23 August 2010

2010 AUSTRALIAN OPEN: THE MATTHEW CURSE FOR WILLSTROP IS GOING ON

As much as I have seen of it (2 sets), it's been another classic between James Willstrop and Nick Matthew (without the drama of their last match at Canary Wharf). These two guys invest so much work into their games: nobody bends more and deeper to strike the ball. Their short game is now absolutely outstanding, they both play drops from everywhere and anywhere of the court, and retrieve them (except the last one of course) with both rage and finesse. Even though it lacks extremities or extra 'show elements', I will include the below video in 'the greatest rallies ever' section; it has had not a single loose shot, it had so many rhythm/pace switches, every solution had a purpose, and the clearing was exemplary too. We know that these two chase the volley whenever possible, but hardly anything could be volleyed here due to the tightness of the drives, the heights and lengths of the lobs and the perfect width of the cross-court strokes. The only thing is that even though Willstrop would definitely deserve a win, there is apparently not much anybody can do against Matthew these days (weeks, months...) Next time to try to stop the man will be shortly in Hong Kong, but this time they could only meet in the final.