Kafelnikov the unlikely underdog
Posted: Saturday January 30, 1999 02:21 PM
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Kafelnikov finished 1998 by making the final in two of his last three tournaments Gary M. Prior/Allsport |
MELBOURNE (Reuters) -- Former French Open champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov will be the unlikely underdog on Sunday when he comes up against Swedish danger man Thomas Enqvist in the Australian Open men's final.
Until this week, Enqvist had never progressed past the quarterfinals of a grand slam tournament.
Yet Enqvist has beaten the Russian 10th seed in straight sets in their two previous meetings in finals, has an overall 4-2 head-to-head advantage, and is the hottest player on tour with an 11-match winning streak.
"Hopefully I will get my chances, but I feel like I'm definitely the underdog," Kafelnikov said after routing German Tommy Haas in the semifinals.
In the absence of Pete Sampras, with the withdrawal of Marcelo Rios and Goran Ivanisevic, and with the premature defeat of big names such as Carlos Moya and Pat Rafter, the men's tournament has been a disappointment for organizers hoping to draw in the crowds with big names.
But the final could have been much worse. A few days ago there was the possibility of Haas meeting Ecuadorean Nicolas Lapentti in a veritable battle of the unknowns.
Kafelnikov and Enqvist have quite a lot in common.
Both of them are 24 and both have been top 10 players. The hard-working Kafelnikov has won 17 of 30 career finals, Enqvist an impressive 14 of 17 including the Adelaide hardcourt title three weeks ago.
Both also endured poor years in 1998 before dragging themselves back into form. Enqvist warmed up for the Australian Open with wins in Adelaide and in an exhibition event in Melbourne. Kafelnikov finished off 1998 by making the final at two of his last three tournaments.
"In '98 it was a disaster year for me, except the last three weeks of the year," Kafelnikov said.
"You know, the year-ending was perfect and right after that I knew I was coming back.
"That's why I'm ready to win again, to win a big tournament. This is the best opportunity, probably, in a grand slam that I ever had to win."
In an effort to get his game back on track, Kafelnikov hired a new coach, Larry Stefanki, and the first thing they worked on was his serve.
That is that aspect of the game that Kafelnikov is banking on in the final.
"Without a serve you cannot win the match, you cannot win the tournament," he said.
For Enqvist there were few highlights in 1998.
From a career-high ranking of six at the beginning of 1996, he slipped to 28th at the end of 1998 and was 22nd starting this year.
The major causes were foot and ankle injuries which required surgery last year and restricted him to only 17 tournaments for the season.
But on Sunday, Enqvist could grab Sweden's 25th men's grand slam title of the Open era, its first for six years, and put his name beside those of Stefan Edberg, Mats Wilander and Enqvist's childhood hero Bjorn Borg.
"Borg was my first role model," Enqvist says. "And then every other Swede that was playing well. Almost every big tournament, we had someone in the final and you looked up to all those players."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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