At the Royal Albert Hall, where the sound of great symphony
orchestras usually fill the air, the beat was changed on Sunday to
the rat-a-tat of a sound not often heard on a tennis court these
days -- serve and volley.
Two of the greatest practitioners of the art, Patrick Rafter
and Stefan Edberg -- both two-time winners of the U.S. Open --
offered up skills of a bye-gone age in the final of the Aegon
Masters Championships with Rafter emerging the winner 6-7 (5), 6-4
and 11-9 in the deciding Champions tiebreak.
On a fast court, surrounded by high-tiered boxes from which
black tie audiences have listened to Brahms, Beethoven and the
Beatles, Rafter and Edberg served up a feast of quick-fire tennis
that belied their advancing years. Edberg is 43 but looks little
different from the elegant athlete of his prime.
"I work out a bit at home and play tennis with some kids and
my old Davis Cup colleague Magnus Larsson who lives nearby," he
told me. "I feel quite good actually."
If Edberg has always been understated, Rafter has never
changed from the laid-back, laconic Aussie who charmed crowds all
over the world.
"I asked a bloke in the front row if he liked the
serve-and-volley stuff," said Rafter. "He said he did but asked if
he was going to get to see any rallies. 'Not today, mate,' I told
him."
Wimbledon changed the ball and slowed down the grass a decade
ago because everyone thought a surfeit of serve and volley was
making the game boring. Now, amidst the interminable rallies, a
match like this comes as a breath of fresh air -- especially when
two champions are hitting the ball as crisply as this.
There was a sensational game -- the fourth of the first set
-- when Edberg cracked three consecutive service returns back past
Rafter and then completed the break with a stunning forehand up the
line, hit on the run. Rafter flung himself at it, rolling across
the court and came up applauding.
But it was the volleying from both men that caught the eye
consistently throughout the match. Some pros on the ATP tour would
do well to get a video of this encounter and study it. In the end,
an ace from Edberg in the deciding breaker was not enough to stop
Rafter reaching a third match point two points later and Edberg
netted off another of those solid Aussie volleys.
The entertainment continued with that quite extraordinary
French-Iranian magician Mansour Bahrami partnering Mark Woodforde
to a doubles victory over Jeremy Bates and Michael Pernfors.
Bahrami, who never made it on the tour because he was trapped in
France for 10 years without a passport after escaping from his
homeland, is now well past 50, but age has not affected his
reflexes and he can still pull off trick shots that defy the eye.
Backhand overhead smashes, holding five balls in one hand and
somehow releasing one to produce an ace, throwing a ball up to
serve but actually hitting a second one produced from his pocket --
Bahrami's range of tricks is endless and the crowds love him.
This week of tennis in a unique setting in the heart of
Kensington is very different from the fare that was on offer at the
ATP finals down in the Docklands at the O2 Arena a week before but
no less enjoyable for that. The game has room for all ages, styles
and eras.
Richard Evans, who commentated at Wimbledon on BBC Radio for 20
years, has been covering tennis since the 1960s and has reported on
more than 150 Grand Slams. He is the author of 15 books, including
the official history of the Davis Cup and the unofficial history of
the modern game in "Open Tennis." He lives in Florida but is still
on the tour 20 weeks in the year.
