After the big upsets come the inevitable slumps for upstarts
Source: Agencies |
June 30, 2013, Sunday
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FOR a day, they were the pair who ran Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova out of town.
And then, suddenly, he was plain ol' 116th-ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky again and she was 131st-ranked Michelle Larcher de Brito.
Less than 48 hours after affixing their stamp on one of the most stunning days ever at Wimbledon, Stakhovsky was sent out to Court 3 for a third-round match against Jurgen Melzer and Larcher de Brito went to Court 17 to play Karin Knapp.
Stakhovsky, the man from Ukraine who served and volleyed like John McEnroe in dispatching Federer, opened his encore with a pair of double faults in his first service game - a sign of worse things to come en route to a 2-6, 6-2, 5-7, 3-6 loss to 37th-ranked Melzer.
De Brito, the woman from Portugal who yelled every bit as loud as Sharapova and matched her groundstroke for groundstroke, lost 5-7, 2-6 to 104th-ranked Karin Knapp on Friday.
As the results showed, it's not so easy playing the match after "The Match."
"I think I was coming in quite slow, because of the emotions coming off the match with Roger," Stakhovsky said. "You expect yourself to play a little different, maybe."
He's certainly not alone.
Last year, it was Lukas Rosol who stunned the tennis world, coming in with his No. 100 ranking in and knocking Rafael Nadal out of the second round in five sets. Two days later, Rosol lost to Philipp Kohlschreiber, and this year, he returned and lost in the first round.
Another enduring a similar fate on Friday was Canada's Eugenie Bouchard, the junior champion who, two days earlier, had a match on an outside court moved to Centre Court, then went out and dispatched 12th-seeded and former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic in straight sets. Two days later, on Court 18 in front of about 14,000 fewer spectators, Bouchard went down 5-7, 2-6 to 19th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro.
"I think that was in the back of my mind, yeah," Bouchard said. "It's a totally different situation. Not on Centre Court, not against a big, big player."
And then, suddenly, he was plain ol' 116th-ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky again and she was 131st-ranked Michelle Larcher de Brito.
Less than 48 hours after affixing their stamp on one of the most stunning days ever at Wimbledon, Stakhovsky was sent out to Court 3 for a third-round match against Jurgen Melzer and Larcher de Brito went to Court 17 to play Karin Knapp.
Stakhovsky, the man from Ukraine who served and volleyed like John McEnroe in dispatching Federer, opened his encore with a pair of double faults in his first service game - a sign of worse things to come en route to a 2-6, 6-2, 5-7, 3-6 loss to 37th-ranked Melzer.
De Brito, the woman from Portugal who yelled every bit as loud as Sharapova and matched her groundstroke for groundstroke, lost 5-7, 2-6 to 104th-ranked Karin Knapp on Friday.
As the results showed, it's not so easy playing the match after "The Match."
"I think I was coming in quite slow, because of the emotions coming off the match with Roger," Stakhovsky said. "You expect yourself to play a little different, maybe."
He's certainly not alone.
Last year, it was Lukas Rosol who stunned the tennis world, coming in with his No. 100 ranking in and knocking Rafael Nadal out of the second round in five sets. Two days later, Rosol lost to Philipp Kohlschreiber, and this year, he returned and lost in the first round.
Another enduring a similar fate on Friday was Canada's Eugenie Bouchard, the junior champion who, two days earlier, had a match on an outside court moved to Centre Court, then went out and dispatched 12th-seeded and former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic in straight sets. Two days later, on Court 18 in front of about 14,000 fewer spectators, Bouchard went down 5-7, 2-6 to 19th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro.
"I think that was in the back of my mind, yeah," Bouchard said. "It's a totally different situation. Not on Centre Court, not against a big, big player."
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