A 2014 US Open match between Roger Federer and Marcel Granollers came up with a rather unusual score line and I have always been fascinated by tennis scores.
Federer won the match by the score of 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 which looks like a total domination despite a first set loss, however perhaps Rog was simply a little slow to get his brilliant game going.
The score reminded me of a fascinating match between my first tennis hero, Bjorn Borg of Sweden and South African legend Johan Kriek.
Borg was being smashed by Kriek in the semi finals of the 1980 US Open when something sparked a Swedish fight back . Kriek lead 6-4, 6-4, with at least a runner's up speech already written in his head.
How's a score line of 6-1, 6-1, 6-1in the last three sets sound Johan ?? Borg could come back like no other ......
In 1987 at Wimbledon Swede Mikael Pernfors lead Jimmy Connors 6-1, 6-1, 4-1 before finding a way to lose. So what is it with a 6-1 score line ?
I remember vividly once at my local Club Championships a student lost by the score of 0-6, 6-1, 6-3. She couldn't believe that after a love first set domination she could lose . My reply was simple.
"So how much energy did your opponent expend with a love reply in the first"?
A puzzled response.
If you lose a set 6-0 or 6-1 you are either being dominated or you haven't woken up yet, many times it's just that, you have got off to a slow start, the brekky is still being digested.
You are by no means out of it by losing a set to 0 or 1 or over the line by being a set or two up by the same score , it's simply where you are at mentally, physically or otherwise in certain stages of the match.
Federer won the last three sets 1,1 and 1 against the Spaniard, he had woken up after the first, but Connors ? He was elsewhere in the first two and a half sets against the Swede, two totally different scenarios, tough to make sense of.
Funny game tennis, many swings and roundabouts, stay focused, eat a good brekky and maintain a level head. Regardless of the score, play each ball like the first shot, there are no memories on a tennis ball, just an imprint in the mind.
Show the game and your opponent you are smarter than the scoreboard.......
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