Little guys can win at tennis. Just ask Olivier Rochus. The diminutive Belgian has been pounding around the ATP tour for 10 years proving that someone all of 5-foot-6 can compete against the behemoths that are invading the game, and today he pulled off the best win of his career when he took out No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic, beating the Serb in a brilliantly played encounter 6-2, 6-7, 6-4.
No question that Rochus deserved this victory. Djokovic was decent enough to say so himself: “He was playing really well today and I want to congratulate him. He deserved it.”
Rochus won because he maintained a positive attitude, even after missing chances to close it out in two sets. He had the Serb down 0-40 on his serve at 3-3 in the second set and missed a fourth break point when Djokovic came up with one of his better points — a deep off-forehand winner. But in the previous game, in which the Belgian lost his early break, he ended a truly spectacular rally on game point by putting a forehand fractionally wide. Sixteen times the ball crossed the net and on at least six occasions, the ball either hit the line or dropped inches inside the apex of the court.
Rochus has long been known as one of the cleanest hitters of a tennis ball on the tour. He exhibits a classic one-handed backhand and wins points through timing and technique. He talked about being able to move Djokovic around with his forehand but on three occasions he cut short a long rally by turning the wrist and sending a bullet of a backhand straight up the line for a winner. You have to be good to pull that off against someone like Djokovic.
As for the Serb, we have not seen the best of him since he bore the brunt of the pressure in that Davis Cup tie against the United States in Belgrade four weeks ago. It was windy and humid here — conditions that seemed to affect him more than his opponent. Frequently forehands flew long for no apparent reason and he never served well.
“It’s obvious I don’t feel great on court,” he said. “Everybody could see that. Life goes on, you know. I’ve gotta rest now and try to make up for these defeats on clay courts.”
Rochus admitted that his years of experience on the tour probably took him through to what he called one of his best victories.
“I stayed positive and that’s why I won the match. Because after the loss of the second set, if I would have been down mentally, I would never have had the chance to win. But I just said ‘enjoy it, just play. Don’t think about this too much.’”
In the end he reduced Djokovic to attempting backhand drop shots at inappropriate moments and netting most of them. The way Rochus reached one that did clear the net and then back pedaled to put away a great smash re-affirmed what we all know — great athletes come in all shapes and sizes, and the game of tennis can accommodate them all.
Some bigger players were blown away by the Florida winds on a rain-interrupted day and, unfortunately many of them were Americans. Sam Querrey got a set start against the wiry Frenchman Jeremy Chardy but then allowed his opponent to dictate play and went down 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
“I don’t know what it is about this place,” Querrey grumbled afterwards. “I can’t play here. It’s too windy. I should have gone for my forehand instead of pushing it.”
James Blake had a similar story to tell as he went down 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 to the 27th ranked Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci. Too many wayward shots in the wind against a man who had plenty of South American support.
Both Querrey and Blake felt they should have won their matches. Not so Taylor Dent who faced Rafael Nadal on the Stadium Court. Dent would have been hoping he could serve well enough to keep Nadal at bay but it was not to be. The Spaniard handled the Californian’s big delivery well enough to go through 6-4, 6-3.
