Real Tennis – Day 2: Is Rob Fahey down and out?

The Queen’s Club, London

April 2018

Real Tennis World Championship

DAY TWO

photo : wikimedia commons

For the first day’s report go to Day One

What an extraordinary day’s play!  Rob looked finished at the end of day one where he managed to win the first set and then appeared to run out of steam.

Today, he came out looking fresh and squeezed the first set in a tight 6-5. He then managed to take the second with a real nail-biting 6-4 which made them level at three sets all.

There appeared to be a touch of gamesmanship on both sides, Rob asking for an almost unheard of bathroom break in the middle of a set. The marker looked a bit thrown and told him he couldn’t do so until the end of the set but Rob was persuasive.  Camden then asked for the court to be cleaned at the end of that second set, maybe to give himself a breather, but also to disrupt Rob’s rhythm? He also got ratty at Rob’s many supporters and, at various times, the marker’s decisions.

They stuck to the same serves, railroads, giraffes and demi-piqués for Rob and Camden sticking to the railroad but more so to the demi-piqué which had served him so well on the first day.

Camden, however, was stretching his foot against the wall on every changeover by the third set. Was it cramp or injury? He was also making a number of nervous errors. Rob took the third in a fairly one-sided affair.

Early in the last set, Camden fell over and stayed down for a good while. Thereafter he was clearly hampered, footwork all over the place, and Rob took full advantage.

Rob wins all four sets: 6/5 6/4 6/3 6/1 and leads 5 sets to 3, needing only two more to win the title.