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| SAP Open: McEnroe returns to ATP with a doubles win (Tennis) | |
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 San Jose, Feb 20, 2006
With a flair for the dramatic, John McEnroe (USA) and Jonas Bjorkman (SWE) went the distance with American’s Paul Goldstein (USA) and John Thomas (USA), going to a third set tiebreaker to secure their championship victory at the SAP Open, taking the title 7-6, 4-6, 10-7.
The stage couldn’t have been set any better for McEnroe’s return to ATP play after a 12 year hiatus. He accumulated five singles titles and eight doubles titles at the SAP Open over a ten-year span. And he was a 1978 NCAA singles champion from Stanford University, just up the road in Palo Alto. Add to all that the fact that McEnroe is 47 years old and playing in his first Championship match since 1992, and you couldn’t write a better script to tell the story.
“I knew I could lose first round, but I thought I could win it.” McEnroe said.
And why not? The elder duo took the court against the unseeded Goldstein and Thomas, after knocking out the number 2 and 4 seeds earlier in the tournament. Goldstein and Thomas, on the other hand, had taken down the number 1 and 3 seeds to reach the finals, so on paper at least, the match could’ve gone either way. And it nearly did.
The teams remained on serve through the first two sets, neither allowing a break until the 10th game of the second set. With McEnroe at the line with a 40-love lead, he and Bjorkman dropped three straight points to get to deuce. Under the new no-ad scoring system, it took Goldstein and Thomas just one more point to not only secure the break, but take the set as well.
Throughout the tournament, McEnroe has heaped praise on his teammate, emphasizing the extra pressure Bjorkman faces as his partner.
“He shouldered the burden this week,” he said, “He carried a lot of weight.”
Bjorkman did cover a lot of the ground, making some spectacular defensive plays, at one point hitting a between the legs shot off a Goldstein lob. It took teamwork, however, for the duo to get through the tiebreaker in the third set.
Thomas opened the decisive tiebreaker with a questionable call giving himself and Goldstein the first point. Goldstein then hit a Bjorkman serve into the net, evening the score. Bjorkman and McEnroe then executed a 4-point run to take them up 5-1. Bjorkman unloaded a strong serve that Thomas couldn’t handle. He then stepped in front of McEnroe at the net and stuck a deep volley between his opponents. And to cap off his display, he ripped a Goldstein return and turned to his partner, fist pumping. McEnroe then jumped in the act, using his good hands and unmatchable volley skills to place a volley so well he had Goldstein charging so hard he was unable to stop, and ended up on the other side of the net.
Momentum shifted briefly in the set, as Goldstein and Thomas put together a run of their own, bringing the score to 4-5. It just wasn’t their day, however. Age and experience prevailed. McEnroe and Bjorkman gave up only 3 more points to take the tiebreaker 10-7, fittingly ending the match with a McEnroe volley.
“The key to success is working together with your partner.” McEnroe said after the match. “It’s also picking a good partner, so I did that. We have similar energy, we pump each other up.”
The partnership was obviously successful: With the victory, McEnroe picked up his 78th doubles title, Bjorkman, his 44th.
Title Pic: A joyous McEnroe
Photographs: Greg Espiritu
© www.cityathletes.com
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| Written By |
| Pamela Headley |
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