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Shvedova’s Golden Day at Wimbledon

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Выставил статью Perrotta

Он описывает каждое очко из "золотых" 24 очков, которых выиграла Ярослава.

Достижение Ярославы историческое, вероятность что скоро кто-то повторит его очень, очень маленькая.

 

By Tom Perrotta

What does it take to win a golden set — 24 straight points in tennis — while your opponent suffers the sport’s ultimate humiliation? For Yaroslava Shvedova, it required a jumping, over-the-shoulder, hook-shot overhead for a winner. And a second-serve ace down the T at 108 miles per hour. There was a backhand that clipped the net cord and went in and a lunging forehand drop volley. And, on the last point, a line-drive forehand that barely crossed the net, followed by a looping, forehand, crosscourt passing shot with lots of spin.

Baseball fans salivate over a perfect game. Well, that’s nothing. There have been 20 of those in baseball’s modern era. Before Saturday at Wimbledon, there was only one known golden set in the Open era: Bill Scanlon’s at a tournament in Delray Beach, Fla., in 1983. Shvedova now has the second and a 6-0, 6-4 win over French Open finalist Sara Errani.

Her perfect set took 15 minutes. She hit 14 winners, including four aces, and made no mistakes. The closest she came to an error was on the net-cord backhand and the over-the-shoulder jumping overhead. According to Wimbledon’s statistics, Errani made one unforced error. A close viewing of a video provided by ESPN shows Errani made at least three unforced errors and probably four.

“It was incredible,” Errani said. “I didn’t feel on the court that I was playing so bad.”

An amazing fact about Shvedova, who reached the French Open quarterfinals this year: In 2006, she was one point from a golden set at a tournament in Memphis, Tenn. After winning 23 points in a row against Amy Frazier, she double faulted. She went on to lose the game and win the set, but she lost the match, 1-6, 6-0, 6-0.

More amazing: She had never heard of a golden set. Not only did she not know she had once been a point from completing one, but she also didn’t know that she had completed one Saturday until her coach told her after the match.

“I had no idea,” she said. “In the second set, first or second ball of the second set, she won, and all the people started to clap and scream and I was like, ‘What’s going on?’”

Here’s how her historic set unfolded on Court 3, point by point, with analysis and relevant reaction from the players.

First game: Shvedova hits a 114 mph ace down the T. 15-0: She tosses the ball and catches it. The sun is high, and it’s very windy. Her dress billows in the breeze. She said she didn’t notice: “They had the big stands, so it wasn’t so strong, the wind compared to normal courts.” She misses a serve, makes another bad toss and then hits an 86 mph serve to Errani’s backhand. Errani badly misses the return (the ball kicked up). 30-0: Another fault, another bad toss and ball catch. Second serve, rally, and a crisp forehand crosscourt forces an Errani miss. 40-0: Shvedova plays serve and volley, hitting a 95 mph serve to Errani’s backhand before a backhand volley winner.

Errani serving, 0-1: A 94 mph serve down the middle. Shvedova hits a forehand crosscourt return and then a backhand winner down the line. 0-15: A rally ensues after an 89 mph serve. Errani makes a forehand error, her first. 0-30: Shvedova hits a forehand crosscourt winner. 0-40: Errani hits a 73 mph second serve. Shvedova steps in and bashes a backhand winner down the line.

Shvedova serving, 2-0: She hits an 108 mph ace slicing into the corner. 15-0: Errani fails to return another high-kicking second serve. 30-0: Shvedova smashes a 116 mph service winner down the T. 40-0: Another strong serve, 111 mph down the middle, is too quick for Errani, who misses. Shvedova is now halfway to history.

Errani serving, 0-3: Shvedova’s return of serve clips the net cord but goes over, landing in the center of the court but fairly deep. She later hits a backhand winner down the line. If her return had been an inch or two to the right or left, where the net is slightly higher, it wouldn’t have gone over. 0-15: Errani misses a backhand into the net, her second error. 0-30: Now the two trickiest, and closest, points of the match. On the first, the players rally, and Shvedova approaches the net. She hits a weak forehand volley, and Errani has a passing shot lined up, but she hits her forehand too high. Shvedova lunges and hits a forehand volley that goes over the net and bounces twice for a winner. 0-40: The ultimate point: Shvedova moves in and hits a leaping overhead, but Errani scrambles and throws up a near-perfect — and very high — lob. Shvedova backpedals, looks up, leaps off of her back foot and hits a hook-shot overhead over her left shoulder and close to the corner where the service line and sideline meet. She turns and pumps her fist.

Shvedova serving, 4-0: After a rally, Errani misses a backhand while moving to her left. The ball wasn’t too far away. This is, to me, an error, her third. 15-0: Shvedova misses a first serve, hits a let on a second serve and then goes for broke and hits a 108-mph, second-serve ace down the T. “You never do like that,” Errani said. “But you’re so confident that you try and everything is going in.” 30-0: Another daring second serve, this one a 95 mph slice near the left corner. Errani can’t return it. 40-0: Shvedova catches her toss and then smacks a 118 mph ace on the T. It lands on the line.

Errani serving, 0-5: Errani is desperate now. She said she didn’t know that Shvedova was on the verge of history, just that she was being pummeled. “She was making her serve, winners, so you try also to go to the net to make some serve-and-volley, but nothing,” she said. Her first serve-and-volley attempt ends badly, as Shvedova hits a hard return at Errani’s shoes and Errani frames the ball and drives it straight into the ground. 0-15: Another serve-and-volley attempt, and it’s worse than the last. Shvedova cracks a forehand winner, just left of center, past Errani. 0-30: A rally ends on Errani’s fourth and final unforced error, a forehand long. 0-40: Shvedova had been here before, one point from history. This time there’s a brief rally before Shvedova hits a forehand inside-out just over the net. Errani blocks it with a backhand as Shvedova closes in and hits a forehand crosscourt flick. It’s delicate, almost tentative, and the ball spins high over the net and into the open court. Shvedova walks to her chair and doesn’t seem to know what she has accomplished. She sits down and sucks down some energy gel.

Shvedova lost her serve to start the second set and fell behind 2-0 before winning the next three games. Only later did she learn that this seemingly routine win was historic. “I was like, probably they made a mistake or something,” she said. “My manager came and she’s like, ‘No, they checked all the stats, and they said it’s really true, you won 24 points in a row.”

In 2010, John Isner and Nicolas Mahut played an 11-hour, 5-minute match at Wimbledon that took three days. There’s a commemorative plaque on Court 18 in honor of that match. Shvedova wasn’t sure that she deserved one of her own.

“The golden plate on the Court 3?” she asked. “I don’t know if the tournament will make it. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.”

Next up for Shvedova is Serena Williams on Monday. “Hopefully I’ll be able to win a point,” Williams said.

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