Nico hops to overcome grass court frustrations at Wimbledon

Massu hops to overcome grass court frustrations at Wimbledon

Jun 18 2010 by David Prentice, Liverpool Daily Post

NICOLAS MASSU believes he has a 50-50 chance of making a splash at Wimbledon next week – depending on the luck of the draw.

  Massu is the only man in history to win gold in both singles and doubles at the same Olympics – but that was on clay.

After yesterday’s closely fought victory on grass at the Liverpool International over local favourite Neal Skupski, Massu said: “I've been here for three days now and Liverpool is very nice, but for me it's also a little strange because I'm playing on grass for the first time in three years.

“I was last at Wimbledon in 2007, so it's not my favourite surface and sometimes I don't know what to do around the court.

But I try to do my best and I played quite well today.

“The worst thing for me to do on grass is to move. I move very well on clay but on grass I lost my balance a few times and fell on the floor.

“Clay or carpet is best for me, but I will try to do my best at Wimbledon.

“There are 128 players in the draw and maybe 60 of them are better than me on grass so it all depends on the draw. There are 60 players that I can beat on grass.

“Maybe I will draw a guy who is favoured over me but I will beat him.

“If I play against a Murray, or a Federer obviously I won't be favourite but you never know what happens in this sport.”

The Chilean eventually triumphed 7-6, 6-4 – but in a clash which boasted just the one break of serve Skupski from just around the corner at Palmerston LTC more than held his own

.“I thought I played really well,” he said afterwards. “I don’t know if he was at 100 per cent but I served quite well and I think I pushed him.

“I struggled when he was on his forehand to my backhand. The spin he put on the ball was unbelievable, but it gave me a lot of confidence to compete with a player of his quality.

“After college I’ll be going on the tour and to get into the top 100 is something I want to do.

That’s my goal.”

Massu, a keen football fan, hopes to se somes goals of his own later this summer.

Massu follows CD Everton back home in Chile and is thrilled to learn that that Los Ruleteros will be facing The Toffees in August.

“When Everton from England won I was happy because they share the same name as the team I have always supported,” he said.

“It is unusual to have two teams in the world with the same name playing each other, and in the 100th year of CD Everton too, so it is a big thing.

“Two years ago I saw my team win the Chilean championship for the first time and play in the Copa Libertadores, the South American version of the Champions League, which was great.

“But I don't want to wait as long again next time!

“We are not playing as well now as we were then, but it is nice to have a game like this in England.”