ATP Masters Paris: What In High Haddes...?

(Flickr photo- iPh4n70M, 13 Nov 2009)

I love tennis. Sometimes for the technical brilliance on display, the feats of dogged determination, a single handed backhand pinging the ball down the line before the opponent even begins to move, and you're sat at home going, Ohhhh!

Other times it's because, occasionally, events do not follow the predicted script. AT ALL. Julien Bennetau, a 27-year old French man is the sort of player who simply perspires hard work. I haven't yet seen him on court without his blonde curls matted to his scalp, his shirts translucent with sweat- forget Dri FIT- and trails of rubber soles etched in his wake. He really tries out there. But against a rested Roger Federer, in the penultimate tournament of maybe his most emotionally satisfying year yet, the end we got was not at all expected: Bennetau won in 3 sets!

I casually checked into the match on the off chance some tennis might still be in play. Instead I caught the tail end of a thrilling third set, with Bennetau running down and hurling himself like a lemming with no fears after increasingly exasperated Federer shots.

A quick scan at the stats showed Federer's first serve percentage was low in the 50's, a slew of unforced errors and only 1 in 7 breakpoints converted. All of which points to Federer's unease on the Paris indoor courts (historically speaking, he's not been a hit) and some gutsy play on Bennetau's part, to the absolute delight of the Paris crowds. Yes, you read right- Paris crowd. Delighted. Not a loftily held nose in sight.

So on day 3, the Masters series Paris sees the loss of the world no.1, but Rafael Nadal (2) remains on track after narrowly escaping 5 match points against Nicolas Almalgro, Del Potro (5) remains with a win over Marat Safin (aurevoir Marat, who's retiring after Paris) and Andy Murray (3) takes on James Blake now.