21-24
Oct '04
Gregory
Gaultier on his week in Budapest
...
Hi Framboise,
How are you ? Here is some news from the Hungarian Open…
When I came back from the States, I felt a bit tired. On top of which
I didn’t feel right over there, I was not playing well, it was all a
bit worrying really.
I was quite happy to spend a bit of time in France to recover before
starting the Hungarian Open.
As Renan [Lavigne] already mentioned, the tournament was extremely
well organised, and the superb glass court was probably the best I've
ever played on.
Two days before the tournament, I trained twice with Jonathan Power,
to try and get some rhythm.
First round, I had to play Renan, I won 3/0, but the match was
really close indeed, from start to finish. Luck played its part in me
taking the second game, and I thought the 3rd would never finish. I
had to work pretty hard…
In the quarters, I was meeting Nick Matthew, who won our last
two meetings, and it was time for me to put the record straight!
Once again, the match was extremely hard from start to finish. I
cracked up a bit physically in the third, he was up 2/1, but I found
my second wind, and was able to take the initiative again.
I had to play very tight, very often, he was expecting me to cross
court in order to attack with his lethal forehand volley.
Every time he would bring me forward, I had to cross court wide and
hit very hard to prevent him from volleying, that's how I succeeded to
fix him a few times. And I had to give it all in the 5th to make the
difference…
In the semis, I played Adrian Grant. The match was a bit up and
down, except for the first two games, which were solid enough. I won
the 3rd easily, he took the 4th, (I have to admit I let that one go a
bit, to try and recover).
In the 5th, the rallies were very tiring, when he would bring me
forward, he would try and guess my fixations. He counterattacked with
some super shots, and I had to keep on the rallies until he got weaker
physically. Another very tiring match.
In the final, I then played against Jon, who had won all his
matches in three. I knew I had a slight chance, as I do know his game
better now.
The first game was close, even if the score doesn’t say that much,
11/6, where the rallies were of high intensity, using the four
corners.
In the second, I slowed down the pace, got a game ball, but couldn’t
seize the opportunity.
In the last game, again I got two game balls, I was working him hard
combining lobs and drops, he was starting to suffer a bit, but he
didn’t let go, and finally got the match.
Nevertheless, I was mighty proud to get to the final, I got some of my
confidence back, and I hope that I’ll do well at the British Open next
week…
See you soon,
Greg Gaultier
The glass court in
Budapest
