Blogs & Opinion


Steady as he goes

Chinese Taipei star causes shock of the round

Gerry Williams Posted 29th June 2010 view comments

You wouldn't call Yen-Hsun Lu exactly a household name even amongst tennis geeks, but as Londoners were enduring their rush hour journey home yesterday Mr Lu, who comes from Chinese Taipei, was causing the kerfuffle of the day at Wimbledon. He beat Andy Roddick 'just like that' as Tommy Cooper used to say.

Let's put it into perspective. Roddick is the third most successful of today's ATP tour players on grass courts and has three times been a Wimbledon finalist - most recently last year.

The winning weapon was Lu's low-key consistency of effort over the four and a half hours it lasted. Roddick's weakness was his return of serve. He described it with a four-letter word which we won't repeat here, but it won't earn him a conduct violation.

Causing a kerfuffle: Yen-Hsun Lu must now face Djokovic

Causing a kerfuffle: Yen-Hsun Lu must now face Djokovic

To Mr Lu - who calls himself Randy by the way, although he might now change that after the Fourth Estate explained to him what meaning it can have over here - will now play the third seed Novak Djokovic who out scrapped Lleyton Hewitt in four sets.

Physical

Earlier yesterday Andy Murray didn't always look comfortable against American Sam Querrey. The way I see him, Murray most enjoys the test of the games smooth skills like his match against Gilles Simon the day before. Querrey's game is physical and erratic. He's a big server with a big heart but he doesn't go into the silky stuff.

So Murray had to graft for the points sometimes, but I think it was further evidence of his emergence at the top of the game that he was prepared to do so.

Gerry Williams
Quotes of the week

So Murray had to graft for the points sometimes, but I think it was further evidence of his emergence at the top of the game that he was prepared to do so.

He won 7-5, 6-3, 6-4, which means he will now face the new French personality boy, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals. Tsonga is nicknamed "Ali" because there's more than a hint of Muhammad Ali in his good looks.

Yannick Noah turned himself from a Roland Garros champion into a French pop idol and now the public have their eyes on Tsonga and he is living up to their great expectations.

Reinvigorated

What a pity the draw paired together the two Belgian girls Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin whose return from premature retirement has so reinvigorated the women's field here.

Henin began as she always does, like the buzz fly you simply can't swat. But she needed treatment on her right elbow in the middle of the first set and never quite the same again. Clijsters' business like solidity took her through.

We mustn't forget to tell you that our young doubles heroes of the previous day, Chris Eaton and Dominic Inglot, lost yesterday in four close sets to the very good French pair Julien Benneteau and Michael Llodra. So clearly our lads aren't one day wonders.

Finally I bumped into the most interesting couple around the coffee table in yesterday morning's sunshine. The man turned out to be a former centre-half for Hibs, Sterling Albion and Cowdenbeath.

Being a football man myself - well Crystal Palace - I was fascinated. Guess then who they turned out to be? The answer is Andy Murray's grandparents on his mother's side.

I'd never heard anywhere that our young hero had football in his blood. Had you?

Post to your View!

Be the first to post a comment on this story

Add Comment*

Send us your views

Are you a Sky Sports subscriber?

*All fields required, your email address will be kept private

back to top

Other Tennis Blogs:

Latest Posts in Tennis:

Barry Cowan

No hurry for Murray

Barry Cowan says Andy Murray should not put his Wimbledon bid at risk by rushing back for Paris....

Barry Cowan

Dominant on dirt

Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic are a class apart on clay, says Barry Cowan ahead of the Madrid Open....

Latest News RSS feeds

Murray a Wimbledon doubt

Andy Murray faces a race to be fit for Wimbledon after pulling out of the French Open.

Fed: Murray injury bad timing

Roger Federer says the timing of Andy Murray's back injury is very unfortunate for the British world No 2.

Keothavong misses out on Paris

Anne Keothavong has missed out on playing in the French Open after losing her first round qualifier at Roland Garros.

Del Potro out of French Open

Juan Martin Del Potro has been forced to withdraw from the French Open due to an ongoing viral infection.

Top seed Janko sent packing

Top seed Janko Tipsarevic has been sent packing from the ATP event in Dusseldorf losing in straight sets to Guido Pella

Features

Andy Murray may hurt Wimbledon bid if he rushes back for French

Andy Murray may hurt Wimbledon bid if he rushes back for French

Andy Murray should only play the French Open if he is close to 100 per cent fit.

French Open: Sky Sports looks at some outside picks for the French Open

French Open: Sky Sports looks at some outside picks for the French Open

We've all heard about Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer, not to mention Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, but what about the outsiders that could shake things up at the French Open?

Murray to stay away?

Murray to stay away?

Tim Clement weighs up the pros and cons of British number one Andy Murray skipping the French Open.