Guga x Squillari - Tough Game

ferreira · 02-27-2004, 08:45 AM

Guga beat Squillari 3/6, 7/5, 7/5 last night in a 2:22 long match. Guga was beyond recognition in the beginning, getting smacked 5/0. He then got back to the match, but too late for the 1st set. On the second set, Guga improved, but was still far from his best. He did some serious racquet bashing, getting a warning. The guy was mad. Meanwhile, Squillari was smacking some inside out forehands and cruising on drop shots. More mad Guga. Nevertheless, Guga managed to stay in the game, and after just landing the ball in the court for about half the set - which kind of worked, by the way - he decided to shift up a few gears and started smacking the ball back to Squillari, as well as resorting successfully to S&V. On 5/6, he broke Squillari. The third set was best in quality, with both players playing aggressively and Guga relying on quality S&V to keep Squillari guessing. As in the 2nd set, level game until 5/6, when Guga broke Squillari ending the game in a down the line backhand winner.
After the match, Guga said he relied on his guts and, most of all, crowd support. Hats off to him because, even playing far from his best for half the match, he managed to come back.
It seems to me that Guga is feeling the unhuman pressure put on him by press and fans. It's win or win. The problem is that most of the idiots of the press understands about tennis as much as we understand about the migratory flow of the beluga whales. Whenever facing a non-top 20, they present it almost as if Guga had no reason at all to lose. Meligeni once said that if Guga held the ranking he holds today (17) but never had been past 15, he would be seen as an eternal hero. But once number one, he has the eternal obligation to be the best.
In the Semis Guga faces Acasuso, who beat Brazilian-born German Thomas Behrend.

@wright · 02-27-2004, 08:53 AM

Go GUGA! I want to see him hoist a big shiny trophy once again. Squillari is no slouch either, I enjoyed seeing him play the one time i watched a match of his.

GUYANA4U · 02-27-2004, 08:58 AM

I want Gustavo to get back to his old form badly. He's one of my favorites and I wonder if he will ever get back there. Nice to see him winning though. Keep it up!!

tennisozzy_new · 03-01-2004, 01:16 AM

I saw Squillari play in Rome last year against Hanescu, and he was the grumpiest player i I ever saw. He lost in straights. I think. But he has a very good game for clay, left handed and quick, with a good backhand. I remember him playing against Agassi at FO 2001, where he took Agassi to five sets. Some incredible angles off the backhands.

02-27-2004, 08:45 AM	#1
ferreira Rookie Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 129	Guga x Squillari - Tough Game Guga beat Squillari 3/6, 7/5, 7/5 last night in a 2:22 long match. Guga was beyond recognition in the beginning, getting smacked 5/0. He then got back to the match, but too late for the 1st set. On the second set, Guga improved, but was still far from his best. He did some serious racquet bashing, getting a warning. The guy was mad. Meanwhile, Squillari was smacking some inside out forehands and cruising on drop shots. More mad Guga. Nevertheless, Guga managed to stay in the game, and after just landing the ball in the court for about half the set - which kind of worked, by the way - he decided to shift up a few gears and started smacking the ball back to Squillari, as well as resorting successfully to S&V. On 5/6, he broke Squillari. The third set was best in quality, with both players playing aggressively and Guga relying on quality S&V to keep Squillari guessing. As in the 2nd set, level game until 5/6, when Guga broke Squillari ending the game in a down the line backhand winner. After the match, Guga said he relied on his guts and, most of all, crowd support. Hats off to him because, even playing far from his best for half the match, he managed to come back. It seems to me that Guga is feeling the unhuman pressure put on him by press and fans. It's win or win. The problem is that most of the idiots of the press understands about tennis as much as we understand about the migratory flow of the beluga whales. Whenever facing a non-top 20, they present it almost as if Guga had no reason at all to lose. Meligeni once said that if Guga held the ranking he holds today (17) but never had been past 15, he would be seen as an eternal hero. But once number one, he has the eternal obligation to be the best. In the Semis Guga faces Acasuso, who beat Brazilian-born German Thomas Behrend.

02-27-2004, 08:53 AM	#2
@wright Hall Of Fame Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 3,568	Go GUGA! I want to see him hoist a big shiny trophy once again. Squillari is no slouch either, I enjoyed seeing him play the one time i watched a match of his. __________________ Proudly donning the Nadal avatar until Fed either wins Roland Garros, or serves Nadal a bagel.

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