Gaston triomphe

Many people didn’t expect the unseeded Gaston Gaudio to clinch the French Open title. I said they should look back to Wimbledon 2001, when another guy I was rooting for, Goran Ivanisevic, decided not to become second best again. Ah, if I were a betting woman…
Now, who would’ve thought red-hot favourite Guillermo Coria would have a leg cramp? Fortunately there wasn’t any fighting in the locker room this time, although he did thrash his countryman 6-0 in the first set. But deja vu it wasn’t in the end.
Gaudio’s facial expressions remind me of Arsenal football player Antonio Reyes’. They have this smiling grimace that makes them a little more likeable than moodier-looking opponents such as Coria. The crowd was behind Gaudio after he went two sets down, but support evened out after his opponent limped off for treatment.
Obviously if not for Coria’s cramps, Gaudio would not have won. He was definitely more erratic and committed many errors that made me want to jump up and take over the game for him (and I suck at tennis!).
For one, I didn’t see the point of channeling so much of his energy into power serves at the expense of accuracy. If I were Sampras / Roddick / Philippoussis on a hard court, that might be a different story, but this is a clay court and you have a limping opponent. Get real.
However the older man started to improve his technique and became a trickier opponent towards the end.
And to be fair, you cannot fault him for fitness, nor for his desire to play at Roland Garros – the commentators noted that he had to rely on financial support from family and friends to send him to France, because he was an unseeded player. Perhaps he’s given the Argentinan government (and many others) something to think about. Nothing is impossible.
And speaking of commentators: Despite the topsy-turvy form of both players, the most irritating person was actually the sports commentator who kept on mixing up Coria with Gaudio – even until the end of the match. It was embarassing and very disturbing that such morons were allowed to speak live on international broadcasts. His fellow commentator(s) kept on correcting him but it didn’t really help.
So it was a gruelling, drawn-out affair in every sense of the word. I can imagine Coria will be back next year with a vengeance. But this is Gaudio’s day.