CHENNAI: A person gallivanting in the east stand inside centre court of the SDAT tennis complex finally got Max Purcell's goat. The Australian directly addressed the person and asked him to sit down. US' Nicolas Moreno de Alboran was firmly in control of the Chennai Open final and Purcell's irritation was understandable. The chair umpire frequently had to use the mic to request the fairly sizable crowd (for a Challenger) to sit down and maintain silence during points.
With the clock showing 4.45 PM, the gently lengthening shadows seemed to be a metaphor for Purcell's situation in the match. He had lost the first set and was down a break in the second. Curiously, that's when the match turned. De Alboran engineered two tournament points on the Purcell serve (15-40, 4-5 in the second set) but the 24-year-old, one half of the reigning Wimbledon doubles champion (with Matthew Ebden), saved both of them. That was when the match caught fire. Purcell's stated aim is to become a top 100 player and he showed the right ingredients to prevail 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-4. It began under abundant sunshine. It finished in twilight with the floodlights in full effect.
As soon as Purcell won the match, his victory cry cut through the gentle sea breeze that was blowing across the stadium. And his emotions were understandable. When he wakes up in Bengaluru for the Challenger beginning on Monday, he will have attained a new career high of 155. What was the most pleasing aspect of his game was he refused to give up. He chased down lost causes, kept putting balls back in play and took his chances, especially on his forehand wing, when opportunities presented themselves.
What's even more remarkable is that this opportunity may not have come in the first place. Purcell, yet to win a main draw match at the ATP Tour-level, landed in Chennai a good five days earlier before the tournament. Unfortunately, he caught a bug and practiced for a total of 40 minutes till Monday. "Yeah, I don't know what it was," he told after the final. "I arrived here Wednesday. Thursday night I felt nauseous and threw up every 20 minutes. Friday I didn't leave bed. Practiced 20 minutes the next few days so it wasn't really great preparations." It was in stark contrast to how he felt after a full training session the day he got here. "I told myself I was going to win this tournament."
Even though the final clocked at 3hrs and 10 minutes, he didn't show any of those signs. He called it a 'surprise'. "It's the best I have felt all week, physically. For a 3 hour match, I felt I could keep going, no issues."His next target? The next event in Bengaluru.