Davis Cup - Ecuador vs Romania - Sept 2003
MATCH 4 - Singles

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Nicolas Lapentti vs Victor Hanescu

For the second day running, Nico took to the court with a fight on his hands to level things up. With over 8 hours of action already behind him, Nico could have been forgiven if things had not gone his way. In fact, I was most disappointed that there was a very sombre mood around the complex and particularly amongst the press journalists and photographers covering the event as most of them did not really believe that Nico could win and keep Ecuador in the tie. But this was Nico! I would have thought that the reporters and commentators would know by now just how much he likes long matches in particular five set matches (and his excellent record in those five set matches) – they have been writing stories about them for long enough!

In my opinion Nico has NEVER had a problem with motivation and confidence in playing for his country – in fact he has often produced his very best tennis in the Davis Cup situation – and even though he was indeed exhausted from the previous two days, he was ready to push his body to the absolute limit and try to win to give Giovanni a chance to win the tie in the fifth rubber. I never had any doubts. Having watched Nico come back from the "dead" more times than I care to remember in the last 5 years, I NEVER for one second gave up hope that he could win.

On a personal level, I also suspect Nico wanted to win these singles matches more than anyone realised - to prove to himself, his family, the media and the people of his country that he still has something left to give in tennis. Without much to show for this year on the ATP Tour, the Ecuadorian media have been much more critical of Nico than in previous years for his lack of match victories and a big Davis Cup tie in Ecuador like this one was his only chance to prove the doubters wrong.

Even as Nico walked on the court, he looked like he had that determined "I'm going to succeed at all costs" look about him. Although he had been playing well in his previous two matches, this time he looked like he knew what he had to do to control things from the start. He served incredibly well and was aggressive in coming forward from the start – unlike the previous match when he had been quite happy to rally from behind the baseline. The first few games went with serve – Hanescu was still serving at the same level as he had against Giovanni – so it looked like the pattern of this match might go the same way as the first rubber. However when a slight chance came, Nico knew just how to exploit it and from nowhere he broke serve for 5-4 and easily served out the first set 6-4. It was a real breakthrough since Hanescu had not lost his serve in the tie at all and if anything it had been thought that Nico would be more vulnerable on serve.

Everyone started to breath a sigh of relief – perhaps Nico was going to be able to dominate and win…. If only they knew! Both players were confident on serve so there was little or no chances to break and a tie break settled the second set easily in the Romanian's favour; things were back level again. The third set went the same way – [no] break chances and the tie break went to Hanescu when Nico double faulted at the critical match point. For the first time in the match, Nico was behind and the disconsolate picture I have of him sitting at the end of the set was heartwrenching. He had put everything into the match so far but was behind. He knew that if he was going to manage to keep the tie alive he had to win another 2 sets – which would take his personal tally for the weekend to 15 sets.

The fourth set had the same pattern as the preceding two sets – both players were playing well on serve, break chances were few and far between, Nico saved one break point whilst Hanescu saved 3 break points so another tie break loomed. With the reward of a place in the World Group at stake, this tie break was probably the most stressful and emotional time of the weekend.

It was a "sudden death" shoot out in the greatest sense of the word. Neither player wanted to be the one who faltered – and as a result both seemed on edge. The crowd certainly played their part to the fullest, encouraging Nico with every shot, whilst Hanescu tried to shut everything out and play his own game. Once past 5-5 in the tie break, every second point was either a match point for Romania or a set point for Nico to keep the tie alive. Nico took the audience to the edge when he had first set points, then match points against him. However, Nico (who was regularly looking heavenwards to seek divine intervention?) drew on his inner belief and heart to save 3 match points and eventually win the breaker 15-13 on his 5^th set point. A point for the statistics showed that Nico and Hanescu made history because this tie break was the 2^nd longest in points in the history of Davis Cup ties since the introduction of the tie break in 1989. (The longest is only 16-14 so Nico might just beat that record before he is done with Davis Cup!) Once Nico had won that tie-break, I think everyone knew he would win and even Giovanni came out to watch a little of the last set; although shrouded in a towel to be "in-cognito" he was hard to miss!

After the tension of the fourth set tie break and the heart ache and emotion that went with it, in the fifth and final set Nico grew in stature and confidence whilst Hanescu seemed to be in shock after not managing to close out the match. Nico broke serve at his first opportunity to lead 2-0 and kept the break right to the end when he served out the match. When Nico eventually got to matchpoint and he had sent a winning smash, the crowd, now numbering about 4,000, exploded in delight and emotion.

The match score 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 was pretty irrelevant in the scheme of things but all the effort had been worth it; Ecuador were back level again 2-2 and there was a chance for Giovanni to play the hero again. Overall the stats showed that Nico's serve had been the key to victory. He only faced two break points during his own service games – saving both (although the match points in the tie break felt worse!)

Nico, looking like every ounce of his strength had evaporated, looked up to the sky (obviously to thank "him upstairs") and held his arms aloft as the other players, captain and FET officials descended on him. After only a few seconds, Nico's head emerged from the throng around him, and he looked even more physically, mentally and emotionally spent.

Soon after his victory, dressed in his Nicolas Lapentti Foundation shirt and cap, Nico made his way to the obligatory press conference. Summing the match up he said (in Spanish and this is the best translation I could come up with!) "It is difficult for me to realise what really happened. Yesterday after the doubles I felt mentally and physically destroyed. My arm was dropping off. Today my legs felt like lead, my shoulder battered but I got to the court and Andres told me I had reached a moment in tennis which demands for an even greater level of effort. It is as if, because you have to accomplish something for your country, you feel you can do anything. I was nervous in the third set tie break but I was serving well and came back to win the fourth set. I felt more nervous when I served for the match than in that fourth set tie break. However, now we are really going to suffer in Giovanni's match."

The tie was level again 2-2.

Next part - Match 5.