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I've obviously got too much time on my hands, since I was just thinking - during the first half of 2002, there were amazing similarities between the results of Roger and Tim Henman. Perhaps since they both play serve and volley, they are destined to have the same success?
Consider:
They both won pre-Aussie Open warm-up tournaments in Sydney and Adelaide respectively.
They both carried 8-match winning streaks into the fourth round in Melbourne only to lose to their opponent in disappointing fashion, though it's hard to work out which is worse - losing to someone in straight sets when you had two set points to level the match, or losing to someone in five sets where you've been leading and had match point.
They both reached the final of an indoor tournament in Europe in the weeks after the AO, losing close three-set matches to two very good indoor players in Sanguinetti and Escude.
They both shouldered the burden of expectation in tight Davis Cup ties against a stronger team and took it all the way, only to lose 3-2 to eventual quarter-finalists Russia and Sweden.
They both reached the final of one Masters Series in America and the last 16 of another; Henman made the final in Indian Wells and lost in the last 16 in Miami, while Roger had exactly the opposite result (and of course Henman pulled out of his match against Roger, helping him in his progress to the final).
They both did disappointingly in two of the three clay-court Masters events in Europe, losing first and second round (Roger in Rome and Monte-Carlo, Henman in Rome and Hamburg) but did very well in the third; Henman made his first ever semi on clay at Monte Carlo, while Roger went several steps further and actually won his first Masters title on the slowest clay court around, in Hamburg
They both had a lot of expectation of success going into Roland Garros due to their good clay-court results, but both performed poorly in the early rounds, losing to Arazi and Malisse respectively (ironically, the way the head-to-heads work out, if they'd been playing each other's opponent they would have almost been guaranteed a win; Roger's 6-1 against Malisse, Henman 8-2 against Arazi).
Wimbledon... well, we'll skip that one shall we?
They both came into the US Open not expecting much, Roger in poor form and Henman nursing a shoulder injury, but won a few rounds before losing in straight sets to Mirnyi and Chela.
They both helped their country to qualify for the World Group by almost single-handedly defeating the opposing nation in the Davis Cup play-offs; Roger won both his singles and the doubles with Bastl, Henman won both his singles and the doubles with Maclagan, and they both pulled off surprising straight-sets wins over the in-form El Aynaoui and Srichaphan respectively.
They both lost to a certain David Nalbandian
fiery: ) during his run to the title in Basel, where the two of them had contested the final the previous year.
The similarities pretty much end there, as Henman's injury really ruined his indoor season and forced him to miss the AO while Roger was able to qualify for the Shanghai Masters Cup, but remember that injury scare about his leg that he had at the start of this year... I'm telling you, the connections are uncanny.
Consider:
They both won pre-Aussie Open warm-up tournaments in Sydney and Adelaide respectively.
They both carried 8-match winning streaks into the fourth round in Melbourne only to lose to their opponent in disappointing fashion, though it's hard to work out which is worse - losing to someone in straight sets when you had two set points to level the match, or losing to someone in five sets where you've been leading and had match point.
They both reached the final of an indoor tournament in Europe in the weeks after the AO, losing close three-set matches to two very good indoor players in Sanguinetti and Escude.
They both shouldered the burden of expectation in tight Davis Cup ties against a stronger team and took it all the way, only to lose 3-2 to eventual quarter-finalists Russia and Sweden.
They both reached the final of one Masters Series in America and the last 16 of another; Henman made the final in Indian Wells and lost in the last 16 in Miami, while Roger had exactly the opposite result (and of course Henman pulled out of his match against Roger, helping him in his progress to the final).
They both did disappointingly in two of the three clay-court Masters events in Europe, losing first and second round (Roger in Rome and Monte-Carlo, Henman in Rome and Hamburg) but did very well in the third; Henman made his first ever semi on clay at Monte Carlo, while Roger went several steps further and actually won his first Masters title on the slowest clay court around, in Hamburg
They both had a lot of expectation of success going into Roland Garros due to their good clay-court results, but both performed poorly in the early rounds, losing to Arazi and Malisse respectively (ironically, the way the head-to-heads work out, if they'd been playing each other's opponent they would have almost been guaranteed a win; Roger's 6-1 against Malisse, Henman 8-2 against Arazi).
Wimbledon... well, we'll skip that one shall we?
They both came into the US Open not expecting much, Roger in poor form and Henman nursing a shoulder injury, but won a few rounds before losing in straight sets to Mirnyi and Chela.
They both helped their country to qualify for the World Group by almost single-handedly defeating the opposing nation in the Davis Cup play-offs; Roger won both his singles and the doubles with Bastl, Henman won both his singles and the doubles with Maclagan, and they both pulled off surprising straight-sets wins over the in-form El Aynaoui and Srichaphan respectively.
They both lost to a certain David Nalbandian
The similarities pretty much end there, as Henman's injury really ruined his indoor season and forced him to miss the AO while Roger was able to qualify for the Shanghai Masters Cup, but remember that injury scare about his leg that he had at the start of this year... I'm telling you, the connections are uncanny.