Rusedski Rules The RCA

Justice served for serve-and-volleyers

By Sandra Harwitt
tennisreporters.net

Fred Mullane Camerawork USA, Inc.

From the RCA Championships in Indianapolis – In a world where baseline bashers are ruling the court, justice was served to the few remaining serve-and-volley artisans at the RCA Championships on Sunday afternoon. In a close three-set battle, Briton Greg Rusedski defeated Felix Mantilla of Spain 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-4 to win his second title of the year and 12th in his career.

Rusedski has scored a major accomplishment these past two weeks, upsetting the top three players in the world – No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, No. 2 Marat Safin and No. 3 Tommy Haas. The Safin victory came in the first round at Cincinnati last week, while the Hewitt upset came in a straight-set third-round win, followed by a three-set semifinal victory over Haas here in Indianapolis.

“This gives me a lot of confidence – I’ve beaten the top three players in the world in two weeks,” Rusedski said. “I’ve won six matches in a week which shows I’m fit, I’m healthy and I’m strong. The [U.S.] Open is seven matches, but with a day off in-between, and here I’ve played five days in a row here so it shows I’m fit and confident going into the Open.”

Rusedski, who prior to sustaining back problems and then a serious foot injury that kept him on the sidelines for all of 2000, once ranked as high as No. 4 in the world in fall of 1997, the same year he reached the final of the U.S. Open. The Indianapolis victory should improve his ranking from No. 41 to around 33, which leaves him on the fence as to whether he will make the cut for being one of the 32 seeds at the Open.

Of possibly not being seeded – although his fine form this summer is likely to place him on anyone’s list of dark horses for the final Grand Slam of the year – Rusedski said, “I don’t really mind. I’m just really happy to win today. The last time I went to the Open final in 1997, I wasn’t seeded, so it’s great to have this win, it gives me a lot of confidence. I don’t think anyone is going to want to see my name next to theirs in the first round, whoever it is.”

STILL ATTACKING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS
The 28-year-old Rusedski prides himself on being one of the rare serve-and-volleyers still taking to the courts in the professional arena. He is also well aware that if a serve-and-volleyer is on their game, especially when playing on faster surfaces such as hardcourts or grass, they will usually prevail in a match.

“I quite like playing these guys,” Rusedski said of facing mostly baseliners such as Mantilla. “There’s not too many serve-and-volley players left out there anymore in the game of tennis. So most of it is baseline rallies and staying back. But if the serve-and-volley is really on and playing well, on the hardcourts where the court is a little quicker and the ball is a little lighter like this Wilson ball, then it’s a nice art form.

“Most guys don’t see that that often. And if you can play it at a high level you usually win more matches against the baseline sort of style, but you don’t have as much margin of error as those guys have. The top three guys [Hewitt, Safin and Haas] all play very well from the back so if they’re slightly off, it doesn’t hurt them as much as if I’m slightly off on certain aspects.”

Certainly, when you look at the guys who have performed well on the faster courts in the past couple of months, you are seeing an odd collection of names. The fact that Hewitt became the first aggressive baseliner to tag his name to the Wimbledon chalice since Andre Agassi did the deed back in 1992, is proof positive that the tide is turning. And who would have ever put money on little-known Argentine David Nalbandian, playing in his first Wimbledon, being Hewitt’s final opponent.

And in the past few weeks, we have seen Nalbandian’s Argentine compatriot, Guillermo Canas, win the Tennis Masters Series-Toronto, Carlos Moya score the upset over Hewitt in the Tennis Masters Series-Cincinnati final and the unseeded Mantilla blasting his way to the Indy final.

When Rusedski brings his “A” game to the court and he gets to play a topnotch baseliner, the contrast of styles makes for exciting tennis. While it is unlikely that the RCA Championships was hoping for a final lineup of Rusedski-Mantilla when their draw boasted Hewitt, Safin, Haas, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Tim Henman, fans who ventured to the Indianapolis final, were definitely not disappointed with the sports show they saw.

Rusedski Unlikely For Long Island
While Rusedski wouldn’t go on record to say that with his win in Indy he’s unlikely to play at Long Island next week, he all but indicated he is doubtful for picking up his racket for more than practice. Rusedski, who has to guard from playing too much because of the foot and back injuries he’s had in the past, said he will head to Long Island, but smiled and stayed mum when asked if he will play.

Not to worry, the Long Island event will certainly see their share of spectators with Pete Sampras, Haas and Roger Federer in the draw.

Henman On the Mend
Rusedski’s British compatriot Tim Henman, who had to withdraw from Indy in the third round with a shoulder injury, stayed in town for the remainder of the week anyway.

Henman is hopefully he’ll be in fit condition for the U.S. Open and reports that the shoulder is starting to mend, saying, “It’s definitely improving the past two days. It’s probably about 60 percent right now, having been only about 15 percent on Thursday. I’ve been told to rest it some more and I don’t plan to hit balls again until Wednesday or Thursday of next week. I feel much better about things than I did a few days ago.”