|
|
Wallwork – stepping into
the shoes of a legend
Day One Mixed Doubles, by Richard Eaton
You have to feel for Jenny Wallwork. Not only does she
have to step into the shoes of the highest profile player
England has ever had, but she found herself making a home debut
as Nathan Robertson's new partner against two other very
famous names of the past.
Nick Ponting, a former All-England mixed doubles
champion, and Julie Bradbury, a former All-England
finalist, are still high quality players, and at the age of 41
had nothing to lose.
Moreover the veterans led through most of the second game and
enjoyed brief fantasies of taking it to a third, during which
they might well have applied some very uncomfortable pressure
indeed.
But in the end Wallwork did enough good things at the net, and
Robertson had some moments of typical brilliance in a 21-14,
21-17 victory which may come as a mild relief and which carried
them into the quarter-finals.
But much more importantly, what did it tell us about the new
partnership? Are they meshing? Can they make a world class pair?
Still too early to say, you won't be surprised to hear, but
there were nevertheless signs that the two months' training
break together, after their initial tournament foray, has
created a new attitude.
“It's just about improvement and getting our level up,” said
Wallwork wisely, emphasising that no-one, not even themselves,
can yet know what level they are capable of. “We just have to be
good together. We just have to establish ourselves more,” she
said, taking some of the pressure away from the desire to
deliver.
Was she able to block out the idea that she is successor to Gail
Emms, World, All-England, Commonwealth and European champion at
this event? That would, after all, seem crucial.
“I've taken a lot of advice from Gail - she's my mentor - and
she's brilliant,” she said. ”Yes, they are big shoes to fit
into, a brilliant player, and it can be a difficult situation to
be in.
“Sometimes you think to yourself 'Gail would have done that
better'. I had a little patch where I thought I am not good
enough. I have to block out that and work on my game and become
my own player.”
Wallwork notably appeared to do that from 14-15 down in the
second game, making one sharp kill to get the second seeds up to
17-15 and a cleverly disguised return to get them to 18-16.
It was just as well, for Bradbury had a second game when she
looked almost as good as ever. Robertson was alternately languid
and superb, as full of surprises as ever but perhaps with a
corner of his mind on another day.
 Was
he unpredictable? “People say that,” Wallwork answered. “But
he's very focussed and knows what he's doing. Yes, sometimes a
bit crazy but I learn a lot from him. It's great to play with
someone like him,” she quickly added, perhaps keen to follow her
honesty with discretion.
Nor was she going to put pressure on herself with predictions
about their next match, against Dean George and Sarah Walker.
“It takes some time to gel,” she said.
“It's about moving together as a pair, knowing what to go for
and what to leave. But it's coming together more and more.”
 Bradbury
was more than aware of Wallwork's predicament. “I think around
the net she's very strong,” she said. “Maybe they are not quite
working as a pair totally. It's very new. They probably don't
know what the other person is doing at the moment.
“Nathan was playing with Gail for so long and it takes a while
to get established in a new partnership. You become close to
someone in a partnership, when you get through matches together,
when you have done it together. And they haven't done that yet.”
“Nathan has to talk to her all the time because she's a young
player, and he has to be dominant. And that's new for him too.”
It was intriguing to hear the comments of someone who was so
successful in so many big tournaments for so long, but for the
time being has been lost to badminton coaching.
Would Bradbury consider returning to it? “It depends on family
commitments,” she said, referring to the fact that she has
children, aged ten and nine, who are promising tennis players.
“But if I got an offer from someone I would look into it. Coming
and playing here has brought back all my feelings about
badminton again.”
The early struggles of Robertson's attempts to form another top
level partnership was in contrast to the progress of Anthony
Clark and Donna Kellogg, who have been competing together
for so many years and eased through smoothly.
They won 21-7, 21-16 against two promising young opponents, Ben
Stawski and Lauren Smith, who came back well towards the end. It
was though impossible to tell which gear Clark and Kellogg were
in, but it was not top.
The former World and All-England finalists next play Marcus
Ellis and Sam Ward for a place in the semi-finals with a
possible semi against the great new hopes, Chris Adcock and
Gabby White. Now that would be an interesting test.
 |
|
|
|
