Fernando out in the fourth round

Fernando had a tough fourth round loss to Nikolay Davydenko 2-6, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6⁵, 3-6. After fighting back from a two set deficit to level the match, Fernando was broken halfway through the final set and just couldn’t manage to pull himself back into the match.

I am not really certain what words to use to describe that match (clusterfuck comes to mind) other than the fact that it was more about outlasting and making the least amount of errors possible. Fernando served a ridiculous 20 double faults and made 81 unforced errors before the match finally ended.

You can check out the match stats as well as a detailed match report over at TennisTalk. I wanted to have my own, but the match went on so late and if I want any hope of getting to class on time tomorrow morning, I’ll go to bed now :) Hopefully the AO website will post up a copy of Fernando’s presser, which I’ll post tomorrow, as well as additions to the gallery once they show up at the photo agencies. Fernando’s got a couple weeks off to rest and get his head on straight. He’ll be heading to San Jose, California to take part in the SAP Open (as well as an exhibition against Pete Sampras before the tournament!)

So Fer’s run at the 2010 Australian Open has come to an end, but the year is just getting started and there’s plenty more tennis to play. Vamos and best of luck, Fernando :)

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- Aussie Verdasco fan
- January 25th, 2010 6:36pm
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I watched all 4 hours of this game & just found it so frustrating! Even Jim Courier said that they (the commentators) were confused by what they were seeing. But they also said that the crowd was just too quiet and weren’t giving the players enough encouragement. But it was probably because of the unusual match being played – I think they were just a bit shocked. Neither of the players established a solid game pattern – it was all over the place. Still, I love watching Fernando play & want to see a live game next year. I really hope he does well for the rest of this year :)

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- Lisa N
- January 26th, 2010 5:17am
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I agree, Verdasco did countless double faults.I hope he improves on that. I know he still has it in him to win a Slam, he can do it.

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- Rain Delays Play
- January 29th, 2010 10:37am
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Hell, I was yelling as hard as I could during the match, screaming ‘Fuerte Fernando!’, ‘Vamos Fernando!’, ‘Believe in yourself!’, ‘Turn the heat up hot stuff!’ and anything else I could think of. There was a huge anount of support for Fernando among the audience – he’s very popular after last year’s unbelievable semi-final, but I think people simply couldn’t believe what they were seeing and didn’t know how to react (guess they haven’t watched him as often as we have).

It was a frustrating match to watch all right, but when he took the fourth set in the tiebreaker, the atmosphere was electric and the crowd just erupted. Shame it took so long. He really needs to learn how to use the crowd better. Stand up for shirt changes like Marat used to do. Get some lessons from Gonzalez or Tsonga on how to work the crowd. He’s got a big following, he should use it.

I had a ticket for HiSense that day and bought a Rod Laver ticket just to see Fernando, and I don’t regret it. It’s definitely worth seeing him unleash that explosive running forehand down-the-line, and the hotness… well, fortunately that never fails even when his tennis does! The rankings next week won’t be kind to him. Out of the Top Ten for sure. But with Rafa probably out of the next Davis Cup tie, maybe Fernando will have to step up instead? That could give him a bit of a boost (although if I was Costa, I’d probably choose Ferrer and Reobredo or Almagro for singles and keep Fer and Feli in for doubles instead).

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Bats Reply:
January 31st, 2010 at 10:11 am
its definitely frustrating to watch him sometimes. however, i feel that his first impulse is to whack the ball as hard as he can when a soft hand would do the trick. but when fer “zones,” he’s just so exciting to watch. i agree that that he should learn to channel the crowd’s energy to boost his game and morale on court. he definitely has a lot of very vocal fans who cheer him on at his matches, which he should take advantage of.

i really hope that he will surpass his achievements in 2009 this year and finally break into the top 5. i wouldn’t mind seeing him hoist a 500/1000 trophy up…

best of luck fer!

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