Hamburg European Open: 4 match balls fended off - Federico Delbonis and his serve reach the semifinals
Federico Delbonis is once again making a name for himself in Hamburg. He is in the semi-finals - after a hard-fought victory over Benoit Paire.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Jul 16, 2021, 10:16 pm
If serves could tell a story, the tennis world would be a lot richer. Just imagine: the serving movements of Karsten Braasch, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Jay Berger and Leonardo Mayer, all united at the weekly get-together, with their very own story and old anecdotes. "Where are you from?" - "Why in the world are you doing this?" - "And nobody said anything?" - "Do it!" And that after the fourth beer. It would be conversations that the tennis world really needs.
Federico Delbonis' serve movement would certainly also be there. It has the peculiarity that at some point Delbonis brings his left arm into practically the same position as with his forehand, almost parallel to the shoulder, which is a great thing in itself. Fake one shot, take the other: It is a great art in tennis, we think of the faked slice, which then turns into a stop. Unfortunately, Delbonis' problem is that a deception maneuver between service and forehand does not work from a purely logistical point of view. But maybe he's still working on it.
Benoit Paire plays almost normally
In any case, in the quarter-final match against Benoit Paire in Hamburg there was little to gain for Delbonis and his serve for a long time. Paire led 6: 4 and 4: 2, and the crazy thing: It felt like a completely normal tennis match. Paire behaved himself , Paire played stable tennis for his standards, if we ignore the too many stops, of course (these were partly a dream, however).
And Paire has not yet had to fend off a single breakball. But then? But then. The problem for Paire: He did not fend him off, Delbonis came to equalize. And in the tie-break. He fended off four match balls there, although Paire gave some of them recklessly, and Delbonis then used his third set ball to equalize the set. He had to give up an early break in round three, but then managed one more, certainly thanks to the repeated expert comments ("Agresivo, agresivo !!!") of an Argentine fan. And also because Paire's fuses were slowly getting too hot. In the end it was said 4: 6, 7: 6 (9) and 6: 4.
Delbonis already with 22 victories on clay in 2021
Delbonis is in the semifinals in Hamburg, the win against Paire was his number 22 on clay this season (only Tsitsipas has more, namely 23). Delbonis' advantage: In the best case scenario, he still has two games to go. And there is a lot going on for him in Hamburg: In 2017 he was in the semi-finals, in 2013 even in the final, back when Roger Federer was suggested to end his career again after his first round at Wimbledon (Sergiy Stakhovsky!) When he got bogged down, Sprinkled sand appearances in Hamburg and Gstaad and carried out the first racket tests. In Hamburg it was Delbonis who spoiled the game for the Federer friends, but in the final he was defeated by Fabio Fognini.
Is there anything more going for Delbonis and his serve this year? Why not. Opponent in the semifinals, however, is the number two of the tournament: Pablo Carreno Busta.