Foot Fault!

It’s always exciting to watch Michael Llodra on a fast hardcourt, and this week has been no different. His serve-and-volley game is such an anomaly among a slew of big hitting baseliners on the ATP tour, and so he always provides an interesting match-up.

Today’s match against Robin Soderling was no different. Mika came out the blocks fast – serving big, but more impressively still, volleying extremely well. Watching him swat volleys away at the net is such an impressive visual – while he is physically imposing at the net and covers all sides so well, it’s the manner in which he anticipates and feels his way around the net that makes him such an thrilling player to watch.

Sod felt the full wrath of Llodra early on. In the first set, countering the flawless net game of Llodra proved close to impossible as Llodra rushed him and stole the vital time needed for Robin to set up his strokes. Though Soderling was naturally able to shorten his backhand swing and rely more on redirecting the ball than muscling it around, his gigantic forehand take-back was clearly out of its depth on such a fast court and against a player as aggressive as Llodra, and when he wasn’t timing the ball late and spraying errors off that side, he was only able to scoop it up and feed Llodra with easy shoulder-high volleys.

Mika eventually took the first set with a bagel tiebreak, but it was really fascinating to see how Robin adjusted and changed his gameplan in the second set. He has never been known for his tactics or cool head, but rather than panicking, he reigned in on his aggression and attempted to play with more depth instead – pinning Llodra behind the baseline and making it tough for him to get to the net. His first serve percentage also began to rise, and he decided to make random ventures to the net, again taking Llodra’s strength away from him.

Eventually Sod would fist-shake his way to a third set, and it soon became a battle of wills. Soderling served for the match at 5-4, then Llodra had match-points at 6-5, before Robin would go on to win it 6-7(0) 7-5 7-6(5). Pretty epic, no?

I doubt this week could have come at a better time for Robin. Considering his form had been slipping of late, and that pasting at the hands of Federer in Shanghai a couple of weeks ago, this week is definitely a massive confidence booster ahead of the WTFs in a week’s time. It’s also pretty crazy that though he has reached two slam finals, this will be the first ever Masters 1000 final of his career. He’ll probably struggle if he has to face Federer on this surface, but you have to love his chances if he winds up playing against Monfils on Sunday.