TENNIS WIMBELDON CHAMPIONSHIPS:APPARENTLY SHE is Li Na. The BBC call her Li Na. Correctly, we are told, she is Madam Li as Li is her surname, which for Europeans is backwards. Hopefully that clears it up. Her tennis yesterday was much less convoluted than Chinese and European name conventions but the Roland Garros champion found herself facing a young German full of vim and attitude. Sabine Lisicki brought a big appetite on to Centre Court and a an even bigger game that last night caused the upset of the tournament so far.
A wildcard and only in the main draw courtesy of an invitation from the organisers, Lisicki didn’t just come back from a set down to beat Li in three sets 3-6, 6-4, 8-6 but following injury, she had also fought her way back from being outside the top 200 just a few months ago to beating the player rated by many as currently the best woman player in the world.
Lisicki also survived two match points on her own serve in the third set.
A player who could pound down the serves and hit heavy forehands sent a 122 mph delivery to Li in the first set as if to say this is what to expect. The sheer effrontery of the serve and its pace drew an embarrassed smile across her 21-year-old face.
If there is one thing the famed Nick Bollettieri Academy can do it is to get students to hit tennis balls very hard. Lisicki is a graduate of the almost 80-year-old Bollettieri’s tennis factory.
But in those early stages Li didn’t budge. Her relentlessly high tempo and lack of errors made every point a battle. Li, as Lisicki discovered is one of those players you must beat twice to claim the point. A scamper specialist, she was digging Lisicki’s wide serves from outside the tramlines and poking drop shots back. Every so often the German’s power overwhelmed the Chinese player but Lisicki was streaky and often followed a series of devastating serves with wild forehands several feet outside the court.
The young German provided her opponent with a determined work-out in the first set and at that stage that’s all it looked like. Li needed only one set point and 31 minutes to take a 6-3 lead.
But Lisicki, who spent seven weeks on crutches last year with a serious ankle injury, had beaten fourth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-2 to win the Aegon Classic prior to Wimbledon. There was intensity and willingness about her that caused the match to bubble.
Determined this would be no procession for Li, the younger player earned two break points in the fourth game of the second set and when Li double-faulted to uncharacteristically hand over the service game Lisicki took advantage for 6-4.
The third set was one of those classics. Roof closed, a darkening sky and threatening rain, the greenhouse began to heat and much of that energy was coming from Lisicki. Li earned five break points, two of them for the match, but guts, courage and one passage of phenomenal serving from Lisicki allowed her navigate those treacherous waters.
Lisicki also earned five break points but crucially she took three of those, coming back from 5-3 down to level at 5-5. Li broke her opponent’s service again but Lisicki broke back and served to take a 7-6 lead.
By then the match had considerably tightened and it was the Chinese player who faltered. Lisicki earned three match points, a wide forehand from Li finally sending her out of the competition.
“I think today both players played a good match,” said Li afterwards. “Unlucky for me, yeah. Nothing wrong, just unlucky. I had two match points but I could do nothing. Every serve was around 117 mph. This is impossible for the women.” Li was not exaggerating and if Lisicki can continue to provide her big game, the other players will take notice. The serve, when it is on, looks like one of the best in the women’s game and when she sets for the forehand, it too is a certain point finisher.
“It’s been such a long and hard road to come back from injury,” said Lisicki. “We had to come back zero and in the last two months we just had to come back step by step. Its amazing to be back on Centre Court and beat the French Open champion. I enjoyed it so much.”
“I was fully determined to come back. I didn’t know how long it would take. But I knew I would. I literally had no muscles on my left calf after seven weeks in plaster. It’s been a tough road back but it has made it all the more sweeter.”
