Lee Hyoung-taek is Confident On Wimbledon

It was a valuable victory after three losses. A star player of Korean Tennis, Lee Hyoung-taek (Samsung Security), achieved a pleasant revenge in a return match.

It was first round of singles match play at the Stella Artois Open (total prize 790,000 Euros) in the men’s pro tennis ATP tour, which was held at the Queen’s Club in London, U.K. on June 8.

Lee won a come-from-behind victory over “Light Speed Server” Greg Rusedski (U.K) by a set score of 2-1 (3-6, 6-3, 6-4) to continue his recent rise since his advance into the third round in the French Open.

Suspected of taking drugs, Rusedski is a super player who once reached fourth place in the world rankings with his powerful 239.8km/h serve. In addition, he is left-handed which Lee had difficulty taking on. Lee was first defeated by him in Seoul in 1995, and also was knocked out by him in the second round of Wimbledon in 2002, and in the Serviten Challenge last week. Rusedski seemed comfortable, showing a smiling face ahead of the game, with his personal record against Lee. With indomitable spirit, however, Lee played offensively all through the game using determined groundstrokes, and in an exciting match, beat Rusedski for the first time in four confrontations.

Lee had difficulty returning Rusedski’s power serves and dropped the first set, but tied the match by breaking Rusedski’s fourth service game and keeping all of his in the second set. In the third set, Lee faced a crisis, down 0-3 and 2-4, but caught up with stable service returns and strong strokes to complete the come-from-behind drama.

The event was played on a grass court, so it was characteristic of playing conditions at Wimbledon, which will be held at the end of this month. Lee overcame his jinx against left-handed strong servers, which is considered his handicap, and continued to roll heading into Wimbledon.

In the meantime, Lee jumped 24 places to 99th from 123rd in the world rankings, which were announced on the day.

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com