Niland gets his reward for service to Ireland

TENNIS:IN THE 1975 Wimbledon final Arthur Ashe defeated Jimmy Connors to send tennis into one of its occasional spins. Twelve years older than the top seed, Ashe "junk-balled" the then most abrasive force in the game, throwing him soft balls, off-speed shots and lobs that consistently broke his natural playing rhythm. After four sets the title fell to Ashe, Connors departing bemused and frustrated.

At approximately 7.30pm tonight (Irish time), Ireland’s Connor Niland will find himself on Arthur Ashe, the court named after the inspirational figure, having qualified for the US Open. Facing world number one Novak Djokovic, it could be the defining moment of Niland’s tennis career. The Irish number one may well have to think along the “junk” lines.

Irish Davis Cup colleague Louk Sorensen, who prematurely retired from tour tennis earlier this year because of injury only to rediscover health and form, will step out against the world number six Robin Soderling in the most remarkable few days that Irish tennis has had in the modern era.

In the mind of Niland, who will turn 30 this month to Djokovic’s 24, the draw is more a reward than a burden. Having played and lost to Adrian Mannarino at Wimbledon earlier this year, thus missing an opportunity to play Roger Federer on Centre Court, Niland’s meeting with Djokovic in the top half of the draw seems a just return after six years of searching on the circuit. Grand slams are what Niland has always been about.

“I’m excited about it,” he says. “When I saw the possibilities in qualifiers his name definitely stood out. When I heard that it was him I got, I was definitely pleased about it. My natural reaction was excitement because I knew I’d be on a big court and I’m pleased about that. . .

“He doesn’t know me. We’ll both be nervous. It will help me settle in a bit without worrying about a score . . . just show what I can do. If I can get out there and just feel comfortable for the first 10 or 15 minutes, then whatever happens, happens.”

Niland left Wimbledon in June both sore and elated. A hip injury kept him low in July and after an aborted trip to a Challenger tournament in Russia a cortisone injection set him on the road again, this time to Spain, where Sorensen was also playing.

“Yeah, I’ve spoken to Louk,” he says. “We were both in the tournament in Spain the week before this, so I’ve seen him a couple of weeks in a row. He’s really excited. For us both to play guys in the top five or six in the world, it puts Ireland on the map a little bit. Both big names. It’s great to have gone from nothing a couple of years ago, or for 20 years, to now having two players with Ireland beside their names.”

Both Irish players will look to the outer margins for their opportunities against overwhelming favourites. Djokovic, among the three kings at the top of the game (with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer), wears the largest crown with an extraordinary run this year.

But in his last tournament he defaulted with injury in the Cincinnati final against Andy Murray.

He has never seen Niland play before, while many champions typically have nervous first weeks.

The Limerick player may also need the stars to realign in his favour but he’s not without hope.

“I need to get off to a good start,” he says. “You don’t know how it’s going to play out. There are guys who belong on the tour, who play at 30 or 40 in the world and go out and play Djokovic and don’t do that well. I’m not going to base my feeling as a tennis player on how it is going to go against Djokovic because I know on any given day anything can happen and it doesn’t reflect on your whole career.

“Hopefully I can go out and play well, be competitive. With him you never know.

“He’s number one and his streak is ridiculous, 57 wins from 59. It’s not that he’s a top 10 guy and it’s a step up for me. It’s the ultimate test really.

“He’s won every Masters series that he played in except when he retired against Murray in Cincinnati. He’s set a record for Masters’ wins, won a couple of slams and pretty much every other tournament that he’s played in. You can’t have a better match-up.”

Niland played on the Grandstand court, which is the third biggest of the arena venues at Flushing Meadows, after the bad weather hit last week in qualifying and players were moved around. His form has been good and although his world ranking is close to 200 he feels his game is 100 places better.

“It’s brilliant to do back-to-back slams,” he says. “I definitely felt I was playing top-50, top-75 tennis the last couple of weeks.

“With my hip, it was a bit stop-start. I then went out and played two tournaments in Spain. I had a match point in the first one and lost to Marco Chiudinelli, who was top 100 last year and lost 6-4 in the third (set) to (Daniel) Gimeno, who is a direct entry here in the main draw, about 80 in the world. So, two good matches. I was playing well but under the radar I suppose.”

Under the radar, against the odds. The way Ashe might have liked it.

Conor Niland

Age: 29

Born: Birmingham, England

Residence: Limerick

Grand slams played: Wimbledon 2011 (round 1); US Open 2011 v Novak Djokovic (Srb)

World ranking: 197

Height: 6ft 1in

Weight: 180lbs (82kg)

Plays: Right-handed

Louk Sorensen

Age: 26

Born: Germany

Residence: Stuttgart, Germany

Grand slams played: Australian Open 2010 (round 2); US Open 2011 v Robin Soderling (Swe)

World Ranking: 816

Height: 5ft 9in

Weight: 172lbs (78kg)

Plays: Right-handed