Today’s meeting marked the first between Adrian Mannarino and James Duckworth. With his ranking of 55, Mannarino was the heavily favored player. Duckworth, who was ranked just outside of the top 200, lost in the first round of qualifying at Wimbledon and in the third round at the Winnetka Pro Tennis Championship, giving him a significantly shorter grass season in comparison to his opponent.
First Set: Duckworth gains early lead
The players traded service holds for the entirety of the set, and neither man was able to break through the other. In the tiebreak, Duckworth snuck away with the set 7-6 (3) with a little help from Mannarino, who committed a double fault on set point.
Photo Courtesy: Getty Images Sport | Michael Dodge
Second set: Mannarino ties the match
The second set started much like the first; both players produced solid service games and alternated holds. In the midst of the third game, Mannarino ran into one of the cameras on his way to a drop shot and smacked the camera in frustration. This outburst resulted in a code violation, and a series of negative shouts from Mannarino.
However, the energy coming from his own side of the net sparked some momentum for the Frenchman. He proceeded to capture a break of serve to go up 5-3. Duckworth responded to this surge with some finesse of his own, tying the score at 5-5. This set, too, reached a tiebreak; Mannarino charged to an early 5-1 lead, and again Duckworth retaliated to set the score even at 5-5. Still, it was Mannarino who unearthed the extra strength to seize the set, 7-6.
Photo Courtesy: Getty Images Sport | Julian Finney
Third set: Mannarino outlasts his opponent
The final set played out much like the last. Mannarino raced away with the early break, twice, to gain a 5-2 lead—one game away from securing a spot in the second round. Duckworth’s side of the net had remained mostly quiet for the duration of the match, in comparison to Mannarino’s, who spent much of his time in between points shouting in French and engaging in altercations with the chair umpire. This time, however, as Duckworth came roaring back to force a third and final tiebreak, tensions were running high and his emotions came spilling out. The sixth seed, on the other hand, appeared focused and recovered from the questionable circumstances prior. This steadfast mindset allowed Mannarino to remain strong, while his opponent committed several unforced errors, ultimately helping Mannarino to a 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 7-6(4) victory.
Final thoughts:
After a mentally and physically taxing match—including difficult court conditions, controversial line calls, and obstruction from a camera—Mannarino expressed his frustrations to VAVEL.
“I feel a bit relieved that I won the match. The court is just ridiculously bad. You cannot even move. This is really disrespectful for the players…I’m practicing all the time to get better and I just feel like on the court right now I cannot do anything. I cannot play my tennis. This is really frustrating. I am not thinking about the next match at the moment. I am just thinking about my game and how to play well because obviously this is really hard.”
He also spoke about how he maintained his focus despite difficult conditions.
“You’re so concentrated just because there is no regular bounce on the court…you have to keep your concentration up. But I just try to do my best on every point and finally I got through. Really tough but I did.”
The Frenchman knew he could not dwell on the impeding circumstances if he wanted to outlast his opponent.
“I tried to stay quiet which was really hard because there were many bad calls, bad bounces and I knew that if I was going crazy I was going to lose some concentration somehow and I was not going to play my best tennis so I just tried my best to stay quiet and to focus on the game. It was a really really bad point at the end. We were pushing the ball like 12 year old guys but he did one or two mistakes which helped me a lot.”
Hopefully a more positive experience and setting in the second round will allow Mannarino to focus solely on his game and the training that brought him to this point.