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Janko’s fluctuating fortunes


 

Originally published on: 05/08/10 11:43

He’s a bit of a dark horse, is Janko Tipsarevic.

In the three months between March and May, the world No.41 put together the kind of consistent run no player harbours ambition for – a run of five successive defeats.

But then, almost out of nowhere on the grass of s-Hertogenbosch, the 26-year-old Serb pulled it out of the bag, found his groove and reached his second ATP Tour final – only to fall to a spectacularly limp 6-3 6-0 defeat to Sergiy Stakhovsky. “I somehow lost my spirit,” lamented Tipsarevic after he was pummelled off the court by the big-serving Ukranian.

Another spiritless ‘consistent’ streak immediately followed when he racked up three successive defeats – at Wimbledon, Croatia and Altanta, each to players ranked outside the top 80.
 
Last week in Los Angeles, the fluctuating fortunes of Janko Tipsarevic were in evidence again – the recently married Janko was back in business. Racing to the semi-finals of the Farmers Classic with three straight sets victories, Tipsarevic could even have booked a spot in his second final of the year had he not squandered a match point against world No.20 Sam Querrey.

Offered another bite of the apple against the American in Washington yesterday, Tipsarevic refused to let a second chance to defeat one of the tour’s most in-form competitors pass him by.

“I was serving really well,” said Tipsarevic after regularly hitting the lines with his overheads to grab a 7-6(3) 6-3 victory over last week’s Los Angeles champ and book a spot in the third round of the Legg Mason Classic.

“Sixteen aces is very nice. I won a lot of love games, which made me fresher on the return,” analysed the Serb after his 16th win of the season. “I was focussed from start to finish and I could see that Sam was a little tired from all the matches in Los Angeles.”

Despite adding a fourth title of the year to his collection – having won in Memphis, Belgrade and London (Queen’s) – in Los Angeles last week with his first win over World No.4 Andy Murray in five meetings, Querrey brushed off a question of whether he was concerned by his defeat.

“Not at all,” said the 22-year-old American, “I’m still playing great; last week was awesome.

“It’s tough to turn right around,” he added. “Last week I had three tough two-and-a-half hour matches Friday, Saturday and Sunday and then I had to fly across the country and play in different weather conditions.

“He [Tipsarevic] had the one break point and I double faulted… and that’s all it takes,” finished Querrey.

It is such fine margins that will be of comfort to Tipsarevic should he decide to embark on another one of those ‘consistent’ streaks anytime soon…

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Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.