The shadow of Goran Ivanisevic is one of the longest in tennis, and one that Greg Rusedski, for all his wonderful success, has been singularly unable to shake off this year. He lost to the gangling Croatian in the Zagreb final in February, again in the semifinal at Queen's, and yesterday (the most galling of all, after leading by two sets) in the final of the CA Trophy in Vienna 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Rusedski had 11 opportunities to break Ivanisevic in the third set, yet just could not nail him. The Croatian had been warned for an audible obscenity in the second set and when he flung his racket down during a vital stage of the third Rusedski justifiably believed he should have been awarded the game for a 5-3 lead.
As it was Ivanisevic saved five break points in this one game alone, and Rusedski unfortunately, if understandably, let it get the better of him. Ivanisevic continued to throw his racket about but the German umpire, Rudi Berger, did not warn him again, despite further protests from Rusedski.
Throughout the Austrian crowd were on Ivanisevic's side and in hindsight the British number one and world number four may regret his audible complaints, for it appeared to concentrate the mind of Ivanisevic, always the most fragile part of his make-up, while Rusedski's mental control, so implacable during the past two months, slipped sharply and he too was warned for belting a ball into the crowd.
But this lapse was surely down to sheer fatigue as much as anything. Since he lost the final of the US Open to Australia's Pat Rafter, Rusedski's life has been one huge whirl of activity, both on and off the court.
His new coach Tony Pickard knew that the fuel had all but run out and his man was running on vapour, but between them they so very nearly engineered another famous victory.
Just by getting to the final, his second within eight days after winning in Zurich, Rusedski moved another important step closer to his aim of reaching the ATP World Championships in Hanover next month, a prestigious end of year tournament limited to the eight top ranked players in the world as of November 10th.
On Saturday Rusedski had thoroughly underlined his position as the top player in Britain with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Tim Henman. Yesterday he again appeared unstoppable, particularly after winning the second set tiebreak 7-4.
Ivanisevic previously held a 7-0 advantage over Rusedski in these tense tennis shoot-outs, including that epic 20-18 win at Queen's this summer. When Rusedski won this time it seemed another mould had been broken, for prior to this tournament he has never beaten Henman or the American Todd Martin, or Sweden's Magnus Norman.
The Croatian, in comparison to Rusedski, has had a miserable four months and so very nearly lost to Holland's Richard Krajicek in Saturday's semi-finals, saving four match points. However, he has played much less tennis recently, and this was critical once he had won the second tie-break.
Ivanisevic may never have won a Grand Slam title, but he has been in the top 10 since 1992 and for all his frailties, mostly self-induced, is a mighty player, particularly indoors. And for all his racket throwing and mutterings there is no malice in the man, while his obvious vulnerability positively endears him to fans throughout the world, notably the youngsters.
Not that Rusedski could be expected to agree with this. He was burning to win, and clearly mortified that he failed. Somehow, despite the creeping fingers of exhaustion tightening around his limbs and mind, he managed to break Ivanisevic at the beginning of the fifth and final set, then held on for a 2-0 lead.
But the tell-tale signs of weariness were made manifest when Rusedski twice lost his own serve to love. Prior to the final he had not dropped his serve all week.
He will be disappointed, but his Hanover goal is even closer while few believed him when he said his victory over Henman was "just another match". Oh no. It was much more than that.
Guardian Service.
