Marcos Baghdatis’ unprecedented meltdown in his match against Stan Wawrunka where he systematically destroyed four racquets, has developed a huge worldwide following, with over 350,000 people and counting, accessing it on YouTube. Even top seed Novak Djokovic could not wait to see Baghdatis in action. Baghdatis also earned himself a $1200 fine in the process. This probably earned him more publicity than his run to the Australian Open finals a few years ago.
Meanwhile, at the tennis, Aisam Qureshi won his Mixed doubles first round match comfortably, he and partner Andrea Hlavackova taking out Jelena Dokic and Paul Hanley of Australia, 6-3,6-1. The Czech-Pakistani pairing was especially good on the big points, winning four out of nine break points while not allowing their opponents to win even one of their eight break opportunities. Aisam and Jean Julien Roger play Phillip Marx and Adil Shamasdin in the second round of the men’s doubles Saturday (today), the fourth match on court 18.
Federer, Nadal on showdown course
He started out as a basketball player but injuries forced him to take up tennis. Croatian Ivo Karlovic has not done badly for himself on the tennis court either. His 6 ft 10inch frame gives him a huge angle into the service box and he also owns the record for the fastest serve ever. This afternoon Karlovic gave Roger Federer all he could handle in their third round match. Karlovic had set point in the first set, but a desperately scrambled lob was too much for him and Federer pulled away to a straight sets victory.
Rafael Nadal advanced comfortably and the two are scheduled to meet in the semifinals. The two are good friends although Nadal came out against Federer’s policy of avoiding controversy in tennis’ political matters.
Strike on the cards?
It seems that there is trouble bubbling under the surface of the smoothly running ATP Tour and there is even talk of a strike by the players. What is obvious is that the lower rungs of the tour, the Futures and the Challengers have prize money which is a fraction of that on the main tour. Something definitely needs to be done to address this so that the up and coming players can at least pay their way through these tours. American John Isner was bounced out of the Open, leaving no American in the last sixteen. This is an accurate reflection of the state of American men’s tennis, which has fallen on desperately hard times.
