Bernhard Scheidl made one of the most extraordinary comebacks in the business on Wednesday…
Bernhard Scheidl made one of the most extraordinary comebacks in the history of the hobby tennis tour on Wednesday afternoon and set an unexpected exclamation mark in the scene with the title win at the 27th edition of HTT-Wimbledon. The number 7 seeded Burgenlander, who had to pause for almost eight months last year due to an enigmatic viral disease and has meanwhile been ranked number one in the HTT Entry Ranking. 73 had dropped back, the reigning HTT-Australian Open finalist Philipp Jahn from CTP Pötzleinsdorf beat the tournament’s number 4 in an extraordinary and extremely intense serve in 2:04 hours playing time with 6:4, 6:4, 7:5, and finished his first triumph in the turf Mecca of HTT with an almost three-and-a-half year long dry track without winning the title. For Scheidl it was only his second title win after the only tournament victory of his career in January 2015 at the HTT-Australian Open. The 32-year-old has lost the dubious title “one slam wonder”, and the Serve & Volley artist from Lake Neusiedl laughs as the new number 1 in the “Race to La Ville” from the top of the HTT annual HTT ranking for 2018. hobbytennistour.at C.L reports from the water park for
In the end, he was probably surprised at himself. In any case, it is the colleagues, because before July 12, 2018, when Bernhard Scheidl went down in the history books, the scene was actually regarded as written off, as a discontinued model, as a “One Slam Wonder”. Envied by his colleagues for his excellent Serve & Volley, but not an issue when it comes to big titles, the now 32-year-old has been on the circuit for the past three and a half years, suffered deep hits and bitter defeats, and last year he had to deal with an enigmatic viral disease for almost eight months. He was the first loser in seven finals, and in a total of 141 matches the 32-year-old tried more or less successfully to maintain his faith in himself and a second HTT tournament victory. Until yesterday afternoon of July 12, 2018, when Scheidl managed a magnificent resurrection. Just at its jubilee tournament start No. 50, the Burgenland tennis export No. 1 found its way back to success and advanced with its 30th individual season victory to the 46th HTT Grand Slam Champion of the Open era.
And somehow on the final day of the 27th edition of HTT Wimbledon one was reminded of January 2015 and Bernhard Scheidl’s sensational triumph at the HTT Australian Open. Three and a half years ago, an unknown Burgenlander caused a sensation as No. 149 in the HTT computer ranking. Nobody had the underdog on the piece of paper, but he stormed through the tableau like a whirlwind with permanently played serve & volley, on his way to the final he admitted such established opponents as the then No. 1 Philipp Schneider, the later HTT US Open winner Patrick Wiesmühler, or Florian Kopf to his side, before he completed the sensation with a four-set victory against Serbia’s superstar Vladimir Vukicevic in the final game. And also this time on the first weekend of July 2018, the way to the unexpected second career title was apparently blocked by high-calibre members of the HTT scene. After all, Lukas Prüger was number 1 in the quarter-finals, Vladimir Vukicevic the HTT turf expert par excellence with 3-time HTT Wimbledon winner in the semi-finals, and Philipp Jahn, the young man who had established himself as the most consistent player at major level in the current season, and who made the strongest impression in the course of the 55th season’s tournament.
But then the big rain came on the actual final day, and 24 hours later it should have a decisive influence on the final event at the centre court of the TC Vienna 2013. First of all, the six-year-old Scheidl had a day more break, and then of course there were the conditions on the pitch, which proved to be too fast due to the monster rain on duty. In short: The course was faster than ever, and made for service giants like Jahn & Scheidl. The catch: Return player did not have the spark of a chance. “This is no fun. I could have stayed at the club, grabbed a ball basket and trained for serve. That would have been exactly the same,” Jahn rumbled after 0:2 sets. Yes, the setbacks didn’t really have much to order and even less to laugh about in the just over 2 hours of playing time. A break was actually not possible, unless the serve would flop. And this is exactly what happened to Jahn in the third game of the first round. A two-minute blackout with three double errors cost Jahn not only the first serve loss of the match, but also the first set, even though the 26-year-old subsequently managed all of his subsequent service games of the first heats to zero.
Shocked by the set loss, Jahn took another fatal and much too early break in the first game of the second set. Thus passage number 2 had already run before he really took up speed. Having fended off Jahn’s only breakpoint in the first two and a half sets at 2:1, Scheidl then served himself for a 2-0 lead in the next 38 minutes. Statistics document just how unlikely the setbacks were this afternoon, which saw the two final protagonists’ service games, with one exception, only won to zero after the contested fourth game to lead Scheidl 3:1. A single point was awarded to the two finalists in setback, and Jahn won the final tenth game after a failed Scheidl volley. Jahn at the beginning of the third set in the opening game underwent the same mishap as at the beginning of the second set, one must critically chalk up the 26-year-old. Such a thing must not happen to a classman like the new sixth in the rankings, who can just about prevent the premature death blow at 0:2 with three further break chances of Scheidl to the possible 0:3. However, the Burgenlander continued to serve himself confidently, extremely concentrated and at the highest level through the third set up to a 4:3 lead, before the events turned over in the finish.
For more than two and a half sets, Jahn did not have the slightest chance of a break and only a single break chance on the bat. But suddenly – almost out of nowhere – a door opened for the apparently already defeated Jahn back into this HTT Wimbledon finale. Scheidl failed with his second double mistake, a rare volley mistake and was punished with a break to zero to 4:4. Scheidl went out of step for a moment, while Jahn got the upper hand with his first break. Ace 11 levelled the 26-year-old Pötzleinsdorf star’s 5-4 lead, and suddenly the HTT-Australian Open finalist played his best tennis. Three sensational return winners shook Jahn’s wrist, and suddenly there she was, the triple opportunity to win the set. In this phase Jahn didn’t have to blame himself, because Scheidl fended off the triple pack of set balls in an inimitable way with two service winners and a splendidly timed volley. Instead of opening set number 4, Jahn had to digest the shock of three missed set points, and that was no longer possible. The double faults No. 9 and 10 helped Scheidl to the decisive last break, which he then confirmed without shaking. 6:4, 6:4, 7:5 after 124 minutes, with a service winner and point no. 99, the 32-year-old fixed the long dreamed of second HTT Grand Slam title of his career.
It wasn’t an epic HTT Wimbledon finale like the one in 2012 when New Zealander Ari Davis and Serbia’s top star Vladimir Vukicevic competed in over 5 hours and 5 sets, but it was a final that was probably never seen in this form and dominated by the hammers. A special matter, as the match statistics of hobbytennistour.at prove. Scheidl and Jahn produced 110 winners together, 85 percent by points after service. A lot of serve and little tennis, as the winner confirmed in the interview: “We served both great. In the end, a few points and moments decided. In my opinion, the key to success was to bring as many returns as possible into play. My opponent had to work for every service game, and at some point you make mistakes,” said the winner, who estimates his HTT Wimbledon victory much higher than his HTT Australian Open victory in 2015, “It’s worth much more, because I also had to wait a long time for this second victory. Over the years I also realized how difficult it is to win a tournament at the HTT. The density is insane and you certainly need luck to win a big title. I am also very happy about my victory because it was again a success at a bigger tournament. I think I’m a player for the big matches,” beamed the new HTT Wimbledon winner.