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Wimbledon Tennis Mens Semi Final
Andy Roddick v Mario Ancic
MANY of today’s leading players are accused of lacking
personality, but the US Open first-round clash between Max
Mirnyi and Justin Gimelstob promises not only to be
entertaining,but also money- spinning.
Mirnyi, nicknamed the Beast, is a self-confessed gym addict
with a muscular physique, and lives up to his name by
grunting and snarling between points.
The gargantuan 6ft 5in right-hander’s massive serve strikes
more fear into his rivals than his ghoulish looks which bear
a striking resemblance to Lurch from the Addams Family.
Gimelstob has been bugged by so many injury problems that he
rarely sees the gym and in stark contrast to Mirnyi he lacks
good muscle definition.
In fact the American revealed after losing to Lleyton Hewitt
in the third round of this year’s Wimbledon that in order to
stay on the circuit he has had 13 cortisone injections on a
chronic back injury during the season.
The layers make Mirnyi a short-priced 2-5 favourite, but
Gimelstob is an engaging character on court who will bring
the partisan home crowd into play in New York and this could
be a great leveller.
Mirnyi has unceremeniously crashed out at the first- round
stage on his last two visits toFlushing Meadows, to Michal
Tabara last year and Nikolay Davydenko in 2003, while
Gimelstob possesses a respectable five wins from his eight
previous US Open first-round matches.
Gimelstob played well in New Haven last week, defeating
progressive Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in three sets
before losing narrowly 6-2 3-6 6-4 to Fernando Gonzalez in
the second round, while he also has an 4-1 winning
head-to-head record against the Belarusian and he is well
worth an interest at 2-1.
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