During the Las Vegas tournament Greg had experienced pain in his lower ribs area whilst serving, so he decided not to rush back to Australia for the Traralgon Challenger. The time change coupled with travel times would have meant he arrived in Melbourne on Friday, would have to get home, then drive to Traralgon, have a late afternoon hit to adjust to different court and ball conditions, all whilst jet-lagged, then try and recover before playing in qualifying on Saturday morning. If he won that match he most probably would have to play a second matches on that day, due to the Tennis Australia policy, (unlike most of the other countries of the world), of playing two qualifying rounds on one day. In the other Challenger tournaments they play on three consecutive days. By insisting they play two qualifying matches on one day, Tennis Australia show a distinct lack of respect for the qualifying players and have little appreciation or care for the demands the matches have on a player's body. Little wonder the Australian players have a litany of injuries during their fledgling years, which they carry on into careers.
Greg rather chose to give his ribs a rest and stayed in Las Vegas an extra couple of days to take in a show, a Michael Jackson tribute which he said was outstanding and then helped Sam Groth celebrate his 30th birthday, the two players having known each other since they were young teenagers. He then returned to LA and stayed with good friend Carsten Ball, catching up on lost time before returning on his scheduled flight back to Melbourne.
Refreshed and after a couple of training sessions at Kooyong and Melbourne Park, with no problem with his ribs, Greg then went to Canberra for the qualifying of the next Challenger tournament. Seeded 7, his opponent was 23 year old Australian Alexander Babanine, currently ranked 1761. However, Greg had another problem - a pain below his right knee, at the bottom of his tendon, which had become inflamed after his econd practise session in Melbourne. Greg had the knee taped by the physio and hoped that it would not restrict his movement or get any worse.
Serving first, four first serves in the first game by Greg, on a fast hard court surface, saw Greg start the match confidently, and he quickly moved to 2-1 up. On the back of two close line calls that went his way, when Babanine hit two consecutive shots long, Greg then broke Babanine to lead 3-1. Greg was serving well, hitting six aces and winning all his first serves in the first set, as well as playing some sublime volleys and forehand winners, and he served out the set 6-3.
The second set, with Babanine serving first, saw services dominate and there was only one deuce game in the score getting to 5-5. However Greg was being hampered by a worsening knee problem, and was moving less well, at times limping, and his service action was being compromised, as he favoured his right knee and his left leg was taking all the weight of the serve. At 5-6 down, serving to stay in the set, and at 40-15 looking like he was going to take the set to the tie-break, he failed to convert the game, losing four points in a row on the back of four second serve and dropped the set 5-7, the match tied a one set all.
With Babanine serving first in the third set, games went with serve to 2-1. Then an evidently struggling Greg took an injury time out. There was not much he could do about his knee but he needed attention on his other leg due to the strain he was placing on that leg. He came out and served an ace, but was then pegged back to face break point. Another two good serves saved the break point and brought up game point in his favour, but he was again pegged back to deuce and then broken to trail 1-3. With new balls Babanine consolidated and stretched the lead to 4-1. Greg contemplated withdrawing but struggled on, trying to keep the points short, trying to win the match on one leg. And he played some great tennis to hold serve and then forced Babanine to break point and broke back to give himself a chance at 3-4. But his movement was too impeded and Babanine played steady tennis, forcing Greg to move around the court and then broke Greg again to serve for the match at 5-3. He then served out the match, much to his delight, to win the set 6-3, and a tight match 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Greg was extremely frustrated by the match, the circumstances and the result. He had played good tennis but was hampered by his injury. Tennis at the professional level demands a fully functioning body, operating at maximum capacity, even in qualifying and whilst Greg had almost won the match playing virtually with one good leg, it would have been pointless as he still had to win another two matches to qualify, one of which he would have had to play two hours later.
Greg had planned to travel to Japan to play in the Challenger tournament next week but now will take more time off to try and recover, and to contemplate his way forward from here. That will be his last match for this somewhat traumatic year, which has been full of injuries, much recovery time and a lot of very close matches, many of which have not gone his way unfortunately.
Greg rather chose to give his ribs a rest and stayed in Las Vegas an extra couple of days to take in a show, a Michael Jackson tribute which he said was outstanding and then helped Sam Groth celebrate his 30th birthday, the two players having known each other since they were young teenagers. He then returned to LA and stayed with good friend Carsten Ball, catching up on lost time before returning on his scheduled flight back to Melbourne.Refreshed and after a couple of training sessions at Kooyong and Melbourne Park, with no problem with his ribs, Greg then went to Canberra for the qualifying of the next Challenger tournament. Seeded 7, his opponent was 23 year old Australian Alexander Babanine, currently ranked 1761. However, Greg had another problem - a pain below his right knee, at the bottom of his tendon, which had become inflamed after his econd practise session in Melbourne. Greg had the knee taped by the physio and hoped that it would not restrict his movement or get any worse.
 |
| Alex Babanine |
Serving first, four first serves in the first game by Greg, on a fast hard court surface, saw Greg start the match confidently, and he quickly moved to 2-1 up. On the back of two close line calls that went his way, when Babanine hit two consecutive shots long, Greg then broke Babanine to lead 3-1. Greg was serving well, hitting six aces and winning all his first serves in the first set, as well as playing some sublime volleys and forehand winners, and he served out the set 6-3.
The second set, with Babanine serving first, saw services dominate and there was only one deuce game in the score getting to 5-5. However Greg was being hampered by a worsening knee problem, and was moving less well, at times limping, and his service action was being compromised, as he favoured his right knee and his left leg was taking all the weight of the serve. At 5-6 down, serving to stay in the set, and at 40-15 looking like he was going to take the set to the tie-break, he failed to convert the game, losing four points in a row on the back of four second serve and dropped the set 5-7, the match tied a one set all.
 |
| Greg hitting rather tentatively |
Greg was extremely frustrated by the match, the circumstances and the result. He had played good tennis but was hampered by his injury. Tennis at the professional level demands a fully functioning body, operating at maximum capacity, even in qualifying and whilst Greg had almost won the match playing virtually with one good leg, it would have been pointless as he still had to win another two matches to qualify, one of which he would have had to play two hours later.
Greg had planned to travel to Japan to play in the Challenger tournament next week but now will take more time off to try and recover, and to contemplate his way forward from here. That will be his last match for this somewhat traumatic year, which has been full of injuries, much recovery time and a lot of very close matches, many of which have not gone his way unfortunately.
No comments:
Post a Comment