ITF

26 ITFWORLD WINTER 2015 W hen Shingo Kunieda told itftennis.com on the eve of the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters that his unbeaten run of 76 matches was of no importance to him, one could have read into that two things: that he was merely trying to rid himself of any unnecessary pressure or, heavens to Murgatroyd, as they used to say in Yogi Bear cartoons, the two-time Paralympic champion was bracing himself for a fall. But if he was, who was going to push him off his pedestal? His closest rival, the Frenchman Stephane Houdet, hadn't beaten him since Roland Garros in 2013, since when he had suffered ten consecutive defeats to the Japanese. WHEELCHAIR MASTERS ENTER A NEW MASTER Joachim Gerard ended Shingo Kunieda's three-year reign at the NEC Masters to become champion of the season-ender for the first time. Clive White watched as he was joined on the honours roll by Jiske Griffioen and David Wagner. It was the same with the No. 3 Joachim Gerard; the Belgian had never beaten Kunieda in ten meetings. Although the NEC Masters, hosted by the Tennis Foundation, was held at the same venue as the London 2012 Paralympics — now called the Lea Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre — the event is indoors, not outdoors. That may have made a significant difference to the outcome because the indoor courts are very quick and they played right into the hands of arguably the best server on the tour — Gerard. Whatever the reason, Gerard beat Kunieda in the round robin, thereby ending his run at 77 matches unbeaten. Alarmingly for Kunieda, Gerard didn't even think he played that well, but added that he didn't think Kunieda had either. He expected him to come back hard if they met in the final, and he was not disappointed. The two men put on a feast of wheelchair tennis in the deciding match. Some long-time followers of the sport went as far as to describe it as the finest match of all time and certainly the audience couldn't take their eyes off it, including several members of the All England Club committee who have witnessed not a few classics in their time. There was a wonderful ebb and flow to it. Gerard was always ahead in the opening set, but the second saw Kunieda dig deep. Suddenly he looked unbeatable again. He won the set with plenty to spare and then for the first point of the final set, Sabine Ellerbrock reached her first NEC Masters final Shingo Kunieda was beaten for the first time since January 2014 Joachim Gerard takes in his impressive victory

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