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| 07 Jul 2002 | |
| Douchevina and Reid take honours at Wimbledon |
By Eleanor Preston
Todd Reid joined the likes of Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Pat Cash as a Wimbledon boys’ champion on Sunday, beating Algeria’s Lamine Ouahab 7-6, 6-4 in the boys’ final. Vera Douchevina won the girls’ title with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over fellow Russian Maria Sharapova.
"It means a lot to be junior Wimbledon champion," said Reid. "this is very, very prestigious and right now I’m just loving it. There are quite a few great names up there on the junior honour board so it’s great to be up there with them."
Reid, who hails from Sydney, also gave the green and gold-decked Australian fans, who had come cheer Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon, even more reason to cheer. Several patriotic Aussies came down from Henman Hill after watching Hewitt beat David Nalbandian in the men’s final to give Reid a chorus of noisy support. "It’s good to have a few Aussies out there," he said. "It’s always nice to have the crowd support."
Reid admitted that even when he was mid-match he had one eye on the Centre Court scoreboard to see how his countryman Hewitt was doing in the men’s final. "I think it was probably about 3-3 in the first set and I looked up and saw that Lleyton had won. That really urged me on."
Having trained at the Nick Bollettieri academy since he was 13, Reid has gone back to his roots recently, working with the Australian Institute of Sport and Tennis Australia. He has received plenty of advice and coaching from recently retired Australian Davis Cup player Richard Fromberg, who was there today to see Reid lift the boys’ trophy.
Reid had to battle hard against Ouahab and admitted that the Algerian didn’t make life easy from him. "He’s a very tricky player and you are never quite sure what he’s going to do," he said. "He hits good passing shots, a good lob and he serves well so I had to fight a bit." Having gone a break down in the first set, Reid fought back to level things up and force a tiebreaker. He took his third set point and from went from strength to strength. "Once I took the breaker that really spurred me on but even in the second set it wasn’t easy."
In the girls’ final, Douchevina also had to dig deep after a nervous start saw her go 0-3 down to Sharapova. With the Florida based Sharapova piling on the pressure from the baseline Douchevina struggled to hold serve, though she twice retrieved a break of serve only to falter once more at 4-5. "I played her last week and I played very well and won quickly, so I expected the same today," admitted Douchevina. "She played much, much better this time and that surprised me a little. Then in the second set I was calmer and played much better myself."
Douchevina began to settle at the start of the second set and her superior court sense paid handsome dividends as she set about picking the Sharapova game apart. Douchevina raced through the second set and by the time Sharapova had received a long medical time out for an injured thigh, Douchevina looked in firm control. An early break in the third set saw Sharapova’s confidence wane and she looked increasingly frustrated.
Douchevina and Reid will spend Sunday evening at the traditional Wimbledon champions’ ball once they have both finished receiving congratulations from their families watching at home. "I spoke to my mum and dad and they are really happy, they had so many people calling them," grinned Douchevina. "I think it is like a party there."
The Girls’ Doubles title went to Elke Clijsters and world no. 1 Barbora Strycova who overcame Ally Baker and Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-4 5-7 8-6. Romanians Florian Mergea and Horia Tecau ousted USA team Brian Baker and Rajeev Ram 6-4 4-6 6-4 to take their first Grand Slam title.
Photographs by Susan Mullane
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