Leander Paes thread...

[Florian Buechting]

Hi guys,
I was in Halle today, could not stand to see Lee back on court again. What a great match, here is my report.

Like Jaykay already posted:

(3) L.Paes/ D.Rikl d. R.Federer/ Y.Allegro, 67(5) 63 75

Lee started to serve and made it without any problems. Same to Federer, though he had to fight back a 15-30 situation. At Rikl's serve, the Swiss guys had double break point, but two great Lee volley shots made our team take the lead again. Until 4-4 in first set, nothing special happened with all players bringing their service games home without any problems. Then Lee was to serve again. Lee and David had to defeat some seven or eight break points, mainly caused by volley errors of Rikl. But that was the difference today: the first chance to win the game Lee and David the, they took - 5:4 LPDR. No more problems until 6:6, tiebreak. Lee started and made his own serve as well as Federer, Rikl and Allegro did. Then Lee was on serve again, 4-3 for YA/RF. Lee faulted first serve. While throwing the ball up, there came some announcement through the court speakers that somebody shall come somewhere. Fuck, double fault, though it was the first time, it happened several times afterwards during the match, very bad thing! LPDR took the next point and even tied again at Federer to serve. Then our guys were very unlucky having a one of many return shots today, which just went in the net or just a little bit out. At 5-6, Rikl to serve, David made a tiny error which was punished by the Swiss team.

In second set, our guys started well in their serves. On the other hand, they started to make their opponents struggle on their ones. Federer was 40-0 in the lead at 1-1 score and was deuced, Allegro was 15-40 back at 2-2, but both times, our guys could not manage to take advantage out of that. At 3-3, Federer made a real weak impression and was even lucky though he got broken. Two very shortly out-of-bounds shots at 0-15 at 15-40 and a strangely bouncing ball before a Rikl stroke at 30-40 seemed to keep the unfortunate Indian-Czech play alive, but at deuce score, Federer commited the double fault and David took the chance with a great stroke. Paes was on fire now with four incredible serves giving YA/RF no chance. That seemed to impress Allegro who acted quite nervous at his serve and got broken to a final set score of 6-3 for Lee and David.

Though there were some situations where both teams were struggling a little bit at their own serve, they all brought their service games home without danger until 4-4 score. David was to score, it got quite thrilling, but Lee fought some great points to lead 5-4. Allegro acted quite well too, so it was Lee to serve at 5-5. The Swiss guys had two break points at 30-40 and Ad returning team in a great fight, but at the end, a fantastic volley by Rikl could not be returned by Federer. All the spectators on Court 1 prepared for the second tie break of the match, when Federer was to serve. They mostly favoured the Swiss team especially because of Federer, so I was about the only one who cheered at 15-40 score. Federer was able to smash Lee, but Rikls return brought our guys in a rally ending with a smooth volley - 7:5 final set.

This was a real great doubles match with an incredible thrill. I was short before a heart in third set, when our guys gave the Swiss team an incredible fight. I was very impressed by Allegro, who really played great, whereas I was slightly disappointed of Federer. Rikl struggled quite much in first set, but had a great comeback with some smart points especially in third set.

I also made some pics of that match, but at it is about midnight in Germany now and I just came back an hour ago after a three-hour drive, I will put them in the web in some days and post it here. If Lee and David stay in the tournament and will play on Thursday or Friday, I might face Halle (beautiful tournament!) for the second time this week.

Hope the report pleases you :o)
Florian

[Dhruv]

Great job as always Florian

[BSharma]

Thanks Florian for the great report. I will look forward to seeing the pictures of Leander at your website.

[jayakris]

Knew Florian would be there! .. Great work as always. Actually Chris P. Daniel (of the indianfootball.com fame) is also lives closeby there and wrote to me that he missed today's match. Hope he can make it for the next match too.

Good to see that Lee is playing well.. Nice match to get going on grass.

Jay

[PKBasu]

Thank you, Florian, for a wonderful match-report. It is always marvellous to hear from you. It definitely sounded like a very exciting match, and LP/DR have done well to pull off a good win over a strong pair.

[Florian Buechting]

Hi,
I just posted some pictures on my website. This time, there are just 12 of Lee and David, but I think to come back there anyway on Thursday or Friday. The website says, that the quarter finals (which are the 2nd round in doubles) will be played on Friday, but I cannot imagine that they will let our guys wait four days for their second match.

You can find the pics on

http://www.sport-live.net

Quarter final will be another hard task with Novak/Vizner (CZE), who just beat Fyrstenberg/Matkovski (POL) in a three-setter.

Yours,
Florian

[jayakris]

I don't know what is going on in Halle.

LP-DR were up 76(6) 54 and serving. Dropped serve and got even at 55. Then they said "Spiel unterbochen", meaning "play interrupted". I didn't check whether other matches were stopped or not. Anyway, 20 minutes later, I see the Bjorkman match on the center court is going on, and the LP match is still "unterbrochen" .. As far as I know the center court is not covered there, so it cannot be rain. Hope all is well.. Wish they had finished it off at 76 64.

Jay

[sanjay8886]

Seems LP/DR was leading 7-6,5-5 in rnd 2 against Novak/Vizner. After that tournament website does not seem to be updating score for that match.

[sanjay8886]

Eventually LP/DR won the 2nd round against Novak/Vizner. The match seems to have gone to the wire.

7-6(8-6),6-7(6-8),7-6(7-4). WoW!!!

[suresh]

Nice to see them win such a close match. Looks like Lee has
regained match fitness. Next up is the winner of the LOPEZ / SARGSIAN vs FISH / PAVEL match. Fish/Pavel took out the top
seeds Woodbridge/Bjorkman.

[Florian Buechting]

Hey guys, I just came back from Halle. At the moment, I start to
write this report, it is already after midnight in Germany -
please excuse me if my English is not the best any more.

Like you all know

Paes/Rikl def. Novak/Vizner 7:6(6) 6:7(6) 7:6(4)

After Paes won his serve without any problems, Novak had several
break points against himself in the second game of the match. But
JN/PV managed to tie the score. Until the tiebreak of first set,
nothing special happened afterward, all games were won without
major problems by the servers. Four great players battled on
court and showed a stunning tennis doubles match. Lee started the
tiebreak, our guys got the 1-0 lead by a Rikl volley, Paes raised
to a 2 point lead by volley against Novaks serve, too. After
Novak had no problem with his second point to serve as well as
Rikl did in both of his points and the first point of Vizner, the
teams changed sides at a 4-2 Lee/David lead. Vizner made a volley
error immediately afterwards giving our guys the 5-2 lead. After
Lee hit the net in his first serving point, he served well in his
second try - 6:3. Novak did two great serves changing the score
to 6:5. At David's serve, the set already seemed to be won, but
Vizner showed a great reaction and got the ball to tie the score.
Rikl did the next point with his serve, Vizner could not keep his
serve at 7-6 LPDR after a great Rikl return - first set Czech
Republic/India

Though Lee struggled with his first serve at 0:1 in second set,
he managed to win his serving game. After two narrow points and
serving weaknesses of Vizner, he was 15:40 behind. He made a
silly stroke mistake stroking an easy one far out. From now on, I
made a new opponent. When I saw the ball was out, I jumped up
with a loud YES sitting directly near Vizner. Poor guy, he did
not like that All the following servers did their jobs so
that after Lee's serve, LPDR lead 4:2. Now the inglorious show of
the referee started. The first raindrops fell from the sky giving
a slight shower. Usually, that must mean suspending the play,
especially on the slippery grasscourt and the treadless tennis
shoes. But the guy on the umpire chair seemed to want to become
the hero of the day and to finish the match. Vizner and Rikl won
their serves, but on Novaks serve at 5:3 score, you could start
seeing the players slip around and positively they did not want
to play on. Novak won his serve, 5:4. Leander was completely
unable to serve properly and got an ball abuse call after he made
a double fault at 15-40 and shot the ball out of the court. Our
guys beat the first break point and had the right position to tie
the score to deuce. But Leander slipped terribly when he wanted
to volley the ball. Referee, that was YOUR point, that was YOUR
break. No matter whether Lee, David, Novak or Vizner, you risked
the health of the players - two months before Athens! The players
showed now that the definitely did not want to play on and
finally the play was suspended at the score of 5:5. There was
very light rain for about an hour, but after about 90 minutes,
the court was uncovered again... And it started to drizzle again.
So the match could not be restarted, and some four hours after
the suspension, it was put on Center Court as the last match
there - and the first doubles match to be held on Center court at
this tournament (doubles is really massacred in Germany...).
After the break, the Czech guys started better. At Vizners serve,
Lee and David did not seem to be in the game. They just managed
to win David's serve, after Novak and Vizner changed a 30-0 to a
30-40 score. In tie-break, Lee lost his first serving point by a
great Novak return, but got back this small break soon afterward.
The score on court change was 3:3, but Rikls serving point
afterwards was taken by the opponents with a great return. Rikl
to it back with a great return. Paes won both of his service
points to get the 6:5 lead and the first match point for our
team. But Rikls return on Vizner's serve bounced away badly and
another great return at 7:6 NV meaned the tieing of sets. Both
teams were back in the match now and impressed the crowd with a
fantastic doubles match of two even-strengthed teams.

Lee started to serve on third set and won it without problems.
Novak was 15:40 back, but Vizner and he made two good points to
deuce the score. But first Lee and then David returned great, 2:0
LPDR, break ahead! But instead of giving our guys strength, David
seemed to be a bit nervous and made easy mistakes that made our
guys get the re-break at David's serve - 2:1. When Lee served at
the score of 2:2, Novak/Vizner even had break points to get the
lead, but Lee fought back with David who was again much better.
N/V had another break point against David at 3:3, but again could
not score the big point. Lee won his serve without problems, so
the scoreboard stated 5:4 for David and him. At Novak's serve,
they had double match point at 15:40, but Novak was too strong in
serving and won his game. Rikl made some great points at own
serve bringing him and his partner to a 6:5 lead. Again, there
was no chance to beat Vizner's serve, so again, it was tie-break.
Lee served great, Rikl made a good return and Lee a great passing
shot at Novak's serve, so we were 3:0 in front with two small
breaks ahead. Though N/V took both back at Rikl's serve and tied
the score to 3:3 when the sides were changed and even lead 4:3,
our guys fought back, giving their opponents no chance at their
own serve and taking advantage of an misunderstanding at Novak's
serve. The score was 6:4, double match point LPDR, Novak to
serve. What shall I say: they took their chance!

Lee and David showed a great fight and a fantastic doubles match
for the second time this week. Again, I was deeply impressed of
their great understanding of doubles tennis, scoring several
smart points. Nevertheless, their Czech opponents showed a great
match, too.

Lee and David seem to play on Saturday next time. Unfortunately,
I will not be able to be there or at a possible final match. I
also made pics of today, but will not present them before
tomorrow. Of course, I will post it here, when they are online.

Yours,
Florian

[jayakris]

What a fantastic report! .. Thanks Florian. I want to kill that referee! SOB.

Jay

[PKBasu]

Thank you, Florian, for yet another wonderful article. Silly of the referee to force them to play on grass in the rain. Of course he managed to tighten the match -- which must have endeared him to part of the audience. But great job by Paes/Rikl to pull out a good win. The SF should be an easier match. Let's get a title under the belt!!

[Florian Buechting]

Hey guys,

the pictures are online now, you can find them like every time on

http://www.sport-live.net

Hope you like them. By the way, there was an article in the tournament news about Leander yesterday. If manage to translate it until then, I will post it during the day. Apart from that, there will be an article about me and the fanclub in the Halle local newspaper tomorrow or on Monday, I had a chat with one of the editors during the rain delay (I just had ground tickets, so I made something useful during the four hours of waiting *smile*), they also took a pic. The editor will sent it to me when it was published, I will post it here then.

Yours,
Florian

[Florian Buechting]

Here is the report from the yesterday's tournament magazine. I liked it very much, maybe you too:

A double-hearted Indian
Leander Paes is Navratilova's partner in mixed doubles
text: Hans Peter Tipp, translated by Florian Büchting

"It is never easy to beat the world ranked number 1", said
Leander Paes at the 12th Gery Weber Open and reminds about the
narrow first round match with his partner David Rikl agains the
Swiss Roger Federer/Yves Allegro. But this statement could also
be used "against him".

The 30 year old Indian, one of the best doubles players in the
world and still one of the most successful players on ATP tour,
already was on top of the tennis hill. 1999, he and his former
partner Mahesh Bhupathi were undisputed the best doubles in the
world, before they split up two years ago. Actually, the big
success with David Rikl is missed now, but maybe he manages this
already now in Halle, playing second round match versus
Novak/Vizner today.

Especially, his appearances in mixed doubles caused a sensation.
The Indian is on court with the 47 year-old tennis legend Martina
Navratilova. Doubles-specialist has a strong right-handed play,
with contents a very impressing and variable net play.

The team up with Navratilova started at the US Open. "Suddenly,
she stood in the locker room and said: We play doubles together.
She gave me no chance to decline", Paes remembers meeting the
"Grande Dame" of international tennis for the first time.

Since that, the two players mix up the Grand Slam tournaments.
"This is not just just for fun, because we want to win. We play
with the same intensity and obsession, that fits perfectly".

The results show how perfectly it fits: 2003, Paes won his fifth
and sixth Grand Slam title with Navratilova.

On court, Paes experienced many good things. He had to experience
his worst stroke of fate last year, when the doctors suddenly
gave him a cancer diagnosis. Luckily, they were wrong. Now, Paes
wants to keep on to his old successes after a half-a-year
tournament break.