Boys' Semi-Final Preview
Boys' Semi-Final Preview
Thursday, July 1, 2004
It will be difficult to bet against Gael Monfils, the top seed from France,
adding the Junior Wimbledon title to the trophies he has won this year at
Melbourne and Paris. The French 17 year-old is on a quest, namely to be the
first junior since Stefan Edberg to do the Grand Slam, the Swede having
achieved that back in 1983.
However, Monfils, a strapping lad with a big serve, is not comfortable on
grass as his results this week show, for he has been unable to dominate his
opponents in his usual manner, an aspect which no doubt his next opponent
will hope to capitalise on.
He’s had to battle through some tight spots and some crucial tie-breaks, to
post his four wins of the week but to his credit, he has stuck to his job
admirably and showed the sort of determination one would expect from a
prospective champion.
The player hoping to upset him is his compatriot Jeremy Chardy, aged 16 and a
qualifier, who launched his excellent run into the semis by dispatching the
tenth seed Sun-Yong Kim from Korea, and two rounds later adding the scalp of
the eighth seed, Germany’s Sebastien Rieschnick.
Chardy is also the player who ended the prospect of Britain having two
semi-finalists when he ended Jamie Baker’s run in the quarters today. The
two will know each others games though they have yet to meet on the circuit.
But despite his excellent, albeit surprising, run into the semis – a feat
which will have boosted his confidence no end – one has to go with Monfils
for a place in the final.
There, following Tim Henman’s loss in the main draw, Britain’s Miles Kasiri
will be hoping to be still in contention. By reaching the semi-finals, the
Margate 18-year-old is the first Briton to match Jamie Delgado’s run of
1994.
Unseeded, the recent winner of the Queen’s Invitational Junior event who
failed at the first hurdle in the Roehampton warm-up event, has produced
some gutsy performances, the most notable being his removal of the third
seed, Josselin Ouanna of France. It was a very close match and again, it
was the stubbornness of the Brit which helped him prevail over three sets.
He will need more of that British bulldogedness when he faces the American
Scoville Jenkins, 17, the eleventh seed, the only semi-finalist not to have
dropped a set so far this week. Neither has met in competitive circumstances
before and Kasisri is very much the underdog.
“I feel very good,” Kasiri, whose family comes from Iran, said after his
win. “Reaching the semis at Wimbledon is the highpoint of my career so far.
I didn’t play too well but I’m in the semis and now hope to go further."
“I love to play on grass,” the oldest of the last four said. His semi-final
will no doubt be followed with great interest by his family, who were also
courtside today, and a partisan crowd looking for a player to restore some
home pride. Should he make the final, he will be the first Brit since Buster
Mottram achieved that in 1972. He then lost to Bjorn Borg. For the record,
the last Brit to win the juniors, was Stanley Matthews in 1962.
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