Across the walkway on Court 7, Roland Garros semifinalist Jurgen Melzer was taking on former world No. 1 junior and 2007 U.S. Open boys? champion Richard Berankis. The match was shaping up as nothing more than a brisk workout for Melzer. He captured the first set 6-4, and was serving at 5-4 in the second. Even though Berankis has been playing well, overcoming a two-set deficit would be a tough ask for the 20-year-old qualifier. But inexplicably, Melzer?s level of play dropped considerably and he dumped serve at love. Berankis would go on to win the set in a tiebreaker, and what looked like an easy day for Melzer turned into 3 1/2-hour nail-biter that he would eventually win 7-5 in the fifth. All because he couldn?t close the deal in the second set. After losing that service game, Melzer Safin-ed his racquet.
Conventional wisdom says that when a pro athlete has his back against a wall, and the fight or flight instinct sets in, he will often produce his best tennis. But sometimes flight wins out.
?The hardest thing to do in sports is to close,? says Rick Macci, who has coached numerous top juniors including Andy Roddick and Venus and Serena Williams. ?Anybody can open, but closing a match is what separates players. It?s very common, too, even at the highest levels. When you see the finish line, you leave the moment and lose focus.?
And unlike a weak stroke you can try to improve in practice, experience is really the only teacher when it comes to closing out a match. ?I talk about it with my players,? Macci says, ?but it?s never the same as the real deal with fans in the stands.?
Bondarenko and Melzer can attest to that.
?Jon Levey
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