Back in the Saddle #2

Prague night scene

The medical advice Greg received was to re-commence playing on a clay court surface which would have less impact on his troubled knee tendons and provide a better chance of recovery, so Greg's first tournament was the Prague Open Challenger. However it was a destination of choice this week for all the Challenger player's wishing to get some clay court time prior to the French Open and thus Greg did not make the cut-off for the main draw and was forced to go through qualifying, his ranking having dropped to the mid 200's since he had not played for three month due to the injury.
He was seeded No.3 for the qualifying, having to win three matches to be one of 4 qualifiers going into the main draw, so he was seeded to qualify. But the draw gods were not kind, Greg drawing the highest player not to be seeded in the top 8, effectively the No.9 seed. Greg's opponent was his peer, 23 year old Colombian Alejandro Gonzalez, currently ranked 279, with a high rank of 238. A very winnable match for a match fit and healthy Greg.

Prague at night on the river

Greg served first but did not start well, dropping his first serve to trail 0-1. He tried to hit back immediately, bringing up break point on Gonzalez's next service game but was not able to break, games going with serve to 4-5, with Gonzalez serving for the set. Greg dug deep and at 30-40 broke Gonzalez to level the score at 5 games all. But Gonzalez responded, getting Greg to 15-40 in the next game and breaking him to again take the lead at 6-5 and again serve for the set, this time successfully, winning the set 7-5.

Prague night scene

Greg started the 2nd set serving well going to a 2-1 lead. With Gonzalez serving the sixteenth game with old balls, Greg returned well, getting Gonzalez to 0-40 and breaking to lead 3-1. Greg consolidated the break and got to 5-2, before breaking Gonzalez again to win the set 6-2 and level the match at 1 set all, and also get the advantage of serving first in the final set.

Centre Court at the Prague Open

After three months injury layoff, three sets of tennis would test Greg's match fitness level. He started and held serve to get to 2-2 but could not make the same in-roads on Gonzalez's serve as in the 2nd set. Greg saved a break point opportunity against him and the score went to 3-3. He then went 15-40 down against a resurgent Gonzalez and saved the first break point but then Gonzalez prevailed, to break and lead 4-3. Gonzalez shut Greg out in the his next game, going up 5-3, then pressured Greg's serve enough to get him to 30-40 and match point., breaking a tired Greg again, to win the 3rd set 6-3 and the match 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.

Alejandro Gonzalez


In a tough first up match Greg needed to win in straight sets, and the early break of serve in the first set, and again when he levelled the match at 5-5, proved decisive.
Whilst disappointed in the result, Greg said his leg felt ok and he had played well, just losing intensity and penetration in the 3rd set, especially on his first serve, his 1st serve percentage being good but his win rate on those 1st serves dropping to a low 60%.
Greg is hoping to contest the doubles, depending on whether he can make the cut, otherwise it will be some more training before heading for Bordeaux for the next tournament.