[DC]Arazi Forced to Retire
06 Feb 2004 - Agadir, Morocco - Chris Bowers
Arazi Forced to Retire
The saying "it never rains, it pours" seems applicable to Morocco in more
senses than one. With the mountains struggling for rain in what's nominally
the rainy season, the country's tennis players are struggling for both
fitness and respectability, and having lost their No 1 player Younes el
Aynaoui, there is now severe doubt surrounding what further part in the
weekend their No 2 Hicham Arazi can play.
Arazi had to retire with an injury to his upper right leg after two and a
half hours of his opening day's singles against David Nalbandian, giving
Argentina the win 46 61 75 21, and effectively kissing goodbye to any chance
the home nation had of winning its first World Group tie on Moroccan soil.
Guillermo Coria's earlier 61 61 64 win over Mounir el Aarej illustrated the
massive gulf between el Aynaoui and Arazi and the rest of Morocco's players,
and Arazi's place in Saturday's doubles is now in doubt.
"The chances of me being ready for the doubles are very slim," he said.
The injury turns what had seemed a dream weekend for Morocco into a
nightmare. Arazi is still due to partner El Aarej in the doubles against
Agustin Calleri and Lucas Arnold, but with his withdrawal imminent, his
place will be taken by Mehdi Tahiri, a player without a doubles ranking
(and outside the top 600 in singles). With Morocco's captain Karim Alami
having nominated Younes El Aynaoui in the hope that he might be fit for
final day duty if needed, he will have no choice but to play the
inexperienced Tahiri and El Aarej in the match that Morocco must win to
keep this tie alive.
It's hard to know how much the injury really influenced the outcome.
Nalbandian wasn't playing his best tennis, but when he needed to he
raised his level. While Arazi showed flashes of brilliance, his strategy
was to trade punches from the baseline, which meant he was somewhat
dependent on the Argentine's errors.
Those errors came in the ninth game of the first set, Arazi breaking as
Nalbandian ran off a slight sprain of his ankle, and then holding serve
to get the enthusiastic home fans cheering melodically. Their delight
increased when Arazi broke in the first game of the second set, at which
point the tie seemed set to finish the first day 1-1.
But that was to prove Arazi's last game for more than half an hour.
Nalbandian broke for 1-1 and proceeded to reel off seven straight games
to lead 1-0 in the third. At that stage Arazi had his thigh massaged, and
for a while he seemed to be back in the match. He turned a 1-3 deficit
into a 4-3 lead, and at one stage Nalbandian seemed so disgusted with
his own level that he barely moved for a return, and then spat on the
ground, incurring the extreme anger of the home crowd for whom spitting
is perceived as a major insult.
But Arazi was not moving properly, and at 5-5 Nalbandian visibly picked
up his energy level, put Arazi under pressure, and broke for 6-5, sealing
the set minutes later. When he broke to lead 2-1 in the fourth, Arazi gave
up the fight, probably for the entire weekend.
"I'm so disappointed," Arazi said. "I detest retiring, especially in Morocco
in a competition that is so close to my heart. I apologise to the fans, but
I really couldn't do anything else."
--
看來小班一開始真的打得很糟。
--
(安靜︰一位天使穿過這漫長的瞬間，它漫長得像一百個太陽的生命)
--
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◆ From: 61.230.112.139
※ 編輯: esnique 來自: 61.230.112.139 (02/07 12:44)
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