Dent in the first round. Kendrick also won three weekend matches to qualify for the main draw and scored a big upset of Feliciano Lopez in round one.
  
  Kendrick was positively awful for one and a half sets on this night. All Somdev had to do was track down a few balls and get them back in the court on every point, and that's what Somdev does best. Out of nowhere, however, Kendrick turned his game completely around, got back on serve in the second, and forced a tiebreaker which he won seven points to five.
  
  Despite the turnaround and continued stellar play in set three, Kendrick never got over the fact that the American crowd was pro-Somdev, who is from India. It probably did not affect the outcome of the match, but Kendrick was never in a good mood throughout the proceedings.
  
  Both men had chances to break in the final set, and to the delight of many in the crowd (although by this time not many were still around) one finally came at 5-5. With Kendrick serving, Somdev played a game reminiscent of the third-set tiebreaker in his 2007 NCAA title match against Isner (I doubt more than 400 people saw that live or on TV, but I've never seen anyone play a better tiebreaker). He came up with several amazing passing shots and one awesome topspin lob to finish off the break. Somdev then closed out the match in routine fashion serving at 6-5.
  
  Fabio Fognini and Igor Kunitsyn were scheduled to play on Stadium AFTER Somdev and Kendrick, but that would have been ridiculous seeing how long the two previous matches lasted. So they were moved to the Grandstand; a good thing since Somdev and Kendrick ended around midnight.
  
  Although most people didn't even consider going back over to the Grandstand at that point, I'm ashamed to admit that I did not make it to the end of Fognini and Kunitsyn. I stayed until the start of the third set, and wouldn't you know it, I ended up missing another third-set tiebreaker. I have to say, though, it says more about the two players involved than my own tennis fandom that I did not stay for the end. I don't feel too bad; there was barely a sole around (except for Somdev and his UVA crowd stayed to scout his next opponent) and almost no cars left in the parking lot when I headed out.
  
  That's all for Day 4! Day 5 features all four quarterfinal showdowns, starting with Isner and ending with Somdev.

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