Henman battles back to down Llodra in classic
Henman battles back to down Llodra in classic
By Matthew Cronin
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Britain’s Tim Henman pulled off the most significant victory of his Grand
Slam career off grass with an amazing 6-7 (2) 4-6 6-4 6-3 9-7 victory over
France’s Michael Llodra and moved into the quarter finals on Sunday.
It’s the first time that Henman has ever reached a quarter final of a Grand
Slam outside of Wimbledon and he had to call on all his vast reserves to pull
off the remarkable victory.
"It terms of atmosphere and drama, this one rates up pretty high," said
Henman, who fought off a match point in the fifth set. "To come through a
match like that and find a way to win, I think it’s kind of character
building."
In a remarkably gutsy display against the zoning Frenchman, Henman came back
from a break down in the third set by cranking up his serves, volleying
beautifully and with precision, and displaying a passing game that he’s
rarely shown on clay.
For his part, Llodra played a sound and courageous match, which lasted for a
wildly entertaining four hours and 11 minutes on Suzanne Lenglen court. The
tall lefty served huge throughout the match, was hyper aggressive with his
slapping forehand and backhand and charged the net with similar ferocity as
Henman.
"Our styles are pretty rare on clay," Henman said. "They probably saw more
volleys in this match than they’ve seen the rest of the tournament."
But it was the 29-year-old Britain’s experience, never-say-die attitude and
court smarts that pulled him through in the end, as he consistently changed
strategies throughout the match and kept Llodra guessing.
Llodra - who had never won a singles match at Roland Garros prior to this
year - got off to an early lead when he broke Henman with a forehand down
the line winner to 4-2. But Llodra failed to serve out the set at 5-3 when
he framed a backhand and the two went in to a tiebreaker, where Henman
mentally broke down after missing a sitter forehand at 2-2. After that,
a charged up Llodra ran away with the breaker as Henman committed four
errors.
The athletic Frenchman pounced on Henman early in the second set, breaking
him to open the set and holding on in a tight game to win the set when on
his third set point, he forced Henman into a backhand error.
Henman appeared all the but done when he broken to 3-2 in the third set after
Llodra smoked a forehand return winner. But almost out of nowhere, Henman
raised his game to the heavens, breaking Llodra back at love with a forehand
volley winner. He then broke the Frenchman to win the set when he whipped an
inside-out forehand return of serve winner.
"He was the one who was dictating play, serving aggressively and getting
forward," Henman said. "For an hour and 49 minutes, I was playing the wrong
way. I was being reactive rather than proactive. That's something I need to
avoid because that’s not my style."
A focused Henman broke Llodra to 4-2 in the fourth set with a gorgeous lob
winner and then won the set by blasting a service winner.
The fifth set is what weekend days at Suzanne Lenglen are made of, when both
men overcame heavy legs and fragile nerves and put on a dazzling display of
tennis. Henman broke Llodra to open the set with a backhand down the line
winner, but with the crowd urging him on, Llodra reignited his batteries
when he took a huge Henman overhead in the fourth game of the set and
slapped it back for a winner. Llodra went into a windfall fist pump and
Henman eventually double faulted to hand Llodra the break back to 2-2.
"It was a fluke," Henman said of the returned overhead. "I hit two great
smashes and he charges in and makes a one million shot. It was a big
point."
Llodra was briefly strapped into the drivers seat with Henman serving at 4-5
in a torturous game and held a match point, but hit a soft chip approach shot
that Henman ate up and crushed a forehand down the line.
That shot turned the tide in Henman’s favor and in the last game, he laid
back, waited for Llodra to charge and whizzed passing shots by him. Henman
won the contest when he torched a forehand down the line past an outstretched
Llodra.
"I certainly take lot of positives out of it, determination and mental
strength and I showed that I can get through," said Henman, who will
play Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Chela in the quarters. Chela upended
France’s Olivier Mutis in four sets.
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