wb96henman_kafelnikov

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1 Response to wb96henman_kafelnikov

  1. Voo de Mar says:
    Points won by each set: | 55-54, 29-23, 37-42, 26-31, 38-34 |
    Points won directly behind the serve:
    32 % Henman – 60 of 184
    28 % Kafelnikov – 53 of 185

    Centre Court, and perhaps the best first round Grand Slam match of the Open Era (given: quality, drama and historical status of both participants, in retrospect) – a duel between 22-year-old players who were at different stages of their careers then – Kafelnikov [5] was a fresh Roland Garros champion while Henman [62] never even played an ATP final before. The underdog saved a triple set point (*3:6 in the 8/6 tie-break) and a double match point (*3:5, 15/40) with two consecutive aces. He needed 3 hour 36 minutes to miraculously notch the win of his life at the time, but he’d put himself in a position to clinch it in three (triple break point at 3-all) or four sets (triple break point at 4:3). It was the beginning of “Henmania” – Henman would be the favourite of the British crowd until 2007, playing all his matches only on the two biggest arenas at Wimbledon, including a few similar wins to that famous against the Russian.

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